Shueisha announced we will be able to read the Metaphor: ReFantazio manga in English via MangaPlus. The series, which will also appear in V-Jump in Japan, will begin running in English on January 1, 2025. 

The company shared the announcement on social media. In the reveal, it noted that chapters of the Metaphor: ReFantazio manga will release simultaneously worldwide. The image included also showed how the main character and Gallica will look in this adaptation. 

When the run was first announced, we also got some details about what the first chapter will entail. It will be longer than usual and come in at 58 pages. It will also be in color, though that won’t be true of all episodes. On MangaPlus, typically the first three chapters and three most recent ones are all free for visitors to read, so everyone should be able to constantly have access to the first chapter of Metaphor: ReFantazio as long as Shueisha makes it available. We don't know how much of the story will be covered in this introduction, but presumably we'll see the hero and Gallica meet Strohl and perhaps Grius.

The Metaphor: ReFantazio manga English run will begin on January 21, 2025 on MangaPlus. The game is available on the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC worldwide.

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More Honkai: Star Rail merchandise will appear at Animate Only Shop in Japan, as well as during in the Animate Fair for Winter 2025. Both campaigns will start in early February 2025. [Thanks, Genshin Goods!]

For starters, exclusive Honkai: Star Rail merchandise will appear for a limited time at the Animate Only Shops starting on February 8, 2025. It will be sold there until March 16, 2025. The Ikebukuro and Fukuoka Parco stores campaigns will appear between February 8-24, 2025. The Sendai, Nagoya, and Nihonbashi stores will have their events from March 1-16, 2025. During this time, you can take pictures at the photo spots, as well as with the Herta dolls on display.

Merchandise available at the Only Shop include:

• Chibi cat pins: 550 JPY (each)
• Final Victor Light Cone acrylic print: 1870 JPY
• Trading chibi train figures: 660 JPY (each) / 7920 JPY (box)

All of these items are ones that are available via the official miHoYo TMall store, too. However, buying them at Animate might be easier for those in Japan and tourists, considering the difficulties in importing from TMall.

Honkai: Star Rail will also appear at the Winter 2025 Animate Fair, which will run from February 8 to March 16, 2025. For every 2200 JPY you spend during this time on Honkai: Star Rail items, you’ll receive a postcard containing a serial code. You can then use the serial code to exchange for in-game items. The postcards use key visuals for Version 3.0, as well as new characters like Aglaea and Phainon.

Honkai: Star Rail is available on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices.

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SNK announced we can now pre-order Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and the company also shared details about the digital Special and physical Deluxe Editions that will be available. In each case, those additional additions include the Season 1 Pass. SNK also shared another look at the Terry Bogard pre-order bonus costume.

First, here’s how the Terry costume will look if you pre-order Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. While it is his classic look, it is more specifically inspired by Fatal Fury 2. 

The Special Edition is $59.99. It will be available for every platform. That only nets you a copy of the new entry in the fighting game series and the Season Pass 1. That means when all five of the initial DLC characters are released throughout 2025 and 2026, buyers would be guaranteed access. We already know this will include Street Fighter staples Chun-Li and Ken. The first character in the pass will be out in Summer 2025, just like Ken, but we don’t know who that will be.

The Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Deluxe Edition is more limited. It is $79.99 and only available for the PS5. Like the Deluxe Edition, you get the game and first season pass. You also get an over 100 page art book with designs from the game, a set of stickers with logos, a poster that has a relationship chart on one side and map on the other, the soundtrack on two CDs, and a Steelbook case. Photos of all of the items already appeared.

You can see how that collector’s edition looks below:

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will come to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on April 24, 2025. 

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If you’re wondering if Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is Steam Deck verified, Square Enix came in with an important update confirming yes, it is, on January 16, 2025. There’s also a brief trailer showing exactly how the JRPG looks if you play it on a Steam Deck. This should also mean we’ll have no issue playing it on other handheld gaming PCs.

As a reminder, at first this wasn’t an option. Back in December 2024, Square Enix noted that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was not Steam Deck verified. When it did, it noted the team was working to change that and make it work. The goal was to ensure that would happen by launch. 

Here’s the official video that confirms yes, we can play Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on a Steam Deck. It shows footage from the very beginning of the game, during which we play through a flashback to when Cloud and Sephiroth visited Nibelheim, met Tifa and encountered the events that would turn Shinra’s greatest hero into the game’s villain. The video clip shows both cinematics and in-battle footage for about a minute. 

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will come to the PC on January 23, 2025, and the second FFVII remake game is immediately available on the PS5. The original FFVII Remake is on the PS4, PS5, and PC, and the third entry in the series is in development. FFVII Ever Crisis is also available worldwide on both the PC and mobile devices.

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My experiences with the Civilization series are more recent, tracing back to playing the mobile version of Civilization V, to the sci-fi Beyond Earth, before finally obsessing over Civilization VI with my family in multiplayer matches for hundreds of hours. This is one of the only strategy series I’ve enjoyed and my time with the Civilization VII preview build continued this trend, outside of frustrations with the new Age system.

To start, Civilization VII seems to be a stunning game so far. I encountered only one minor crash so far, while it looked and performed well. As mentioned, this is all subject to change since it is an early build, but I generally enjoyed my time with it so far on the platform and saw no real issues of note yet.

The level of detail is a noticeable improvement over the previous mainline entry in the series. There is so much to see on each individual tile in the world. From the soldiers standing atop pieces of farmland or how each building has its own intricate design, there is so much to appreciate about the beauty of the experience.

Better yet, the build I played also made it feel like Civilization VII could be one of the best in the series at easing players into the overall strategy experience. The general idea is to play as a certain famous person from history and rule over a civilization to win against the rival civilizations in the world. This is done through a number of victory methods, such as Culture, Science, and War. These methods all have their own style, such as researching various categories like Mathematics and building a Library on the Science side or going all-out conquest if you prefer to win via War. Thankfully, the tutorials worked quite well in the time I’ve spent with the game so far in two of the three Ages.

There are even aspects I feel like I understand better now than I did with the hundreds of hours I put into Civilization VII. For instance, each troop you have in your civilization has different functions. They can move around the map, attack others, or even fortify their defenses. I feel like I better understand more specific troops, like the Army Commander. The game makes it more clear the possibilities troops like this one have, such as gathering together other troops for army-sized invasion squads.

Civilization VII is also quite speedy for a tactical game in this genre. Sure, you can take a long time each turn to figure out what you want to do, but everything is silky smooth. Completing actions is near-instantaneous, and the game guides you well on what to do next. This even includes the best quest routes for your particular victory preference.

Perhaps my favorite feature are the neat little narrative moments that happen randomly. A scout may die on the battlefield. You get to choose how to remember them. The different options will involve different rewards and outcomes, which makes for a unique playthrough each time.

With all of that said, though, I feel like after spending time with the build that there is an elephant in the room with Civilization VII. The new Age system might end up being a problematic gameplay choice, and I was not a fan of at all in these early sessions. In past games, you had different eras and the like. In this game, there are distinct Ages.

For the purposes of this preview, I checked out the Age of Antiquity and Age of Exploration. The former takes place before recorded history. How it works is you pick a hero to play as and a civilization. I appreciate the openness this time around, with the possibility to choose between locations. For instance, Confucius doesn’t have to pick Han China. He is able to pick other surrounding locales as well.

You then play through the Age you are in until it comes to an end. From there, it switches to the next Age, and you continue playing as the same leader. This is where the problem may lie. I feel like Ages felt a bit disconnected from one another in these early hours and experiences, unlike past games. You do play the multiple Ages in the same “match,” but they are segmented off in an odd way.

What I like is you can switch your civilizations (within reason) depending on your location and leader. For instance, one could go from Rome to Spain between ages. The problem is how some elements don’t make a lot of sense. While the rest of the game is clear cut and understandable, the Legacy and Ages seemed far from it. For one, there was a time my capital city changed between Ages to a different location. But I didn’t get the option to make this decision.

I also found it unclear what exactly carried over from Age to Age during this early session. Some building types did and certain points did, but not everything. The whole system may end up being a bit redundant and awkward. In the past, changing eras was seamless and smooth. Here, my initial impression is that they were rough, heavily divided, and confusing.

I definitely need more time with the Civilization VII Ages system leading up to our proper review. But, for now, the new feature feels unnecessarily awkward and frustrating. Hopefully, it makes more sense as I come to understand its quirks in later matches. If you can look past this, though, I suspect Civilization VII could end up feeling like the fastest, most stunning, and welcoming game in the series yet.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII releases for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February 11, 2025.

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Former PlayStation president Shuhei Yoshida will be joining the cast of voice actors for Promise Mascot Agency, as revealed by the studio Kaizen Game Works. Other members of the voice cast include Ayano Shibuya, Hidetaka "Swery" Suehiro, and Takaya Kuroda.

The voice cast for Promise Mascot Agency features a diverse range of Japanese actors and notable figures. Shuhei Yoshida, former President of Sony Worldwide Studios, is among the cast, playing a kappa mascot who loves games. He is joined by Deadly Premonition director “Swery,” who plays a priest. Ayako Shibuya (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom) and Eri Saito (Chainsaw Man) voice major roles. Finally, the protagonist is voiced by Takaya Kuroda, best known as Kazuma Kiryu from the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series.

Promise Mascot Agency is an upcoming game about managing a mascot agency in a world where mascots are a living species. You play as a disgraced yakuza named Michi who is now trying to make a new life for himself with the assistance of a finger-shaped mascot named Pinky. The game will feature management sim mechanics, driving sections where you control a kei truck and visual novel storytelling. Promise Mascot Agency was developed by Kaizen Game Works, whose previous game was the surreal detective game Paradise Killer. Early development assistance came from Ikumi Nakamura, who helped give the game an authentic Japanese feel.

Shuhei Yoshida is an odd choice for a voice role in Promise Mascot Agency, as his background is mainly in management, not acting. However, Yoshida is a popular figure within the games industry and his presence is likely to be met with positive reception. He recently announced his retirement from Sony.

Promise Mascot Agency is set for release in early 2025 for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

The post Shuhei Yoshida Is a Character in Promise Mascot Agency appeared first on Siliconera.

There’s a new look at Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii gameplay, and this time the trailer focuses on how Goro Majima works in combat. The video is over three minutes long, and it focuses on his Mad Dog and Sea Dog Styles.

After a brief segment just showing off footage of fights, the Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza gameplay gets into more solid examples of how the two fighting styles work in the game. Mad Dog is the more traditional one used by Majima both here and in past Yakuza games. It shows his quick, slashing attacks. Some of the Heat Actions are shown as well, as well as how you can charge moves to deal more damage. The Mad Dog Style Madness Gauge’s Suspicious Men also comes up at about the 1:10 mark, showing how he summons shadow clones to help fight.

The Sea Dog Style, which has Majima dual-wield cutlass swords in this Yakuza game, comes up here. While this is a sword-based style, he can fight at range by throwing the swords, using a chain hook, or firing a pistol. Like Mad Dog, Sea Dog involves summoning “allies,” though the trailer shows they are drawn in with “dark instruments” when the Madness Gauge is full.

Here’s the full Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza gameplay trailer:

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will come out for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam on February 21, 2025. There will also be a Captain Majima - EP album with “him singing” various tracks from the game out in Japan on February 7, 2025. 

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Around fifteen years after it first appeared on the Nintendo Wii, Tales of Graces f Remastered finally brings the experience of protecting your friends and family onto even more consoles. The updated graphics, combined with the very anime aesthetics and bright watercolor-like palette, help in making the game look stylized, rather than dated. As the first entry in Bandai Namco’s initiative to remaster the Tales series, it’s a roaring success that amplifies the original game’s pros while cutting down on its cons.

Tales of Graces is, for better or for worse, a pretty standard JRPG in terms of its plot. It follows Asbel Lhant, the eldest son of Aston Lhant. His parents expected him to inherit Lhant territory from his father. However, Asbel's dream was to become a knight in the service of Windor's king. During his childhood, he (along with his younger brother, Hubert, and their childhood friend, Cheria) encounter a girl with amnesia. They dub her Sophie, and then learn that monsters had attacked a carriage carrying Prince Richard, who’d been on his way to visit Lhant. The group becomes fast friends. However, a monster they encounter in the underground of Barona’s castle changes the course of their lives forever.

The main arc then follows Asbel after he becomes an adult. While the childhood prologue was the weakest part of the story for a variety of reasons, it's not something you can skip. The friendship pact that Asbel, Richard, and Sophie made at the beginning of the game comes up again and again, especially when Asbel and Sophie are discussing how much Richard changed. As a kid, he was more of an idealist who wanted to do good in the world. But when Asbel and the others meet him again as an adult—even if he went through some pretty traumatizing events—he’s like a completely different person. As they try to figure out what caused Richard’s dramatic personality change, they also uncover a secret about their planet’s past.

Tales of Graces f Remastered has a pretty simple story. It’s not as emotional or memorable as Legendia’s, but I don’t think it’ll stir as much controversy as, say, Xillia’s or Zestiria’s. The narrative plays most of the tropes it introduces straight, which can make later plot twists predictable to players familiar with the genre. That’s fine, though. Not every game is going to be a contender for Best Narrative at the Game Awards. The party dynamic in Graces more than makes up for the weaker story. Because most of the party knows each other from childhood, there’s a very relaxed atmosphere in the group after the initial awkward phase passes. Pascal and Malik, the newcomers, are all chill adults, who either mind their own business or can play along with the wilder quirks from the Lhant group (and Richard).

Tales games tend to employ a pseudo-family dynamic for its parties. I don't want to say "found family," because the characters fall into very stereotypical and gender-specific positions. For example, Asbel is the dad, Cheria is the mom, and Sophie is the kid. Pascal, somehow, fills the role of Sophie's sister, even though she's older than both Asbel and Cheria. I definitely felt my growth as a person when seeing the characters interact with each other, as well as the overall plot revolving around the Lhant family. For reference, I first played Tales of Graces when it first came out on the Wii, and imported f back in 2010 when it was still a Japan-exclusive. That means I was only in my teens when I played it.

When I was younger, I felt really bad for Kerri (Asbel and Hubert’s mom) after seeing the way teenager Hubert talked to her. But now that I’m old enough to have kids Asbel and Hubert’s age at the beginning of the game, my sympathy for her and Aston faded a lot. At most, I can understand why they even had to choose between their children, since they're both the sons of a lord. Most of my general irritation at the pseudo-family dynamic in Tales of Graces f Remastered faded as well, especially after I saw Lineage and Legacies. While Lineage and Legacies was really fun for its endgame dungeon and Accelerate Mode, its plot was even weaker than the childhood prologue. Honestly, the interactions between the party members (in the main story) were so cute. I don’t understand what annoyed me so much when I was a teenager.

As Yusuke Tomizawa, the general producer of the Tales series, said in August 2024, a huge selling point for Tales of Graces f Remastered is the combat. It’s fast-paced, addictive, and stylish. With relatively short casting times for spells, as well as a lot of flashy animations for the melee characters’ A and B artes, the screen can get very busy very fast. So some people who aren’t too familiar with how combat in this game looks might decry it as visual noise. Personally, because I know what’s going on and I’m also used to flashier Tales battles, I don’t notice anything wrong with it.

While you can get away with mindless button mashing, I do suggest taking the time to learn how to use the different techniques and characters. Each character has A and B artes, which can alter how they work in battle or offer different bonuses. Asbel's B artes unsheathe his sword. Using A artes will sheathe his sword again, as well as heal him based on his Physical Defense and how many B artes he used. Knowing little tricks like this can really save you in more difficult battles later in the game. In Asbel's case, I could get away with letting my healers prioritize someone else, because he can stay alive long enough to at least eat an Apple Gel. The more you learn about the Graces battle system, the more fun you'll get out of it.

Oddly enough, I had a far harder time settling on a difficulty level. Because I started the game with both double and quintuple EXP (along with other boosts), it didn’t take long before I became too overpowered for regular encounters. That made the game pretty boring since, again, the combat is Tales of Graces f Remastered's main selling point. But turning the difficulty to the highest setting, especially in the early game when you can only control Asbel, made the game way too hard sometimes. I felt embarrassed at how many attempts I needed to kill that first wolf you fight in the main arc. In my defense, I usually control Sophie. It took some trial and error before stumbling upon the perfect combination. I’d rather get through random battles quickly than have to redo a boss fight over and over again, especially really annoying ones like enemies with a Nova shield.

Speaking of which, one of the mechanics that Bandai Namco announced would be in the remastered version of Tales of Graces f was the grade shop being available right at the beginning of the game. If this is your first time playing, I do not recommend taking bonuses like the 5x EXP one. Like I said in the paragraph above, it makes the combat way too easy. In my opinion, the 2x EXP bonus was more than enough. It makes grinding for the endgame dungeon a lot easier, but doesn’t trivialize combat outside of boss fights.

Another quality of life change in the remastered version of Tales of Graces f was the on-screen map. You can now see where you need to go, as well as any time-limited events you might miss. Other than the improved graphics, this is the biggest reason to play the remastered version and not the previous ones. It is a serious life-changer. If there’s one thing that I think Graces did terribly at, it was dungeon design. All the dungeons look the same no matter where you are in it. And since you can't follow along your mini-map while you're inside a dungeon, it was hard to remember where I was or where I needed to go.

The Wallbridge, in particular, is a nightmare. One of my core memories of Tales of Graces on the Wii was being stuck in that stupid fortress for literal days. Every turn and room looked almost the same. I remember backtracking to see if I had gotten all the treasure chests, and then couldn't find my way back to where I needed to go. The goal icon on the screen in the remastered version not only helped to guide me to my destination, but it also served as an on-screen landmark whenever I wandered off to loot or fight.

Finally, let’s talk about the game’s visuals on modern consoles. It’s impressive! Close-up shots of the characters sometimes highlight the low-poly background. Seeing it makes it obvious that Bandai Namco didn’t develop this from the ground-up in the 2020s. However, the character models all look smooth. I booted up my PS3 Tales of Graces f to compare, and I never noticed how grainy PS3 games were. It says a lot about the quality of the game’s models and overall design that the remastered visuals hold up, even fifteen years after its initial release. At times, backgrounds and characters in the distance looked foggy in a weird way. But Tales of Graces’s watercolor-like aesthetics helped a lot in making it look natural rather than odd with the rest of the game.

I read some reviews from when Tales of Graces and Tales of Graces f first came out, and saw a few criticisms that came up again and again. One of them was load time. I'm happy to report that while the game needed to load up a new map or transport me to the battlefield, it never felt slow or annoying. On the PC, at the very least, load times were minimal. Another common criticism was the graphics. Even when f came out in 2010, it looked pretty dated for a PS3 game, apparently. When playing the remastered version, Tales of Graces f felt like a lot of the visual choices Bandai Namco made were purposeful. It looked like a stylistic choice, especially since we're now in an era where realism or "fancy" graphics is no longer the main pursuit of studios.

Between Tales of Graces f Remastered's challenging endgame dungeon and collectibles, completionists can easily sink over a hundred hours into this game. Its palatable story and fast-paced combat also make it a good introduction to the series if you’ve never played Tales before. The thing about that, though, is that there are a lot of references to previous Tales games in this one—even titles that never appeared in the west. Another detriment is that the Graces combat system makes older games in the franchise feel horribly sluggish in comparison. Nonetheless, Tales of Graces f Remastered is a promising way for Bandai Namco to start its year, as well as a potential Tales renaissance. 

Tales of Graces f Remastered will come out on the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC on January 17, 2025. PC version reviewed.

The post Review: Tales of Graces f Remastered Preserves Its Best Parts appeared first on Siliconera.

The Evo 2025 title lineup was revealed at the announcement show that was broadcast on the official YouTube channel. Eight fighting games will appear as the primary highlights in the Evolution Championship Series 2025, including SNK's new release of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and the return of Marvel Vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.

Here is the main title list for Evo 2025, which will take place in Las Vegas in early August 2025:

• Street Fighter 6
• Tekken 8
• Guilty Gear -Strive-
• Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising
• Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
• Marvel Vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes

At the end of the show, it was revealed that Evo 2025 will also have an extended lineup that includes the following titles:

• Rivals of Aether II
• Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.
• The King of Fighters XV
• BlazBlue CentralFiction
• Killer Instinct
• Plus at least three more titles which are to be announced on February 15, 2025

The first six main entries retain their positions from the 2024 edition. Even though SNK replaced The King of Fighters XV with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, which is slated for release on April 24, 2025, the former still exists in the extended lineup.

However, even though Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is also appearing at Evo Japan 2025, the title is nowhere to be seen in this lineup. It remains to be known whether 3rd Strike will be among the additional extended lineup titles that will be revealed on February 15, 2025, or not.

Evolution Championship Series 2025 will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on August 1-3, 2025.

The post Evo 2025 Lineup Includes Fatal Fury CotW, MVC2 appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix revealed that Dragon Quest X Offline will release for Android and iOS mobile devices on January 15, 2025 in Japan. The game will also offer The Sleeping Hero and the Guiding Ally expansion released in May 2023 as a separate purchase.

The main game costs 2,800 yen (or about $17.73) while the expansion costs 2,400 yen (~$15.19.) Both will be on sale until January 28, 2025 for 1,960 yen (~$12.41) and 1,920 yen (~$12.16) respectively.

You can check out the Japanese announcement trailer for Dragon Quest X Offline on mobile Android and iOS devices here:

Dragon Quest X Offline originally released in Japan and Asia on September 2022. It is based on the Dragon Quest X MMORPG released in 2012, and intended as a traditional single player experience with a customizable protagonist and set recruitable party members. Square Enix has expressed no intention of localizing the offline version of the game since its release.

Square Enix also developed a mobile version of the Dragon Quest X Online game in collaboration with NTT DoCoMo and it released via cloud streaming services on December 2013.

Dragon Quest X Offline is available in Japan for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC via Steam, and now Android and iOS mobile devices.

The post Dragon Quest X Offline Mobile Ports Appear in Japan appeared first on Siliconera.

Apex Toys announced pre-orders are about to open for a Zenless Zone Zero casual Ellen Joe figure, and that it is also working on figures based on Alexandrina “Rina” Sebastiane, Corin Wickes, and Von Lycaon. All of them are from the Victoria Housekeeping. Only Ellen has a release window so far, which is August 2025.

The Ellen figure already is in the painted prototype stage, as this character is about ready to go. Apex Toys announced pre-orders are about to open for her. She’s in her casual school uniform, which is the same outfit that is the subject of her first optional On Campus costume in-game. It is a 1/8 scale figure, which means it’ll probably be around eight or nine inches tall. 

Here are all the initial photos of her that Apex Toys shared with us online.

The other Victoria Housekeeping Zenless Zone Zero figures of Corin, Lycaon, and Rina are much earlier in development. Apex Toys only shared unpainted prototype pictures of the three of them. Those will all be in their default maid and butler combat attire. They’ll also be 1/7 scale, so they should be around nine inches or taller. That means they’d be more along the lines of the ones based on Cunning Hares members Anby, Billy, Nicole, and Nekomata.

Here’s how those are looking so far:

Even more figures are also on the way. However, it will take more time before we see them. Good Smile Company is working on Zenless Zone Zero Nendoroids too. The first ones will be siblings Belle and Wise. 

Zenless Zone Zero is available for the PS5, PC, and mobile devices, and scale figures of Ellen, Rina, Corin, and Lycaon are on the way from Apex Toys.

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HoYoVerse announced yet another collaboration between the game Honkai: Star Rail and Lawson convenience stores in Japan, which will mean more merchandise. More details on it will appear in late March 2025.

This collaboration focuses on Amphoreus, which is the new world that the Astral Express and Trailblazers will visit when version 3.0 launches on January 15, 2025. After the collaboration starts, food items and merchandise featuring the new Amphoreus characters from Honkai: Star Rail will appear in participating Lawson locations. Buying them will earn you the chance to win some exclusive and limited goods. As well, participating stores will have some Honkai: Star Rail announcements and decorations.

The last time HoYoVerse and Lawson had a Honkai: Star Rail collaboration was back in April 2024. This campaign featured Acheron, Aventurine, and Sparkle, who were the first new characters we saw when the setting shifted to Penacony in version 2.0. Back then, Lawson collaboration Honkai: Star Rail merchandise included acrylic keychains, foldable tables, and Meiji snacks. The store offered prizes like clear files and magnet sheets based on what you purchased.

While it’s hard to tell the order that the Amphoreus characters will appear in, we can assume that characters HoYoVerse already released drip marketing for will be present in this collaboration. That includes: Aglaea, Tribbie, and Mydei. Other major characters like Phainon might appear on the goods as well.

Honkai: Star Rail is available on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices.

The post There’s Another Honkai: Star Rail Lawson Collaboration appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix announced one of the changes coming in patch 7.16 for FFXIV, and it affects the Chaotic version of the Cloud of Darkness Alliance Raid. In short, after the update drops we can exchange Clouddark Demimateria I for Clouddark Demimateria II.

When you take on the raid, you always get two Clouddark Demimateria I and one Clouddark Demimateria II. You can take these items to Uah'shepya in Solution Nine to trade for certain items that also have a chance to drop from the fight. However, Clouddark Demimateria II can only be exchanged for the A Half Times Two hairstyle Modern Aesthetics item or Dais of Darkness mount. Each one requires multiple Clouddark Demimateria II, in the event they don’t appear after the battle as loot, so this change would make it easier to trade for them.

Here’s the official announcement. In it, Square Enix also asked for additional feedback about the fight.

The FFXIV Cloud of Darkness Chaotic Alliance Raid is relatively new to the MMORPG, as the Final Fantasy crossover fight debuted in patch 7.15. One of the draws for the fight is a new mount. The Shroud Of Darkness basically allows us to don the boss’ “eldritch rainment” to look and move around like it does in the field.

Final Fantasy XIV is available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the Cloud of Darkness Chaotic changes will appear in the upcoming FFXIV 7.16 patch.

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Atlus released a new patch for Metaphor: ReFantazio, which contains some quality of life improvements such as the ability to change your party members via the main menu and equip screens. There are also some fixes for the Windows PC and Steam versions of the game.

All versions of Metaphor: ReFantazio will see some minor adjustments after we download the patch from Atlus. But the biggest parts of this update have to do with the main menu. After you install the patch, you’ll be able to change your party members in Metaphor: ReFantazio via the equipment screen. In the past, you had to access the party screen in order to do this. You’ll also be able to jump to different categories when clicking on the item menu. Atlus also fixed a bug that’ll prevent progress after a certain input in the main menu.

PC fixes focus on quality of life complaints and bugs. For example, the patch fixed an issued in which the camera movement will slow down after using the mouse. It also fixed an issue that locks your frame rate after certain inputs.

Metaphor: ReFantazio came out in October 2024 and is a new IP from Atlus. The same creative team that worked on the Persona 3, 4, and 5 developed this game. It was very popular at launch, and received several major nominations in 2024.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is readily available on the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC. As of the time of writing, Atlus has not yet implemented the patch.

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Bandai Namco announced that the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2025 is canceled due to the fires in Los Angeles, California. There is no new date set for the events planned to happen during the events. It was originally going to be held at the Shrine Auditorium between January 18-19, 2025. 

In the statement regarding the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2025 cancellation, the Bandai Namco cited the decision as a safety measure due to the Los Angeles fires. It noted a desire to ensure everyone stayed safe, while also offering consideration to those affected by the disaster.

Here’s the full message shared on social media. 

As usual, the event was going to provide a chance for the company to make announcements about video game and TCGs based on the Dragon Ball series, as well as hold finals tournaments for other titles. As a result, the Dragon Ball FighterZ, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Dragon Ball Super Card Game Fusion World, and Dragon Ball Super Card Game Masters tournaments will be rescheduled and held at a different time. The event was also going to include promotional opportunities, such as a booth promoting the new Dragon Ball Daima anime running on Crunchyroll and a chance to take on a Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle challenge.

Bandai Namco isn’t the only company changing plans as a result of the fires in Los Angeles. Square Enix also halted automatic housing demolition in Final Fantasy XIV. This was only done on North American Data Centers’ worlds, out of consideration for victims of the fire who would be unable to play due to evacuations or other tragedies related to the fires. 

There’s no word yet on when the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2025 events will be held now that it is canceled. Dragon Ball FighterZ can be found on the Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is available on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. 

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