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In an unprecedented and unforeseeable event, the Cyborgs have returned to once again threaten the liberty and sovereignty of Super Earth and its inhabitants. This nightmarish turn of events follows the discovery that the Automatons seized the schematics for the Star of Peace with the intent to build one for themselves and use it for their dark and violent purpose. They have been tasked by the Cyborg Legion to carry out these crimes. Play Video The Helldivers have been ordered to take on the dark and grim streets of Cyberstan’s cities and stop this collusion of bots and Cyborgs in its tracks! The factory cities Now Super Earth is taking the fight to the heart of Cyberstan. Drop into the bot homeworld and prepare to breach the fortress walls of their massive factory cities. Fight through the inhospitable landscapes that power the Automaton war machine: industrial complexes that are heavily defended with hazards around every corner. The community of Helldivers must work together to clear a path through Cyberstan’s factory cities–choose which cities to destroy, making sure to bring down every building and leave no bot standing as you democratize these heartless machines. New mission & objectives Your primary mission will be to stop the production of more Cyborgs, as well as compromise Automaton defenses trying to stand in your way. Helldivers will also have the opportunity to clean up: destroy their mega factories building by building, and tear down the symbolic statues of the war criminals and terrorists revered by Cyborg scum in order to further destabilize and demoralize their regime. But beware–an old familiar threat rises in these dark, foreboding streets: the Cyborgs have returned with new weapons of mass destruction. Old enemies return You must face down three new types of enemies in the Cyborg subfaction. Outsmart the Agitators, who command the Automaton legion in the field, are heavily armored and can take control of enemy squads, making tactical decisions on the battlefield. ​​ Fight them while the Cyborg Radicals rush you from every side to make the fight up close and personal. They are the most extreme vision of a wretched Cyborg-run future: they push their bodies to the limit with cybernetic and bio-enhancements, turning themselves into a mockery of humanity. And finally, fight the Vox Engine: the Voice of the Cyborg Legion. This war machine, piloted by a high-ranking Cyborg officer, rolls across the battlefield, blaring Cyborg’s propaganda. It is armed with dual laser cannons, rockets, laser gatlings–all to ensure no one can stop the spread of their message. Helldivers call for aid And Super Earth shall answer! Along with the recently-deployed Siege Breakers Warbond which features defensive assistance like the G/SH-39 Shield, Helldivers will also be able to purchase the War Horses set of armor in the Superstore. Global reinforcement limits ​​ Sending reinforcements to Cyberstan is a great risk for Super Earth, which means it will be essential for the Helldivers to stay alive for as long as possible. Every death will be counted in the Battle for Cyberstan, using a Galactic Reinforcement Counter marking the finite number of Helldivers able to be deployed. If the counter reaches zero, it means we have lost the Battle for Cyberstan. Helldivers, we cannot lose to this renewed Cyborg threat. Your objectives must be completed while ensuring maximal lifespans for all divers. Stim your squadmates, bring defensive stratagems, and survive as you fight your way across Cyberstan, destroying the factory cities together! The latest Helldivers 2 update, Machinery of Oppression, is live now! *Requires base game, paid purchase of Super Credits, and game progression to unlock. Gameplay requires internet access and paid-for PlayStation Plus membership (sold separately) on PS5. View the full article

Tune in live this Friday for 60+ minutes of news, gameplay updates, and announcements from game studios across the globe. February’s State of Play will spotlight eye-catching third-party and indie games headed to PS5, along with the latest from teams at PlayStation Studios. Play Video State of Play broadcasts live February 13 5:00AM at Bangkok/Jakarta | 6:00AM Singapore/Kuala Lumpur/Manila on YouTube and Twitch, and will be broadcast in English with Japanese subtitles also available. We’ll see you then! Regarding co-streaming and video-on-demand (VOD) Please note that this broadcast may include copyrighted content (e.g. licensed music) that PlayStation does not control. We welcome and celebrate our amazing co-streamers and creators, but licensing agreements outside our control could interfere with co-streams or VOD archives of this broadcast. If you’re planning to save this broadcast as a VOD to create recap videos, or to repost clips or segments from the show, we advise omitting any copyrighted music. View the full article

It’s been nearly one year since the launch of Monster Hunter Wilds! Thank you to all of the hunters out there for your support. Today, we’re sharing details on our Ver 1.041 update arriving on February 18, as well as details on the first anniversary in-game event. Monster Hunter Wilds – February update Play Video After the update arrives on February 18, we’ll be kicking off a series of events to celebrate the first anniversary. Log in between February 18 and March 19 to receive a free special item pack. We’ll also be giving everyone one free Character and Palico Edit Voucher as well. Festival of Accord If you missed one of the previous Festival of Accord seasonal events or just want to revisit their good vibes, you’re in luck. During the anniversary event, we’ll be re-releasing past seasonal events on a weekly rotation. Get special equipment, login bonuses, and more from each event. Here’s a look at the upcoming schedule: Blossomdance: February 18th – February 25th Flamefete: February 25 – March 4 Dreamspell: March 4 – March 12 Lumenhymn: March 12 – March 19 10-star Arch-tempered Arkveld is here Starting February 18, Arch-tempered Arkveld will appear as a permanent Event Quest. Additionally, the four apex predators of each locale will also appear as ★10 Arch-tempered monsters (Rey Dau, Uth Duna, Nu Udra, Jin Dahaad). Besting all ★10 Arch-tempered Arkveld Event Quest and special environment quests will unlock a high-difficulty Free Challenge Quest: the ★10 Arch-tempered monsters Hunt-a-thon quest. All these quests offer a significant challenge that’s sure to test the skills of even the most seasoned hunters, so be sure to give them a try. The winners of the Original Weapon and Pendant Design contest are here This update introduces the winning community-created weapon and pendant designs from the Original Weapon and Pendant Design Contest that was held last year. Take on the permanent Event Quest, Every Hunter’s Dream, to obtain both the weapon and pendant. Thank you again to many community members who submitted their amazing designs for the contest. A collaboration with Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection To commemorate the release of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, we’re introducing a special collaboration where you can obtain a one-of-a-kind Royal Palico Rudy Costume α Palico equipment and special Monstie-themed pendants. Make your way through the new side missions to unlock special free quests focused on egg transport. Some eggs are highly potent, and delivering these increases your additional rewards. Good luck delivering those Monstie Eggs to camp for Rudy. New Event Quests will appear weekly New event quests will continue to come to Monster Hunter Wilds. These include unique quests where you can obtain special pendants, quests featuring the least hunted monster, and quests where you can obtain the dazzling armor sets Gala Suit α and Felyne Star α. And finally, the final Free Challenge Quest, Arch-tempered Arkveld, will be available from March 19 to March 31, so stay tuned. Nearly all event quests, with some exceptions, will become permanently available beyond February 18. There are more event quests beyond those introduced here, so stay tuned. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image That wraps up the info for the February update. We hope you continue to enjoy your adventures in Monster Hunter Wilds. Happy hunting. View the full article

Hey PlayStation Blog readers, ever hear the story of the FBI Space-Time Police Special Agent Romeo, who takes down space-time criminals in search of his lost girlfriend? No? Well, you’ll be able to find out when Romeo is a Dead Man launches on February 11! We’ve uploaded one final trailer for you all today featuring some brand new music that’ll be in the game. Seeing is believing as they say, so take a good hard look. Play Video As you can see we’re getting some pretty serious artists to contribute to the game’s soundtrack, further reinforcing Romeo is a Dead Man as a dead-serious action-adventure game. How serious exactly? Well, we asked Grasshopper Manufacture CEO, director, and scenario writer Goichi Suda (pictured left) and co-director and scenario writer Ren Yamazaki (pictured right) to find out. The character clicked as soon as they realized Romeo was also DeadMan Daisuke Koyama: Is the game based on Shakespeare’s play? What made Romeo’s story take the form it has now? Goichi Suda: It’s not entirely based on Shakespeare, no. The protagonist was always named Romeo, and if we were going to include a character named Juliet at all we figured it’d be something of a cameo at first. While writing the script, though, we noticed she became more of an important character as it went along. Romeo and his grandfather Ben are pretty clearly based on the old man/young man dynamics you see in Back to the Future or Rick and Morty, and we originally figured it would be about their journeys through space-time. But when we threw Juliet in there, it was like a missed connection or something slowly taking shape into a full-blown relationship. In other words, we never really thought too hard about making this into a “tragedy” like the original play. So Suda-san originally came up with the character of Romeo and wrote the basic scenario for the game, and then Yamazaki-san turned it into a full script, right? What kind of character is Romeo to you? Ren Yamazaki: Compared to previous protagonists Suda has written, I think he’s quite a serious and straightforward character with no hidden agenda. Suda: I wanted to write the story of a good-natured young man maturing over time. Travis, the protagonist of the last scenario I wrote—No More Heroes 3—had a wild and violent journey, so I wanted a protagonist who’d be the exact opposite of that. He ended up being a masked protagonist, too. Suda: I always wanted Romeo Stargazer to be a character that left a strong impression not just through his in-game skills and weapons, but as a character too. Our past titles feature all sorts of characters who are loved by gamers, so I really thought hard about how to make Romeo a character who’d be just as praised. When Romeo got the DeadMan moniker along the way, he really started to come to life in a way that made me confident in him. I thought to myself, like, “Romeo really is DeadMan!” and then it all kind of fell into place. That’s why we made it the title, too. The action itself is quite the strong-style hack-and-slash, isn’t it? Yamazaki: Yeah, I was firm about that. So many different aspects and systems of the game changed throughout development, but in my discussions with our main programmer, Hironaka, we made sure the battle system delivered a strong sense of action from the beginning to the end of development. How’s the combat balanced? Suda: In a full course dinner, the ingredients used are usually pretty standard no matter where you go, right? Looking at this game’s development as a full course meal, when it comes to graphics, sound design, and also the actual gameplay, we ended up using all sorts of ingredients that you normally wouldn’t find in a regular kitchen. But no matter what ingredients we were handed we used them to our fullest ability, which I think is our strongest point as a studio. We kept making adjustments right to the very end to create a perfect rhythm to our own course meal. Is there anything about the action you paid particular attention to? Suda: The big finisher—Bloody Summer—I paid a lot of attention to how exactly it felt, and to that end the general movement of swords were refined meticulously so that it would feel as authentic as possible. I’m pretty sure I also made a lot of adjustments to the actual moment of impact, but that was years ago development-wise now and I’ve totally forgotten what exactly I requested (laughs). Action games are the kind of thing that get better and better with each and every minor tweak. We also paid special attention to how many enemies appear and where in each level. Each time I played through the game to make adjustments, I imagined myself to be playing it for the first time and really considered the emotions that come with that. Even on a first playthrough, I really wanted it to feel as smooth as it is challenging, and I think we got a good balance there. The end result is obviously dependent on the players, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how it’s received by the public. Romeo uses both swords and guns. Was it hard to balance the action between the two? Yamazaki: When you think of it at a pure game design level, close combat weapons and ranged weapons are kind of polar opposites in terms of action. I paid a lot of attention to creating situations where both would be valid options to use. Of course, shooting an enemy from outside their own range of attack is still the strongest method of attack, technically. That’s specifically why we introduced the Bloody Summer system, the crazy finisher move that only charges when you attack enemies with close combat weapons. Sure, it’s riskier because there’s far more of a chance of taking damage as well, but that’s the gamble. It’s safer to hit enemies from afar with your guns, but the gauge doesn’t fill. Basically it’s a battle of merits and demerits that has to be figured out moment-to-moment to ensure your victory. There’s also the Bastard system where you summon support characters. Where did this idea come from? Yamazaki: We were already experimenting with gimmick skills outside of the main character’s regular move set in Travis Strikes Again and No More Heroes 3. Bastards are kind of a natural evolution of what we were doing there. Suda was pretty adamant about adding in a crafting system in the game, and when we were brainstorming on two separate skill and crafting systems, we realized it might be more interesting if they were connected to each other. There’s a ton of variations to make, so be sure to switch them out whenever you can. Suda: The Bastards really have a nice sense of presence in the game itself. They alter the way you approach battles, and you really have to think about how you raise them, not to mention what the ideal loadout is at any given time. If you raise them right, they end up being stronger than your regular weapons. Also, on PlayStation, when you harvest Bastards from the soil they react to the adaptive triggers. That’s one way of using them. Do you have any Bastards you’re particularly fond of? Suda: The one I used right to the end was called Mictlantecuhtli. Definitely my strongest. Also, FrostBolt, which freezes enemies. Yamazaki: It was SuicideAttack for me, which blows itself up. The more you raise it, the stronger it gets. I think it’ll be fun for everyone to come up with their own combinations. Make sure to give a try! And if you do, keep playing all the way to the end–the second half in particular’s got quite the surprises in store. On getting players into the action as fast as possible It seems in classic Grasshopper style, the story itself and its presentation is trying to confuse players. The opening sequence is pure chaos. Suda: The opening in particular is full speed ahead, yeah. I think it’s quite the good composition, if I do say so myself. If we’re gonna cause some ruckus right off the bat, we might as well equally get the player in the thick of the action as fast as possible so they don’t have to think too long about it. I’m just glad if they can enjoy the action right from the start. Yamazaki: I’ve been at the company for quite some time now, so I’m really used to Suda’s storytelling style. I guess from that perspective, it’s nothing too unusual for me. It’s, like, yeah, business as usual. Of course, I understand it’s probably confusing to first-time players, but that confusion itself is fun to see. I’m especially excited for how people will react to the story as a whole. Suda: There’s plenty of things that go unused over the course of game development. I really hate just leaving things on the cutting room floor, so I try to use as much of it as possible. The opening to the game used to be much longer, but due to a variety of factors it turned into what it is now. Of the things that seemed like they might go unused, we tried to put all of them in full right from the get-go, so the opening is basically the best possible outcome of it. We wanted players to feel this kind of rush going into it that leads them straight into the action. Right, a longer opening makes people impatient. Is that how you convinced the staff, too? Suda: Actually, about half the staff working on Romeo is a Dead Man were joining Grasshopper for the first time, and I probably think they felt a huge kind of anxiety about it throughout the entire production. How do you mean? Suda: I think for the most part everyone made it not really understanding what kind of game it would eventually turn into. I think only around debugging time did most people really start to see the whole shape of the game as it was. Why do you think that happens? Suda: Our development style is kind of ad-libbed, I’d say. Basically we bring a bunch of ideas to the meetings and develop them just through talk and pick apart what seems like something worth implementing, and for the most part we just pick the most interesting ideas and ad-lib ways to put them in. But as the number of staff involved with development increases, that becomes more and more difficult. At a sheer numbers level, it’s hard to communicate those ideas to every member of every section of the company. Sounds very ad-libbed to me. Suda: But I think that feeling of a bunch of interesting ideas packed into one is what sets Grasshopper games apart. Especially when it comes to action games, they’re not really something where you decide on a super rigid spec sheet from the beginning and follow it all the way through—it changes throughout development. You basically have to keep polishing really small parts to make the overall product better. That kind of ad-libbing and improvisation is what connects the chaos of the game’s opening to the various forms of expression we see used in the rest of the game too, right? Yamazaki: Of course, Suda’s directing style and the new staff are one thing, but about half the staff is made up of long-time members who more or less understand the unique culture that makes the base of our development cycle. I’m not sure if that’s an advantage or a disadvantage, but that’s precisely where that bold flavor unique to our games comes through; I think that really works for the people who enjoy it, and is more of an acquired taste for a first-timer. It’s kind of like a ramen shop with a thick, strong broth. But you don’t plan on changing that, do you? Yamazaki: There are definitely times we consider making things a more general, salty flavor for the public at large; though, I’m not sure it works out that way even when we try (laughs). Usually I start out that way, but somewhere along the way I get bored with the blandness and end up putting a bunch of spice in without even realizing. Suda: There are already enough “orthodox” games out there to begin with, and I don’t think it’s our place to compete with them. The world is already overflowing with “perfect” games that look like something Dekisugi-kun (from Doraemon) would make. But if they were all Dekisugi-kun games, then there’d really be nothing interesting. We definitely need more Nobitas in the world, and I think our studio is one of them. Whether or not Doraemon is with us, who knows? (laughs) Embrace the chaos on February 11 How was the interview? Our quirky action game’s got a strong backbone to it. It definitely requires a bit of skill; each enemy’s got its own characteristics and combat changes with each weapon. Also, the stronger you make Romeo, his weapons, and support characters through mini-games, the battle encounters themselves evolve with it. This thing’s got some pretty satisfying punch to it, if I do say so myself. Do what you want, however you want it. If I was to measure what kind of excitement we want to deliver, imagine you order ramen and gyoza, and then you get what looks just like ramen. But then you finish the soup, and bam, at the bottom of the bowl: there was your gyoza the whole time! You’ll be like, “whoa, who knew video games could be this free?” Anyway, we hope you can feel the overflowing passion, joy, and pure human spirit that radiates from Romeo is a Dead Man. Give it a try! View the full article

Tune in live this Thursday for 60+ minutes of news, gameplay updates, and announcements from game studios across the globe. February’s State of Play will spotlight eye-catching third-party and indie games headed to PS5, along with the latest from teams at PlayStation Studios. State of Play broadcasts live February 12 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 11pm CEST | February 13 at 7am JST on YouTube and Twitch, and will be broadcast in English with Japanese subtitles also available. We’ll see you then! Regarding co-streaming and video-on-demand (VOD) Please note that this broadcast may include copyrighted content (e.g. licensed music) that PlayStation does not control. We welcome and celebrate our amazing co-streamers and creators, but licensing agreements outside our control could interfere with co-streams or VOD archives of this broadcast. If you’re planning to save this broadcast as a VOD to create recap videos, or to repost clips or segments from the show, we advise omitting any copyrighted music. View the full article