Sony’s latest attempt at live service success has proven to be the exact opposite, as Concord has been shut down after only two weeks of its release. Initial reports on its sales were not promising, with player counts for the Steam version barely breaking 700 concurrent players.

The shutdown of Concord is almost certainly some kind of new record. The only game I can think of with a launch this bad was Crucible. Don’t worry if you don’t remember it, I’m sure I’m one of a handful of people who do. That said, I don’t remember anything about the game itself, just how badly it did. Released in May 2020 as the first game from Amazon’s publishing division, Crucible was pulled back into closed beta a month later and then canceled entirely by October. And yet, it still lasted at least two weeks longer as a public release than Concord.

There are many things that led Concord to do this poorly. The characters were bland and uninspiring, revealing little about the character personalities (if any). Its most prominent trailer was misleading and suggested a narrative-driven experience that the game wasn’t going to deliver. It charged money up front as a new IP in a market full of free-to-play alternatives. All these reasons are contributors to Concord’s demise, but mostly, it’s simply a victim of the realities of the live service gold rush happening within the games industry.

Big companies are desperate for their own live service game. It’s easy to see why from an executive perspective. A quick glance at the billions of dollars being made by the likes of Fortnite is enough to make any investor ask why their money isn’t going towards the same thing. When a live service succeeds, it can be a huge earner, bringing in a lot of regular income. However, these seemingly obvious calculations frequently collide with the cold, harsh reality of the market they’re trying to get into.

The truth is, the live service market has proven itself to be a gamble. Sure, there have been big success stories. But for every game that makes it, there are significantly more live services like Concord, crashing and burning within months, and now even weeks, of their release. I already mentioned Crucible, an uninspiring hero shooter with PvE elements, but the list goes on.

Let’s not forget the likes of Anthem or Babylon’s Fall, where studios known for single-player games were forced into making live service games that no one cared about. What about Hyper Scape, where Ubisoft boldly asked, what if Fortnite had exactly zero personality? Even within the last twelve months we’ve seen mass indifference to Foamstars and the cancelation of Sega’s Hyenas after it became obvious that no one was going to pay much attention to it if it did release.

These games are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a parade of live service games that have been sent out to fall right into a mass grave sitting off to the side of the games industry. The live service market is one where success can be lucrative, but the failures are crushing and much more likely to happen.

The live service market is wildly oversaturated. Not just because everyone’s chasing after Epic’s V-Bucks but also because the nature of live service games means that there simply can’t be that many out there at any given time. Live service games demand your constant attention, with daily login bonuses, time-gated events and other requirements to keep coming back and make the game your exclusive forever game.

When a standard single-player game releases, the time commitment is only as long as the game’s story. An RPG may be a long experience, but once it’s done it’s easy to hop into another game in the genre. For something like horror games, their shorter length means horror fans can easily jump from one game to the next. And what’s more, a lack of players at launch isn’t a death sentence, as players can discover the game months or years later while still getting the exact same experience.

For any given live service game, you have to convince people already invested into the existing similar games to simply stop playing and move over to your project. Players certainly don’t have the time to play more than one, maybe two, at a time, so if your game doesn’t match up, it will simply be ignored. And without enough other players, these games simply aren’t worth playing. The fewer players there are, the quicker those players will disappear and accelerate the game’s demise.

It’s not impossible to succeed, just highly unlikely. Fall Guys and Helldivers 2 show that having a unique enough hook can bring people in, while Valorant and Apex Legends show the importance of good community engagement during development or around launch. But even some of these games are operating at significantly reduced player numbers from their hugely successful launches, while other games which could have succeeded, such as the unique dodgeball battler Knockout City, failed to achieve much success at all. The idea that there is a magic formula for success has simply not played out in reality.

The live service gold rush has been a disaster, and Concord is merely the latest casualty of it. Talented developers have wasted years of their lives working on canned projects, resources have been funneled away from games with more community interest and the few players who have paid into these have simply lost their money to a game they can no longer play. It’s an unsustainable strategy driven entirely by the pursuit of short-term profits. Profits that also have failed to materialize, raising the question of who, if anyone, has gained anything from this strategy.

With Concord shutting down in such a short space of time, I hope it’s the final nail in the coffin for the live service gold rush. While I don’t believe it’s the end for these games altogether, I hope the sheer numbers of them get reduced. And in the process hopefully more publishers will allow developers to build on their strengths and make much more appealing games for their audience.

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HoYoVerse will be adding new 2.5 Honkai: Star Rail Version new stages, including a new Divergent Universe, Echo of War and Stagnant Shadows ones, all with new rewards. These will arrive as part of the latest update when it releases on September 10, 2024.

The new stages added to Honkai: Star Rail in Version 2.5 will include the Inner Beast’s Battlefield Echo of War, the Famished Worker Divergent Universe stage and two new Stagant Shadows: Shape of Mechwolf and Shape of Gloam. Inner Beast’s Battlefield will reward players with various new rewards, including the Auspice Silver Trace Material, the Ashblazing Grand Duke and Watchmaker Master of Dream Machinations Relics and the “What is Real?” and “Dreamville Adventure” Light Cones. The Stagnant Shadows will also unlock two new Character Ascension materials. Shape of Mechwolf will offer Nail of the Beast Coffin, and the Shape of Gloam will offer A Glass of the Besotted Era.

Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.5 will also feature a new Divergent Universe stage called Famished Worker, which will provide players with new Planar Ornaments as rewards. The first set is Lushaka the Sunken Seas, featuring the Lushaka’s Waterscape Planar Sphere and the Lushaka’s Twinlanes Link Rope. This set will increase the wearer’s Energy Regeneration Rate by 5% and provide the first party member in the lineup with a 12% ATK boost, as long as this is not the wearer themselves. The second set is The Wondrous BananAmusement Park, featuring the BananAmusement Park’s BananAxis Plaza Planar Sphere and BananAmusement’s Park Memetic Cables Link Rope. This set increases the wearer’s CRIT DMG by 16%.

These new stages are likely to feature enemies and boss encounters featured in the Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.5 story content. The update will also include banners for the new 5-star characters Feixiao and Lingsha, along with a new Casual Mode difficulty.

Honkai: Star Rail is out now for PC, PS5 and mobile devices. The Version 2.5 Update arrives on September 10, 2024.

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Dynamax Pokemon are coming to Pokemon Go as part of the latest season. Select Pokemon will be able to participate in unique Max Battles from September 10-15, 2024.

Dynamax is the latest unique mechanic from the main games to make an appearance in Pokemon Go. These battles featuring gigantic Pokemon will appear on special stops throughout the game. Players can use a new item known as Max Particles to take part in Max Battles and unlock Max Moves. In addition, there will be a special research event focused on Dynamax, where players can earn max Particles and a Dynamax band for your trainer to wear.

The new mechanic will debut with a short event from September 10-15, 2024, where five Pokemon will appear in special Max Battles. These include the gen 1 starters – Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle – along with Skwovet and Wooloo. All five Pokemon and their evolutions can be Dynamaxed. It’s unclear if other Pokémon will be able to Dynamax, and it’s not clear if there will be further events around the mechanic after its closing date.

Here's the announcement tweet, which also includes a brief video and new song for the game.

Pokemon GO Max Battles will also feature a new arrangement of the Dynamax battle theme taken from Pokémon Sword and Shield. This was made by Junichi Masuda, who has been producing music for the series since the first Pokémon games.

While Dynamax is a new feature to Pokemon GO, it previously appeared in Pokemon Sword and Shield. It allowed players to increase the size and strength of their Pokemon in certain battles, including Gym Battles. Some Pokemon had special Gigantamax forms that changed their appearance, although these forms don’t appear to be included in Pokemon GO just yet. It’s not the first of these kinds of mechanics to be added to the game, as Mega Evolutions from Pokemon X and Y have also appeared.

Pokemon GO is out now for iOS and Android devices, and the Dynamax event will run from September 10-15, 2024.

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Pauline has been announced as a playable character in Super Mario Party Jamboree. She will be appearing in the game when it releases for the Switch on October 17, 2024.

In a new Super Mario Party Jamboree trailer released by Nintendo, Pauline is shown taking part in a series of minigames, including being a contestant on a quiz show with eight players and piloting various machines. The trailer also features her teaming up with Ninji, another newcomer to the Mario Party series. Throughout the trailer she is depicted wearing her dress from the New Donk City festival in Super Mario Odyssey.

Pauline is one of the oldest Mario characters, debuting alongside Mario in Donkey Kong for the arcades. While her appearances were mainly in the Mario vs Donkey Kong series, she was later redesigned as the mayor of New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey. This has prompted her to make several more appearances in the Mario franchise, including Mario Tennis Aces, Mario Golf: Super Rush, Mario Strikers: Battle League and as a DLC character in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Super Mario Party Jamboree will mark the first time Pauline has appeared in a Mario Party game.

Super Mario Party Jamboree was announced at the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, where it was revealed that the new game will feature five new boards and over 110 minigames. Along with Pauline, the game will feature a confirmed 22 playable characters, including everyone from Mario Party Superstars.

Super Mario Party Jamboree will release for Nintendo Switch on October 17, 2024.

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A range of YouTooz figures based on Persona 5 Tactica characters are set to drop soon. The three figures, depicting Joker, Morgana and Erina, will become available to pre-order on September 3, 2024.

The three YouTooz figures take their appearance from the chibi style of Persona 5 Tactica, which is also Erina’s debut game. Joker is posed with his gun, pointing it out in a dramatic pose, while wearing his Phantom Thief outfit plus mask. Morgana also appears in his Phantom Thief form, wielding his slingshot. Erina is posed with her glaive in one hand pointing to the ground and her gun in her other held against her chest. The figures all stand at around 4-5 inches tall.

Here's the full gallery of initial images shared with us.

Each of the Persona 5 Tactica YouTooz figures costs $29.99 from the official store. The three figures will be sold separately, and there is currently no listing for all three figures as a set. The figures will be available for pre-order from September 3, 2024 and are set to ship between March 15, 2025 and April 15, 2025.

The YouTooz figures are the latest merchandise based on Persona 5 Tactica. A range of merchandise was released alongside the game’s launch in November 2023, including pin badges, keyholders and a Morgana cushion. The game was a tactics RPG spin-off of Persona 5, featuring the Phantom Thieves pulled into a mysterious world where they join forces with rebel forces to take down a dictator named Marie. Erina made her debut in the game, as the leader of the rebels.

The Persona 5 Tactica YouTooz range will be available for pre-order on September 3, 2024 and will release between March 15, 2025 and April 15, 2025. Persona 5 Tactica is out now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

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The Danganronpa 2 Nagito Komaeda Nendoroid is now available to pre-order from the Good Smile Company. He is available from both the Japanese and US storefronts for ￥6,800/$41.99, and the figure will ship in February 2025 in Japan and Q3 2025 worldwide.

The Nagito Komaeda Nendoroid is based on his appearance in Danganronpa 2, featuring his green coat and wild hair. He comes complete with three face plates, featuring a smiling face, a condescending face seen when he questions evidence in the game’s trials, and a face with swirling “despair” eyes. He also comes with a revolver and a film sheet depicting the game’s argument alert. In addition to various hand parts, Nagito can also be posed to appear like he has his hands in his pockets.

Nagito Komaeda was announced as one of two Danganronpa Nendoroid figures announced at the Good Smile Company’s Smile Fest 2024. The other figure previewed at the event was Kyoko Kirigiri, a major character from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, who is still under development. Other Danganronpa Nendoroids that have been released include Junko Enoshima and Chiaki Nanami.

The Nagito Komaeda Nendoroid is available to pre-order now and will release in February 2025 in Japan and Q3 2025 worldwide. Pre-orders close on October 9, 2024. His home game, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, can be found on the PS4, PSP, Vita, Switch, Xbox One, PC, and mobile devices.

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Remedy Entertainment has partnered with Annapurna, with a goal of potentially producing Alan Wake and Control movies and TV shows. In addition, Annapurna will be co-financing the development of Control 2, which is currently in production.

While no concrete announcements have been made for Alan Wake or Control movies or TV shows, the announcement of the partnership confirmed an interest in expanding the IPs into other mediums. In addition, Annapurna will be helping to finance and publish the sequel to Control. The sequel has been in production for a while, although Remedy have yet to release any specific details. The news comes after Epic Games executive Hector Sanchez made a move to Annapurna. Epic previously worked with Remedy on publishing Alan Wake 2.

Annapurna is an ideal partner for Remedy to cover both their goals. While Control 2 will be self-published by Remedy, funding and additional support is likely to come from the Annapurna Interactive division. The publisher is best known for releasing projects such as Stray, What Remains of Edith Finch and Outer Wilds. Most recently they’ve released Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Flock and Open Roads. Meanwhile, the Alan Wake and Control movies and TV shows will likely be produced under Annapurna Pictures, the film division that produced Nimona, Her and Zero Dark Thirty.

Remedy are working on a number of projects including Control 2. They are also working with Rockstar on remakes of the first two Max Payne games, along with a co-op multiplayer game known as Condor. The second DLC expansion for Alan Wake 2 is also on the way, following the release of the Night Springs DLC in June 2024.

Control and Alan Wake 2 are out now, and movies and TV shows of both are in the works. Control is available for PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, while Alan Wake 2 is available for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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Atlus has revealed new details about the towns and journey elements of Metaphor: ReFantazio. Director Katsura Hashino showed off new locations and mechanics in a showcase on the Atlus YouTube channel.

Three locations were shown off in the showcase. The first of these was Martira, one of the first towns available in Metaphor: ReFantazio, located in the countryside. Other locations included Port Brilehaven, a port town surrounded by mysterious balls of water, and Virga Island, a tropical setting. There were also glimpses of a main quest dungeon set inside the belly of a giant worm. The showcase also detailed how the player gets around in the game. This requires a vehicle known as a gauntlet runner, which the player will spend a lot of time on.

Each of the towns in Metaphor: ReFantazio will contain its own activities for the player to complete. Martira features a bungee jump test of courage and the ability to milk cows. Port Brilehaven features a seafood restaurant where you can learn to fish, along with a coliseum. Even the gauntlet runner contains its own activities, from cooking and reading, to special activities involving allies such as weapon maintenance. These activities will improve your character’s standing within the game’s Royal Tournament while also building bonds with your allies.

Much like the Persona games, Metaphor: ReFantazio will require players to manage their time effectively as they move between towns. Each activity the player completes will move time forward, so they have to be aware of how much time is left in their main quest. Journeys between major locations also consume several days, although these journeys do contain their own side activities to complete such as scenic sites and combat zones. Even the worm dungeon has its own time considerations, although this is because the dungeon must be completed before the party is digested.

Finally, the showcase revealed a new party member, Eupha. She can be found in Virga Island, although details about her are being kept secret for the time being.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is a new RPG from the same team as the Persona series, and shares a lot of common elements with that series. It sees you playing as a protagonist entering the Royal Tournament following the assassination of the king and a curse being placed on the prince.

Metaphor: ReFantazio releases on October 11, 2024 for PC, PS4, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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A Switch version of Goat Simulator 3 was announced at the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase August 2024. The announcement also revealed that the game is out today.

A digital version of Goat Simulator 3 releases today for Switch. A physical edition has been confirmed and will be released sometime in November 2024. The Switch version comes packaged with all content updates released for other versions. This includes the Easter, Summer and Holiday updates.

Goat Simulator 3 is the sequel to goofy indie hit Goat Simulator, where you play as a goat in a chaotic physics-based open world. It also contains multiplayer features that allows players to battle their friends in a series of quirky mini-games, both online and in local co-op. Players can choose a wide variety of goats to play as, including tall, angry and bipedal goats.

Goat Simulator 3 is out now digitally for Nintendo Switch. A physical edition will release in November 2024. The game is also available for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and mobile devices.

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Konami will be bringing three DS games to modern systems today in Castlevania Dominus Collection . The collection was announced at the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase August 2024 and will recieve a surprise release today.

The Castlevania Dominus Collection features Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Since these games originally released for the Nintendo DS, the collection will include the ability to customize how the two screens appear together on one, along with options for controller input for touch controls. The collection also includes features such as a rewind and a quick save, along with a gallery and music player. The collection also contains Haunted Castle Reiminaged, a remake of the Castlevania-adjacent arcade game from 1988.

This is the third Castlevania collection to be released by Konami in recent years. The Castlevania Classic Collection contained early 8-bit and 16-bit games, while the Castlevania Advance Collection focused on games released for the GBA. These included Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, the predecessor to Dawn of Sorrow featured in the new collection.

The Castlevania Dominus Collection is out now for Nintendo Switch.

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A release date for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has been announced. The game will be released for PC and Xbox Series X/S on December 9, 2024, plus a PS5 release in 2025.

The release date for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was announced alongside a new trailer led by Troy Baker. The ubiquitous voice actor will be portraying the famous archaeologist in the game. In the trailer, we got to see snippets of gameplay, including the combat making use of brawling, shooting and Indy's iconic whip. Some puzzle gameplay was also shown off, including the use of photgraphy to help solve these challenges.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was first announced in a teaser by developer MachineGames in 2021. The game initally appeared to be an Xbox exclusive following Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda, and since been shown off in Xbox presentations such as the January 2024 Developer Direct and Xbox Games Showcase in June 2024. It is the latest of a long line of Indiana Jones games, from LucasArts point-and-click adventures in the 1980s to the Lego Indiana Jones games of more recent years.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will release on Xbox Series X/S and PC on December 9, 2024. It will also release on PS5 in Spring 2025.

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A new land vehicle, the REV-8, is coming to Starfield in a free update. This was revealed at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024 in a teaser trailer.

The REV-8 is a land vehicle that will allow players to drive around on planets at high speed. While the vehicle looks a lot like a moon buggy, it appears to handle like a sports car. The trailer shows the REV-8 drifting around moons and alien planets. It also has jet boosters underneath that allow it to jump and the ability to shoot while driving. The new vehicle will be coming to Starfield in a free update later today.

While the Gamescom announcement focused on the new vehicle, there was also a teaser for the Shattered Space DLC expansion at the end. While little was shown in this latest look, a release date of September 30, 2024 was confirmed. More news is likely to arrive during Xbox's own streams, where Starfield is confirmed to appear on August 21, 2024.

Starfield is out now for PC and Xbox Series X/S. The REV-8 vehicle update arrives today.

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2K Games and Gearbox announced that Borderlands 4 is in development at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024. It's set for release in 2025, and will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Borderlands 4 was revealed in a teaser trailer that opened the show. The trailer featured a mysterious planet that opens a rift and causes meteors to fall to a planet. When a mysterious figure with a robotic arm investigates the wreckage, they find an iconic Psycho mask, revealing the franchise.

The announcement comes immediately after the release of the Borderlands movie to theaters worldwide. However, it has suffered from negative reviews and poor ticket sales. The previous game in the series, Borderlands 3, was also recently a free PlayStation Plus game in June 2024, alongside Among Us and NHL 24.

Borderlands 4 is set for release sometime in 2025 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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A new story trailer has been released for the Silent Hill 2 remake, with Maria, Mary, James, and Eddie appearing prominently throughout it. The trailer shows off a range of scenes recreated from the original game.

The story trailer opens on a remake of the famous scene of Maria inside a jail cell, initially in a 4:3 aspect ratio to emulate the original game. This scene appears throughout the trailer, with much of the original dialogue intact. Other scenes shown off in the Silent Hill 2 remake trailer include flashbacks to Mary in a hotel room, scenes of James meeting Eddie and Angela lying next to a mirror. All these scenes appear to be faithful to the original scenes, with changes to some character designs and entirely new voice acting.

The story trailer also shows off a range of locations from Silent Hill 2, with some being the streets of Silent Hill, the pavilion in Rosewater Park where James first meets Maria, and a jukebox in a bar (possibly Heaven’s Night). We also get to see a clearer shot of the initial rest stop that’s been seen in previous trailers. In addition, the trailer features a new arrangement of “Promise” from original Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka. No new gameplay was shown off in the trailer, however.

The full trailer can be seen here:

The Silent Hill 2 remake was first announced in 2022 through a Silent Hill Transmission live stream, and a gameplay trailer was seen earlier this year at Sony’s State of Play presentation in January 2024. The remake is being developed by Bloober Team, who previously developed Layers of Fear and The Medium. Original team members Akira Yamaoka and Masahiro Ito are also involved in the game’s production.

The Silent Hill 2 remake will release on October 8, 2024 for PC and PS5.

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Cat Quest 3 is the latest in a series of adorable little action RPGs that have attracted a small but loyal audience. For the third game, the typical medieval setting has been ditched in favor of one based on pirates. And this high seas swashbuckler is one that you’ll want to get your paws on.

In Cat Quest 3, you play as an unnamed young cat pirate heading out on his first adventure with the ghost of veteran pirate Captain Cappey. Your adventure starts on a small island in the Purribean where you steal a ship and set off to find the mysterious North Star Treasure. Along the way, you have to deal with rival pirate captains all with their own plans for the booty.

This start sets a great impression. You’re immediately introduced to the various aspects of combat, which mainly consists of a melee weapon, a ranged weapon and a spell. Then you get a ship and can head off into the world after breaking the flimsy barrier between you and freedom. And I do mean freedom, as the world is fully explorable from the start of the game, although certain corners of the map will likely stomp you into a fur rug without a little levelling.

The Purribean Sea of Cat Quest 3 is small but dense. It’s an assortment of islands dotted around the ocean, all containing their own secrets and treasures. The ability to sail around all these places right out the gate offers a huge amount of freedom. Even within the story, you never fully feel like you’re being funneled into a specific direction. While there is a direct line of events that need to be followed, many of your objectives branch off into multiple locations that can tackled in any order, whether that’s collecting keys for a tower or defeating different pirate captains.

Tucked away between these main objectives are a ton of additional side stories, such as a lovelorn rat whose ghost still haunts his castle or a convoluted mail delivery chain that involves a wedding and a deep-seated rivalry. These side stories make exploring the world of Cat Quest 3 a joy. While you’re journeying to find where the game wants you to go, you’ll trip over countless side activities along the way. There is never a dull moment here.

The game is also determined to immerse you in its map, avoiding a lot of the tedium and bloat that can sometimes infect the open world genre. While your objectives will be marked on your map in the menu, the main game has no non-diegetic markers aside from an optional one you can place yourself. This forces you to use the environment around you to navigate, which I’m always a fan of. It helps that the map is small enough to become familiar without feeling too limited.

It manages to introduce the world to you without holding your hand too much. Your initial guides around the world are star towers that point vaguely where you need to go, but you have to triangulate with multiple towers to find your objective. In the process, you quickly become aware of which islands are where, and soon navigating this map becomes second nature. It happens to organically that I didn’t notice how little I was using the map for navigation until about halfway through the game. I simply headed off in whatever felt the natural direction at the time.

Combat in Cat Quest 3 is something you’ll find yourself spending a lot of time doing. It’s simple action-adventure fare, with a single attack button, a weapon switch and some optional spells, but the way these elements are brought together is surprisingly deep. There are multiple types of melee and ranged weapon, creating a range of combinations. You can attack with a sword, a shield or claws. The shield is slow and heavy, but offers more defense, while the claws are risky but speedy.

Meanwhile, ranged weapons include guns and wands, which offer different combat styles. Equipping the Meowchine Gun will give you weaker damage per shot but a massive clip, while the blunderbuss type weapons are powerful but can only fire a couple of shots before needing to be reloaded. Clothing and other equipment also adds a wide range of additional abilities, such as the ability to heal while attacking. The result of this is a combat system with a heavy amount of customization, making it suitable for anyone’s play style.

Combat also offers plenty of challenge. It’s not Dark Souls by any means, but there will be times where boss encounters will cause you some difficulties. Some fights might crush you unless you swap out your equipment to combat elemental damage, while others require alertness and liberal use of the dodge mechanic. This goes for ship combat too, especially as you get to more unique ships within the Meowtallica and Captain Takomeowki fleets. Ship combat against the captains’ flagships is especially stressful, as some of them can become slow-moving bullet hells. And every single one of these fights is a lot of fun, even when you’re beaten.

The story adds to the fun too. Cat Quest 3 has a simple plot, where you are racing against other pirates for a vague treasure that hides secrets, but the execution is fantastic. This is not a game that takes itself too seriously, most obvious in how many puns are baked into the game’s writing. Your enemies are actually called “pi-rats” and “meow” and “purr” are tossed liberally into any sentence that will fit them (and even a few that don’t). Every character you meet is goofy and charming, often with absurd quirks. But there’s also heart here too, as your protagonist and Captain Cappey develop a close friendship. You’ll fall in love with every single member of this cast.

Visually, Cat Quest 3 has a lot going for it too. It’s reminiscent of Square Enix’s HD-2D style, with layered 2D sprites mixed with 3D models in a diorama-style view. The characters sprites are adorable, especially the main character. He’s got a happy little face on him and seems to be having the time of his life in every animation. Even the save animation, where he hops into an immediate nap for recovery, is aggressively cute.

Cat Quest 3 is an excellent game, so much so that I’m scrambling to find criticism of it. It could maybe benefit from a fast travel system or a method to improve the speed of your ship. It could be seen as a little too short, clocking in at around ten hours if you really explore the world. The cat puns may become a little excessive at times. And that’s really all I can find to criticise it. Even then, many of these aren’t an issue for me, as the game’s density of content makes up for the length, the lack of fast travel may contribute to how intuitive the world is and the cat puns were all part of the charm.

I loved my time with Cat Quest 3. Exploration is joyful, combat is a lot of fun and the story is silly and charming in all the right ways. If you want a small but dense pirate adventure full of good humor, Cat Quest 3 is for you.

Cat Quest 3 is out now for PC, PS5, PS4, Switch, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.

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