This Week in Games
Dot Hackers, Demon Attackers, and Sony's State of Play
by Jean-Karlo Lemus,
Welcome back, folks! I normally try to have something witty prepared for the column intros, but I've been caught on the back foot this week. I will say, I've been catching up on my reading lately; I recently wrapped up the first volume of Heaven Official's Blessing, and I'm looking forward to starting Tatami Galaxy. (I could have sworn I had a copy of The Night is Short Walk On, Girl, but I guess my own collection can confuse even me.) I've also been feeling the hankering to re-read the Lord of the Rings and The Dark Tower series, but my collections of those are all the way in Puerto Rico. Okay, news time!
CyberConnect2 Announces New .hack Title
Fans were abuzz last weekend when CyberConnect2 put up a teaser for a new title. Since the company's 30th anniversary was approaching, folks theorized about what it could have been. Some proposed a Jujutsu Kaisen video game, while others wondered if it meant we'd finally see the .hack//IMOQ quadrilogy remastered for modern consoles. Well, that latter one was half-right: CyberConnect2 is bringing back .hack for their 30th anniversary—and with a brand-new game, .hack//Z.E.R.O!
Being a teaser, there's precious little else to go off of—for the most part, we know this is a reboot for the .hack series. We also got a glimpse at the new character designs! Instead of Yoshiyuki Sakamoto, Z.E.R.O.'s character designs are coming from Seiichiro Hosokawa, whose work was used for the later .hack//G.U. series. I'll cop to not having played the G.U. games, but I'm a bit torn on the redesigns. "The World" mostly goes with a "fantasy" aesthetic, with bizarre tech-y stuff only happening when Aura or Morgana's stuff starts going on (like with the Twilight Bracelet). Balmung and BlackRose's designs are consistent, according to the glimpse we see of them fighting in the teaser; they just look a bit more elaborate. Protagonist Kite's ensemble (the white-haired guy in the red outfit) has been redesigned to look a bit more like modern parkour gear. It's a bit jarring to my tastes, but I'll probably get used to it. But—and this is important—the Data Drain sound effect hasn't been changed. According to an interview with Famitsu, President of CyberConnect2 Hiroshi Matsuyama confirmed that Z.E.R.O. will also expand more upon the real world outside of just emails.
It's a bit hard to discuss .hack since it's so old at this point; much of what it established and introduced was largely redone by Sword Art Online. And Sword Art Online had the advantage of not being as talky as the original .hack//SIGN anime. But in the early 2000s, there was no escaping .hack; it was a multimedia franchise all about the supernatural comings and goings in a mysterious MMORPG known only as The World. Every so often, a mysterious entity named Morgana would develop unnatural monsters in The World to hunt down players; players defeated in-game by these monsters would usually slip into a coma, since The World was a VR experience. The main characters would band together, usually aided by a mysterious virtual figure named Aura—the original .hack//SIGN anime revolved more around a group of players encountering these mysterious incidents while also trying to get to the bottom of the case of Tsukasa, a player who was incapable of logging out of the game. The .hack//IMOQ titles (so named for the acronym of the four games in the series: Infection, Mutation, Outbreak and Quarantine) centered around Kite and his many direct battles against Morgana's actions—usually through an illegal in-game item granted to him by Aura called the Twilight Bracelet which allowed him to "Data Drain" Morgana's illegal monsters to hack them into normal, defeatable monsters.
The ongoing mystery of Aura's nature was one part of the appeal of the series, as was Yoshiyuki Sakamoto's character designs. But the real draw for .hack was how well it understood online communities and the people who inhabit them. In .hack//SIGN, we learned that many of our beloved players weren't just random teens playing the game; some were employees at the Diet, some were professional models. This continued in the IMOQ games, where our potential party members would email Kite outside of the game and talk about their lives. You had homemakers playing the game mid-pregnancy, or hardcore fans of Hong Kong cinema or Akira Kurosawa samurai epics. Even the most glammed-out super-player was likely just a very dorky guy "IRL." Even NPCs in-game were still reflected as players. Some were looking for an escape from their day-to-day lives, and some just wanted to troll other players. One NPC deliberately spread misleading rumors to send people on wild-goose chases. This wasn't even a side-quest or anything, it's just a guy in town lying about secret levels where female characters' clothes turn invisible or level entrances that will eat your mount. It was also quite ahead of the curve with regards to the MMO boom, with the IMOQ games releasing two years before World of Warcraft!
CyberConnect2 is better known for their work on licensed anime titles or the Little Tail Bronx games (like SoLaToRoBo or Fuga: Melodies of Steel). But it was their work on the .hack titles where they cut their teeth. Considering CyberConnect2 vowed to use all the skills it's accumulated over 30 years for this title, hey, no better place to do it! If it hasn't been apparent, this has been phenomenal news for .hack fans. Sure, folks are still itching to see the IMOQ games ported, but a new .hack game in 2026!? Who would have thought?! The comments on the trailer are overwhelmingly effusive, from both American and Japanese fans. One notable Japanese fan was surprised by how many of us in the U.S. still love .hack, and another commenter described their joy as a 40-year-old man at rejoining a series he had enjoyed in high school. The YouTube description also notes that CC2 specifically requested total control over the project from .hack owner Bandai Namco—which was granted to them. Better or worse, this is CC2's baby, from start to finish. We don't have a release window for .hack//Z.E.R.O. yet. But man, am I so glad to be welcomed back to "The World."
Demo Preview: DAMON and BABY
Arc System Works has been, er, working on DAMON and BABY for a bit: a new title about a beleaguered demon with ambitions of promoting to a higher rank, tasked with caring for a mysterious toddler who rides around on his back. Arc System Works was kind enough to extend an advanced copy of the demo for me to preview the experience. And I think folks are in for a good time!
DAMON and BABY plays like an isometric looter game; your demon waddles around with the titular baby on his back as he encounters monsters and demons of all stripes. You have your fists to bust heads in, as well as a variety of firearms: pistols, machine guns, shotguns, and more. As you progress through different ruins, you earn better weapons with a variety of perks: extra shots fired per bullet, faster rates of fire, better damage, and so on. You also earn experience from defeating monsters, which allows the titular Demon to level up, increasing his health or his proficiency with different weapons. Shooting feels good, especially if you find a particular weapon that you really vibe with.
Monsters also get fairly creative. Some monsters are unaffected by bullets, forcing you to get up close and personal with your fists. Some monsters will zero in on you to steal the baby, requiring you to focus fire on them before they abscond with the child and give you an instant "Game Over." Enemies can poison you, or attack you with massive spears at range, or even summon extra monsters to harass you. Thankfully, your guns can even the playing field—as well as the hilarious "Baby Jump." Because the Demon and the Baby are bound to each other, the Demon can just yeet the child to teleport to her location (presumably, she likes flying). The baby is immune to demonic bullets, so this is a fantastic way to dodge enemy fire. It's also a key part of the platform puzzles, requiring you to time your regular jumps and Baby Jumps to cross chasms.
Of course, there's more to do than just gunning down enemy demons; you can also chatter with the locals and help them with their own problems, like getting them food they want or, uh, punching their car into scrap. Arc System Works also injected a bit of fan service into the game; during our playthrough of the demo, there was an ongoing quest involving an amnesiac I-No from Guilty Gear. You can also customize your outfit and collect ingredients and recipes for cooking.
My vertical slice of DAMON and BABY was fairly brief, but I did have a handful of issues. The difficulty in the beginning is fairly front-loaded, since you start with very weak weapons and limited inventory space. Full disclosure: I endured a lack of restorative burgers early on because I didn't notice that the recipe for basic burgers was in the Demon's trailer/home base. DAMON and BABY also plays the Diablo-esque difficulty to the hilt: there is no auto-saving. If you die, you go back to the title screen and load your most recent save. There's also a curious Dark Souls-esque mechanic where you can take a load off on a sofa to restore your health, at the cost of respawning all enemies on the map.
Still, the action is fun, the characters are charming, and the writing feels genuine. Keep an eye out for DAMON and BABY; the demo should be live on Steam this February 20 (it's live as you're reading this). DAMON and BABY releases this March 2 on PS4, PS5, Switch and Steam.
Sony State of Play
I'm genuinely impressed by the last State of Play—we had some actual games previewed! Not a bunch of live-service titles, games! From a variety of genres, even! I don't know how much of this is Sony having woken up and smelled the coffee, or how much it's Sony trying to get folks interested in a PlayStation 5 in advance of Grand Theft Auto 6's incoming release, but I'll take it, and gladly. Folks are getting stuff to do with their PS5s!
Once again, we'll take a bit of a miss on the non-Japanese titles—but I do want to give some props to two series that got namedropped. First off, I'll show my bias and say that I'm stunned to see that Legacy of Kain is getting not just one, but two upcoming titles! Legacy of Kain: Defiance is getting an HD remaster—which it sorely needs. I played Defiance a decade ago, and that game was not optimized for PC in any capacity. A shame, because it's a fun action-puzzler with phenomenal writing courtesy of Amy Hennig and even better performances by voice acting legends like Simon Templeman, Michael Bell, and the late Tony Jay. And then we're getting a new Legacy of Kain title in the form of Legacy of Kain: Ascendance, which seems to detail some of Raziel's adventures before Kain rips his wings apart and tosses him into the Lake of Death at the start of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
The other drop is the news that Sony is remaking the original God of War trilogy, complete with the return of Kratos' original voice actor, the "OG" TC Carson. This news also came bundled with the shadow-drop of a new 2D God of War, Sons of Sparta, which details some of Kratos' life as a young boy in Sparta. I've had some misgivings about God of War for a long time; not that the games aren't stellar, nor their art direction, nor their cinematic direction, nor their tight controls. I genuinely love Kratos' segment with the last Spartan in God of War II, from Kratos' battle against him shot entirely in silhouette on a 2D plane to the brief (and rare) moment of genuine remorse he shows when he realizes just who it was he killed. And Carson is a great VA, nobody can channel Kratos' dripping bile quite like he does. I just never vibed with the gratuitous violence in God of War, especially with Kratos' hobby of making innocent bystanders suffer during his quest for vengeance against the Greek pantheon. So when the new God of War games came around, and Kratos was much more reserved and deliberate in an attempt at being a good role model for Atreus, I felt like the transition was unearned. But I've softened on the games (thanks in part to some phenomenal analysis from Noah Caldwell-Gervais). There's even a beautiful scene from God of War: Ragnarok where Kratos confronts his younger self, and everything he represents—which goes to further illustrate both the great casting and great performances from both TC Carson and Christopher Judge. All this to say that while I understand people being very concerned about the idea of remaking the original God of War trilogy, I'm confident that Santa Monica Studio can do a great job with it. I am open to them proving my long-standing misgivings wrong. (Also: TC Carson deserves tremendous respect for his incomparable drip.) It'll be a bit before the trilogy drops again, but I'm looking forward to it.
CAPCOM didn't have much to show that we haven't already seen: Pragmata sure is coming out this April 24, and Resident Evil Requiem sure is coming out this February 27. They gave us a cute shot of Leon walking back into the ruins of his old police station in Raccoon City, but past that, it's just a matter of CAPCOM waiting out the clock until both of these titles hit. I've got my misgivings about Requiem, what with the cars, but Pragmata has done plenty to at least get me interested.
Moving on to Konami, turns out I owe them an apology! Last week, I said they were "so busy not releasing games that they couldn't possibly afford to translate (the new Ninja Goemon collection)." They decided to show me up, I guess! First up, Konami announced the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2, which collects Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Getting MGS4 back is big; that game has been trapped on the PlayStation 3 for ages. Kojima being who he is, MGS4 was tailor-made, front and back, for that console. The problem is that the PS3 is notoriously finicky, what with its eight-core processor. Which, as I understand it, led to a lot of problems with porting or even emulating Guns of the Patriots. That's a real shame, because even if Guns of the Patriots can be significantly short on actual gameplay and long on exposition, it's very much the capstone to the Metal Gear Solid series, especially with Kojima's effective use of nostalgia. MGS4 offers plenty of flashbacks to previous games, but they're all rendered in the style of the original game, so you'll have Old Snake (Snake's new code name in the wake of his clone genes degenerating him rapidly into an old man) flashing back to his time on Shadow Moses Island with images of everyone as blocky PlayStation 1 models. And remember, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is still canon to Metal Gear Solid 4, which introduced us to Raiden in his then-new cyborg-ninja form. Peace Walker is also important, given how much of it sets up for Metal Gear Solid V, but it's also where a lot of the weirder stuff in Metal Gear Solid comes up—like everything involving Paz (up to and including a bomb implanted in her womb). But hey, at least it was remembered—a lot of the other PSP Metal Gear games like Portable Ops and Metal Gear Ac!d are still nowhere to be seen.
Aside from the cute Darwin Paradox (a platformer from a French studio starring a cute octopus escaping through civilization), Konami also confirmed that they're ringing in Castlevania's 40th anniversary in style with a new Castlevania game. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse stars a successor of Trevor Belmont (by way of Sypha Belnades) in a new Metroidvania-style adventure. The thing that's grabbed people's attention: she sure looks a lot like Sonia Belmont, the retconned protagonist of one of the Game Boy Castlevania titles. We don't have many details about who she is, but the game she stars in looks good so far, with a lovely painterly effect on her and the monsters that dwell in Dracula's lair. More to follow on this game, for sure!
A few weeks back, Bloober Team made waves with a vague tease for a new project. Folks wondered if it would be a remake of Rule of Rose; it wasn't. It turned out to be a new Layer of Fear game. But we did have a pending Silent Hill title; while Silent Hill f got the lion's share of the attention (both because of Ryukishi07's involvement and from having actually released), Silent Hill: Townfall was quietly forgotten. Konami was still working on it (with Annapurna)! Our star of the game is Simon Ordell, who washes ashore in the town of St. Amelia. Like any good Silent Hill protagonist, our man Simon is haunted by guilt from his past and strange dreams of the ocean. He also seems to have come right out of a hospital, as noted by his medical bracelet and the lancet still in his hand. It also seems that a plague has come and gone through the town of St. Amelia, and a rather badly-handled one, given the protest signs seen in the poster. Townfall is a very "post-COVID" game, as evidenced by the monsters that grow medical lancets from their chests.
Another change: Silent Hill: Townfall is a first-person game. Simon can switch between his portable television, which detects monsters in his vicinity, and a gun. But the action is told in first person. I can't shake the feeling that this was done in response to the newer Resident Evil titles finding their footing in first-person. Still, the mood is spooky, and the horrors seem like they get under your skin. Silent Hill: Townfall might be a good one. This one will come out sometime later this year.
To cap off all of Konami's work, we have Rev.NOiR, a new RPG set in a world beset by the Lightfall, where raindrops of golden light turn people into gold. Little else is known about the game, but going from the teaser trailer, we can see that it's a real-time action-RPG. Rev.NOiR is being produced by Nobuki Kadoi, who has a lot of "Project Management Division" credits for titles like Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, and a smattering of Star Ocean remakes—as well as Drakengard 2, which you'd be forgiven for having forgotten. He also has several "Special Thanks" credits for games like the Nintendo DS versions of Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, and Radiata Stories. That's a lot of history with TriAce, which definitely has my attention. Rev.NOiR is still early in development, but it seems to be a PS5 exclusive for now. I've got my eye on it...
A batch of X-Men are coming to Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and they're some pretty surprising choices! Storm and Wolverine are pretty standard, but they're looking fun so far. I can just see Arc System Works struggling to keep Wolverine's attacks from looking too much like his moves in Marvel Vs. CAPCOM; one of his attacks looks like a Berserker Barrage that's scared of getting sued. (Also, Steve Blum is back voicing Wolverine, nice!) Newcomers are the spell-casting Magik, who's apparently very popular in Japan—and a serious deep cut of a character, Danger. She's apparently a sentient robot who's the manifestation of the infamous Danger Room at Professor Xavier's Academy. Also, peep the screenshot: she's got the Rich White Girl Sweep! (I'm pretty sure Iron Man did too, but I can't find any images of it from Tōkon). Even if Tōkon has a roster of "only" 20 characters, I'm pretty confident about the game; some of the character choices so far have been inspired. Definitely worth looking out for Tōkon at your locals this August 6.
Speaking of locals, Dead or Alive is back. Dead or Alive 6 is getting an update in the form of Dead or Alive 6: Last Round, which adds a photo mode. We also have confirmation of a Dead or Alive 7 being in the works, in honor of the franchise's 30th anniversary. Hopefully, this one isn't as ridiculous with its monetization with Dead or Alive 6; that game seriously nickel-and-dimed people with individual outfit components for each character. I'm also rather astonished that these games were announced during a State of Play rather than a Microsoft stream. The Dead or Alive series (and, by extension, Ninja Gaiden) has had very strong affiliations with Microsoft's platforms for a long time. Sure, Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is going to be a multi-platform title, but Sony got the announcement. This is a franchise whose history, going back 25 of its 30 years of existence, has been firmly in Microsoft's camp; I think it's a sign of how bad things are over at Xbox Central that Sony got to break the news. No word yet on Dead or Alive 7's release, but Dead or Alive 6 Last Round lands on June 26.
I owe Brigandine Abyss an apology: when I first saw it, I confused it with the Hoshigami games. Anyway, the Brigandine series is an old, old PS franchise; Brigandine Abyss brings hex-tiled strategy to the modern age with over 100 character classes, six storylines, and hundreds of side missions. I don't have much to say about Brigandine because it's another blind spot for me, but it definitely has my attention.
GAME FREAK's upcoming 3D Souls-like (presumably), Beast of Reincarnation, got a nice sizzle reel showing off some of its action sequences. I say "presumable Souls-like" because much of the action seems inspired by FromSoft's Sekiro; our protagonist is seen parrying several swipes from a large plant-monster, while using tendrils that grow from her arm to grapple herself onto ledges (and setting up for some sweet ninja-style takedowns on unsuspecting monsters). Also, she has her adorable white wolf whose tail has turned into a vibrant bundle of vines. It's become rather impossible to talk about this game without discussing the state of GAME FREAK's efforts on Pokémon. It really does seem like everything that goes on with Pokémon has more to do with limitations imposed upon them by The Pokémon Company International regarding format and production schedule (which people have claimed for years). Plus, there's no telling how people might take breaks in Pokémon's formula; Legends Z-A is a lot, but "complacent" it's not, especially when it breaks from the franchise's dogged determinism to stick with turn-based battles and moves into real-time battles. Not that this affects Beast of Reincarnation, but there's also something to be said about Pokémon also actually sticking in kids minds since the games come out rather regularly (Automaton Media put out a fascinating article about kids caring more about Pokémon than Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy, which might stem from the latter two franchises' long dev times).
Like I said, this has nothing to do with Beast of Reincarnation, but unfortunately it's impossible to talk about GAME FREAK without wading into Pokémon discourse, especially since so much discussion around Beast of Reincarnation revolves around wondering why Pokémon isn't Beast of Reincarnation, be it mechanically or aesthetically. At the very least, it's ambitious, and I'm looking forward to it on August 4.
Finally, we have a treat for the starved Tenchu fans! Tenchu's brand of traditional ninja-based stealth and assassination has been long absent in the industry; we can't even get the off-brand Red Ninja: End of Honor back to fill in the void. No worries! Shueisha Games and Acquire have your back. Having created the original Tenchu in 1998, Acquire brings us Yakoh Ninja-Ops, a stealth game with plenty of ninja wetwork. The trailer shows us a team of four ninjas, working together to infiltrate a palace by scaling walls, breaking through walls, and other means. The stealth is quite thought-out: your field of vision is limited to what your current ninja can see, and as you walk around, you can see waves around your character, illustrating the noise from their footsteps. We see a few neat ninja kills... and that the stakes are high for these characters, with failure resulting in certain death. These are ninja, not warriors: they're on the back foot if they're detected. Moreover, their enemies include some clearly magical foes, like sentient statues. We won't see Yakoh Ninja-Ops until 2027, sadly, but I'm definitely keen on it. We've been long overdue for a new Tenchu!
Let's wrap up with some quick tidbits
That'll do it for this week. It feels like this winter has lasted ages. I'm sure hoping spring breaks soon. Everyone else, keep warm and keep active. There's a lot to look forward to in the coming months. Be good to each other. I'll see you in seven.
This Week In Games! is written from idyllic Portland by Jean-Karlo Lemus. When not collaborating with Anime News Network, Jean-Karlo can be found playing Japanese RPGs, eating popcorn, watching v-tubers, and tokusatsu. You can keep up with him at @ventcard.bsky.social.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network, its employees, owners, or sponsors.
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