Plus Phoebe Waller-Bridge is writing a brand new Tomb Raider TV series
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SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Borrett, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.
KYLE: Hi I’m Kyle Pauletto
FIONA: and I’m Fiona Bartholomaeus
KYLE: Welcome to Walkthrough, SIFTER’s weekly recap on the biggest news in video games.
FIONA: This week a new Japanese Assassin’s Creed jumps out from the shadows, Valve’s next game is leaked and Phoebe Waller-Bridge is writing a new Tomb Raider TV series.
Here is the news for Sunday 19th of May. Let’s go!
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PROMO: Join the SIFTER community on Discord at sifter.com.au/discord
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KYLE: After years of fan begging, a ninja themed Assassin’s Creed has finally been announced, and not only do you get to be a ninja, but one of Japan’s coolest historical samurai characters is coming along for the ride.
Our protagonists are Naoe, a young woman who’s dealing with the aftermath of her village being burnt down, and Yasuke, a samurai who looks to be involved in the attack.
Yasuke was a real person, and is one of the first playable historical characters in Assassin’s Creed…this black samurai was originally from Africa, and came to Japan with the Jesuit priests, and was in the service of daimyo Oda Nobunaga.
FIONA: It looks like they eventually join forces as players can switch between the two characters and use their unique skills and resources.
Whether or not this is the scale of smaller AC Mirage or bigger like AC Valhalla we don’t know but Creative Director Jonathan Dumont has said it will have a slightly smaller map.
I’ve played very little of the Assassin’s Creed franchise but this has definitely caught my interest, can’t wait to see what else gets revealed this year.
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FIONA: Crack open the rumour file Kyle, this time it’s Valve's turn as a few little tidbits have snuck out about their new game which is being called “Deadlock”.
The screenshots leaked on twitter by a user called ‘gabe follower’ show a multiplayer PvP shooter described as a mix of Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2.
KYLE: Looks like it’ll sit in the same realm as other hero shooters Valorant and Overwatch.
Reporter Tyler McVicker has confirmed that Deadlock is the game previously known as Neon Prime or Citadel and is currently in closed Alpha and is being pinned as Valve’s next big competitive game.
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KYLE: A live-action Tomb Raider TV show is in the works at Amazon, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge confirmed as the writer.
It’s been rumoured for some time now, but Amazon officially announced it this week alongside a movie, and a tie-in Amazon-published game.
If the Fallout show is anything to go by, maybe we can be cautiously optimistic about this? Nah let's go back to being cynical.
FIONA: In an interview with Deadline, Waller-Bridge said that Tomb Raider has been a huge part of her life, and she feels privileged to be able to bring it to television.
No release date or casting details yet, but if you’re aching for a Tomb Raider fix you don’t have to wait too long, with Netflix animated Tomb Raider series coming later this year.
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FIONA: A few months ago Warner Bros. wound up their Adult Swim Games publishing label, and said that their games would soon be delisted much to the shock of the developers who made these games, but this week there was a great update!
Small Radios Big Televisions dev Owen Deery has now been told the game was being returned along to the developers control, including their store pages on all platforms.
KYLE: It’s the good sort of backtrack here, when devs asked if they could have their games back, and Warner Bros. was like yeah nah it’s too hard we’d rather take them down.
They were told to start from scratch, re-list them if you want, but that would mean losing all reviews, discussions, screenshots and achievement, so it’s great news that the sensible path of handing them back worked out.
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KYLE: The developers of the upcoming Marvel Rivals have apologised for a controversial contract clause in their early access agreement, which asked journalists and creators to refrain from being negative.
Streamer Brandon Larned took to X to post a screenshot of the contract showing that creators were being asked not to make public statements detrimental to the game's reputation, or any negative comparisons with competitors.
So basically, no saying that other team shooters like Overwatch are better, or else!
FIONA: But it wasn’t long before developers NetEase responded to the backlash in a Discord post apologising and assuring players that all they want is to make Marvel Rivals the best game it can be.
If only there was some constructive way you could do that…
In a follow-up post, Net Ease said it encourages honest feedback from creators, both positive and negative, and adjustments are being made to the contract to be less restrictive and more creator-friendly.
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KYLE: That’s it for the big headlines, here are the games coming out this week.
FIONA: We have a bunch of games out on Tuesday the 21st. First up is Paper Trail, a top down puzzler that’s set in a very chill, super cute foldable paper world. That’s coming to all platforms including iOS and Android.
KYLE: The System Shock remake that was a massive hit on PC last year is coming to consoles. You’ll now be able to relive the 1994 classic on Xbox one, Xbox Series S and X, and PlayStation 4 and 5.
FIONA: XDefiant is the latest free-to-play first person shooter by Ubisoft. Pick it up on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and X, and on PC via Ubisoft Connect.
KYLE: And the final release for Tuesday the 21st is Senua’s Saga Hellblade 2, the highly anticipated sequel to Sacrifice that fans have been itching to get their hands on. That’s exclusive to PC and Xbox Series S and X.
FIONA: It has been 20 years since the GameCube, I’ll pause while you turn into dust… but one of the best Mario games Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door returns this week on the 23rd to the Nintendo Switch. It’s put up there as one of the best RPGs of all time and a spiritual success to the SNES Super Mario RPG.
KYLE: And out on the 24th is Hauntii, an indie action puzzler with an incredibly unique art style. Uncover your mysterious backstory through environmental puzzles and creative combat when Hauntii comes to all platforms this Friday.
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KYLE: This has been Walkthrough by SIFTER, my name is Kyle Pauletto
FIONA: And my name is Fiona Bartholomaeus, thank you so much for listening.
KYLE: Have you thought about giving us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? It takes just a few minutes and it makes a huge difference. Especially because I KNOW you’ll give us five stars won’t you mate? Even if you listen on another platform, heading over to Apple Podcasts and Spotify to give us a five star review will make a massive difference for us! Thanks for the glowing review!
FIONA: SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, myself, Adam Christou, Courtney Borrett, Daniel Ang and Chris Button. The episode is edited by both Senior Producer Mitch Loh and Executive Producer Gianni Di Giovanni, who is also Walkthrough’s script editor.
KYLE: Thanks to Brian Fairbanks from Salty Dog Sounds for composing the Walkthrough theme tune, and Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER’s podcasts.
FIONA: We’ll be back with more news next Sunday. See you then.
