Happy Halloween Pow Pow fans! Sorry to miss you last week. I was out of town for a high school reunion (yeah, I’m getting old). But today we’re back for more gaming headlines as we gear up for the spookiest weekend of the year. In today’s post, the steady stream of Pokémon teasers continues, along with some news for Redfall and the Witcher, and finally some ghoulish game updates just in time for your Monster Mashiest festivities. So read on…if you dare…
The Pokémon Company released a duo of new trailers this week introducing new Ghost-type mon Greavard. The first video takes inspiration from first-person found footage horror movies as a member of Naranja Academy’s Ghost-type Pokémon Club narrates her nighttime hunt and run-in with Greavard. The second trailer gives in-game footage of Greavard as he appears in the wild and in battle. He’s a cute doggo back from the dead, ready to drain opposing Pokémon’s life energy. It seems like he’ll also hide in the wild by burying himself underground, with only the candle on his head visible. This good boy from beyond the grave makes for a perfect reveal just in time for Halloween as we count down the days until Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s November 18 release.
This week saw the release of a new trailer for upcoming vampire hunting first-person shooter Redfall. The video shows off some of the game’s locales and enemies, ranging from ghastly spectres in a dark forest, to classic robed vampires in an abandoned amusement park. Based on the trailer, combat seems to be mostly gun-based as the player fighting these denizens of the night with pistols and rifles. At one point, the player tosses a small robot which blasts an enemy with lightning, so it looks like there will be some other gadgetry to complement the shooting mechanics. The game is slated to release in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X and S, but no specific date has been given yet.
Last year’s horror hit Resident Evil Village got a huge update this week with the release of Resident Evil Village Gold Edition. The expansion adds a few new features, the first being third-person mode. Now you can play the entire game in third-person view, hearkening back to the series’ roots. The Mercenaries game mode also gets three new playable characters Chris Redfield, Karl Heisenberg, and cult hit Lady Dimitrescu. In addition, Bloody River and Bloody Village stages were added alongside the new characters.
Perhaps the most substantial addition with this expansion is a new story chapter titled Shadows of Rose which puts players in the shoes of Rosemary Winters, the daughter of Village’s protagonist Ethan Winters. The new story takes place sixteen years after Village and follows Rose as she deals with repercussions from the base game’s story, including her own strange powers. Those who already own Resident evil Village can purchase the Winters’ Expansion to get all of these updates, and new players can get the whole package with the Gold Edition. The expansion is out now on all platforms, just in time to make your Halloween weekend even more horrifying!
Cult of the Lamb released to high praise back in August, and now developers have announced the indie darling’s first seasonal event: the Blood Moon Festival. For those unfamiliar, Cult of the Lamb is a combo town-building sim rouge-like action adventure where you play as a lamb who recruits other woodland creatures to join his cult of The One Who Waits. It’s equal parts spooky and cute, perfect for Halloween. By performing the limited-time Blood Moon Ritual, players can unlock four new decorations for their town and three new follower forms to customize their cultists. In their Steam post announcing the festival, devs also promised more seasonal events down the line and a free major content update in the works with tweaks to combat and dungeons. The Blood Moon Festival is available until November 10, so check it out now on all consoles and Steam.
Last but not least, following up on one of my earlier blog posts, CD Projekt Red announced that their project codenamed Canis Majoris is in fact a remake of the first Witcher game. The studio’s debut game and the first in the Witcher series released in 2007 on PC and Mac. Although console ports were planned, they were never released. The remake is being developed by fellow Polish studio Fool’s Theory, with “full creative supervision” from CD Projekt Red themselves. No details on a release schedule yet, with CDPR’s announcement only saying that “it will take some time before we’re ready to share more about and from the game.”
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading! I hope your Halloween festivities are off to a great start! I’ll be jamming to “Monster Mash” all weekend as I scramble to throw a last-minute costume together. Enjoy the week ahead of you, and I’ll see you next time!