Plus Lenovo announces the first non-Valve handheld with SteamOS and Nintendo comments on the Switch 2 leaks
Pocket Casts: You can now rate the show on Pocket Casts, give us a five star review learn more by heading here https://pocketcasts.com/ratings
Apple Arcade: Enjoy unlimited access to over 200 incredibly fun games with no ads and no in-app purchases. From puzzle and adventure games to sports, racing, and multiplayer action games, everyone can count on finding something to love. Head to sifter.com.au/arcade to start your free trial* of Apple Arcade today and you'll be supporting independent video games journalism. *New subscribers only. AU$9.99/month after free trial. Plan automatically renews after trial until cancelled.
You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by
☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ
👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/
💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord
SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Smith, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER.
FIONA: Hi I’m Fiona Bartholomaeus
KYLE: and I’m Kyle Pauletto
FIONA: Welcome back to Walkthrough for 2025, SIFTER’s weekly recap on the biggest news in video games.
KYLE: This week Sony digs into the old intellectual property bucket for a bunch of video game adaptations, Lenovo will launch the first third party SteamOS handheld, and Nintendo speaks about all these Switch leaks.
Here is the news for Sunday 12th of January. Let’s go!
—
PROMO: Join the SIFTER community on Discord at sifter.com.au/discord
—
KYLE: We really are heading into the age of video game adaptations with more announced at the recent CES 2025 press conference.
Due to be released in 2027 is a Ghost of Tsushima anime coming from Crunchyroll and PlayStation Productions and it’ll be based on Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, which is the cooperative multiplayer mode.
Takanobu Mizuno will be directing the series with the animation being done by Kamikaze Douga, the studio behind Batman Ninja and Star Wars Visions.
It’s not the only Ghost of Tsushima adaptation in the works as Sony Pictures is also doing a movie, and Chad Stahelski, director of the John Wick film series, is attached to direct the project.
FIONA: The team at Sony revealed that Sony Pictures is currently working on a Helldivers 2 film, and Columbia Pictures and PlayStation Productions are working on a Horizon Zero Dawn movie.
We don’t know much about the Helldivers film but for Horizon Zero Dawn, it’ll be similar to the game focussing on the main character, Aloy’s, origin story.
With Helldivers 2 being the fun co-op game that it is, it’ll be interesting to see how they can translate that onto the big screen.
—
FIONA: Lenovo is soon set to become the first company besides Valve to have the SteamOS on its handheld.
Lenovo Legion Go S will release in May with SteamOS instead of Windows and will be cheaper than a SteamDeck with its price of $499 USD. So it definitely will be a rival to Valve’s handheld.
The new console will have sculpted grip, 55 watt hour battery, 15 GB RAM, 512 GB of storage, and it’ll be one of the few handhelds to offer a 120Hz refresh rate screen.
KYLE: Interestingly there's also a version of the Legion Go S but with Windows instead and that one is already available now.
There are a few differences too. First off the price point is a bit higher at $730 and it’ll have 32GB RAM and 1 TB of storage, and there’s another Windows version at a $600 price point with 16 GB and 1 TB storage.
Looks like Lenovo is going slow with its SteamOs experiment but when it comes out in May we will get the real feedback from the gamers.
And Valve said they’re getting ready to release SteamOS more broadly too, so expect a few more announcements this year I’d say.
—
KYLE: And in other handheld news Acer announced their Nitro Blaze 11 at the CES 2025 conference and I don’t know when laptops became handhelds because that’s what this is.
It has a massive 11-inch display, two USB-C ports, removable controllers, built-in kickstand, microSD card slot, 16 GB RAM and up to 2 TB of SSD storage.
FIONA: The price point is about $1100 USD and I’m honestly so curious on how many people buy this. I think I'll stick to my switch and gaming PC.
Give this one a google so you can see what this behemoth looks like.
—
FIONA: Ninja and Samurai fans, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed again.
Originally scheduled for release in November last year, it has already been delayed once, and will now launch on the 20th of March.
KYLE: Interestingly this doesn’t seem to be entirely related to the game itself, a statement from Ubisoft said the one month delay was about repositioning the studio and improving profitability.
Sounds like they are shaping up to be bought out, in some capacity which is the bigger story we’ve been reporting on for the last couple of months.
Look forward to our review when Assassin’s Creed finally launches in March.
—
KYLE: And finally, let's talk Switch 2.
Hardware leaks continued over the summer, there were accessory manufacturers showing off their mockups at CES and a new Joy-Con model appeared in a clear photo with a working serial number on Nintendo’s warranty site.
Still no games at all, but it seems like we’re racing towards seeing the full retail unboxing any day now.
FIONA: Nintendo for their part has come out and released a statement which says not much really, speaking to Japanese newspaper The Sankei Shimbun
"Regarding the images and videos, they are not official."
Yeah mate we know that, they’ve been leakier than a rusty sieve.
—
KYLE: That’s it for the big headlines, here are the games coming out this week.
FIONA: Out on the 16th is Aloft, a co-op sandbox survival game set in a stunning world of floating islands where you and your friends are tasked with building skyships and exploring the unknown. That’s out exclusive to PC on the 16th.
KYLE: Also coming to PC on the 16th is Assetto Corso Evo, the hyper realistic racing sim for the real car nerds out there. This game is visually insane, and way beyond my driving expertise. But it’s definitely one to check out if this is your go to genre.
FIONA: Next up we have Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, the latest nostalgic HD remake by Nintendo. It’s somehow been 15 years since the original released on Wii, and in true Nintendo fashion this HD remake looks really great. Grab it on Switch this Thursday.
KYLE: And lastly, Dynasty Warriors: Origins is out this Friday. Hack and slash your way through hordes of chinese warriors, while also commanding an army through tactical combat. That’s coming to PC, Xbox Series S and X, and PlayStation 5 on the 17th.
—
PROMO: Articles to read, videos to watch and podcasts to listen to on sifter.com.au
—
FIONA: This has been Walkthrough by SIFTER, my name is Fiona Bartholomaeus.
KYLE: And my name is Kyle Pauletto, thank you so much for listening.
FIONA: Did you check out our big 2024 game of the year episode last year? We wrapped all our favorite games and there is a real mix of titles you’ll find plenty here to enjoy and maybe a good game to pick up on sale. Search for Drop Rate and SIFTER on your favourite podcast player for the audio version, head to the SIFTER youtube page for the video, or find a nice write up on our website sifter.com.au that address again sifter.com.au
KYLE: SIFTER is produced by myself, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Adam Christou, Courtney Smith and Chris Button. The episode is edited by both Senior Producer Mitch Loh and Gianni Di Giovanni who is SIFTER’s Executive Producer and also Walkthrough’s script editor.
FIONA: 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.
KYLE: We’ll be back with more news next Sunday.
