Plus more Assassin’s Creed remakes are on the way and Steam finally gets a built-in clipping tool
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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 modders jump in to turn down the difficulty of Shadow of the Erdtree, Steam gets a built in clipping feature and Ubisoft CEO confirms more Assassin’s Creed remakes are on the way.
Here is the news for Sunday 30th of June. Let’s go!
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PROMO: Join the SIFTER community on Discord at sifter.com.au/discord
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FIONA: Despite only being a week old, those hard working folks in the modding community have already got stuck into creating mods for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.
It’s no surprise given the current conversation around the difficulty of the DLC that that is where most of the attention is being given.
The game has actually taken a hit on Steam, with many players complaining that it’s actually just a bit too tricky.
They range from simple stuff like dropping enemies health by 20%, or making it so you don’t drop your runes when you die, to full on easy mode mods that basically turn the difficulty down to cinematic.
KYLE: As a fellow tarnished currently struggling through some of the tougher bosses in the DLC, I hate to admit how appealing these sound.
Alas, I’ll just keep using my current strategy of dying over and over again and never changing tactics.
And to hear all our thoughts on Shadow of the Erdtree, tune into Drop Rate this coming week. Chris, Adam and I will be digging in deep on the good, the bad, and the daunting task of getting good.
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KYLE: You can now capture your favourite gaming moments on Steam as Valve introduces a built-in recording feature.
The tool, which is currently in beta, does the usual record, clip, replay and share but it gives you the option to record either manually or in the background.
It mirrors what is offered on the modern consoles and is particularly handy for those of you who play on the Steam Deck.
FIONA: It’ll make a big difference for content creators, streamers and casual gamers so they don’t have to fiddle around with other recording software.
Also whenever you make a huge play and want to brag about it endlessly it’ll now be way easier to share it with your mates.
You can try out the beta yourself. We’ll leave a link in the show notes if you want to set it up.
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KYLE: Forza Horizon 4 developer, Playground Games, has announced their open-world racer will be delisted by the end of the year.
The 2018 game will be removed from digital storefronts on December 15th due to licensing and partner agreements expiring, so you better grab it soon.
The team will be running one final in-game event from July 25th to August 22nd, but after that, some achievements linked to the seasonal Festival Playlists will no longer be unlockable.
FIONA: For those who played the game on Xbox Game Pass and had bought some DLC, you may qualify to receive a token to download the full game so you can continue playing after the delisting date which is a great move.
Licences for the cars and the music in these games expire after a certain point, but just like the Australian themed Forza Horizon 3 you can keep racing if you own it, which is pretty cool.
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FIONA: Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has confirmed what we’d pretty much expected, there will be more Assassin’s Creed remakes on the way.
In an interview (cough press release) published on the Ubisoft site, Guillemot said they’d like to revisit the older worlds of Assassin’s Creed games, which I hope means Next gen AC Black Flag.
KYLE: Come on Gill, I know you spent all those megabucks on Skull and Bones, you can at least bring a little bit of that over to the best Assassin’s Creed game ever made.
Just hit the check box in the editor that says Max Pirate Physics, it’s gotta be that simple right? Turn the ARRRRRR slider to 11. Drop in a few yo hos and we’re good.
Guillemot said they want more AC games to come out more regularly, but not the same experience every time.
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KYLE: That’s it for the big headlines, here are the games coming out this week.
FIONA: Become a descendant in The First Descendant, an online looter shooter that you can play by yourself or with friends. You’ll be fighting for the survival of humanity in this futuristic sci-fi-ish looking game. You can grab it on PC, PlayStation and Xbox on July 2nd.
KYLE: Also out on the 2nd is Final Fantasy XIV onlines new expansion called Dawntrail. This new adventure will see the Warrior of Light and their comrades head off on another adventure, this time heading to the continent of Tural. Explore new dungeons, combat, and worlds when it comes to PC, PlayStation and Xbox.
FIONA: Zenless Zone Zero is the next game from Genshin Impact developers Hoyoverse, this scifi third person action game will be free to play and feature a cool techwear aesthetic. Fight baddies and collect characters galore, play it on PlayStation 5, PC, iOS and Android
KYLE: And finally, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak is releasing to western audiences. This entry in the Trails JRPG series was released in Japan in 2021 and was incredibly well received, so if you like your combat turn based and your sci-fi convoluted, check it out on PC, Switch, or PlayStation on the 5th.
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PROMO: Articles to read, videos to watch and podcasts to listen to on sifter.com.au
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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: As previously mentioned, I’m going to join Chris Button and Adam Christou on the next episode of Drop Rate, digging into Shadow of the Erdtree. If you haven’t listened to Drop Rate, SIFTER’s video game review show, why not? Seriously? It’s great fun and packed with interesting insight on the latest video games. Find Drop Rate on your favourite podcast player, or watch the video on YouTube.
FIONA: SIFTER is produced by myself, Kyle Pauletto, Adam Christou, Courtney Smith 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.
