Plus 12 month wait for big games to hit Game Pass Standard and our favs from Gamescom Opening Night Live
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 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 our faves from Gamescom’s opening night, Nintendo shows off its new interactive museum in Kyoto, and Game Pass players might need to wait a year for games if they aren’t on the top tier.
Here is the news for Sunday 25th of August. Let’s go!
—
PROMO: Join the SIFTER community on Discord at sifter.com.au/discord
—
FIONA: A stack of new trailers and games were revealed at Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase, and there are a couple that I’m super excited about.
Bethesda gave us a new trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and not only will you use Indy’s famous whip, but you’ll get to dive into all the history and culture of the mystery, using his camera and journal. Most importantly, we finally got a release date of December 9 on PC and Xbox Series X|S, and announced the game would arrive on PlayStation 5 in the first half of 2025.
KYLE: Top of the list for me was Masters of Albion, a new god game that channels a bit of Black and White which Fable creator Peter Molyneux became famous for. It is Peter Molyneux though…so who knows, there is always Fable 4 on the horizon to look forward to as well.
A gameplay trailer dropped for a new gun-fu brawler IP titled Spine that looked pretty damn fun.
FIONA: Life is Strange developer Don’t Nod showed off a new trailer for its next game Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. Focussing on four friends and bandmates having fun in the 90s, they encounter a strange event which they then have to confront 27 years later after a mysterious package arrives at their door. I love the Life is Strange games so I’m looking forward to seeing where this one takes us, but I know it’s going to be as heartbreaking as the other games. The devs confirmed at Gamescom that it will launch in two parts on PlaySation 5, PC and Xbox Series X\S on February 18 and March 18 next year.
Starfield got a car which is actually super fun to use and Shattered Space DLC release date of 30th September, and Borderlands 4 was confirmed.
KYLE: We got a really good look at Civilization VII, can’t wait to spend a bad amount of hours on that one. Oh and we found out it’ll be narrated by Brienne of Tarth herself, Gwendoline Christie, which is a great choice.
And finally, a new instalment in the Mafia series was announced titled The Old Country, and will be set in the motherland and voiced in Sicilian which is very cool. Looking forward to getting stuck into that.
There were a bunch more announcements that we don’t have time to get into here, so click the link in the show notes to check out everything we missed.
—
KYLE: Nintendo held a Direct this week but it wasn’t the usual game trailers, instead they showed off their brand new Nintendo Museum in Kyoto and it looks fantastic.
It’s built on the site where the original Nintendo factory was, back when they were making Hanafuda and other playing cards.
The whole museum is a nostalgia trip, with areas dedicated to all the different consoles, how graphics have improved throughout different franchises, and they even showed the regional differences for games and consoles. For example the Famicom as it was called in Japan and Nintendo Entertainment System, for everywhere else.
FIONA: They also have exhibits on all the toys and other objects they made before they moved into gaming, like board games, strollers and exercise equipment.
There are a whole bunch of activities you can do, including making your own Hanafuda and my personal favourite, playing video games with giant controllers. Like there is a giant Wii Remote that you and someone else can play games with.
It’s scheduled to open on October 2nd and you can get tickets online however they are sold via a draw. I guess it’s time to go back to Japan.
—
FIONA: Valve have lifted the lid on Deadlock the game everyone already knew about and were playing the hell out of.
There is now a Steam page for the game which has been described as a third person MOBA, which is maybe why the most dedicated DOTA 2 players were given access.
KYLE: Valve has also lifted the streaming and public conversations restrictions on the NDA so expect to see heaps more online starting this week.
—
KYLE: You know how Microsoft split Xbox Game Pass into a good version and an ok version? Well turns out if you’re on the middle tier you might be waiting a LONG time to play day one game pass games.
Microsoft has revealed that those with Game Pass Standard, the new middle tier, could be waiting longer than first thought to get their hands on the big name titles.
Like, over a year… yeah that’s gross capitalism amirite, jack up the price and make the other options worse…
FIONA: On the Xbox Wire Blog this week, Microsoft confirmed that some of the games going to Game Pass on day one will only be available to gamers with a Game Pass ultimate subscription, and they could take 12 months or more to reach the standard tier.
They were cagey about which games would land on which tiers, remained very vague about exact timelines, and have not confirmed if there will be consistent rules or if it will be decided game by game.
We’ll keep you posted as the details of this increasingly shady situation unfold.
—
FIONA: That’s it for the big headlines, here are the games coming out this week.
KYLE: Out Monday is the latest World of Warcraft expansion, The War Within. It’s the first part of the three part Worldsoul Saga Trilogy, and will introduce new abilities and Hero Talents and new areas to explore on flying mounts. That'll be available on the 26th for PC and Mac.
FIONA: After more than two years in early access, Core Keeper is ready to make the move to full release this week. It’s a top-down survival sandbox that has been super well received, and it’s out on all platforms this Tuesday.
KYLE: Out Thursday is Visions of Mana. It's the first mainline instalment in the Mana series in nearly 20 years, and if JRPG’s are your thing, this definitely looks like one to check out. It's out on Pc, Xbox Series S and X, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on the 29th.
FIONA: Another fresh instalment in a vintage series out on the 29th is Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club. 27 years on since the last entry in this point-and-click detective adventure, Emio - the Smiling Man has you solving the murder of a Japanese school boy…because of course it does. Grab it on Switch this Thursday.
KYLE: Continuing the silly animal causing chaos legacy of Goat Simulator and Untitled Goose Game is Squirrel with a Gun. I think it’s pretty self explanatory. Pick it up on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S and X on the 29th.
FIONA: And finally, the highly anticipated Star Wars Outlaws is here. So far early impressions are mixed to positive, but it certainly looks worth checking out for yourself when it releases on PC, Xbox Series S and X, and PlayStation 5 on the 30th. And be sure to keep an eye on the Drop Rate feed where Gianni and Chris will be sharing their thoughts.
—
PROMO: Articles to read, videos to watch and podcasts to listen to on sifter.com.au
—
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: We’ve been firing up the old Twitch channel and streaming a bit more thanks to our friend Courtney, if aren’t following us on Twitch what are you doing? Here is the link twitch.tv/sifterHQ that’s twitch.tv/sifterHQ come hang! We’ll let you know in Discord with a special alert when we go live!
FIONA: SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, myself, 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.
