Phew! It barely feels like seven days have passed since last time, but here we are again with another Weekly Digest – in which we recap some of the highlights you might have missed over this past week on Eurogamer. And what a busy one it’s been! Connor’s been over in Paris for Evo France, reporting from the long-running fighting tournament’s inaugural European event; Jim on the video team has been delving into the decade-long (and counting) development of the promising Elder Scrolls total conversion mod Skyblivion; Tom has had his hands all over the ROG Xbox Ally X, and we’ve had a load of reviews, from the surprisingly peppy Pokémon Legends: Z-A to Double Fine’s sublime Keeper. For this week’s full recap, read on!
The Big Question – Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 vs Battlefield 6, or is there a third option waiting to strike?
What would a new week be without a fresh Big Question to ponder? And this time Eurogamer editor-in-chief Tom Orry donned his battle helmet to wade into the ever-waging war between the two major military shooters, Call of Duty and Battlefield. The latter’s off to a strong start – much to the undoubted relief of EA’s executive team following the disastrous Battlefield 2042 – while Black Ops 7’s recent closed multiplayer beta received a rather more mixed reception. And amid all this, Tom cheekily revived the eternal question: Call of Duty or Battlefield – or, perhaps, this time there’s a third contender looming? And then as ever, it was over to you.
“The shooter scene has felt stale for some time now,” Tom opined, “with apathy rampant amongst its core playerbase. It’s been a while since something to the tune of PUBG, Fortnite or Apex Legends came along and properly shook up the genre, and extraction shooters, while popular, have never really made the step up from ‘big niche’ to ‘properly mainstream’. [But] Arc Raiders might be the one to do it. A fun twist to all this is that Escape from Tarkov, the biggest extraction shooter out there, is finally leaving its early access period next month too.”
Evo France proves the younger generation of fighting game pros aren’t just here, they’re thriving
Eurogamer’s Connor Makar this week cast his eye toward the recent Evo France fighting tournament, reporting on the new generation of talent making a name for themselves on the competitive fighting scene. 16-year-old Parisian player Neia, for instance, tore through the Tekken 8 bracket at Evo France, ultimately placing 17th out of 1,169 players – a notable achievement for her second-ever major tournament – while 15-year-old Chilean Ryu player Blaz took second place at Evo.
“Evo France was, among many other things, a battleground where young talent was able to strut its stuff on a global stage,” Connor wrote. “It was a testament to not only the importance of offering opportunity to under-represented parts of the world, but also a reminder that the Bison player I’m losing to online isn’t necessarily a 35-year-old with kids and a mortgage.”
The inside story of how Oblivion Remastered caused immense worry, then sublime relief, for the industrious devs behind mod megaproject, Skyblivion
When you’ve been attempting to remake The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion in Skyrim for over a decade, probably the last thing you want to hear is that an official makeover is on the way too. But that’s the position the Skyblivion modding team found itself in earlier this year, when Bethesda unveiled Oblivion Remastered. Happily, both projects proved distinct enough that early panic soon dissipated, but you can get a glimpse of that emotional rollercoaster – and a deeper look at Skyblivion’s development – in the video team’s new mini-documentary.
“It may seem fanciful to think that a hobbyist project can rival or even surpass the scope and quality of an official release,” Jim Trinca wrote in his introduction to the video, “but if Skyblivion pulls off what it is promising, then it will genuinely represent a much more comprehensive overhaul of Oblivion than the official Remaster, which is literally the original game with an Unreal 5 derived graphical overlay – a product of “engine blending”. Meaning it looks fresh and modern, but it is still the same game with all of the same foibles underneath.”
Pokémon Legends: Z-A review – a joyful proof of concept, but don’t call it a comeback yet
Nearly three decades on, Pokémon continues to be one of the most successful – and lucrative – franchises around. But it’s not without its detractors, particularly where its games are concerned. There’s been increasingly vocal criticism of the series’ tired foundations and technical shortcomings in recent years, so many were braced for disappointment when Pokémon Legends: Z-A was announced. But unexpectedly, this goofy, tightly focused sequel to 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus serves as a promising proof-of-concept for future games. But, as Eurogamer’s Chris Tapsell put it in his review, don’t call it a comeback just yet.
“Like the last three main series games before it,” Chris wrote, “Z-A comes with hefty caveats. It gets repetitive after a while. It’s still visually limited, despite the huge improvements on the last pair. It’s still missing dungeons, deep mysteries, a sense of big challenge to build up to, prepare for and overcome. But then it has charm in spades, from that humour right through to its soundtrack (a smooth, jazzy, wistful, accordion-based treat). There’s even an homage to a dungeon that feels like a fantastic proof of concept for one day bringing them back in 3D.”
ROG Xbox Ally X review – an impressive handheld PC wearing an Xbox mask
If Microsoft’s marketing bods are to be believed, pretty much everything is an Xbox these days. But the one thing you could reasonably expect to definitely be an Xbox is the newly released ROG Xbox Ally X. This officially branded handheld PC, released in conjunction with hardware manufacturer ASUS, is being touted as offering the Xbox familiar experience – its interface, its games, even that Xbox button – in portable form. And Eurogamer’s Tom Orry this week put it through its paces, trying to figure out just how much of an Xbox it really is.
“Is the ROG Xbox Ally X actually an Xbox, and does it even matter?,” Tom wondered. “The answer, in truth, will vary depending on how much you have used and are expecting an experience like that of an Xbox console. For me, while the ROG Xbox Ally X opens the door to being a console, it’s still quite clearly a PC, which presents a number of quirks, but also benefits that can’t be overlooked. A true Xbox ecosystem experience without the need for game-by-game tweaking would be wonderful, but access to all PC gaming stores, with downloaded games all aggregated in one serviceable app, is worth the trade offs if you are more excited about PC gaming than Xbox gaming.”
Ball x Pit review – a laboratory of potential
We’ve had deckbuilding roguelikes, turn-based strategy roguelikes, platformer roguelikes, citybuilding roguelikes, bullet hell roguelikes, and still the roguelike continues to consume all. Now, there’s a Breakout-style brick-smashing roguelike to add to the list, courtesy of developer Kenny Sun’s newly released Ball x Pit. You’ve got a ball, there’s a pit and it’s your mission to traverse the latter while furiously bouncing the former to smash through constantly advancing block-shaped enemies, vertical scroller style. But there’s more! Eurogamer contributor Christian Donlan liked Ball x Pit a lot this week, and you can find out why in his review.
“At its simplest,” Christian wrote, “it feels like being caught in a typesetter’s cheese dream. Here are these advancing rows of what strike me as being typeface blocks, and you have to get rid of them all before you’re wiped off the screen and, somewhere I can feel it, poorly printed pages are piling up. Even if this isn’t your reading, there’s a lovely urgency to the idea of smashing things to pieces before they overwhelm you. It’s a thrilling basis on which to build other stuff.”
As long as its new owners don’t meddle with the formula, Evo France could be the first step in a brilliant new era for fighting game events
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Connor hasn’t just been writing about Evo France this week, he’s been there, seeing first-hand just how the fighting tournament’s inaugural European event has fared. And it’s been an encouraging show, opting for an “earnest, and refreshing, and very European” format that might just herald a new era for fighting game events – although serious concerns surrounding Evo’s controversial acquisition by Saudi-owned investment company Qiddiya remain.
“It feels as if this event was exactly what people were wishing for, if they could grit their teeth and swallow the realities of its new ownership,” said Connor. “For me, the split in the road for Evo is clear: if the team behind the event is left to its own devices, to carry on their plan for global outreach as they intend, the majority of fighting game fans will likely be fine going along for the ride. But if its new owners in Nodwin and Qiddiya overplay their hand, I fear that Evo France may be a tale of what could have been, rather than a sign of good things to come.”
Brace yourselves, Football Manager fans, I’ve played a day of FM26 and it’s going to take a lot of getting used to
2004 marked the first time Sports Interactive’s much-loved Football Manager series skipped its annual release in its two decades of existence, as a result of repeated delays. But the series is poised to make its big return this November, and it’s bringing some major changes. It’s got a new engine and a new user interface, meaning there’s a lot to learn here – or more accurately, re-learn – if you’ve played the series before. But does all this make for a better game? Well there’s the rub, and probably not something we can answer with certainty until Football Manager 26’s full release. But for now, Eurogamer’s Chris Tapsell is optimistic – if a little overwhelmed – after spending some time with its demo.
“The newness starts on the very first screen,” Chris explained. “There’s a greatly improved character creator for your manager, but beyond the significantly less-dodgy visuals there’s also something noticeably more impactful, in a more RPG-style setup to your manager’s attributes. For one, these are now described verbally, rather than represented by a hard number, and so your attacking coaching attribute, for instance, is now rated as average, good, very good, outstanding, and so on. That’s something I don’t love, personally. If an attribute has a number behind the scenes we might as well be able to see it, given we can see all the other ones and will only be going to Google what ‘very good’ means in numerical terms anyway.”
Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 review – it hasn’t really worked
Calling Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2’s development “eventful” is an understatement. This long-in-the-works sequel to Troika Games’ much-loved 2004 cult-classic was announced back in 2019 with a PC and console release expected the following year. But that never happened. After a series of delays and other troubles under the watch of its original developer Hardsuit Labs, publisher Paradox Interactive whisked it away somewhere new, but not before giving serious thought to its cancellation. Eventually, Paradox revealed Bloodlines 2 had found a new home at The Chinese Room, the acclaimed UK studio behind the likes of Still Wakes the Deep and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. Bloodlines 2 is a very different type of game to the studio’s usual fare, though, and with the game now almost here, Eurogamer’s Robert Purchese delved deep to deliver his verdict.
“A lot of Bloodlines 2’s problems begin, paradoxically, as the game’s strengths,” Bertie opined in his review. “Hardsuit Labs’ original story has been replaced by The Chinese Room with an idea where you start the game as a powerful Elder vampire, awakened from a 100-year sleep. Immediately you’re incredibly capable. You can send a mortal person flying through the air with one punch. You can scuttle up the side of a building like a spider and dash with intense bursts of speed. You can leap great distances and even float, a little like flying, through the air. And when you combine these things you will feel like the super-powered terror that Bloodlines 2 wants you to be. You are the apex predator of the game from the moment you begin, and it’s an exhilarating feeling to have. But it doesn’t develop.”
Keeper review – a truly magical jaunt through one of the most beautiful video game worlds ever made
You know Double Fine; it’s the studio – helmed by industry luminary Tim Schafer – that’s been responsible for some of gaming’s most brilliant oddities over the years. Psychonauts and its 2021 sequel took us inside a variety of troubled minds for some spirited, wildly inventive platform action; Brütal Legend was a bewildering but fascinating mix of heavy metal action-adventure and real-time strategy; Stacking was a delightful puzzler inspired by matryoshka dolls, and Headlander was… well you get the idea. The point of all this is that Double Fine is back with Keeper; a magical, mesmerising trek through a mysterious world, starring a suddenly sentient lighthouse and its new bird pal. I absolutely adored it, and you can find out why I slapped it with five shiny stars in my spoiler-free review.
“Every inch of Keeper is an explosion of iridescent colour, strikingly rendered in thick brushstroke swirls, and all framed for maximum impact by that ever-roving camera,” I enthused. “Even its corridors are so meticulously textured and illuminated they could move an aesthete to tears. And it all feels so alive. Sentient rocks skitter on stick-like legs around burbling bioluminescent pools; fuzzy worm-birds scamper through swaying cerulean grass and snuggle up in their strange stone homes; delicate creatures with dangling tendrils drift dreamily on the breeze, and that’s before we get to the really big things. It’s mesmerising; a wondrously absurd ecosystem brought to life in an impeccable union of art, animation, and sound. I’m not exaggerating when I say I played the whole thing accompanied by a constant inner chorus of ‘bloody hells’.”
How Ludvig Forsell and Hideo Kojima worked symbiotically to elevate both story and score
Next month sees the start of Death Stranding’s Strands of Harmony concert world tour, in which a live orchestra and singers will perform music from Hideo Kojima’s decidedly idiosyncratic action-adventure series. Ahead of its first show in Sydney, Australia, Eurogamer’s Ed Nightingale spoke with Death Stranding composer Ludvig Forssell about his music, his relationship with Kojima, and honouring Low Roar frontman Ryan Karazija who passed away between Death Stranding 1 & 2.
“I always wanted to work freelance and work on multiple different things in many different genres and mediums,” Forssell explained to Ed during their conversation. “So it was hard to go up to Mr. Kojima and say that I wanted to do [the sequel]. But at that time in 2021 he already said to me, ‘Can we call you back for something in the future’, which was a surprise, because you never know how a conversation like that is going to go. It’s not that I wanted to move away from things; I wanted to expand my horizons. He was very open to that idea. And a year later, I got an email about the sequel, and jumped on it right away. It took a while before things really kicked into gear, but it felt like [there was] mutual understanding of how we wanted to handle things from the get go of me doing things in my own way.”
Whatever it ‘is’, the ROG Xbox Ally X makes me pine for Xbox’s distant heyday
And to round up this week’s highlights, we’re back to the ROG Xbox Ally X – a machine Eurogamer’s Alex Donaldson has also been playing around with recently. For Alex, the device is something of a “Frankenstein’s Monster”, perched a little precariously between a console and PC. That’s not to say it isn’t good, or doesn’t have its uses (it “works more than well enough” for what it is, writes Alex), but existing as it does in the no man’s land between the two hardware formats brings inevitable caveats. And if nothing else, it’s left him pining for the era in which Xbox was his primary gaming platform.
“There’s a hell of a lot of nitpicks I can make about the Xbox Ally X,” Alex explained. “You have to laugh at a device like this coming with bloody Office 365 pre-installed on it. Could they really not spring for a custom Windows 11 installation branch that jettisoned all that stuff, making it optional unless required? An individual service, like the Print Spooler or what have you, might not have a huge impact on game performance… but should I be having to turn off OneDrive or whatever in the settings to try to make this boot faster? A lot of the nitpicks, you can tell, come from the fact that this is a PC, not an Xbox, whatever the marketing says… At the same time, there’s a lot to love once you are set up.”
