Hey, y’all! Tim and Kristen are back this week to chat through news from the week and games we can’t stop playing. Plus, Gillen stops in to interview Ghost of Yōtei actor Erika Ishii to celebrate the release of the game’s Complete Edition and its one year anniversary.
Stuff We Talked About
Next week’s release highlights:
Kingdom Hearts I-III | PS5
Star Wars: Galactic Racer | PS5
Deck of Haunts | PS5
Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition
The Blood of Dawnwalker (Kristen gets its name right this time)
Thanks to Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.
[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]
Share of the Week: Marvel’s Wolverine – Logan https://ift.tt/a6zcAvL
Last week, we asked you to share portraits of Logan from Marvel’s Wolverine using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured. Here are this week’s highlights:
calisarah1998 shares Logan growling in front of some wreckage
Gib84G shares Logan surrounded by money from the casino
Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme, or be inspired by other great games featuring Photo Mode. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?
THEME: Marvel’s Wolverine – Allies & Villains SUBMITBY: 11:59 PM PT on October 7, 2026
Next week, share moments fighting alongside Team X and Jean Grey, or against various villains in Marvel’s Wolverine using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.
Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition – Erika Ishii interview https://ift.tt/XYiOUdv
Atsu’s hunt is not over. A year after the original game launched, PS5 players can dive into the Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition. Available now on PS5, this brings together the story campaign, the Ghost of Yōtei Legends multiplayer mode, and two new major additions: the roguelike mode Most Wanted, and the narrative expansion Echoes of Sekigahara. The story is split between the present day and flashbacks to Atsu’s time on the mainland.
To mark the Complete Edition’s launch, and celebrate the game’s first anniversary, we welcome back the voice of Atsu, Erika Ishii, to talk about the game.
Note: The below interview is condensed for clarity and brevity. You can listen to the full chat on the latest episode of the PlayStation Podcast, available later today.
PlayStation Blog: It’s been a year since the game originally launched. What has Atsu brought to your life since?
Erika Ishii: I still can’t get over it, you know, because again, this was my dream. I played The Last of Us and I said, I want to do that. I already knew I wanted to act. I already knew I loved video games. But I said specifically – that. That is what I want to do. And… yeah, being on my PlayStation home screen, playing the game, getting to travel to Tokyo Game Show, which was another dream of mine. And to have a beautiful professional cosplay made for me of Atsu so I could be Atsu on the Sony PlayStation stage in Japan… it really does feel like a fever dream sometime.
I was curious to know whether your dialogue for the expansion was recorded after the fact or part of the bundle together with the original recording. Sounds like you came back. So what’s the time gap there between that last piece of dialogue you recorded for the main story campaign and then coming back to the expansion?
There were at least a couple of months between. They had to work really hard on polish to get the game out, then take a very well-deserved little bit of a break. But as we were nearing the end of production, I was inquiring constantly. “Are we doing DLC? Because Iki Island was really great and really fleshed out some stuff that I wanted to know about in Atsu’s backstory…”
And I did have a list of pitches for them [laughs] They didn’t go with anything that I suggested. But even at the launch party I was talking with Courtney Woods, the writer for Echoes of Sekigahara. And we were scheming. We thought “Atsu needs a little romance in her life”. Like, there’s no way she didn’t have any romance. She mentioned [as such] in one of the onsen scenes. So you know she’d had bedtime bed companions at least. But what’s the deal with personal attachments? Is this the only time in her life up until now she’s had them? And so I got my wish.
You had that little bit of time away. Did that time increase your awareness of the character, or anything you experienced outside the role that helped inform your performance of Atsu further?
Pretty much playing the game. It’s wild because, you know, most of the time voice actors don’t get to play the game until after it comes out. I was fortunate enough [to do so] during production. But playing through the finished game and literally being hands-on and in her shoes. Because a lot of times, if it’s been a while since you’ve played a character, they’ll play you reference audio. But I could go directly to being Atsu, go right into the booth. It was such a gift.
There are flashbacks. So it’s two periods of Atsu’s life. So how do you get into that headspace where you’re having to switch?
A couple of things helped. We had done a lot of flashbacks with young Atsu. And so extrapolating what happened. Most of the time in acting you have what is called a prior moment. Before any scene starts you have to know where you were. You have to have a whole lived life experience prior to this moment. I already had to have it in my head and sort of know what she had been through and what this huge informative point in her life felt like.
For an actor, you have to have [to be able to] drop in at any moment and be like, okay, well, I think that her time doing this probably informed how it’s going to be in the quote-unquote present day.
This roguelike mode, Most Wanted. Did you record new dialogue for that?
Yes, there is some new dialogue for that. Because it is a new mode and non-canonical, it has a slightly different feeling to it, more mystical, in the way that the multiplayer is more mythological. There’s a heightened quality to it.
You’re not the only character in Most Wanted. There’s some familiar faces, but a surprise face is… Jin, who is returning, and I believe Daisaku Tsuji recorded new voice lines for this as well. I understand you didn’t crossover during the recording sessions but you folks must have got together to talk all things Ghost and just compare experiences?
I got to chat with him [when he was in Los Angeles] and we chatted a little bit about it. And that was actually before the game had launched. I told him how much his work meant to me and how I’m grateful to be accepting the Ghost torch.
In a lot of ways he was new to video games with Ghost of Tsushima. But since then he’s appeared in many other games. I think almost all of which I am also in. We joke that we’re bound together forever, and one of us will follow in the other’s footsteps.
Last year I asked you where launch day would find you. You mentioned it was a gathering of folk from the game. So where does the first anniversary of Yotei find you?
Oh, my gosh. I think the big thing is that the Complete Edition is out. I didn’t know the launch date until the rest of the world did. We all had a little betting pool as to when we thought this was going to drop. And I said, I guarantee it’ll be on the anniversary. I was one day off [laughs]. I feel like this is the one year celebration.
It’s very bittersweet to me. It’s been four years of my life being her face, her movements and her voice, and helping to develop her and working with just like some of the greatest team of all time is… Atsu is going to be a part of my heart forever. And, you know, when they have the PlayStation logos, they’re going to have a picture of Atsu, a picture of my face there. I still see cosplays at conventions. I… This is, again, to bring it back around to the beginning, this was my dream. And I think that what do you do when you accomplish the big thing when you get to the top of the mountain is you just got to keep going there. There are more mountains to climb, I think.
I have the great privilege of, in addition to Atsu, having other characters or work that are a part of my oeuvre. I don’t have to be defined by Atsu, but she is… gonna always be so special to me.
Martial arts meet fluid platforming in Elta: Defy All Gods, with a free PS5 demo out today https://ift.tt/h6HL7Ym
Take the punchy, fast-paced combat of a brawler, the tight platforming and exploration of a search-action game, and a cute dragon companion (who’s also the millennia-old god you worship), and blend everything together with a dash of anime flair. That is the recipe for Elta: Defy All Gods, our upcoming game here at Afterburner Studios, launching February 2nd, 2027.
Dive in with us as we explain how our action-platformer brings back the best from the classics while making it a fresh experience, what inspired us, and why you should jump into the free demo on PlayStation 5 today.
A new take on action-platformers
Action-platformers have had a resurgence of interest in the last few years, providing an interesting mix of combat, exploration, and story, but few have tried blending explosive hand-to-hand fights with labyrinthian, non-linear exploration. Elta: Defy All Gods provides just that: impactful melee action, mixing martial arts and magic, broken up by flowing aerial platforming and discovery across three winding sci-fi worlds. The challenge lies in mastering both combat and navigation; juggling enemies in dynamic encounters across sprawling worlds that won’t always hold your hand.
The best way to explain our unique take on the genre is to coin a new term. We like to call Elta: Defy All Gods a “brawlervania”. Brawler enthusiasts will enjoy three martial art stances, each with their own skill trees, alongside magic systems to unleash built-up energy in massive attacks. Platforming players, on the other hand, will get a growing set of movement abilities with classic moves, such as the double jump, dash, wall run, and grapple. That’s not all though; Elta, your dragon, will be key, by giving you new unique abilities to hit harder and reach previously inaccessible locations.
The inspirations behind Elta: Defy All Gods
Veteran players will definitely catch nods to series we grew up with, like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, God of War, Darksiders, and Jak and Daxter. We take a lot of pride in honoring these classics, but we wanted to do more than just rehash them. To carve out our own identity within that familiar formula, we traded traditional weapon-based hacking and slashing for fluid, hand-to-hand martial arts. By weaving your dragon companion’s abilities right into your fights and platforming acrobatics, we hope to bring something fresh to the table. To find that specific energy, we also sought creative inspiration outside of the gaming realm entirely.
Moving to TV screens, shōnen anime, and especially Dragon Ball Z, have been a massive inspiration for us, echoing the power fantasy you can experience playing the warrior monk Victus. With such a heavy focus on melee combat, we also turned to Hong Kong martial arts movies, ranging from the Ip Man saga to Shaw Brothers’ classics. These influences have been wrapped in a painterly art direction that makes each vista look like living concept art. The sense of power you get while playing echoes the sense of scale you feel when taking in each landscape.
Reaching high ambitions as an indie team
Despite the big-budget games listed above, we are not a large studio by any means. With three co-founders and a dozen core members, delivering on this game’s promise has been a real challenge for us at Afterburner Studios. It’s one that required us to lean heavily on our background in indie development. We’ve taken lessons from our previous game into Elta, finding clever ways to achieve bigger things with our small-sized team. While we’ve stayed true to our vision of a modernized take on classic mechanics, Elta has gone through constant iteration over the course of the last five years to allow us to deliver the best versions of this game to players – both in world, gameplay and tone.
This was also made possible through a partnership with Focus Entertainment, the folks behind Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy. By lending us their design, production, and QA experience, they allowed us to expand our vision and tackle a dream project – one that would only be possible with their support. Instead of getting slowed down by our ambitions, this fruitful partnership allowed us to double down on what we do best: crafting satisfying game feel.
Game feel as our main priority
At every stage of development, we’ve gotten the same feedback: this is a game that must be felt, controller in hand, rather than just watched. All our mechanics, in both combat and platforming, have been tuned to be as satisfying as possible. By using the haptics of the DualSense controller, landing punches and hitting platforms has a real tactile weight, resulting in a more immersive experience for PlayStation players. Ultimately, we want to create an action-packed adventure that puts fun first and continues to defy your expectations for what a small indie team can pull off.
And you don’t need to wait to try it out for yourself: our free demo is available today on PS5, allowing you to experience the very beginning of Elta: Defy All Gods. Retrieve the lost dragon-god you worship, brawl corrupted enemies in intense melee combat, and explore Lerna, a glacial world filled with hidden secrets, ancient ruins, and industrial remnants. The full game releases on February 2, 2027, and if you pre-order, you can get the Vanguard Armor, a special cosmetic skin for Victus.
Find Elta, face off against the gods and start the journey to bring salvation to your people with the free demo, available today on PlayStation 5.
Return to Fabletown with The Wolf Among Us Remastered, out October 29 https://ift.tt/MIwL9uB
Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us Remastered launches October 29. To get ready for Bigby Wolf’s enhanced tale we sat down with Telltale’s Matt Saia, the game director of The Wolf Among Us Remastered, and VP of Creative at Telltale, to talk about returning to Fabletown.
The Wolf Among Us is one of Telltale’s most beloved series. Do you remember the first time you played it? What resonated most and stayed with you since?
Matt Saia: I came to it as a fan of Telltale having played The Walking Dead and Back to the Future. Wolf had a killer look and a werewolf in it, that was enough to get me in the door. From the first scene, the story, the contrast of these fables characters in the 1980s, and the neon noir style had me hooked. Their stories touched human emotions and stuck with me forever.
What was the goal with remastering The Wolf Among Us?
We wanted to honor the Telltale legacy. This is a classic title, and it needed a respectful update. We avoided touching the story, the directorial choices, and the overall art style, those are sacred to us. The goal is to introduce new players to Wolf in the best way possible and create a fun experience for returning players by packing it with updated art and behind the scenes features. Ultimately, it was a love letter to fans. We’re all fans and we took time to make sure it is the best version of The Wolf Among Us that stays true to the original.
Telltale added Noir Mode to The Wolf Among Us Remastered. What do you think this brings to the game?
Coincidentally, I was the person who added Shadows Mode to Telltale’s Batman series. We’ve treated it differently in Remastered. Unlike Batman, where we had highlights of color we’ve kept Wolf with a pure noir film vibe. The tone feels different when it’s black and white. I love the colors of the main game but, in Noir Mode, the shadows feel a little darker.
Let’s talk about some of the technical improvements. How was it working with the original Telltale engine?
The old Telltale engine is quirky but cool. We started by moving it up to the latest engine used in the Batman series. Next, we created new shaders for things like shiny bottles, and inverted lines on moving objects like the ghost ship.
The biggest challenge was lighting. It wasn’t something we intended to do but we realized anything we changed in any scene required that we redo the lighting. By the end, every scene in the game was relit.One of the biggest testaments to how good we got with the old engine is we built the entire Summer Games Fest trailer in engine.
How about the Character art?
Our choice was to elevate the game that everybody loved. The remastered characters have amazing detail but when you look at Bigby, he looks like Bigby. I think that’s the balance beam you walk; we wanted people to say “That’s the Bigby I remember”, but if you go back and look at the original, the remastered one is unmistakably more refined.
Every single character went through concept to high-end model to final in-game model. All the textures and models are new and multiple times more detailed than the original game. If you did a simple up-rez, all you’re really doing is taking the curves and lines that are already there and making them smoother.
Our process provoked more aggressive choices with how you treat the characters without losing who they are because you’re taking them from scratch. It was a big lift, but worth it.
Is there anything from this remastering process that exceeded your expectations?
The werewolf. I think everybody wanted to change him in a big way, and we did. He is ferocious, so much more feral and powerful than the original but still true to The Wolf Among Us.
Is there anything else you’d like people to know?
It was amazing to revisit Fabletown. The team was incredible. We love every dusty apartment and lit cigarette and, more importantly, the characters and story they tell. To me, that’s what makes a great remaster; when you know people poured their soul into it.
We want existing fans to show up and know they are in good hands. For new fans, it’s an opportunity to be captivated by a fully-realized version of this amazing universe just as we all were. To everyone out there, thank you for sticking with Telltale and believing in us.
Kena: Scars of Kosmora launches 2027, Ember Lab shares story overview https://ift.tt/SiPCvph
Since our announcement trailer in February, we’ve been heads down bringing Kena: Scars of Kosmora to the finish line. It’s been exciting to see all the anticipation and passion from fans. We can’t wait to share a new installment of Kena’s story with you!
At the same time, we want to deliver a top-notch game that exceeds the quality we achieved with our 2021 debut, Bridge of Spirits, and at a much bigger scale. To do that we need just a bit more time. Pushing our release into 2027 gives us the ability to really polish the expanded game experience we want to deliver. In the meantime, we wanted to share more about the world you’ll get to explore soon!
Like our first game, Kena: Scars of Kosmora is a character-focused linear adventure but with a broader and deeper scope than Bridge of Spirits. The world has much to offer for players who decide to venture out off the beaten path.
Scars – Shadows of the past
Before the events that unfold in Kena: Scars of Kosmora, Kena long studied as a Spirit Guide – equal parts warrior and spiritual healer. When the dead can’t move on peacefully, dangerous manifestations of their pain infect the environment. Spirit Guides fight back this Corruption to get to the heart of the issue.
Despite her progress, Kena is beginning to see her limits. She’s helped spirits of the dead, but has yet to really explore what Spirit Guiding looks like for the living. Even deeper, she has always helped other people deal with their pain, but not always focused on her own… Her childhood friend Orfio believes the mysterious island of Kosmora holds the answers they’ve both been looking for. Kena sets out to meet him, hoping to discover more about her past and future as a Spirit Guide.
The ancient Spirit Guides of Kosmora developed their own unique approach involving the four elements and Alchemystic Temples. Four interconnected cultures once thrived across Kosmora, each with a guiding Element that fueled its society – before a mysterious cataclysm destroyed one of them.
Since that time, the spiritual symbolism of the elements has faded into Kosmora’s distant past. The guiding elements still play a large role in how each surviving culture lives, but the longer that ancient wisdom remains buried, danger grows… Kosmora’s complex Spirit Guide temples are a big part of the game. These dungeon experiences will challenge players’ skills and pay off with transformative rewards that propel Kena’s adventure.
Kosmora – Living cultures
But Kosmora isn’t only about the past. The island is home to multiple living cultures with their own histories, values, and struggles. Kena’s mission to uncover how Kosmora’s past collides with characters in each region, requiring her to apply her experience and adapt to evolving situations and new personalities.
Exploring the regions of Kosmora on foot would take some time, but you may have noticed that Kena has a new way of getting around this larger world. Her crystalline canine companion is tied directly into gameplay and the origin of the mysterious island.
This ancient spirit not only serves as an exciting mount, but aids Kena in combat, both mounted and on foot, as well as solving Alchemystic puzzles. Together, our Spirit Guide and her new ally set out to heal Kena’s scars, as well as the scars that cut right to the root of Kosmora.
We hope you’re just as excited to jump into Kena’s next adventure as we are to share it with you. We’ve been working hard to fill it with the wonder, charm, and challenge fans have come to expect. We appreciate your patience and support as we take the time for Scars of Kosmora to be the evolution of Kena’s journey and experience we want to deliver.
Kena: Scars of Kosmora releases in 2027 on PS5 (physical & digital) and PC (digital). Wishlist today.
PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for October: F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 https://ift.tt/t53eoDK
Race for podium glory in F1 25, take on monsters and other players in Hunt: Showdown 1896, then battle voxel versions of EDF enemies in Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2. Together, these three games form the PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for October. All be available to PlayStation Plus members* from Tuesday October 6 until Monday November 2.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the games.
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F1 25 | PS5
Leave your mark on the world of racing in F1 25, the official video game of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship. Enjoy single player experiences such as Career and My Team 2.0, letting you create your own F1 stories as you take control as the Owner of a Formula 1 team. Then take the race online against other players, including a brand new multiplayer mode in F1 World, where you and your friends race as a squad against AI drivers.
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Hunt: Showdown 1896 | PS5
Hunt: Showdown 1896 is a new era of the addictively unforgiving extraction shooter. In corrupted backwaters lost to history, fight back alone – or with friends – against timeless evil. Twisted monsters and other ruthless Hunters stand between you and your Bounty. Risk everything as Hunt consumes you. Race competing Hunters to track down bosses, send them to hell, claim their bounty, and fight your way to extract. If others only slow you down, go alone. If you find strength in numbers, take up to two teammates along.
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Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 | PS5, PS4
The square Earth is under attack by giant enemies. Teammates scattered around the world are waiting to be rescued. Select 4 teammates from among those you have collected and create your own team. Design the team perfect for your play style, select your equipment, and then deploy to battle. In addition to soldiers from the mainline EDF series, this game also includes soldiers from the EDF spin-offs, and enemies who ravaged the planet in previous releases have also crossed over into this world to join the fight. Enjoy fighting numerous enemies, including redesigned voxel versions of old favorites, as well as new enemies unique to this release. Enjoy four player online co-op and two player local split screen on PS5 and PS4.
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Last chance to add the PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for September
PlayStation Plus members have until Monday October 5 to add Sniper Elite: Resistance, MLB The Show 26, Wobbly Life and Chained Echoes to their game libraries.
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Spider-Man Brand New Day Avatars – Included for PlayStation Plus
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is coming to Sony Pictures Core October 6. To celebrate that release, Limited-edition Spider-Man: Brand New Day avatars will also be released on Tuesday October 6, exclusively on Sony Pictures Core for a limited time**. PlayStation Plus members can claim avatars in-app at no extra cost. Non-PlayStation Plus members must get Spider-Man: Brand New Day on Sony Pictures Core to get the avatars.
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PlayStation Plus Exclusive HorrorFest Packs
To celebrate the spooky season, PlayStation Plus members can enjoy horror-themed in-game item bundles for a variety of PS5 and PS4 games***. This includes the Call of Duty: Warzone Horror Bundle (available October 1), Hunt: Showdown 1896 Starter Pack (available October 6), and the Overwatch 2 Dragur Reinhardt + 5 Tier skips Pack (October 7). Find out more about these and other PlayStation Plus Exclusive Packs here.
*PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup may differ by region. Please check PlayStation Store on release day for more information. PS Plus is subject to recurring subscription fee taken automatically until cancellation. Age restrictions apply. Terms apply: play.st/psplus-usageterms
**Promotion ends October 20, 2026. Avatar voucher code expires 6 October 2027. Licensed for consumer use only. Non-transferable, not for sale or resale. Available in regions with Sony Pictures Core.
***Base game must be owned to access pack contents.
