Thief gameplay trailer sneaks into the PR spotlight

Fans of the Thief franchise are eagerly awaiting the return of Garrett the Master Thief. He will be sneaking his way onto the Windows PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One during February 2014 within Thief 4. Square Enix and Eidos have provided a glimpse into the cat burgling action courtesy of a three minute long gameplay trailer.

In the trailer (posted below), Garrett steps out of the shadowy confines of his hideout and into the dark alleys of the City. There he puts his new skills to use including a time-slowing technique plus some long ranged weapons. Cast an eye on the trailer to see how this title will be stealing a large part of your gaming budget and free time next year.  

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag will ship with season pass

One hardly needed a map or a compass to determine that the forthcoming Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag would likely skulk in with a DLC season’s pass, and that is exactly what is set to happen.

As has become the trend for many a triple-A title, the latest entry in the franchise will similarly have DLC locked and loaded from the day it docks in stores.

According to Ubisoft, the Season Pass will give users 20% off the regular price of each individual pack, while all DLC released before March 2014 will be included for $20 (R200). The company also assured that users buying the Season Pass for the PS3 or Xbox 360 will automatically get a next-gen upgrade for the DLC.

More particularly, the Season Pass will include Freedom Cry, consisting of nine single-player missions with a self-contained story focusing on Edward’s quartermaster Adewale. Adewale escaped the bonds of slavery at a young age and sought a life of his own on the Jackdaw, serving under Edward Kenway. Taking place 15 years after joining the Jackdaw’s crew, Freedom Cry sees Adewale going on his own adventure when he finds himself shipwrecked in Saint-Domingue without his crew or weapons.

Also included will be the Kraken Ship Pack, personalisation elements for the Jackdaw along with as yet undetailed additional single-player missions, weapons, skins and collectibles. For a rather stark, mature and intense trailer behind Freedom Cry, take a look at the below.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West journeying to the PC

There are some gems that sadly get overlooked, or never garner the sales they deserve. One case in point is Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (review), which was released on consoles back in 2010 to critical acclaim but didn’t enjoy the kind of commercial success it merited.

Now, Enslaved is venturing onto PCs as well as seeing a Premium Edition re-release on the PS3 for a second stab at the limelight. While details of what exactly the Premium Edition will contain are sparse at present, it’s a safe bet to assume that the Pigsy’s Perfect 10 DLC, will be included.

The game, which was written by Andrew Garland and based on the classic Chinese story Journey to the West, tells the story and Monkey and Trip, who the former is co-opted into escorting across a post-human earth. It was certainly of high enough standard to merit another look if you haven’t played it already; more importantly, here’s hoping that the success of the Premium and PC editions will prompt a sequel or at least follow up game.

Consider the trailer below a crash course refresher.

Last Soul Sacrifice update adds 16 new quests

Soul Sacrifice on the PS Vita has enjoyed a constant stream of refreshingly free additional updates that brought new quests over the past five months.  Now apparently the game’s last update, v 1.3 brings sixteen more quests to the game.

According to the PlayStation Blog, this time, players won’t need to download unlock keys for each quest as was the case with previous additional content. After installing the update, users just need to go to Read Journal > Mad Chronicle > Inside Avalon > Avalon Pacts > Forgotten Pacts to play the new quests. They should then see “Hour of Pure White” and “Hour of Blackness” added to the section.

As the final 16 quests are all difficulty level 10, game progress to a certain point may be required in order to survive the boss battles contained.

Extended Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII gameplay trailer released

Should you be one of those hopeful souls who perhaps played some of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII at last week’s rAge expo, and were left hungering for more, take a look at this – a 17 minute  peak into the gameplay on offer. Admittedly as it’s courtesy of Square Portal, it’s in Japanese, but more importantly, it shows nary a claustrophobic or linear corridor in sight.

Shocking our DLC expectations with plot (and venue) twists

Bioshock Infinite (review) is undoubtedly one of the best games to be released this year. If, like us, you have been itching for a return to the flying city of Columbia, you will be happy to learn that the next DLC for the game entitled Burial at Sea - Episode 1 is launching soon.

However, gamers are not destined for the heavens above but the deep depths of the ocean below, since this DLC takes them to Rapture. Although Booker and Elizabeth are once again the protagonists, they assume different roles than those utilised in the main game. Elizabeth hires Booker and looks to be the one calling the shots this time round, rather than laying back to play a supporting role as she did in the game’s main single player campaign.

Peruse the first five minutes of BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode 1 in the video posted below. The DLC will launch in the holiday season for 1200 MS Points on Xbox Live or around R150 on the PlayStation Network.

Call of Duty: Ghosts trailer declassifies clan info

FPS fans will be spoilt for choice this holiday season with both Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 gunning for our wallets. After the latter dazzled us over the last couple of weeks with footage of its new Frostbite 3 engine in action, the former has fired back with feature bullets from its multiplayer clip.  

Within CoD: Ghosts, gamers will be able to create online clans and then go on to participate in Clan vs. Clan multiplayer matches. The video posted below mentions that it is now possible to have cross-platform clans, made up of players using an Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 or Windows PC.

This means that gamers on any of these platforms can join and earn XP for their clan, which is used for exclusive unlocks and multiplayer XP bonuses amongst others. Unfortunately, cross-platform clans does not necessarily mean that you will be able to take part in multiplayer sessions on your PS3 with your buddy on his Alienware PC.