Death Stranding
505 Games and Kojima Productions' high-profile timed exclusive for PlayStation 4 is coming to PCs this summer. It has been officially announced that Death Stranding will launch simultaneously for digital retail on both the Epic Games Store and Steam, as well as physical retail, on Tuesday 2nd June 2020.
Above you can see the PC release trailer for the game which, characteristically for this title, is a bit obtuse. However, a PC release blog post proves more informative and highlights that PC players will receive a game with the following added attractions:
- Photo mode
- High frame rates
- Ultra-wide monitor support
- Content from Valve's iconic franchise, Half-Life
Pre-orders are encouraged with the publisher offering a number of pre-purchase and launch-day promotions. If you are willing to stump up the princely sum of £54.99 ahead of the PC release you can secure various digital stuff like; a digital art book, an original soundtrack download, and in game cosmetic frills like sunglasses, gold/silver armour and skeleton options.
Valorant
Riot Games, maker of League of Legends, has taken the wraps off its codename 'Project A' games title. Valorant is the developer's new online-focussed f2p 5 vs 5 tactical shooter and it is set to launch this summer (no more precise date given).
With the official announcement of this game a website has gone live and a gameplay preview video is available - I've embedded it above. The video footage is taken from an alpha version of the game, so you can expect many things to be tuned up and changed between this and release.
In Valorant, Riot says that "precise gunplay matters… but creativity is your greatest weapon". Thus the developers have pinned their efforts on this forked goal. On the gunplay side of things Riot Games emphasises the speed and responsiveness of the new game. It asserts that "Shooting in Valorant is precise, consequential, and highly-lethal - we want you to win on your skill and strategy alone".
Moving onto the creative side of things, Riot hopes to bring some USPs to this niche with the 'hypernatural powers' of the various game characters to deliver unexpected play strategies.
It is early days now, and the trailer video and web site don't provide much insight, however some gaming centric sites like Eurogamer have enjoyed hands-on time in Valorant and seem pretty impressed. Gameplay is already "exceptional," according to that site, as it is positioned to become a more vibrant alternative to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Valorant arrives in Summer 2020 as a free-to-play title with four maps initially. It will be fast and responsive on modern computers and have balancing finessed and anti-cheat systems in place from day one.
