Video Games
Dark Gothic Metroidvania ‘Venture to the Vile’ Launches May 7 on Steam [Trailer]
You’ve polished off Blasphemous 2, and you still have a craving for more Metroidvania? Studio Cut to Bits will have the answer to that soon with their gothic title Venture to the Vile. The game launches on Steam on May 7, and has a new trailer accompanying the announcement.
Set in a dynamic world offering filled with the Metroidvania staples that fans of the genre crave (puzzles to solve, hidden areas and storylines to explore, different abilities to acquire, etc.), Venture to the Vile centres on the quaint little town of Rainybrook, where an unknown darkness is taking over, transforming anything and anyone it touches. Fortunately for you, you seem to be unaffected by this presence. However, your friend Ella is nowhere to be seen. You must brave the horrors and find her.
In a nod to Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, Venture to the Vile has Day/Night cycles, but also features a dynamic weather system that factors into the game mechanics. You’ll not only encounter different monsters at night, but specific items and side quests will only appear under specific conditions. You’ll also embark on side quests to unravel the stories of your neighbors and learn more about the world around you. As mentioned, dealing with the Vile and the many horrors within it will grant you new abilities, for better or worse.
As an added bonus, you can check out Venture to the Vile yourself with the game’s demo, which is available now.
Video Games
Bloody Body Horror Revealed in ‘Stellar Blade: Blood Rain’, Currently in Development [Trailer]
Shift Up has shifted things dramatically from 2024’s action-adventure game Stellar Blade, offering up a body horror bonanza in the newly announced sequel, Stellar Blade: Blood Rain. The sequel is currently early in development, but if the trailer is any indication, players will be in for plenty of body horror.
Continuing the story from the original Stellar Blade, Blood Rain will star a new protagonist named Eve. Earth has been abandoned, and what is left of humanity has fled to a Colony in outer space.
Shift Up had mentioned during a Q&A following its latest earnings presentation last month that development on Blood Rain (which was still unannounced at the time) was progressing smoothly, and was on track to meet their targeted quality standards.
Shift Up stated that with this new title it would be transitioning to a first-party service model, effectively moving away from the restrictions the game experienced with original publisher Sony, which had the game under an exclusivity agreement for the PlayStation 5. “This will allow us to lead marketing strategies that fully reflect the distinctive identity of the Stellar Blade IP, and we expect to communicate the unique appeal of its universe to players more directly and effectively.”
Whether this means that Xbox Players will finally be able to play the original game (or its sequel) is still not clear. Meanwhile, Stellar Blade is reportedly being ported to the Nintendo Switch 2, but no official confirmation has been made.