The XP Drop #17🕹 Slithering Out With The Saints
Perhaps the best Metal Gear Solid game has been remade - and it's out this week, Saints Row is 19 years old and Silksong is so close we can taste it...
🎉 Happy Friday gamers. August is nearly over and there’s some big releases this week and around the corner. Chris is off next week so Liam will be holding down the XP Drop fort. Have a good weekend when it arrives!
🗣 The Patch Notes
🚨 ICYMI
💸 This week’s releases
📽 Clip of the Week
👾 RETROspective
🗣 The Patch Notes
‘Metal Gear Solid 3 shaped my love of gaming - and Delta sounds exquisite’
It’s a big week for Chris this week as Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is finally released—and thank God it looks good.
For those unaware, Metal Gear Solid 3 was one of the first games I truly loved when it released. The story, the gameplay and the environment got me into gaming.
Without spoiling too much, this game is absolutely peak gaming - and Metal Gear Solid Delta appears true to the story and the game we loved.
So far, reviews have been stellar. Eurogamer gave it a full five stars, and Metacritic gives it an 86% score.
Ever since Kojima’s departure from Konami, I’ve always been wary of anything Metal Gear-related from the company (let’s forget Metal Gear Survive exists).
But this remake captures the original game’s spirit. The only downside, according to Digital Foundry, is that the game seems to run poorly. *shakes fist at Unreal Engine 5*
If you haven’t had the chance to play the original Metal Gear Solid 3, I urge you to try it out because it might send you down a rabbit hole - just like I did when I was young.
🃏 Did you know… The creepers, in Minecraft, began as a coding error before becoming a real enemy in the game. 🃏
🚨 ICYMI
🕵️♂️ Looks like we could be getting some more Clair Obscur action. GOTY contender Expedition 33 is just the beginning, according to a report by Push Square.
🌌 The dust has settled on Gamescom, and more and more previews are being published. Our friends at Mirror Gaming have given us a rather promising verdict on the Outer Worlds 2 despite the naysayers’ early concerns.
🦖 Upcoming dinosaur thriller Code Violet has been delayed. The PS5 exclusive’s original release date clashes with a major upcoming title - but not Silksong. GamesRadar have all the details.
🎖️ Speaking of said title… it looks like Battlefield 6 has somewhat forced the hands of Call of Duty developers. Players have been given a big update on what to expect from Black Ops 7, as reported by All Out Gaming.
🚀 Bethesda have announced a new DLC for Starfield, which might signal that it could overcome its difficult start to life. Developers on the Xbox and PC exclusive are working on a major update, reports GameRant.
⚔ On the note of updates, gamers who truly hate themselves and/or fun will love the latest news on Elden Ring: Nightreign. A special update is coming within days, according to PC Gamer.
💥 Remember Time Crisis? The beloved arcade shooter that plagued Haven customers for years (including Liam) is making an unusual comeback, reports The Express.
💸 This week’s releases
🧝♂️ Lost Soul Aside (PS5, PC) - 29th August
🏰 Hollow Knight: Silksong (PC, Switch 2, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S) - 4th September
🌌 Star Wars Outlaws (Switch 2) - 4th September
🏺 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants (Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC) - 4th September
😈 Hell is Us (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) - 4th September
🎮 What we’re playing this week
Chris has been chipping away at Donkey Kong Bananza a bit more this week before he goes on holiday and the new Metal Gear Solid remake comes out.
“Donkey Kong Banaza continues to be a super satisfying experience and fun game to chip away at before one of my favourite games is remade and released. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater: I’m ready for you”.
Liam continues to stave off Switch 2 envy by delving back into his long, long list of unfinished games. This week, it’s a welcome return to Super Smash Bros Ultimate:
“TIL that having Kirby as a main is a basic choice and I should do better. But crushing opponents under the weight of brick Kirby never stops being satisfying, particularly when trying to complete the slog that is Ultimate’s adventure mode.”
📽 Clip of the Week
For every father who games, teaching your young ‘un how to play can be a satisfying experience - and this happened to Reddit user Ok_Singer_5210 who has been teaching his son DayZ.
And they hit this satisfying shot only weeks after teaching them the ropes. Good lad.
👾 RETROspective
19 years ago today, the first-ever Saints Row game was released on Xbox before laying the groundwork for a major franchise.
The Saints Row games were always a firm favourite of ours before eventually tapering off into stupidity later on. Saints Row, even though it reviewed fairly well, sold 2 million copies and became a bit of a cult classic before other sequels came along.
The sequel, Saints Row 2, later became a critically acclaimed success and was on many lists for game of the year in 2008.
These days, we haven’t seen anything massively worth cheering about with the Saints Row franchise - but maybe in the future.
The most-visited links from last week’s newsletter:
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