PlayStation.Blog

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• Critics’ Choice promotion comes to PlayStation Store
• Five ways Dying Light 2 Stay Human innovates on Techland’s FPS formula
• Dreams: Check out the nominees for the 3rd Annual Impy Awards
• Players’ Choice: Vote for January 2022’s best new game

Critics’ Choice promotion comes to PlayStation Store Posted: 01 Feb 2022 05:00 PM PST The Critics’ Choice promotion returns to the PlayStation Store on Wednesday, February 2. Featuring critically acclaimed games, along with some of the biggest and most popular titles you can buy at PlayStation Store in a massive promotion at the start of February. That includes Call of Duty: Vanguard – Standard Edition, Far Cry 6 – Standard Edition and F1 2021 PS4 & PS5. *Critics' Choice promotion runs on PlayStation Store from Wednesday, February 2 at 00:00am local time, and ends Wednesday February 16 at 11.59pm local time.

Five ways Dying Light 2 Stay Human innovates on Techland’s FPS formula Posted: 01 Feb 2022 10:14 AM PST With February 4 just around the corner, only a few days remain until the release of Dying Light 2 Stay Human on PS4 and PS5. Soon, you'll get to explore its vast, post-apocalyptic open world and all the challenges within. But before that—let us take you on a tour of the ways Techland's innovative FPS gameplay will make your journey to The City one to remember. (Reminder – act fast if you don't want to miss out on the game's pre-order bonuses—the Reach for the Sky and Reload packs.) Parkour Parkour has been one of the main mechanics since the original Dying Light, and Dying Light 2 Stay Human generously builds on it, doubling the amount of parkour moves you'll be able to learn and master as you progress through the game. There are twenty-four parkour skills to unlock in the parkour skill tree, and each of them will significantly increase both your speed and agility. Some places, however, will need a little bit extra effort to reach, requiring a mix of parkour and paraglider skill. Combat and Weapons Dying Light 2 Stay Human constantly encourages creativity throughout every aspect of your journey, and just as you can combine parkour moves with your tools, such as the paraglider, you can also combine them with your combat skills. Not to mention all the different ways you can approach fights—will you be silent and stealthy? Will you attack from a distance with a bow? Or will you go all in and make some noise? The choice is yours. Add to it a large variety of weapons, mods, and upgrades, and you can be sure that each encounter will be unique. Look for the Craftmaster in the main HUBs, facilities, and settlements to modify and upgrade your weapons and blueprints. Accessories are also upgradable, including your molotov, throwing knives, or decoys. Want to get the most mileage out of your consumables? You can also improve lockpicks, medicines, and boosters. Your suite of Nightrunner tools can also be enhanced, including the paraglider, grappling hook, and your UV flashlight. Day and Night Activities The day and night cycle, well-known from Dying Light, comes to Dying Light 2 Stay Human in an even richer form. The general rules during the day are similar—monsters hide in the buildings, and the main source of danger in the streets are bandits. At night, however, things get a little bit different. There are two completely new activities you can stumble upon while roaming The City after sunset—Night Chases and the GRE Anomalies. As soon as you get spotted by a Howler, he will alarm other Infected in the vicinity, and a night chase begins. To survive, you must stay on top of your game, especially if Virals enter the chase. These monsters are faster and much more agile, and they can even climb onto the roofs to follow you, so be careful. The longer you're chased, the more dangerous creatures will join, until you're faced with the ultimate challenge—Volatiles. Your only chance to escape? Hightail it to a safe zone and hide under a UV lamp. The GRE Anomalies are special areas corrupted by the Revenants, powerful monsters who can reanimate the dead around them. Their lairs are extremely dangerous, but you'll only find them there at night. If you're planning to take one on, make sure you prepare carefully for a tough fight. Should you manage to emerge victorious, however, you'll be able to loot some inhibitors. Is the risk worth the prize? You'll decide for yourself. The City Vast, vertical, alive—The City is one of the last bastions of humanity, and even though civilization has fallen back to the Dark Ages, its relics are still to be found all around the streets. Murals, old letters, notes, or even audio recordings will constantly remind you about The City's past. Now, people are trying to regain their routine, find themselves in this new world set between the modern and the medieval, bringing elements of both eras together. But The City keeps changing, and you'll play a crucial role in shaping its landscape. One of the ways to do it is with the Abandoned Structures—old, deserted buildings, waiting for you to restore them and decide which faction you want to hand them to. Depending on whether you assign an area to the Peacekeepers or the Survivors, your choice will be reflected in the Abandoned Structures' appearance, the NPCs you'll meet inside, and the quests available for you there. Embark on multiple playthroughs to discover all of The City's secrets and challenges. There's always more to find. Choices and Consequences In Dying Light 2 Stay Human, your choices and actions shape the world of the game, its story, relationships between the characters, and even the landscape of The City. As Aiden, you'll be trying to fulfill your own agenda, but you'll also be given opportunities to help those around you and influence their future. Who you align with, who you trust, who you help—all these decisions will change the world of the game. Curious to see how alternative actions and decisions shape The City differently? Drop into a friend's game in co-op to see how their world differs from yours. You can even share your opinion when it comes time to make big choices, though the final call will always be theirs. Of course, you can invite friends to your world to do the same. These are just a few exciting examples of big shakeups to the first-person action of Dying Light 2 Stay Human. Ready up and dive in when it launches on PS4 and PS5 on February 4.

Dreams: Check out the nominees for the 3rd Annual Impy Awards Posted: 01 Feb 2022 09:00 AM PST The biggest event of the year is BACK. No? Alright, the… flashiest event of the year? Oh, fine – our favourite event of the year returns. It is, of course, the annual Impy Awards, which celebrates the very best of Dreams and its brilliant coMmunity from the past year. It's an excellent excuse for us to replay some amazing creations, ask favours of all our cool friends across the game industry (thanks again!), and hand out awesome Golden Imp Trophies.* As ever, we're putting on a big stage show to reflect on the year of fun we've had together in Dreams, and to announce the winners of the Impy Awards 2022 – some judged by us with the help of the aforementioned cool friends, some voted for by the coMmunity. Come watch it live on February 27 at 9am PT / 5pm GMT on our Twitch and YouTube channels! It's loads of fun, honest. Minimal chaos, depending on your definition of 'minimal'. We've also been hard at work making this year's Impys hub, a celebration space that will be available to download and play in Dreams ahead of (and during! And after!) the show. Not to give too much away, but it is truly ambitious and very special – and quite different to the Hollywood glamour of the Impy Awards of yesteryear. Because you're a pal, we've decided to entrust you with this sneak peek ahead of its release on February 18. A little look at a small section of this year's playable Impys hub. Oooh, mysterious. And yes – there will be new imps. All you have to do is log into Dreams between 4:00pm PT on February 17 / 12:00am GMT on February 18 and 3:59pm PT / 11:59pm GMT on February 28, and you'll unlock these three bobby-dazzlers. The three new imps we'll be releasing for this year's Impys: Avery, Gerry and Luna.  But back to business. Which talented Dreams coMmunity members made the final shortlist for this year's awards? Firstly, a reminder that the following categories are coMmunity-voted, meaning YOU will decide who gets to take home the trophy. CoMmunity Star Most Helpful Dreamer CoMmunity Collaboration Breakthrough Dreamer Don't forget to vote for your winners via this survey by Monday, February 7 for your vote to be counted! And now, the nominees: Excellence in Art Direction Lullaby for a Beagle – ghostfruit64 Triangle is Sentient – ItsMeJuvy The Idyllium – ZIIQ, Helekosi and Bevis2 ASCENT REMASTERED – payoffwizard Tales from Dark Town: Red Zone – DirtyFlusher and dinox11 Excellence in Environment Art The Time Looper – IansaneArtist NOGUCHI’S BELL Episode 1 – Cyber Sheep Films Tales from Dark Town: Red Zone – DirtyFlusher and dinox11 The Finalist demo – Paulo-Lameiras go. – ghostfruit64 Excellence in Narrative Tales from Dark Town: Red Zone – DirtyFlusher and dinox11 Making the Leap – keenardo The Vengeful Eyes 2 – InsaneAlphaBeta OPEN-WORLD BOXING GAME – hipporick The War to End All Wars – DerAnder_96  Excellence in Sculpture Camille the chameleon – julio_grr MEDUSA – FunK_97_ITA Realistic Horse Showcase (Playable) – willow_the_bob Search – ghostfruit64 Joy – GoGoSaint Music Track of the Year SLEEP PARALYSIS – TheRedProphett, Dj_Frags-_-, lugadi, kaifraz4048, and ineap09 Ethlx – sacboy2003 A Beautiful mud – M-molecul Big Bad Bass – orionvalentine, MCalchemist42, blackcat_tracks and lugadi Starlight – Prince_Tahra Musician of the Year Prince_Tahra Gianni_no_Mitaka duckenomics VinceKully RAKeogh Excellence in Animation Solar Blast – Paulo-Lameiras Ultimate Platformer Kit Demo – MitterMak Super Duper Fruity Juicy Juice – Byvsen NOGUCHI’S BELL Episode 1 – Cyber Sheep Films Stylized Character / Face Animations – willow_the_bob Excellence in Gameplay Starfighter Gemini – BOTheGrand, Drummin7Jeff and OkieDoKees TRIA-GONE – Angelotje Claustrofactory – Aecert, PieceOfCraft and duckenomics Solar Blast – Paulo-Lameiras Master Blaster – payoffwizard Most Original Gameplay Impressionable – Entropy-Tamed The Path of Illusions – Todu Commonote – FeyzPS Dungeon Roulette – oooDORIENooo Nine Equals – danikaka, cutaia_net and Pixel_Gorilla Excellence in Curation Pookachoo TRIX9 LyzLdy NaturiumCreepy UglySofaGaming Excellence in Character Design 九尾－The NineTail Fox – a-tziluth STRETCH – Kermideus Grub Knight – icecreamcheese CAVEBOT 977 – Canadian__Jedi Commonote – FeyzPS Excellence in Audio Design Solar Blast – Paulo-Lameiras The Idyllium – ZIIQ, Helekosi and Bevis2 Fragments (#AutisticaPlayJam) – OptimusCries, NikoJaXs and thyon The Vengeful Eyes 2 – InsaneAlphaBeta Claustrofactory – Aecert, PieceOfCraft and duckenomics Excellence in Innovation The Path of Illusions – Todu DreamsFest 2021 – DreamsFest Team Stylized Character / Face Animations – willow_the_bob Nine Equals – danikaka, cutaia_net and Pixel_Gorilla Frontier – sanderobros and SDorin CoMmunity Star D-Generationl oooDORIENooo Keduko_ SNRG_Driven KeldBjones Excellence in Voice Acting CAVEBOT 977 – Canadian__Jedi NINJA CAT III Episode 1 – YuMex196, SmurfsX3, mgs61794, xxRehab_Rejectxx, HIKOOSEN, EmilyJrulz, Esuki, eustoma and KL-05y Red and the Cursed Isles – RedSeiktasu Cosmic Tale 2 – Bohalaa, Prince_Tahra, SaucelessOne, NinjaMicWZ, Sekulic0, kimerakii OPEN-WORLD BOXING GAME – hipporick Most Helpful Dreamer SNRG_Driven EntropyTamed TapGiles VinceKully SakkusMind Contribution Beyond Dreams Elca_Gaming Made in Dreams Nicco555 & Computer_Cat UglySofaGaming SakkusMind Excellence in VR the RESTLESS DARK Demo – s-001 TRIA-GONE – Angelotje Imagination VR: Dinosaurs – LifeAsNeil Frontier – sanderobros and SDorin Metro Street Racer – California Coast – atheistsw and animeboy0021 Evolving Experience Ultimate Platformer Kit Demo – MitterMak liminal mystery box – JohnnyBiscotti and MrCaseyJones Splatty’s Adventure – RDKatrell42, pbgamer96, NiloFranck, Sliverscreen, SoInDiverse The Web – cat135 Final Hour: Prelude to Prologue – DownerIsland CoMmunity Collaboration DreamFlix – KeldBjones Speed Create – InfiniDreams TOTS2: TP Spree – Pookachoo DreamsFest 2021 – DreamsFest Team Marble Multiverse – Entropy-Tamed Breakthrough Dreamer fluximux Sprattla-Art StAnKHaNk Hipporick Keenardo Creator(s)/Team of the Year ghostfruit64 payoffwizard DreamsFest Team Cyber Sheep Films Paulo-Lameiras fluximux Aecert Dirtyflusher Entropy-Tamed SDorin & sanderobros  Creation of the Year Solar Blast – Paulo-Lameiras liminal mystery box – JohnnyBiscotti and MrCaseyJones DreamsFest 2021 – DreamsFest Team Tales from Dark Town: Red Zone – DirtyFlusher and dinox11 The Idyllium – ZIIQ, Helekosi and Bevis2 Frontier – sanderobros and SDorin NOGUCHI’S BELL Episode 1 – Cyber Sheep Films ASCENT REMASTERED – payoffwizard Claustrofactory – Aecert, PieceOfCraft and duckenomics Triangle is Sentient – ItsMeJuvy Whether you made it to the final shortlist or not, a massive well done to everyone who submitted their creations or themselves for consideration. We were blown away by the quality of this year's contenders, and it was a real struggle to narrow down the nominees. You're a credit to the Dreamiverse! So, in summary: very talented Dreams players. Exciting playable hub coming soon to Dreams. And a virtual party on February 27 where we can all cheer on the nominees, congratulate the winners, and celebrate the coMmunity with silly jokes and some very special guests. A picture of one of our much-coveted Impy trophies. In the meantime, why not send us a message on our social channels? A nice one, preferably. You can use the hashtag #ImpyAwards if you want to talk to us about the upcoming show! We're on Twitter, Instagram – even Tiktok, now. It's wild over there. * (Disclaimer: The trophies are not real gold. They're still pretty great, though. And HEAVY. About the same weight as senior coMmunity manager Tom Dent's cat – and he's a powerful beast. The cat, we mean. But also Tom.)

Players’ Choice: Vote for January 2022’s best new game Posted: 01 Feb 2022 07:00 AM PST Welcome back! It’s a new year, which means 12 new Players’ Choice champions. January is usually on the slower side release-wise, but we still had a few fun drops. Deep Rock Galactic was a smashing success as part of your PlayStation Plus membership, Wanderer and Zenith: The Last City are fine new additions to your PS VR library, The Artful Escape made its PlayStation debut, and more. Let’s dive in and pick our first winner, shall we? How does it work? At the end of every month, PlayStation.Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. Soon thereafter, we'll close the polls, tally your votes, and announce the winner at PlayStation.Blog. PlayStation Store will also showcase some top Players' Choice winners throughout the year. What is the voting criteria? That's up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? In keeping with our long tradition in the Game of the Year Awards, remastered or re-released games won't qualify. Ambitious, larger-scale rebuilds and remakes like Demon’s Souls and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will. How are nominees decided? The PlayStation.Blog and PlayStation Store editorial teams will gather a list of that month's most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll. Write-in votes will be accepted.

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