Welcome to Tech Bytes! In this series, we bring you the biggest news hitting the Tech and Gaming fields, putting it into an excellent, simple brief for you to quickly catch up on so you’re up to speed over dinner and drinks.
This marks the end of 2024 and what a year it has been! As December 2024 brings the curtain down for the year, we end off with a blowout of announcements from The Game Awards from Geoff Keighley—showcasing what gamers can be excited about for the incoming new year. Read all about the details here in our Tech Bytes roundup!
Elden Ring Nightreign is a new Standalone Co-op Spin-Off
FromSoftware’s Soulslike titles are prized amongst fans, so much so that they are more than willing to let the studio take its time to cook up a great game. But in a pleasant surprise, FromSoftware has a quicker-than-expected title for gamers to feast upon.
In comes Elden Ring Nightreign, a return to the world of Elden Ring after this year’s expansion Shadow of the Erdtree, but featuring a new concept – co-op. Nightreign is a new standalone spin-off set in a world parallel to the original game. While the game includes a single-player mode, it is meant to be played alongside two other friends.
The gameplay sees your group explore a procedurally generated version of the Limgrave area, which features random enemies and structures for each session. Over three in-game days, players have to prepare for the final boss, with a rapidly shrinking circle (similar to battle royale games) making it harder to roam around as time ticks by. Once night arrives, a boss arrives and upon defeating it, the circle will reset for the next day.
This new Elden Ring adventure is set to arrive sometime in 2025 for all the major gaming platforms—including PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
Project Century is a new game by the Yakuza (Like a Dragon) developers
We all know and love the Yakuza (Like a Dragon) series by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, so it is incredibly exciting to see them trying new things. For one, they are reviving the Virtua Fighter series with a new entry, but their other new game is an intriguing title called Project Century.
Revealed at The Game Awards 2024, Project Century takes players to 1915 and features a brand new protagonist. From the few teases of gameplay, it appears that this game is a return to the classic Yakuza beat ’em’ up formula, with the main character using both his fists and weapons to lay into his enemies.
Details are still scarce for what Project Century is set to be, but it is surprising to see the studio seemingly start a new IP instead of going for Yakuza 9. Still, we await to hear more about this latest project when they are ready.
Naughty Dog unveils Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
Naughty Dog ended The Game Awards 2024 with a look at their highly anticipated new game. No, it isn’t Uncharted or The Last of Us. Instead, we will get to experience a new IP—Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is quite unlike what Naughty Dog has most recently been making, featuring a sci-fi world inspired by anime classics like Akira and Cowboy Bebop. It follows a new protagonist, Jordan A. Mun (played by Tati Gabrielle), who is a bounty hunter stranded on Sempiria – described as “a distant planet whose communication with the outside universe went dark hundreds of years ago”
While story details are still being kept under wraps, Neil Druckmann – the director of the game – does reveal that the game will be scored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the duo behind the band Nine Inch Nails as well as a number of film scores.
No release date or year has been revealed, but considering that The Last of Us Part II came out four years ago, we can only hope that this new game will be launching sooner than expected.
The Witcher 4 makes its debut
The new Witcher game has been mooted as early as 2022, but so far we have not seen or heard much of anything about it. This month finally brought some closure to expectant fans as The Witcher 4 was announced at The Game Awards 2024.
However, instead of Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher 4 sees Ciri leading the new game. The game is set after the events of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and in the trailer, we see Ciri showcase her new magic abilities as she slays a fearsome monster.
After the troubled development of Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 4 is being made in Unreal Engine 5 and CD PROJEKT RED has confirmed that it will remain as a single-player game. As to when it will be released, we still don’t know, but next year is sure to see more details revealed.
Onimusha is revived by Capcom
The classic action series Onimusha is back. Though it was thought that the 2019 remaster was a failed experiment to ascertain the popularity of the franchise, Capcom has brought a big smile to the faces of fans by announcing a new entry into the series.
Called Onimusha: Way of the Sword, it is the first non-PS2 sequel game of the series—marking a return to modern consoles after entries on mobile and browser. The new game follows a samurai who wields the Oni Gauntlet as he battles against monsters from the underworld known as Genma.
Fans will still have to wait a little longer as the game is slated for release in 2026, but it is hoped that this will be the start of a beginning for the Onimusha franchise.
Hazelight Studios presents new Co-op adventure Split Fiction
After winning Game of the Year in 2021, many of us will be wondering what new co-op adventure is next from Hazelight Studios and Josef Fares. Well, wonder no longer as Fares was on hand to deliver the news of their next game.
Split Fiction puts players into the role of Mio and Zoe, two writers who become trapped inside a simulation of their stories. The clincher here is that Mio and Zoe are two very different types of writers – one does sci-fi and the other is a fantasy author.
As you would imagine, Split Fiction will see players jump back and forth between worlds, creating cool gameplay scenarios. One moment may see players riding dragons, while another could be you and a friend wielding laser swords. Each character has respective abilities that players will have to collaborate with in order to progress through the game.
Luckily for us, the game is coming out soon! Split Fiction is set to be released on 6 March 2025 for PS5, Xbox Series Consoles, and PC. And the “Friend’s Pass” system returns, letting players who own the game invite a friend to play for free.
This marks 2024 December’s edition of Tech Bytes, and we hope this roundup gives you a little insight into tech to be excited about. Check with us again in January 2025, as we bring you more byte-sized news every month!
Visuals courtesy of PlayStation, CD PROJEKT RED, and Electronic Arts.
