Monthly Recap - February Edition

We continue our monthly overview of some of the more important and interesting things in gaming that took place during the month of February and we are thrilled to present to you what we have prepared for you this time! 

God of War is going to potentially eradicate the Egyptian Pantheon 

There have lately been many rumors about a possible journey that the iconic character from the God of War series would undertake - Kratos has already devastated the mythological gods of both Greek and Norse origin and his blades thirst for new and fresh blood.

Keen fans have already discovered the possible hints for such a development in the already existing titles such as items and other secretive Easter eggs in God of War Ragnarök, so does this possibly mean that the franchise is heading to a whole new Pantheon? 

It does seem as a very logical step to transfer the attention towards a new and exciting storyline based in another of the great empires from history and even though there could be a few different candidates for the setting from around the world, the Egyptian one might be the best fit for the occasion.

When we think about it more rationally, it does look as a place where Kratos could reach more easily as it is located not that far from the Greek lands he originates from and there are possible geographical connections to allow for it. Another important thing to mention is that it is still not clear whether the game would be a direct sequel to Ragnarök or timed somewhere between the Greek and Nordic timelines when our favorite god killer was in his apex prime. In any case, we would love to see what lies ahead for the franchise, because there has been circulating information about possible original God of War trilogy remakes in the works as well.

This February edition of State of Play by Sony dropped information on multiple hit titles.

Earlier this month we got the latest in the world of PlayStation games and updates regarding some really awesome titles and there have been many details, reveals and announcements. 

As you probably know State of Play is an online broadcast show that covers all the interesting things Sony has worked on regarding the games that would be available on their console soon and this time we got the latest info regarding titles such as: Monster Hunter Wilds, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, Digimon Time Stranger, Lost Soul Aside, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Dave the Diver: Ichiban’s Holiday, Splitgate 2, WWE 2K25, Borderlands 4, Split Fiction, Directive 8020, Five Nights At Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic, The Midnight Walk, Darwin’s Paradox!, Warriors: Abyss, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Hell Is Us, Lies of P: Overture, Dreams of Another, Days Gone Remastered, Stellar Blade, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - Tape 1, Blue Prince, Abiotic Factor, Tides of Annihilation, Metal Eden, MindsEye, Saros. 

That is a pretty massive lineup of titles and we would have to do separate blog posts on many of them, (we already do have a review for Monster Hunter Wilds though and you can check it out here) especially since many of them would be definite hits that deserve the spotlight for much longer, but in case you have missed watching the broadcast, we would absolutely encourage you to do so and get familiar with all of the updates they presented during it!

Still, we would like to give at least a part of our standout updates such as:

•    Gearbox announced the release date for its upcoming looter-shooter Borderlands 4 set for September 23rd this year. 

•    The Days Gone Remastered release would reach the PlayStation 5 market on the 25th of April, 2025

•    Supermassive Games made the announcement regarding the release date for its sci-fi horror Directive 8020 on October 2.

•    Q-Games presented Dreams of Another as the latest addition to the PixelJunk series, it would be available on the PS5 and PS VR2 at a later stage this year.

•    Steel Wool Games are going to take players on another horror excursion with Five Nights at Freddy’s. Secret of the Mimic is an all-new adventure launching on PS5 on June 13th.

•    The 2023 action RPG Lies of P is getting a prequel game in the shape of DLC Lies of P: Overture.

•    Konami’s Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is going to sneak onto the PS5 on the 28th of August!

•    The grand revival and return to glory of the emblematic Shinobi series is taking place on the 29th of August, 2025 in an all-new intense 2D action platformer. 

•    Sega demonstrated the first gameplay previews for the new and upcoming Sonic racer, and it is going to drift to the PS5 and PS4 consoles in the near future.

As for the next upcoming State of Play it is not yet officially announced, but we do know it is going to be dedicated to Borderlands 4!

The (im)possible February 30th second GTA6 trailer date and the free PC upgrade for its predecessor!

Recently, a funny meme with a possible hint at presenting a second GTA6 trailer has been circulating around, but there is just a tiny problem with it… The image showed a second trailer release date for “Sunday, February 30th” and this could be a funny Easter Egg way to hint to us that it is never coming (since even February 29th happens every 4 years, what’s left for a 30th day in the shortest month of the year) or that it would drop out of nowhere on Sunday, March 2nd? 

In any case it is NOT an official piece of media by Rockstar, but just shows how much people are crazed about the title even though it is not yet April Fool’s Day just yet:

Here is the text shown on the image:

“Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most impressive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet. Coming 2025 to Playstation 5 and Xbox series X|S.”

We would have to wait and see how it all unfolds, but the tricky and quite questionable announcement definitely stirred attention, as it absolutely should! The most important factor for fans currently is that the title meets its Fall 2025 console release (as the GTA6 PC version would probably come to market a bit later).

What is much more certain around the popular franchise however is the 4th of March GTA5 PC version and GTA Online free update that would finally align it with the console versions of the Rockstar massive hit title. 

Fans of the game on the PC are getting all the car models, performance upgrades at Hao’s Special Works in the LS Car Meet and animal encounters, all paired with multiple visual improvements, quicker loading times and a lot more features, including the option to purchase a GTA+ Membership. 

Activision had to admit on using generative AI in Call of Duty because of a Steam Policy

The silence around the generative AI use in games has been broken by no other than Activision, especially regarding some of the Call of Duty assets. At first the company tried to ignore the ongoing claims and allegations when they first arose during the Modern Warfare 3 era. Due to a specific policy change getting enacted on the Steam platform that requires companies to disclose such information, Activision was left with no other choice but to admit to the truth of using AI tools in their works.

The player base has been showing various examples of in-game instances regarding assets such as skins, cameos and calling card that looked a bit odd, among which was a six-fingered zombie Santa Claus load screen and other weird pieces of art/media.

The disclaimer Activision made on the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Steam page states the following: 

“Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in-game assets.” 

Even though the admission by the company may seem as a small detail, it is a major development in the industry as fans still have some expressed concerns about game production using generative AI in it, especially when it comes down to ordering exclusives and unique custom assets. We do have to point out that Modern Warfare 3 Steam page did not receive any updates and such disclaimers on it, which could mean that it did not use generative AI after all.

This is all we got for our February monthly recap and we are very much eager to see what March 2025 is holding for the world of gaming, so stay tuned for more updates, news, and awesome promotions at YUPLAY in the coming month as well!