You know what time it is.

Hit the polls below to cast your vote for November 2021’s best new game! Will it be a blockbuster first-person shooter like Call of Duty: Vanguard or Battlefield 2042? Or will it be an indie hit Death’s Door or A Short Hike? Maybe you got hooked on First Class Trouble after downloading it as part of your PS Plus subscription, or perhaps you’ve spent the month within the gates of Jurassic Park Evolution 2?

Whatever your pick, make sure you cast your vote before we close the polls Sunday night at 11:59pm Pacific. And, as always, cheer on your pick in the comments!

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.

Following the acclaimed Fire & Darkness expansion and free Lightbringer update in August, we’re happy to announce Godfall: Challenger Edition, which allows new players to experience the game’s trio of endgame modes, minus the story content of the base game and Fire & Darkness expansions, and grants existing players new exciting features and rewards to enjoy.. As you already may have heard , Godfall: Challenger Edition will be available on PlayStation Plus from December 7 through January 3.*

Play Video

Let’s jump right into what players can expect in Godfall: Challenger Edition –   

Instantly boost your player level to max level

All players have the option to immediately jump to Player Level 50, which comes with a plethora of skill points and a spread of deadly weapons for your Valorplates. 

Dive straight into the endgame

Use your max level Valorplate to challenge Godfall’s three endgame modes:

• Lightbringer, a battle against an all-consuming darkness that threatens to snuff out all light from the realms of Aperion. Players willing to persevere through selected banes will receive increasingly greater rewards – and face ever more challenging hordes until the blighted Heart of Darkness is banished in an epic final battle.
• Dreamstones, engage in randomized encounters by reliving the memories of Orin and gain unique rewards each time you play. The curses bestowed on the aptly named Cursed Loot tier can be lifted by completing challenges in Dreamstones.
• Ascended Tower of Trials, put your skills to the test in an ever more challenging climb to the top of the tower gaining boons and facing fierce bosses along the way in the pursuit of juicy loot drops.

New Boss rewards 

All existing Godfall players will receive The Challenger update for free, which adds new cosmetics for defeating the campaign bosses, as well as the ability to replay story missions.

Quest system introduces new Challenges and Legendary rewards 

The adventure doesn’t stop once you’ve faced Macros! All players will have access to the new Quests; an endless array of unique challenges that reward dedicated Valorians with legendary loot. 

All Chall

December’s PlayStation Plus lineup sees you battling through bright fantasy universes and grim worlds shattered by zealous foes. It asks you to play the hero or see yourself become the villain. You haven’t long to wait in deciding to lose yourself to the looter-slasher hybrid of Godfall, the careful combat of Mortal Shell, or play bad in Lego DC Super Villains: all games will be available on Tuesday, December 7 until Monday, January 3.

PlayStation Plus members will have until Monday, January 3 to add those titles, plus three bonus PS VR games to their game library.

Let’s take a closer look at each game.

Godfall: Challenger Edition | PS5 & PS4

Godfall is a looter-slasher set in a bright fantasy universe filled with heroic knights and arcane magic. Embark on adventure in a fantasy action RPG that utilizes high-impact third-person melee combat to engage players as they hunt for loot, don legendary armor sets and defeat vicious enemies. The Challenger Edition focuses on three unique modes: Lightbringer, Dreamstones, and the Ascended Tower of Trials. All three are endgame-level content, but you’ll be immediately equipped with a spread of deadly weapons and skill points, letting you team up with up to two other players* in co-op. Perfect your build and smash your enemies. Challenger Edition’s endgame co-op is compatible with all upgraded editions of Godfall & supports cross-gen play. Godfall: Challenger Edition players can upgrade at any time to the Deluxe Edition gaining access to both Godfall and Fire & Darkness campaigns.

Play Video

Lego DC Super-Villains | PS4

It’s good to be bad… Embark on an all-new DC Lego adventure by becoming the best villain the universe has seen. Players will create and play as an all-new super-villain throughout the game, unleashing mischievous antics and wreaking havoc in an action-packed story. Set in an open world experience within the DC universe, the Justice League has disappeared, leaving Earth’s protection to their counterparts, who have proclaimed themselves as the ‘Justice Syndicate’. It’s up to you and a crazy group of misfits to uncover the intentions of Earth’s new, strange, wannabe superheroes. Joined by renowned DC Super-Villains: The Joker, Harley Quinn, and countless others from the Injustice League, players will set out on an epic adventure.

For newcomers, Final Fantasy XIV can seem daunting. Not only does the MMO boast a rich world of adventure, sidequests, captivating characters and more, but it comes packaged with extensive control options to help you to interact with it all. 

The game’s development team has found an elegant solution for controller-favouring players, one that matches the versatility of the keyboard and mouse scheme. Yes, you can use that pairing for FFXIV on PlayStation, but you’d be missing out on one of the most satisfyingly polished controller setups created.

With a few button combos, you can take down world-ending leviathans, race across the vast plains of Thanalan or break out an elaborate dance sequence for the entertainment of others. Read on for a step-by-step guide to tailor your controller – DualSense or DualShock 4 – to best suit your needs. This is written from experience: these beneficial shortcuts have been learnt from nearly a decade of playing FFXIV with a controller. 

The basics: navigating the menus and controller setup 

Navigating the menus

FFXIV’s menu system comes in two styles: one tailored for a controller, the other suited to mouse and keyboard. The first (above) will be familiar to long term PlayStation owners: it’s similar to the PS3’s XMB (Cross Media Bar) main menu. You’re free to choose which one you prefer. Everything – from character gear to system customisation – can be accessed from here. (You’ll find this setting in Character Configuration > UI Settings > General)

To navigate through whichever menu format you chose, you’ll want to press Options to first open it, then the D-pad to navigate through the menu options. 

Key information will by default appear on your UI overlay while playing. This includes your mini-map, quest lines, chat window and more. You can move between these with a press of the Touchpad. You can customise their layout, size, position and whether they appear on the screen. (You’ll find this setting in the main System > HUD)

Setting up your controller

First of all you’ll want to get comfortable with your basic controller setup. If you’re the kind to enjoy custom button configuration, you’ll be able to change button mapping to your liking. By default, Triangle will have you jump, Square will open the mini-map, Cross will be used to target things around you and otherwise confirm, and Circle will be used to cancel. You can decide to swap these to your liking. (You’ll find this setting in System Configuration > Gamepad Settings > Button Configuration)

There is also an option to reverse X or Y axes for those who prefer to play with inverted controls. (You’ll find this setting in Character Configuration > Control Settings > General > Camera Controls > Gamepad) 

Once you’ve made sure the controller responds however you prefer,

The 2021 iteration of the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships reaches its climax next weekend (December 3-5) with the World Finals set to be broadcast live from PlayStation and Gran Turismo YouTube and Facebook pages. It’s a special event, as this marks the last occasion the series, started in 2018 in partnership with the FIA, will take place on GT Sport ahead of the launch of Gran Turismo 7 on March 4, 2022.

The level of competition and the standard of driving has continued to impress audiences and PDI since the inaugural World Tour event that took place in May 2018 at the Nürburgring. This year we have not been able to host physical events, but the intensity of the on-track battles and the skill of the drivers have been fantastic to watch during all of the World Series broadcasts. Competitors compete from home all over the world, and we bring them together online via a studio-based production that is broadcast in seven different languages.

Play Video

So, let’s get to the World Finals….

In total, 58 competitors from 23 different countries will take to the track over the course of the three days.

The World Finals action begins with the single-make Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup this Friday, December 3.

• In 2020, this was the moment that Takuma Miyazono signalled his intent. His victory in the Toyota race was followed by the Japanese driver claiming both the Manufacturer Series and Nations Cup titles.

On Saturday, December 4, the scene is set for a tense finale to the Manufacturer Series.

• Team Mazda and Team Toyota enter the three-race World Final level on points. Miyazono’s Team Subaru are four-points adrift, and a podium for Team Porsche in the last round has also put them within reach. With 12 points on offer for the first two races and a double-points final, it is all to play for the leading three-driver teams.

We then have a special treat in store during the stream on Sunday, December 5. We will host the Nations Cup finals and also have a special unveiling from Porsche for its Vision GT.

• That will not detract from the on-track action, as Italy’s Valerio Gallo, runner-up in 2020, will attempt to convert his incredible results so far this season into a Championship victory. His nearest rivals, Jose Serrano from Spain and Ryota Kokubun from Japan, will be doing all they can to end his run of form. Three regional semi-finals will be followed by the double-points Grand Final to decide the 2021 Nations Cup Champion.

All the action can be followed on the Gran Turismo YouTube channel, Facebook page

Solar Ash is a game that is, at its heart, about traversing with great speed through a massive world to discover its secrets. The protagonist Rei skates over wild cloudscapes, eerie landscapes, and great ruins. She’s a stranger in a strange and dangerous land – out of her depth, but pushing forward with incredible will and commitment.

Here are five amazing things you can do in Solar Ash…

1. Take down a giant lava-bird-monster 

Rei encounters a wide variety of aggressively large creatures in all manner of forms, such as an enormous bird-like monster that resides in the lava biome in the north. Why does it live in the burning heat of such a volatile environment? Perhaps you’ll find out. Victory will require great speed, careful balance, and precise timing all while soaring through the air high above the dangerous flow of lava.

The oozing heat tempts the foolish to leap. Only the skilled survive.

2. Build out your suit collection 

As she glides, jumps, and flies across the world of Solar Ash, Rei can grab multiple pieces of gear from hidden or hard-to-reach spots strewn about the world. These will net you rewards in the form of suit parts that can be assembled to unlock new bonus powers. These may be well worth your time to find and build out and succeed on your journey through the Ultravoid.

Patience, vigilance, and exploration will be rewarded.

3. Rail-grind up an ancient ship graveyard 

The universe of Solar Ash contains a great host of desolate, abandoned structures that Rei can glide over and through. Find the derelict fleet floating above the clouds, highlighted by the uncanny glow of the sky. Grind, slash, and platform up this ominous scrapyard. Perhaps there’s something, or someone, at the end of this once-great heap to greet you?

Sometimes decrepit ruins belie great rewards.

Read more

With the recent launch of Call of Duty: Vanguard, we’re only days away from the start of Season One, bringing with it the launch of the new map Caldera in Warzone Pacific. Caldera marks a new era of pulse-pounding tactical combat on a massive scale.

Beginning December 8 with the start of Season One, Vanguard players get 24-hour early access to Caldera before it opens for everyone else on December 9. Featuring a dedicated Playlist with new vehicles, the introduction of Vanguard weapons, and more, there’s a whole lot to look forward to as we kick off another epic year of free content.

Play Video

Introducing Caldera

This is one big island. Caldera comprises 15 huge, distinct areas to explore and fight across, including hundreds of points of interest to investigate and use to your advantage. We’ve highlighted just three to give you an idea of what’s ahead:

Naval Arsenal

This sprawling shipyard on Caldera’s northern coast features a strategic mix of interior and exterior combat opportunities, including unusual fighting locations like the deep drydock basins and radar array. Farther inland is a cluster of large buildings housing plentiful loot.

Clear Water Lagoon

An old lighthouse overlooks a shallow bay with bamboo huts alongside a quaint coastal community with more-recently constructed homes. Traverse the lagoon to uncover its secrets, including what remains of Captain Butcher’s plane.

Caldera Capital City

Set into a huge natural basin along the southern shore of the island, Caldera’s main city features a variety of historical structures built on either side of a working tramway system. Hillside suburbs and a lighthouse offer space and height compared to the bustling downtown, while coastal developments south of the city offer a luxurious beachfront yacht club and bar.

There’s the central volcano, too, after which the island is named. Only the fiercest Operators can hope to face its perils.

I’m Zack Hiwiller, Lead Designer on Knockout City. I’m here to tell you that things are getting tense in Knockout City. First, we had an AI start taking over everything (Why can’t Perennial Labs just make AIs that, I dunno, help you find somewhere to go for lunch?), and now? You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. It’s better if you just… watch. Here, check it out in this trailer:

Play Video

One of the benefits of developing a live service game like Knockout City is that you can constantly try new things. If these things work for players, you build on them. If not, you try something else. The cycles can be really rapid. We want to constantly update game content and keep each experience fresh; we packed Season 3 with events, and you can expect more where that came from in Season 4. We have four two-week events planned for a twelve-week season which starts with our Conflict Escalation Playlist on December 7 and ends, as always, with a week of Midnight Madness at the end of February. The start of Season 4 will also feature our new map: Alien Smash Site.

The level design process on Knockout City gives us the flexibility to focus on centering each level around a specific unique mechanic. For instance, at the Holowood Drive-In, we have movie vignettes that change every minute, significantly changing the level geometry throughout the match. In last season’s Lockdown Throwdown, we added menacing-looking turrets that shoot cage balls at you if you get caught in a Security Drone’s spotlight.

This Season, we’re taking brawlers to Alien Smash Site, located on a peaceful farm hovering high above the ground on the outskirts of town. It was a peaceful place in Knockout City until recently, when the Knockout City Defense Force shot down UFOs directly on top of it. It has a full range of combat spaces: tightly enclosed barns, big open gaps (more on that in a bit), and places to flank and drop into an ongoing battle. 

This is Knockout City’s biggest level so far, so it needs something to help with traversal. Luckily, the aliens have left around a bunch of little saucers that you can hover around on and zip from place to place, even using its tractor beam to suck up balls (or players in Ballform, before you chuck `em into the nearest pit). For me, using the saucers is the most fun in our Basketbrawl mode as you can ride the saucers to dunk opponent balls through the hoops.

We’ve been developing Warframe now for nearly nine years strong, working diligently to create an experience that is much more than a looter shooter with fast, frenetic, and visceral action combat. Warframe boasts a dramatic cinematic storyline that we’ve spent years crafting, and often spent just as much time strategizing how we hide its epic plot twists and shocking turns that our players really value to this day. 

For years, players have been guided through Warframe by the Lotus, their Space Mom, but the true nature of their relationship has been highly guarded. As Warframe continues to evolve with the upcoming launch of our biggest cinematic expansion to date, The New War, on PS4 and PS5 December 15, we’re taking a moment to reflect on Warframe’s biggest plot twists and openly discuss pivotal moments in this blog that are key to understanding the stakes of The New War and the players’ relationship with the Lotus. 

Spoiler Alert: Major Spoiler Warning

Secrets of The Second Dream

Since we introduced The Second Dream in 2015, we’ve been extra cautious of spoilers — being careful not to spill our cup of secrets so that new players can discover the excitement of our story for themselves. We’ve gone out of our way on the development side to ensure the integrity of our plot twists remain unscathed — in 2019 we unveiled Creator Mode, which helped keep spoilers out of streams and VOD by hiding certain dialogue and transmissions when Warframe is being broadcast. Our community of players who have since completed The Second Dream Cinematic Quest in-game have also joined us in our mission of keeping this pivotal moment under wraps, hiding intimate details from other players in-game, following certain unspoken rules for interacting with new players, and even shutting down forums that threaten to virally spread news of our longest-standing question: who is behind the Warframe?

Behind the Warframe

Until The Second Dream, the nature of the Warframe is never questioned. Players control fearsome suits of futuristic armor, warriors of blade and gun, to cut down enemy onslaught and complete various missions to level up their Mastery Ranks while working across an intricate Star Chart. But from the beginning we’ve deliberately left breadcrumbs for players to pick up on that allude to more — starting with when Ordis first greets the players as “Operator” inside their Orbiter. So what is, or who is, an Operator?

The Operator is the actual player, a young human child whose Void powers are the source of their Warframe’s powerful Abilities.

Once this truth is revealed, we’ve really shaken things up for players. They’ve learned that this entire time, the Warframe they are controlling isn’t the center of the story but is a scientifically advanced biomechanical warrior being operated and mind-controlled by a sleeping child and their dreams. The narrative continues to evolve alongside the action with Quests like The War Within, but this single pivotal moment in Warframe dramatically changes the player’s perspective in-game, creating an emotionally charged shift that sets the stage for Warframe’s following story arcs. 

Revealing the Surprise

You might be wondering why we’ve decided to proactively dish out one of Warframe’s best-kept secrets in our new trailer. For over five years, our development team and community

Hold onto your buttresses – the dungeon-crawling, monster-slaying, castle-crashing Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale is out now!

Exclusively available to play in Dreams, Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale is a third-person dungeon crawler made by Media Molecule and designed to test the skills of only the bravest adventurers. Whether you’re after frantic combat against strange and silly foes, puzzles to tickle your brain cells, or a showdown against a dragon with huge teeth (and an even bigger ego), Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale has you covered.

A screenshot from Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale, featuring orc twins Scoria and Gabbro running up the stairs in a dungeon towards a group of ravenous plant enemies.

Fight solo as heroic orc Scoria in single-player mode – or bring along a friend to play as Scoria’s twin, Gabbro, in local co-op mode (local co-op play still requires an internet connection). Challenge yourself to top the scoreboards by clashing with enemies and activating your Berserk chain to maximize those sweet, sweet points. 

A screenshot from Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale, featuring orc twins Scoria and Gabbro raising their swords to the sky to enter Berserk mode. Lightning is shooting out of the swords. 

Will Scoria and Gabbro find the herb they need to cure their grandmother’s terrible snoring? Can their wise-cracking bat pal find his way home? And is there a reasonable explanation as to how a dragon learned the noble art of floristry? All these questions and more possibly answered within.

A screenshot from Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale, featuring orc twins Scoria and Gabbro looking towards the camera with puzzled expressions.

To celebrate the launch of Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale, we’re treating you to five glorious new imps, based on some of the most memorable characters from Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale. Get a load of these.

But that’s not all. This latest update also brings a significant overhaul to DreamShaping.

Dreamshaping

Screenshots of some of the new DreamShaping templates in action.

For the uninitiated: DreamShaping is the name of the Dreams create mode. Since launching Dreams, we’ve found that DreamShaping can be overwhelming for new players. With our new template system, and a reworking of the DreamShaping UI, we hope this huge update will help make getting started making games in Dreams quicker, easier and more fun than ever before.

The new version of DreamShaping includes handy game templates and brand-new elements for making a 2D platformer, a dungeon crawler, a side-scrolling shoot-’em-up, mini golf and more be