Feeling lucky? Hi everyone, I’m Tommy Westerman, Senior Character Designer on Borderlands 4. Today, I’m thrilled to share insights into the making of C4sh the Rogue, the new playable Vault Hunter coming to Borderlands 4 as part of Story Pack 1: Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned* on March 26!

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Today’s PS5 system software update introduces broad support for the upgraded version of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), delivering enhanced image stability, improved clarity in fine details, and more consistent performance across supported titles.

PSSR is an AI library that analyzes each frame pixel by pixel as it upscales game visuals. With this latest evolution, image reconstruction is more precise, motion stability is improved, and developers have greater flexibility to balance performance and fidelity on PS5 Pro.

Several partners are already integrating the upgraded PSSR into their titles and have shared their impressions of the results.

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Email us at PSPodcast@sony.com!

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Hey, everybody! Tim and I are back this week to talk about the games they are playing, a busy news week, and some big contenders that are releasing soon. This week also features an interview with Darren Bridges, Lead Designer, Sucker Punch, for Ghost of Yōtei Legends.

Stuff We Talked About

• Next week’s release highlights:
  • The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin | PS5
  • MLB The Show 26 | PS5 
  • Crimson Desert | PS5 
  • Death Stranding 2 | PC
    
    
• Big Walk hands-on report blog — Explore a puzzle-filled open world in this upcoming multiplayer game, where any moment with friends becomes an adventure. Experience the chaos and cooperation as you journey together.
  
  
• Helldivers 2 new Warbond —  Suit up for the Entrenched Division Premium Warbond, arriving March 17 and featuring new weapons, armors, emotes, and rewards to enhance your missions.
  
  
• Tomb Raider I-III Remastered New Challenge Mode — Dive into a free update today introducing Challenge Mode, a variety of new outfits, and a collection of fresh Trophies to earn as you explore iconic adventures anew.
  
  
• Little Nightmares: Altered Echoes coming to PS VR2 — Step into a new dimension in the Little Nightmares universe on April 24. Connect the story between Little Nightmares 1 and 2 as you uncover secrets in a haunting VR adventure.
  
  
• Seven Deadly Sins deep dive — Discover how haptic feedback and PS5 features elevate the anime-inspired world of Britannia when you enter on March 16, bringing the vibrant story and action to life.
  
  
• MLB The Show 26

Last week, we asked you to share some hard-earned loot or gaming prizes using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

BBSnakeCorn shares Snake receiving the Patriot in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

SheikhSadi80 shares Sam finding a collection of drinks in Death Stranding.

RhodWulfLeon shares Kratos opening a chest in God of War Ragnarök.

Georgie_1986_ shares Snake recovering a silly monkey in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

SeeJoshsPhotos shares Aloy and the spoils of her hunt in Horizon Zero Dawn.

Call_me_xavii shares François special rock from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme, or be inspired by other great games featuring Photo Mode. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?

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The anime-inspired open-world RPG The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin launches March 16 on PlayStation 5. Ahead of release, we’ve unveiled a brand-new Immersion Trailer that highlights how the game leverages PS5 features to deliver a deeply tactile and responsive experience.

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MLB The Show 26 Early Access starts today, March 13, and it’s your chance to get a leg up on this year’s competition. Jump start your journey to greatness with all-new challenges at the World Baseball Classic in Diamond Dynasty*, plus experience new Programs, Events, Packs, and Player Items to get you ready to take the field. Pre-order now to receive four-day Early Access to MLB The Show 26 and a Gold Choice Pack.

With MLB The Show 26 Digital Deluxe Edition, you’ll also get to enjoy all this:

• Early access to MLB The Show 26¹
• 20 The Show Packs
• 2 WBC Choice Packs
• 1 Legend Choice Pack
• 1 WBC Uniform Pack
• 1 Equipment Pack
• Double Daily Login Rewards
• 1 Cover Athlete Bat Skin Pack
• 20,000 Stubs

Don’t miss out on our pre-order loyalty discount. You will receive 10% off your Digital Deluxe Edition pre-order² if you have purchased any digital version of MLB The Show that’s been released since MLB The Show 21³. The pre-order loyalty discount expires when the game launches on March 17.

Early Access gives you so much content and an advanced look at all the action you’ll be playing in MLB The Show 26. Let’s break it down.

What’s on deck for Early Access

Step up on the world stage

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The newest game in the Little Nightmares franchise, Altered Echoes, has just been announced. Soon, you’ll be able to enter the Nowhere in first person and touch the Transmission with your own two hands.

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You decide the difficulty on your replay with the free Challenge Mode patch, out today! This patch includes 40+ hours of replayability with all new outfits and upgraded abilities, a level modifier to challenge your skills, and 15 new Trophies.

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It’s not long before the monsters come back out to play. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is swooping in for its March 13 launch on PlayStation 5, with a tale of warring kingdoms and a world on the brink of destruction. 

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Silent Hill f is a part of a new generation for the legendary horror franchise, one that sees the ethereal and eerie titular setting extending its horrific manifestations into different places around the world. This title was an opportunity for us at NeoBards to harness what makes Silent Hill the psychological horror staple it is and shape a fresh new experience that brings the terror in both familiar and new ways.

I’m Al Yang, studio creative director at NeoBards and game director for Silent Hill f. I’m excited to share a slice of my Game Developers Conference (GDC) Festival of Gaming session for the PlayStation community, giving you all a behind-the-scenes look into the systems behind the first melee-only Silent Hill title.

Creating a different Silent Hill

In Silent Hill f, the secluded town of Ebisugaoka is consumed by a sudden fog in 1960s Japan, transforming lead character Shimizu Hinako’s home into a haunting nightmare. We initially spent some time considering what types of weapons we wanted to use from Showa-era Japan, doing some prototyping work along the way. With many horror games that emphasize action, there’s gunplay and other ranged combat in the majority of them. What if we flip the script here? It isn’t something horror players are entirely unfamiliar with, but not quite to the extent we’re proposing.

When players say they want to play a horror game and that they want to be scared, I think what they really mean is they want to feel tense. Jump scares are scary, but if you’re giving nonstop jump scares, players become numb, and it detracts from the atmosphere. The real fear lives in the anticipation and build-up, which became a guiding philosophy for how we built story and combat in Silent Hill f.

Injecting tension into combat

There’s intentional design that yields crucial tension for the typical survival horror experience. Slower rhythms with things like aiming and reloading, resource management and scarcity, and pacing. How do we translate these things into our game?

There is a lot of data across the history of survival horror on how to create tension despite the power of guns. For example, let’s look at resources when you encounter a monster in your path. Having 4 bullets in this situation creates a very different feeling from seeing that creature and having 100 bullets. The player’s fear and approach change entirely.

There are no bullets in Silent Hill f, so we showcase resource management with weapons breaking. Every time you hit a monster, you see the durability bar go down. But you don’t know exactly how much damage you’re doing. It isn’t like an RPG where you see numbers or a bar above the enemy’s head. Having concrete values shown significantly decreases the tension, as a large part of the tension of horror games relies on giving the player incomplete information.

How enemies behave is key as well. With guns, monsters will take shots to different body parts and keep shambling unless you hit them in the head or another critical spot, causing them to react differently. We deliver this with the Focus system. With patience and the right timing, you can do a counter or focus attack. It is like aiming down the sights with a gun, so you can hit those vulnerable spots.

If you get in a really meaty hit, you’ll see it in ho