Wales Interactive has teased a new free map for its co-op horror shooter Sker Ritual. The teaser may also include a secret release date.

The House of the Damned map will be available to all players and has already been penciled in for a July release on Sker Ritual’s roadmap. Wales Interactive has said it’s still on track to meet that.

But the teaser perhaps offers a more concrete date. Several people have pointed out that the Morse code in the 20-second preview suggests a July 22, 2024, release date.

Sker Ritual trailer and details

Sker Ritual is an intense round-based zombie survival FPS, play solo or co-op. Shoot your way through relentless waves of vicious horrors with high-octane objectives, upgrading steampunk weapons, collecting Celtic God powers, and surviving the onslaught of the Quiet Ones.

”The Quiet Ones are back in this round-based survival FPS. Face hordes of new and familiar enemies, supercharged elites with unique supernatural powers, upgradeable steam-punk weapons, interchangeable spine-chilling masks, and mysterious story objectives from the writing talent behind Maid of Sker, Battlefield 1, and Total War: Rome II.”

Sker Ritual is a spiritual successor to single-player horror game Maid of Sker. It was launched out of Early Access on April 18, 2024.

The post Sker Ritual New Free Map Revealed for Co-op Horror Shooter appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

A Sker Ritual release date has been confirmed for the cooperative survival shooter as it looks set to end its Early Access time on PC.

Sker Ritual Release Date

Wales Interactive’s Sker Ritual will leave Early Access and head to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on April 18, 2024. A PS4 and Xbox One release is planned for a later date.

Sker Ritual is an intense round-based zombie survival FPS, play solo or co-op. Shoot your way through relentless waves of vicious horrors with high-octane objectives, upgrading steampunk weapons, collecting Celtic God powers, and surviving the onslaught of the Quiet Ones.

”The Quiet Ones are back in this round-based survival FPS and spin-off to the award-winning British horror game, Maid of Sker. Face hordes of new and familiar enemies, supercharged elites with unique supernatural powers, upgradeable steam-punk weapons, interchangeable spine-chilling masks, and mysterious story objectives from the writing talent behind Maid of Sker, Battlefield 1, and Total War: Rome II.”

The game has been in Early Access on Steam since late 2022, and the reception for the spinoff of the single-player horror game Maid of Sker has been pretty positive so far.

The game is based on the evil ending from Maid of Sker, which was released in 2020. 

The post Sker Ritual Release Date on PS5 Confirmed for Horror Shooter appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Wales Interactive’s round-based multiplayer zombie shooter Sker Ritual has received a PS5 demo before its full release later this year.

Sker Ritual PS5 demo brings zombie carnage

The demo brings PS5 players a fan-favorite map in the shape of the Cursed Lands of Lavernock.

Sker Ritual is an intense round-based zombie survival FPS, play solo or co-op. Shoot your way through relentless waves of vicious horrors with high-octane objectives, upgrading steampunk weapons, collecting Celtic God powers, and surviving the onslaught of the Quiet Ones.

”The Quiet Ones are back in this round-based survival FPS and spin-off to the award-winning British horror game, Maid of Sker. Face hordes of new and familiar enemies, supercharged elites with unique supernatural powers, upgradeable steam-punk weapons, interchangeable spine-chilling masks, and mysterious story objectives from the writing talent behind Maid of Sker, Battlefield 1, and Total War: Rome II.”

The game has been in Early Access on Steam since late 2022, and the reception for the spinoff of the single-player horror game Maid of Sker has been pretty positive so far.

The game is based on the evil ending from Maid of Sker, which was released in 2020. 

A PS4 & PS5 release date for Sker Ritual is estimated to be sometime in April 2024 but can be wishlisted on the PS Store now.

The post Sker Ritual PS5 Demo Out Today for Zombie Shooter appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Wales Interactive has revealed the Sker Ritual story trailer ahead of the release date for the Welsh co-op horror spinoff.

Sker-y times ahead

The game is based on the evil ending of the single-player psychological horror game Maid of Sker, which was released in 2020. Sker Ritual’s round-based survival gameplay can be played solo or in co-op. The Sker Ritual story trailer shows off all manner of terrible things you’ll need to survive.

The Quiet Ones are back in this round-based survival FPS and spin-off to the award-winning British horror game, Maid of Sker. Face hordes of new and familiar enemies, supercharged elites with unique supernatural powers, upgradeable steam-punk weapons, interchangeable spine-chilling masks, and mysterious story objectives from the writing talent behind Maid of Sker, Battlefield 1, and Total War: Rome II.

Sker Ritual is designed for playing solo, or up to 4-players online. If you’re short of a teammate, Sker Island’s hordes’ intensity scales to the number of players. 

The game was released in Early Access on Steam in October 2022 and currently sits at Mostly Positive on player reviews.

A PS4 & PS5 release date for Sker Ritual is still unconfirmed at this time, but can be wishlisted on the PS Store.

The post Sker Ritual Story Trailer Revealed for Welsh Co-op Horror Game appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Wales Interactive has announced cooperative survival first-person shooter, Sker Ritual, for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Scheduled to release in 2022, the title is a spiritual successor to horror game, Maid of Sker.

No further details have been announced, but you can check out a teaser below. A short description reads:

The co-op survival first-person shooter and spiritual successor to the award-winning occult horror, Maid of Sker. Play solo or up to four players to survive the supernatural onslaught of the Quiet Ones.

For those who aren’t familiar with Maid of Sker, it’s a first-person survival horror adventure that launched on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch back in 2020 (make sure to read our review). Inspired by Welsh folklore, the game transports players to 1898, where they have to survive their stay in a notorious hotel.

An overview of the plot is as follows:

Maid of Sker is brought to you through a collaboration of the twisted folks at Wales Interactive and the writing talent behind Don’t Knock Twice and SOMA and is inspired by the folk story of Elisabeth Williams—the tragic tale of a Welsh woman in the 1800’s losing her life after her father locks her away in her room to die of heartbreak. Maid of Sker brings a story of a family empire driven by a supernatural mystery that suffocates the grounds of the hotel. Tia Kalmaru is also lending her voice to the game to recreate Welsh hymns in theme with Maid of Sker’s terrifying tone.

We’ll update our readers when we have more information about Sker Ritual.

The post Co-Op Survival FPS Sker Ritual Is a Spiritual Successor to Maid of Sker, Headed to Next-Gen Consoles and PC appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Wales Interactive couldn’t have picked a better time to announce the release date for its upcoming FMV, Bloodshore. As Squid Game reached 111 million viewers and became Netflix‘s biggest series launch ever, Wales Interactive announced that its interactive action movie about a televised battle royale will release on November 3rd for the PlayStation 4 (and PS5 via backward compatibility), Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S (BC), Nintendo Switch, and PC.

In Bloodshore, players control Nick, a “washed-up actor” who participates in a reality show called Kill/Stream for a handsome cash prize. Kill/Stream’s contestants are streamers, entertainers, and death row inmates.

Something is off, and Nick wants to uncover the truth about Bloodshore Island before he gets taken out. Check out a trailer below.

Features include:

• 8 hours of total FMV footage, the most amount in any game
• Decisions matter, with visual feedback on what effect they have
• Relationships are tracked and can influence the story
• One story, several different paths and outcomes
• Support for 12 languages

“Each playthrough can have a different outcome depending on player choices and the relationships built, some will bring deadly consequences for Nick and his fellow contestants,” wrote Wales Interactive. “Players must battle out in a dystopian battle royale set on a mysterious island location; where influencers, death row inmates and failing celebrities compete for a life-changing cash prize and all the attention they could ever want. All is not what it seems in this latest season of Kill/Stream, the hottest reality TV show on the planet. Can Nick uncover the truth about Bloodshore Island before his time runs out?”

Let’s find out on November 3rd!

The post Wales Interactive’s New FMV ‘Bloodshore’ Will Scratch Your Squid Game Itch Next Month appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

I Saw Black Clouds is the latest FMV game to hit the PlayStation 4. Although published by Wales Interactive, this time the company has nothing to do with its development. Instead, that task is being handled by Ghost Dog Films and they’ve previously dipped into horror films with mixed results—their last film, Crucible of the Vampire, reviewed poorly. Unfortunately their debut game doesn’t fare much better.

The interactive psychological thriller tells the story of the unexpected death of Kristina’s friend Emily. Despite not speaking to Emily for a few months before she committed suicide, Kristina comes back to her home town in the county of Shropshire in time for the funeral. Struggling with the guilt of being so distant, she’s determined to find the truth behind her friend’s claims of hearing voices and seeing a ghostly figure who was goading her into hanging herself.

I Saw Black Clouds Review – Cursed in More Ways Than One

An interactive movie doesn’t have a lot for players to do in terms of gameplay, so the quality of the story is of utmost importance. This script isn’t brilliant, although you get the sense the actors are doing the best with what they’ve been given. The characters are only there to drive the plot forward, and that purpose is often at odds with their persona. There’s a reverend who is far too eager to talk about ghosts and curses despite a life rooted in the Christian faith. A special mention goes to the therapist with an intimidating bedside manner, whose “office” has a drinks trolley next to the patients’ couch while the rooms are filled with distracting pop art.

The retired doctor with little sense of patient confidentiality is one of the most interesting characters. He believes his distant relatives may be the reason behind the curse and is full of useful information to allow Kristina to get to the truth. The amusing thing is he usually follows it up with “I don’t recommend you do that” and there are no prizes for guessing what we do or who we see next.

There are dozens of timed decisions to make throughout the game; my initial playthrough clocked in at just under 200 choices. If you run out of time while making a decision, the game will pick a choice for you. Those selections sometimes play out in new cutscenes based on your decisions, but there are moments where the game seems to ignore those choices. Decisions are supposed to affect the story traits of denial, acceptance, and guilt, each of which are tied to a separate ending. However, I made different decisions in two playthroughs yet still saw mostly the same cutscenes and got the same ending.

In other places the game does the complete opposite to your decision. In one case I had the choice to be cautious or run back to my friend. I chose cautious. Kristina ran back to her friend while frantically calling her name, which isn’t my definition of cautious. The worst part is the very end where the game doesn’t even pretend to care about your choices. If you pick the wrong choice, the game rewinds and you replay that section until you pick the ‘right’ sequence of choices. It almost seems as though Ghost Dog Films ran out of time or budget to film any more endings and it’s incredibly disappointing.

I Saw Black Clouds Review – Making Decisions but the Reasons Aren’t Clear

Decisions don’t just occasionally affect the overall plot; they also affect Kristina’s personality traits where she’s scored in honesty, strength, morality, tact, and introspection. As the ending cutscene plays out, Kristina’s friend summarizes her overall personality according to her choices, but these summaries are mixed up. In playthrough one where I made every effort to save my friends, Kristina was dubbed self-centered and selfish. In playthrough two where I saved Kristina’s backside at the first opportunity and left others to their fates, she was called kind-hearted and considerate. Most interestingly, the game also measures Kristina’s relationships with Charlotte and Jack. The problem is the former appeared so infrequently the relationship didn’t seem to matter, while I never spoke to the latter in two entire playthroughs with different decisions.

The story also has other continuity issues. There was one spot where Kristina suddenly acquired a head injury out of nowhere. There’s also a point in the middle of the story where it takes an unexpected twist. The doctor remarks to Kristina about the events so far being “not quite what happened” and she may want to have another go at retelling them. By “not quite what happened,” he actually means “not even remotely close” as the game’s story goes off on a completely different and seemingly unconnected direction to that we’ve seen so far.

Story aside, there are moments where the game itself doesn’t play well. At one stage, decision options appear and the countdown starts before the prompts/questions have even been asked. By the time the player knows what decision they’re making, the timer’s run out. The game also suffers from the age-old issue with jittering as the game loads the correct cutscene after a decision. It’s an issue that has been seen in several of Wales Interactive’s FMV games, such as Late Shift and The Complex, yet nothing is being done about it.

Bearing all this in mind, it’s probably a good thing that the game is relatively short at just 2 hours for a single playthrough. The game relies on players going back to find all four endings to extend playtime and if you’re a completionist insistent on seeing every one of the game’s 579 cutscenes, multiple playthroughs might seem tortuous. The good news is you can skip all of the cutscenes you’ve previously viewed with R1, with the game halting only at decisions that need making. This cuts further playthroughs significantly.

I Saw Black Clouds Review – When Short is Good

I Saw Black Clouds has very little to redeem it. The characters are unrealistic and the plot twists and turns in an incoherent manner that introduces continuity issues. Player choices occasionally make a difference but are often ignored and sometimes even dubbed incorrect. Endings are mixed up and player relationships are pointless, plus the game can be buggy too. The irony is that Shropshire has its fair share of ghost stories and it even claims to be the most haunted county in the UK. Maybe the game would have been better telling one of those stories instead.

I Saw Black Clouds review code provided by publisher. Reviewed on PS5. For more information, please read our Review Policy.

The post I Saw Black Clouds Review – I Might Be Better Blacking Out (PS4) appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Wales Interactive and Ghost Dog Films have announced FMV psychological thriller, I saw Black Clouds, for last-gen and current-gen consoles alongside PC.

Set for release sometime in Q1 this year, I Saw Black Clouds will follow the story of a woman named Kristina, who is looking for answers following her best friend’s mysterious death. In her quest to uncover the truth, Kristina comes across something “more harrowing than she could have imagined.”

Players’ decisions will impact the outcome of the story. The game will track how you play across five dimensions: honesty, strength, morality, tact, and introspection. “How you connect with the characters and the moral choices you make along the way will affect what you discover, the journey you take, and the resolution you find at the end,” wrote Wales Interactive. “Your decisions will not only change individual scenes, but could present you with an entirely different storyline that can be discovered on multiple playthroughs.”

Key features are as follows:

• A completely live-action, cinematic interactive psychological thriller, filmed in the UK.

• A branching narrative that drastically changes the story depending on the path you take.

• Real-time Relationship Status Tracking that influences the story as you play.

• Real-time Personality Trait Tracking that evolves based on your choices.

• Starring Nicole O’Neill (Red Sparrow, Penny Dreadful, Beauty and the Beast).

• Unlockable features include a Skip Scene and Personality Assessment feature.

• Featuring a Streamer Mode that pauses the choices for audience participation during live streams.

We’ll update our readers when a release date is announced. In the meantime, check out a trailer below.

The post FMV Psychological Thriller ‘I Saw Black Clouds’ Coming to PS4 and PS5 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Five Dates is a FMV (Full Motion Video) game from the masters of the genre, Wales Interactive. Instead of doing another action or thriller storyline, they have created a delightfully upbeat romantic comedy. If you’ve played one of their games before then you’ll know what to expect, this is more of an interactive movie than a videogame.

The set-up is quite topical, as it’s based in London in the middle of the Covid lockdown. What this means is that people are still allowed to go to and from work, go food shopping, or to medical appointments, but that’s about it. There’s no going out and socialising with friends or family. For those that are single and living by themselves it can be a pretty lonely time. Thankfully a new app has emerged which specialises in digital dating.

Vinny is a 27 year old guy who has decided to take a chance on love during these strange times. You’ll get to help create his profile by selecting what his job is, as well as his profile picture, star sign, and interests. These choices will have some small influences on conversations that you have in the future but won’t drastically change anything. Still, it is nice to be able to personalise your version of Vinny.

There are five eligible ladies that you’ll get to check out on the app but you can only ask three of them out on a first date. The first date gives you the opportunity to see who you’re potentially compatible with. When you know so little about someone it can be very easy to say the wrong thing. There are some pretty amusing moments where you can get Vinny to say something, which seems fairly innocuous, and watch your potential lover’s interest quickly fade.

Five Dates Review – Who’s Behind Door Number One?

Before we go any further let’s take a bit of time to talk about the women that you’ll encounter. They’re all beautiful but with very diverse interests and personalities. So you have language teacher Maya who’s a bit of a party animal, Shaina the overworked nurse, Grace the uptight lawyer, Paige the social media influencer, and Saffron who works for an animal welfare charity.

It’s easy to make snap judgements when you first check out their profiles, but just like in real life, the more you talk to them the more you’ll learn things that you probably weren’t expecting to find out. I obviously won’t spoil anything in this review, but there were definitely some people who were far more interesting than I initially anticipated.

There are a few familiar faces in the cast, including Mandip Gill of Doctor Who fame and Georgia Hurst from Vikings. I enjoyed watching all the characters in the game as they all had great chemistry with each other, I quickly found myself warming to them and wanting to get to know them better. I particularly enjoyed seeing Vinny’s debriefing sessions with his best friend Callum. Watching the light-hearted banter fly between them had me grinning from ear-to-ear.

Five Dates – The New Normal

Dating during lockdown makes for a really interesting setting as all interaction has to be online rather than face-to-face. This makes second dates a bit trickier to make interesting, as what can you do when you can only chat by phone app? Thankfully the app has already thought of this, and so the next dates you have are “activity” dates.

The app forces you to narrow down your choices for the second date and so you’ll only be able to select two out of the three people you saw in the first round. Of course if your first date was disastrous then they might not accept your call at all. Each woman will have a different activity planned, things like truth-or-dare or tarot reading.

All of the activities are fun but it’s a bit of a shame that only your date can select the activity. It would have been nice to be able to mix-and-match the activities with different partners. Obviously that would have required Wales Interactive to record a lot more footage and script a lot of different possibilities for each lady, so it is understandable that they decided on just one game per woman.

By the time you get to the third and final date you’ll have to narrow down your option to just the one woman that you like the most. It’s handy that you’re able to check your relationship scores at any point during the game so that you can see who you’ve got the most chemistry with. This is also really helpful in future playthroughs as you can check to see how your conversation choices impacts your bonds.

Five Dates Review – Lockdown Casanova

It’ll take you around 75 minutes to get through a complete playthrough, and hopefully end up with a girlfriend at the end of it. There is obviously a far bit of replayability as you can try your hand at successfully dating one of the other women. You’re also able to skip any scenes you previously watched, which makes it much quicker to get to new conversations.

Playing a game set during lockdown is definitely unique. Rather than focusing on some of the negative aspects of the pandemic, Wales Interactive has managed to spin this into a light-hearted rom-com. It’s a fun experience that manages to turn social distancing limitations into something positive and fun.

Five Dates review code provided by publisher. Version 1.01 reviewed on a standard PlayStation 4. For more information on scoring, please read our Review Policy.

The post Five Dates Review – Lockdown Loving (PS4) appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

During the summer, most people head outdoors and are determined to soak up the sun’s rays. Then there are people like me. They sit inside with the doors shut and the curtains closed, trying to play horror games in the darkest environment they can create during the longest daylight hours of the year. The latest survival horror title from Wales Interactive almost requires players to put on the headphones and hang up a “do not disturb” sign as they make their way through the ramshackle Hotel Sker.

Maid of Sker is based on the very real Sker house and the Welsh folklore that surrounds it. One ghost that haunts the mansion is that of Elisabeth Williams, a young woman imprisoned in her room so that she couldn’t elope with her lover, Thomas Evans. She died of a broken heart. The second ghost is the captain of a ship wrecked on the nearby rocks. Both provide some inspiration, even if the game’s actual story bears few similarities.

Maid of Sker Review – History Doomed to Repeat Itself

The game’s Hotel Sker closed its doors after the death of the legendary Maid of Sker, Elisabeth’s mother Prudence. Many years later in 1897, Elisabeth’s father is trying to reopen the hotel and restore it to its former glory. Elisabeth will become the new Maid of Sker, singing to the guests. During the opening ceremony, though, something goes horribly wrong. Fearing for her life, Elisabeth goes into hiding and summons her lover, Thomas, to the hotel.

The situation doesn’t look good upon his arrival. The gate into the grounds is rusted shut, so Thomas has to take a roundabout route through overgrown gardens to even reach the hotel. As he gets through the front door, it closes and locks behind him. Bunting dangles from the lobby ceiling. Suitcases are carelessly discarded in the corners. There’s little lighting and paint peels from the walls. The eerie silence is broken only by the phone ringing in the booth. Hotel Sker is in an obvious state of disrepair, and you wonder how Elisabeth’s father even thought it could open in the first place. It does make for a very interesting environment to explore, though.

The hotel’s staff and guests have turned into Quiet Ones, and they’re prowling the corridors. Their cultish sack face coverings mean they can’t see, so they should be easy to avoid, right? Wrong. To compensate for their loss of sight, their hearing is impeccable. They can hear the slightest of movements or heavy breathing. If they find Thomas, they’ll beat him to a pulp. This makes the Quiet Ones incredibly dangerous and the source of most of the game’s scariest moments.

Thomas is unarmed aside from a single Phonetic Modulator device. When activated, it sends out a single sonic pulse that disorientates all nearby enemies for long enough to run away. The problem is that running creates a lot of noise, drawing even more attention to his position. When you can’t defend yourself, the best tactic is to avoid the enemies completely, but that’s easier said than done.

Maid of Sker Review – Ssh, Be Quiet!

Sound plays an incredibly important part in the game and it’s best played with headphones. Without them it’s difficult to tell the direction of footsteps, often your only warning of an approaching enemy. Many a scare came from walking straight into an enemy I hadn’t heard. Going against every grain of instinct you have, the best thing to do when too close to an enemy is to stay still. Thomas can hold his breath too, but the longer he holds it, the louder the gasp for air will be when he breathes again. Every single movement needs to be calculated.

Not only is sound important in avoiding enemies, music is vital in deciding the fate of Thomas and Elisabeth. It can antagonize enemies, or if Thomas is successful, it can lift the curse that’s befallen the hotel. The decision is ultimately down to the player, and can lead to one of two endings. Throughout the 8 hour story, players also get treated to haunting strains of reimagined Welsh hymns, adding even more to the unsettling atmosphere.

To reach Elisabeth, Thomas has to navigate a maze of rooms and corridors. Rubbish blocks some corridors and doorways so alternate routes need to be found. There are also the obligatory locked doors. Every now and again, you’ll need to solve simple puzzles that rely on clues or objects hidden within the nearby environment. Once solved, the mechanisms they unlock usually make a loud noise. You’d think the Quiet Ones would run towards the source of the noise, but at this point they instead have homing beacons. They will swarm Thomas regardless of how far away from the mechanism he is, or how quiet he is being. It’s one of the few issues the game has as all the usual rules are broken as Thomas sprints towards safety.

There are few truly safe spaces around the hotel. These rooms are hidden behind patterned green doors, are brightly lit and have gramophones on which you can save your game. All saving is manual and relies on you finding the safe rooms. Leave it too long and a death could cost you dearly. The first time a gramophone is used to save the game, it plays a recording that adds more context to the story, alongside other collectibles strewn about the hotel. Healing tonics and charges for the Phonetic Modulator also need to be found. Players who spend the most time exploring the hotel are those that are most rewarded.

Maid of Sker Review – A Worthwhile Visit?

Hotel Sker may have seen better days, but it’s well worth a visit for fans of the horror genre. The hotel is interesting to explore and rewards players who take the time to unravel its secrets. You feel constantly in danger not knowing where the next threat is going to be but knowing you can’t defend yourself. No, there’s nothing really new here, but that doesn’t matter if you just want to sneak around a Victorian hotel where the welcome is less than inviting.

Maid of Sker review code provided by publisher. Reviewed on PS4. For more information on scoring, please read our Review Policy.

The post Maid of Sker Review – An Unwelcoming Hotel (PS4) appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.