Welcome to Digitally Downloaded’s weekly catch-up news feature, the catch-up coffee. Here, I bring you the best news you may have missed from last week. Grab the biggest mug you’ve got, fill it with your favourite brew, and catch up with us (and our favourite news anchor, Dee Dee)!
News Tower gets a November launch date
The 1930s newspaper management sim game News Tower, available in Early Access via Steam since February 2024, is scheduled for a 1.0 launch in November 2025. Players inherit a chaotic 1930s New York newsroom and an attempt to build a media empire. Try to revive a business on the verge of bankruptcy, as the game tests concentration, spatial management skills, multitasking, and strategic decision-making. Your choices decide whether you thrive or fall to the “Higher Powers” (cough mob? cough) and fail to meet your readers’ demands.
News Tower satirically captures the golden era of journalism, and the player is in charge every step of the way: hire the right people, then manage everything from choosing stories to rearranging a shrinking office layout to restocking charcoal for lights. While the game is tongue-in-cheek, its headlines and stories are based on how major newspapers of the time reported on pivotal events, including the Prohibition, the Great Depression, and the rise of fascism. Characters and factions are inspired by real-world figures.
Developed by Sparrow Night and published by Twin Sails Interactive, News Tower is scheduled to be released on November 4 for PC/Mac via Steam
MMORPG Everlast: Undying Tale announced for PC
Everlast: Undying Tale, inspired by classic titles such as RuneScape and Guild Wars, aims to modernize and bring classic MMO systems into the contemporary gaming landscape. The light-hearted epic features a rich skills system, real-time combat, and minimalist base-building that alters the world. Players can play solo, with friends, or in public servers to explore the Kingdom of South Umbardom. Craft, quest, and balance the growing strength of an eldritch curse.
The robust skill system includes classics like fishing, blacksmithing, and tailoring, with access to new resources for crafting, combat, and commerce. Restoring a player-owned estate will improve your skills. Craft and trade, or spend some down time cooking and fishing. Character-driven quests are set in a vibrant world. Can you suppress the curse and become a hero, or will you use evil to make the realm yours?
Developed by InSpades, Everlast: Undying Tale has been announced for PC via Steam.
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar supports conservation with a DLC outfit
The game isn’t even available yet, but the first DLC for Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar has already been announced. The paid DLC Pine Hoverfly Set includes an in-game sweater, beanie, and glider; the proceeds will go directly to the vital conservation efforts of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS). A short documentary provides a closer look at the campaign’s journey:
In 2020, Marvelous Europe (with the help of Jellymedia) partnered with the RZSS, donating to their efforts to reestablish a critically endangered species, the pine hoverfly. The pine hoverfly was once confined to one forest patch in Scotland, but its reach is now expanding thanks to the pivotal donation that allowed its breeding program to go from 170 to 8,000 pine hoverflies annually. For the first time in nearly a decade, adult pine hoverflies have been sighted and are reproducing in the wild.
Developed by Marvelous and published by Marvelous Europe/USA, Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is scheduled to be released on August 27 for PC via Steam, Switch 2, and Switch.
Cozy dragon platformer Dono’s Tale set for an early 2026 release
Due in large part to a successful Kickstarter campaign, meticulously-crafted cozy platformer Dono’s Tale has been scheduled for an early 2026 release. Inspired by the 16- and 32-bit eras of video games, this colourful game with a catchy soundtrack will transport players back to the ’90s. The crowdfunding campaign achieved its target in less than 72 hours and will continue until August 24. (There was also a failed campaign in 2022.) Here is the trailer that celebrated the campaign’s launch:
Here is a description of the game, provided by the developer in a press release:
In Dono’s Tale, players control our hungry little dragon as they jump, dash, climb, and shoot their way through detailed and colourful worlds in order to get back their precious fruit! Super Item Studios innovates on the classic platforming formula by encouraging players to experiment with chaining mobility and combat abilities to overcome the many obstacles that stand between Dono and their fruit.
Developed by Super Item Studios, Dono’s Tale is scheduled to be released in early 2026 for PC via Steam/itch.io, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, Switch, and Xbox.
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