Bandai Namco’s Scarlet Nexus is a sleeper hit with quick action and a deep story, win a Halo Infinite Xbox Series X console in the Xbox FanFest Trivia contest, Discovery Tour: Viking Age uses Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as a learning system.

Action RPG Scarlet Nexus provides novel-like depth

Set in a future when people have developed psychic abilities and strange creatures invade Earth to feed on our brains, Japanese role-playing game Scarlet Nexus is the sleeper hit of the fall.

You play as one of two psionics who’ve been recruited to be on the Other Suppression Force, the troupe that has been tasked with protecting humanity from the strange creatures that threaten us.

Through the game you’ll be accompanied by a group of OSF psionics and you’re able to borrow their unique powers to supplement your attacks.

Much of the combat occurs as arena battles where you’ll use both weaponized attacks and your psionic abilities.

The story, though, is complex and twisting, and you only get half of the story. To get the full picture, you need to play the game as the other protagonist, who is accompanied by an entirely different group of agents. Each of these supporting characters is fully realized, and if the story isn’t enough for you, the interactions between the characters will be.

Backed by an energetic industrial electronic metal soundtrack, Scarlet Nexus is a pleasant surprise.

Scarlet Nexus is published by Bandai Namco and is available now on PS4, PS5, and Windows, and on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S with Xbox Game Pass. Rated teen.

Xbox FanFest Trivia contest will test your knowledge of 20 years of Xbox

Xbox is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and on Saturday, November 13 you’ll have a chance to show how much you know about Microsoft’s gaming platform and ecosystem in a trivia contest.

The Xbox FanFest Trivia contest runs from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. PT (5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern). It will include questions about Xbox’s “near future, to present, and recent history, and then head back through time, even pre-dating the original launch”.

There are five questions in each round, and rounds one through three are open to everyone. The 2,500 highest scores move on to rounds four and five. The 500 best scores from there go to rounds six and seven, the best 100 go to eight and nine, and only the 10 highest scores move on to the final round.

And only one person will be named the FanFest Trivia Winner and the person who will be awarded a grand prize package with an approximate retail value of nearly $1,700 USD:

• Halo Infinite Xbox Series X bundle
• Beoplay Portal wireless gaming headphones from Bang & Olufsen
• Xbox force feedback racing wheel
• one year subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
• Xbox 20th anniversary special edition wireless controller
• $85 USD in gift cards for the Xbox Gear Shop

To participate you first need to register for Xbox FanFest. If you’ve done that, or after you’ve done that, you navigate to the “Xbox FanFest exclusives” page where you can “opt-in” for the trivia contest.

You must opt in by 11:59 p.m. PT on Tuesday, November 9 to take part in the contest. You’ll be sent an email with details on how to enter the event.

The official rules set out the various prizes available to be won. They include:

• 10 first prizes of an Xbox 20th anniversary special edition wireless controller and $85 USD in gift cards for the Xbox Gear Shop
• 100 second prizes of $85 USD in gift cards for the Xbox Gear Shop
• 500 third prizes of $35 USD in gift cards for the Xbox Gear Shop
• 2,500 fourth prizes of a $10 USD gift card for the Xbox Gear Shop

Learn more about viking culture in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Ubisoft’s Discovery Tour: Viking Age

Discovery Tour: Viking Age is a new interactive educational experience from Ubisoft that is built on its game, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

The video game is set in ninth-century Norway and England as is the Discovery Tour, which is a non-violent learning experience developed in collaboration with historians and archaeologists.

Also involved were museums that provided access to real historical artifacts, including the Hampshire Cultural Trust in the Winchester area of England, the British Library, the York Archaeological Trust, the Preston Park Museum and Grounds, the National Museum of Denmark, and the Reunion des Musees Nationaux in France.

With Viking Age, the developers at Ubisoft Montreal put storytelling at the centre, so players aren’t just roaming around, but are interacting with the virtual world and its characters.

Owners of the game can get Discovery Tour for free. The experience is also available as a separate app on Windows ($25) and in early 2022 Ubisoft will be releasing it as a standalone for PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Ubisoft has created similar virtual experiences for Egypt and Greece based on research conducted during the development of Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, respectively.