Star Wars 9: How Can Emperor Palpatine Come Back For The Rise Of Skywalker?

We've finally gotten our first look at Star Wars: Episode IX, thanks to the movie's debut teaser trailer, which was released during a panel devoted to the film at Star Wars Celebration. We also learned the title of the movie--The Rise of Skywalker--and caught a new tidbit that's teasing a big new development in the final movie of the Skywalker Saga: the return of Emperor Palpatine.

If you didn't catch Palpatine's return, it's likely because it was a bit subtle. The trailer, which features voice-over from Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), ends with a spooky laugh. You'd be forgiven for not realizing the creepy cackle belongs to Ian McDiarmid, who plays Palpatine, but Disney confirmed fans' suspicions by bringing McDiarmid out on stage after revealing the trailer. (You can check out our trailer analysis for a breakdown of other key moments.)

Palpatine has been Star Wars' major villain for quite a while. We saw how the Sith Lord known as Darth Sidious pulled the strings of the galaxy in the prequel trilogy to turn the Old Republic into the Galactic Empire, and how he turned Anakin Skywalker from a Jedi into the galaxy far, far away's most feared villain, Darth Vader. Sidious was famously killed by Vader in Return of the Jedi, in order to save his son Luke Skywalker's life. So how can Palpatine be back?

We know from that Palpatine had a bunch of contingency plans in place in the event of his death, like what we saw in Star Wars: Battlefront II's story. In Star Wars lore of the past, Palpatine's plan was to use hidden clones in case he was killed. Though it's no longer canon, the old Star Wars Expanded Universe included a lot about Palpatine's return after his death. In those stories, Palpatine had created a secret cloning facility where copies of himself were being grown, which he could use in the event of his death. In his search for immortality, he'd learned about a Force technique that allowed him to transfer what was essentially his spirit into other bodies--effectively allowing him to keep moving from clone to clone forever.

In the Expanded Universe, the trouble was that Palpatine's clones were never very good. They were only viable for a short time; at first, the bodies only lasted about a year, and he had to continually transfer himself. That still allowed Palpatine to spend years in hiding, marshalling his forces for an attempt to restore the Empire after his defeat. He even briefly turned Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side to serve as his apprentice.

Palpatine was ultimately defeated by Luke and Leia, as well as some sabotage from his inner circle. Leia saved Luke from the Dark Side and they managed to destroy most of Palpatine's clones, while what remained had been sabotaged by Palpatine's own royal guards, causing the last clone to deteriorate much more quickly than the others. When Palpatine tried to transfer into the body of Leia and Han's son Anakin, another Jedi Palpatine had struck down, Brand, managed to drag Palpatine into the Force, leaving him a disembodied spirit forever.

Obviously, lots of the big portions of that story are no longer possible because of changes since Disney acquired Star Wars, but we've seen the Disney Star Wars canon borrow ideas from the Expanded Universe before; Grand Admiral Thrawn, for instance, was the villain of a trilogy of Expanded Universe books, and has been brought into the new canon with a 2017 novel and Star Wars Rebels. Palpatine making some clones for himself tracks with what we've seen of him in the past, too--we know his mentor, Darth Plagueis, was searching for immortality, and it would make sense that Palpatine would continue the search for those same Sith secrets.

The return of Palpatine doesn't have to be precipitated by ideas from the Expanded Universe, though. It's possible The Rise of Skywalker could expand on an idea first floated in Star Wars: Rebels. In that series, Palpatine attempted to enter the World Between Worlds, a nexus that connected all of space and time together. He was thwarted by Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger in that show, but the setup for Palpatine to pull some Sithy time travel shenanigans is there.

And while that laugh is Palpatine's, that doesn't mean Palpatine will return in a form we all expect. It's possible what we're hearing is some recording or artifact that contains Palpatine's will, his memories, or his personality. We saw a powerful Sith holocron, an artifact that contains information, in Rebels, and that one included something called "The Presence," which seemed like an artificial intelligence. And back during The Clone Wars, there was another Sith holocron that actually held the ghost of the Sith Lord Darth Bane, which means Palpatine could take a similar approach, even without clones. Battlefront II also saw the Emperor ordering his soldiers to destroy a bunch of Sith artifacts before the Rebels got hold of them, which might have related to Palpatine's plans to survive beyond his demise.

We won't know exactly what method Palpatine uses to come back into the galaxy, but one thing's for sure--Rey and Kylo Ren probably won't be able to use a Jedi mind trick to cut him in half.

Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 13th)

Here we are at the end of yet another week, finally winding down and getting ready to enjoy some of those video game thingies we seem to talk about so much. As always, team Nintendo Life has gathered around to discuss our gaming plans for the weekend, and we’d love for you to get involved in the comments and poll sections below. Enjoy!

Ryan Craddock, staff writer

Amazingly, for the second weekend in a row, I’ll be spending my time actually interacting with other, real human beings. I have a friend staying over for a while, so I imagine any gaming time will naturally be spent playing the Switch’s top multiplayer hits.

For us, that’s usually things like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Sure, they’re the boring choices, but sometimes you just can’t beat Nintendo’s biggest and brightest.

Gavin Lane, staff writer

This weekend, time permitting, I’ll be diving into the Labo VR Kit. News that Super Mario Odyssey and Zelda: Breath of the Wild are getting some manner of VR update was the tipping point and I pre-ordered a game for the first time in… 20 years?! The last thing I remember pre-ordering is Donkey Kong 64 with the Expansion Pak.

I went for the smaller basic Blaster kit because I lack both the space to store all that cardboard and also the time to build it. I’m very interested to investigate how the VR experience holds up given Switch’s tech limitations. Would it be possible to see an adapted port of Ubisoft’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew on Switch, for example? Before this Breath of the Wild update I’d have said ‘no way’, but I’m starting to wonder…

Gonçalo Lopes, contributing writer

Having been blessed yet again with good fortunes from the East, I will be spending my weekend mostly with Super Robot Wars T. I’ve been a fan of the series since stumbling upon it on Super Famicom and it is a true luxury to have the latest, greatest entry in the series 100% in English. There will, as per usual, be some ARMS Party Crash Bash and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate amiibo action along with some downtime sessions of Switch ‘N’ Shoot, Super Star Path and the deliciously difficult Out There Ω: The Alliance.

My game of the week is Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Scarlet for no reason at all except my faint hope that Koei Tecmo puts an actual Dead or Alive on the Switch down the line since we know now for sure that yes, the system can handle all the necessary physics involved.

Austin Voigt, contributing writer

This weekend, I’m picking up the full Labo VR kit and pretty much devoting all of my time to that. I’m a sucker for buildable toys – LEGO was my jam growing up – and considering each Toy-Con takes at least an hour to make, I should be set. I’ll also be having friends over the entire weekend, so I’m sure there will be some Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2 and Smash Bros. Ultimate thrown in as well for good measure.

Liam Doolan, news reporter

Like many other Switch owners, I’ll be spending the next few days in virtual reality testing out the new Nintendo Labo VR Kit. Based on my own experience so far – I’m impressed. I went in with low expectations and have been pleasantly surprised. While it’s obviously not as good looking as more expensive products on the market, it’s equally as entertaining. The Labo Goggles will also be a good investment if Nintendo continues to roll out free VR updates for older titles.

When I’m not playing Labo VR, I’ll be working on a few cases in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. To finally have this series on my television is a dream come true. That’s it for me this weekend.

Which games are you playing this weekend? (267 votes)

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

7%

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

13%

Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit

15%

Super Mario Odyssey

4%

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

6%

Donkey Kong 64

1%

Super Robot Wars T

1%

Switch ‘N’ Shoot

1%

Super Star Path

  0%

Out There: Ω The Alliance

2%

Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Scarlet

2%

Splatoon 2

7%

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

4%

Something else (comment below)

34%

Please login to vote in this poll.

As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave a vote in the poll above and a comment below with your gaming choices over the next few days…

Kitana Graces Us With Her Presence In The Latest Mortal Kombat 11 Trailer

Earlier this week, we got a glimpse of Kitana in action in a Mortal Kombat 11 promotional trailer and now NetherRealm Studios has officially revealed the fighter during the latest Kombat Kast live stream.

In the video below we get to see Lady Kitana – who started out in Mortal Kombat II alongside her evil twin Mileena – take on the hive queen D’Vorah. Be warned, though, the scenes within this reveal trailer are incredibly graphic:

Mortal Kombat 11 for Nintendo Switch launches in North America on 23rd April and arrives in Europe later on in May.

Are you glad Kitana is returning in Mortal Kombat 11? How about D’Vorah? Tell us down in the comments.

Unity Experimental Raytracing Release

Video: A classic game postmortem of Westwood Studios’ Command & Conquer

April 4th New Preview Alpha & Beta 1904 Update (1904.190403-1745)

Starting at 6:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha and Beta Rings will begin receiving the latest 1904 Xbox One system update (19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1904\18362.2015.190403-1720). Read on for more about the new features, fixes and known issues in the latest 1904 system update.

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1904\18362.2015.190403-1720
• Available: 6:00PM PDT 4/4/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 4/5/19

Fixes:

My Games and Apps

• Fixed an issue in which UWP games such as Minecraft could not be installed from disc.
• Fixed an issue in which some users were not receiving updates for games installed.

System – Mouse

• Fixed an issue in which users moving their Razor mouse while on home or other inbox apps may see it highlight tiles. Further, clicking on a blank space will deselect the tiles and the controller will be unable to navigate.

System – Home

• Fixed crashing issues with the Dashboard and guide on Home that some users have been experiencing.

Known Issues:

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Super Neptunia RPG Comes To Switch This Summer With A Lovely Physical Release

Idea Factory has announced that Super Neptunia RPG will be coming to Nintendo Switch this summer, both digitally and physically.

Developed by Artisan Studios in Canada, this game is said to bring the characters of the Neptunia series to life in “a whole new 2D way”. Each character was hand-drawn by Tsunako, the artist behind the series, and then animated by what the publisher calls “computer magic” to create a world that’s mysteriously switched from three dimensions to two.

You can probably guess that the game features RPG elements, thanks to that highly self-aware title, and this is made up of side-scrolling dungeons and turn-based battles. We have a list of key features for you to explore below.

Key Features:
– New Me in 2D – Your favorite Goddesses jump from three dimensions to two! Artisan Studios and Compile Heart proudly present new, vibrant backgrounds and newly developed 2D animations hand drawn in this action-inspired side-scrolling RPG! With Artisan Studios and Tsunako collaborating to create new background and character art, fans and newcomers alike can see Gamindustri in a new 2D perspective.
– Where You Lead, I Will Follow – With four Goddesses to rotate on-the-fly during battle, players can change their formation type and unleash devastating attack combos. Depending on which Goddess is leading the pack, players can strategize attacks from four different formations: Strike, Magic, Support and Heal!
– Goddess ‘bout to Break! – Strut your stuff and dish out your special Break Attack to ensure victory! Armed with their classic ability to transform, the Goddesses gain additional stat bonuses that enhance their attacks and lay waste to any enemy!
– Put a +2 Str Ring On It – Strengthen your Goddesses by utilizing Skills and Abilities that can be unlocked with weapons, armors, or accessories! Strategically assign Skills and rearrange your abilities for each battle.

We don’t have any release information beyond the slightly vague “summer 2019” window, but we’re sure a fixed date will be shared in the near future.

Until then, why not let us know your thoughts on this one in the comments below? Will you be picking it up?

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Is An Uncompromising Survival Experience

Patrice Désilets is no stranger to pitching video games. During his illustrious career at Ubisoft he was a key creative force behind Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and multiple Assassin's Creed titles. Standing in front of a room of people and delivering his vision for a game is, you'd think, second nature at this point. And yet, in a small hotel in Paris, he's breathlessly rattling through his journey post-Ubisoft, displaying the kind of nervous energy more commonly seen with indie developers revealing their first ever game.

It makes sense, however, when he comes to a grinding halt and very deliberately says, "This is an indie game," pausing to let that sink in. His new game, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, has been shrouded in mystery since it was first revealed, and he's setting expectations. He may be the guy that helped make Assassin's Creed, but Ancestors is the start of a new journey. It's a game where the player begins as a simple ape that must forage and fight for survival; venture into the unknown in search of knowledge and experience; develop the skills necessary to place it and its tribe in a position of safety; and evolve so that it can stand shoulder to shoulder with the other species inhabiting the jungle. They say you should write what you know, and it's hard not to draw parallels to the very real challenges Désilets and his newly established studio are facing, overwrought though the comparison may be.

It becomes apparent why setting expectations is important to him the moment I get my hands on Ancestors. It's an ambitious idea that is incredibly interesting but is realized with mechanics that I found myself unexpectedly tangled up in. In that respect, it has a distinctly indie feel to it.

At its heart, Ancestors is a survival game, but one that ties almost everything you do to the development of your ape avatar. It wants to inspire curiosity and experimentation in a natural way, and to that end is devoid of any sort of quest system. The exception is the opening, where I was tasked with finding an adorable young ape that was stranded in the wild and bringing it back to my shrewdness (fun fact: A group of apes is called a shrewdness, as I learned while writing this). I did this by using my natural senses, hitting a button to focus my hearing and then honing in on soundwaves coming from a distant tree.

The act of traveling there is undoubtedly the most recognizable representation of Désilets' design history, with a kind of simple traversal system built around holding and releasing a button to grab onto trees, branches, and thickets. Momentum can be used to swing from position to position around the jungle environment, and while it's not quite as slick as something Altair or Ezio would pull off, there was a kinetic quality to the movement that felt satisfying. With the infant ape returned, I was then free to head back into the jungle and do as I please.

Although the game doesn't make a big deal of it, there's a line that it throws up during the intro that serves as the drive behind the gameplay. It challenges you to defy science and evolve faster than the rate history states apes transformed at. Doing this involves indulging that curiosity and exposing your ape to the unfamiliar as much as possible. This, in turn, leads to it learning and growing. Items and objects in the environment initially have a black fog around them, indicating they are unfamiliar and should be examined. I picked up tree branches to figure out what they are, explored surroundings to develop a familiarity with the world around me, and leapt around to advance motor skills.

In doing so, I was rewarded with Neuronal Energy. When resting at Sleep Spots I was able to access the ape's mind and build neural pathways that improved my capabilities and unlocked new ones. After picking up enough things, my ape realized it could hold things in two hands, and then switch between them. With ample use of my visual and aural instincts, which are represented in-game by a kind of special overlay that highlight points and objects of interest, the range at which I could see and hear things could be extended.

Seeking out the unknown, learning, and evolving as a species is the core of Ancestors' gameplay loop, but there are additional considerations. Perhaps the most important is growing in number. Out in the wild there are other apes that can be found and added to your shrewdness. With more apes, the opportunity to procreate arises, which is also a key part of advancing ape-kind. You can approach other apes and groom them to build a relationship, and once it's intimate enough, you're able to mate and have children--provided you grab a few comfy leaves and put together a makeshift bed to get it on in.

"Survive the elements, teach your family, and build a home," the game says. However, for the two hours I played, simply surviving was such a challenge that I was barely able to even think about teaching or building. Ancestors holds out on a lot of information, so I found myself frantically trying to figure things out before my ape died and I was given control of another one to, effectively, start over. At one point something in the jungle cut me, I'm not sure if it was a narrow miss with a bird of prey that got the jump on me as I was scoping out the jungle from atop a tree, or if it was the needles of a bush I was trying to investigate, but either way I could see blood leaking out of me. The clock was ticking and the game offered no indication of what to do to stop the bleeding beyond finding something with clotting properties. My first thought was to grab a leaf, use my new ability to run my hand along it and strip off the leaves, and then try to apply it to myself. However, after I did this, there was no indication that I had some new material I could use. Ancestors doesn't have an inventory system and my hands were empty, so I clearly had the wrong idea. Except, I had the right idea. The leaf residue was in my hand, but that just wasn’t made clear to me. Had I known that, I would have sought out a rock to break it down and apply the clotting material to my wound.

Ancestors holds out on a lot of information, so I found myself frantically trying to figure things out before my ape died and I was given control of another one to, effectively, start over

This is representative of the overall obtuse nature of Ancestors and, according to its developers, this is by design. Ancestors is a game about trial and error, experimenting to find out what works. After all, that's what the apes are doing, so why should it be any different for you? There are solutions to the questions you want to be answered, and once you come upon them the knowledge fundamentally changes how you perceive the world around you, the tools available to you, and your chances of surviving. If the developers were to lay out all the answers, there would be no challenge. And without the satisfaction of figuring out how to solve a problem, it'd become a hollow experience.

Their reasoning makes sense and, on occasion, it worked. At one point I consumed berries to stave off starvation and found myself poisoned. I looked around and, not seeing any obvious plant remedy, I decided to just see if drinking lots of water would help wash it out of my system. Lo and behold, the poison indicator drained quicker as I hydrated myself and I became poison-free. But for every situation where it clicks, there's one where just a little bit of guidance would have been helpful. Having made a spear by stripping branches, I used the action button and my ape stabbed into the ground. Naturally, I thought this would be perfect for fishing, so I walked into a nearby stream to try and gather some food but walked away empty handed. It wasn't until much later, when I found a fishing spot, that I realized that there are specific locations that yield fish.

Ancestor's biggest challenge, to me, is walking the line between creating that sense of trial and error that leads to finding solutions and developing a knowledge base that smooths out survival, and providing enough guidance so that players don't become frustrated and walk away before have that kind of meaningful experience. Although Désilets and his team are aware of this, he was very committed to sticking to his vision, saying the ambiguity is core to the experience.

"That line, and I had multiple discussions with the team and the other game designers, where it was like, 'What is too much and what is not enough?'" he said. "You're right, we're always on the line. I was asked before, 'Could you tell us what's the solution for bleeding?' If I tell you, it's over. It's not like there are 48 different solutions to bleeding. There's one or two, and if I tell you the one there's only one left.

"If you did it, then you know it's difficult, but as soon as you find a solution the game world will change. Because suddenly you see opportunities that you didn't see at first. We did a playtest in November, and there was a guy who came in, and he told me he had an epiphany while playing it. He said, 'At first I thought there was nothing, then I pick up something, I transformed it, and I went holy f**k, there's everything. Everything is already there, and it's neat.'

"Once you understand the rule set, and you know how to get rid of your bleeding, or your broken bones and whatnot, you'll start to go on the other side of the fence, of like okay, now I get it. Then from the second to second struggling, you'll go to the minute to minute, then hour to hour. Then it's a different fun."

As Désilets rightly pointed out, the strict time conditions we played under somewhat alter the experience of Ancestors. I had just two hours with the game and so, naturally, I was trying to get a feel for it at an accelerated pace, delving deep into the jungle as quickly as possible, attempting to battle snakes and escape alligators well before I was probably ready to. Having finished my playthrough, I came away slightly frustrated but also feeling like, under the right circumstances--namely that I had more time--I could take a more considered approach and have the experience Désilets and his team envisioned.

"There's a part of me says, yes, you may feel frustrated because you feel like it won't let you play the game the way you may want it. I saw all of you just went in the jungle crazy running, and this is where a little bit I'm like, 'Okay, that's your choice, not mine. I didn't say to you go in the jungle and run. You went, and because there is you can have a lot of fun and pleasure not exploring that far.

"But also take your time, don't rush it. This is where I say [your character is] not like the other video game characters out there where it's all about you can do it, you're superior. No, you're that little prey at first. Take your time, slow down, stop. Then our job is to make sure you understand, well, this is the pace of this game.

“But you're totally right, though. It is a fine line, and sometimes we're not on the right side. It's about balancing at the end of the day. But it is a game about that, about you as a gamer, can you go through your own evolution of play? Maybe in a way that will let me survive."

Despite my minor frustrations with it, Ancestors has definitely piqued my interest. That loop of learning and evolving felt compelling, even among the frustration of not knowing what to do and repeatedly dying. It has sparked a curiosity in me, and I do have questions that I want to see answered. While the game's title indicates players will be able to evolve from simple ape to homo sapien, the game actually only goes for eight million years of human history, up to the Australopithecus stage of evolution. However, whether or not I make it that far will depend on the balancing, and Désilets admits that it's something that the team is working on in the lead up to release.

Remothered: Going Porcelain Will Bring More Psychological Horror To Switch

Indie publisher Modus Games has today announced that it will release Remothered: Going Porcelain, the second chapter in the psychological horror series, on Nintendo Switch.

The game arrives as a sequel to 2018’s Remothered: Tormented Fathers, a survival horror available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Tormented Fathers was also revealed to be coming to Switch in 2019, although we haven’t heard anything of this release since its announcement back in March 2018.

Details are still rather slim for this new release, too, but Chris Darril, Creative Director of Darril Arts and Remothered, has shared the following in a press release:

“I am immensely proud of the success gained by Remothered: Tormented Fathers and even more proud about the collaboration that will give life to the second title of the trilogy. Get ready for something new, something mad, something to be scared of and to cry for at the same time. Get ready to enter a tragic love story.”

This new sequel is scheduled to arrive on all major platforms in 2020. Hopefully we’ll definitely get the first entry in the series on Switch before that time.

Have you played the original on another platform? Do you like the sound of more horror scaring its way to your Switch? Tell us below.

Key Differences in Security, Management for Serverless vs. Containers