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Amazon is shedding around 14,000 jobs as part of "organizational changes" to "get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs." Read more View the full article

Grab Simon the Sorcerer Origins - "PONY" DLC for free on Steam! Please note the base game Simon the Sorcerer ... View the full article

Don’t Nod, the developer behind games such as Life is Strange, Jusant, and this year's Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, has signed an agreement with Netflix to create a new narrative video game based on a “major IP." The news comes from Don’t Nod’s 2025 mid-year financial report. The developmental agreement between Don’t Nod and Netflix does not reveal which IP will be made into a game, only describing the title as “a new narrative experience that builds on the studio's recognized expertise in the genre.” This project is currently in the works by Don’t Nod’s Montreal studio, a newer team consisting of some of the designers behind the first Life is Strange, which released its first title, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, earlier this year. Whatever this new game becomes, it will be published by Netflix. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Don’t Nod has traditionally developed its own original choice-driven stories, so this marks the first time it will work on an existing IP. This game will undoubtedly be based on one of Netflix’s original properties, so your guess is as good as ours as to what it could be. Stranger Things? Wednesday? Beef? In the meantime, this Netflix partnership isn't the only new project Don't Nod has in the works. It revealed an intriguing sci-fi game called Aphelion during this summer's Xbox Showcase, and you can learn more about it here. View the full article

Developer poncle has released a new update for Vampire Survivors that adds Balatro characters, weapons, and more, alongside additional Castlevania content and online co-op. It's out today for PlayStation, Xbox, PC via Steam, and mobile devices, and will hit Nintendo Switch and Epic Games Store versions of the game this Friday, on October 31. Courtesy of an official partnership between poncle and LocalThunk and PlayStack, the Ante Chamber update is free for all players on all platforms, and it brings four new characters to the game: Jimbo, Canio, Chicot, and Perkeo. Plus, it adds four new weapons and evolutions in the form of Infernolatro, Gros Michel, Fibonacci Seltzer, and the Celestial Booster, and you can use these new weapons on the new stage available in this update, The Ante Chamber. "Enter the Ante Chamber, an extradimensional analogue of Balatro's user interface," a press release reads. "Battle buffoonish foes on a facsimile of Jimbo's home turf accompanies by a new ally, the Outer Saboteur, a silly little sidekick that steals your coins to throw them at enemies." Elsewhere in the Ante Chamber Update are "Survarots," which are a new form of power creep that is currently being tested through Secretino in the base Vampire Survivors game, but something that all Ante Chamber characters can use. The press release describes Survarots as "vaguely similar to Arcana cards but are themed after characters from Vampire Survivors and provide different types of bonuses." The Ante Chamber features Survarots as a sort of preview before this power creep makes its way to the base game. Update 1.14 also includes more content for last year's Ode to Castlevania expansion. This expansion is getting 16 new characters, with poncle promising these ones are even more obscure than the last drop of characters, a new adventure ("the biggest poncle's ever made"), 16 new weapons and weapon unions, and 12 new music tracks. This extra content is free to players who already own the Ode to Castlevania DLC, which you can purchase for $3.99. You can find more details about this expansion here. Another big aspect of today's update is online co-op, which allows players to to roam freely wherever they want without being tethered to their co-op partner on the screen. To start an online session, select "Online" from the main menu and choose to host or join a game. If you host, you'll see a room code in the top corner of the screen that you can share with friends so they can join. You can find more information about how online co-op works in Vampire Survivors here. Today's round-up of Vampire Survivors news closes with the press release teasing two "BIG" updates to share very soon, one of which "will reveal where they plan to take Vampire Survivors next." We'll be on the lookout to learn what these two updates are. In the meantime, read Game Informer's Vampire Survivors review. View the full article

Pokémon Legends: Z-A launched earlier this month, on October 16, for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and there hasn’t been a day since its release that I haven’t played it. I’m having a really great time with it, but that’s not what I’m writing about today. No, I’m here to write about the disrespect Legends: Z-A has shown not only me, but the most beloved set of starters in Pokémon history. About five to seven hours into Legends: Z-A, after a gruelingly slow and boring sequence of tutorial missions, you’ll have the opportunity to fight a designated trainer and achieve Rank W in the game’s titular tournament. After that battle, Mable, the Pokémon professor of Lumiose, will ring your Rotom phone (side note: remember when Rotom was basically a Mythical or Legendary Pokémon back in the day, but is now a pocket monster that apparently everyone literally carries in their pocket?), giving you a side mission called “A Call from Mable.” Now, you don’t have to complete this side mission immediately, but if you know how simple side missions in Legends: Z-A are at this point in your Lumiose journey, it’s easy to commit to doing so. To complete it, head to the Pokémon Research Lab and take the elevator up to Mable’s office. Once here, you’ll see three familiar Pokémon: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Image Source: WoW Quests on YouTube There’s no pomp and circumstance for the most iconic starter trio in series history; there’s no buildup to this moment; you just walk into a room and there they are. And wouldn’t you know it, after a few lines of dialogue, Mable is asking you to select one and take it with you on your journey. I made my way to Mable’s office in the late hours of the night, casually enjoying what Lumiose has to offer. At this point, I didn’t (and still don’t) have any idea what I was shaping my Pokémon party into. I selected Totodile, obviously, as my starter in Legends: Z-A and had already captured a Gastly that I was happy with, but the other four slots on my team – anybody’s guess. Imagine my shock when I’m told to select a Kanto starter, and then imagine that shock multiplied when I try to leave Mable’s Office but am told I can’t until I choose Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle. Image Source: WoW Quests on YouTube I desperately wanted to get out of that office – I was not prepared to make this decision. I had no idea which hole I needed a Kanto starter to fill in my party, aside from likely not needing Squirtle, my personal favorite, since Totodile already covers Water-type on my team. I thought I could just leave the office and return to select one of these Pokémon later, ideally hours further into my journey, when I have a better idea of which Kanto starter would make more sense on my team. Instead, I was hastily forced to make a decision I didn’t want to make. This moment felt highly disrespectful to me, as a player and Legends: Z-A trainer, but it also felt disrespectful to the legacy of these starters. For many Pokémon players, the Kanto starters are the starters, the Pokémon we’re still so attached to all these years later. I wish Legends: Z-A rose to the occasion when gifting us one of these monsters, though perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised since this isn’t the first time a Pokémon game has lazily handed over the Kanto starters. You could argue this entire sequence is a callback to Pokémon X and Y, which similarly force you to select a Kanto starter without notice early in the game. But still, is Game Freak not aware of the history these three Pokémon carry? You’re not asking me to pick just any Pokémon; you’re asking me to reach back into time and select a piece of my childhood to take with me into the future. Act like it. Callback or not, it’s the same ambivalence here in Legends: Z-A that I tasted back in X and Y. I’m not a game designer and won’t pretend to know the optimal way to dole out a Kanto starter, but I have been playing this series long enough to know Game Freak understands how to handle the gravity of specific monumental Pokémon, like its Legendaries. Climbing the floors of Rayquaza’s Sky Pillar, the sealed chamber puzzles you must complete to get the Regi-trio (Regirock, Registeel, Regice), the roaming dogs of the Johto region – these are all great examples of how Game Freak properly handled the gravitas of specific Pokémon, and I’m not asking the team to treat the Kanto starters as Legendaries, but they deserve more than a 30-second side mission. Ultimately, I put my Switch 2 down and talked through my decision-making with my wife next to me. Charmander is the easy pick, right? Who doesn’t want a Charizard? But I actually went with Bulbasaur. When you select one of these starters, they let out a small cry with a lil’ animation, and Bulbasaur reminded my wife of our pup, Sparrow, and that was that. So now, my permanent party features Croconaw, Ivysaur, and Gastly, with three more spots open. I just hope I’m not forced into a confrontation with my past, my history with this series, and my love for these pocket monsters again when it comes to rounding out my team. For more, read Game Informer’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A review. Which Kanto starter are you going to pick in Pokémon Legends: Z-A when the time comes? Let me know in the comments below! View the full article

Stormind Games, the independent Italian studio which created the Remothered series and recently collaborated with 2K Games and Hangar 13 to deliver the Sicilian location of Mafia: The Old Country, has completed a new round of investment to fund development of new games. Read more View the full article

Here at Game Informer, we get pitches for games all day long, and unfortunately, we only have so many hours in the day to research and cover games. Every day, I get pitches for games I'd love to share with our audience that I just simply can't find the time to cover – there are so many games, y'all. But when I am able to bring attention to something people probably haven't heard of, it's always exciting, which is why I'm stoked to bring to your attention an upcoming horror game called The Florist. It comes from Wellington, New Zealand-based developer Unclear Games, and when The Florist launches next year on consoles and PC, it will be the studio's first release. If what I've seen from the reveal trailer, which you can view below, and learned from talking with Unclear Games founder and CEO Phil Larsen is any indication, The Florist is a game fans of horror – particularly classic Resident Evil – should keep an eye on. Check out The Florist reveal trailer below: "The Florist tells the story of Jessica Park, who arrives in the lakeside town of Joycliffe to make a last-minute delivery," a press release reads. "Her timing sparks disaster as the town quickly descends into a deadly game of survival against omnipresent floral overgrowth. Players must solve ingenious puzzles, defeat horrifying enemies, and uncover a mysterious plan to create new life in the most inhuman way imaginable." Larsen tells me Unclear Games is inspired by all types of horror, but especially the 2002 Resident Evil Remake, and The Florist makes that very clear with a fixed camera, a terrifying locale to explore, plenty of puzzles that require creativity and deduction skills, and more. "I started off thinking about the game I would most like to play, mostly by sitting down with a coffee and sketchpad, drawing maps and thinking about cool locations, puzzles, and routes between areas," Larsen tells me over email. "I still replay the classics constantly, so settling on an experience taking inspiration from those felt like a good direction. Not to mention, fixed cameras solve a lot of production hurdles from the outset, which is always a huge benefit." Larsen says when he thinks about the horror genre in games he loves so much, games like Sweet Home, Alone in the Dark, and the original Resident Evil trilogy of games (RE1 through RE3 on PlayStation) come to mind. But for him, the 2002 Resident Evil remake changed how he thinks about games. "It just fired on all cylinders and hit every mark," he says. "[Remake] launched, crushed it, dropped the mic. To this day, it's considered the gold standard. So The Florist team is working hard to deliver an experience that does justice to that standard." It's one thing to be inspired by your favorite games, and the fixed camera work in The Florist looks great so far, but it's important for games to stand on their own as well. Larsen says the game's floral theme should provide something fresh in horror. "The floral theme lets us experiment with color and growth, which is rare in horror," he says. "The game takes place in the very early stages of a catastrophic event, rather than days or weeks later. So flowers, enemies, and the levels themselves grow and change throughout the course of the game, which we're very excited to continue exploring. As a benefit of these environmental changes, that's how we can design fresh gameplay moments." On the topic of the fixed camera, Larsen says it allows the team to really control what is included in a scene, what can be shown and hidden, and that ultimately, "it leads to a natural feeling world without extra markers or guides required in more open spaces." There are entire levels designed around a single camera idea, he adds. Visually, Unclear Games is aware that flowers aren't particularly scary in the grand scheme of what terrifies, but Larsen says lighting and a desire to create something unsettling within an otherwise natural space, like a garden, have pushed the team to explore fresh ideas. "The types of flowers, how they move, their size, and placement are all designed by hand," he tells me. "A lot of work, and still plenty to go with feedback and testing, but we're having so much fun putting it all together." The final piece of any horror package is the sound, and I really enjoyed the soundscape that the first look at The Florist Unclear Games offered. Larsen says the team is focusing on using "a lot of earthy tones from woodwind and brass, and coupling them with occasional surprising elements from synth and electronic music." He adds that Unclear Games isn't consciously avoiding strings and piano, but notes those are instruments more attuned to supernatural or undead horror themes, "which The Florist is not." Closing out our quick email chat about The Florist, Larsen tells me that before working on this game, he'd never met a florist in his life, except when buying flowers. By pure coincidence, two developers at Unclear Games have worked as florists before, giving The Florist some real-life edge and inspiration with what it's trying to accomplish. "My entire team is immensely talented among their many other surprising abilities, and I'm very grateful to be working with them," Larsen says. The Florist is due out sometime in 2026 on unspecified consoles and PC. You can wishlist it on Steam here. What do you think of this first look at The Florist? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

Developer Sharkmob has announced it will be shutting down the servers for its 2022 free-to-play battle royal Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt next year. This will render the game completely unplayable. Bloodhunt will be taken offline on April 28, 2026. Sharkmob explains in a blog post that this decision was made due to the game’s player count dropping below a sustainable amount. "When we first opened the streets of Prague to you, we could only hope that the nights you spent there would create the memories they did," Sharkmob writes. "From the battles fought on the rooftops to the friendships made in the chaos, Bloodhunt has lived through you in countless unforgettable ways. During these past 4 years, we have been thrilled to see your passion and dedication to Bloodhunt. Your feedback, creativity, and enthusiasm for our game has meant the world to us. However, despite you, our amazing community, the current player population has reached a level where keeping the servers running is no longer sustainable." As of yesterday, Sharkmob has disabled purchases of tokens, Bloodhunt’s in-game currency, although the game’s store will remain open for players to spend their remaining owned tokens. Once Bloodhunt goes offline, players’ accounts and gameplay data will be deleted (in accordance with European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and/or equivalent). Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt is a third-person online battle royal set in Prague, ravaged by warring vampire factions. Playing either alone or with a group, the game gives players conventional firearms and supernatural vampiric abilities to mow down adversaries. Following a stint in Steam Early Access, Bloodhunt launched in 1.0 on PlayStation 5 and PC in April 2022. Bloodhunt was generally well-liked; it currently has a “Very Positive” Steam rating and a 77 critical rating on Metacritic. For more on Vampire: The Masquerade, be sure to read our review of its latest title, Bloodlines 2, here. You can also read about another online multiplayer game being shut down for good in 2026: BioWare's Anthem. View the full article

Vampire: The Masquerade's free-to-play battle royale Bloodhunt will shut down on April 28, 2026. Read more View the full article

New analysis by Newzoo, conducted in partnership with native Roblox studio Gamefam, has found that while 80% of the game's daily active users are on mobile, its popularity on other platforms is seeing major growth. Read more View the full article

According to data from Alinea Analytics, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has sold under 200,000 pre-order copies on Steam 18 days ahead of launch, whereas Battlefield 6 had already sold almost a million during the same time frame. Read more View the full article

Subnautica 2 and PUBG publisher Krafton is positioning itself as an "AI-first company." Read more View the full article

Spyder Games, the developer behind the viral hit Steal a Brainrot on Roblox, is suing a Fortnite Creative copycat game for copyright infringement. Read more View the full article

Claim your free The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - Rush Week - Halloween Outfit Pack via Steam! This DLC pack ... View the full article

Roblox has responded to the decision of Iraq to ban access to Roblox on the grounds of child safety concerns, saying it "strongly contests" the Iraqi government's claim that its platform is "incompatible with social values and traditions." Read more View the full article

The online co-operative game RV There Yet? has sold 1.3 million units on Steam since its launch on October 21, much to the surprise of the studio behind it, Nuggets Entertainment. Read more View the full article

It's official: the rumored (and heavily leaked) Battlefield 6 battle royale mode is real, and it's free-to-play, launches tomorrow on October 28, and is called REDSEC. This news arrives via the official gameplay trailer premiere countdown on the Battlefield YouTube channel, which features a header image showcasing the REDSEC name and a description that says it will be free-to-play and launching tomorrow. This battle royale mode has long been rumored, with Insider Gaming publishing an article more than a month ago stating it will launch on October 28. Since then, various leaks have emerged to reveal details today's premiere countdown confirms, like the free-to-play nature and the name. Regardless, REDSEC is real and launching tomorrow. We'll update this story tomorrow when the trailer goes live. Check out the Battlefield REDSEC battle royale gameplay trailer premiering October 28 below: While waiting for REDSEC's launch tomorrow, read Game Informer's Battlefield 6 review. Are you hopping into REDSEC tomorrow? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

You can turn any genre into a roguelike these days, and Ball x Pit is the latest exciting example. This fantasy block-breaker has already sold 400,000 copies since its release on October 15, which includes sales on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC, but not Switch 2. Nintendo's recently released console would get the game at a later date, but it turns out it wasn't that much later – the upgrade will be available tomorrow, October 28. According to the Ball x Pit social media accounts, the Switch 2 version will have enhanced resolution and an improved frame rate. More specifically, it will run "1080p and 60 fps (or more) in handheld mode." Owners of the Switch 1 version can upgrade to the Switch 2 version as well, so there's no need to buy the game a second time. In fact, the announcement also asserts that the Switch 2 upgrade will be free for people who own the game on Switch, so it should be as simple as opening up the eShop to download the newer version. Inspired by classic block-breaking game Arkanoid, Ball x Pit has players bounce various powered balls against armies of block-shaped fantasy enemies. We greatly enjoyed it, with our editor-in-chief Matt Miller scoring it an 8.75 and saying, "It’s one of those surprise successes of a game that is easy to recommend to almost anyone for some simple fun, following in the footsteps of titles like Vampire Survivors to present a perfect zone-out and focus-in experience." View the full article

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has said the company's current use of AI is chiefly for security and Xbox Live moderation, and there is no mandate for it to be used in the creative process. He separately highlighted the brand's improved reach in the historically challenging Japanese market. Read more View the full article

Claim 911 Operator for free via Steam and keep it forever in your Steam library! 911 Operator is a strategy game where ... View the full article

Reviewed on: Switch 2 Platform: Switch Publisher: Nintendo, The Pokémon Company Developer: Game Freak Release: October 16, 2025 Longtime Pokémon fans more or less know what to expect with the series’ mainline RPGs, which is why the proposition of the Legends spin-off franchise is so enticing. With 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus, players were treated to a sprawling adventure in the wide-open Hisui region, tasked with filling in the area’s first Pokédex. Outside of doubling down on exploration, Pokémon Legends: Z-A has little to do with its predecessor, instead establishing the Legends spin-offs as places for Game Freak to experiment with the core Pokémon formula while still delivering an experience that is, at times, a little too familiar. Rather than having you venture out into the wilderness like in Legends: Arceus, Legends Z-A confines you to Lumiose City, the biggest metropolis in Pokémon X and Y’s Kalos Region. Though I prefer the more open exploration of Legends: Arceus, Lumiose played a strong host throughout my more than 30 hours of gameplay. The denser city offers more opportunities to find hidden items, side missions, and Pokémon Centers, and with ample fast-travel locations, I was happy to bounce around quickly when I became mission-oriented. The story involves entering the Z-A Royale to battle an escalating collection of trainers in Battle Zones that pop up each night. Thanks to the new real-time battle system, which has you commanding your Pokémon to attack via the face buttons, this feels closer to being a trainer in the Pokémon world than ever before. Firing off commands and watching them play out with consideration to timing and positioning, in addition to type matchups, made me feel like I was in an episode of the anime. The moves are the same ones we’ve been using for years, but thanks to new considerations like cooldowns and upfront charge times, I had to rethink which attacks I wanted to give my favorite Pokémon; I found myself using moves I’ve rarely used in other games and changing loadouts frequently, which is a testament to this new system. I’ve always been a fan of turn-based battles, but the immersion afforded by this real-time system is unrivaled within the series. Speaking of the Pokémon fantasy, the game’s Wild Zones offer concentrated areas where you can find Pokémon to add to your team. I like that if you K.O. a wild Pokémon, which is easier to accidentally do with the faster-paced fighting, you still have a chance to catch them, rather than them vanishing as in past games. And stumbling upon powerful Alpha variants of wild Pokémon always led to intimidating yet rewarding miniboss-style encounters. Taking some time to fill your team via the Wild Zones is critical for when nighttime falls and the Z-A Royale commences. Once you’re in the Battle Zones, you can creep up on trainers and their Pokémon to deliver stealth attacks. This satisfyingly sneaky strategy kicks off the battle with you at the advantage, or in some cases, knocks out the Pokémon in a single blow. I loved getting the drop on other trainers for an easy battle, but the stealth system is antiquated and unreliable; on several occasions, I landed a hit, only for the trainer to spot me just as it landed, and it didn’t count, so they snagged the advantage. Thankfully, these battles are rarely difficult, so the poor stealth mechanics only delayed my victory. The challenging battles were typically reserved for Promotion Matches, which occur after you defeat enough trainers. By winning these, you climb the ranks of the Z-A Royale and progress the story. I love the tournament-style premise and more frequent Mega Evolutions, which helps X and Y’s gimmick grow beyond a “push to win” button. However, once the tournament becomes intertwined with the story, the execution falters. You skip most of the ranks for storytelling convenience and the Promotion Matches all shift toward well-timed character appearances, causing the compelling initial idea to reveal itself as a paper-thin narrative façade. The more interesting narrative moments come from a phenomenon where Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon are appearing around the city. I enjoyed pulling the thread on the interplay between the events of Pokémon X and Y and these overpowered bosses that pop up throughout the game. And taking them down in battle is even more fun. On top of aiming at your Pokémon, these Rogue Mega Evolved creatures also focus on your character, meaning you’ll need to dodge-roll constantly during these fights. The battles are intense and well-paced, but it was frustrating when I was missing the specific type of Pokémon to counter, as your monster must not only be the right type and level, but also be able to Mega Evolve to truly be impactful. When you’re not climbing the ranks of the Z-A Royale, filling in your Pokédex, or quelling Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon, Lumiose offers plenty of side content and exploration with which to occupy yourself. By completing research tasks like catching different types or completing Wild Zones, you earn TMs and other rare items. Meanwhile, other city dwellers ask you for assistance with a variety of tasks that often involve trading or battling them. Though these are usually uneventful and sometimes veer into tutorial territory, I completed all I could since the rewards are worthwhile. These side missions also sometimes open routes to the rooftops, which is where rewards and wild Pokémon rest. Once I unlocked the ability to glide with the Rotom Phone, exploration opened further as my character could jump from roof to roof. I also sought out different construction scaffolding setups, which serve as minor platforming puzzles. Finding the way up isn’t challenging, and the designs are often half-baked, but it’s a unique way to take advantage of the city’s verticality. Though Legends: Z-A runs well, which is more than you could say about other recent Pokémon games at launch, the tech still feels woefully behind other long-running and successful franchises. The lack of voice acting is perhaps the most noticeable element, but the animations, visuals, and sound effects feel generations behind other RPGs. Pokémon was once limited by handheld gaming technology, and for the first few entries on Switch, it felt like Game Freak was still finding its footing on consoles. Now, seven years after the series’ debut on Switch, it feels like the presentation should have evolved past this point. Even though the last time I visited Lumiose City was over a decade ago in Pokémon X and Y, I couldn’t help but shake the constant feeling of déjà vu, not for the city, but for the Pokémon routine. Still, where Legends: Z-A does experiment with the Pokémon formula, it succeeds in delivering a novel experience that will hopefully encourage Game Freak to continue challenging what Pokémon games can be in the future. Score: 8 About Game Informer's review system View the full article

Mysterious House is free this week on Indiegala! Mysterious House is a indie 2d platformer filled with challenging puzzles and ... View the full article

It's another Friday in October, which means there are probably one hundred new games to play released this week. Maybe my memory is betraying me but this feels like the wildest October in video game history, certainly this current generation at least. But you won't hear me complaining (much) about that because the wide variety of releases means there's almost certainly something for everyone. This week alone, we published reviews for Ninja Gaiden 4, PowerWash Simulator 2, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, and The Outer Worlds 2, and we even revealed the next game gracing the cover of Game Informer – Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, the playful and cozy sea-faring adventure that's a fan-favorite amongst players. We also covered all kinds of news, like the release date for Terrifier: The ARTcade Game (which is launching in November and not October for some reason), the Elden Ring Switch 2 edition getting delayed to 2026 (sadness), Marvel Cosmic Invasion's December release date, and a massive round-up of everything revealed in Masahiro Sakurai's hour-long Kirby Air Riders direct (it's so much information, y'all). And, as every Game Informer reader knows, that's just a lil dash of everything we published this week. Within our various other website sections, like video and features, there's plenty more to see and read, and we hope you do. As always, thank you for being a subscriber if you are one, and if you aren't, head here to join the growing ranks of the smartest and coolest and most fun audience in the world. Alrighty, roll the tape (or text or whatever): Games To Check Out This Weekend Dispatch Charles Harte The first two episodes for Dispatch are out this week, and while I understand the impulse to wait a little longer for more episodes to release, I enjoy the story so much that I think they're worth playing now. Made by a bunch of former TellTale employees, Dispatch is an interactive animated superhero workplace comedy where you play as Robert Robertson, formerly known as Mecha Man, trying to figure his life out after his suit is destroyed. It's pretty amazing how seamless the decisions in this game feel – to someone just listening, they'd assume you're watching a TV show. The cast is also jam-packed with stars, including Aaron Paul, Jeffrey Wright, and Laura Bailey. The writing is also genuine and specific enough that it sidesteps "superhero fatigue" pretty gracefully, focusing more on character dynamics than flashy spectacle. If you like games with good stories – heck, if you like good TV shows – Dispatch is worth a download. The Rogue Prince of Persia Marcus Stewart I’m gradually making my way through my 2025 backlog, and the game I’m most ashamed of not playing earlier is The Rogue Prince of Persia. I’ve been a huge POP fan since The Sands of Time, and this new 2D action game is made by Evil Twin, the team behind one of my all-time favorite roguelikes, Dead Cells. It’s an unexpected match made in heaven, and so far it’s been living up to the promise. The roguelike template is perfectly contextualized within the Rogue’s take on the series’ staple time manipulation motif, and the Evil Twin has nailed the 2D platforming with fluid, snappy gameplay that’s a joy to pull off. The game borrows quite a bit from Dead Cells in terms of progression, with the ability to wall-run up and across the 2D walls being particularly cool. I adored Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown last year, and I’m glad to have a new yet unique side-scrolling adventure starring my favorite Persian royal. The Rogue Prince of Persia feels slept on this year, so don't let it slip under your radar. Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted Kyle Hilliard Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is officially out on pretty much all the platforms as of today, and I like it! You can read my full review here, but it’s a solid revisitation of the 2009 strategy game. And I use the term strategy very lightly. Plants vs. Zombies has always been a simple, but engaging game, and that holds true for this remake. I recommend playing it on Switch 2 just because that has the most control options, but for my review, I primarily played on Xbox Series X and had a fine time using the controller. There are one million games to play right now, so I don’t blame anyone for letting this one pass them by, but Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted just feels like a delicious but small candy you get to enjoy between Ghost of Yōtei and The Outer Worlds 2 main courses. You won’t regret it, and it won’t ruin your appetite. The Roottrees Are Dead Charles Harte This past weekend, I participated in MinnMax's Give to the Max stream. It was a huge success, partially due to the "Gammage" (a twist on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's Gommage), where games were put on a list, and the game with the fewest donations would be eliminated. It was shocking to see then that, between beloved games like Hades 2, Blue Prince, and even Clair Obscur itself, the winner was the indie investigation game The Roottrees Are Dead. I was aware of this game, but this was the push that actually got me to check it out, and man, am I glad I played it before the end of the year. If you haven't read Marcus Stewart's great review here on Game Informer, here's the breakdown. Set in 1998, you're a private investigator tasked with filling out the long, complex family tree of the Roottrees, a family made wealthy due to their powerful candy dynasty. To do so, you're given an era-appropriate computer and search engine, which you can use to track down leads, find names, and put together the truth. Much like Blue Prince or one of Half Mermaid's games like Immortality, this game's mystery had such a hold on me that I've had a genuinely hard time getting other work done this week. It's incredibly enthralling. And after you finish that first mystery, you unlock a second, more difficult one, and I've been devouring it just the same. The Roottrees are Dead slipped past me when it launched last January – don't let it slip past you now. The Outer Worlds 2 Wesley LeBlanc The Outer Worlds 2 is technically playable today if you purchase the more expensive Premium Edition, and though I'm not here to tell you whether it's worth the extra bucks or not – it's your money, spend it how you want! – I will say that you are very likely to have a great time. I reviewed it for Game Informer this week, giving it an 8.75 out of 10. That's because it's not only a great western RPG, with branching dialogue choices, various ways to tackle objectives, and plenty of mechanics and systems to engage with wherever you are in the colony of Arcadia, but it's my favorite Obsidian game yet. You can read my review for my full thoughts on the game, but here specifically, I want to shout out just how great the Flaws system is in this sequel. It was present in The Outer Worlds back in 2019, but The Outer Worlds 2 greatly expands on them. If you aren't familiar, it's a system that feels like the game is watching you because, based on how you play, it gives you (completely optional) Flaws that have significant benefits with great costs. For example, because I reloaded constantly, the game eventually gave me a Flaw that increased the size of my magazine on any weapon but nerfed my damage output for 8 seconds every time I emptied a clip. I loved seeing this Flaw appear, as it felt unique to me, as if I were the only person who would ever get this Flaw. Of course, that's not the case, but when I received 10 to 15 Flaws throughout my playthrough, it added up to an experience that feels wholly mine. Ninja Gaiden 4 Matt Miller If you're in the mood for a real challenge, Ninja Gaiden 4 is a return to form for the long-running action series, featuring blisteringly fast melee battles that aim to test your reflexes and challenge your conceptions of just how long a combo can get. Longtime hero Ryu Hayabusa takes a backseat to the new main character, Yakumo. He may be a young upstart, but he's got the chops to show off some amazingly fast and fun combat. If high-concept storytelling is your goal, you may wish to go elsewhere. But for a dose of adrenaline and tightly paced battles, this one's a sure bet. Read our full review here. View the full article

It's a big week on Game Informer, as we've got several major releases on the docket, plus an excellent guest! Samantha Béart, the prolific voice actor for roles including Karlach (Baldur's Gate 3) and Cider (Absolum) joins the show to chat about their work. That's at the end of the show, but before all that, we've got a few games to discuss. The Outer Worlds 2 brings Obsidian back to its sci-fi consumer-driven setting, Ninja Gaiden 4 sees Platinum put a spin on Team Ninja's classic series, and Dispatch might be one for fans of Invincible, Telltale, or both to check out. All that and more await in this new episode of The Game Informer Show. The Game Informer Show is a weekly podcast covering the video game industry. Join us every Friday for chats about your favorite titles – past and present – alongside Game Informer staff and special guests from around the industry. Watch the video version here: Listen to "The Outer Worlds 2, Dispatch, and Samantha Béart Interview" on Spreaker.Follow our guest and hosts on social media:Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken)Charles Harte (@chuckduck365)Marcus Stewart (@marcusstewart7)Wesley LeBlanc (@wesleyleblanc)Jump to a specific discussion using these timestamps:00:00 - Intro 07:18 - The Outer Worlds 2 36:04 - Dispatch 52:15 - Ninja Gaiden 4 1:12:13 - Battlefield 6 1:17:37 - Interview w/ Samantha Béart View the full article

Sometimes, to look forward, you need to examine your roots. Following 2021’s Halo Infinite, Halo Studios (previously 343 Industries) is doing just that with Halo: Campaign Evolved, a full modern remake of one of the most beloved and influential games of the 21st century. Halo: Campaign Evolved takes the original Master Chief adventure and fully remakes it in Unreal Engine 5. Cinematics have been completely redone, voice acting re-recorded with the original principal cast, and the combat is snappier than ever before. For the first time ever, Halo is also coming to PlayStation, complete with crossplay and cross-progression. Additionally, two-player splitscreen co-op remains intact, while four players can attack the story missions together – another first for this trailblazing title. On top of the remade original story, players can expect three new missions, which center on Master Chief and fan-favorite Sgt. Johnson prior to the events of the original Halo story. “It was really key for us to maintain the original story as it is, to not insert sort of a new story in there,” creative director Max Szlagor says. “[These new missions] actually take place in a fairly short timeline in a way that the lore works. So, finding a good place in the lore to tell this story with Chief and Johnson, it’s going to have new story, new gameplay, weapons, enemies, environments. Also, a lot of cool, new stuff there.” I didn’t get to see the new missions, but I played through the iconic Silent Cartographer mission, where Master Chief must find an ancient Forerunner installation that holds the key to unlocking the map of the Halo. It’s perhaps the greatest Halo campaign level of all time, and a sight to behold in Unreal Engine 5. The stage begins with a silent shot over water. Just as three Pelican dropships come into the shot, the Halo theme kicks in, giving me goosebumps; that well-executed needle drop continues as the scene progresses into the ensuing gunfight. It’s an effective tease of what to expect from the rest of my gameplay session. And for those difficulty-loving players, Halo: Campaign Evolved will have the most game-modifying Skulls of any game in franchise history. In 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved showcased that you can have excellent shooter experiences on consoles and helped establish the then-nascent Xbox brand as a major player in the industry. But things have changed. Xbox is no longer the new kid on the block, and Halo: Combat Evolved is no longer the revolutionary game that set the industry ablaze in 2001. The team recognized that and did to the campaign what the name invokes: evolve. The studio, which got its start through the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary remaster in 2011, is intimately familiar with the first entry in the series and was cautious about changing too much. “As we're rebuilding the campaign, we're making sure that we stay true to the tone, the atmosphere, and the emotional impact of the original that made the game so iconic and so special,” executive producer Damon Conn says. “There’s an opportunity to modernize where it makes sense, but we’re not modernizing for modernization’s sake. Everything we do, we think about the impact on Halo and make sure that it fits.” This is most evident in the visuals, as the water glistens and flows in a realistic manner, but everything from the textures and lighting to the character models and enemy AI is improved. The gameplay also features the right modernizations, as the left trigger allows you to aim down the sights of any weapon, plus you can sprint with a click of the stick. Finally, Halo Studios brought other improvements from subsequent games, like eight weapons not present in the original Halo, and the ability to pick up dropped Energy Swords, hijack vehicles, and drive Wraith tanks. To account for the new four-player co-op play, a fourth seat was added on the Warthog, so a full crew can cruise together. Though I didn’t get to see it in action, Halo Studios also teases that once you get to the part of the story where The Flood arrives, the horror atmosphere is hammered home in ways never experienced in the franchise, leveraging the upgraded tech. I saw some environmental teases to that effect in a video shown by the developers, and I can’t wait to learn more. From my limited time playing on Xbox Series X, the campaign is accomplishing the task of bringing forward a modern version of the title responsible for putting Xbox on the map. However, it is worth noting that this is exactly what the title says: the campaign. The competitive multiplayer suite, for which the Halo franchise is arguably most known, is not a part of this package. Last week, rumors circulated about the franchise's use of AI in development after insider Rebs Gaming posted on YouTube, citing sources who told him the studio was using the tools in a variety of ways. Though Rebs Gaming did not have specifics about the use of the AI in development, rumors intensified when the series' art director, Glenn Israel, left Halo Studios after 17 years, saying that he would share more on his decision when it was safe to do so, alluding to wanting to preserve his health, dignity, ethics, and values. "I want to be very clear: I know that article hit," Conn starts. "Humans, people are creative. People make games. AI can improve workflows, it can do things for the game, but I want to be very specific and clear that the people are the ones who are creating the game, and if there's an opportunity to improve a workflow or something along those lines, we'll look at it. Again, it should be additive to the creation of a game. I think that's the best way to look at that." Halo: Combat Evolved was a formative game for me when I first played it in high school, and it, along with Rare’s GoldenEye 007, molded my love for first-person shooters. I don’t know how impactful Halo’s original campaign from 25 years ago can realistically be in the modern gaming landscape, but for those, like me, who have replayed it several times, or those on PlayStation who have never played it, Halo: Campaign Evolved is an enticing proposition. Halo: Campaign Evolved comes to Xbox and PC View the full article