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Score Machinarium for free on Epic Games Store! Machinarium is a hand-drawn point-and-click adventure game about a little robot. Don't ... View the full article

Since launching in May, Elden Ring Nightreign, the multiplayer roguelike spinoff of Elden Ring, has continued to receive updates introducing new bosses and more. Now, developer From Software has announced the game's biggest update yet – Deep of Night – will go live next month on Thursday, September 11. Deep of Night is a "high-difficulty" Expedition challenge mode "designed for seasoned players who have navigated through the Night many times," the studio writes in a press release, suggesting this already-difficult game is going to get a lot harder soon. In Deep of Night, the enemies are stronger than usual. Plus, you cannot specify the target Nightlord for the Expedition, meaning the final boss of the run will be random. Alongside this, From Software says ongoing terrain changes will not be reflected, and that special items such as "Depth Relics," which are exclusive to Deep of Night, and weapons with multiple additional but also detrimental effects, will appear on runs. Furthermore, the difficulty increases the deeper you descend, and "the ratings will fluctuate based on wins and losses, affecting the depth." From Software says players should aim to surpass Depth 3, and notes that Depth 4 to Depth 5 will "feature an endless battle for those seeking even greater thrills," suggesting that Deep of Night can turn into an endless-run mode. The Deep of Night update for Elden Ring Nightreign goes live on Thursday, September 11. In the meantime, read Game Informer's Elden Ring Nightreign review. View the full article

Pokémon Legends: Z-A launches in less than two months on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and as we get closer to its release, The Pokémon Company has continued to reveal more about the game, including which Mega-evolved Pokémon to expect in it. We learned about Mega Victreebel last week and now, Mega Hawlucha joins the roster. "Hawlucha, an entertainer flexing the strength of its pumped-up muscles, is ready to prove there's even more to its showboating style through Mega Evolution," a press release reads. "Bulked by Mega Evolution, it uses its muscles to take hit after hit from opponents' moves and flex its own strength. After luring its opponent into attacking, it retaliates to make them flinch before diving at them using its signature move, Flying Press, to aim for victory." Check out Mega Hawlucha in the new video below: To celebrate Mega Hawlucha and the upcoming launch of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, The Pokémon Company International has partnered with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) to host a special event at Arena México in Mexico City on September 25 at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET. The showcase will feature four exhibition matches with top lucha libre wrestlers, including Místico, and tickets will be available soon. If you can't attend the event in person, it will be streamed live on the official Pokémon and CMLL channels. Mega Hawlucha will appear in Pokémon Legends: Z-A when it launches on Switch and Switch 2 on October 16. In the meantime, read our hands-on preview with the game to learn why it might be the best Pokémon game in years. After that, check out this Pokémon Legends: Z-A Switch 2 bundle. What do you think of Mega Hawlucha's design? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the team behind the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise, has announced it will hold an RGG Summit next month, immediately followed by an RGG Direct. The summit will bring "the latest info directly from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio," on Wednesday, September 24, at 4 a.m. PT/7 a.m. ET, and the RGG Direct following it will give "a closer look at some of the studio's latest announcements." As for what to expect at the Summit and Direct, RGG doesn't tease anything, though it has various projects in the works like Stranger Than Heaven, a new Virtua Fighter, and almost assuredly, a new Like A Dragon project. The studio also recently released Yakuza 0 Director's Cut, which features new cutscenes and more, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2, and fans are hoping the team might bring it to other platforms. If you're looking to set your expectations, last year's summit included the reveal of Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Who knows what we might see at this year's event, but it's less than a month away, so we don't have to wait too long. In the meantime, read Game Informer's Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii review, and then read our Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth review after that. What do you hope to see at this year's RGG Summit and Direct? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

The Finnish games industry has declined 4.9% over the past two years, turning over €2.85 billion in 2024. Read more View the full article

Gaming sector revenue grew 4% year-on-year (YoY) in 2024 in key European markets, with digital purchases accounting for 90% of total revenue, according to a new report by Video Games Europe and the European Games Developer Federation (EGDF). Read more View the full article

US hardware revenue jumped 21% to $384 million in July, driven by sales of the Nintendo Switch 2. Read more View the full article

Atari has acquired the IP rights to five Ubisoft games: Cold Fear, I Am Alive, Child of Eden, Grow Home, and its sequel, Grow Up. Read more View the full article

Crystal Dynamics has laid off "a number of talented colleagues," blaming "evolving business conditions." Read more View the full article

"Roughly half" of the team at social gaming platform Rec Room has been laid off. Read more View the full article

Though it's not the original Ubisoft team that created Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game behind the upcoming quasi-sequel, Scott Pilgrim EX, Universal picked arguably the perfect team to make this game in Tribute Games. Behind great beat 'em ups like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and hard at work on Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Tribute Games feels like a great match for Scott Pilgrim's next beat 'em up adventure. It helps that Tribute Games' core leadership includes Jonathan Lavigne, Jean-Francois Major, and Stéphane Boutin, former Ubisoft developers who worked on the first Scott Pilgrim game. And if my 30-minute hands-on demo during Gamescom 2025 is any indication, this team is on the right track. If you've played Shredder's Revenge, Scott Pilgrim EX will feel familiar. Beyond it being the same developer, Scott Pilgrim EX is being developed in the same engine as Tribute Games' previous TMNT game. Honestly, "familiar" is a word I thought a lot about while playing this demo (complimentary). It plays familiarly because of the engine; it sounds familiar because Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game composer Anamanaguchi is back in the composer chair for Scott Pilgrim EX. Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley is working with Tribute Games on the game's narrative; and of course, some of the characters you know and love (and hate) are back. With 15 years in between Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Scott Pilgrim EX, it was nice jumping into the latter and realizing almost immediately that Tribute Games did an excellent job at emulating the arcade fun of the former. But for all the familiarity of Scott Pilgrim EX, what I'm most impressed with is the ways Tribute Games is attempting to evolve the beat 'em up formula it's been working in for so long, with smart inspiration from the River City Ransom series. Before hopping into a stage, myself and the other members of the press I was playing with in this 4-player couch co-op session selected our characters. I chose Ramona Flowers, the magic-user, and my colleagues selected Scott, the all-rounder character, Roxie Richter, the "tiny terror" and ninja with smoke bombs and more, and finally, League of Evil exes brawler Lucas Lee. We then selected our stage from the sprawling map of Toronto, Canada, and jumped right into the action. The combat feels great, with combos galore baked into each character, and unlockables, accessories, and more to collect as you progress. We're guided toward our main objective, with word from Tribute that side objectives or side quests exist to pick up, too – we later complete one that tasked us with defeating a set number of enemies in a specific period of time. This takes us right across the screen to another area of town, but going from left to right is not the name of this beat 'em up game. Instead, we traversed all across the map, beating up enemies along the way and stopping at shops to heal up and purchase new items to equip, left and right, up and down. Scott Pilgrim EX is not a linear adventure, and seeing a game in this genre going wide is an exciting change. Thirty minutes wasn't enough to see just how wide Scott Pilgrim EX goes, but what I've already seen has me excited at the prospects. I love the beat 'em up genre, but they feel centered around arcade fun exclusively, often shallow in depth as a result. Scott Pilgrim EX seems keen to change that, providing the arcade fun you know and love of Scott Pilgrim and adding unique touches of depth that I think could keep me playing long after I finish the golden path with open map traversal, RPG aspects, and more. These four characters were great fun, if the enthusiasm my colleagues and I shared means anything, and with seven planned for the final game, I look forward to who else Tribute Games has added to this adventure. But for now, I wait. Scott Pilgrim EX launches on PC and consoles in early 2026. View the full article

The PlayStation Plus Essential tier gives subscribers free games every month, and recently, those games have been particularly excellent. Last month's offerings included Lies of P, one of the best games of 2023, but the upcoming September lineup announced on the PS Blog manages to top even that; you'll get Psychonauts 2, Viewfinder, and Stardew Valley, one of the most beloved indie games of all time. Stardew Valley got a substantial 1.6 update last year, so if you haven't played it in a while, you'll be greeted by some new features, including new dialogue, new crafting recipes, hats for pets, and, for some reason, the ability to drink mayonnaise. I don't know who's out there saying, "I'd love to play Stardew Valley, but it's a deal breaker that you can't drink mayo straight from the jar," but if that's you, you're in luck. The other two games are nothing to sneeze at either. Psychonauts 2 scored a nine from us when it released back in 2021 and even made its way onto our top ten list from that year. It's the long awaited sequel to Double Fine's platformer from 2005, and we did a retrospective on the studio's history back when it was featured on the cover of Game Informer issue 336. Meanwhile, Viewfinder is a delightful puzzle game from 2023 that reminds me of Portal in the best way – its photographic puzzle solving is incredibly creative game design. All three games will be available for subscribers on September 2. You can still download August's games (Lies of P, My Hero One's Justice 2, and DayZ) until then. Will you be checking these games out on September 2? Let us know in the comments! View the full article

Square Enix has shut down Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Dragon Quest of the Stars in Japan. Read more View the full article

Judas was formally revealed during The Game Awards 2022 as the next game from BioShock creator Ken Levine and his studio, Ghost Story Games. Since then, the team has remained mostly silent, save for a gameplay trailer last year, on what it's been up to with this sci-fi shooter (that looks a lot like BioShock). However, Levine took to the PlayStation Blog to share new details about the game's Big 3, villainy system, and the Judas key art. Taking inspiration from famed Star Wars poster illustrator Drew Struzan, the Judas key art features the protagonist up front and center, seemingly overshadowing what I think is a variant of her (presumably alluding to the way choices can affect the narrative of the game, though it could just be a totally different character), above the Big 3: Queen Nefertiti, Sheriff Tom Austin, and Hope Jimenez. Levine teases there's more to glean from this key art, so I'll leave you to it: Alongside this key art, Levine has shared that Ghost Story Games has just finished a major milestone it calls "Villainy." The director writes that villainy is a central feature of Judas, and that your actions will attract members of the Big 3 to you as friends, or turn them into foes. "When you play BioShock or BioShock Infinite, the villain is always going to be the villain," Levine writes in the blog. "Fontaine, Comstock – they're always going to be the bad guys. In Judas, your actions will attract members of the Big 3 to you as friends. But ignore one of them enough, and they become the villain. From there, they will get access to a new suite of powers to subvert your actions and goals." The included clip in the blog post shows a Rent-a-Deputy robotic horse, which can attack enemies for you once rented, turning against you at the hands of Big 3 member, Sheriff Tom Austin. Levine says this is just a small way a Big 3 friend-turned-foe can make your life on the Mayflower, the spaceship setting of Judas, harder. In the blog, Levine continues, explaining Ghost Story Games wants players to get to know the Big 3 intimately, and wants losing one of them to feel like losing a friend. The Big 3 will be competing for your favor and attention through Judas – they can bribe you, save you in battle, badmouth the other two Big 3 members, and share with you their deepest secrets. But, as Levine points out, eventually, you have to decide who you trust and who you don't... and that's going to cause problems. "In BioShock Infinite, there was a lot of energy invested into developing your relationship with Elizabeth," Levine writes. "By the end of the game, you knew everything about her, her abilities, her hopes, and dreams. But the truth is she knew almost nothing about you, the gamer playing Booker. In Judas, the Big 3 observe you as you play, and they have feelings not only about how you approach combat, hacking, and crafting, but most importantly, your interactions with the other two characters." Unfortunately, today's blog doesn't include a release date or window for Judas as Ghost Story Games doesn't want to say when its game will launch until it's confident in a date it can hold. Considering Levine's release track record, Judas could still be years away (but hopefully it isn't). In the meantime, watch the Judas reveal trailer, and then check out the Judas gameplay trailer shown last year. After that, read about what we want from BioShock 4, which isn't being developed by Ken Levine but is in the works at newcomer studio Cloud Chamber. What do you think of Judas' Big 3 villainy system? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

Earlier this Summer, Dark Horse Comics and Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast revealed "Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks", an all-new Forgotten Realms D&D adventure comic series written by Greg Pak, penciled by Wilton Santos, inked by Advan Alves, colored by Raul Angulo, and lettered by Nate Piekos. This four-issue miniseries begins when Issue #1 arrives this October, but ahead of its release, Game Informer can exclusively reveal a look at a special new art piece and never-before-seen character sketches. The four issues will feature art by Marguerite Sauvage, Uzuri, Stephen Segovia, and Dan Panosian, but all four issues will include back cover art by Julie Dillon which, when collected, connect in an homage to J.C. Leyendecker. For the first time ever, you can get a look at what those four back cover art pieces look like when connected here at Game Informer – check it out below: Art by Julie Dillon That's not all, though, because we also have a first look at never-before-seen character sketches for "Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks" from artist Wilton Santos that you can view below: Alongside these character sketches, we have some details for each: Tessalynde (Tess) Halendria: The Rogue – ElfTess is a professional young infiltrator who always has a plan. Tess was such a proficient thief as a child—and caused so much havoc in her small town—that her overwhelmed parents sent her to the city to train with an elderly halfling rogue famed for her good deeds. Now, with the skills of a master burglar, tempered by the conscience to use them for good, she pursues high-stakes jobs and big-time coin, always striving to keep her party safe. Anson Iro: The Fighter – HumanAnson always gets back up when he’s knocked down, even if staying down is smarter. Orphaned at a young age, Anson and his brother were polarized by their boyhood trauma. While Anson chose the path of a righteous warrior, his brother embraced a life of crime. Still, Anson refuses to give up on his only surviving family member. Having lost so much, Anson clings to what’s his, even if it’s broken. Cazrin Varaith: The Wizard – HumanCazrin is a walking reference library who enthusiastically shares her knowledge whether you want it or not. Cazrin’s long-ago ancestress was a wizard who launched devastating attacks on elite institutions of magical learning in the belief that magic should be accessible to all. The horror of these actions prevents the Varaith family from using magic to this day. But Cazrin has taught herself the fundamentals of spellcasting by recovering scraps of her ancestress’s knowledge. A fearless experimenter, she will test any theory in the name of learning. Lark Silverstring: The Bard – TieflingA born showman who attracts attention and trouble in equal measure. Lark lives to perform. But that’s a problem when he’s being hounded by dangerous bounty hunters and a small but dedicated fanbase. Consumed by the need to entertain, he routinely blows his own cover and must scramble out of the spotlight. As his old band enjoys widespread fame, Lark evades pursuers and questions about who wants him and why. Baldric Goodhand: The Cleric – DwarfA smooth talker who negotiates for spells with a variety of gods. Baldric’s certain he can talk his way out of anything. Though a man of the cloth, he refuses to pledge service to a single god, preferring to bargain for spells and favors from the entire pantheon. His unconventional relationship with the gods gives him a freewheeling confidence. But while he’s jaded with the divine, his faith in fellow mortals runs deep. "In a time of fickle dogs and feckless governors, the world yearns for heroes," a press release about this comic series reads. "What it gets are the Fallbacks – a party of daring, dubious, and dysfunctional adventurers who arrive in the city of Loudwater in search of gold and glory. But an encounter with kobold thieves puts the Fallbacks in the crosshairs of a rival team of deeply annoying local heroes. Will the Fallbacks pull off a heist for the ages? Or will they sacrifice it all to put these 'heroes' in their place?" Here's a look at the different covers for Issue #1: The Fallbacks begins this October with Issue #1 from Dark Horse Comics. Are you going to be checking out Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks in October? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

Thinking about a vacation on a desert island? Download Dead In Bermuda for free on Steam! Dead In Bermuda is ... View the full article

Thinking about a vacation on a desert island? Download Dead In Bermuda for free on Steam! Dead In Bermuda is ... View the full article

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Wizards of the Coast president John Hight has revealed that a team of developers that were formerly working on EA's cancelled Black Panther game has joined the company to work on a new title. Read more View the full article

Claim your free Terminull Brigade Coins Pack key and join the action with free in-game currency in your pocket. View the full article

Scott Pilgrim EX, the beat-em-up inspired by the popular graphic novel series, is getting two more playable characters. Roxie Richter and Lucas Lee, two of the series' iconic Evil Exes, join Scott and Ramona Flowers in their fight against the vegans, robots, and demons that have taken over the city. You can see them in action in the gameplay trailer below: As you'd expect, both playable exes use abilities seen in their past appearances. Lucas Lee uses a skateboard as a weapon and summons his crew of stunt doubles, while Roxie Richter wields a katana with ninja-like agility. Their announcement brings Scott Pilgrim EX's playable roster up to four, but developer Tribute Games has previously announced the game would have seven total playable options, so there are still three fighters we don't know about yet. Scott Pilgrim EX was announced at Summer Game Fest 2025. While it's not a direct sequel, it continues the legacy of 2010's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, which was infamously de-listed from digital marketplaces in 2014, but was re-released in 2021. Scott Pilgrim EX features a soundtrack by Anamanaguchi (who composed for this game's predecessor) and an original story written by Bryan Lee O'Malley, the series' original creator. EX's developer Tribute Games is also known for its work on TMNT: Shredder's Revenge and the upcoming Marvel Cosmic Invasion. View the full article

Last week, I traveled to Cologne, Germany, to attend Gamescom and play more than two dozen games. One of those games was Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth mainline installment in Capcom's long-running survival horror series. Although it was the same demo from June's Summer Games Fest event in Los Angeles, featuring Grace Ashcroft in a decrepit care center attempting to escape from a monstrous creature stalking the halls, it was still my first time playing it. You can read my hands-on preview thoughts on that demo in my Gamescom preview round-up here, but it was only half of my Requiem experience last week. I also sat down to interview Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi and producer Masato Kumazawa. In our 30-minute interview, we discussed the type of horror the team is aiming for in Requiem, why it was time to return to Raccoon City and zombies, the differences between the game's third-person and first-person gameplay, and more. Enjoy! Interviewing The Director And Producer Of Resident Evil Requiem Left to right: Requiem producer Masato Kumazawa, Game Informer's Wesley LeBlanc, Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi Game Informer editor Wesley LeBlanc: Every Resident Evil has a theme. Biohazard was about a southern backwoods family, and Village was Resident Evil's take on classic Universal monsters. How would you describe the horror theme of Requiem? Director Koshi Nakanishi: We've been emphasizing in marketing materials, "Return to Raccoon City," and that we're returning to the main storyline of the series and looking to push it forward with horror. And you'll see, if you've played the demo, using characters like Grace and the creature you saw, we introduce this storyline and theme, and they're quite unique as an approach for Resident Evil. Producer Masato Kumazawa: One of the elements that you can expect to return is zombies; they are back. We are focusing more on the monsters, a variety of different enemies from the creature you saw in the demo to the next level, the next version of our zombies. You trip as Grace in third-person but not in first-person. Why is that? Nakanishi: We originally planned to just switch the camera hud, but we realized that if you take the camera out from first to third, because of the way Grace is animated – as a first-person model – it looks like she's just walking around straight, with no reaction. It was unnatural. First-person is already more immersive, but that immersion has to be represented in other ways in third-person, which is why we have extra reactions like tripping. If we added tripping to first-person, moving the camera like that would make you motion sick. In third-person, it's about seeing her fear and reaction to the scenario, and going through the rest of the game, we start building in more reactions. There's no point in adding these in first-person because you wouldn't see them. Kumazawa: There are surprise reactions she does in the demo. In third-person, something might happen, and you see her jump, whereas in first-person, there's a bit of a camera move instead. When she takes damage or gets hit, there's no need to do much in first-person, but there are specific animations in third-person to let you feel and show how much she got hurt. With tripping and other animations that theoretically slow down gameplay, is it fair to say third-person is harder? Nakanishi: We don't want to be unfair, so we'll give you a little peek behind the curtain: when you trip, you can't see it, but the creature doesn't move. Third-person never feels like an unfair advantage. Why return to the Ashcroft family now, and why pick a family from the Outbreak series? Nakanishi: Alyssa Ashcroft was actually the perfect character for our needs in this game; there really was no other character in mind. Returning to Raccoon City after all this time meant looking back on the incident itself and Umbrella and the themes we haven't visited in a while. Alyssa is a survivor of the incident, and she goes on to journalistically investigate and find the truth and expose the cover-up. But she pays the price for curiosity, presumably gets too close to the truth, and someone or some entity has her killed to silence her. Grace, being the character to take up the torch from her mother after all these years, wants to find the truth after the incident and the murder of her mother. Two generations of Ashcrofts are the perfect choice for our storytelling and moving the main series forward. Can you talk to me a bit about the hulking creature design in the demo? What are some of the inspirations behind it? Nakanishi: We had a lot of different concepts through the design phase. So, to be honest, there's not any one particular inspiration from other works. The main objective has been, with quite a few games with stalker enemies and different variations, for her to stand out from the pack. The main single-sentence summary of her: As soon as you lay your eyes on her, you know this isn't right; you need to get away from this. Requiem has a few definitions. What does it mean in the context of this game? Nakanishi: It's along the lines of remembrance for the dead. As we discussed earlier, Alyssa and Grace are a key family relationship that kicks everything off: Alyssa's murder, Grace's grief, her desire to avenge, her desire to solve her mother's murder, and the aftermath of the Raccoon City incident. Can you expand on the line: "This is merely the overture to our darkest symphony yet?" Nakanishi: The musical allusions are a call back to the title. Using a musical metaphor to say this is a requiem for the mass of the dead; even when you watch the SGF presentation or if you've played the same section yourself, and think this is dark and scary – this is just the beginning. It's our way of tying together the title and the metaphor and saying, "If you think this is scary, you haven't seen anything yet." Does that mean Requiem is the scariest Resident Evil yet? Nakanishi: That's a bit of a tricky question. I directed [Resident Evil 7: Biohazard]. I know for a lot of players, it was too scary, so scary they couldn't finish it. I'm not aiming to make this the scariest Resident Evil ever. It will be very scary, but I want you to get through the whole thing and enjoy it. It's about a release of tension and catharsis and actually surviving it, but it's certainly up there in terms of how scary Requiem is. Kumazawa: The camera perspective changes are part of this. If you feel it's too scary in first-person, jump out to third-person. But overall, we're aiming to have a rollercoaster ride of a thrilling, well-paced storyline. If we're at max horror the whole time, people can't take it and put the controller down. We want, "Wow, that was scary," and then some exploration and puzzle-solving, then some action combat, and then we bring you back into the fear. Can you talk about the persistent theme of family across this trilogy? Nakanishi: We don't really think of [Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil Village, and Resident Evil Requiem] as a trilogy. 7 and 8 are a duology. Ethan's story concludes at the end of Village. Requiem is the ninth mainline title, but it's moving back to the series' mainstream, as it were, [...] to push the storyline forward. In that sense, I don't think family is a main theme of Requiem. It's part of it, but not as emphasized as the past two mainline titles. Part of Grace's motivation is things like finding out what happened to her mother, but that isn't the complete theme of the game. What's it like within the team, finally returning to Raccoon City in a new way after all these years? Nakanishi: There are a lot of Resident Evil fans on the team, so naturally, we find it very exciting, and it's fun to finally tackle the idea of what's happening inside the city. The fans, though, they go to the next level, with even more speculation and questions. We do have a lot of expectations to live up to, but we're confident you will love it. Resident Evil Requiem hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on February 27, 2026. In the meantime, check out the latest Resident Evil Requiem trailer, and then read about why Leon S. Kennedy was considered a "bad match" for Resident Evil Requiem. View the full article

It's a great time to be a fan of Konami's Silent Hill series. Between Bloober Team's great Silent Hill 2 remake last year, the upcoming Silent Hill f that launches next month, and Return To Silent Hill, the Silent Hill 2 film adaptation hitting silver screens on January 23, there's plenty of psychological horror to go around. Ahead of the movie's release early next year, Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting have released an official teaser trailer for the film. "Return To Silent Hill brings the iconic horror franchise back to the screen," the movie's logline reads. "When James receives a mysterious letter from his lost love Mary, he is drawn to Silent Hill—a once-familiar town now consumed by darkness. As he searches for her, James faces monstrous creatures and unravels a terrifying truth that will push him to the edge of his sanity." Check out the Return To Silent Hill teaser for yourself below: Return To Silent Hill hits theaters on January 23, 2026. It has a run time of 105 minutes and is directed by Christophe Gans, the director of 2006's Silent Hill. In the meantime, read Game Informer's Silent Hill 2 remake review, and then check out the latest trailer for Silent Hill f, which hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on September 25. What do you think of this Return To Silent Hill teaser? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

Lightspeed Japan Studio has opened a second branch in Osaka and hired three Capcom veterans as part of "a series of strategic milestones." Read more View the full article

One of the more exciting reveals during Gamescom's Opening Night Live ceremony last week was Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. Not only is TT Games returning to the Caped Crusader – its first time since 2014's Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham – but it's doing so with a brand-new take on the superhero... kinda. I say that because a lot of Legacy of the Dark Knight will feel familiar to those who watch and read about Bruce Wayne's bat-shaped half, and that's by design. Instead of continuing its original storytelling from the first three Lego Batman games, TT Games is fusing various Batman media, namely films like the Dark Knight trilogy and 2022's The Batman, to tell a definitive story. I played roughly 50 minutes of the game and caught references to Batman (1989), Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, and even the 2010 animated feature, Batman: Under the Red Hood. TT Games promises even more, including 1966's Batman, Batman Returns, and various comics and graphic novels. Immediately after hearing and seeing all these references, I was curious how TT Games approached utilizing all these various (and unique) properties to tell a single, cohesive story. Assistant design director Jimmy Sedota tells me it's about mashing together the highlights. "It's been a fun challenge," he says. "We're pulling from so much. There's so much inspiration and reference out there, so as we started developing the story, we looked at some of the most iconic moments that we know, that even casual fans would recognize [...] and so we started with that, the highlight moments, and we started to see how we could lay out a single story that's our retelling that also references that stuff. "Then from there, we started pulling more and more of that deep lore in, so looking at comics, TV, and all that stuff, and really starting to find moments like, 'Oh, we can get this nice lore cut in here, and we can reference this thing here.' Even in the ACE Chemicals mission you played, there are definitely references to the 1989 film, but also Under the Red Hood, and some stuff from the comics. And we feel that we've married that all in a way that tells a unique story, but is something that players and fans will recognize as familiar at the same time, with, of course, our humor and Lego TT Games twist on it." That ACE Chemicals mission Sedota mentions was the primary focus of my hands-on preview at this year's Gamescom in Cologne, Germany last week, and it was a blast. It also showed me that Legacy of the Dark Knight doesn't feature inspiration from just movies, TV, and comics – it takes massive inspiration from Rocksteady Studios' Batman Arkham series. And wow, am I so glad it does. I've enjoyed previous TT Games Lego versions of beloved characters and stories, including Batman, but combat has always been the weakest point of the experiences for me. It felt too simple, with not enough challenge to keep me engaged. TT Games is tackling this in two ways: using Arkham-inspired combat and including, for the first time in its Lego games' history, difficulty options. There are three combat difficulty options: Classic, which "offers a traditional Lego experience" with unlimited lives, fewer enemies, and less frequency of advanced enemy types; Caped Crusader, which "offers a balanced focus on combat and story" with unlimited lives, more enemies, and advanced enemy types that appear more frequently; and finally, Dark Knight, which "offers harder combat for heroes seeking a challenge" with limited lives, even more enemies/frequent appearances by advanced enemy types. Dark Knight also includes a level reset upon losing all your lives. While you can gain lives by collecting hearts in missions, if you lose all of them, you'll need to restart the entire level. I chose Dark Knight for my ACE Chemicals mission, and I'm so glad I did. It's a perfect challenge for the game's Arkham-inspired combat, and I quickly fell back into my habits of sneaking around, taking enemies out, and grappling to high-up gargoyles and perches to plan my next attack. I performed stealth takedowns from the ground, even sneaking around in underground grates and through air ventilation shafts (where, like the Arkham games, your view transitions into first-person). Unfortunately, I was unable to perform stealth takedowns from gargoyles and perches, and I'm not sure if that will be an aspect of the game's combat. Still, stealth feels incredible, especially when coupled with distractions like throwing Batarangs or blowing up explosive barrels. Outside of stealth, my Arkham memories continued to push to the forefront of my brain as I pummeled enemies with the Square button, countering them with Triangle, and flipping over shielded enemies for attacks from behind with Circle. I even dodged bullets shot my way to glorious effect. It really feels like playing an Akrham game, but smartly, combat features the unique TT Games twist you expect. Sometimes takedowns were straightforward – other times, like while playing as Jim Gordon (who resembled the Gary Oldman version from Christopher Nolan's Batman films, though appearance varies based on costumes), I bashed an enemy over the head with a bug-catching net to comedic effect. "We're huge fans of what Rocksteady was able to achieve [...] and this was built from the ground up at TT for what we think is the best Lego Batman combat system for our fans and for our games," Sedota says. "We have co-op, multiple playable characters over the course of the story campaign, gadgets, and more, and we feel we've created something uniquely our own." I do see how Legacy of the Dark Knight features unique flourishes in combat, courtesy of TT Games, but also... this combat is basically just Arkham combat, and that's great! That combat rule,s and it feels fantastic here! I especially love all the humorous touches TT Games has added to its otherwise classic take on Gotham, complete with rainy nights, lots of neon signage, dangerous streets, and enemies galore. Similar to TT Games' more recent Lego games, not everything in this game is made of blocks. Instead, TT Games uses Lego as signposts to players. "It's a really good mix of art direction, design direction, and usability and UX design," Sedota says when I ask how the team balances Lego vs real-world elements in-game. "When you see Lego, you expect to be able to smash it. [Legacy of the Dark Knight] still feels like a really beautiful modern game, but it still has plenty of Lego touches, and when you see those, you know most are interactable. That's for players to recognize, 'Oh, I can interact with that.' That's the marriage of our design and visuals." In the ACE Chemicals mission I complete, Batman and Gordon are tasked with infiltrating the compound, and I mostly stick to the shadows to do so, though I find myself in a couple of brawls, too. Switching back and forth between these two characters is good fun, as Batman plays, like, well, Batman, while Gordon uses a non-lethal gun to shoot giant sticky globs onto enemies, making them easy to beat up. Outside of combat, the mission requires these two characters to work together. As I'm playing solo, switching is as easy as tapping on the d-pad, but TT Games envisions me playing couch co-op with someone else taking control of the opposite character. There are light, easy puzzles to complete that require switching from Batman to Gordon, then back to Batman, and vice versa, every so often in this mission, and it feels reminiscent of TT Games' typical puzzle design. This mission ends how you might expect, as a figure under a Red Hood falls into a vat of acid and may or may not become a certain villain in Batman's extensive rogue gallery: Joker. Speaking of Joker, if you saw the reveal trailer, you likely recognized that Legacy of the Dark Knight features a Joker inspired by Heath Ledger's legendary performance, at least in appearance. I don't encounter the Joker in my preview, but Sedota tells me the characters in this game aren't based on a single iteration of the character. The team is drawing inspiration from various Batman media, and while costumes will allow different characters to resemble specific iterations, those costumes don't alter the character. Batman and other characters in Legacy of the Dark Knight will remain consistent in their personalities – you only choose to have your Batman look like Robert Pattinson's, Christian Bale's, or maybe even Adam West's iconic take. "We're not just doing all the movies," Sedota tells me. "There's a single [English] voice actor [for Batman] that's constant throughout. Even as Batman progresses, the story features that single character, but we're bringing out some humor, keeping it light, and building this all through story and gameplay mechanics." However, Sedota tells me the consistency is primarily for Batman and the extended Bat-family, teasing that we might see more character evolution in the game's villains. Beyond the ACE Chemicals mission, I also got to play around and explore the open-world Gotham, and it's a visual treat. Immediately, I look for the nearest grapple point and am thrilled to learn that you can tap the jump button for a powerful boost mid-grapple when you reach the end point, similar to the Arkham games. This sends Batman flying high into the sky, and I glide down a bit before dive-bombing into a group of unsuspecting enemies below. After this, I solve a quick Riddler Puzzle Box and find a Wayne Tech Cache with a Lego piece inside. By clicking the right stick, Batman utilizes Detect, which shows you where to go and locates nearby things to interact with – it's basically detective vision. I eventually make my way down to the streets below and call up the Batmobile via the d-pad. The one that appears is the muscle car variant seen in The Batman, complete with its roaring turbo. TT Games has already shown off the Tumbler from the Dark Knight trilogy and the 1966 Batmobile, and I look forward to other iterations that might appear. Driving around feels great, as rain pours from the moody sky, causing the neon signs above to glisten in reflections on the streets. I complete a quick time-trial race and can already tell I'm going to be spending a decent chunk of time behind the wheel in Legacy of the Dark Knight. As for which Gotham this is, it's an original version from TT Games, but, like the rest of the game, it draws from a wide range of Batman media. "We looked at lots of maps, games, and comics, in particular, and looked at the basic structure of certain things you need to have in Gotham," Sedota says. "There are always multiple islands, and we found something for the right size of our game, and there are different islands that unlock as you go through the main story, and new content opens up." He adds that you'll have all four islands of Gotham unlocked about halfway through the main story, but lots of "new activities" will appear over the entire course of the campaign. This open-world Gotham, like the ACE Chemicals mission, is impressive. I'm more impressed with a TT Games Lego game than I've ever been with Legacy of the Dark Knight, and I've only played for 50 minutes. As a massive Batman fan desperate for another video game adventure with the Caped Crusader, TT Games seems set to deliver everything I want and more. Truly, I cannot wait, and I'm legitimately annoyed I have to until 2026 (but please take your time, TT Games, and don't crunch). Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store) sometime in 2026. View the full article

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