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Wildlight Entertainment is a new team with a strong pedigree of talent, including team members who worked on Apex Legends. That experience is clear from the earliest moments of Highguard. The new competitive shooter showcases agile, precise shooting mechanics and enjoyable, fast-moving map navigation, meeting expectations many players may have if you’ve played Apex Legends. And once you get into real matches, it’s clear that the game has a rewarding new match structure at its core. Even so, I’ve struggled in my early hours to find the fun amid some confusing systems, limited variation in the play experience, and little visibility into the seemingly richly imagined fiction and setting on offer. Highguard is an unusual title at launch, arriving as a free-to-play shooter with big ambitions to grab an audience, but with little to no detail about the game shared ahead of launch. That’s certainly not an obligation for game makers, but it has left the audience, myself included, scrambling a little bit in these early days to understand what the project even is. After several hours of play, the picture begins to take shape. Players control Wardens, fantasy-inspired warriors of magic and elemental powers, but who also wield high-powered weaponry alongside their mystical capabilities. For reasons that don’t seem to be explained clearly, small groups of Wardens are battling each other, laying siege to the enemy team’s stronghold in the name of – well, that’s not entirely clear. I love the colorful art style and the melding of fantasy and modern aesthetics that Wildlight explores here. But, without a PvE component or any especially clear accompanying storytelling or setup, I’m stymied a bit in this first day of play, trying to understand what’s happening and why. It is a competitive shooter, of course, and those elements are likely best left as background material, regardless. Here’s hoping the days and weeks that follow help to illuminate the lore and clarify that part of the project. No matter why these Wardens are fighting, the main 3v3 raid mode is certainly novel. Each match is neatly separated into distinct phases of play. Players select between a number of base layouts and proceed to fortify that base with additional protection before venturing out into a large open map to gather weapons and armor, gear up, and even mine resources to buy additional upgrades. After a designated time window elapses, a Shieldbreaker relic spawns somewhere in the open field, and open conflict with the enemy team begins in earnest, as each allied squad aims to pick it up. Once in hand, you can deploy that Shieldbreaker against the enemy base, open its energy shield, and attempt to raid the interior in an effort to detonate explosives and take out the stronghold. If that effort fails, things reset, there’s another chance to gear up (this time with better gear), and the process begins again. Taken piece by piece, there’s nothing there that’s profoundly complicated. But I’ll admit that I felt completely lost for the first several matches I played – unsure where to put my attention, when to engage in combat, what to prioritize when defending, and how to even meaningfully contribute to my team. In the long term, it’s possible that the very confusion I felt might be the game’s saving grace – a slightly more complex and freeform match structure that rewards creative play and strategy. However, there are some other factors that hold back my endorsement at this phase. The single 3v3 raid mode is currently the only way to play the game, and at present, something about it just feels a bit barebones. The maps are, to their credit, very large and cleverly designed. But it means that I spent a lot of time wandering the environment, punctuated by very brief moments of exciting shooting exchanges. If the fantasy is one of besieging an enemy fortress, my initial impression is that the small player count feels out-of-sync with the concept and the map size. While I don’t understand who they are or where they came from, the small roster of available characters all look and play splendidly. I like the asymmetric powers that come into play in a given match, depending on who I’m up against. And the mix of unique fantasy powers – like magical invisibility or a character who transforms into a massive beast – makes me eager to try everyone out and zero in on a favorite. I also really enjoy the speed and fun that comes from different mounts you can summon to gallop across the battlefield. These work great, add a sense of speed and momentum, and lend something new to the shooter equation. Highguard is a thoughtfully designed game with strong movement and shooting fundamentals, and it’s trying something new within the genre. For that reason alone, I’m interested and excited to play more and better understand the flow of a given match. But it’s not an easy game to understand at first glance, and it lacks a breadth of play options I’d expect from a title that has ambitions to break into the scene. We’ll have a full review after several more days of matches, so check back in for a more comprehensive rundown. In the meantime, Highguard’s free price of entry means you could give it a shot for yourself and see whether this new raid shooter concept might gel with your desires. Highguard is available now on PS5, Xbox, and PC. View the full article

Looking for a new visual novel to try? Along the Edge is free on Steam until Jan 29. It features over 450 ... View the full article

The managing director of GOG, Maciej Gołębiewski, has acknowledged that the company's decision to back out of selling Taiwanese horror game Devotion on its storefront in 2020 did damage to its reputation. Read more View the full article

I love video game music, but it can be really difficult to listen to some soundtracks, especially older ones, through legitimate means. Covers, while not the same thing, have always been an easy way around that, and the internet is full of them. I'm especially fond of jazz covers (I've been a fan of insaneintherain's music for years), and I distinctly remember how excited I was when I discovered The 8-Bit Big Band, a large ensemble dedicated to elaborate jazzy covers of video game music, around 2019. When it won a Grammy in 2022 for its version of Meta Knight's Revenge, I was thrilled, not just on behalf of the band, but on behalf of video game music as a whole, which has never received the recognition it deserved. I was shocked, to say the least, when I found out that the band's leader, Charlie Rosen, doesn't even consider this his main job. "This still is, I guess, a side project," Rosen says to me over Zoom. "Which seems reductive now to say at this point, because it is very much part of my life in a big way. But it started out as a side project tangential to my main career, which is working on Broadway musicals and orchestrating them, arranging them, conducting them." I unknowingly saw Rosen perform at his "main job" in the summer of 2019. In addition to jazz, I'm also fond of Broadway musicals, and Rosen played guitar in the pit orchestra for Be More Chill, a show with music he orchestrated and arranged. The soundtrack has clear video game influence (there's an entire number called "Two-Player Game"), but Rosen's video game hobby didn't fully bleed into his professional life until a fateful trip to Japan. Charlie Rosen stands front and center at an 8-Bit Big Band concert. The Great Video Game SongbookIn Tokyo, Rosen was taking a shamisen and koto lesson when he noticed his instructor had a copy of a Ganbare Goemon game (known as Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon in the West) for the Nintendo 64. It's not a game you see every day, especially stateside, but Rosen was a fan and pointed it out. He ended up bonding with his teacher, Kazushi Okimasa, over their collective love of video game music, and Okimasa gave Rosen a copy of his band's album. That band, as it turns out, was Famikoto, a group that covers video game music with traditional Japanese instruments, and Rosen was hooked. "I was listening to the album on the plane [home]," Rosen says. "I'm like, 'This is so cool. I want to record an album of video game music.'" The idea stuck, and in 2018, The 8-Bit Big Band released its first album, Press Start. Rosen reiterates that the project was just for fun, and while he was likely hoping for a positive response, he was surprised by just how popular the group was, even from the earliest performances. "We did our first live show in 2018 in like, a 200-seat jazz club, maybe 150," he says, referencing a now closed venue SubCulture in New York. "We did two shows that night, and I remember being like, 'I don't know anybody here,' you know? I thought it would just be my friends and family, and it's like, I literally know nobody. There's a whole scene for this that I was unaware of." As our conversation continues, I'm shocked by how unaware Rosen actually was of this corner of video game culture. "I did not know there was, like, a big scene for covering video game music or jazz covers or arrangements. I just did it totally for fun," he says. Despite that, he blindly walked into a niche in the community, finding great success with his Broadway-caliber arrangements, large ensemble, professionally produced recordings, and unique take on the classic songs. Thanks to his current commitment to YouTube, he's capitalized on that successful formula, raking in over 80 million views to date, but none of it would be possible without his specific musical approach. "This is what jazz musicians do," Rosen says. "Jazz musicians reimagine standards, [...] whether it be film scores, [The Great] American Songbook, jazz standards, [or] Broadway musicals. [...] And now that we're 40 years into video game music, we also have a collective body of the great video game songbook [...] that we all grew up with. And so jazz musicians can, like, take it and reimagine it, reinterpret it, and people will know the songs." I appreciate the way The 8-Bit Big Band plays around with a song. Jazz is an umbrella of genres that are very conducive to musical references, and noticing one mid-song is like being a part of a fun inside joke. One of my favorite songs I played in high school jazz band is called "Spain," originally by Chick Corea. Listen to this iconic part of the song, and then listen to this part from The 8-Bit Big Band's rendition of the Chrono Trigger theme. In the context of the jazz cover, it keeps the audience on their toes with yet another stylistic variation, but if you know both original songs, it's a surprising collision of two worlds. If you've ever seen someone lose their mind at a jazz solo or arrangement, this sort of crossover is one of the reasons why. Charlie Rosen conducts the 8-Bit Big Band Rosen emphasizes that this playfulness is why he likes the jazz approach so much, especially when we compare it to a more traditional orchestral cover, like the London Philharmonic Orchestra's video game albums. "The makers of these games, or the orchestras, want to be like, 'Take this music seriously.' And what music is taken more seriously than classical music, right?" Rosen says. "We're wearing tuxes, and we're playing Zelda, and that's amazing. That's fantastic. [...] But I think that there's just a lot more fun to be had with the music [when] maintaining a high professional level of musicianship, but letting people in and being a lot more playful with the arranging of the music in these more contemporary and pop styles, to just showcase how flexible the music can be and have a good time doing it." Some tracks are more straightforward takes on a tune, like the band's rendition of "Bob-Omb Battlefield," while others convert familiar themes into very specific jazz styles. Rosen says, "I'll have a flash of an idea for, like, a theme from a game and think, 'Oh, wouldn't it be cool if I arranged it in this way?' Like, for example, wouldn't it be cool [...] if Frank Sinatra had played Portal?" Other recent examples include the theme from Luigi's Mansion in the style of "Sing, Sing, Sing" and themes from the Super Mario series in the style of a gospel praise break. Sometimes Rosen hops straight from inspiration to arranging, but other times he takes the idea and pockets it for a rainy day. Still, you don't need to understand the references to appreciate how the covers transform the source material, and that's by design. Referencing our earlier conversation about orchestral covers, Rosen says, "I also think jazz can suffer from what we're talking about sometimes, where it gets so heavy and so contemporary and so collegiate that it's not accessible anymore. Part of The 8-Bit Big Band is showing that these arrangements can be accessible even if you don't know the games." Turn-Based TranscriptionOne might expect Rosen to write all the arrangements, schedule the musicians, and then record the whole album in one fell swoop, but it all comes together much more slowly than that, even though Rosen admits, "I mean, certainly I'd probably save a little bit of money if I did it all at once." Instead, songs are arranged and recorded in chunks of three or four at a time, typically a few times a year, whenever Rosen has time in his schedule. It's also better for the musicians – even a few hours of recording just a handful of songs is "exhausting," according to Rosen, because sessions can be particularly intense or physically demanding depending on the piece. The logistics of such a large group are also a lot to handle. While solo musicians or smaller musical groups might have the money to write or experiment in the studio, Rosen pays for "about 35" people at once to record, and when you add in the cost of renting studio space, time is of the essence. Despite the necessities of structure, they're still playing jazz music, so some parts are afforded a little wiggle room. Four saxophonists play the music from Dolphin Shoals, a track in Mario Kart 8. Click the image to see the full song "I write out the full orchestration, the chart, the arrangement, ahead of time," Rosen explains. "And then when we get into the studio, especially for the rhythm section – so, guitar, piano, bass, and drums – they can be a little bit more free and interpretational with what I write, because it's jazz, you know? I sort of give them more of a rough guideline. I don't write out every single note of the bass line. I don't write out every single drum fill. You just write the shape of the chart and what's important to play." The other consequence of the piecemeal recording style is that each session has different musicians. Rosen estimates that any given recording probably only shares 65 percent of its musicians with the prior session, and that even though they only have around 35 people per track, albums can involve well over a hundred musicians. Achievement HuntingFive albums and almost eight years later, The 8-Bit Big Band has seen plenty of success, with none more exciting than its initial Grammy win in 2022. Rosen, who is a member of the Recording Academy (thanks to his "day" job), submitted the group's "Meta Knight's Revenge" cover for consideration. He says he recalls thinking, "This is the biggest long shot in the history of music, you know? But sure, I'll submit my fun little video game music arrangements to the Grammy Awards." Turns out, it wasn't a long shot at all, and Rosen ultimately received the award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella. The group was nominated again in 2025 with its rendition of "Last Surprise" from Persona 5, this time for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals, but lost to vocal quartet säje. This year, the band is actually nominated twice; once for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella again (for "Super Mario Praise Break") and once for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album (for Orchestra Emulator). The cover of Orchestra Emulator, the band's latest album. "[T]hat is like, a traditional jazz category," Rosen says, referring to Orchestra Emulator's nomination. "That's like– the other nominees are heavy-hitting jazz legends, so it's pretty insane to be listed alongside them, to be honest." Of course, he's also enthusiastic about "Super Mario Praise Break." Just like with his first award, he's the one who decides which tracks to submit for consideration, meaning this is an arrangement he's particularly proud of. "I submitted ["Super Mario Praise Break"] because it is just such a skillful example of what an arrangement is, which is just wildly recontextualizing a theme in a new way to showcase the quality of that theme in a completely different musical context," Rosen says. Matthew Whitaker plays the organ in The 8-Bit Big Band’s take on "Waluigi Pinball" He also makes a point to credit his collaborators, Matthew Whitaker and Bryan Carter. Both grew up in the church, making them specifically qualified to write a praise break. Both also perform with the group, playing different instruments. Whitaker is an accomplished pianist, and you might recognize him from his organ performance on 8-Bit Big Band's take on "Waluigi Pinball" (which has a bass line that sounds suspiciously like Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon"). Meanwhile, Carter plays the drums and also worked with Rosen to orchestrate 2022's Broadway show Some Like It Hot, for which the duo also won a Grammy. While Rosen mentions this other Grammy in passing (he says he's "gotten a couple" nominations for his "Broadway stuff"), our conversation never turns towards these other awards. They're simply irrelevant, which is a funny thing to say about a Grammy in the context of someone's musical career. It's a nice reminder, though, that despite teasers of songs that might appear in the next album, it might still be a ways off. After all, despite the praise, the views, and the awards, this is only Rosen's side gig. View the full article

Nintendo has revealed more information about the Virtual Boy games coming to Switch and Switch 2. Unveiled earlier this year to the surprise of many, the company is reviving its early, unsuccessful swing at VR by releasing a selection of games on Nintendo Switch Online that can be played with a peripheral modeled after the original console. Today, a new trailer showed off some of the games coming to the platform, as well as some quality-of-life improvements to hopefully make the notoriously uncomfortable device a little more comfortable. The launch catalogue of games, available on February 17, includes Teleroboxer, Galactic Pinball, Red Alarm, Golf, Virtual Boy Wario Land, 3-D Tetris, and The Mansion of Innsmouth. That last game, known as Innsmouth no Yakata in Japan, was never officially released in the US before now. The ad also shows other games coming to the service later this year, including Mario Clash, Mario Tennis, Jack Bros, Space Invaders Virtual Collection, Virtual Bowling, Vertical Force, and V-Tetris. These games, along with the seven above, were announced when the Virtual Boy's return was announced, but today's footage showed two more, Zero Racers and D-Hopper, are also coming to the service. Both games have never been released before, due in part to the console's short lifespan, so this is the first time they'll be playable for the public. None of the non-launch games have a specific release date just yet, but other game collections in the Nintendo Classics library are released in packs of one to two every month or so, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume the Virtual Boy games would follow the same schedule. Finally, Nintendo also shared some quality of life improvements, which are largely in-line with features you expect in other Nintendo Classics apps, including suspended saves at any time, remappable controls, and a rewind feature, which helps mitigate the sometimes frustrating design of titles from that era. Players will also be able to adjust games' colors, with footage showing the screen changing the red pixels white, green, or yellow. This feature isn't coming until later in the year, however, and doesn't work with the Virtual Boy cardboard model. The Virtual Boy launch games and headsets drop on February 17. The more authentic plastic model is $99.99, while the cardboard one will run you $24.99. View the full article

Japanese games giant Square Enix has confirmed that it is continuing to use Unreal Engine 4 rather than the newer Unreal Engine 5 for the upcoming third part in its Final Fantasy 7 Remake series. Read more View the full article

Pantaloon, which started life as an email newsletter curating new indie games before expanding into publishing in 2025, has announced a £150k investment to expand its team and fund development of a new publishing platform. Read more View the full article

Capcom has published its financial results for the nine months ended December 31, 2025, reporting significant increases across the board. Read more View the full article

China-based mobile games publisher Yodo1 has launched its brand new data platform for IP and licensing, called IPVerse. Read more View the full article

PC games giant Valve has been told it has to face a £656 million lawsuit in the UK, which claims the Steam giant's revenue share is too high and negatively impacts consumers. Read more View the full article

Wildlight Entertainment CEO and founder Dusty Welch wished its free-to-play shooter Highguard "had been received better." Read more View the full article

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5 Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Bandai Namco Developer: Bandai Namco Release: January 30, 2026 Rating: Mature It’s fitting that Code Vein II is set in a world of vampires. As I hunted down these bloodsucking creatures in the present and 100 years in the past to prevent the collapse of the world, I felt trapped within its clutches, like a castle guest desperate to escape but unable to do so. Across 42 hours of monotonous game, I found little warmth here. Its skin, a distractingly garish and ugly visual style, is as cold as its blood, a combat system that struggles to fuse original ideas onto a skeleton sculpted better elsewhere in the genre. Even its narrative fangs, which begin in earnest with unique ideas, lose their bite as repetitive storytelling devices and overextended arcs drag on. As I plunged my hunter’s stake into the game’s final boss, the biggest smile yet stretched across my face – finally, I could lay Code Vein II to rest. After creating a custom Revenant Hunter in Code Vein II’s excellent character creator, I was quickly thrown into a world-ending story filled with proper nouns and jargon that immediately bounced off me. It didn’t help that this world is wrapped in clashing visual styles that make it an eyesore to view, and forgettable performances struggle to sell the ambitious stakes. A rock-infused Baroque soundtrack helps the game’s lackluster soundscape, but I was otherwise uninterested in most everything I saw and heard on screen. Jumping between the apocalyptic present and 100 years in the past was interesting at first, as Code Vein II uses inspiring stories of what once was to explain how the world became what it is today. I enjoyed learning why once-allies became monstrous creatures I had to defeat in the present, and jumping back and forth to complete objectives is a nice change-up from the genre’s typical exploration. But before long, it became tedious with objectives that led to loading screens, followed by quick cutscenes, followed by more loading screens. Ghostly hallways where memories play out appeared as exposition dumps far too often, and I sprinted to the exit door each time. My favorite arc of four within the wider narrative is in-depth and full of surprises, but it's the outlier, as the others are poorly paced, filled with boring dungeons and predictable characters, and struggled to find a hook – had I not been reviewing this game, there are moments a plenty when I would have ended my time with Code Vein II long before the credits. The overworld is dull, with confusing map markers that must be destroyed to unobscure its features, and tedious pathing that makes traveling on foot or by motorcycle a chore. Code Vein II’s bespoke dungeons are largely just as uninteresting, filled with enemies that quickly grow stale, unimaginative set dressing that ranges from underground power plant to underground laboratory to underground prison, and boss fights either too easy to be exciting or too annoying to be fun. Fortunately, checkpointing is fair throughout, with dungeon pathing that makes collecting resources that drop after you die a welcome reprieve. Code Vein II’s combat, which follows in the footsteps of its 2019 predecessor with Soulslike action, has some compelling flair but is trapped in a world of dungeons and enemies that did little to entice me to experiment more with its mechanics. It’s doing a lot to let you craft a unique playstyle – there are primary weapons, secondary weapons, Jail weaponry with Ichor-sucking abilities, special attacks that use Ichor, equippable Blood Codes that drastically change your character’s stats, plenty of consumable and throwable items, and an AI partner that can bestow buffs or help you fight outright, but little inspired me to utilize this expansive suite in combat. I mostly fought the same types of enemies in Code Vein II’s final act as I did in its opening hours, and though I tried forcing myself to experiment and play with the many tools at my disposal, it was simply easier (and faster) to swing a big sword over and over. The few times I did struggle in combat were against frustrating bosses marred by poor camera positioning, annoying hitboxes, and unfair attacks that don’t seem to follow the same rules of physics my moves do. Some bosses, like the final adversaries of each arc in the game, buck this trend with engaging movesets that were fun to learn and counter, but overall, boss fights, like the other enemy encounters in the game, were flat and aggressively mediocre. Even its menus and UI, which are reminiscent of a player’s screen hundreds of hours into an MMO, struggle to find harmony in this game’s overall messy presentation. I want to say there’s something enjoyable, interesting even, buried beneath the flawed execution of Code Vein II, but that something is the corpse of other games in the genre this vampiric creation is feeding on for inspiration. Remove it, and what remains is an unremarkable and forgettable experience. Score: 5.5 About Game Informer's review system View the full article

Invincible VS’ roster of playable Viltrumites has expanded with the additions of Anissa and Lucan. Acting as the game's 12th and 13th characters, the pair bring even more brutality to an already hyperviolent tag team fighter. Like fellow Viltrumites Omni-Man and Thula, Anissa and Lucan are powerhouses whose immense strength is matched only by their ferocity. Both pummel opponents in their own unique and referential ways, from Anissa “educating” adversaries by slapping them senseless or Lucan breaking spines over his knee like an extraterrestrial Bane. Check them out in action in the trailer below. Anissa and Lucan join an announced roster of Invincible, Omni-Man, Atom Eve, Rex Splode, Monster Girl, Robot, Battle Beast, Thula, Cecil Stedman, Bulletproof, and original character Ella Mental. With a confirmed roster of 18 characters, only five slots remain open; who do you think will fill them? Invincible VS will launch on April 30 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. You can learn more about the game by reading our first preview of the game from last June here. View the full article

The third edition of Gamescom's executive summit will return in February in Lisbon, Portugal. Read more View the full article

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment sales top 1m in three months | News-in-BriefView the full article

This year is poised to deliver an incredible slate of nerdy entertainment, and one of the first examples of that is The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The follow-up to 2023's Super Mario Bros. Movie, which grossed more than $1.3 billion at the box office, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie looks to dramatically expand the scope by not only bringing our beloved heroes to space, but also by introducing several beloved characters to this cinematic continuity. The first trailer gave us looks at Rosalina (voiced by Brie Larson) and Bowser Jr. (voiced by Bennie Safdie), and the second trailer finally paid off the post-credits teaser of the first film by introducing us to Yoshi. While we don't know who voices him, it may be less consequential than who voices the other characters, as, right now, it just seems like he might make various noises with an occasional "Yoshi" thrown into his dialogue. Outside of Yoshi's introduction, we also got looks at Tostarena Town and the Sand Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey, the Frog Suit from Super Mario Bros. 3, Birdo from Super Mario Bros. 2, and plenty of nods from other Mario games. You can see the trailer below: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrives in theaters on April 1, 2026, exactly three years after the premiere of the first movie. View the full article

Download Cursedland for free via Steam and keep it forever in your Steam library! Cursedland is a small 2D indie ... View the full article

The latest target of Ubisoft's eternal cutbacks is its head office, with 200 roles proposed to be cut from Ubisoft International in Paris. The company has started a voluntary redundancy program to deliver the cuts, with delivery to be negotiated with trade unions. GamesIndustry.biz understands the number represents 18% of the unit's staff. Read more View the full article

Resident Evil Requiem will soon be upon us, launching February 27 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC. Ahead of its launch, I went hands-on with the upcoming survival horror game to play an hour as Leon S. Kennedy and two hours as Grace Ashcroft, and you can read my thoughts here. Following that gameplay session, though, I interviewed Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi, who addressed rumors surrounding the game's exploration, making clear that it is not an open world game. I also spoke to Nakanishi about giving Leon a chainsaw, this game's take on Resident Evil zombies, nostalgia, building tension in horror, and so much more. You can read the full transcript of our interview below: Interview Q&A With Resident Evil Requiem Director Koshi Nakanishi Game Informer's Wesley LeBlanc: The first question I want to ask is about the chainsaw. Why now? Why is now the time to put a chainsaw in Leon's hands finally? Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi via an interpreter: So the chainsaw – first off, if you've played previous Resident Evil games, you probably know chainsaws are a pretty symbolic weapon in a lot of different games. So whenever a new entry in the Resident Evil series, or whenever the developers are working on a new entry in the Resident Evil series, there's always a lot of thought put into how the chainsaw will be used in this game. So in this game, the zombies can actually use tools. They have retained some of their memory pre-turning into a zombie. And so yeah, being able to use tools is something the zombies can do here. And so with that being the case, it made sense for all the zombies to also be able to use a chainsaw. So, going from there, if one enemy with the chainsaw is defeated, it makes sense for the other zombies to pick it up and to be able to use it. And so from there, it went to, "Well, if that's the case, then of course, you as the player also want to use it." And so that's kind of how that line of thought naturally progressed and resulted in Leon being able to wield a chainsaw in Resident Evil Requiem. Another driving force behind it is that by Resident Evil Requiem, Leon has a lot of experience under his belt at this point, so it felt like a good time for Leon to turn the tables a bit and use a chainsaw himself, since he's gone up against so many chainsaws previously. And keeping up with the chainsaws, I noticed immediately in the Leon section that when it hits the ground, it's spinning. Zombies walked over it and it cut their legs off. I'm curious if there are any other kind of physics interactions like that in the game, or is that just a cool little one-off with the chainsaw? Nakanishi: Using enemy weapons is a pretty big feature of gameplay, so being able to use enemy weapons against them is also going to be something you'll see come up beyond the sections that you've played as well. I'm curious – you can switch perspectives between third-person and first-person. How did the team land on it defaulting to first-person for Grace and third-person for Leon? Nakanishi: So, actually, for the preview that you played, it doesn't start at the very beginning of the game. The story has progressed a bit. So actually, in the final version of the game, when you start the game, it's going to ask you, which do you prefer? It's up to the player, really, on what they want to use, and they can freely choose what they want to use when they start the game. Is the intention for Grace and Leon's varying gameplay experiences to speak to each other in terms of balancing tension? Nakanishi: It's exactly as you said – the idea there is to build tension with the very horror-focused sections with Grace; she doesn't have as many options for combat as Leon, as he's much more combat-focused. So yeah, exactly as you said, that's the intention behind the design of the two characters, to have that tension and release between the two. And so [I'm] really happy that you were able to pick that up from just playing the preview. What was the ethos behind designing the monsters and zombies in this game? Nakanishi: For Requiem, the main theme that ties basically all the enemies together is a virus. So obviously, the zombies are infected by a virus. There was not a whole lot shown in the preview, but there are other creatures as well who've been infected by the virus. So, it's kind of going back to that very central theme of Resident Evil, the enemies, basically, that that through line that goes through them all is centered around a virus. Something I really enjoyed in the preview is that it felt almost nostaglic, in the sense that the Grace section felt very Resident Evil 2 police station, and Leon felt like toward the end of the game, where you're just kicking butt. I'm curious – is that intentional to set up a surprise feel for later in the game, or is it just a greatest hits of Resident Evil? Nakanishi: Obviously, Capcom has a long history with the Resident Evil franchise. The idea was to present an evolved version of some of the gameplay you know and love. So, as you said, Grace, there's a strong feeling of RE2 to show an evolution of the zombies, again, an evolution of RE2's gameplay, and Leon as well. So yeah, you're right on the money there too. What is the design intention behind the blood synthesis system? Nakanishi: There are kind of two things that led to including that crafting system with blood in Requiem. So the first one is: in lots of RE games, there's always a lot of blood in the environment, right? There's always a lot of blood everywhere in different environments. So the first question that kind of led to that system was the dev team looking at that and saying, "Is there any way to implement that element into the actual gameplay?" So that was one of the first drivers behind it. As for the intention behind that mechanic, it was to add another layer of player choice. So, for instance, yes, there's always the choice of running away or fighting the enemy, but knowing that you can possibly collect blood from the enemy gives you another incentive to defeat the enemy, like you were mentioning. So it just adds another layer of choice, and I guess risk and reward for players going through the game. Speaking about choice, I don't know if you utilized it or not, but there's an injector in the game that you can also craft that, if you sneak up, you can defeat an enemy with one hit. You'll notice that you can't collect their blood. So, yeah, again, it's really about, you know, adding player choice and giving different incentives for choosing different things. What do you think is the most defining aspect of these zombies versus others in the RE series? Nakanishi: The thing that really sets these zombies apart, which we're sure you experienced when you played, is that the zombies actually retain some memory of their life before they turned into a zombie. So you can actually see that in their actions, as they're kind of focused on what they were doing or what they were responsible for before they turned into a zombie. So retaining a little bit of their past lives is something that's really new for the RE series here, and you'll actually, if you look closely, be able to utilize that stuff to your advantage. Nakanishi closed out the interview by addressing rumors that Resident Evil Requiem is an open world game – it isn't, and here's what he had to say. Resident Evil Requiem launches February 27 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC. For more about the game, read my hands-on preview of Resident Evil Requiem here, and then check out the latest news from the Resident Evil showcase that aired last month. After that, read about Leon's custom Porsche in the game, and then check out the Resident Evil Requiem Nintendo Switch 2 Pro controller. View the full article

UK-based developer Jagex has said players will never encounter content created using AI within its games. Read more View the full article

Last March, Nintendo fans were ravenous for news about the Switch 2, speculating wildly and hoping for updates from any source. In this state of heightened anticipation, Nintendo did what it does best and did something no one expected; it announced Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, a sequel to a 2014 3DS game the company hadn't touched in years. Outside of a couple of brief trailers, however, we haven't had any more news on what the game will include, but that changes this week. Nintendo has announced a Nintendo Direct entirely focused on Tomodachi Life's sequel for this coming Thursday. The stream will be hosted on Nintendo's YouTube channel on Thursday, January 29, at 6 a.m. PT/ 9 a.m. ET. According to the announcement on social media, it will last "roughly 20 minutes," so you can expect a good deal of information about the game and how it differs from its predecessor. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is currently scheduled for a Spring 2026 release window, so we're hoping to get a specific launch date from the presentation. Tomodachi Life is also a Switch 1 title, and while there might be upgrades announced for Switch 2, it will be available on both generations of Nintendo's hybrid console. Tomodachi Life is a simulation game where Miis, Nintendo's customizable avatars, live out lives together and form relationships. As of March 2025, it was one of the best selling 3DS games of all time with 6.72 million units sold. For more Tomodachi Life, you can read our review of the original here. View the full article

The EU version of the Stop Killing Games petition was signed by 1.3 million people. Read more View the full article

Resident Evil Requiem is right around the corner, launching next month on February 27 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC. Ahead of that, Game Informer went hands-on with the horror game for three hours, and you can read that preview here. However, as part of this preview, I interviewed Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi about what I had played. I'll be publishing a full Q/A of that interview later today, but curiously, Nakanishi closed out our interview asking to address something I didn't specifically talk about: the game's world and exploration, specifically as it relates to rumors of Requiem being an open world Resident Evil. Nakanishi definitely shut those rumors down. "[The development team] did just want to make clear one point," Nakanishi says through an interpreter. "They've seen some speculation of whether there's any open world elements in the game, and they just want to set the record straight that this isn't an open world game." Welp, that's about as direct as it can get. Nakanishi continues, explaining, "The main concept behind this game is combining the very different gameplay of Grace and Leon into a cohesive package, and having those two gameplays represent the Resident Evil series, and I think when you play the game, you realize that, or you will find as well that the development team picked the best approach to do this." For more about the game, read my hands-on preview of Resident Evil Requiem here, and then check out the latest news from the Resident Evil showcase that aired last month. After that, read about Leon's custom Porsche in the game, and then check out the Resident Evil Requiem Nintendo Switch 2 Pro controller. Are you happy to hear that Resident Evil Requiem isn't an open world game or bummed? Let us know in the comments below! View the full article

During this weekend's Dragon Ball Genkidamatsuri event, Bandai Namco revealed a cryptic trailer announcing the next Dragon Ball game. Known only as Age 1000, it’s slated to launch next year. The mysterious trailer focuses on a new, original character designed by the late Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama. The white-haired youth’s outfit and color scheme are somewhat reminiscent of Gohan’s Great Saiyan costume, and it interestingly bears the Capsule Corp name. The trailer shows the character effortlessly battling masked goons in a seemingly digital simulation, then ends with him transforming into a Super Saiyan. And of course, it wouldn’t be a Dragon Ball game without a Goku tease, who is briefly shown in the form of a silhouette. “The world of Dragon Ball continues to expand with a brand-new Dragon Ball world and its entirely original characters— all brought to life by Akira Toriyama. Set for 2027, the 'Age 1000' project will introduce even more unique characters as the adventure unfolds,” reads Bandai Namco’s press release. Unfortunately, we don’t know what type of game Age 1000 is or the platforms it will be released on. However, we won’t have to wait too long to learn more details as Bandai plans to share new information during Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour, taking place April 18-19 in Los Angeles. View the full article

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom Release: February 27, 2026 Rating: Mature Nearly 30 years ago, a rookie cop named Leon S. Kennedy exited a vehicle and stumbled into a labyrinthine police department within Raccoon City, a metropolis in the process of being overrun by a horrific virus. In the present day, I sit within an unassuming office building in Los Angeles, watching a much older Leon do almost the same thing in Resident Evil Requiem. His hair’s longer, his sculpted jaw shaded by the remnants of an early morning shave, his jacket more stylish; he exits not a police car, but a custom Porsche this time around, and once more stumbles into a labyrinthine building. It’s not long before a mysterious virus turns humans into zombies, and the hallways of this quiet building, a therapeutic care medical facility, echo with painful groans, stumbling bodies, and a familiar chaos Leon was practically born for. I dispatch a few zombies before one rushes me with a chainsaw. I dodge and riddle its head with bullets. The chainsaw falls to the ground and begins spinning wildly, like it has a mind of its own. Nearby zombies walk into its path, losing legs in the process, blood painting the surrounding walls, fake plants, and expensive office chairs. As I approach the weapon, I take damage too before picking it up. Finally, Leon’s got a chainsaw. The chainsaw rips mercilessly through zombies before its use is depleted and left buzzing in the chest of what used to be a doctor. It’s exhilarating, both diegetically and as a fan of the series who’s been terrorized by this machine’s rapid-spin teeth many, many times. During this preview, I play as Leon for an hour and control the game’s other protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, for two. Everything I see, hear, and feel while playing as Leon speaks to the final hours of Resident Evil 4, specifically on The Island, when confidence built up over the game’s prior eight or so hours, combined with the weaponry on hand, allows you to feel like a blonde killing machine. Though Requiem’s Leon is much older, that killing machine is still ready at a moment’s notice – you need only to prime its engine with a threat and pull a cord, like the very chainsaw I just used to eviscerate the undead corpses of this facility’s patients and employees. Playing as Leon in Requiem during this specific preview is so clearly meant to provide the feeling of control and power that Grace’s sections strip away in favor of methodical exploration and terror. Leon is not concerned with finding every green herb and box of ammo here. Though I don’t know the details, he’s on a mission and deftly handles any obstacle before him with speed, cunning, bullets, and a nasty roundhouse kick. Compared to Grace, Leon’s movement feels like a sprint. I worry little about the room full of zombies, or the hulking, pus-filled monstrosity squeezing through attic hallways later in the preview, and what they can do to my health. I kill and kill and kill, and it feels good. It’s the adrenaline I need before my two hours (and after) with Grace in this very same medical facility. Separated from Leon, Grace finds herself in a similarly nostalgic and familiar situation. For some ungodly reason, this medical facility uses gems like quartz, exceedingly advanced levels of security, and old, musty hallways to create a maze-like puzzle. I can imagine employees spending hours (rightfully) complaining about this layout after work over a beer or two. Why does Grace need to find mysterious jewels, security bracelets, cast-iron keys, and more to get around this facility? Why are these items mystifyingly placed in puzzle boxes that require me to understand ritualistic poems and observe faded photographs for clues? Why, because the Raccoon City Police Station in Resident Evil 2 did. Capcom is not trying to hide what Grace’s section is meant to emulate. It isn’t the aforementioned police station, but, like… it is. And Grace plays like 1998’s (or 2019’s) Leon, too, boldly trying to put aside fears to confront zombies that stand before her and some key items she needs. After blitzing through Leon’s section in third-person, I go first-person for Grace’s section, adding some Resident Evil 7-inspired flair to this horror experience. I pass through a kitchen where a rotten behemoth of a man chops meat, scanning the room and its surrounding hallways for signs of life (presumably also to be chopped). It’s unnerving in first-person, just as it was cowering through the Baker family’s demented dinner party. Requiem plays its greatest hits here as I kill a zombie with the very last bullet in my inventory, as I reach the next typewriter to save at, as I open another drawer and locker and cabinet to find something, anything that will help me survive this god-awful night. It’s not all familiar tricks here, though. A new crafting system in the form of blood synthesis allows me to make use of the zombies I mar as I can now collect their ichor in an upgradable tube. I can combine it with ammunition, herbs, and more to create powerful healing vaccines and one-shot-one-kill bullets, among other things. It’s a fun addition to Resident Evil’s inventory resume, and makes me think twice before sprinting past a zombie to advance – what could its blood do for me? I can even craft a special inhibitor that Grace plunges into the backs of unaware zombies to prevent them from metastasizing into an unholy tumor of blood, muscle, and guts, a second life of sorts for zombies already brought to the ground by my bullets. There are some surprising, interesting, and strange (complementary) things happening narratively, but I won’t spoil them here. I’m both excited about what I see play out on that front and nervous – what’s interesting and strange in the first halves of many Resident Evil games morphs into something weaker in the second half. I hope the other hours of Requiem match the adrenaline and horror I felt in this preview’s sections. For more about Resident Evil Requiem, catch up on the reveals from the latest Resident Evil Showcase, and read our interview with director Koshi Nakanishi and producer Masato Kumazawa. What questions do you have about Resident Evil Requiem? Drop them in the comments below! View the full article