The Stop Killing Games campaign is evolving into more than just a movement. In a YouTube video, the campaign's creator, Ross Scott, explained that organizers are planning to establish two non-governmental organizations, one for the European Union and another for the US. According to Scott, these NGOs would allow for "long-term counter lobbying" when publishers end support for certain video games. "Let me start off by saying I think we're going to win this, namely the problem of publishers destroying video games that you've already paid for," Scott said in the video. According to Scott, the NGOs will work on getting the original Stop Killing Games petition codified into EU law, while also pursuing more watchdog actions, like setting up a system to report publishers for revoking access to purchased video games. The Stop Killing Games campaign started as a reaction to Ubisoft's delisting of The Crew from players' libraries. The controversial decision stirred up concerns about how publishers have the ultimate say on delisting video games. After crossing a million signatures last year, the movement's leadership has been busy exploring the next steps. According to Scott, the campaign leadership will meet with the European Commission soon, but is also working on a 500-page legal paper that reveals some of the industry's current controversial practices. In the meantime, the ongoing efforts have led to a change of heart from Ubisoft since the publisher updated The Crew 2 with an offline mode.

Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Arc Raiders developers love all the roleplaying communities in the game, including the self-described sheriffs who dole out what they call justice in online lobbies. Whether their verdicts are actually just is another question, but developer Embark Studios is simply glad that its game leaves room for that kind of emergent storytelling. Speaking to PC Gamer, design director Virgil Watkins was asked about the wandering group of Stella Montis sheriffs that pounce on any suspected PvP aggressors who, allegedly, betray or backstab other raiders. The sheriffs on Stella Montis don't always get things totally right, but hey, they're the law. Who's gonna stop them? "Well, I mean, for me, that's actually kind of the hope with all of it: letting players lead with their own motivations and create all those stories for each other," Watkins tells the site. "And that's not something we can ever author or force to happen, and I'm glad that we don't try. I far prefer that we give players the means and the context and the opportunity to do these things, and then they do what they want to do." Arc Raiders "needs that element of tension and risk" from PvP, but Embark knows people are loving its "safer lobbies" Arc Raiders players down each other a "surprisingly low" amount, and the devs are "way worse people than the community" PvP is the reason Arc Raiders works – love it or hate it, even Embark's design lead says it "adds the spice" "I've even seen videos where people cause that kind of chaos on purpose, like they'll have a silenced weapon and watch two people being friendly, and they'll shoot at just the right moment. The guy turns like, 'Why'd you do that?' And they get in a fight, and then a third guy shows up, and punishes the first guy, and then no one knows what's going on anymore. And yeah, I think those are some of the better moments you can hope to see," he adds. Arc Raiders is gearing up for the big Shrouded Sky update coming in just a few days time, bringing with it a new map condition, beard customization, gameplay adjustments, and a brand new Arc. Fans think they've already spotted a glimpse of the mysterious threat, too. Arc Raiders lead dispels conspiracy theory that the robots are somehow learning how to kill us better: "That's just us in the way we author them"

Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Balatro's mostly solo developer LocalThunk is still working on the roguelike behemoth's big 1.1 release, a long-awaited major gameplay update to the game. LocalThunk confirms as much in a new blog post mainly dedicated to his game dev origins, which he closes out with this: "Happy 2nd birthday, Balatro. P.S. Yes I'm still working on 1.1." The free update that somehow promises even more new strategies and ideas (in a game already spilling over with strategies and ideas) was announced in 2024 shortly after Balatro took the gaming world by storm. LocalThunk then delayed the 1.1 update out of 2025 and into 2026 to avoid going back to the brutal crunch mode that defined most of the base game's development. "It's done when it's done," the dev said at the time. "I am not going to abandon Haunted Chocolatier," says Stardew Valley's Eric Barone Palworld lead gently reminds players the next update is not "massive," since "mammoth sized 1.0" is still a long way off: "I think you've misunderstood" Blue Prince creator couldn't "physically" make another game as "ambitious" as his 2025 puzzle hit Balatro 1.1 seems to be making steady progress now, though. LocalThunk's blog recalls his time as a new computer science student who didn't have the best grades but became "so obsessed" with making small programs that he pulled multiple all nighters on school days, and eventually did the same on an unnamed game project. "I worked on that game for over two years," LocalThunk says. "It never had a name, it was never completed, and apart from showing it to a few friends and family nobody knew it even existed. But it was exactly what I wanted to make and the feeling of absolute freedom I had while working on it is the reason why I kept game development as a hobby years later. That project was the template. I found the files for that project and played it for a couple days recently; it was pretty fun." "I think about that version of myself a lot now. I didn't know what was coming and even if I could warn myself I'm not sure what I could have said to prepare for the insanity. I'm not even sure if there's a lesson to learn." "With all the success, baggage, attention, heartache, fear, stress, and joy that I've had since Balatro was created, at least that old version of myself is still there," the dev adds. "Last night I stayed up until the early hours of the morning drawing pixel art, writing code, and listening to music in my quiet house. Notebook of ideas open next to me, cup of decaf in hand. Thank you to everyone for allowing this terrible student to keep staying up too late." With a game as replayable and moreish as Balatro, there's really no rush to add much of anything until LocalThunk feels it's ready and polished. Plus, any excuse to avoid crunch culture is a good one in my books. Localthunk says Balatro doesn't have microtransactions "because when I play other games that have those things it makes me want to put my computer in the dishwasher"

Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Helldivers 2 players have failed to spread democracy and keep the peace (via lethal force) on Cyberstan, the home of the new Cyborg sub faction that recently reared its head in the game. Super Earth is now warning that divers should prepare for a counter attack from the joint Cyborg and Automaton forces. So, better luck next time, divers. "The liberation of Cyberstan has failed," a transmission from High Command, posted to social media, reads. "The underhanded, subhuman treachery of the Cyborgs returned to once again steal peace from Super Earth's citizens. The threat of a socialist planet-killer remains active. This is a grotesque travesty of Justice." High Command is at least celebrating the fact that the thousands of grunts squashed during the operation didn't die in vain. "The audacious and tireless Helldiver offensive forced the monstrous Cyborgs out of the shadows," it says. "Their tyrannical bastion was penetrated, and their megafactories were razed to the ground. In doing so, we have grievously wounded Cyberstan—a proven font of Tyranny—and reduced their industrial capacity to ash. If the Cyborgs insist on rejecting peace under Managed Democracy, they shall inherit only a burning wasteland." Helldivers 2 director on the game's "biggest" battle ever: "We don't know what will happen" Helldivers 2's Cyborgs are real, and they'd kindly like you to "defect" from Super Earth Helldivers 2 passes 150,000 players on Steam for the first time in months thanks to Cyborgs, who may be good guys Helldivers are now entering a "strategic contraction phase" to regroup and "prepare for the inevitable, unjust counter-offensive from the surviving socialist menace." Coretta Kelly, an in-universe journalist, reports that the Cyborgs are already building other megafactories on outside planets "to create even more Cyborg soldiers." Arrowhead Game Studios previously called the assault on Cyberstan the "biggest" battle in Helldivers 2 so far, and even the developers didn't know which way the tides of war would swing. "Your goldfish has been executed": Helldivers 2 support staff apparently don't take kindly to requests to join the Cyborgs, noting the "dissidence" against Super Earth

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. As a reminder, the latest edition of Steam Next Fest runs from February 23 until March 2, during which you'll be able to check out demos for hundreds of upcoming games. A bunch are available already, including one for Denshattack!, which I definitely recommend checking out. As it turns out, doing Tony Hawk Pro Skater-style tricks with a high-speed Japanese train absolutely rips. On Thursday, there were four showcases highlighting indie games all in a single day. It's not exactly feasible for me to recap them in full here, unfortunately, but I can at least tell you about a few of the many highlights. The Black History Month edition of the Black Voices in Gaming Showcase includes trailers and interviews for some games that are already available, such as Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator, Aerial_Knight's DropShot and Relooted. Of course, the stream featured plenty of games that are on the way too. Erased, from solo developer Jerron Jacques, looks pretty interesting. It's an open-world fighting game that takes place in a cyberpunk setting with dance battles, parkour, pets, strange creatures and much more. Jacques, who has been documenting the game's development process on social media, even carried out some of the parkour motion capture work personally. There was lots of good stuff in this week's Convergence Showcase too, including another peek at Mouse: P.I. for Hire as we get to see one of the game's bosses for the first time. This first-person shooter with rubber-hose animation is set to arrive on March 19. There were other welcome announcements for me in this showcase. First, there was a release date for the Zelda-inspired adventure Gecko Gods. I've had this on my wishlist since 2022, so I'm glad to learn it'll hit Nintendo Switch, PS5 and PC on April 16. In addition, record shop sim Wax Heads (which probably should have been called Low Fidelity, tbh) is coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch on May 5. You can check out a Steam Next Fest demo for that one now. The second edition of Indie Fan Fest had a trove of goodies as well. For one thing, Balatro publisher Playstack could be about to cause another mass reduction in collective productivity with Raccoin, which now has a release date of March 31. This is another roguelike deckbuilder, but this time it's in the form of a coin pusher. I didn't have a chance to check out the previous playtest to get a better sense of why there's so much buzz around this one, but I'll for sure be trying the Steam Next Fest demo, which is available now. It remains deeply weird to refer to a game under Acclaim's umbrella as an indie, but that's where we are now. The publisher is bringing Ridiculous Games' GridBeat to Nintendo Switch and Steam on March 26. This is a rhythm-based dungeon crawler in which you (a hacker) try to escape from a corporate network after pilfering valuable data. There's a Next Fest demo available for this one too. Meanwhile, a narrower release window for Japanese convenience store sim InKonbini: One Store. Many Stories was revealed. It's coming to Steam, PS5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox in April. Alongside a related sale on Steam, the first Quebec Games Celebration Showcase took place on Thursday. It's always neat to learn about games being made in my neck of the woods. One of those is Surfpunk, a co-op action RPG that looks a bit like Hades with surfing. Radical. You'll venture to procedurally generated islands in search of loot. There are four weapon classes to choose from and gadgets you can craft after collecting resources on your run. There's an updated Steam demo that's said to have around five hours of gameplay. Surfpunk (which is from Convergence: A League of Legends Story developer Double Stallion) will arrive later this year. I'm including this demo announcement trailer for Croak, a precision platformer from Woodrunner Games that appears to be heavily inspired by the likes of Celeste, separately for one main reason. You have to check out the studio's head of "barketing." (Okay okay, the game's hand-drawn visuals look lovely too.) There's plenty of other interesting stuff in the Quebec Games Celebration Showcase, including another look at Tears of Metal from Paper Cult Games, the studio behind the very enjoyable Bloodroots. There's a Steam demo available for the hack-and-slash roguelite, which should be out this spring. Gothic sci-fi Metroidvania Silent Planet looks quite tasty too. Under The Island looks and sounds very The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past-coded. But since that's my favorite game of all time, I am not complaining. I love that protagonist Nia appears to use a hockey stick as a weapon too. This action PRG from Slime King Games (and co-publishers Top Hat Studios and Doyoyo Games) has debuted to strong early reviews. It's available now on Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch for $20, though there's a 15 percent launch sale (you'll need to be a PS Plus member to get the discount on PS4 and PS5). Demon Tides — a 3D, open-world platformer from Bubsy 4D and Demon Turf developer Fabraz — has lots of movement mechanics, including paragliders and hookshots. You can shapeshift into different forms as well. You can create and share graffiti, and this will appear in other players' games (which is a neat touch). Demon Tides is out now on Steam. It'll usually cost $25, but until March 5, you can snap it up for $20. Skate Bums is a 2D skateboarding game in the tradition of the OlliOlli series. As novice skateboarder Lux, you'll try to take down the Skate Bums, a gang of bullies. There are "weird characters," sick combos to pull off, coins to collect and wrecking balls to dodge. There's said to be a "simple directional trick system" while each run is apparently short. That seems ideal for quick, pick-up-and-play sessions on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. I also just really like the title. Skate Bums, which is from Lucky Last Studio, will normally cost $15 but there's a 15 percent discount until February 27. Love Eternal is a psychological "horror platformer about escaping the domain of a selfish god," which is a strong pitch from developer brlka and Demonschool publisher Ysbryd Games. You'll need to flip between different gravitational pulls as you navigate this precision platformer, which follows teenager Maya on her attempt to return to her own reality. During a dinner at home, Maya's family disappears and she suddenly appears in an "eerie, desolate realm" that looks like an Iron Age castle. That's a creepy enough set up to match the game's haunting atmosphere. Love Eternal is out now on Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch for $10. There's a 15 percent launch discount (again, you'll need to be a PS Plus member to take advantage of that on PlayStation). Woe Industries, the developer of You Have Billions Invested In Generative AI (and a bunch of other neat projects), has something intriguing on deck for next week — a standardized gaming test. You can start the Adventure Game Aptitude Test (AGAT) at any time between 1PM and 2PM ET on February 28. You'll have four hours to complete an '80s adventure game of Woe Industries’ choosing. The developer will seemingly be monitoring your browser and smartphone activity to ensure you don't consult a walkthrough. If you're successful, you'll receive an AGAT certification and diploma. Good luck! "Musical narrative adventure" People of Note is coming to Steam, Epic Games Store, the Xbox App on PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on April 7 for $25 (though there'll be a 10 percent launch discount). The game follows pop singer Cadence on her quest for stardom. Along the way, Cadence and her buds will have to overcome enemies in battles that have turn-based and rhythm-based elements. I mostly enjoyed playing through a preview several months ago, though I had to grit my teeth through the turn-based combat, which is not something I enjoy as a rule. However, Iridium Studios will allow players to turn off elements like that and environmental puzzles so more people who might have otherwise been turned off can enjoy People of Note. You can sample the game now on Steam via a 90-minute Next Fest demo. I don't fully understand what's going on in the reveal trailer for Titanium Court, which is from AP Thomson (a solo developer who previously worked on Consume Me) and publisher Fellow Traveller. Even the press release notes that it's "impossibly difficult to describe." But it has an absorbing trailer soundtracked by an odd, Bill Callahan-esque song and it has already picked up several IGF award nominations, so I'm intrigued. What I am able to surmise is that it's a surrealist, roguelike strategy game with match-three, auto battle and tower defense elements. It's also for "clowns and criminals," apparently. I'm gonna have to give the Steam Next Fest demo a shot to try to get my head around it. Titanium Court is coming to Steam “imminently.” Sometimes, a game pops up that makes me think "how has no one done this before?" Such is the case with Become. It's a third-person linear adventure from solo developer Valentin Wirth in which you take on the guise of a single sperm. You can probably guess what the goal is. The game has "no explicit sexual acts, nudity or violence," according to its Steam page, though you will encounter some danger along your journey. You can upgrade your bespectacled spermatozoon via skill trees and seemingly adorn various pieces of headgear. Become is slated to hit Steam later this year.

Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Fallout 76 is something of a dark horse in the Bethesda Game Studios library, but it's come a long way since its unequivocally disastrous launch, which was plagued with game-breaking bugs and technical shortcomings alongside criticisms of its world design and lack of stuff to do and look at. Bethesda has spent seven years polishing the game and adding content, and these days it's in pretty good standing, and in fact, it's the Bethesda game Todd Howard is most proud of. Appearing on a recent episode of the Kinda Funny show (via Idle Sloth), Howard made the case for Fallout 76 over generational and beloved releases like Skyrim, Oblivion, and Fallout 3 and 4. "It was incredibly difficult," Howard said. "It was difficult to get it to launch, and it didn't launch great, and then it was even harder to pull it out of that, and then when it starts getting really popular again, maintain it." Todd Howard wants fans of the Fallout TV show to try Fallout 76: "It's the game we're still going the most work in Bethesda reflects on 10 years of Fallout 4: "You have to accept the creative choices you make on every game" Todd Howard knows it's "disappointing" there's no Fallout 5 to release with the show, but "it'll do great" when it gets here Howard then shouted out "incredible" Fallout 76 community for sticking with the game for so many years despite its rough state at launch. He also suggested the game's redemption arc and staying power are the reasons he's so proud of it today, which is fair. Not many online games are able to recover from a launch as universally maligned as Fallout 76's, and although that's never been as true as it these days, it's still genuinely impressive that the game is still around and generally liked these days. "In many respects, it's the game that we've done that I’m the most proud of," added Howard. "It's so hard to do and then maintain as a relevant game, and I think if you look across the industry, the amount of games like it that there have been or come and gone, and here's 76 still there with big numbers and doing well." Fallout 76 is going on its eighth year, and it doesn't sound like it's slowing down any time soon. "I get to see the roadmap that's planned for the game, and it gets even better," said Howard. Todd Howard says Elder Scrolls 6 is a return to "classic" Bethesda RPGs like Skyrim, Oblivion, and Fallout 4 after the "creative detour" the studio took with Fallout 76 and Starfield: "We do have a certain style that we like"

Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Despite trading action-RPG stylings for turn-based JRPG combat, the Monster Hunter Stories series is very much like its big brother in one major way: it offers an absolute feast of content, particularly for players who want to invest in a meaty endgame grind. It sounds like Monster Hunter Stories 3 will be no exception, but it seems the devs want the main story to be a little more satisfying for players who put the game down after the credits roll, too. Game director Kenji Oguro told 4Gamer (translated by Automaton) that the main quest of Monster Hunter Stories 3 would take around 30 hours to complete, but that apparently represents a pretty rushed playthrough. Executive producer Ryozo Tsujimoto explained that some playtesters spent over 50 hours finishing the game, with typical playtimes ranging from 40 to 50 hours. That's in line with previous series entries, according to HowLongToBeat's data. A rushed playthrough of the original game averages 35 hours, with 50 hours for one incorporating more sidequests. Monster Hunter Stories 2 averages between 41 and 61 hours along those same metrics, though either game's playtime might double – or go even further – if you want to truly see everything. Baffling Capcom once again, Monster Hunter Stories 3 players are taking down superbosses despite the demo's level 10 cap Clair Obscur Expedition 33 and Metaphor ReFantazio were inspiration for Monster Hunter Stories 3's "challenging" combat The Trails series is "close to its conclusion," which is why the studio "needed to properly remake" the original JRPGs I've no doubt that Monster Hunter Stories 3 will offer similar ways to stay invested – just look at the grind players have already married themselves to in the demo – but the endgame grind won't be a requirement to enjoy the game. Oguro explained that the team wants to be sure "players feel satisfied once they complete the main story,” in contrast to the more endgame-focused Monster Hunter titles that have come before. I love a good sidequest, but I also generally find myself pretty much ready to shelve a game as soon as I reach credits – particularly if I've spent a full work week or more getting to that point. Monster Hunter Stories 3 sounds like it's sitting right in my own JRPG sweet spot. These are the best JRPGs you can play in 2026.

Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Solo developer Csaba "ForestWare" Székely found out the easy way that there's massive demand for the type of game he's making: a deep, systems-driven open-world RPG inspired by early-'00s classics like Gothic, Kenshi, Arx Fatalis, Blade of Darkness, Fable, and best of all for me, the beloved manga and anime series Berserk. Sword Hero, which is a title I just love, is an ode to that very specific time in the early '00s where open-ended gameplay was still a novelty and developers were constantly pushing interactivity to new levels. I still remember freaking out because Shenmue actually let you use the vending machines, holy crap. Sword Hero more specifically is a medieval fantasy RPG with a focus on player freedom, consequence, emergent gameplay, and realism, or as much realism as you can have when fire-breathing dragons are in the sky. There's a day/night cycle, dynamic weather, crime and punishment system, behaviorally complex NPCs that'll loot bodies and grieve dead loved ones, corpses that rot into the ground instead of disappear, and stats that visibly change the way your character looks (more strength=bigger muscles, permanent scars from battles, etc.). King's Field-inspired fantasy action RPG gets 50,000 wishlists in one week Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developers made my favorite RPG of 2025 by trusting their original vision: "We had the strength to say, 'Yes, that's what we want'" With The Blood of Dawnwalker, Rebel Wolves wants to "get a few steps closer to pen-and-paper RPGs" Combat is extremely involved, centering around directional attacks similar to Kingdom Come: Deliverance where you want to strike and defend in relation to your opponent's positioning, except here. "each bodypart tracks their own health, armor, and debuffs separately." So for example, whacking someone in the head is going to do more damage than a strike to the leg, but if you use enough force/persistence, that leg will end up giving out either way and your foe will go down. Complete limb amputation is a thing too, which I imagine is where the Berserk inspiration is manifesting. You'll have a huge range of options for doing that, as well, as Sword Hero will let you stock your arsenal with, you guessed it, swords, but also hammers, flails, maces, axes, daggers, bows, throwing weapons, bombs, poisons, traps, spells, necromancy, summons, and... "limb mutations." I tried playing Sword Hero's free combat demo on Steam and went in with the misplaced confidence of someone with 150 hours in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and got my ass whooped, over and over, until I reluctantly slowed down and learned the rules. It's a deeply challenging, often frustrating experience, but similar to Kingdom Come, once you learn the ropes it's proportionately satisfying overcoming the odds. As with any violent, action-packed RPG worth its salt, there are also some cozy elements to Sword Hero, with a Fable-inspired housing system where you can buy and rent out rooms, houses, and larger abodes, and furnish and decorate them to your heart's desire. Crucially, thank goodness, there's a cooking minigame that carries that same spirit of authenticity as the rest of the game. Recipes use ingredients that actually make sense in real life, like the combination of flour and water into dough, and you can cook on any hot surface, even if that's a burning bush. Placing that dough on a smoldering pile of leaves, you'll see it gradually poof up into a loaf of bread, where as placing it in a pot full of boiling water will turn it into pasta. You get the idea. The more I read about Sword Hero, the more it's becoming one of my most anticipated RPGs. As a kid, I was always fascinated by immersion-driven games that 'let you do anything,' and I guess I'm still a sucker for developers who find new ways to make you go, "you can actually do that?!" or gasp at NPC intelligence. The game's demo proves ForestWare has the know-how to deliver on an incredibly ambitious combat system for a solo dev, so I'm fairly optimistic they'll be able to deliver on at least the majority of Sword Hero's premise. Apparently, I'm not the only one confident about Sword Hero, as the game's Kickstarter has racked up an astonishing $255,558 in crowdfunding against a modest $35,000 goal. In a Kickstarter update, ForestWare said the game was funded in just two hours, and in a subsequent update, that "I can't type as fast as you're funding." Not a bad problem to have, I'd say. Sword Hero is currently slated to release in December 2027. It's never a bad time to catch up on the best RPGs from 2025.

Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! If you're worried by the prospect of a Microsoft AI executive who joined the company in 2024 taking control of Xbox as longtime chief Phil Spencer and president Sarah Bond exit the business entirely, surely you'll be comforted to hear new CEO Asha Sharma insist the company will not descend into "soulless AI slop." In its report breaking the news, IGN shared a message from Sharma which was sent to Microsoft employees alongside word of the change in positions. Sharma was previously president of Microsoft's CoreAI and is still a board member at Home Depot, and before that, was COO of Instacart after four years as product and engineering VP at Meta. "My first job is simple: understand what makes this work and protect it," she begins. "That starts with three commitments. First, great games. Everything begins here. We must have great games beloved by players before we do anything. Unforgettable characters, stories that make us feel, innovative game play, and creative excellence. We will empower our studios, invest in iconic franchises, and back bold new ideas. We will take risks. We will enter new categories and markets where we can add real value, grounded in what players care about most." Xbox boss Phil Spencer is leaving, and a Microsoft AI exec is taking over with president Sarah Bond also resigning Microsoft CEO resorts to blogging in defense of AI, says "we need to get beyond the arguments of slop" – exactly what I'd say if I was tired of losing the arguments of slop AI has an "unbelievable ability to create a lot of slop," says ex-Nexon boss who signed Arc Raiders, predicting the industry will "triple" in size in 7 years due to players "rejecting slop and bad product" This commitment may be hard to believe given the still-sore marks left by Xbox closing the developers of Hi-Fi Rush, a bold new idea that, Xbox said, sold and reviewed well, and Redfall, a disastrous live service gamble inflicted on a studio known for bold single-player games. "I promoted Matt Booty in honor of this commitment," Sharma says. "He understands the craft and the challenges of building great games, has led teams that deliver award-winning work, and has earned the trust of game developers across the industry." Xbox Game Studios head Booty, who would've overseen the aforementioned studio closures, has been made Chief Content Officer of the whole Xbox ship. Sharma continues, committing to "the return of Xbox" and doing right by "those who have invested with us for the past 25 years, and to the developers who build the expansive universes and experiences that are embraced by players across the world." This "renewed commitment" will start with the "console which has shaped who we are," as Microsoft remains bullish on its next-gen system, rumored to be a PC hybrid, despite thoroughly losing the living room to PlayStation and Nintendo and selling, by far, the most expensive console around. Finally, the new CEO examines the "future of play." To "meet the moment" amid the "reinvention of play," she says Xbox will "invent new business models and new ways to play by leaning into what we already have: iconic teams, characters, and worlds that people love." Here's what Xbox won't do, Sharma adds: "treat those worlds as static IP to milk and monetize." And "as monetization and AI evolve and influence this future," she adds, "we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us." Microsoft is, of course, an ardent proponent of generative AI and AI tools in games, and has now put a surprisingly new AI executive in charge of its entire gaming branch. It's hard not to have questions about the direction of Xbox going forward, especially on the heels of multiple high-profile acquisitions flanked by closures, price hikes, and cancellations. Spencer, at least, expresses the utmost confidence on his way out, saying Sharma "brings genuine curiosity, clarity and a deep commitment to understanding players, creators, and the decisions that shape our future. We know this is an important moment for our fans, partners, and team, and we’re committed to getting it right. I’ll remain in an advisory role through the summer to support a smooth handoff." Xbox revenue declines across the board year-over-year with Microsoft CFO blaming a fall off in first-party game sales.

Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, is retiring, Satya Nadella has announced. Asha Sharma, the President of Microsoft's CoreAI division is taking over Spencer's role, while Sarah Bond, the current President of Xbox, is resigning. "I am long on gaming and its role at the center of our consumer ambition, and as we look ahead, I’m excited to share that Asha Sharma will become Executive Vice President and CEO, Microsoft Gaming, reporting to me," Nadella says. "Over the last two years at Microsoft, and previously as Chief Operating Officer at Instacart and a Vice President at Meta, Asha has helped build and scale services that reach billions of people and support thriving consumer and developer ecosystems. She brings deep experience building and growing platforms, aligning business models to long-term value, and operating at global scale, which will be critical in leading our gaming business into its next era of growth." In a thread on X, Spencer shared his thoughts on Sharma’s new position. “I’m excited for [Asha Sharma] as she steps into the CEO role,” Spencer wrote. “She’s joining an incredible group of people; teams full of talent, heart, and a deep commitment to the players they serve. Watching her lean in with curiosity and a real desire to strengthen the foundation we've built gives me confidence that our Xbox communities will be well supported in the years ahead.” Alongside Sharma, Matt Booty, the current head of Xbox Game Studios, is getting promoted to Chief Content Officer, and will report to Sharma. Sarah Bond, who like Spencer served as a public face for the Xbox brand and was assumed to be his successor, is leaving Microsoft to "begin a new chapter." Bond has yet to make a public statement about her resignation. Spencer joined Microsoft in 1988, and has worked on Xbox since at least 2001. He assumed responsibility for Microsoft's gaming brand and its various studios and associated subscription products in 2013, before becoming an Executive VP of Gaming in 2017 and later CEO of Microsoft Gaming in 2022. Spencer's biggest impact on Xbox will likely be remembered as the creation of Game Pass, Microsoft's "Netflix for Games" and the wave of studio acquisitions Microsoft completed from 2018 to 2022, which included smaller studios like Double Fine and the massive $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard King. While Microsoft has plenty of developers and IP to fall back on, it's struggled to compete with the likes of Sony and Nintendo during the current console generation. Microsoft's gaming division has gone through widespread layoffs, its revenue continued to fall throughout 2025 and it raised the prices of both its consoles and Game Pass Ultimate, which likely won't help things going forward. Sharma is in many ways inheriting a broken-down car. As far as her plans go, Sharma’s email to staff that was included in Nadella's announcement is light on details. Sharma says she plans to continue developing "great games," wants to "recommit" to core Xbox fans and "invent new business models and new ways to play." Whether that’s enough to turn Xbox's fortunes around remains to be seen.Update, February 20, 4:52PM ET: Added statement from Phil Spencer shared on X.

Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! If Todd Howard won't tell us when The Elder Scrolls 6 release date is – fine, that's fine. Skyrim fans have a plan. They'll just hire a body language expert, or throw Howard into a particle accelerator. Either way, they have to do something after Howard recently appeared on the Kinda Funny Gamescast and said the hot, hot, hotly anticipated follow-up to Skyrim (which came out in 2011) won't be out "for a while yet." So, bring in the scientists. "Any body language experts here to analyze Todd's face when asked when TES VI would come out??" says one popular post in the parched The Elder Scrolls 6 subreddit. "What're we thinking? Was that a 'it's 9 months away' smile? A '2 years away' smile?" A gag in Skyrim's Switch 2 trailer sends The Elder Scrolls 6 hopefuls into copium fits As Todd Howard distances The Elder Scrolls 6 from Starfield and Fallout 76, it seems Bethesda has learned all the right lessons The Elder Scrolls 6: Everything we know so far "Todd Howard is rocking that 10 charisma build. No one can read him," one reply with 756 upvotes as of writing says defeatedly. Meanwhile, one astute observer says, "He is smile." Amen to that. Therefore, "I think this all points to a trailer tomorrow and a Monday next week release date," as another reply says. Or, if that prediction doesn't come to pass, we could always go deeper into the ancient world of divination. Pour out the coffee grounds. Pull out the sheep livers. "Can anyone here analyze Todd's molecular structure to figure out when TESVI will release?" suggests one fan. Realistically, though Howard keeps insisting that "The Elder Scrolls 6 is the everyday thing" for Bethesda developers, the studio's track record suggests the RPG isn't coming anytime soon. Maybe 2027 at the earliest. Or, if the fourth strand of hair on the right side of Howard's head when you look at him from behind a webcam with your computer screen turned slightly to the left under the bright light of the midday sun means what I think it means… it could come out another time. As Todd Howard distances The Elder Scrolls 6's "classic style" from Starfield and Fallout 76, it seems Bethesda has learned all the right lessons.

Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Since time immemorial, or at least last November, mankind has pondered a single question: would it really be that bad if Arc Raiders let you carry over a few blueprints when you wipe your account by completing an Expedition? It turns out this debate has been going on even longer than we thought. Developer Embark Studios asked the same thing during the game's development. Its answer: eh, maybe it could be fine eventually? That's according to Arc Raiders design director Virgil Watkins, who discussed the blueprint and Expedition systems in an interview with PC Gamer. Getting straight to business, my raiding buddy Tim Clark asked Watkins if we might see a way to preserve a limited number of blueprints across Expeditions. "That was an idea we even had before launch," Watkins explained. "It's a tricky situation because the blueprints in particular are such a power elevation; now you have the autonomy to craft this thing very deliberately, and does that fit in? And then as well, if we ever make – and we have made – adjustments to the blueprint drop rates and things like that." "It's what we had time to do": Arc Raiders Expeditions won't always give extra skill points or cost 5 million coins "It's emboldened us to keep going": Arc Raiders dev dives deep on bigger updates and learning from players "Will this blow up the server?": Arc Raiders players are so good at killing Arc that Embark eyes ways to "escalate" PvE The Arc Raiders blueprint market changed dramatically after the release of the Cold Snap update. Even with a correcting nerf to drop rates, blueprints became significantly more common from a range of sources. There are still some chase rares – hello Tempest, my old friend – but most blueprints can be found semi-reliably nowadays. But that's still no guarantee. Looking at guarantees, Watkins said it's not "off the table" for Embark to add a way to keep blueprints between Expeditions. "I wouldn't say no to any idea along those lines," he said. "It's mostly about how you balance what is kind of part of the core run-up through progression, and blueprints are a significant part of that, of actually getting them." However, Watkins does return his gaze to the root of the issue: just how rare and random blueprints are to begin with. You can only do so much to tilt the odds in your favor, even by targeting specific areas or following soft community wisdom like doing Blue Gate night raids between the hours of 4 and 6pm on Thursday when it's raining. Please bro, I swear it works, I got the snaphook first try after all the other tries. And so on. "I wonder if we can address that particular pain point by additional changes or systemic changes to how blueprints are found, acquired, or learned, rather than needing to feel like they have to come along with the Expedition system," Watkins added. "So you know, giving you better or more autonomy over how you acquire blueprints, for example, might alleviate some of that concern on that side of things. So I don't want to overburden the Expedition system with things that we might not want to do." A more deterministic way to acquire specific blueprints could fill the void felt post-Expedition while also contributing to the normal progression of Arc Raiders, so you wouldn't hear me complain. But if changes are coming in this space, they're a long way out. For now, we've got the Arc Raiders Shrouded Sky update coming next week. Arc Raiders fans suspect the new Arc from the roadmap is hiding in plain sight in the Shrouded Sky teaser: "If it’s a Boston Dynamics dog Arc then I’m soooo stoked!"