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There are Strange goings-on in Latveria
"The aim isn't to do the same stuff with fewer people," says CEO Tim Sweeney
Happy birthday, Apple.
"It was kind of out of left field".Former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang have stated that a 2021 Saturday Night Live skit involving Elon Musk dressed as Wario "was not received well" by Nintendo.This comes via the duo's latest YouTube video in which they dive into SNL's recent skit exploring the upcoming launch of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 and Grand Theft Auto VI in November. When pondering over what Nintendo might think of the skit, they recalled the company's reaction to the Musk video, during which the pair were still employed.Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Don't Laufey.PlayStation Spain appears to have jumped the gun on a new product related to God of War Laufey, as it's up for pre-order now despite no prior announcement.The item in question is the God of War Laufey Collector Box, which includes a selection of special edition merch you can't get anywhere else. It's also very much worth noting that the game itself is not part of the package.Read the full article on pushsquare.com
Every fan of the Grand Theft Auto series has their eyes on GTA VI launching in a little over a month, but there's still plenty of reasons to play GTA V in the meantime, as the PC version of the GTA V Enhanced release is continuing to get some rather impressive mods that push its limits. Among these mods is the AuraV Enhanced mod, which adds, among many graphics improvements, path tracing features. "AuraV is a free graphics mod for GTA V Enhanced on PC," the mod's description reads on its official website. "It path traces the lighting, rebuilds the […]
'It just works', but like actually
Walter White Jr. star RJ Mitte has died aged 34
Jan and friends are determined to make some progress in the DayZ Badlands playtest this evening. See if they can get geared for once.
We roll on! The post The Division 2 Y8S3 Red Horizon Week 8 HVTManhunt: Scout 8 solutions appeared first on Destructoid.
A few hours ago, Epic Games founder and majority shareholder Tim Sweeney spoke on X about his company's ongoing changes driven by the AI revolution. First and foremost, Sweeney clarified that his goal is not to replace human employees with AI tools, but to empower them to create more and better game content and to enable Unreal Engine developers to do the same. We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration. The aim isn't to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER […]
A long-awaited return that brings the series into the modern era with a fast-paced focus on action first.
When playing Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, I couldn't stop thinking about Symphony of the Night. Almost 30 years ago, that game reinvented Castlevania as a search-action game, and did it so brilliantly that it earned half of the "metroidvania" portmanteau. Belmont's Curse does not attempt such a dramatic shift. It doesn't change genres or reinvent the series as something entirely new. What it does, however, is achieve a brilliant synthesis, with every component operating at peak performance to deliver a new high for the series. Castlevania is back, and it is fantastic. Put simply, Belmont's Curse is the total package. A sprawling map bursting with mysteries to uncover, joyous traversal tools that make roaming the map feel great, a story that balances a macabre tone with occasional lightness, a cast of creative and well-drawn characters, and hands-down the best combat of any Castlevania game--in fact, among the best combat of any 2D action game, period. What makes all of these synergize so well is the addition of the tarot cards, which serve as an elegant way to fuse the game's disparate elements, and makes them all feel like part of one cohesive whole. At different points your tarot deck serves as mission signposting, environmental puzzles, pieces of story lore, characters to serve as dialogue for Rose, boss locations, and ultimately, your pool of spells. You play as Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor Belmont, who has trained her whole life as the successor of the Belmont clan. Though silver-maned Trevor is still a capable fighter, Rose volunteers to investigate the otherworldly happenings in Paris, France, eager to prove herself worthy of the family name. But Rose is also afflicted with a cursed red mark on one arm, making her dangerously instrumental to the machinations of Dracula and his armies. The tarot deck is a set of magical cards gifted to Rose by her late mother, Sypha, who passed on the curse to her at birth. Each card represents a follower of Dracula, with honorific names like The Fallen, The Warrior, or The Builder. As you explore the castle you find clues that reveal story details and hints about how to find them, often both simultaneously, and they each have their own roles in Dracula's royal court. When Dracula's castle emerges in the heart of Paris--as you obviously knew it would, this is a Castlevania game, after all--the full deck is revealed, putting the complete array of monsters in your sights. Once you've tracked down and defeated one of Dracula's servants, their tarot card becomes an Arcana you can use as a spell, which then opens its own flexible progression system. It may sound complex, but the system is actually an ingenious way to merge different gameplay elements and make them all feel digestible and cohesive. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse As an example, take the first boss, The Fallen. Finding him is a relatively simple task, given that it's meant to serve as a basic primer for finding clues and navigating the winding streets of Paris. When you defeat him, you absorb his Arcana, which grants you two important tools: a recognizable boomerang axe spell, and an arcane whip that allows you to grab onto grapple points to reach new locations. But this new traversal tool is also a combat tool, since the same function can grab onto any enemy; a well-timed strike while grappling toward the enemy can then do serious damage. Then on top of that, the combat tool itself can also be used for traversal, as enemies flying midair can help you reach distant platforms, as long as you can grapple onto them. It all harmonizes beautifully, and exemplifies Belmont's Curse as a whole--abundant with mechanics that complement and fold into others in surprising ways. Dracula's legion of followers also serve another purpose, as being captured forces them into the tarot where they occupy a mindspace for Rose to speak with. This ultimately gives her characters to bounce off of for story purposes, but the characters are also well differentiated from each other. The Fallen is a gruff creature that comes to feel protective of Rose, whereas Medusa, even imprisoned in Rose's deck, is unsubtly rooting for her to fail and constantly trying to trick her into making moves that will further her master's plans. Lots of characters you find throughout have their own agendas and rivalries, and are often at cross-purposes with Rose or each other, adding a compelling dynamic as they all bicker inside of your head. The regular addition of characters in your deck means that any of them could interject in dialogue to offer some commentary--though the core cast, so to speak, remains the first three that you find. One drawback of having such a dynamic cast of characters is that the protagonist, Rose, is less interesting by comparison. She's a determined heroine archetype and remains that way throughout. She is a central point of gravity for all of the other characters to orbit around, and works on that level, but I do wish she had more agency herself. She is deadset on her mission from start to finish, and not much more. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Each Arcana spell also comes with a set of three objectives to complete, called Works of Mercy. These can be as simple as defeating a set number of enemies with the relevant spell, but often are more complex to incentivize exploration or experimentation. One notable objective for The Warrior rewards you for finding a particular location, which works thematically with that character's story. One of Medusa's has you petrify an enemy carrying a shield, a reference to the myth of Perseus. Your reward for completing these is opening a node to choose one of three power-ups for the spell; once you've completed all three, you're rewarded with extra dialogue from the Arcana character. And so you explore the streets and undercity of Paris along with Dracula's castle in freeform fashion, an open structure lightly guides you toward critical objectives for unlocking new equipment that you need to reach other corners and layers of the world. If you're ever stuck you can refer to your tarot deck for clues that you may not have thought about for a while. The environmental puzzles add just enough brain-tickling challenge to make you observe carefully and think through the clues, without grinding your progress to a halt. And the ability to track down enemies and steal their powers makes for a compelling loop that reminded me of one of my favorite series: Mega Man. I was always eager to take down the next boss and see how they would augment my combat and traversal abilities. Combat is where you can truly see the expertise of developer Evil Empire shine through the most, as its expertise from Dead Cells transfers beautifully to this franchise. Your strikes across the wide variety of weapon types feel forceful and kinetic, and each weapon type has its own advantages and special charged ability. Your basic longsword is well balanced and lets you dash through enemies, while the whip has long reach but only the tip strikes with its full power. I found I favored the lance, with its versatility of long reach as a handheld weapon or the ability to throw it as a projectile, and ultimately stuck with it for a long time even after finding other weapons at higher levels. There are four weapons each across seven type categories, so the seven weapon types offer loads of room for experimentation to dial in on the one you like best, or just swapping situationally. What makes the combat transcendant, though, is the addition of a parry. This is new ground for a Castlevania game, but it also works differently than the parry I've seen in many other games. As a holy shield gained from your second boss encounter, it works independently of your regular strikes. It doesn't interrupt your attacks, and by default the attack button is mapped to a face button while the parry is mapped to the left trigger. That means you can be attacking while also parrying your opponent's attack, making combat a lightning fast series of choices that puts you on offense and defense simultaneously. As someone who has struggled with many parry systems and never quite got into them in other games, this one made a believer out of me. It just feels so good to wail on an enemy, parry a projectile from behind, and then grapple over to finish them off. Belmont's Curse is full of moments like this, as practically every room you enter is occupied by enemies, and frequent forced combat encounters test your mettle against mixtures of them. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse This is not to say combat is easy. Far from it. The cursed streets of Paris and Dracula's castle are littered with monsters and ghouls familiar to Castlevania fans, reimagined for this combat style, and Rose is very vulnerable. It's easy to die even in regular combat encounters, and boss fights take a good bit of pattern recognition to learn tells before you can successfully fend them off. But the combat is so fine-tuned that you constantly feel in control and recognize what you did wrong. Very occasionally the screen would be so full of enemy attacks I missed a parry window because it was hard to read all the visual information at once, but it was rare enough not to detract from the overall experience. Similarly, navigating extended gauntlets of traps can be trying, but they always feel satisfying to complete, and you're rewarded with items like ability-augmenting Relics or further clues for your tarot deck. If combat or traps give you trouble, Belmont's Curse adds a few quality-of-life features and options to ease your growth. For one, you keep all the XP earned during your runbacks to bosses, so even if you have to try a boss multiple times, you're still leveling up and gaining power on the way. You can also turn on the Custom Mode to tweak options like setting a checkpoint right in front of boss doors, boosting your damage output, reducing the damage from traps, and more. There doesn't seem to be any cost to using this system, and you can turn it on or off as you'd like. The one element missing, for good reason, are any extra navigational tools to find your way. It's clear that Evil Empire doesn't mind giving you a leg up on reflex-based challenges, but it still wants you to think through puzzles and explore to uncover secrets. Belmont's Curse also has some of the most inventive bosses I've seen in the series history. One notable boss twice escaped to a different section, introducing a difficult platforming challenge in the middle of the fight to continue it. Another hexes you with a sigil indicating the number of hits you can take before you simply die, forcing you to minimize strikes on you even if you have plenty of healing items to prevent dying outright. Even after 20 hours there are many other bosses in my deck I have yet to find, and I'm eager to see what else Castlevania has to offer. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Exploring the castle is a visual delight, because Belmont's Curse is gorgeous. Far from a gray-soaked castle, Evil Empire has leaned into its house art style of vivid, saturated hues and unexpected color palettes. The approach to Dracula's castle, in which Rose and all of the enemies are silhouetted against the pink-red color tone of a burning Paris behind them, is one of the most visually arresting moments I've seen in a game lately. The character designs themselves are distinct and creative, like Carmilla, a hemomancer whose slinky red gown is made of dripping blood. I could go on and on, but I'll let you discover them for yourself. Plus as you explore you get treated to new renditions of classic Castlevania music alongside new tunes that fit right into its milieu. Every element in Castlevania: Belmont's Curse works so well both independently and as part of the whole: flexible combat, beautifully acrobatic traversal, fine-tuned environmental puzzles, wide cast of interesting characters, and eye-catching visual panache--all wrapped within a smart tarot system that lets these ideas complement each other. Belmont's Curse feels destined to be regarded alongside Symphony of the Night as one of the best Castlevania games, and one of the best metroidvania games, of all time.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is a new beginning for one of gaming's oldest franchises.
Castlevania is back, trading its usual stone-carved ruins for the burning streets of 15th century Paris
Rose's arm's red, violence ensues.Like Dracula himself, Konami has risen from a lengthy slumber and has spent the last few years reviving its most popular series, like Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill. Now, it's Castlevania's turn.Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, developed by Evil Empire, is the first new 2D game in the historic franchise since 2008's Order of Ecclesia.Read the full article on pushsquare.com
Originally released on PlayStation in Japan in 2000 and brought to North America the following year as Tales of Destiny II, Tales of Eternia is the third mainline entry in Namco's Tales JRPG series. Developed by Wolfteam, the game follows its protagonists on an adventure across the worlds of Inferia and Celestia, combining a fantasy story with real-time combat and a two-dimensional presentation. More than 25 years later, Tales of Eternia Remastered brings that adventure to modern platforms. Developed by TOSE and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, the remaster aims to preserve the original's identity while updating its presentation and improving accessibility. […]
Save data carries across.Ahead of Metaphor: ReFantazio arriving on the Switch 2 next month, Atlus has now released a demo on the eShop.This "prologue" demo and will allow you to experience the opening section of the title. Additionally, any save data you have can be transferred across to the full game when it launches for Switch 2 on 12th November 2026.Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The “Prologue” demo for Metaphor: ReFantazio is now available for Switch 2, publisher ATLUS and …
“Death row inmates reality show x death game adventure” game BUZZ or DIE will launch …
Neos will release Switch 2 versions of Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer …
"It's for the people in Stardew Valley that go into the mines".Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone has been working on his new game The Haunted Chocolatier for over four years now, and during a recent chat with GQ, he's provided a quick reminder about what fans can expect from the gameplay.While the title is still what he calls a "town game" - similar to his existing farming and social sim, he sums up this new experience as "more of an action RPG". The main focus here will be all about "adventuring, finding equipment and getting more powerful", and you can also expect monsters and boss fights.Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Black Friday is incoming, and I've gathered the best early Sony savings that can be found in the lead-up to this year's holiday sale season.
Mick Gordon Plans to Take His Upcoming Doom Concert Performance On the Road
Devs told to use AI to finish game after delay, it's claimed.In some industry news this week, Fortnite creator Epic Games has reportedly told developers behind a new Disney title "to use more artificial intelligence tools" to complete it, after delaying the project.According to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, developers working on this Disney video game collaboration, which is described as a "shooter featuring characters from the Marvel and Star Wars" universe, have apparently been instructed to implement an "AI first" production model from here on out.Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia will release “PlayStation 5 Digital Edition Midnight Black (Console Language: …
Pre-orders open next week.The Legend of Zelda's 40th anniversary is well underway, and following an "exclusive edition" Link statue earlier this year, First 4 Figures has now revealed a Zelda figure.This "sneak peek" offers a brief look at a 12" painted pvc statue based on Princess Zelda from Tears of the Kingdom, and it's "coming soon". Pre-orders will open on 22nd October 2026, and if you sign up to F4F, you can get $5.00 off.Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The next Shacknews documentary chronicling the making of a video game finally has a release date.
Art will be "generated with full AI workflows".
Exclusive: Mary Livanos teases Wiccan and Speed's eventual appearance in the MCU
Exclusive: Charlie Cox appeared in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but hopefully we'll see him in another MCU movie soon
Cyberleek is promoting escalating chaos in the month before launch
Epic Games has reportedly delayed an unannounced Marvel and Star Wars crossover game while it pivots toward AI-first game production.
As part of IGN Fan Fest 2026: Fall Edition, we are proud to reveal five brand-new screenshots of For the Stars, Snail Games USA's upcoming space sandbox survival game that will have you exploring and settling planets, uncovering the secrets of alien civilizations, and much more.
The game's toughest-to-get item.
Players thought they'd be entitled to all of the year two racers as well
"I really want to recapture that feeling that I had when I was making Stardew Valley"
A shift to Souls-like set in a nightmarish alternate vision of the Napoleonic Wars might be new ground for One More Level, but it plays well off the Ghostrunner dev's strengths.
Every now and then, there’s confidence and success in a game, where they don’t need to hide behind vague lines like “it was a success” or “it failed to hit targets”. During my conversation with the team behind RuneScape: Dragonwilds, I’m used to not getting numbers, so I said I wouldn’t ask for specifics. I got them anyway. “Close to three million people have played the game now—unique players.” It’s not a bad position for Jagex to find itself in with a game that departs from the MMO roots the company is known for, and it was smart to use […]
Season 2, which includes Final Fantasy 7, will require a new Season Pass.Agitated Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds fans have picked up their pitchforks and are pointing them at publisher SEGA, after an old social media post implied “all future paid DLC” would be included with the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game.The Japanese company announced a dizzying Season 2 schedule for the likeable arcade racer this weekend, including Final Fantasy 7, Evangelion, and Godzilla content.Read the full article on pushsquare.com
Preorders are live for the PS5 version of Forza Horizon 6, and it's even getting a physical edition.
Maybe not, but a cautious optimism has emerged as Blizzard finds opportunities to recapture goodwill.
My 2012 belonged to Slender Man. I was easily terrified by creepy, early 2010s computer games like Slender: The Eight Pages, but I couldn't resist their special blend of unicorn blood and twee. Recently, I've been missing the pink bittersweetness of the Tim Burton-style horror games made in those years, like Fran Bow and Alice: Madness Returns, so the inaugural Cozy After Dark Showcase has arrived with a new trailer for Hell Is Other People at just the right time. The teaser from indie developer Miss Self Destruct describes Hell Is Other People--named for the famous Jean-Paul Sartre quote about being trapped in other people's perceptions of you--as "a psychological horror about social anxiety." Its little girl protagonist has onyx eyes and hair that goes nearly down to her fingertips, so she looks a bit overgrown, like she might have washed up on some riverbank. Otherwise, she seems normal, with a thin mattress to curl on top of every night like any other lonely child. But that's not what her mother thinks. https://youtu.be/7VJ07UqoUyI?si=UM_03yezg2sQ1YA-&t=3530 "See what I have to deal with?" Mother says as our little girl stares politely at a party tray of frosted cupcakes. Hell Is Other People's Steam description explains that you won't collect items in your inventory, but social skills, so the girl responds to her mother's snide comment with Guilt--but it isn't impactful. She becomes paranoid, making lines of dialogue seem to jumble and melt together as the girl explains, "When I feel bad, people become so hard to read." You'll have to manage these shifting tides of emotion by consulting your notebook for how normal people behave. Initially, I was drawn to the pretty Gothic caricature of Hell Is Other People, black cats with sharp syringe teeth and patterned arsenic wallpaper, but now I'm feeling understood by it as a true social survival game. When I myself was a strange girl with long hair that blew around on the swingsets, I was much like the Hell Is Other People protagonist; I was desperate for my parents to understand me, and I couldn't understand why they didn't try. My only solace in those years was Tim Burton's corpse bride and monsters like Slender Man--outcasts. It can be pleasant to give up and call yourself a freak, exist among freaks. So I'm excited for the gloomy nostalgia Hell Is Other People brings me when it's out sometime soon.
Haunted Chocolatier looks like it could be the perfect, candy-bar blend of sweet and creepy once it launches--but developer ConcernedApe doesn't know when that might be. So I'd like to consider an alternate option for after-funeral desserts and try the upcoming Steam game Tearoom of Terror, whose developer, Sundew Studios, was just featured during the new Cozy After Dark Showcase. Sundew studios writer and designer Allie Ast shows off the "cozy gothic murder mystery" Tearoom of Terror in all its Edward Gorey detail during the stream, which was presented by the Dames 4 Games nonprofit. Like Haunted Chocolatier, which will let you melt, swirl, and sell your own fancy chocolates, Tearoom of Terror involves brewing lovely lavender teas and doling out cheesy scones to strange customers, like a seemingly homicidal heiress and an opera singer of no renown. You'll go through the soothing motions of keeping your own Victorian tea parlor running as finely as white lace… but it won't be as lovely as it looks. https://youtu.be/7VJ07UqoUyI?si=9ImYGyEay_hblvLB&t=2876 "You're also the primary suspect in your aunt's murder!" Ast cheerfully reveals. So Tearoom of Terror will also feature moments of deduction like the underrated The Séance of Blake Manor, except you have a stickier relationship with justice than that puzzle game's upright detective. "Find the true culprit, or instead of serving scones, you'll be serving time," Ast warns. Desperate times may call for desperate measures--like an excessive lump of poisoned sugar, or a little pinch of worms to keep your "immoral" clientele in line. Ast explains, "Luckily, the officer has a weak constitution." I'm already preparing business names for my tearoom that will no doubt fail health inspection standards--Sleepy Marshmallow? The Headless Horseradish? So I'm eager for Tearoom of Terror to launch sometime soon. Its demo is available now on Steam.
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