Game Informer

For all their absurdity, the Super Mario Bros. games follow a straightforward template. An Italian plumber adventures in a magical land, fights evil monsters and rescues a princess. It’s simple, but Nintendo’s vibrant fairy tale could have been fertile ground for a Hollywood fantasy epic. Instead, when Super Mario Bros. released in 1993, it portrayed a version of Mario that was worlds away from Nintendo’s vision. The Mushroom Kingdom had been turned into a neon-lit cyberpunk city where dinosaurs had evolved into humans. Bowser was a leather-suited politician fascinated by mud baths. The iconic goombas had become eight-foot tall lizard warriors with shrunken heads. Super Mario Bros. stands as one of Hollywood’s worst adaptations, but the story behind the film is infinitely more bizarre than the one the movie tells.

[Editor's Note: We're repromoting this classic story in light of the recent announcements around Illumination's Mario movie.]

Look, we're biased, but Game Informer covers are a wonderful thing. Whether they provide a fascinating look at the history of the video game industry or are plain mesmerizing to behold, anytime we get to unveil a new cover is a special one. But how does one of these beauties get made? As a part of our exclusive coverage on Marvel's Midnight Suns, we're pulling back the curtain and showing you the making of our latest cover.

Ryan Stegman, whose exceptional talent has stretched from Venom to X-Men, was gracious enough to not only agree to draw our most recent cover but film his process plastering Wolverine, Iron Man, and more of your favorite superheroes clad in their swanky new black and gold armor onto the latest issue of Game Informer!

Fans of Marvel's Midnight Suns have just a bit longer to wait before the game launches in March 2022 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. But that's why you came to Game Informer to tide you over until then, right?

Every time I load up Death Stranding, I'm essentially spitting into the face of its creator, Hideo Kojima. Figuratively, of course. Before I walk across its vast stretches of desolate land, I go into my PlayStation 5's network menu and disconnect my console from the internet. I'm flying directly in the face of the creator, defying one of the core design tenants. And I wouldn't have it any other way. 

The most prominent theme in Death Stranding is reconnecting disconnected people across a fractured land. The only way out of the messes we've made – global warming, rising political tensions, and the like – is to join forces. This is done by connecting people to the chiral network, which is essentially the internet*. This allows people to pass information along the United States, as well as 3D print necessary goods. This job falls on one man: Sam Porter Bridges, who must literally walk from coast to coast connecting people to the chiral network. 

I was surprised a few weeks back to hear about a new Castlevania game coming to Apple Arcade, but I suppose I shouldn’t have been. Apple Arcade has been wisely scooping up desired properties into its portfolio to boost the value of its subscription service, and Castlevania is a great choice. Grimoire of Souls was previously released as a mobile game in Canada, but this newer Apple Arcade incarnation offers the chance for U.S. gamers to try their hand at defeating Dracula and his minions once again. The reworked mobile game also maintains Apple Arcade's promise of being completely free of microtransactions and other predatory practices.

That’s a strong pitch, and it captured my attention. As a Castlevania fan, I haven't enjoyed a new entry in the franchise in years, and Apple Arcade has increasingly become my go-to for gaming on my phone; the assurance that I won’t have to deal with MTX nonsense is a strong draw.

The exploration-focused indie title Sable launched yesterday, and if you have been cruising around its beautifully rendered world thinking to yourself, "this music is pretty rad! I'd listen to an entire album of this," you're in luck! The game's soundtrack, composed by indie rock band Japanse Breakfast, is available to listen to now.

The 32-song tracklist features ambient music composed by Japanese Breakfast's singer and songwriter Michelle Zauner. You can find the soundtrack on a variety of music streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Pandora. For you vinyl collectors, you can pre-order a physical vinyl of the album. It comes as a 2-disc LP and offers both a standard edition for $20 and Sable-colored disc versions for $35. You can snag them at the band's official merch store. 

Despite solid releases like Bowser’s Fury, New Pokémon Snap, and Monster Hunter Rise, not to mention a new Switch model, I don’t think many would call 2021 a standout year for Nintendo. To be fair, the same can be said for most companies, thanks to pandemic-related speed bumps forcing delays and adversely affecting development. Thankfully, and somewhat amazingly, 2022 looks to be the hard opposite. Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct solidified that next year offers a bevy of reasons to be excited about owning a Switch with several high-profile first and third-party exclusives waiting in the wings. The company's also managed to generate a ton of excitement around it as a whole. 

Dinosaurs are freely roaming within the wilds of the United States, and the government has contracted you in to help contain them. In a new five-minute video for Jurassic World Evolution 2, Frontier Developments shows us how this concept plays out in the campaign mode.

You are working alongside the government's Fish and Wildlife Department, as well as familiar characters from the Jurassic World universe, like Ian Malcolm (played again by actor Jeff Goldblum, who I recently spoke to about reprising his role). Claire Dearing and Owen Grady are also back, but we still don't know who will be voicing them in the game.

The campaign mode shies away from theme park building and instead focuses on the act of tracking down dinosaurs and figuring out how to deal with them. Each dinosaur presents a different challenge, as does the environment they occupy. That habitat could produce new injuries and illnesses not yet explored in this game series.

The places you visit are much larger than the standard Jurassic World Evolution maps and instead flow much more like the Claire's Sanctuary DLC map from that game. This means you'll be spending more time in vehicles tracking down dinosaurs and studying the area.

Life is Strange: Remastered was originally expected to launch around the same time as True Colors, but Deck Nine delayed it to ensure the well-being of its team. Deck Nine said the project would come in early 2022, but we finally have an official release date. Today, it was announced that Life is Strange: Remastered Collection hits on February 1, so you can start the winter month off right by reliving some of your favorite Max and Chloe moments. 

The collection includes the original Life is Strange and Before the Storm but uses a new engine and boasts lighting upgrades alongside brand new fully motion-captured facial animations. Beyond the remastered character and environment visuals, you can also expect Before the Storm's deluxe content, which contains the Farewell episode and outfits like the Zombie Crypt shirt.

So get ready to visit Arcadia Bay, rewind time, and watch Max and Chloe's friendship grow, either as a newcomer and returning fan. Then, prepare your emotions for Chloe's adventures with Rachel Amber before her disappearance in Before the Storm.  

The Initiative, Microsoft’s studio developing the new Perfect Dark, has announced a new partnership with another big studio outside its parent company’s umbrella. In a tweet this evening, it was revealed that The Initiative has enlisted the services of Crystal Dynamics to work on this new iteration of the classic Rare shooter.

“Perfect Dark update! We are partnering with Crystal Dynamics, the world class team behind character-driven games such as Tomb Raider, to bring this first-person spy thriller to a new generation,” reads the announcement tweet from The Initiative’s account. Why The Initiative has brought Crystal Dynamics on board to help with developing Perfect Dark is unknown outside of this brief statement in a second tweet, saying, “The teams couldn’t pass up a chance to work together. We’re still early in development, but incredibly excited to use this unique opportunity to deliver on the vision for Perfect Dark!”

The teams couldn’t pass up a chance to work together. We’re still early in development, but incredibly excited to use this unique opportunity to deliver on the vision for Perfect Dark!

When Project Triangle Strategy was announced earlier this year, it shot to the top of many highly anticipated lists thanks to its tactical RPG gameplay and beautiful HD 2D visuals reminiscent of Octopath Traveler. During today's Nintendo Direct presentation, we not only learned more about the game, but also the release date and final name. Much like Project Octopath Traveler simply became Octopath Traveler for the final release, Project Triangle Strategy is also dropping "Project" to become Triangle Strategy.

In Triangle Strategy, you guide your characters through a choice-filled story that sounds like it has multiple endings depending on the decisions you make over the course of the narrative. Triangle Strategy tasks you with commanding a group of warriors where your choices bolster one of three convictions: Unity, Morality, and Liberty. You play as Serenoa, the leader of the group. Your choices change Serenoa's worldview and can alter the story. Characters weigh in on their thoughts during key decision points, casting their votes on the Scales of Conviction. During these moments, your choices can alter history for the continent of Norzelia.

Shigeru Miyamoto crashed today’s Nintendo Direct to make some big announcements regarding the Mario animated movie from Illumination Entertainment. Not only did Miyamoto drop the planned release timeframe of the film, but an exact date for North America. He also revealed the star-studded cast of the movie.

Holiday 2022 is when the feature-length Mario movie will hit theaters worldwide. It premieres in North America on December 21, 2022, with dates for other territories to be announced later.

Along with the premiere timing, Miyamoto revealed a large chunk of the cast, which was:

• Chris Pratt as Mario
• Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach
• Charlie Day as Luigi
• Jack Black as Bowser
• Keegan-Michael Key as Toad
• Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek
• Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong
• Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike

Those worrying whether the traditional voice of Mario has been left out, fear not! Charles Martinet, who has been the voice of Mario and other Mushroom Kingdom residents for years, will appear in “surprise cameos” throughout the movie.

What do you think of the cast for the Mario movie? Who do you think is going to steal the scenes they’re in? Let us know in the comments!

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

During today’s Nintendo Direct, we finally got a good look at the Castlevania: Advance Collection, a gathering of several games from the series into one larger release, complete with some fun bonuses. In addition to details about what’s included, we also got the exciting news that it’s available for purchase almost right away, with the Advance Collection going on sale later today.

Castlevania fans can expect to see several titles included. Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, and Dracula X are all well regarded. The first three of those entries represent some of the best exploration and upgrade systems that the series ever presented when they released on Game Boy Advance. Dracula X is a bit more of an anomaly, since it originally saw release on Super Nintendo way back in 1995 – but we certainly aren’t going to complain about an extra game in the mix.

Remember the semi-amazing SNES game Actraiser? It had incredible graphics for the era, and was also notable for being a fantasy hack-n-slash game mixed with simulation elements. Actraiser is back today on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, and Android in a full remaster with Actraiser Renaissance. Check out the launch trailer below:

Yep, in Actraiser you go through sidescrolling stages and take on giant bosses, but you also play god and try to keep your cities safe and prosperous in a sort of Sim City-style segment between excursions into levels. It’s kind of an odd mix, but back then, it absolutely worked. 

I have a soft spot for Actraiser, so this is definitely on my pickup list. Players can swap between the old soundtrack and the remastered/rearranged one as well, with some new music. The remaster also includes some new stages and new boss battles, so there’s something for old veterans that have played through the now-ancient cart many times.

Today’s Nintendo Direct concluded with the long-awaited return of Bayonetta 3. First announced in 2017, the game has been largely radio silent with many fans fearful for its status. Today we got a first look at gameplay as well as confirmation that it’s launching exclusively on Switch in 2022. 

As has become her custom, Bayonetta returns sporting yet another new, though technically familiar, hairstyle. Fans will recognize her twin ponytails as the same look sported by Cereza, the young girl from the first game and Bayonetta's younger incarnation. The trailer starts with a clever fake-out by having Lappy, the canine mascot from Platinum’s other action game Astral Chain, appear to seemingly stop a giant monster from destroying the city. While some likely thought this signaled a sequel to that game, Bayonetta swoops in to make the real save.

Today's 40-minute-long Nintendo Direct held tons of announcements for fans of the company's franchises like Kirby, despite some of the news slipping out a little before the presentation. The penultimate slot in today's show was filled by Splatoon 3, which provided details on the upcoming title's setting, main and special weapons, and a hair-raising new focus for the story. 

Nintendo revealed Splatoon 3 is coming to Switch in 2022 during its February Direct. There is no update to that information as today's showcase repeated the 2022 release window with no hint about the date fans can expect to get their hands on the title. The presentation did promise that more information was on the way and that we could "look forward to future updates." However, the Nintendo Direct did give us a little bit more information on what content to expect in the game. After an action-packed trailer, which you can see above, a "squid researcher" – complete with an official-looking white lab coat – took the stage to break down various elements seen in the footage. 

Chocobo is taking a page from the Mario Kart playbook. While Chocobo is no stranger to racing, a new game called Chocobo GP, which was announced at today's Nintendo Direct, is providing a new spotlight for the Final Fantasy mascot to strut its stuff on the track. 

The racing looks similar to Mario Kart, where you'll throw things like fireballs to divert the progress of your competition and use drifting to your advantage. You can also select from iconic Final Fantasy characters, from Vivi to a Moogle, as your racer and all come with a unique set of wheels. Psst. Chocobo flies on rollerblades.

To get a better idea of the shenanigans in store, you can watch the trailer above.

You can make a mad dash for the finish line in 2022.

If you’re looking for a card-based, turn-based RPG for the Switch, well, you don’t have to wait long. In fact, you can play the demo of Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars today! The official launch is October 28, which isn’t too far off, either. In this game, the player uses cards for a variety of effects including handling battles, items, and more, in a sort of anime-style world. There’s also dice rolling in some capacity to handle some mechanics, so there’s some spicy variance to get in the mix as you sling cards.

There are a number of notable names attached to this project, including creative director Yoko Taro, executive producer Yosuke Saito, music director Keiichi Okabe, and character designer Kimihiko Fujisaka.

Do you have room for another card RPG in your life? We’re not yet quite sure how much deckbuilding is involved with this one, so we’ll have to take a look at the demo to find out. Is it more like a traditional card RPG like a Yu-Gi-Oh! progressive experience? Or is it more like a Slay the Spire/Monster train mix?  Are you interested in Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars? Let us know in the comments!

Nintendo has announced more details surrounding Mario Party Superstars, the upcoming greatest-hits release of the long-running Mario Party series. This forthcoming release for the fan-favorite franchise collects 100 of the most popular minigames in the franchise's history, as well as five classic game boards from the early Nintendo 64 days of the series. We already knew about Peach's Birthday Cake from Mario Party and Space Land from Mario Party 2, but now we know all five classic boards on which players can expect to battle it out.

On top of those two, players can expect to smash dice blocks across Yoshi's Tropical Island from the original Mario Party, Horror Land from Mario Party 2, and Woody Woods from Mario Party 3. On Yoshi's Tropical Island, you travel between two islands to try and visit Toadette to buy a star, but players need to watch out, as she can trade places with Bowser at any time. In Horror Land, players can safely stroll by the King Boo statue during the day, but at night, it can steal stars from players and passersby. Woody Woods puts players on the defensive as they watch out for Monty Moles, who can change the board's direction when you least expect it. 

Kicking off today’s Nintendo Direct was the reveal of new content for the Switch-exclusive Monster Hunter Rise. Titled Sunbreak, this new content package is a “massive expansion” for Monster Hunter Rise and will arrive in 2022.

The brief look was only about a minute long but felt so much shorter. The world of Sunbreak featured a moonlit castle, a shot of Rathalos soaring through the dark purple skies, and the reveal of what looks to be a new flying wyvern with crimson wings and a dark air about it. 

Nintendo’s Yoshiaki Koizumi gave some small broad details about the expansion after the trailer played. He said Capcom is working on many new elements for Monster Hunter Rise to be added to the expansion. Sunbreak will include new stories, locals, monsters, new hunting actions, and questing ranks for players to explore. Because it’s an expansion, Sunbreak will be a paid DLC, unlike others that have come to Rise this year.

Are there any monsters you’re looking forward to returning in the Sunbreak expansion? What do you think about the design of the new monster in the trailer? Let us know in the comments.

Nintendo may have accidentally leaked its existence beforehand, but it’s still exciting to find out that Kirby’s next adventure is called The Forgotten Land and takes Nintendo’s cutest mascot to a surprising location. Instead of the whimsical Dreamland, Kirby explores a ruined island metropolis that looks surprisingly grounded in reality. As much as a Kirby game can be, at least. 

The Forgotten Land is a fully 3D platformer with an open world to explore. You’ll traverse a city reclaimed by nature, an abandoned theme park, and other decaying locations. Don’t worry, The Forgotten City still retains the series’ fantastical vibe and sports plenty of bright colors. Only Kirby can make a seemingly post-apocalyptic game look adorable.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land launches on Switch in spring 2022.

Update Thursday, September 23: Halo Infinite’s next testing period will be available for preload this afternoon and accessible to play tomorrow morning, according to a tweet by Halo Community Manager John Junyszek. 

Invites to the #HaloInfinite tech preview will be rolling out later this afternoon when the build becomes available for pre-loading. Access to the game will turn on tomorrow morning 👊

Be sure to read up on all the details below! https://t.co/Soyi1gwJQR

— John Junyszek (@Unyshek) September 23, 2021

Also not noted in the original story were the matchmaking times for the upcoming preview. Unlike the first public flight, all matchmaking is funneled into two four-hour sessions each day of the test. Those sessions run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time.

Unsighted is a sci-fi top-down action-adventure game that transports players to the robot-ruled world of Arcadia. In this land, humanoid automatons have been blessed with sentience thanks to an energy source called Anima. Unfortunately, this fuel is running out, and when it does, the machines will devolve into mindless killers called Unsighted. As the automaton Alma, you're on a quest to find your missing partner and to restore Anima before it's too late for herself and her people.

Alma boasts a vast arsenal of melee and ranged weapons, from various swords to blasters, shotguns, and even a flamethrower. Mastery of the fast-paced combat requires timing parries to deflect physical attacks, while triggering an active reload keeps your guns spraying bullets as continuously as possible. Building an Alma that suits your playstyle involves unlocking a skill tree of ability granting chips. These chips can also be crafted or discovered while exploring. Unsighted can be tackled alone or with a friend in two-player co-op. 

Yesterday, Dark Souls celebrated its tenth anniversary as part of gaming history. Have you played Dark Souls yet? While Demon’s Souls paved the way for the From Software action suite, Dark Souls was the title where the subgenre would become a critical part of the gaming world.

There have been plenty of arguments over which Souls game is the best over the years, with Dark Souls II perhaps leading the divisive discourse, but at the end of the day, don’t all the games really push us forward with challenges and victories? While not technically a Souls game, Bloodborne is still my favorite of the bunch. Favorite boss? Sister Friede.

Chosen Undead, Bearer of the Curse, Ashen One. You witnessed the birth of the First Flame, and you saw to its end.

We commemorate your Age of Fire. Thank you. #DarkSouls10thAnniversary pic.twitter.com/CoxoW4FDiL

When Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King launched in 2019, it allowed ‘90s Disney fans and younger enthusiasts a chance to experience two of eras' best licensed platformers on modern consoles. However, some complained about the collection missing the beloved Super Nintendo version of Aladdin. That changes today, as a revamped bundle, dubbed the Disney Classic Games Collection, expands the number of ports while also tossing in The Jungle Book to boot. 

Do you enjoy Aladdin? Well, this package packs more Aladdin into your Aladdin by tossing in Nintendo’s iterations of the beloved title. Fans now have every version of Aladdin in one place. The same catch-all approach applies to newcomer The Jungle Book, which you can enjoy in every available version (labeled as “Console N” and “Console S”). Here’s the full list of titles below:

Disney’s Aladdin

• SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Sega MegaDrive
• Final Cut: Sega Mega Drive
• Demo Version: Sega Mega Drive
• Japanese Version: Sega Mega Drive

Disney's The Lion King

• SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Sega MegaDrive
• Japanese Version: Sega Mega Drive

Disney's The Jungle Book

Funko has always been quick to market with action figures based on popular properties and has been keeping pace with the latest "What If...?" episodes on Disney+. Funko today released images of five Pop figures based on last week's popular "What If... Zombies?" episode. This wave of figures launches this winter and consists of Zombie Wanda, Zombie Captain America, Zombie Iron Man, Zombie Falcon, and Zombie Hunter Spidey.

This awesome line of Pops comes on the heels of figures based on this animated show's first four episodes. From the "What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger" episode, Funko is releasing plastic versions of The Hydro Stomper, Captain Carter, and the combo pack of Captain Carter Riding the Hydro Stomper. From the "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord" episode, you can add T'Challa Star-Lord and Gamora to your collectible shelf.

The third episode, "What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes," didn't get any figures, but the follow-up episode "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands" has been tapped to give us a new toy of the sorcerer.

Odds are Funko will be making more "What If..." toys as new episodes of the series release. You can take a look at the entire collection so far in the image gallery below:

We're back with another exciting episode of The Game Informer Show! This week, we're discussing our hands-on time with Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and the official review for Kena: Bridge of Spirits! Today's episode is also a special one as we bring on the one and only Liana Ruppert for her last episode before she sails off to work at a little studio called Bungie. Thought we were done? We also bring on the illustrious Ben Hanson to talk MinnMax, Age of Empires IV, and so much more!

Follow the crew on Twitter: Alex Stadnik (@Studnik76), Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Brian Shea (@BrianPShea), Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy), and Ben Hanson (@yozetty).

Just as the year is winding down and we think all the publishers are done with announcements for 2021, Nintendo proclaims they have another surprise in store for us. The house of Samus, Link, and Mario are back with another patented Nintendo Direct today, and the company is promising a full 40-minute presentation.

As with any opportunity to see what the Switch's future has to offer, we're going to be streaming the digital presentation and chatting it up with the fantastic GI community live on Twitch! The Direct starts at 5 p.m. CT, but we'll be going live 15 minutes early for a preshow filled with predictions, hopes, and dreams!

The Plane Effect is a striking dystopian adventure where you assume the role of an office worker who, after clocking out of his final day at work, just wants to get home to his family. An oppressive cosmic entity oversees the world, and, for some reason, the road home is stranger and more dangerous than you remember. But you have to get home. Your family is waiting, right? Thankfully, you don’t have to keep them waiting; you can embark on this eyebrow-raising journey right now. 

The Plane Effect’s world blends the ordinary and the surreal as players go from driving down sterile city streets to swimming beneath the ocean to slithering through narrow underground tunnels. You’ll also encounter laser-shooting robots – no one said getting back to your family would be easy. Gameplay largely consists of puzzle-solving, but those who would rather enjoy the story and atmosphere can turn to an assist option to breeze through riddles faster. Curious to see more? Check out the launch trailer down below for a taste of The Plane Effect’s strangeness.  

The Plane Effect looks fascinating, to say the least. You can unravel its mysteries on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC.

Starting the day with what we assume will be a busy one for Switch news, a port of the narrative-focused adventure game The Forgotten City is coming to Nintendo’s hybrid console. The Forgotten City – Cloud Version will be a streaming title co-published by Dear Villagers and Ubitus K.K., the group from which the streaming technology derives.

Like any other game which streams to your Switch, you’ll need an internet connection to enjoy The Forgotten City. It’s a technology Ubitus K.K. has honed with other titles such as A Plague Tale: Innocence and Phantasy Star Online 2 in territories across the globe. Cloud streaming is typically used to circumvent some of the graphical shortcomings of the Switch, providing a closer visual equivalent to versions of games on other platforms. However, cloud gaming can also suffer from resolution drops and increased input delay depending on your internet connection.

Developed by Modern Storyteller, The Forgotten City began life as a popular, award-winning Skyrim mod before creator Nick Pearce spun it off into a standalone product. Game Informer Editor-in-Chief Andrew Reiner had glowing words for the game in his review:

Diablo II is coming back to the current and last generation of consoles and PC today. With its release comes a return to one of the seminal dungeon-crawling experiences. While players will finally be getting the chance to play the Activision Blizzard project, we got to play Diablo II: Resurrected early.

We got our first look at the Injustice animated film a couple of weeks ago, but a new Red Band trailer gives fans a darker sample of what’s to come. If you’re a fan of seeing Superman commit brutal murders, this one is for you.

The film adapts the Injustice video game series by Mortal Kombat developer Netherrealm Studios and the comic series of the same name. After Joker destroys Metropolis and kills Lois Lane, pregnant with Superman’s unborn child, the Man of Steel finally snaps. First, he executes Joker. Then he essentially establishes a dictatorship with a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of crime. Some members of the Justice League side with Superman’s more murderous approach to crime-fighting, but other heroes, led by Batman, disagree with his change of attitude. A civil war erupts between factions consisting of both heroes and villains, with the fate of Earth caught in the middle. 

The cast includes Justin Hartley as Superman, Anson Mount as Batman, Laura Bailey as Lois Lane, Janet Varney as Wonder Woman, and Kevin Pollak as Joker. Injustice releases October 19 on Blu-ray and digital. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it will premiere on HBO Max on day one. 

You'd be forgiven for not remembering the Cruis'n franchise. After all, it's been nearly a decade and a half since the last home entry for the series. However, those who do remember the arcade-racing franchise likely look back on the games fondly. Starting with 1994's Cruis'n USA, which launched in the arcades before getting ported to Nintendo 64 two years later, the series delivered nonstop thrills as you drove through several locales. Those raceways expanded beyond the scope of the United States with Cruis'n World and Cruis'n Exotica before the '90s came to a close.

However, the 21st century hasn't been kind to the Cruis'n franchise. Failed attempts to modernize the over-the-top racer spun out, as evidenced by 2001's poorly received Cruis'n Velocity on Game Boy Advance and 2007's abysmal Wii title, simply called Cruis'n. The franchise seemed doomed to share the same fate as many of the mall arcades where it got its start. That is, until 2017, when from seemingly nowhere, a new Cruis'n title appeared in surviving arcades.

A new tabletop RPG based on the Blade Runner universe is coming next year, just in time for the 40th anniversary of the release of the first film. The game comes courtesy of Alcon Entertainment and Free League Publishing, which also distributed the award-winning Alien RPG. 

Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game drops players in 2037 Los Angeles, shortly after the Wallace Corporation unveils its synthetic Nexus-9 Replicants. You assume the role of a blade runner working for the LAPD’s Rep-Detect Unit. The backstory of your character is in your hands; you'll decide their memories, personality, and whether they’re a human or a Replicant. 

Mechanically, the game is built using the Year Zero Engine featured in games like Alien and Tales from the Loop.
Alien RPG lead game designer Tomas Härenstam sits at the helm of Blade Runner, and he's backed by Joe LeFavi and Martin Grip who provide setting writing and artwork, respectively. Blade Runner consists of investigative gameplay where players have the tools to solve cases that explore the series’ themes of corporate intrigue, existentialism, and morality. Expect plenty of gritty storytelling and tough decision-making as you navigate a crime-ridden neo-noir city.

Halo Infinite developers 343 Industries will be holding a live stream this afternoon covering details of the next testing flight for the upcoming multiplayer shooter. Running for two consecutive weekends, this new test will cover all of the previously available materials and more. Those looking for more information about these closed public sessions can check out the Halo Twitch or YouTube channels at 4 p.m. Central today.

Our previous playable demo of Halo Infinite had teams of human-controlled Spartans going head-to-head against bots in Team Slayer matches. These battles were limited to four-on-four skirmishes on smaller maps like new arrivals Live Fire and Bazaar. However, we have learned this next set of testing will introduce Big Team Battle and larger maps along with it. 

Following a judge’s decision early last week and a notable injunction, we have an update on the legal feud between Epic Games and Apple from Epic’s top executive, Tim Sweeney. In a Twitter thread today, Sweeney discussed the ongoing fraught relationship between the two companies, revealing that Apple will not be restoring Fortnite to the App Store for the foreseeable future. His thread began with the claim that “Apple lied.”

In a process that could take years, Apple will “not reinstate Epic’s developer program account at this time” and “will not consider any requests for reinstatement until the district court’s judgment becomes final and nonappealable.” This news comes after Epic Games filed for an appeal of the decision made in the lawsuit. Appeals of this kind can take years to finalize, so until the final verdict is rendered, don’t expect to be able to download Fortnite or any Epic product on an Apple device.

Death’s Door is arguably the year’s biggest pleasant surprise. The Zelda-like adventure of a soul-reaping crow battling monsters to serve a bureaucratic afterlife commission won many hearts and earned a 9 out of 10 review score from us. Now that the dust has settled, we sat down with the game’s principal creators, Acid Nerve's David Fenn and Mark Foster, to reflect on Death Door’s success, discuss the team's design approach (such as ditching the map), and their overall takeaways for the future. 

Warning: This interview contains mild spoilers regarding Death's Door's endgame content. 

What has surprised you most about the reception to Death's Door?
David Fenn: I think that people liked it so much [laughs]. Probably just how universally people like it. Having all of our past games being much more divisive, I just never really expected to have a game where it just seems like 90 percent of people are really into it. So that's definitely been really cool.