Game Informer

Don't expect The Last of Us HBO show to extend beyond the story of the two games in the series. That's because The Last of Us game director Neil Druckmann says there are no plans for stories beyond the games in this show.

This news comes by way of a new interview with Druckmann from The Hollywood Reporter, as reported by GameSpot. Here's what Druckmann told THR specifically: "We have no plans to tell any stories beyond adapting the games. We won't run into the same issue as Game of Thrones since The Last of Us Part: II doesn't end on a cliffhanger." 

The Last of Us is not the first adaptation from video game to film and it certainly won’t be the last. But perhaps more than any property that has moved from interactive medium to passive television, The Last of Us seems most suited to make the transition. Joel and Ellie’s story is an emotional and cinematic one that does not rely on player choice.

Ahead of the show’s premiere we spoke with some of the actors about the adaptation, as well as Neil Druckmann, co-creator of The Last of Us, who was heavily involved in writing the show and directed a few episodes.

What do you get when you blend Mega Man X, Ninja Gaiden, and Bionic Commando? You get Gravity Circuit, a promising indie action title launching later this year. 

Players control Kai, a lone warrior battling an evil robotic army in a post-apocalyptic world. This side-scrolling action title boasts plenty of satisfying action thanks to Kai’s fun melee combat, nimble platforming abilities, and his signature grappling hook, which he uses to traverse levels as well as yank and toss enemies. Sporting great 16-bit art and a strong soundtrack, Gravity Circuit is worth keeping an eye on for fans of classic throwbacks. 

Join editors Wesley LeBlanc and Marcus Stewart as they explore Gravity Circuit’s free Steam demo and discuss why it may be one of the year’s most exciting indie gems.

Reviewed on: Switch
Platform: Switch
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Release: December 9, 2022
Rating: Everyone 10+

Many JRPGs have slow openings, taking their time to establish the story and familiarize the player with the mechanics before letting them loose into the world. I figured that was the case after playing an hour of Dragon Quest Treasures, so I said to myself, “It’ll get good soon!” I said it again two hours in, three hours in, and five hours in, until eventually, I was forced to accept that this was as good as the game would get. Dragon Quest Treasures is never short on charm or style, but simple, sub-par combat and loot-hunting mechanics had me scraping the bottom of the treasure chest in hopes there was something I’d missed.

In this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, Alex Van Aken and Wesley LeBlanc break down our Dead Island 2 cover story and recap their recent trip to Dambuster Studios in Nottingham, England. The pair played roughly eight hours of the upcoming sequel, set in zombie-infested Los Angeles, and came away reasonably surprised. Lastly, Alex and Wes answer your questions about Dead Island 2 from Twitter and Discord. 

During The Playlist, the crew chats about recent games they've been playing, including Fire Emblem Engage, Signalis, Norco, and Neon White.

Follow us on social media: Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Wesley LeBlanc (@LeBlancWes)

Sony released a sneak peek of its upcoming Gran Turismo movie yesterday evening during its CES 2023 press conference, and as expected, it features a lot of fast vehicles. 

Starring David Harbour (Stranger Things), Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings), and David Barnet (Never Have I Ever), and directed by Neil Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium, Chappie), Gran Turismo is based on a true story. That story is about the GT Academy contest, which was a real contest held between 2008 and 2016 by Sony and Nissan. Winners were given entrance into Nissan's Driver Development Program, as noted by Video Games Chronicle. The film appears to be telling the tale of someone who won entrance into this program and then went on to become a real success in the racing world. 

Check out the Gran Turismo sneak peek for yourself below: 

As you can see, this sneak peek is a mix of what appears to be movie footage and behind-the-scenes footage, with stars like Harbour, Barnet, and Bloom talking about their excitement for the film. 

Gran Turismo hits theaters later this year on August 11. 

Platform: Switch
Publisher: Nintendo
Release: January 20, 2023

Sony Interactive Entertainment has revealed that it has sold more than 30 million PlayStation 5 units since the console's launch in 2020. 

This news comes by way of the company's recent CES 2023 appearance, where PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan revealed these numbers alongside words that seem to indicate the PS5 shortage might be over, or at least coming to an end soon. PlayStation also touched on its upcoming PSVR2 release and accompanying 30-plus game lineup, and pulled back the curtains on its new customizable accessibility controller kit, Project Leonardo. 

PlayStation has unveiled Project Leonardo, a "highly customizable accessibility controller kit." 

The company revealed this during its CES 2023 presentation yesterday, stating that the kit is "designed to remove barriers to gaming and help players with disabilities play more easily, more comfortably, and for longer periods on PS5." It seems to be PlayStation's answer to Xbox's Adaptive Controller also aimed at accessibility for gamers. The company says it has worked with accessibility experts at organizations like AbleGamers, Special Effect, and Stack Up, as well as community members and game developers to design a controller kit like this that works "out of the box." 

Arcade1Up, the company behind various arcade machine replicas featuring titles spanning multiple publishers, has revealed a new line of premium cabinets known as the Deluxe Editions. In addition, the company announced a more compact version of its popular Infinity Game Table and its first foray into the world of at-home casino gaming.

Arcade1Up's new Deluxe Edition cabinets serve as the new flagship line for the company, offering up a taller, single-cabinet design that removes the long-standing need to buy a riser. Arcade1Up kicks off its Deluxe Edition lineup with four distinct cabinets: Pac-Man Deluxe, Ms. Pac-Man Deluxe, Class of '81 Deluxe, and Mortal Kombat Deluxe. Each Deluxe Edition cabinet features a faux front coin door and lit marquee, as well as Wi-Fi for online gameplay and leaderboards. The LCD screen also features a laid-back position in cabinets where that reflects the designs of the original arcade cabinets. 

The Last of Us turns 10 years old in June, and Naughty Dog plans to celebrate the milestone with an array of special announcements along the way. One of those updates involves a closer look at the upcoming standalone multiplayer title.

In a blog post, Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann reflects on The Last of Us’ legacy as well as the franchise’s future. In addition to the HBO adaptation premiering on January 15 and the PC port of The Last of Us Part 1 hitting in March, Druckmann states fans will learn more about the long-awaited multiplayer experience that serves as a follow-up to the original game’s Factions mode. Druckmann writes,

“We’ll have some fun surprises for you along the way, but later this year we will begin to offer you some details on our ambitious The Last of Us multiplayer game. With a team led by Vinit Agarwal, Joe Pettinati, and Anthony Newman, the project is shaping up to be a fresh, new experience from our studio, but one rooted in Naughty Dog’s passion for delivering incredible stories, characters, and gameplay.”

Following the full reveal of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, we had the opportunity to sit down with Cal Kestis himself, Cameron Monaghan. In this video interview, we discuss everything from how Cal Kestis has grown as a Jedi between Fallen Order and Survivor, what it means to be a part of Star Wars canon, and how the sequel aims to delve into darker themes.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on March 17. To view the first footage, head here.

Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, has reportedly canceled five unannounced games alongside layoffs affecting "fewer than 15 people," according to a new Bloomberg report. 

The people that will lose their jobs will be given a chance to apply for new roles within WotC, but this apparent business restructuring will affect others outside of the company as well. Bloomberg reports that this reorganization will hit Otherside Entertainment and Hidden Path Entertainment, both working on games for WotC, hard. News of this change follows the release of Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance's release last year, which didn't fare too well with critics and players, amidst Larian Studios' continued development on Baldur's Gate 3 (which does not seem to be affected by this reorganization despite WotC serving as the game's publisher). 

These two games, in part, represented WotC's bigger forray into the video game space as Bloomberg reports that the company had signed contracts with several studios to make games. WotC also "built at least six of its own game studios," according to the publication. 

A supermajority of quality assurance workers at ZeniMax Studios, which is comprised of several studios like id Software, Arkane, and Bethesda, have voted to join the ZeniMax Workers United/Communication Workers of Amerca union. 

Roughly 300 QA workers at ZeniMax voted to indicate they wish to join this union, equating to a supermajority vote, and Microsoft has opted to recognize it. This lines up with what Microsoft said last month, where it announced that if these workers vote to unionize, it would voluntarily recognize the union. ZeniMax is the first studio in Microsoft's umbrella of teams to unionize and it's also now the largest group of unionized QA testers at any US-based studio. 

"Before us is an opportunity to make big changes and bring equity to the video game industry," senior QA audio tester Victoria Banos writes in a CWA press release. "We want to put an end to sudden periods of crunch, unfair pay, and lack of growth opportunities within the company. Our union will push for truly competitive pay, better communication between management and workers, a clear path for those that want to progress their career, and more." 

Fall Guys is becoming Invincible with the arrival of skins from the acclaimed animated series this week.

With season 2 of Invincible set to premiere on Amazon Prime sometime this year, Fall Guys is whetting fans’ appetite with skins for Mark, Omni-Man, and Atom Eve. The outfits hit the in-game store on January 5, and that hopefully means a release date announcement for the series won't be too far behind. 

Invincible, Omni-Man and Atom Eve are flying into the Fall Guys Store on the 5th of Jan! @skyboundgames

🦸‍♂️ SAVE the date 🦸‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/YThNNC1LPi

— Fall Guys - Season's Yeetings 🥔 (@FallGuysGame) January 3, 2023

Fall Guys enjoyed a bit of a renaissance in 2022. In addition to its usual deluge of seasonal content updates, it went free-to-play in May and launched on Xbox and Switch, gaining a larger player base of contestants and renewed interest in general. We look forward to seeing what 2023 brings for the title, but this is a pretty good start. 

Are you still enjoying Fall Guys? Let us know in the comments!

Polish developer The Astronauts have revealed a new trailer for their upcoming rogue-lite shooter Witchfire. In addition to showing off some new gameplay clips, it announces that the game will use NVIDIA DLSS3 technology, which a press release says will "massively boost performance." You can watch the trailer below.

Announced by NVIDIA last September, DLSS 3 can boost a game's performance by a significant margin. One demo on NVIDIA's site shows two instances of Cyberpunk 2077 running at 96 FPS with ray tracing still enabled. "DLSS 3 allows the seemingly impossible, high framerate without compromising the visuals," Adrian Chmielarz, creative director and co-founder of The Astronauts says in a press release. "A no brainer for a game like Witchfire, which is both action and beauty."

Witchfire is a dark fantasy first-person shooter from the creators of Painkiller, Bulletstorm, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Set in an alternate reality, players are caught in the middle of a war between witches and the Church, and must use weapons and powers from Vatican sorcerers to defeat their enemies. 

New year, new content: Cult of the Lamb is getting a "major content update" sometime in 2023. According to a Twitter thread posted to the official Cult of the Lamb account, this update will introduce features many players have requested, including accessibility improvements, quality-of-life features, new difficulty options, and more depth.

This Major Content Update will release in 2023 and be FREE to all players!

🔮Depth
💀Difficulty
👁️Accessibility
🌕Quality-of-life

It will add features that many of you have requested.

Heavy Attacks are just one small tidbit and we can't to show you more from the update! pic.twitter.com/FWFW7sC7F0

— Cult of the Lamb 🙏🐑👑 (@cultofthelamb) December 30, 2022

The biggest change they showcase in this thread is the introduction of heavy attacks, which can be activated by holding down the attack button. These are more than slow swings that do more damage; in Cult of the Lamb, every heavy attack has a unique effect. For example, the sword's heavy attack smashes the ground, doing an explosion of damage that harms any enemy caught in its range. Meanwhile, the dagger creates a line of knives that fall from the sky, and the axe can be thrown around like a boomerang. This is just the tip of the iceberg; developer Massive Monster says it's "just one small tidbit" of what's still to come.

IO Interactive has announced that Hitman 3 will become Hitman World of Assassination later this month and will include all levels from Hitman 1 and Hitman 2 in it for free. 

More specifically, this big update for the Hitman trilogy arrives on January 26 and includes two major changes: 

• "Hitman 3 will become 'Hitman World of Assassination,' which will also include access to Hitman 1 and Hitman 2 through our existing Access Pass system. Current Hitman 3 owners will get a free upgrade to Hitman World of Assassination on all platforms."
• "We're drastically simplifying the purchase experience for new players. Hitman World of Assassination will be the single experience option to start playing." 

This update makes it so that all Hitman 3 owners will have the same base content ownership, and it attempts to eliminate confusion over which edition to buy to obtain certain levels by making it so that there is only one purchase option. The other DLC will apparently still be available for purchase, but owning all the IO Interactive Hitman trilogy levels will be easier than ever now. 

Hitman World of Assassination will cost $70, and it includes Hitman 3, the Hitman 1 Game of the Year Access Pass, and the Hitman 2 Standard Access Pass. You can also purchase the Hitman World of Assassination Deluxe Pack for $30 to get the Hitman 3 Deluxe Pack, the Hitman 3 Seven Deadly Sins Collection, and the Hitman 2 Expansion Access Pass. 

The long-in-development remake of System Shock will finally be released this March. 

This news comes by way of a new Kickstarter update from developer Nightdive Studios, which states the team has picked "a few last things to share before our quickly approaching launch window of March 2023." as reported by Video Games Chronicle. This remake, which is set to hit PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC has had a 2023 release year attached to it for a minute now, but this new Kickstarter update points attention to the game's Steam page, which now features a "March 2023" release window. 

Developer Starbreeze Studios and publisher Koch Media have released a new teaser trailer that calls 2023 "the year of PayDay 3." Presumably, this means the co-op shooter is still on track to release sometime this year. 

Koch gave PayDay 3 a 2023 release window way back in March of 2021, detailing the game's new publishing deal alongside news that there is at least 18 months of post-launch support planned for the title. Later that year, in June, Koch released a new piece of concept art, citing that PayDay 3 will feature a "fully-fledged social heist universe" set within a Hollywood-like setting. That was the last we saw of PayDay 3 until yesterday, when IGN revealed the "official reveal trailer" for the game, although considering how little is shown in it, it's less of a reveal and more of a teaser. 

Check out this new PayDay 3 trailer below: 

As you can see, there's not much to this trailer other than it calling 2023 "the year of PayDay 3." Here's hoping that holds true. 

What do you hope PayDay 3 brings to the franchise? Let us know in the comments below!

Starfield, the new and upcoming sci-fi RPG from Skyrim makers Bethesda Softworks, was originally due out in November of 2022, but it was delayed to the first half of 2023 last May. Starfield was then a big part of an Xbox showcase last summer and during that showcase, Microsoft revealed that every game shown would be coming in the first half of 2023. 

Now, a new Bethesda support page for the game has reconfirmed this "first half of 2023" window, as spotted by Klobrille on Twitter.

"Starfield arrives exclusively on Xbox Series X/S and PC in the first half of 2023," the support page reads.

This isn't the biggest surprise; Xbox has discussed this release window for Starfield on two occasions before this support page, but it seems the company is really dedicated to getting it out in the coming months. 

I made 12 little games (analog and digital) over the course of my MFA program. However, I dedicated most of that time to my thesis. By graduation, I’d worked as a writer/narrative designer on prototypes, vertical slices, documentation – you name it. And after many adjustments, my thesis even won a highly competitive grant to assist post-grad development! Short deadlines and secondary assignments led to high-stress periods, albeit in a controlled, academic environment, but the lessons about collaboration and creativity were invaluable.

It’s an ordinary school night, and I’m in a video call with my friend Jude. I watch them casually scroll through graffiti-adjacent concept art and brief clips of a passion project called Ponch: Cyberspace Investigator. They give me a rundown of the game’s mechanics, inspirations, and vibe, which includes phrases like “platformer,” “Ace Attorney-inspired dialogue puzzles,” “detective work,” and “hack the internet.” Read more...

2023 means a new year, new everything! That includes a renewed hope that I’ll hear more information about a few exciting games that had little to no presence in 2022. Hopefully, with 365 chances to make a splash, one of the following titles from my personal wish list will make a big comeback after spending a year in relative silence.

In October 2001, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto III – and the entire pop-culture paradigm shifted. It’s hard to say anything about GTA III that hasn’t been said a million times over the last 20 years, but suffice it to say, it laid a blueprint for open-world games so complete that the game industry still largely follows it today.

To celebrate the game’s 20th anniversary, we recently talked to Rockstar North art director Aaron Garbut over email about his time working on GTA III, what it meant for Rockstar as a company, and its overall legacy in 2021. Read more...

Each year, the tabletop RPG scene expands in exciting new directions. Whether it’s new worlds for long-running games like Dungeons & Dragons or exciting debut projects that tap into unexpected corners of storytelling, it’s a great time to enjoy role-playing with others.

2022 saw an impressive array of new games to tempt playgroups into an adventure. Here are ten of the best, presented alphabetically, each offering new and exciting vistas for discovery.

And if you like your RPGs with a side of excellent board gaming, don’t miss our recent awards for the Best Board Games of 2022.

Coyote & Crow
Publisher: Coyote & Crow Games

The Native American-led team that created Coyote & Crow began with a simple premise: What would America look like if it had never been colonized? Throw in a robust mix of mythology, science, and mysterious individuals gifted with supernatural power, and you have the makings of a fascinating role-playing game.

Dead Island 2 was announced just a few years after the release of the first Dead Island and a little over a year after Dead Island Riptide – the forgettable and repetitive sequel that did, at least, continue the story of the first game’s survivors. Publisher Deep Silver released some spinoffs after Riptide, like Escape Dead Island, Dead Island: Epidemic, and the 16-bit beat ‘em up Dead Island Retro Revenge, but a full-scale, numbered sequel hasn’t yet happened, despite being announced nearly a decade ago. 

This week on All Things Nintendo, Brian invites Game Informer's Kyle Hilliard to help him put a bow on 2022. That's right: It's the second annual All Things Nintendo Awards episode! Join Brian and Kyle as they talk about the best games across various categories and send 2022 off in style.

If you'd like to follow Brian on social media, you can do so on his Instagram: @BrianPShea. You can follow Kyle on Twitter: @KyleMHilliard.

The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we can celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!

Be sure to subscribe to All Things Nintendo on your favorite podcast platform. The show is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and YouTube.

You could walk past this section of sidewalk a million times and not think about it once. It’s a 15-foot patch of concrete the same as the 15 feet ahead of you and the 15 feet behind you. No different than the 100 feet beyond that. It’s nothing.

Until you look around, then, all of a sudden, you can see through time.

I’m standing in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan, which, if it’s famous for anything, is its crosswalk, Shibuya Crossing, a massive scramble intersection allowing foot traffic to cross in all directions. For lack of a better analogy, you could call it Japan’s Times Square. You’ve seen it in everything about modern Japan ever. Read more...

Images of what appears to be a special The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Switch OLED model have leaked online, but it's currently unclear if this is a real console or a believable fake. 

This news comes by way of Video Games Chronicle, which reports that the images of this console appeared on the Famiiboard forum last night from user Kysen. The user didn't provide many details about the potential special edition Switch, but as you can see in the images below, the photos are quite believable. There are pictures of the console, the packaging, the Joy-Con, and more.

Check out the possible leaked images of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Switch OLED special edition for yourself below: 

Alleged photos of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom themed Switch OLED. Originally posted on Tieba (reshared on resetera/reddit). pic.twitter.com/PfgrOtvU4K

Metal Gear Solid creator and Death Stranding director Hideo Kojima and Metal Gear Solid publisher Konami parted ways with each other back in 2015 and since then, there hasn't been a mainline entry in the famed MGS series (although there was the not-so-great Metal Gear Survive in 2018). 

While there's no reason to believe Kojima and Konami are teaming up again anytime soon, it seems the latter might be preparing for some kind of return to MGS. Longtime MGS producer Noriaki Okamura wrote in a recent issue of Famitsu that "2023 will be a year of many announcements," as reported by Gematsu. 

In this special end-of-the-year issue of Famitsu, multiple Japanese developers and producers wrote quick teases about what 2023 might hold for them. It's here where Okamura teased that 2023 will be a year of announcements for Konami Digital Entertainment. More specifically, he said "Other than [the educational edition of Momotaro Dentetsu announced last year], 2023 will be a year of many announcements," and that his keyword for 2023 is "long-awaited," as noted by Gematsu. 

Game delays are a part of life. You know the old saying, a delayed game is…well, you know. It’s undeniably a bummer to see a title you’re excited about slip into the following year, but it’s generally for the best to ensure a quality product at release. 2022 has had a growing handful of high-profile setbacks, and we’ve assembled them all in one alphabetized list for a handy reference.

Each year, we pull together picks for the best in the tabletop gaming scene, so we can share some of the coolest projects you might bring home to your table. 2022 brought an array of wonderful games, showing the ever-expanding scope and creativity unfolding in the scene. Here are ten of the most enjoyable, including cooperative and competitive experiences, running the gamut in scope from massive sprawling adventures to simple joyous party games and everything in between.

Each game this year turned out to be remarkably different from most of the others on the list, but each captures the fun and excitement of board gaming in a unique way. Check out the complete alphabetized list below, and check back soon for selections of the Best Tabletop Role-Playing Releases of 2022.

Ahoy
Publisher: Leder Games

Leder has developed a well-deserved reputation for asymmetrical competition and a unique artistic aesthetic that manages a rare feat in gaming – you know this studio’s games instantly, even before you play a session. The team’s newest success story is Ahoy, a swashbuckling pirate-themed adventure that is more manageable and easier to learn than some of the team’s prior efforts.

In this episode of The Game Informer Show, we share our favorite holiday traditions, plan the games we want to beat over the break and answer questions from our community.

Follow us on social media: Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), Wesley LeBlanc (@LeBlancWes), Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard)

The Game Informer Show is a weekly gaming podcast covering the latest video game news, industry topics, exclusive reveals, and reviews. Join host Alex Van Aken every Thursday for a chat about your favorite games – past and present – with Game Informer staff, developers, and special guests from around the industry. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is still on track to release sometime next year, and developer GSC Game World has released its first trailer in six months, showcasing gameplay with some narrative trappings along the edges.

Courtesy of IGN, the new video shows that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is looking pretty darn good. The narrative-driven shooter is set in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone in a post-apocalyptic world laden with dangerous mutated monsters. Players must fight their way to the heart of the zone while steering the non-linear plot through choice-driven gameplay. 

Formally confirmed in 2020 after years of start and stop announcements, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has had a tumultuous development. After announcing and quickly canceling NFT plans due to fan backlash in December 2021, the project came to a screeching halt in February due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where GSC is based. Many employees were forced to evacuate their homes in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Other designers chose to defend the city. One of GSC’s designers who volunteered to fight, Vladimir "Fresh" Yezhov, was recently killed in combat. 

On February 25, 2022 Valve quietly premiered a trailer for a game called Aperture Desk Job. The video intentionally didn’t explain what the game was, but beyond including the word Aperture in the title, it was clear it took place in the Portal universe. The end of the trailer revealed it would be releasing only a few days later, and it would be free.

As promised, the game released on March 1 and it feels like nobody played it, which is a shame because it is a fantastic, “Playable Short,” as Valve refers to it.

Aperture Desk Job doesn’t have portals in it, but it is a Portal game. It features an established Portal character, as well as a new character named Grady, voiced by one of my favorite comedians (and maybe yours after you watch the clip below), Nate Bargatze.

Perhaps the most compelling pitch for the game for a Portal fan, though, is that it is canon. You spend most of your time with Grady, but you also spend time with Cave Johnson. Not only did Portal and Portal 2’s writers create more lines for the lemon-hating Aperture founder, but J.K. Simmons jumped into the recording booth to perform the new dialogue. Neither Cave Johnson nor J.K. Simmons’ participation was teased in the game’s limited marketing. It was a lovely surprise for me when I played, but I have decided to tell you because if you haven’t played yet, maybe that will push you over the edge to finally engage the download.

Two of the year’s biggest open-world games, Elden Ring and Pokémon Scarlet have been Frankensteined into one tantalizing entity thanks to the work of one talented modder.

The modder in question goes by the handle Arestame, who tweeted a trailer of their handiwork that drops Scarlet assets into the Lands Between. The mod outfits the Tarnished in the significantly less protective garb of Pokémon trainers, who cruise the dangerous landscape atop the motorcycle-like Koraidon. The video highlights how Elden Ring would be an even better game if it had Lechonks and Quaxlys roaming about, though that doesn't make it any less dangerous, as evidenced by one particuarly brutal Pokémon ambush. Check out the video by clicking the embedded tweet below. 

Elden Ring X Pokémon Scarlet is here! From Paldea to The Lands Between, expand your #Pokemon journey with new summons in #ELDENRING ! pic.twitter.com/djOWo9ogpg

Dead Island 2 will feature six playable survivors right from the jump. You might already be familiar with one, and that's Jacob, the Lenny Kravitz-inspired character featured in the re-reveal trailer for Dead Island 2. During my cover story trip, I played roughly seven hours of Dead Island 2, but I didn't go hands-on with Jacob. I did, however, play a few hours with both Dani and Ryan, two very different survivors that add their own flair to the story of this zomb-pocalypse. 

I came out of this cover story trip convinced Dani is the survivor for me, but Ryan is great, too. And there are still the other four survivors I didn't get to play. Nonetheless, I want to tell you about Ryan, and Dambuster Studios does, too (read about Dani here)

Each mainline entry of the Street Fighter series is an important milestone in the fighting game genre. Though every numbered entry received critical acclaim, Street Fighter V sticks out among fans as the outlier of the series; the game experienced perhaps the most tumultuous launch of any Street Fighter game to date. But out of that trouble emerged something great. Thanks to the team’s persistence, post-launch roadmap, and an injection of new blood into the project's leadership, Street Fighter V drastically improved its core gameplay, online play, content offerings, and more throughout its six-year lifespan.

With the benefit of those lessons learned, many team members that righted the ship are back to develop Street Fighter 6. The latest entry delivers myriad improvements, new features, and a sleek new aesthetic while simultaneously acknowledging and paying homage to each entry before it. Street Fighter 6 feels like yet another evolution of the fighting game genre ushered in by the franchise that pioneered it in the first place. Read more...

It’s the end of May, and I’m watching the credits roll in Elden Ring. After more than 150 hours roaming the Lands Between, I feel the familiar bittersweetness that occurs anytime I finish a game I love. I’d conquered unimaginable horrors and become Elden Lord in my own personalized adventure, all while cruising atop a cool double-jumping steed; now what? Recovering from this high would become a personal struggle for the remainder of the year.

Elden Ring dominated my life. When I wasn’t playing it, it was the only thing I wanted to do. When I chipped away at other games for work or pleasure, tasks like gaining access to Raya Lucaria Academy or conquering Malenia were in the back of my mind. I stopped eating Red Lobster because it caused me to suffer terrible flashbacks of getting relentlessly spat on by the giant crustaceans in Liurnia of the Lakes. Elden Ring joins the ranks of Grand Theft Auto III, Skyrim, and Breath of the Wild as games that became borderline obsessions for me, and the lull that followed was rough. 

Just in time for the new year, Sony has revealed the next batch of free games coming to PlayStation Plus. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Fallout 76, and Axiom Verge 2 will be available to download for all tiers of PS Plus starting Tuesday, January 3. PlayStation has not announced the new titles coming to the Extra and Premium tiers, but says that they'll be "announced soon." You can read the full blog post here.