Title: Early Reviews Hail Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil As A Clever Homage That Doesn’t Get Bogged Down By The Details: ‘This Is How Movies And Video Games Can Merge In A Way That Makes Them Stronger’ Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 23:00:20 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/early-reviews-hail-zach-creggers-resident-evil-as-a-clever-homage-that-doesnt-get-bogged-down-by-the-details-this-is-how-movies-and-video-games-can-merge-in-a-way-that-makes-them-stronger-2000735209 Fans weren't sure about the director moving beyond the source material

Title: Studio Behind Last Year’s Poorly Rated Call Of Duty Promises Something New As It Leaves Black Ops 7 Behind Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 22:15:27 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/studio-behind-last-years-poorly-rated-call-of-duty-promises-something-new-as-it-leaves-black-ops-7-behind-2000735207 'We're ready to make something new,' said Treyarch as it wraps up support of BLOPS 7 with the launch of season six on Thursday

Title: Epic CEO Says EU Banning Kids From Playing Fortnite Is ‘Terrible For The Next Generation Of Humanity’ Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 21:40:30 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/epic-ceo-says-eu-banning-kids-from-playing-fortnite-is-terrible-for-the-next-generation-of-humanity-2000735192 Tim Sweeney isn't a fan of a proposed European Union ban that would aim to keep kids 14 and under from playing games online

Title: Endless Legend 2 Dev Reflects On How Early Access Has Changed Nearly 15 Years Later: ‘People Can Be A Bit Unforgiving’ Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 21:03:21 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/endless-legend-2-dev-reflects-on-how-early-access-has-changed-nearly-15-years-later-people-can-be-a-bit-unforgiving-2000735194 The 4x strategy game is hitting 1.0 on Steam

Title: ‘Nearly Everyone’ Laid Off As Hyper Light Drifter Studio Risks Closing: ‘I’m Not Sure Yet How Or If Heart Machine Survives’ Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 19:36:51 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/nearly-everyone-laid-as-hyper-light-drifter-studio-risks-closure-im-not-sure-yet-how-or-if-heart-machine-survives-2000735172 The team's recent projects didn't quite pan out

Title: Monopoly Go x The Simpsons crossover is almost here Date: Tue, 02 Jun 2026 08:41:21 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/monopoly-go-the-simpsons-crossover-details Monopoly Go players have been looking forward to a major crossover event for what felt like months, and though most of the details ended up leaking, nothing actually beats official information. Read more

Title: Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.3 will take us deeper into the World in Canvas and make Mortenax Blade playable Date: Fri, 22 May 2026 13:43:44 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/honkai-star-rail-version-4-3-all-details HoYoverse has today delivered full details on the next major update for Honkai: Star Rail. Version 4.3, dubbed The Lethe Below the Living, will be available for all players on June 1. The upcoming update adds a new chapter to the Planarcadia arc, and introduce a new playable character. Read more

Title: Forza Horizon 6 explodes on Steam even before it's officially out Date: Fri, 15 May 2026 11:00:02 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/forza-horizon-6-steam-numbers-big-launch Steam is abuzz this week with a couple of long-anticipated launches, but in Forza Horizon 6’s case, at least, the game isn’t even out for what will be most of its players. The anticipated sequel in the open-world driving game series doesn’t officially launch until May 19, but owners of its most expensive version - the Premium Edition - can play it right now. Read more

Title: Mystic Messenger's most loyal players are getting banned in droves for seemingly playing the game too much Date: Fri, 15 May 2026 10:02:10 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/mystic-messenger-ban-wave-thousands-of-hourglasses-anniversary Mystic Messenger, arguably one of the best dating sims around, has been dormant for about seven years. Despite not receiving new content or any meaningful updates in all that time, the game remains popular with its core fans, many of whom just woke up to some shocking news about their accounts. Read more

Title: Forza Horizon 6 review - The driving game for everyone still can’t seem to escape its car-collecting legacy Date: Thu, 14 May 2026 12:00:03 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/forza-horizon-6-review There is this idea that, for a long-running series to remain as consistently popular as Forza Horizon has been, it needs to diminish itself somewhat with each new entry, gradually losing more and more of its edge in a bid to appeal to the widest possible audience. Read more

Title: 30 Minutes of Resident Evil 2, 3, & 4 on Switch 2 Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 01:00:00 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/videos/30-minutes-of-resident-evil-2-3-4-on-switch-2/ We got to check out the Switch 2 ports of the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes and they are all looking to be excellent handheld ports.

Title: Monster Hunter Wilds Switch 2 Gameplay Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 01:00:00 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/videos/monster-hunter-wilds-switch-2-gameplay/ We got to check out Monster Hunter Wilds on the Switch 2 and it's shocking how well Capcom has it running on Nintendo's handheld.

Title: Hearthstone “Reign Of The Black Empire” Card Reveal – G’huun And Death Knight Control Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 21:00:00 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/hearthstone-reign-of-the-black-empire-card-reveal-ghuun/ Hearthstone's next expansion is Reign of the Black Empire, a journey back thousands of years into the distant past when the Old Gods were at war with the Titans. GameSpot has an exclusive reveal for a package of Death Knight class cards, including a big legendary that could swing the game in your favor--or even just win it outright. The three cards are blood runes, which emphasizes control and life-leeching effects. The first is Grafted Knight, a 2-blood rune, 2-mana 3/3 minion with Lifesteal. That's a solid early-game minion with good stats for the cost that should help you stay alive against aggressive decks in the early game. Hearthstone "Reign of the Black Empire" - Grafted Knight card Next up is Bloodfiend, a 3-blood rune, 4-mana 4/4 minion. It carries the battlecry "Spend up to 4 Corpses. Deal 1 damage to all other minions for each." That means it would hit your own minions, naturally, but as long as you've built up a pool of corpses, it's a good swingy card that can clear your opponent's mid-game board and still leave you with a body for them to deal with. Hearthstone "Reign of the Black Empire" - Bloodfiend card Finally we have the big one, G'huun, a legendary 3-blood rune, 8-mana minion with a mere 8/1 in stats. But don't let the statline fool you. G'huun has a battlecry that steals 6 from the lowest-health enemies by default, but then improves with every blood rune you play. So it will always drop as an 8/7, and will likely be much larger if you've built your deck around blood runes. The battlecry centering on the weakest enemies also means it could serve as a board clearer for smaller swarms. Hearthstone "Reign of the Black Empire" - G'huun card But for particularly ambitious Death Knights, G'huun could serve as a finisher, or even a one-turn kill. The battlecry steals health from the lowest-health enemies, not just minions, which means the enemy hero is fair game. That could finish off your opponent if their health is low enough, or just target them exclusively if they're the only enemy on the board. Even if your battlecry isn't big enough to outright defeat them, health-stealing effects are permanent, so they won't be able to heal to recover. Reign of the Black Empire launches October 20. You can pre-purchase a bundle that includes 60 Black Empire packs, two random legendary cards, and an Eonar card back, or the mega bundle that includes 80 Black Empire packs, 10 golden packs, one signature Drest’agath card, one golden legendary C'Thun, Eye of the Empire Card, four tavern tickets, and the Eonar Druid hero skin and card back. Blizzard also recently announced that the Monk, Hearthstone's first new class since 2022, will be coming in 2027. Other changes are also in store for Hearthstone in the near future, including a Battlegrounds season with a new minion type, and a revamp to the quest system that will focus more on telling a continuous story.

Title: Metroid Ravenous Logo Memes Make Phrases Like “Girl Dinner” And “They Took My Ass” Look So Metal Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 19:16:04 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/metroid-ravenous-logo-memes-make-phrases-like-girl-dinner-and-they-took-my-ass-look-so-metal/ Hype emanating from the reveal of Metroid Ravenous has translated into an onslaught of memes after a logo generator circulated online. If you're on Reddit or Bluesky, you may have seen the instantly iconic image of Samus Aran aggressively pinning down a mysterious enemy for consumption, but now accompanied by stupid text like "I ASKED FOR NO PICKLES" in the Metroid Ravenous font. The Pixelframe Design website unveiled a tool that lets anyone input any text and style it to look like the grainy and jagged Metroid Ravenous logo, with four options for the image background. Pixelframe Design previously made similar logo generators for games like GTA 6, The Duskbloods, and famously, Pokopia. https://bsky.app/profile/pixelframe.bsky.social/post/3mvlab7xqde2o The apparent hook of Metroid Ravenous is Samus's need to kill and consume her enemies to survive. Naturally, that has led to food-related memes like a riff on the "55 burgers" scene from I Think You Should Leave, a reference to the viral concept of "girl dinner," or a simple but effective "Om Nom Nom" joke. Literally any wording you put into the generator will look more badass in this font. https://www.reddit.com/r/Metroid/comments/1whfq4q/hungry_samus_thats_it_thats_the_joke/ It's also been amusing to see other video game titles like Hello Kitty Island Adventure in the Ravenous font face, and several other of these memes are just vulgar and gross enough to be hilarious. Don't expect any of this to become official Nintendo marketing material. https://bsky.app/profile/gusbod.bsky.social/post/3mvlioodyv22v The Metroid subreddit was briefly jam-packed with these images, leading to moderators creating a megathread devoted to the meme template. Hilariously, many of the top-upvoted comments are Ravenous memes dunking on the mods. Revealed during the September 2026 Nintendo Direct, Metroid Ravenous is a follow-up to 2021's Metroid Dread and a return to the 2D track of the franchise. While Nintendo hasn't officially commented on who is developing Ravenous, Dread studio MercurySteam hinted that it's behind the upcoming title on social media. Metroid Ravenous releases on January 28, 2027, and a special edition coming with a steelbook and Amiibo figure will also come out.

Title: Resident Evil Director Was In Horrible Pain Making The Movie Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 19:15:13 +0000 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/resident-evil-director-was-in-horrible-pain-making-the-movie/ Resident Evil director Zach Cregger has revealed he was going through hell while making the movie, which is about a man going through hell. He told The Hollywood Reporter that he had pneumonia for the first half of filming on Resident Evil. For the second half of production, he had Campylobacter jejuni. This causes diarrhea, and man, that sucks for anyone, but especially if you're trying to film a big-budget, highly anticipated film based on a property with legions of fans and great expectations creatively and commercially. "So I was very, very ill for the whole production, and everything felt so barely in control because my body was failing me," Cregger explained. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNd1gb19A-c Cregger said he credits his "wonderful, talented" department leads to help him through, while he also praised Resident Evil star Austin Abrams for going above and beyond. He said Abrams is "one of the most can-do, positive people I’ve ever met. I was spoiled by the people around me." Not only was Cregger physically sick while making Resident Evil, he had to deal with freezing-cold conditions in the north of the Czech Republic where the movie was filmed. "We froze our asses off," he said. This wasn't the first time Cregger was dealing with physical turmoil while making a movie. On his last film, Weapons, it was so hot and humid that he needed an IV and directed scenes remotely. Resident Evil releases on September 18, and it's expected to have a huge, record-setting opening weekend. The movie stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier named Bryan who is an "idiot" everyman who finds himself in a world of pain.

Title: 13 years later, Mads Mikkelsen's 39-Episode Thriller Masterpiece is Officially Free on Streaming Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 02:34:15 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/hannibal-free-to-stream-pluto-tv/ When you think about horror and romance, it’s easy to see them as two contrasting genres. But look at media like Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak to see how romance can add a frightening, even melancholic, element to a scary story, making it all the more memorable. Both movies show how love can turn us into monsters, but another horror classic perfected the same metaphor—and it's free to stream on Pluto TV.

Title: 'John Wick' Meets 'Office Space' in This Bonkers Action Movie That's Free on YouTube Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 01:34:14 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/wanted-movie-streaming-free-youtube/ The summer after my freshman year of college, I returned home to partake in a favorite pastime among my group of friends: staying up far too late and seeing stupid movies at our local theater. That summer, we also founded a highly competitive Wiffle ball league, complete with drafted teams and a custom-built backstop with its own strike zone.

Title: 30 Years Ago, a Japanese Sci-Fi Fantasy Spinoff Quietly Transformed RPGs Forever Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 23:30:17 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/30-years-ago-a-moody-atlus-spinoff-paved-the-way-for-a-massive-rpg-transformation/ Today, many RPG fans are well acquainted with Persona 3, which originally debuted in Japan on July 13, 2006. That game carried the series to new levels of success, ensuring a reliable audience for each new entry. Just look at how many people are eagerly awaiting Persona 6, a full 20 years later.

Title: Enter Polygon's Point It Out Giveaway! Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 23:00:14 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/secretlab-polygon-point-it-out-giveaway-contest/ In case you missed it, Polygon's Editor-in-Chief Matt Patches and Supervising Video Producer Simone de Rochefort are gracing the YouTube space with a new weekly news show called Point It Out! To celebrate its launch, we've partnered with our friends at Secretlab to send a brand-new chair to three lucky winners over the course of three weeks.

Title: South Park’s New Season Is Officially the Biggest Sitcom on Streaming After Just 1 Episode Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 21:35:40 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/south-park-america-tv-season-29-streaming-success/ "South American Biker Gangs" is South Park's debut as South America, and it's also the first episode of season 29. It seems that fans were particularly curious about how the show would handle this rebranding, as it quickly became the most-watched sitcom on a global scale after a single episode aired.

Title: Boots on the Ground: ‘WARDOGS’ Goes All Out on GeForce NOW at Early-Access Launch Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:00:18 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-wardogs/ Gear up: The latest PC games and major updates are ready to play on GeForce NOW this week. WARDOGS drops onto the cloud at early-access launch, alongside the Valheim 1.0 Deep North update and Bus Simulator 27 — part of nine new titles joining the cloud. The newest PC releases can demand serious hardware, storage space and upgrade budgets. GeForce NOW puts GeForce RTX-powered performance in the cloud, so members can jump into the newest titles across supported devices without needing expensive PC upgrades to keep up. From a 100-player tactical firefight to a frozen Viking frontier and a growing bus empire, every adventure is ready when members are — no downloads or storage management required. Who Let the ‘WARDOGS’ Out?   Take on the Control Zone: WARDOGS launches on GeForce NOW today, bringing BULKHEAD’s large-scale tactical first-person shooter to the cloud at early-access launch. Up to 100 players across three teams battle to control randomized zones in a large-scale military sandbox, where tactical gunplay, combined-arms combat, building and destruction can change the course of a match. There’s no single route to victory. Outfit a loadout, coordinate a squad, fortify a strategic position or take the fight to the enemy in vehicles. Every team play action earns cash, giving players more ways to invest in gear and vehicles that can turn the tide. Ultimate members can stream the fight with GeForce RTX 5080-class performance in the cloud for a tactical advantage. Pick up the battle across supported devices without waiting on a huge game install or clearing local storage first. Ice, Ice in the Deep North, Baby Sharpen the axes and raise the shields – Valheim has left early access with its 1.0 update, letting members stream the final biome in Iron Gate’s Viking survival saga through Steam and Xbox Store.  Set sail for the Deep North, a frozen frontier filled with new enemies to face, weapons to craft and strongholds to build before the cold closes in. The 1.0 launch also arrives alongside new platform versions with full crossplay support, making it easier to rally the clan. Whether returning to a long-running world on a PC or Mac or beginning a fresh voyage on a Steam Deck or Amazon Fire TV Stick, members can head to the Deep North across supported devices without waiting for downloads. The Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round in the Cloud The route to the top starts here. Hop into the driver’s seat. Bus Simulator 27 is now streaming from GeForce NOW.  Drive a fleet of more than 45 officially licensed buses from 13 manufacturers through Felicia Bay, a sunny region with two cities, 20 districts and a full day-and-night cycle. Build routes, manage timetables and grow a successful bus company in Story, Career or Sandbox mode. And there’s even more to stream from the GeForce NOW library this week: Bus Simulator 27 (New release on Steam, Sept. 8) Halloween: The Game (New release on Steam, Sept. 8) Honeycomb: The World Beyond (New release on Steam, Sept. 8) Wanderburg (New release on Steam, Sept. 8) Shroom and Gloom (New release on Steam, Sept. 10) Train Sim World 7 – Advanced Access (New release on Steam, Sept. 10) WARDOGS (New release on Steam, Sept. 10) Welcome to Elderfield (New release on Steam, Sept. 10) Death Stranding Director’s Cut (Epic Games Store) Dates listed above reflect when games are released on their respective stores. GeForce NOW availability may vary, as games are onboarded after release and added throughout the week. Keep an eye on GeForce NOW channels and GFN Thursdays for availability updates on announced titles. One GFN community member recently returned after six years, saying NVIDIA DLSS 5 technology renewed their interest in GeForce NOW cloud gaming. Ready to try it out, too? Start with a day pass to test premium cloud gaming before committing to a membership. For those who decide to keep playing, the cost can be applied toward their first monthly membership. What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below.

Title: ‘NBA 2K27’ With NVIDIA DLSS 5 Leads 28 New Games Coming to GeForce NOW Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2026 13:00:35 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-september-2026-games-list/ September is here with 28 more games streaming on GeForce NOW this month, led by a slam dunk: NBA 2K27 with the NVIDIA DLSS 5 3D-Guided Neural Rendering feature. Through NVIDIA’s close collaboration with Visual Concepts and 2K, DLSS 5 brings a new level of lifelike lighting and material detail to the court — tuned by developers to support the game’s authentic broadcast-style presentation. Members can also walk the line between human and vampire in Rebel Wolves’ The Blood of Dawnwalker and step into genma-haunted Kyoto in Capcom’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword — part of the 10 games joining the GeForce NOW library this week. Take the Court With DLSS 5 Showcase your moves. NVIDIA, Visual Concepts and 2K have brought DLSS 5 3D-Guided Neural Rendering to NBA 2K27, delivering a new level of sports realism for players streaming from the cloud at launch.  DLSS 5 enhances and tunes lighting and materials to make the action feel even more lifelike — from how light catches hair and skin to the detail preserved in the facial geometry of real-world athletes — achieving new levels of authenticity.  GeForce NOW Ultimate members in NVIDIA-operated regions can stream NBA 2K27 across PCs, Macs, handhelds, mobile devices, TVs and more. DLSS 5 is available when streaming from a GeForce RTX 5080-powered rig in the cloud. Tip off without waiting for downloads or managing storage, and experience NBA 2K27 from the cloud with the visual fidelity of DLSS 5. Walk the Line Between Day and Night Human by day. Vampire by night. Rebel Wolves’ newly launched The Blood of Dawnwalker is streaming from GeForce NOW. The open-world, dark-fantasy action role-playing game transports players to 14th-century Europe, where war, plague and rising vampire powers have reshaped history. Play as Coen, a young Dawnwalker fighting to save his family while caught between his humanity and cursed vampiric strength. His abilities — and the choices available to him — change between day and night, shaping how players explore, fight and uncover the secrets of the world around them. Sink teeth into the fresh adventure from nearly any supported device, with Ultimate members tapping into GeForce RTX 5080-class performance in the cloud. Skip the installs and let GeForce NOW handle the heavy lifting, leaving more time to take a bite out of everything Coen’s new world has to offer. Skip the Downloads and Sharpen the Sword Pick up the Oni Gauntlet. Capcom’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword arrives on GeForce NOW at launch, giving members a way to jump straight into the series’ return instantly from the cloud. Fight across a twisted vision of Edo-period Kyoto as a lone samurai wielding the mystical Oni Gauntlet. Master precise swordplay, unleash powerful abilities and absorb the souls of fallen enemies while battling relentless Genma beneath mysterious clouds of Malice. Ultimate members can stream every clash with GeForce RTX 5080-class performance in the cloud across PCs, Macs, handhelds, mobile devices, TVs, the newly supported Firefox browser and more. Cut to the chase by skipping any downloads and storage management and step into battle. In addition, members can look for the following titles streaming this week: Breathedge 2 (New release on Steam, Aug. 31) Serious Sam: Shatterverse (New release on Steam, Aug. 31) Crimson Moon (New release on Steam, Sept. 1) The Blood of Dawnwalker (New release on Steam, Sept. 2) NBA 2K27 (New release on Steam, Sept. 3) SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed (New release on Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass, Sept. 3) Onimusha: Way of the Sword (New release on Steam, Sept. 4) How to Fish (Steam) Shelves and Sorcery: Tidy Up the Enchanted Shop (Steam) VHOLUME (Steam) And look forward to the games coming throughout the month: Bus Simulator 27 (New release on Steam, Sept. 8) Halloween: The Game (New release on Steam, Sept. 8) Honeycomb: The World Beyond (New release on Steam, Sept. 8) Wanderburg (New release on Steam, Sept. 8) Shroom and Gloom (New release on Steam, Sept. 10) WARDOGS (New release on Steam, Sept. 10) Welcome to Elderfield (New release on Steam, Sept. 10) Active Matter (New release on Steam, Sept. 15) Aniimo (New release on Steam, Sept. 15) Train Sim World 7 (New release on Steam, Sept. 15) The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410 (New release on Steam, Sept. 17) CONTROL Resonant (New release on Steam, Sept. 24) Nivalis Nights (New release on Steam, Sept. 29) Mixtape (Steam)  Neon White (Steam)  Outer Wilds (Steam)  Stray (Steam) What Remains of Edith Finch (Steam) All the Extras From August In addition to the 26 games announced last month, 18 more joined the GeForce NOW library.  Cat Mail Co. (Steam) Monster Hunter Wilds Prologue Demo (Steam) Stars Reach (Steam) DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain (Steam) Escape the Backroom (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Hell Is Us (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Parcel Simulator (Steam) The Thaumaturge (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered (Epic Games Store) STAR WARS Zero Company (EA app and Steam) Baldur’s Gate 3 (GOG) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (GOG) Cold Fear (GOG) IRON NEST: Heavy Turret Simulator (Steam) Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (GOG) Mount & Blade: Bannerlord II (GOG) No Man’s Sky (GOG) The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (GOG) Dates listed above reflect when games are released on their respective stores. GeForce NOW availability may vary, as games are onboarded after release and added throughout the week. Keep an eye on GeForce NOW channels and GFN Thursdays for availability updates on announced titles. New to GeForce NOW? Start with a day pass to try premium cloud gaming before committing to a membership. Better yet, the cost of the day pass can be applied toward a first monthly membership — making it easy to try GeForce RTX-powered cloud gaming with the latest releases, then level up for more. What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below.

Title: GeForce NOW Gives Gamers More Ways to Play at Gamescom 2026 Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:00:33 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-gamescom-2026/ NVIDIA’s Gamescom announcements are revealing what’s next for GeForce NOW, with new ways to play, more supported devices and platforms, and even more big PC games headed to the cloud. New NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 technology controls give members more ways to fine-tune gameplay, while expanded support for new Steam devices, GOG single sign-on, Firefox browser support and more Amazon Fire TV devices continue broadening where and how GeForce RTX-powered PC gaming can be enjoyed. Gamescom is also bringing a blockbuster lineup of PC games to GeForce NOW. CONTROL Resonant, Gears of War: E-Day, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, The Blood of Dawnwalker and STAR WARS Zero Company are all coming to the cloud at launch.  For a limited time, members can also get CONTROL Resonant with the purchase of a 12-month GeForce NOW Ultimate membership. The Gamescom extras don’t stop there. To celebrate, GeForce NOW is giving away more than 40 prizes in our Community Giveaway — including gaming hardware and GeForce NOW Ultimate memberships. There’s even more fun to come. Check out the list of 13 games joining the GeForce NOW library this week. Next-Level Cloud Gaming More ways to choose how to play. This fall, GeForce NOW is introducing new NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 controls in the cloud, giving Ultimate members more choice over how supported games look and perform, even without the latest hardware. Powered by NVIDIA RTX graphics, each control offers something different: DLSS Super Resolution sharpens image quality, while Dynamic Frame Generation delivers lower latency and stutter for smoother streaming, and Ray Reconstruction enhances ray-traced visuals. Together, these technologies make it easier to tune supported games for image quality, responsiveness or a preferred balance between the two.  Stay tuned to GFN Thursdays for details about best practices for enabling DLSS 4.5 overrides and how Dynamic Frame Generation can help Ultimate members enable more graphic settings while still getting smooth streaming. Stream full steam ahead with the Steam ecosystem. GeForce NOW is also adding community-requested support for Steam Machine with Steam Controller later this fall, and later for Windows and macOS, delivering more ways to play and making it even easier for longtime Steam players to jump into the cloud using familiar hardware. The additions build on existing Steam Deck support and expand compatibility across the Steam ecosystem. Get your GOG on with one click into the library. Launching GOG games just got even easier. With GOG single sign-on now available on GeForce NOW, members can securely link their account once, automatically sync supported games and launch them without having to sign in to GOG again — all with a single click. With fewer steps between opening the app, skipping any downloads and jumping into gameplay, it’s another way GeForce NOW continues streamlining access to PC gaming libraries, making it easier to play the GOG library of games on TV platforms since gamers are automatically logged into their GOG accounts. Find popular titles, like Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, in the app in the dedicated GOG row. Or search and filter for GOG games, then jump into supported titles from almost anywhere — all streamed from the cloud. Check back on GFN Thursdays for the latest games joining the GeForce NOW library, including newly supported games streaming from GOG. Outfox nearly any device with GeForce RTX gaming. Plus, GeForce NOW is now officially supported on Firefox, expanding browser access across all major Windows browsers. Members can jump into supported PC games directly from Firefox without downloading a dedicated app. Ultimate members can enjoy GeForce RTX-powered gaming at up to 1440p and 120 frames per second. Simply download the latest version of Firefox and visit play.geforcenow.com to get started. The cloud handles downloads, installs and updates, keeping local storage free while games stay ready to play in the cloud.  Bring the fire to living rooms with GeForce NOW. GeForce NOW is expanding support to additional Amazon Fire TV devices. GeForce NOW first launched on Fire TV devices earlier this year, and will soon expand to the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, a 4K streaming stick that’s ready to game right out of the box. Streaming from the cloud means supported PC games are ready to play using a compatible controller, making it easy to enjoy GeForce NOW on the biggest screen in the house with even more options to play from the comfort of the couch.  And that’s not all the awesomeness from Amazon. Later this year, Fire TV users will be able to purchase GeForce NOW memberships directly through Amazon, creating a more seamless path from device setup to gameplay. These new features will arrive alongside some of the biggest games coming to the cloud throughout the year. Get Ready for Launch Five newly announced and highly anticipated games are coming to GeForce NOW at launch: CONTROL Resonant, Gears of War: E-Day, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, The Blood of Dawnwalker and STAR WARS Zero Company.  Better yet, members can lock in one of them early: For a limited time, purchase a 12-month GeForce NOW Ultimate membership and receive CONTROL Resonant at launch at no additional cost, and be first to experience Faden’s next chapter. The offer is available Tuesday, Aug. 25, through Sunday, Sept. 27. Ultimate members can stream the full lineup with GeForce RTX 5080-class performance in the cloud, including NVIDIA DLSS 4, ray tracing, NVIDIA Reflex and Cinematic Quality Streaming technologies, with up to 5K high dynamic range on supported devices.  Whether diving into new worlds or returning to iconic franchises, GeForce NOW lets members skip expensive hardware upgrades, massive installs and storage management so they can jump straight into the action the moment each game launches. Here’s a closer look at what’s coming: Contain the chaos. Explore a warped Manhattan on the brink of paranatural annihilation in Remedy’s CONTROL Resonant. Harness Dylan Faden’s extraordinary powers to battle the Hiss, the Mold and other reality-bending threats while searching for his sister, Federal Bureau of CONTROL Director Jesse Faden. Emergence begins. Experience the horror and brutality of Emergence Day in the Coalition’s Gears of War: E-Day. Fourteen years before the original Gears of War, join Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago in a gripping origin-story campaign as the Locust Horde first erupt from below, igniting a desperate fight for survival. Rally squads and fight on in multiplayer with a reimagination of Gears’ iconic PvE mode, Horde Siege, or go head to head with a refined versus PvP. Pick up the Oni Gauntlet. Fight across a twisted vision of Edo-period Kyoto in Capcom’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Wield the mystical Oni Gauntlet, master intense swordplay and battle relentless demonic Genma beneath mysterious clouds of Malice. Walk the line between day and night. Step into 14th-century Europe in Bandai Namco’s The Blood of Dawnwalker, where war, plague and rising vampire powers have reshaped history. Play as Coen, a young Dawnwalker torn between humanity and cursed strength, and shape his path while fighting to save his family. Command the galaxy’s finest. Lead an elite squad behind enemy lines in STAR WARS Zero Company, a single-player turn-based game set during the twilight of the Clone Wars. Command former Republic officer Hawks and Zero Company through tactical battles and high-stakes missions where strategy, squad composition and player choices shape the fate of the galaxy. More Ways to Win Gaming gear and Ultimate memberships are up for grabs. GeForce NOW is marking Gamescom with a community giveaway featuring more than 40 prizes. Gamers will have a chance to score a MacBook Neo, Steam Deck or Chromebook — each paired with a one-year GeForce NOW Ultimate membership — along with Amazon Fire TV Sticks and GeForce NOW Ultimate memberships ranging from one month to one year. Head over to the GeForce NOW community on Reddit for all the giveaway details and how to enter. The Hunt Is On Squad up and fight for survival in Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2, streaming on GeForce NOW this week at launch. Assemble a four-player fireteam of Colonial Marines and battle through swarms of Xenomorphs, deadly new threats and increasingly desperate encounters. With deeper squad mechanics, new and improved classes, smarter enemies and expanded customization, every mission puts teamwork — and nerves — to the test. Members can also look for the following games joining the cloud this week: Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 (New release on Steam, Aug. 25) Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy (New release on Steam and Xbox, Aug. 27, available on Game Pass) STAR WARS Zero Company (New release on EA app and Steam, Aug. 27) Baldur’s Gate 3 (GOG) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 – Open Beta Weekend (Battle.net, Steam and Xbox available from Aug. 28 10am PDT  to Sep. 1 at 10am PDT. For more information please visit the Call of Duty website). Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (GOG) Cold Fear (GOG) IRON NEST: Heavy Turret Simulator (Steam) Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (GOG) Mount & Blade: Bannerlord II (GOG) No Man’s Sky (GOG) Paradise Killer (Steam) The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (GOG) Dates listed above reflect when games are released on their respective stores. GeForce NOW availability may vary, as games are onboarded after release and added throughout the week. Keep an eye on GeForce NOW channels and GFN Thursdays for availability updates on announced titles. To experience GeForce NOW, gamers can start with a GeForce NOW day pass and try premium cloud gaming before committing to a membership. Better yet, the cost of a day pass can be applied toward a first membership purchase, making it even easier to level up when ready. Check back every GFN Thursday for new games, new features and even more ways to play on GeForce NOW. Which Gamescom announcement has you most excited? Let us know on X or in the comments below.  The future of PC gaming is on display with GeForce NOW. DLSS 4.5 controlsExpanded device support Upcoming AAA games More ways to play Community giveaway Firefox browser support… and more! #gamescom Details https://t.co/Rz6RnX0Pt4 pic.twitter.com/sShKRhzrD3 — NVIDIA GeForce NOW (@NVIDIAGFN) August 25, 2026

Title: Leading Publishers Bring Blockbuster PC Games and Technology to NVIDIA RTX Spark Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:30:48 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/gamescom-rtx-spark-pc-games-technology/ NVIDIA is bringing the next wave of RTX gaming to the Gamescom conference running this week in Cologne, Germany, with support for new games, anti-cheat technologies and increased visual quality.  Electronic Arts, Embark and Ubisoft are among the latest game publishers and developers bringing their blockbuster titles to NVIDIA RTX Spark ahead of its launch this fall. They join the publishers that announced RTX Spark support at COMPUTEX in May, including KRAFTON, NetEase, Riot Games and XBOX.  NVIDIA is working closely with game developers and ecosystem partners to ensure today’s top PC games — including EA’s EA SPORTS F1 25 and Apex Legends, Ubisoft’s Anno 117: Pax Romana and Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders and THE FINALS — run seamlessly on RTX Spark devices. “We’re excited to bring Anno 117: Pax Romana to a new generation of RTX-powered PCs,” said Stéphane Jankowski, Ubisoft executive producer of Anno 117 : Pax Romana. “Our teams build the game to be seen wide: full districts, long sightlines, thousands of details at once. Seeing RTX Spark hold that level of fidelity from a single chip is genuinely impressive.” RTX Spark reinvents personal computing, bringing personal AI agents, advanced content creation and high-performance gaming together in a platform engineered from the ground up for the next wave of Windows PCs. For gamers, RTX Spark combines Windows devices with NVIDIA RTX technologies, including DLSS and Reflex.  Bringing Anti-Cheat to RTX Spark Supporting modern PC gaming goes beyond running the game itself. Many of today’s biggest online games rely on sophisticated anti-cheat technologies, to enable fair play across the multiple platforms these games run on.   NVIDIA has been working with EA to bring native EA Javelin Anticheat support to RTX Spark, including for EA’s biggest multiplayer games, such as EA SPORTS F1 25. RTX Spark launches this fall.  RTX Delivers Next-Generation Gaming RTX Spark is just one part of NVIDIA’s lineup of gaming announcements at Gamescom, including: DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction is available now, featuring NVIDIA’s latest second-generation transformer model to deliver even higher image quality in ray- and path-traced content. It replaces traditional denoisers with an NVIDIA supercomputer-trained AI network to reconstruct higher-quality pixels in the parts of a ray-traced frame where rays were not sampled. Path tracing comes to CONTROL Resonant and 007 First Light to deliver new levels of visual fidelity.  NVIDIA ACE technologies are coming to Aniimo in early 2027, letting players naturally interact with their creatures. Gears of War: E-Day includes RTX Mega Geometry integration, advancing image quality on GeForce RTX GPUs, alongside ray tracing and DLSS 4.5. RTX Remix keeps remastering PC classics, with a major Painkiller RTX mod update available now and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind RTX coming soon. GeForce NOW gives members more ways to play with new DLSS 4.5 controls, expanded support for Steam Machine and other devices and platforms, plus blockbuster PC games including CONTROL Resonant, Gears of War: E-Day and more coming to the cloud at launch. Find more on NVIDIA’s announcements at Gamescom in this GeForce article. 

Title: Bring the Fire: Play Games on GeForce NOW With New Firefox Browser Support Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:00:24 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-firefox/ It’s a new way into the cloud.  GeForce NOW welcomes Firefox support to the cloud, opening up another way to jump into high-performance PC gaming straight from the browser, starting today. Whether on a school laptop or everyday PC, it’s now even easier to play supported PC games without downloading a dedicated app. Plus, discover 12 new games streaming from the GeForce NOW library this week, led by Gallipoli.  No Downloads. Just Firefox. This cloud is on fire with new ways to play on Firefox. GeForce NOW is now supported on Firefox, expanding access across even more devices.  Members can outfox big downloads and jump into high-performance PC gaming directly from the browser — no waiting on lengthy game installs or updates. The experience delivers GeForce RTX-powered performance at up to 1440p and 120 frames per second for GeForce NOW Ultimate members.  Simply download the latest version of Firefox, head to play.geforcenow.com and start playing. The cloud handles the heavy lifting, so games are ready to play without taking up valuable storage space on the device. Firefox joins Chrome, Edge and Opera in supporting GeForce NOW on Windows browsers. Deploy the Games Land on the beaches of the Gallipoli Peninsula in BlackMill Games’ Gallipoli, the latest entry in the WW1 Game Series. Fight as soldiers of the British and Ottoman Empires in intense 25v25 objective-based battles across coastal shores, deserts and urban battlefields, with 10 historical classes and over 50 authentic weapons and equipment options. Teamwork is key in its grounded, one-shot-one-kill combat. Take command as an Officer, provide cover as a Heavy Machine Gunner or Sniper, keep the squad going as a Stretcher Bearer and more while navigating challenging campaigns. Head to the frontlines from the cloud with no lengthy game downloads or installs taking up local storage space. Play directly in the newly supported Firefox browser, or take the action across PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, handhelds and more with GeForce NOW cloud saves. In addition, members can look for the following games streaming throughout the week: Stars Reach (New release on Steam, Aug. 18) The Sinking City 2 (New release on Steam, Aug. 18) Gallipoli (New release on Steam, Aug. 20) DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain (Steam) Escape the Backroom (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Hell Is Us (Xbox, available on Game Pass) High on Life (Steam) High on Life 2 (Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass) Parcel Simulator (Steam) Starvester (Steam) The Thaumaturge (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered (Epic Games Store) Dates listed above reflect when games are released on their respective stores. GeForce NOW availability may vary, as games are onboarded after release and added throughout the week. Keep an eye on GeForce NOW channels and GFN Thursdays for availability updates on announced titles. To try GeForce NOW in Firefox, start with a GeForce NOW day pass and experience premium cloud gaming directly from the browser. If members later upgrade to a Performance or Ultimate membership, the cost of the day pass can be applied toward the first membership purchase. What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below.

Title: Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance hands-on report – taking on new monster Araketa and Elder Dragon Teostra Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 01:00:21 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/09/16/monster-hunter-wilds-ascendance-hands-on-report-taking-on-new-monster-araketa-and-elder-dragon-teostra/ Currently in development for release in 2027, Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance is a massive expansion that adds new storyline, areas, monsters, actions, and Master Rank to the game. At the PlayStation booth during Tokyo Game Show 2026, we got the very first opportunity to play a hands-on demo of the title. This demo offered three quest types featuring Chatacabra, the boss variant of new monster Araketa, and Elder Dragon Teostra. Here is what we learned from experiencing the new Boost Action mechanics firsthand and hunting Araketa in the new Skybound Eyrie area. Experiencing Boost Action, the new feature evolving the hunt even further Added in Ascendance, Boost Action is a new mechanic that unleashes weapon specific attacks and empowers certain weapon actions for a limited duration by activating the Boost Bracer. What stood out during this demo was how seamlessly Boost Action integrates with existing moves to sustain continuous attacks. Because Boost triggering actions can be activated mid combo or right when you are exposed after finishing an attack, you can instantly press the offensive without breaking momentum. The Boost gauge fills gradually over time and with every strike landed. Crucially, destroying wounds with Focus Strike while in the Boost state recharges the draining gauge, enabling high-level tactics such as shattering a wound just before Boost wears off to keep the momentum going. Armed with the Sword and Shield, the Boost activation move delivered lightning fast mobility while slashing through monsters. Closing the gap on distant targets to dive inside their guard and unleash devastating boosted combos feels exhilarating. Triggering it up close pivots you instantly around to their flank, doubling as a brilliant dodge mechanic. Taking on the Araketa pack in the new Skybound Eyrie area Next, we jumped into a quest to hunt the boss variant of the new monster Araketa in the breathtaking Skybound Eyrie. While traversing this realm dotted with floating islands, mounting your Seikret lets you catch updrafts, rocket skyward, and seamlessly glide between floating landmasses. Towering ruins loomed in the distance against a crystal-clear blue sky, creating an awe-inspiring backdrop. The target monster Araketa hunts in packs, and without Slinger Dung Bombs to scatter them on this run, we were forced to clash with multiple beasts at once. Araketa inflates its wings with air to blast hunters back or rocket forward in heavy charge attacks. Watch those wings closely, as a massive swell signals an incoming strike. What truly stole the show was the terrifying coordination between the boss variant and its pack. The alpha barks commands to send pack members pouncing in rapid succession, culminating in a signature ultimate move where the entire pack leaps into the heavens before diving straight down in a synchronized, high speed charge. Throwing up a hasty Great Sword guard was nowhere near enough, sending us hurtling through the air. Fortunately, the boss exposes a throat weak spot whenever it roars, and landing a clutch Focus Strike successfully cuts off its orders to the pack. Weaponizing Gundoraja, a small creature inhabiting the area, adds fantastic dynamic flair to the hunt. Wrapped in rock solid hide, a curled up Gundoraja can be hoisted directly by hand and hurled at targets. Sniping the hyper active Araketa takes real precision, but connecting delivers a heavy blow that staggers the monster in its tracks. The assault was so relentless that we completely forgot to trigger Boost state at times, even with a maxed out Boost gauge. Somehow, we managed to take down the boss variant right before time ran out. It was a fierce uphill battle, but nothing beats the sheer thrill of hunting a brand new monster for the first time. Given another chance, we  can’t wait to thoroughly explore every corner of Skybound Eyrie. New attacks arrive in the battle against Teostra Finally, we stepped into the Oilwell Basin to go head-to-head with Elder Dragon Teostra. Alongside franchise staples like charges, flame breath, and blast explosions, this demo showcased brand new attack patterns we had never seen before. What left the biggest impression was a terrifying move where Teostra rears high and slams both forelegs down with crushing force. Attempting to circle around its flank, Teostra remained upright while pivoting on the spot to realign its target. Luckily, a quick reaction with the Switch Axe Offset Rising Slash landed cleanly, deflecting the heavy slam right back at the monster. While the windup looks horrifying, mastering the timing makes for an incredibly rewarding counter option. Fighting Teostra inside the Oilwell Basin created an especially toxic combination. Whenever dust scattered to signal an impending blast, getting stuck in thick oil mud repeatedly sabotaged our movement, continually robbing us of the precious seconds needed to dodge away. While Teostra remains an absolute nightmare to fight, leveraging Focus Mode, wound destruction, and new Boost Actions allowed us to trade blows effectively. Ultimately, a devastating surprise hit wiped out our health, and exhausting our recovery items triggered a heart breaking quest failed screen as time expired. Between breathtaking new locales, formidable beasts, and revolutionary combat depth brought by Boost Action, this short taste proved that Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance is set to evolve monster hunting in spectacular ways. Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance launches on PS5 in 2027.

Title: A Close Quarters Look at Proto Man in Mega Man: Dual Override Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 01:00:12 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/09/16/a-close-quarters-look-at-proto-man-in-mega-man-dual-override/ At long last, the Blue Bomber is leaping back into action with Mega Man: Dual Override. However, he’s not the only one making a return in the highly anticipated game. Capcom’s latest evolution of the Mega Man series also features a second playable character! Proto Man is making his comeback in Mega Man: Dual Override, and the fan favorite is armed with a powerful playstyle that’s entirely his own. Today, we’re excited to share a closer look at Proto Man and the unique arsenal he’ll unleash in this all-new adventure. Proto Man’s return in Dual Override is something we’ve been teasing from the very jump. Fans may have heard his signature whistle in our reveal trailer, but now it’s official. Proto Man is back, and in the latest footage, you can catch the first look at him in action. Alongside the arrival of Mega Man: Dual Override, next year marks the 40th anniversary of the series. It’s a long legacy, and Proto Man has been a key part of that story over the years. As Dr. Light’s first creation, he’s the legendary prototype who started it all. The mysterious red-clad robot originally debuted as an adversary in Mega Man 3. Over time, however, Proto Man has moved beyond his rivalry with the Blue Bomber. Now, he’s a trusted ally who appears when Mega Man is in trouble, lending a hand when it matters most. It’s been a bit since Proto Man’s last appearance as a playable character in Mega Man 10, but he’s picked up some new tricks since then. Over the course of Dual Override, players will discover Proto Man and Mega Man each excel in different areas, possessing their own distinct strengths, combat philosophies, and even progression systems. Contrasting with Mega Man’s longer-range approach to combat, Proto Man excels in close quarters. The wandering warrior has a more aggressive but technical playstyle that rewards rushing into the fray with precision. His iconic weapon, the Proto Buster, may have a relatively short range, but it packs a serious punch with high attack power at point blank. The Proto Shield also returns in Dual Override, and this time around, players will have the chance to wield it on both offense and defense, as part of Proto Man’s special abilities. Unlike Mega Man, who replicates the powers of Robot Masters he defeats, Proto Man walks his own path. By defeating bosses over the course of the journey, he’ll unlock new attacks (many of which revolve around his shield), reinforcing his role as a close-range fighter. Instead of switching between these tools one at a time, Proto Man will develop a versatile loadout of Shield Actions that can all be used on command to tap into more offense and mobility on the fly. However, this power comes at a cost. Overreliance on these skills puts a strain on Proto Man’s body, causing him to overheat with repeated use. So please be mindful of Proto Man’s temperature to help him stay cool in the heat of battle. Choice and customization are also at the core of Dual Override. Beyond selecting between Mega Man and Proto Man, players can also enjoy added flexibility with the Custom Chip system – one of the brand-new gameplay features in Dual Override. There are more than 50 chips in the game, each of which grants an active ability or passive effect, so you can experiment by creating tailor-made builds with countless combinations. Whether it’s more offense, survivability, or something else entirely, Custom Chips open up a whole new world of tactical options for Mega Man and Proto Man to explore. Another one of the game’s key features (it’s in the title, after all!) is the Override system. This new addition allows the game’s dual protagonists to transcend their normal limits, unleashing tremendous power and amplifying their abilities for a short period of time. You can catch a glimpse of Proto Man activating his explosive Override in the latest trailer. This dramatic transformation shouldn’t be undertaken lightly, though! Once Override ends, our heroes will find themselves in a more vulnerable state. So, it’s important to choose the perfect moment to pull the trigger on harnessing this high-risk, high-reward maneuver. With two playable heroes, each with their own unique playstyles, and new features that add layers of strategy to the experience, fans can look forward to plenty of variety of depth in Mega Man: Dual Override when it launches in Spring 2027 for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. Until then, you can wishlist the game now on the PlayStation Store.

Title: Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth launches on September 18 Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 17:00:05 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/09/16/moomintroll-winters-warmth-launches-on-september-18/ My name is Kristina, I work at the indie studio Hyper Games. We’re based in Norway, so you can be sure we know a lot about snow, which is great with our upcoming cozy adventure game, Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth. It is our second Moomin game and it is coming to PlayStation 5 on September 18. Our first was the cozy spring and musical adventure Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. The main character, Moomintroll, wakes up from his hibernation, but winter is still lingering and no one else in the family is ready to rouse from their slumber. Our reluctant hero then decides to bring back spring to wake everyone up and get his best friend, Snufkin, back to Moominvalley. The Moomins were created by Tove Jansson, and the first story was published in 1945. Having lived through World War II, Tove created a world away from war and facism. The stories of the Moomins reflect life itself and contain a mixture of darkness and humor, and how to get along with it all. Tove was a private, but courageous person and in addition to war, she lived through a period where having a same-gender partner was illegal. She used concealed language and creative storytelling to express love in her stories. For example, in our game you meet a character named Too-Ticky, which Tove created based on her life partner, Tuulikki Pietilä. The interactive storybook It has been such a joy creating games from the stories made by Tove Jansson and we have done our best to bring to life a world that reflects both the softness and emotional complexity of the Moomins. For Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth, we wanted to create a game that gives the players a storybook atmosphere with an aquarelle look, inspired by Tove’s own visual works. To achieve this we combined 3D shapes with proper 2D painted elements, using several shading and texturing tricks to achieve a coherent mix of the two. It is made to look like the watercolors have tinted the paper, but imperfectly like it typically can be. We try to do as much as possible in our game development engine Unity, with shader and texture work, as this makes for a concise look of it all. You can find references to Tove’s art, characters and stories in Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth. Did you see the carpet in the screenshot above? Let’s take a closer look. You can find both the Ancestor, and the Hattifatteners on the carpet. And then we have a beautiful red chair in the living room, and an X-ray of Moomintroll in his bedroom that some fans might recognise. The snow of Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth As mentioned, to get the storybook look, we have mostly flat structures, landscapes and items in the game, but we wanted the snow to feel like it has weight and move in relation to Moomintroll. The game’s terrain is created from simple shapes, and a deformable layer of snow is added. The layer will respond to interaction from characters and other elements and give the feel of actually walking through the snow. In the engine it looks like this… In the screenshot above, you can also see bushes that are flat and maybe look similar to stage props used in theater? Clever use of perspective and camera angles are possibly the closest we come to creating magic. The result are areas where soft snow gets brought up and thrown down as weighted and textured substances. It looks perfect to make snow figurines with. Available from September 18 Thank you for reading our little art deep dive, we hope you find a lot of fun art and details when playing through Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth and feel the hygge, as we would say, of Moominvalley. We leave you with concept art for a dark and cold winter forest and Moomintroll who realizes he is braver than he thought.

Title: Silent Hill: Townfall creators break down PS5 features, out September 24 Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:00:27 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/09/16/silent-hill-townfall-creators-break-down-ps5-features-out-september-25/ Silent Hill: Townfall incorporates multiple elements that draw players into its tense, unnerving world. In this post, we would like to present what developer Screen Burn focused on to realize this level of immersion, as well as how PS5 features are integrated in the game’s experience. I would first like to give a brief introduction of the game for players who are learning about Silent Hill: Townfall for the first time. This is the first full-length game in the series that is presented in first-person, and this allows players to be truly immersed in the world that the game has to offer. The limited scope of vision in this perspective turns sound into a crucial element, and 3D audio convincingly recreates nearby sounds. Simon, the protagonist, drifts through the cold seas and shores up on St. Amelia, wandering through the empty town with nothing but the objective to “put things right” to guide him. Replacing the iconic radio is a device called the CRTV, which players will hold in one hand to scout roaming monsters, search for clues to puzzles, and explore the island. Screen Burn are masters of narrative-driven puzzles, and players will get to experience the story not just through cinematics alone, but also through various puzzles in a fragmented fashion. Scattered secrets and pieces of the story come together to gradually reveal a gruesome past. As a very socially conscious story in the series, the game will present a deep narrative between the individual and the corporate as well as the individual and society at large. Play Video Building immersive horror  Generally, Silent Hill: Townfall’s style of horror is less about jump scares and gore, and more about tension and escalating uncertainty. Building that tension, sustaining it, and releasing just at the right time is one of the secret ingredients in all good horror. When that horror is interactive, and the player is free to explore at their own pace, you need complex visual, auditory and tactile systems to understand the current experience, deliver crafted moments, and react to the player’s actions.  Sound from all around  The sound design, background audio, and musical score all work together in harmony to create a truly nightmarish soundscape that conjures images and scenarios in the player’s head, even when they can’t see anything unusual in front of them.   Working with Audio Director Byron Bullock, and composer Pilotpriest, the team have gone to great efforts to ensure that the sound of the environments and its horrific inhabitants lift the believability when navigating the town, all delivered through complex and finely-tuned custom 3D audio systems, that truly give you a sense of depth and space.  A believable world to explore  St. Amelia is densely layered with true-to-the-era details, all drawn from our developers’ own experiences.  The town isn’t as dilapidated as many fans of the series will be used to. Instead, St. Amelia feels like a place that has recently gone through its own trauma, rather than left to rot after countless years of abandonment. Its world is recently lived in, and it’s deeply important to the story that players get a sense of the community that inhabits the island, and ultimately care about the issues it has faced, and what it stands to lose.  That level of detail and storytelling in the environment pulls players in, and doesn’t let go.  Ray-traced lighting helps to not only paint these scenes in beautifully soft ambient lighting from the foggy world outside, but it also means the environments react believably with your flashlight, flashing alarm lights, or the sudden shocking change from the blue-grey fog to the bright red Otherworld, layered in pipes, alarm lights, broken buildings and stained walls.   Horror in your hands  The last piece of the puzzle is in your hands as you play. Using the array of features on the DualSense Controller, we give every swing of a weapon, pull of a trigger, or thud of a heavy footstep from a nearby enemy a tactile sensation via Haptic Feedback. You can feel the weight of the trigger of each weapon uniquely via Adaptive Triggers. You can even use the Motion Controls of the controller to fine tune the CRTV, or give aiming your firearms an intuitive feel, all customizable in the game’s menu options.  Ultimately, all of the lengths we go to are designed to have you forget you are playing a game, and instead immerse you in the moment, scared to move on, but compelled to continue. That rich, atmospheric experience complements the desire to know what truly unfolded in St. Amelia, and what Simon, Zoe and Richard have to do with it all…   Silent Hill: Townfall is a brand-new, first-person Silent Hill brought to life by the PS5. We hope players will find their minds flooded with all sorts of thoughts and emotions that come from being a member of the complex modern-day society. Please experience for yourself the deep contemplations and narrative journey that Simon embarks upon. The game launches on September 24, but we will continue to share updates on Silent Hill: Townfall, so stay tuned.

Title: Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember launches March 4, 2027, demo live today Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 01:00:22 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/09/15/wo-long-2-wings-of-ember-launches-march-4-2027-demo-live-today/ Today is a big day for the Wo Long team and fans alike, as we have two incredible announcements to share. First off, we can finally let everyone know that Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember is scheduled to launch on March 4, 2027. Even better? If you want to jump into the dark action RPG early, the Alpha Demo is live today and available until September 30! In the Alpha Demo, you can play part of the Changban stage, utilizing Chinese martial arts that blend offense and defense, traversing the Three Kingdoms battlefield where demons run rampant, and engaging in combat with legendary heroes from history. As you’re waiting for the demo to download, be sure to check out our new trailer that showcases not only our hero, but the legendary figures of the Three Kingdoms as they battle against an onslaught of demons. Play Video Acrobatic Chinese martial arts with total freedom of movement As you play through the Alpha Demo, you’ll experience tense battles against powerful enemies. The gameplay balances the flow between offense and defense, so make full use of Deflect, which nullifies and redirects enemy attacks, along with the wide variety of distinctive Martial Arts techniques and weapons at your disposal. In Wo Long 2, the key is to make effective use of Insight Skills, which enhance the protagonist’s actions. These Insight Skills allow you to stave off and counter enemy attacks and send foes crashing into walls, or to slam enemies that strike from above down to the ground. Open battlefields of the Three Kingdoms where the war situation is always changing In this title, famous Three Kingdoms battlefields such as Changban and the Red Cliffs are depicted in open fields, but they’re not the same as the ancient China you’ve read about. As you cross these expansive maps, you’ll find everything from enemy strongholds to demonic lairs. How you approach them is up to you. One method is to employ a range of strategies—flank enemy lines, capture bases, set traps, or even recruit enemy generals to your side—to turn the tide of battle when the odds are stacked against you. A dark fantasy set in the turbulent age of the Three Kingdoms, brought to life by warriors and demons In Wo Long 2, an original story unfolds in a dark fantasy version of the Three Kingdoms. Elixirs of immortality and demons inspired by legendary beings from Chinese classical literature exist alongside some of the era’s greatest warriors. Characters from the previous title will continue to play important roles, but the story is designed so that even newcomers to the series can enjoy it without feeling lost. The game features multiplayer co-op and character creation, which can also be enjoyed in the limited-time Alpha Demo. We hope you’ll take this opportunity to play the Alpha Demo. Defeating the boss Wuzhiqi will earn you the special Fledgling Phoenix Helmet for use in the full game. We also ask that you share your thoughts in the survey; the development team truly appreciates all player feedback, and it makes a huge difference in shaping the final product before launch. Pre-orders are available starting today. The digital pre-order bonus includes the full Creator Goddess Garb set. In addition, the Digital Deluxe Edition is also available for pre-order. It includes the Season Pass, digital mini soundtrack, and digital mini art book. Please be sure to check it out!

Title: "15 years ago, people understood it was an unfinished game": As Endless Legend 2 hits 1.0, Amplitude reflect on how early access has changed Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:57:25 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/15-years-ago-people-understood-it-was-an-unfinished-game-as-endless-legend-2-hits-10-amplitude-reflect-on-how-early-access-has-changed Amplitude have always used early access for their games, even before Steam Early Access was a thing. Ahead of Endless Space's release in July 2012, players who preordered the game got immediate access to an alpha build that was steadily patched and updated on the lead up to launch. To this day, the studio still uses its Games2Gether program, where they discuss design issues with players and poll them for thoughts on how to proceed. Right now, there are a small group of players giving feedback on the recently announced Humankind 2. However, as Amplitude prepare to launch Endless Legend 2 after a year in early access, co-founder and CEO Romain de Waubert de Genlis readily admits "The whole thing has changed over time." Read more

Title: Low poly horror Tumblebee combines the joy of tumbling bees with the not-joy of being chased by huge spiders Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:13:56 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/low-poly-horror-tumblebee-combines-the-joy-of-tumbling-bees-with-the-not-joy-of-being-chased-by-huge-spiders For the last few years I've been labouring to transform my terror of spiders into guarded appreciation, even wonder. I've been drawing pictures of spiders, and writing stories about them. When I spy a spyder (spider) in the wild, I make a strenuous display of hunkering down to utter words like "ooh, what a beautiful False Widow, such poetry of form". Then the spider moves a fraction, and I hoot and holler on out of there, pawing imaginary silk strands from my face. Videogames like Tumblebee are not helping with this endeavour. Read more

Title: Dog in the Machine reinvents the domino tactics of Into The Breach as a mecha dog show, with players teaching their hounds tricks Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 15:20:00 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/dog-in-the-machine-reinvents-the-domino-tactics-of-into-the-breach-as-a-mecha-dog-show-with-players-teaching-their-hounds-tricks If the organisers of Crufts ever have to produce a season of Robot Wars, the results probably won't be a million miles away from Dog in the Machine - a new turn-based tactics puzzler that's sort of Into The Breach but with a greater emphasis on props and tricks. Read more

Title: MindsEye studio Build A Rocket Boy appear to be making fresh redundancies, as one staffer says he's "helping wrap things up here in the HR department" Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:50:26 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/mindseye-studio-build-a-rocket-boy-appear-to-be-making-fresh-redundancies-as-one-staffer-says-hes-helping-wrap-things-up-here-in-the-hr-department Update: The IWGB Games Worker Union have issued the following statement to RPS from vice-chair Ben Newbon: We cannot add any further insight into the heartbreaking job losses at BARB, a company that we think has been slowly spiralling for a long time. We came together to fight tooth and nail to prevent the hardworking people working there from such a fate after pouring their heart and soul into Minds Eye. We are proud of what we built there but still hearing of redundancies is always an injustice. We offer nothing but solidarity and support to everyone impacted by any job losses and remain committed to getting justice for BARB management’s treatment of workers and organising to root these practices out of the video games industry. Only by joining and becoming active in a trade union can we achieve these goals. Original story follows: Build a Rocket Boy (BARB), makers of panned futuristic action game/massive minigame platform MindsEye, appear to be making more staff redundant or able to seek other work. As part of a LinkedIn post indicating he's seeking opportunities elsewhere, a principal talent acquisition partner at the studio has written that he "will be seeing BARB through till the very end, helping wrap things up here in the HR department", which doesn't exactly paint a rosy picture of the company's future. Read more

Title: "A dried husk of a product": former Doom producer berates Microsoft for making Halo a "mid-tier" game and mourns the "financialisation" of AAA Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:30:00 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/a-dried-husk-of-a-product-former-doom-producer-berates-microsoft-for-making-halo-a-mid-tier-game-and-mourns-the-financialisation-of-aaa Former Doom: The Dark Ages producer Andrew Willis has shared tuppence on the state of the blockbuster videogame trade, arguing that the biggest companies and most popular series are going through a familiar "cycle" whereby the moneyfolk finally displace the creatives, and start messing games up in the name of short-term returns. He reckons that the likes of Halo are well on their way to becoming "a dried husk of a product that everyone just now associates with like, slop". Read more