Title: Xbox Is Marching Forward With AI Features But Says It Wants To Protect Content Creators Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2026 01:37:30 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/xbox-copilot-rog-ally-ai-microsoft-2000678483 The company outlined its ongoing ambitions around gaming copilot

Title: Ghost Of Yotei’s New Free Online Mode Is So Good I’d Pay Money For It Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 22:22:48 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/ghost-of-yoteis-new-free-multiplayer-legends-mode-how-unlock-review-ps5-2000678464 Free online spin-off Legends lets you and some buddies cut down supernatural baddies, level up, and unlock cool hats together

Title: Which Cowardly Game Company Will Be The First To Stand Up To Trump? Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:00:46 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/white-house-video-wii-sports-iran-israel-nintendo-lawsuit-2000678455 The White House will not stop posting video game memes to spread fascism

Title: I Fell In Love With Highguard And Now It’s Gone Forever Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:12:32 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/i-fell-in-love-with-highguard-and-now-its-gone-forever-2000678412 RIP to a real one

Title: Pokémon Pokopia Fan Artists, Are Y’all Okay? Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:56:01 +0000 Link: https://kotaku.com/pokemon-pokopia-ditto-trainer-fan-art-professor-tangrowth-2000678444 The life sim has Pokémon artists getting real angsty on the timeline

Title: Crimson Desert PC specs don't keep resolution and framerate targets a secret, and they don't use upscaling for everything either Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 11:47:41 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/crimson-desert-pc-mac-console-specs-settings-presets Crimson Desert is a little over one week away from release, and developer Pearl Abyss has delivered the official, final list of specs for the game. The twist is that the specs not only include useful information for PC players, they also cover similarly relevant details for console players, who traditionally don’t get mentioned in those reveals. Read more

Title: The Sims 4 patch makes it so your public lot gatherings won't be interrupted by rogue Sims Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 09:47:34 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/the-sims-4-march-2026-patch-sims-flirting-conversations The Sims 4 will soon get a new update to resolve a number of issues, some of which have long caused headaches for players. The latest update will arrive March 17 on PC and Mac, followed by PlayStation and Xbox at an unspecified time later. Read more

Title: Nioh 3 patch finally makes summons useful in boss fights, brings free armour for everyone Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:09:29 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/nioh-3-patch-1-04-all-details Team Ninja continues to work on Nioh 3. The developer has been releasing regular updates for the action RPG since its launch in early February. Earlier patches have addressed major bugs like healing item use inconsistencies, and more have arrived since to tackle various balance and loot-related issues. Read more

Title: Marathon launch player numbers are about half those of the Server Slam, at least on PC Date: Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:21:42 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/marathon-launch-day-steam-player-numbers-server-slam After a couple of delays, a plagiarism lawsuit, and at least one internal reboot, Bungie’s next big game has officially launched. Marathon, the extraction shooter from the studio behind Destiny, has managed to find a decent, if a little small of an audience. Read more

Title: Diablo 4’s Warlock looks like an unhinged Necromancer with Sorcerer energy in first look at gameplay Date: Fri, 06 Mar 2026 10:38:25 +0000 Link: https://www.vg247.com/diablo-4-warlock-gameplay-debut Thanks to a meaty, well-produced Diablo 4 Developer Update, we got to have our promised first look at gameplay of the Warlock, the second of two classes coming to the game with the upcoming Lord of Hatred expansion. Read more

Title: Save Big On Tons Of PC Games With Fanatical's Spring Sale Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 16:11:00 -0700 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/save-big-on-tons-of-pc-games-with-fanaticals-spring-sale/1100-6538721/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f The winter snows are melting, the smell of spring is in the air, and that means it's time for Fanatical's annual Spring Sale event once again. From now through April 1, you can save on over 10,000 PC games, including classics like Age of Empires II, multi-game collections like the Resident Evil Remake Trilogy bundle, and recent releases like Digimon Story: Time Stranger. Along with the regular discounts, each day of the sale will also include multiple limited-time Flash Deals offering even bigger discounts on select titles. To top it all off, if you spend $15 or more on a single order, you'll unlock an additional free game key or coupon code. See all deals at Fanatical If you're looking to save on something new, Fanatical's sale includes plenty of the latest PC releases, inclduing Resident Evil Requiem, the newest entry in Capcom's iconic survival horror series, which is down to $57.39 (was $70). Bungie's new multiplayer extraction shooter reboot of the classic Marathon series is down to a $34.39 (was $40), while the Monster Hunter Wilds - Premium Deluxe Edition is on sale for $51.14 (was $110), and includes dozens of exclusive cosmetics and armor.Fanatical's Spring Sale offers a ton RPGs on sale, like Atlus' Persona 5 Royal at $16.49 (was $60) or Metaphor: ReFantazio for $31.84 (was $70), which was GameSpot's Game of the Year in 2024. For something with more real-time action, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is on sale for $19.49 (was $60) as well. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered is a gorgeous Studio Ghibli-inspired adventure that any JRPG fan should experience. Pick it up for $9.24 (was $50) during the sale.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Title: The Inexplicable Features Of Peak, Explained Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:29:00 -0700 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-inexplicable-features-of-peak-explained/1100-6538762/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f Peak was such a breakout hit that Aggro Crab’s Game Developers Conference talk was packed 30 minutes before it was scheduled to begin. Aggro Crab studio head Nick Kaman took that time to answer questions from a crowd eager to learn more about the biggest friendslop game of 2026.One of the first things brought up was, why BBNO$? The artist behind Lalala and edamame made an unexpected appearance on the base of the mountain for a concert last year."We wanted to have a parody of a Fortnite concert, but what if it was bad?" Kaman said jokingly.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Title: The Best Nintendo Switch & Switch 2 Deals This Week - March 12, 2026 Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:40:00 -0700 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-physical-digital-game-deals/1100-6538446/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f Though Mario Day has come and gone, many of its best deals are still around. Whether you're looking to save on Switch or Switch 2 games, popular accessories, or anything in between, this is a great time to be shopping. We're also seeing more Switch 2 titles on sale than usual--including hits like Octopath Traveler 0 and Yakuza 0: Director's Cut available for their lowest prices ever. And while first-party Nintendo accessory deals are hard to come by, there are plenty of officially licensed third-party products with a discount right now. Be sure to also check out our official Mario Day Deals Roundup, which includes things like Lego sets and plushies.Ready to get shopping? Here are the best Switch and Switch 2 deals for the week of March 8-14, 2026, covering everything from video games and accessories to consoles and more.Nintendo Switch Game DealsYou'll find an impressive number of Switch 2 games on sale this week. Assassin's Creed Shadows is just a few bucks away from its lowest price ever at $45 (was $60), Octopath Traveler 0 is at its lowest price ever ($40, was $50), and Yakuza 0: Director's Cut is just $30 (was $50)--which also happens to be its best price ever. You'll even find the popular Persona 3 Reload for $38.35 (was $60), so give it a look if you're interested in checking out the iconic JRPG on Nintendo's new-gen system. It might not be quite as flashy as it is on PS5, but no doubt it's a wonderful addition to any Switch 2 library.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Title: From Zelda-Like Climbing To Multiple Worlds: The Cut Content Of Ghost Of Yotei Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:57:00 -0700 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/from-zelda-like-climbing-to-multiple-worlds-the-cut-content-of-ghost-of-yotei/1100-6538760/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f Sucker Punch Productions’ Ghost of Yotei is already an ambitious open-world adventure that builds on its predecessor in several ways, but the team had a number of other ideas that never made the final game. At GDC, the studio’s two creative directors discussed both the features that made it into the game and some ambitious concepts that didn’t.From mechanics that would have let players climb anywhere to dual-timelines and a fully diegetic map system, Ghost of Yotei began as a game full of possibilities. Some ideas proved too large to implement fully, but they still influenced the final experience, leaving traces of that ambition in the game’s narrative and design.One of the most ambitious features was the ability to switch between young and old Atsu at any point in the game. This would have created two versions of the world simultaneously, meaning the entire map would need to have versions in spring and winter.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Title: BAFTA Games Awards Nominees Announced, Clair Obscur Gets 12 Nominations Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:48:00 -0700 Link: https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/bafta-games-awards-nominees-announced-clair-obscur-gets-12-nominations/2900-7570/ Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has a total of 12 nominations in 10 categories.The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominees for the 22nd Annual BAFTA Games Awards, which will take place on April 17 as a part of the London Games Festival. This year, 42 games have been nominated in 17 categories--and just like nearly every other awards show this year, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has earned more nominations than any other game.Clair Obscur has earned 12 nominations in 10 categories:Artistic AchievementAudio AchievementBest GameDebut GameGame DesignMusicNarrativeNew Intellectual PropertyPerformer in a Leading Role (Jennifer English)Performer in a Leading Role (Ben Starr)Performer in a Supporting Role (Charlie Cox)Performer in a Supporting Role (Kirsty Rider)But Sandfall Interactive's beloved debut title isn't the only game with multiple nominations. Dispatch is in second place with nine nominations, Ghost of Yotei has earned eight, Death Stranding 2 has earned seven, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has earned six, and Embark Studios' popular extraction shooter, Arc Raiders, has earned five nominations."This year's nominations reflect an industry reshaping itself--with a vibrant mix of established studios standing alongside a wide range of independent studios, and a number of development teams earning nominations for the first time," BAFTA Games Committee chair Tara Saunders said in a press release announcing the nominees. "The exceptional craft, artistry and innovation behind these titles shines through. A nomination is an extraordinary achievement, and I extend my warmest congratulations to every nominee for their innovation, hard work and resilience.”Keep reading for a closer look at all of this year's BAFTA Games Awards categories and nominees. AnimationBattlefield 6Death Stranding 2: On The BeachDispatchGhost of YoteiHades 2Hollow Knight: Silksong Artistic AchievementClair Obscur: Expedition 33Death Stranding 2: On The BeachDispatchGhost of YoteiHollow Knight: SilksongSouth of Midnight Audio AchievementArc RaidersClair Obscur: Expedition 33Death Stranding 2: On The BeachDispatchGhost of YoteiIndiana Jones and the Great Circle Best GameArc RaidersBlue PrinceClair Obscur: Expedition 33DispatchGhost of YoteiIndiana Jones and the Great Circle British GameAtomfallCitizen Sleeper 2: Starward VectorMafia: The Old CountryMonument Valley 3Powerwash Simulator 2Two Point Museum Debut GameBlue PrinceClair Obscur: Expedition 33Consume MeDespeloteDispatchThe Midnight Walk Evolving GameFallout 76Helldivers 2Hitman World of AssassinationNo Man's SkyVampire SurvivorsWarhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 FamilyDonkey Kong BananzaIs This Seat Taken?Lego Party!Mario Kart WorldPowerwash Simulator 2Two Point Museum Game Beyond EntertainmentThe AltersAnd RodgerCitizen Sleeper 2: Starward VectorConsume MeDespeloteS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl Game DesignBall X PitBlue PrinceClair Obscur: Expedition 33Ghost of YoteiHades 2Split Fiction MultiplayerArc RaidersDune AwakeningElden Ring NightreignLego Party!PeakSplit Fiction MusicClair Obscur: Expedition 33Death Stranding 2: On The BeachDispatchGhost of YoteiHollow Knight: SilksongIndiana Jones and the Great Circle NarrativeThe AltersBlue PrinceClair Obscur: Expedition 33Death Stranding 2: On The BeachIndiana Jones and the Great CircleKingdom Come: Deliverance 2 New Intellectual PropertyThe AltersArc RaidersClair Obscur: Expedition 33DispatchSouth of MidnightSplit Fiction Performer in a Leading RoleAaron Paul (Dispatch)Ben Starr (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)Jennifer English (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)Erika Ishii (Ghost of Yotei)Tom McKay (Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2)Troy Baker (Indiana Jones and the Great Circle) Performer in a Supporting RoleAlix Wilton Regan (Lies of P: Overture)Charlie Cox (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)Kirsty Rider (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)Jane Perry (Dead Take)Jeffry Wright (Dispatch)Troy Baker (Death Stranding 2: On The Beach) Technical AchievementArc RaidersDeath Stranding 2: On The BeachDoom: The Dark AgesGhost of YoteiIndiana Jones and the Great CircleSplit Fiction

Title: Overwatch co-creator Jeff Kaplan explains why he quit Blizzard Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:19:18 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/overwatch-jeff-kaplan-blizzard-exit-interview/ Former Overwatch game director and one-time face of the brandJeff Kaplan left Blizzard Entertainment in 2021, after 19 years at the company. He's been quietly working on another game since leaving, and recently spoke about his decision to leave Blizzard, the company he once thought he "would retire from." Unsurprisingly, Kaplan has revealed that the catalyst for his departure from Blizzard and Overwatch was what many expected: corporate meddling and unchecked greed by parent company Activision Blizzard.

Title: Pokémon Pokopia already one of Switch 2's best-selling games Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:13:45 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-pokopia-sales-switch-2-bestseller/ Pokémon Pokopia is only a week old, and it's already one of the Nintendo Switch 2's best-selling titles. On Thursday, Nintendo announced the Pokémon spinoff sold over 2.2 million copies in its first four days on sale, with 1 million of those in Japan alone.

Title: All Marathon weapons in the Server Slam Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:29:43 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/marathon-weapons-best-all/ There needs to be a healthy variety of Marathonweapons, because it's an extraction shooter, so players have plenty of choices for any combat situation. In Marathon, there are 28 in total, across eight different categories, and all of them are fairly unique and serve a different purpose.

Title: FF7 Rebirth's Tetsuya Nomura reveals his favorite Final Fantasy Magic cards Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:59:14 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/mtg-final-fantasy-tetsuya-nomura-sephiroth-cards/ Mere weeks before Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy crossover launched last June — eventually selling $200 million worth of product in a single day — Wizards of the Coast sat down with Final Fantasy creative director Tetsuya Nomura to discuss his role in developing the set. The company published the interview on March 10. In it, Nomura talked about reviewing several hundred pieces of art for the set over the course of three or four years — and revealed which cards he was the most impressed by.

Title: Steam's sales numbers aren't telling the whole story Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:53:24 GMT Link: https://www.polygon.com/steam-valve-gdc-2026-sales-growth-new-game-release-data/ On Tuesday, PC giant Valve broke down the state of Steam for an eager audience at the 2026 Game Developers Conference. As Valve told it, things have never been better for Steam. User growth is exponential, game releases are up, and developers have way more tools to help them bring their games to new audiences. Alongside this torrent of good news, Valve proudly displayed a graph with encouraging numbers — or so it seemed.

Title: GeForce NOW Raises the Game at the Game Developers Conference Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:00:53 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-gdc-2026/ GeForce NOW is bringing the game to the Game Developers Conference (GDC), running this week in San Francisco. While developers build the future of gaming, GeForce NOW is delivering it to gamers. The latest updates bring smoother performance, easier game discovery and a fresh lineup of blockbuster titles to the cloud. Game discoverability gets a boost with new in‑app labels for connected accounts for Xbox Game Pass and Ubisoft+. It’ll be easier than ever to see titles already available through linked subscriptions, so members can seamlessly jump into games they already own. Virtual reality gets a smooth upgrade — supported devices now stream at 90 frames per second (fps), up from 60 fps, delivering more responsive and immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences. Account linking is also leveling up. Following Gaijin single sign-on announced at CES in January, GOG account linking and game library syncing are coming soon. The GeForce NOW library continues to grow with new releases joining the cloud at launch: CONTROL Resonant and Samson: A Tyndalston Story. Plus, select Xbox titles will join the Install-to-Play library. In addition, there’s a lineup of five new games to catch this week, including Capcom’s Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, on top of the latest update for Fortnite. Gaming Is Buzzing GeForce NOW is rolling into GDC with an easier way to keep track of titles, as well as performance upgrades and a growing lineup of major titles ready to stream at launch. Keeping track of which game lives on which service can be tricky. In‑App labels — coming soon to GeForce NOW for connected subscriptions — will help make it simple for members to know exactly what games they can play on GeForce NOW. Once a member connects their Xbox Game Pass Account or Ubisoft+ account, clear labels will appear directly on the game art inside the GeForce NOW app — eliminating guesswork and making it easy to see exactly what’s available to play from their game subscription services. Set it and forget it. Account linking is expanding too. On top of Gaijin single sign-on, GeForce NOW is adding GOG account linking and game library syncing in the coming months.               Smooth moves. Virtual reality is also getting an upgrade. Starting Thursday, March 19, VR devices that GeForce NOW supports, including Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest and Pico devices, will stream at 90 fps for Ultimate members, an increase from 60 fps. The higher frame rate enhances smoothness, responsiveness and realism across every session — whether gamers are chasing enemies through neon-lit streets or exploring far‑flung alien worlds. GeForce NOW’s Install‑to‑Play library is also expanding with select Xbox titles, including Brutal Legend from Double Fine Productions and Contrast from Compulsion Games. These additions bring more flexibility for members to download and install their owned games alongside streaming favorites. That’s just the start. Highly anticipated games are headed to the cloud at launch: Bending reality. CONTROL Resonant — Remedy’s upcoming action‑adventure role-playing game (RPG) that blends supernatural powers with a warped Manhattan facing a reality-bending cosmic threat. Unravel a family story steeped in myths. Samson: A Tyndalston Story — the game from Liquid Swords is a gritty action brawler, set in the city of Tyndalston, launching on PC. Free to Save the World Chaos in the cloud. Fortnite’s original adventure is back in the spotlight — and soon, it’ll free to play. Fortnite first launched in 2017 as a story-driven co‑op experience, and on Thursday, April 16, the “Save the World” update will officially be free to play for all players. Pre-registration begins on Thursday, March 12. Join forces against hordes of husks, solo or with the squad, in a player vs. environment action-packed story, complete with gathering, crafting and collecting. Pick a favored playstyle with four distinct classes to choose from, over 150 heroes and weapons to upgrade, and loadout customization options to hone builds even further. With hundreds of updates since its original launch and over 100 hours of content, squads can build, grind gear and engineer elaborate homebase defenses to keep the Storm King at bay. “Save the World” isn’t available on mobile devices, including tablets. On GeForce NOW, Fortnite “Save the World” streams straight from the cloud — no waiting around for updates or patches. Low‑latency streaming keeps building, shooting and trap placement feeling snappy across supported devices. Stay in the action with GeForce NOW. Gear Up for Glory The cloud makes it easy to suit up in style. From chaotic infantry clashes to roaring jet dogfights, every match is an unpredictable explosion of strategy and mayhem in EA’s Battlefield 6.  This week, GeForce NOW Ultimate members can drop into the action with serious style — a new reward, the Advancing Gloom Soldier Skin, gives soldiers a sleek, battle-hardened look fit for the frontlines. Members can claim it in their GeForce NOW account portals, redeem it at EA.com/redeem, then show up ready in true Ultimate fashion. It’s available through Sunday, April 12, or while supplies last. Being a GeForce NOW member pays off. Whether streaming on the go or maxing out graphics in the cloud, members get exclusive rewards to keep and flaunt. Start the Games Twin monsters, one cloud. Twin Rathalos, born in a twist of fate, set the stage for the third entry in the Monster Hunter Stories RPG series, launching on GeForce NOW. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is an RPG series set in the Monster Hunter world, where players can become a Rider, and raise and bond with their favorite monsters. Play it instantly on GeForce NOW and take the adventure anywhere, on any device. In addition, members can look for the following: Warcraft I: Remastered (New release on Ubisoft, March 11) Warcraft II: Remastered (New release on Ubisoft, March 11) 1348 Ex Voto (New release on Steam, March 12, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando (New release on Steam, March 12, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection (New release on Steam, March 12, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) This week’s additional GeForce RTX 5080-ready game, on top of the addition of John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, 1348 Ex Voto and Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection: Greedfall: The Dying World 1.0 (Steam, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below.

Title: NVIDIA Virtualizes Game Development With RTX PRO Server Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2026 15:30:07 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/gdc-2026-virtual-game-development/ Game development teams are working across larger worlds, more complex pipelines and more distributed teams than ever. At the same time, many studios still rely on fixed, desk-bound GPU hardware for critical production work. At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) this week in San Francisco, NVIDIA is showcasing a new approach to bring together disparate workflows using virtualized game development on NVIDIA RTX PRO Servers, powered by NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs and NVIDIA vGPU software. With the RTX PRO Server, studios can centralize and virtualize core workflows across creative, engineering, AI research and quality assurance (QA) — all on shared GPU infrastructure in the data center.  This enables teams to maintain the responsiveness and visual fidelity they expect from workstation-class systems while improving infrastructure utilization, scalability, data security and operational consistency across teams and locations. Simplifying Complex Workflows As game development studios scale, hardware can often sit underutilized in one location while other teams wait to access it for production work. QA capacity is hard to expand quickly. Over time, workstation hardware, drivers and tools diverge, making bugs harder to reproduce. AI workloads are often isolated on separate infrastructure, creating more operational overhead.  The NVIDIA RTX PRO Server helps studios move from workstation-by-workstation scaling to centralized GPU infrastructure. Studios can pool resources, allocate performance by workload and support parallel development, testing and AI workflows without expanding physical workstation sprawl. Centralized GPU infrastructure enables studios to run AI training, simulation and game automation workloads overnight, then dynamically reallocate the same resources to interactive development during the day, improving overall utilization and reducing idle capacity. The NVIDIA RTX PRO Server supports virtualized workflows for 3D graphics and AI across the game development lifecycle for: Artists: Providing virtual RTX workstations for traditional 3D and generative AI content-creation workflows. Developers: Powering consistent, high-performance engineering environments for coding and 3D development. AI researchers: Offering large-memory GPU profiles for fine-tuning, inference and AI agents. QA teams: Enabling scalable game validation and performance testing using the same NVIDIA Blackwell architecture used by GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs. This allows studios to support multiple teams — including across sites and contractors — on one common GPU platform, improving collaboration and reducing debugging issues that can arise from disparate hardware. Supporting AI and Engineering on Shared Infrastructure AI is becoming a core part of everyday game development, spanning coding, content creation, testing and live operations. As these workflows expand, studios need infrastructure that can support AI alongside traditional graphics workloads without introducing separate, siloed systems. With the RTX PRO Server, studios can support coding agents, internal model experimentation and AI-assisted production workflows without spinning up a separate AI stack for every team. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPU features a massive 96GB memory buffer, enabling developers to run multiple demanding applications simultaneously while supporting AI inference on larger models directly alongside real-time graphics workflows. NVIDIA Multi-Instance GPU (MIG) technology partitions a single GPU into isolated instances with dedicated memory, compute and cache resources. Combined with NVIDIA vGPU software, MIG can help studios securely allocate GPU capacity across users and workloads. In combined MIG and vGPU configurations, a single RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPU can support up to 48 concurrent users, maximizing utilization while maintaining performance isolation. Enterprise-Ready Deployment for Game Studios NVIDIA RTX PRO Servers are designed for enterprise-grade data-center operations. Studios can deploy virtual workstations on RTX PRO Servers via NVIDIA vGPU on supported hypervisor and remote workstation platforms. That means RTX PRO Servers can fit into studios’ existing infrastructure and IT practices, rather than requiring one-off deployments. Major game publishers already use NVIDIA vGPU technology to scale centralized development infrastructure and improve efficiency at studio scale. ​Learn more about the NVIDIA RTX PRO Server. See these workflows live by joining NVIDIA’s booth 1426 at GDC or attending NVIDIA GTC, running March 16-19 in San Jose, California.  See notice regarding software product information.

Title: March Into the Cloud With 15 New Games Coming to GeForce NOW Date: Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:00:30 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-march-2026-games-list/ March is in full bloom, and that means a fresh wave of games heading to the cloud. 15 new titles are joining the GeForce NOW library this month. Leading the March lineup is Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert, an open‑world action‑adventure set in a war‑torn fantasy land, alongside plenty of other games to explore. Whether looking to shake off the winter blues or jump into some bracket‑worthy gaming action, there’s something for everyone in the cloud. March into the cloud and see what’s new — and keep an eye on GFN Thursdays all month for more updates. This week kicks off the month with eight new games. March Gaming Madness In LORT we trust. LORT dials chaos up to 11 and snaps the knob clean off. Big Distraction’s off‑the‑rails adventure hurls players into a world where every corner hides a bad idea waiting to become a great story, powered by wild weapons, weirder characters and “Did that just happen?” moments. Catch every glorious disaster in full fidelity and play it on GeForce NOW, available this week. Here’s are this week’s eight new additions: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (New release on Xbox, available on Game Pass, March 3, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered (New release on Steam, available March 3) Esoteric Ebb (New release on Steam, available March 3) The Legend of Khiimori (New release on Steam, available March 3, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) Slay the Spire 2 (New release on Steam, available March 5) Docked (New release on Steam, available March 5) Death Stranding Director’s Cut (Steam, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) LORT (Steam) And look forward to the games coming throughout the rest of the month: John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando (New release on Steam, March 12, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) Everwind (New release on Steam, March 17) Crimson Desert (New release on Steam, March 19) Screamer (New release on Steam, March 23) Nova Roma (New release on Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass, March 26) Legacy of Kain: Ascendance (New release on Steam, March 31) Subliminal (New release on Steam, March 31) February in the Books In addition to the 24 games announced last month, 18 more joined the GeForce NOW library: Anno: Mutationem (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Blizzard Arcade Collection (Ubisoft Connect) Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle (Steam) Capcom Fighting Collection (Steam) Diablo (Ubisoft Connect) Diablo + Hellfire Expansion  (Ubisoft Connect) Diablo II: Resurrected (Ubisoft Connect) Galactic Civilizations 3 (Xbox, available on the Microsoft Store) KILLER INN (Steam) Mega Man 11 (Steam) MotoGP22 (Xbox, available on the Microsoft Store) Spellcasters Chronicles (Steam, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) STALCRAFT: X (Epic Games Store) Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (Steam) Torment: Tides of Numenera (Steam and Xbox, available on Game Pass) TCG Card Shop Simulator (Xbox, available on Game Pass) Trine Enchanted Edition (Epic Games Store) Trine 2: Complete Story (Epic Games Store) What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below, then see what Blue Thunder Gaming thinks of GeForce NOW.  

Title: The Nightmare Returns in the Cloud: GeForce NOW Unleashes Capcom’s ‘Resident Evil Requiem’ Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:00:48 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-resident-evil-requiem/ GeForce NOW’s anniversary celebration reaches a chilling crescendo as Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem creeps into the cloud — and the horrors look better than ever on a GeForce NOW Ultimate membership. To mark the occasion, a special launch bundle rises from the shadows, pairing the game with a yearlong Ultimate membership for a limited time. It’s not a celebration party without treats. GeForce NOW is also offering members a new reward to use in Delta Force. Suit up and grab it alongside 11 new games joining the cloud this week. The Nightmare Returns in the Cloud A new era of survival horror arrives with Resident Evil Requiem, the latest and most immersive entry yet in the iconic Resident Evil series. Experience terrifying survival horror with FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft and dive into pulse-pounding action with legendary agent Leon S. Kennedy. Their journeys and unique gameplay styles intertwine into a heart-stopping, emotional experience that will chill gamers to their core. Requiem for the dead. Nightmare for the living. With GeForce RTX 5080-class power in the cloud, experience Requiem with lifelike lighting, full path tracing, ray‑traced reflections and cinematic realism at up to 5K resolution with high dynamic range, plus NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation for maximum performance. The Ultimate membership keeps every encounter smooth and immersive when streaming from powerful GPUs in the cloud. To celebrate GeForce NOW’s sixth anniversary, a special launch offer emerges from the fog: For a limited time, Resident Evil Requiem is included with the purchase of a 12‑month Ultimate membership. It’s the perfect way to return to the city of disaster and despair, now more haunting and beautiful than ever. Priority Package GeForce NOW marks six epic years in the cloud, and the party lands on the Delta Force frontline with a new reward drop. What a drop. Being a GeForce NOW member is rewarding. All members can get an edge in the Delta Force extraction and warfare game modes with a reward bundle packed with standard gear tickets, premium weapon XP tokens and armament vouchers to fine-tune loadouts and push every op further. Performance and Ultimate members gain even more battlefield muscle with an early unlock of the PP‑19 Bizon, a weapon that brings close-quarters stopping power to every mission. This special sixth-anniversary reward is available through Thursday, March 26, while supplies last. Redeem now and deploy. Ready, Set, Stream This week, members can look for the following: TCG Card Shop Simulator (New release on Xbox, available on Game Pass, Feb. 24) Blizzard Arcade Collection (New release on Ubisoft Connect, Feb. 25) Diablo II: Resurrected (New release on Ubisoft Connect, Feb. 25) Spellcasters Chronicles (New release on Steam, Feb. 26, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) Resident Evil Requiem (New release on Steam, Feb. 27, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) Anno: Mutationem (Xbox, available on Game Pass) ARC Raiders (Xbox, available on the Microsoft Store, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) DEVOUR (Steam) Galactic Civilizations 3 (Xbox, available on the Microsoft Store) MotoGP22 (Xbox, available on the Microsoft Store) Torque Drift 2 (Steam) What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below. What's your bragging rights? Share the latest achievement you got in a game. — NVIDIA GeForce NOW (@NVIDIAGFN) February 23, 2026

Title: All About the Games: Play Over 4,500 Titles With GeForce NOW Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2026 14:00:35 +0000 Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-battlefield-season-2/ The GeForce NOW anniversary celebration keeps on rolling, and this week is all about the games that make it possible. With more than 4,500 titles supported in the cloud — plus 12 new games this week — there’s always something new to stream, share and discover. The #6YearsofGFN fun continues with a community giveaway hosted on the GeForce NOW Reddit. Share in-game screenshots and memes to celebrate the anniversary for a chance to win prizes such as an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, a Thrustmaster HOTAS ONE flight stick and more  — through Friday, Feb. 20. Gamers can also join the GeForce NOW community Discord to join in on more celebrations and events. A Library Built for Every PC Gamer GeForce NOW features an ever-growing library of over 4,500 titles that are ready to stream in seconds. From cozy indies and competitive shooters to sprawling role-playing games and strategy epics, the collection has something for everyone. The GeForce NOW library spans popular stores like Steam, Xbox — including supported PC Game Pass titles — Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect and GOG.com, bringing together free-to-play hits and paid blockbusters in one place. Install-to-Play further expands access by letting members install Steam games opted in for cloud gaming, doubling the number of titles that can be launched through the service. The GeForce NOW app has curated rows that highlight new releases, RTX-enhanced titles or popular free-to-play picks, while tags make deals and downloadable content easier to spot. Smart library syncing connects supported games directly into the cloud catalog, enabling instant access without downloads or hardware worries. Ultimate members get priority entry with powerful servers to jump into the action even faster. Fight the Fog of War Every move matters. Battlefield 6 erupts into its second season, “Extreme Measures,” taking the fight to contaminated terrain and distorted frontlines. A massive new map, fresh arsenal and agile air support redefine large-scale warfare — pushing squads to adapt and survive across shifting contamination zones and fog-laced choke points. Drop into “Contaminated,” a sprawling German mountainside airbase where the psychoactive VL‑7 smoke twists visibility, strategy and players’ senses. Mask up and press through as helicopters sweep low over objectives for high-risk insertions and surgical strikes. Dynamic cover and ever‑evolving hazards keep combat unpredictable, turning every push into a brutal test of precision and squad grit. On GeForce NOW, the battle starts instantly — no waiting for patches or worrying about download space. Jump straight into the latest content, fully loaded and always in sync, for nonstop action anywhere. Game On! Heist now, sneak later. Styx: Blades of Greed from publisher Nacon lands with a sharp tongue and an even sharper blade. Styx is back to doing what he does best: slipping through shadows, looting anything that isn’t nailed down and talking trash the whole way through. Tight stealth, devious tools and a world powered by precious Quartz make every heist feel like a risky, rewarding score — perfect for anyone who prefers a dagger in the dark over a sword in the spotlight. In addition, members can look for the following: Norse: Oath of Blood (New release on Steam, Feb. 17) Diablo (New release on Ubisoft Connect, Feb. 18) Diablo + Hellfire Expansion  (New release on Ubisoft Connect, Feb. 18) Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown (New release on Steam, Feb. 18, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) STALCRAFT: X (New release on Epic Games Store, Free Feb. 19) Styx: Blades of Greed (New release on Steam, Feb. 19, GeForce RTX 5080-ready) Ys X: Proud Nordics (New release on Steam, Feb. 20) KILLER INN (Steam) Trine Enchanted Edition (Epic Games Store) Trine 2: Complete Story (Epic Games Store) Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power (Steam and Epic Games Store) Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince (Epic Games Store) What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below. Happy 6th Anniversary to @NVIDIAGFN As an official NVIDIA GeForce NOW Ambassador, I’m hosting the @DeadbyDaylight block during their Anniversary Game Night + Giveaway. February 19 Event starts @ 10AM PST Dead by Daylight hosted by me at @ 1PM PST Massive prizes.… pic.twitter.com/TFtHvFWAZk — EloraBliss (@EloraBliss) February 18, 2026

Title: Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes launches on PS VR2 April 24  Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:38:26 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/03/12/little-nightmares-vr-altered-echoes-launches-on-ps-vr2-april-24/ The newest game in the Little Nightmares franchise, Altered Echoes, has just been announced. Soon, you’ll be able to enter the Nowhere in first person and touch the Transmission with your own two hands. Play Video Deep within this errant signal, you’ll play as Dark Six as you search for a way to reunite with Six and become whole once more. Let’s explore how this dangerous journey connects with both Little Nightmares 1 and 2 and catch up with some familiar faces. The Transmission  A dimension of sight and sound where even the strange rules of the Nowhere are twisted and warped. Gravity is optional and the rules of reality are melting into an endless loop of identical staircases and doors. But somewhere a familiar song is beckoning, leading you through these recursive passages and puzzles as you dodge dangerous traps and even more dangerous Residents. It should come as no surprise that the Thin Man stalks these unending halls, at one with the static and the noise. If he catches you, not even a remnant will remain. The Music Box At the heart of Dark Six’s experience of the Transmission is the inescapable Music Box. It guides Dark Six and pushes away the writhing shadows that hunt her. Even so, under the malignant influence of the Transmission, its simple melody seems to exert an uncanny power over Six that you must try to untangle. Here within the signal, the music box’s song is both the path and the unknown destination. Follow its song. To do otherwise is to lose yourself to the noise. The School The music leads you through your past, through the School where Six was captured by Bullies. Here in the Transmission, the Bullies are gone, and only the Teacher remains. In this childless classroom, the Teacher seems to have somewhat lost the plot and is building endless pillars of books, acting as both the inventor and the minotaur of a maddening labyrinth you must navigate to stay on course. Is this the genuine fate of the Teacher or merely a malicious fantasy given form within the Transmission by the imagination of a resentful Six? The lesson plan is unclear. Survive the maze and maybe you’ll find out. The Train Station Next, the song guides you through the present where dozens and dozens of Guests are traveling towards their final destination. Throughout the cars they slumber, saturated by dreams of future feasts and skittering morsels waiting to be snatched. Their keeper, the terrifying Conductor, prowls the aisles, ready to permanently eject anyone without the proper papers. This is the first time the Guests have been seen outside of the Maw and the questions their presence raises are unavoidable. Where are they going? Are there other eating establishments awaiting their business or is this another misleading distortion from the Transmission? You’ll have to survive if you ever want a chance to work it out for yourself. The Connections  The Transmission distorts everything it touches, and yet, an echo of the truth seems to remain. As you struggle to return to Six and find whatever piece of yourself remains intact, the connections you discover between the past, present and possible future may guide or mislead you. Only you can discover what still rings true. Little Nightmares: Altered Echoes will be available on April 24, 2026 for PS VR2.

Title: Tomb Raider I-III Remastered: New outfits and Challenge Mode added in free update today Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 16:00:23 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/03/12/tomb-raider-i-iii-remastered-new-outfits-and-challenge-mode-added-in-free-update-today/ You decide the difficulty on your replay with the free Challenge Mode patch, out today! This patch includes 40+ hours of replayability with all new outfits and upgraded abilities, a level modifier to challenge your skills, and 15 new Trophies. Play Video Playing Tomb Raider I-III Remastered gives us that classic 90s vibe but leaves us craving more, so we created this strategy guide for Lara’s new wardrobe to scratch that nostalgic itch. Her new outfits are earned through a series of challenges in each game using the new Challenge Mode to modify level difficulty. They’re more than new skins, outfits add unique enhancements to Lara’s abilities. Refer back to this guide whenever you’re ready to unlock another new fit. Lara’s new wardrobe Paragon of Peace She may look deadly but Lara’s look is less gladiator and more Pax Romana. Established Explorer No mountain tall enough, no valley low enough for a Croft to overcome. Atlantean Bio-Armour Pain is gain. Forget the first aid, only fighting makes her stronger. Master-Mobster From one mobster to another, the shotgun is the only gun you’ll need. Ahab Approved Smell blood in the water? Forget the crocodiles, there’s something deadlier swimming in the deep. Dragon Warrior More fire power, less fire damage. Exactly what you’d expect from a dragon… warrior. Speed Demon Too fast to care if that was a mobster or a mutant. Even if they catch up, they won’t last long.   Flying High A super soldier like this only comes out of one highly-classified government facility. Honorary Damned The harder the run the better. Lara went through a dark and undead phase, just like the rest of us. Cooler than Cool Ever been so cold you can’t be burned? Yeah, same for Lara. Challenge Mode Fend off a hoard of apes and velociraptors, sprinkle in some mummies, a couple bats, and you’ve only got a pair of pistols and -5 hp/s regen rate to hold them off. Time to lock and load. Dial in the difficulty on any level you’ve already completed with modifiers in the new Challenge Mode. Don’t want to play hard? Set Lara to 500% health and take a nature walk instead. 15 New Trophies When most people start the first Tomb Raider game they think wow, this is really hard. Not you though. You want the game to be even harder. You want to beat it with higher risks and loftier rewards. Increase your CR (challenge rating) with mods like downgraded weapons, less health, and even more enemies to earn up to 15 new trophies. Share your toughest challenges with #ChallengeMode Challenge Mode is a free patch for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. Thanks to the community for supporting us at Aspyr, on our journey with Crystal Dynamics, to bring these classics to modern consoles and to celebrate the 30 year legacy that is Lara Croft.

Title: Prepare for Monster Hunter Stories 3 on March 13 with a recap of the RPG series so far Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:00:04 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/03/12/prepare-for-monster-hunter-stories-3-on-march-13-with-a-recap-of-the-rpg-series-so-far/ It’s not long before the monsters come back out to play. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is swooping in for its March 13 launch on PlayStation 5, with a tale of warring kingdoms and a world on the brink of destruction.  Play Video But if you’re unfamiliar with what came before, don’t worry. We’ve got the perfect primer – and with Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin available to play from PlayStation Plus Game Catalog,* you’ll be a monstrous lore master in no time. Monster Hunter Stories – the basics Spinning off the hugely popular main series, Monster Hunter, Stories’ goal was to offer a refreshing new approach to the role-playing game franchise. The focus on more tactical turn-based combat over the original’s more action driven style was joined by another big change: the chance to play as a monster Rider instead of a Hunter. This helped develop the concept of ‘Monsties’. Instead of being captured in the wild, Monsties are hatched monsters stolen from dens, raised, given names, and form a bond with their riders. Monsties possess specific abilities, which are either useful during exploration – such as breaking through rocks or traversing the environment – or more combat related. On the subject of combat, the battle system uses a rock-paper-scissors mechanic via three attack types: Power beats Technical, which beats Speed (and so Speed beats Power).‘Reading’ their patterns and movements is key, so you can pick the most effective approach. Although with monsters openly roaming the landscape, you can sometimes choose when to engage, and even initiate sneak attacks.   Okay, now let’s really get into it… Monster Hunter Stories – the hunt begins The series wastes no time in introducing the player to its core concept of Monstie bonding, as it begins with the protagonist finding a monster nest and hatching a Rathalos egg. That auspicious first act is a primer to a wider adventure set by the dark events that follow (no spoilers, here).   Monster Hunter Stories delivered on its promise to change the way players interact with its fabled beasts. Despite its colourful visuals and youthful characters, it’s not afraid to dip into some of the bleaker topics of its parent series. What you do in the game: Create your character and roam the world, seeking out dens to grow your team of Monsties.   Collect eggs to hatch, create a bond with your Monsties and build your party. Battle alongside your Monsties, fighting wild monsters, earning experience points and collecting or buying more equipment and items which can be used in battle. The Rite of Channelling also lets you move a Monstie’s genes between them to unlock new powers. Forge new equipment from subquest rewards, and earn new weapons and armour from completing special Forge Quests offered by blacksmiths. Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin – the series takes flight With its concept now established, Wings of Ruin pushed to amplify everything from the first game. The mass disappearance of Rathalos sets the stage, followed by the emergence of unnaturally enraged monsters. And in the middle of all this chaos, the player character – descended from a legendary Rider – is entrusted with a now precious Rathalos egg, its hatching heralding a world-destroying prophecy. What’s expanded from Monster Hunter Stories: More weapon types, with the Great Sword, Hammer, Sword and Shield, and Hunting Horn from the first game joined by the Bow and Gunlance. Independent computer-controlled buddies and their Monsties accompany you in battle, meaning up to four characters can fight on your side during combat, and damage heavy Double Attacks can be inflicted more frequently. Larger monsters have breakable parts that can be targeted to prevent them from performing certain actions, as well as providing materials to forge or upgrade equipment. Instead of just PvP battles, up to two online players can jump into co-op quests, including trials and expeditions. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection – what we know Everything leads us to here, the most current addition to the series. As with the previous game, Monster Hunter Stories 3 doesn’t require intimate knowledge of the franchise to dive in. But while Wings of Ruin took the near extinction of the Rathalos to one direction, Twisted Reflection changes things up with the unusual birth of twin Rathalos, arriving during a time of savage conflict. With its customisable protagonist being more experienced than in previous games, Twisted Reflection aims to deliver a slightly more mature story while maintaining the series’ anime aesthetic. Among other enhancements, we can also expect a larger, more accessible semi-open world to explore, more complex side stories, and aggressive Invasive monsters which cannot be beaten with regular battle tactics. But if you’re engaging in more traditional fights, the Wyvernsoul Gauge introduces a system that lets you stagger monsters, making their attacks easier to dodge and leaving them open to your new and hugely damaging Synchro Rush attack. And for the more nurturing among you, the Habitat Restoration system lets you release a hatched monster into the wild to improve the conservation of each region and restore the species. Ready to ride? Now that you have the armour of knowledge, it’s time to put it to the test. Play Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog to sharpen your skills, then jump into Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection on PS5 March 13. *Requires active PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium subscription

Title: How Silent Hill f developers crafted tense melee-only combat  Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 23:15:00 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/03/11/how-silent-hill-f-developers-crafted-tense-melee-only-combat/ Silent Hill f is a part of a new generation for the legendary horror franchise, one that sees the ethereal and eerie titular setting extending its horrific manifestations into different places around the world. This title was an opportunity for us at NeoBards to harness what makes Silent Hill the psychological horror staple it is and shape a fresh new experience that brings the terror in both familiar and new ways. I’m Al Yang, studio creative director at NeoBards and game director for Silent Hill f. I’m excited to share a slice of my Game Developers Conference (GDC) Festival of Gaming session for the PlayStation community, giving you all a behind-the-scenes look into the systems behind the first melee-only Silent Hill title. ​​ Creating a different Silent Hill In Silent Hill f, the secluded town of Ebisugaoka is consumed by a sudden fog in 1960s Japan, transforming lead character Shimizu Hinako’s home into a haunting nightmare. We initially spent some time considering what types of weapons we wanted to use from Showa-era Japan, doing some prototyping work along the way. With many horror games that emphasize action, there’s gunplay and other ranged combat in the majority of them. What if we flip the script here? It isn’t something horror players are entirely unfamiliar with, but not quite to the extent we’re proposing. When players say they want to play a horror game and that they want to be scared, I think what they really mean is they want to feel tense. Jump scares are scary, but if you’re giving nonstop jump scares, players become numb, and it detracts from the atmosphere. The real fear lives in the anticipation and build-up, which became a guiding philosophy for how we built story and combat in Silent Hill f. Injecting tension into combat There’s intentional design that yields crucial tension for the typical survival horror experience. Slower rhythms with things like aiming and reloading, resource management and scarcity, and pacing. How do we translate these things into our game? There is a lot of data across the history of survival horror on how to create tension despite the power of guns. For example, let’s look at resources when you encounter a monster in your path. Having 4 bullets in this situation creates a very different feeling from seeing that creature and having 100 bullets. The player’s fear and approach change entirely. There are no bullets in Silent Hill f, so we showcase resource management with weapons breaking. Every time you hit a monster, you see the durability bar go down. But you don’t know exactly how much damage you’re doing. It isn’t like an RPG where you see numbers or a bar above the enemy’s head. Having concrete values shown significantly decreases the tension, as a large part of the tension of horror games relies on giving the player incomplete information. How enemies behave is key as well. With guns, monsters will take shots to different body parts and keep shambling unless you hit them in the head or another critical spot, causing them to react differently. We deliver this with the Focus system. With patience and the right timing, you can do a counter or focus attack. It is like aiming down the sights with a gun, so you can hit those vulnerable spots. If you get in a really meaty hit, you’ll see it in how the creature reacts. You’re not quite sure how close you are to defeating the enemy, but you know that your attacks are having an effect. A delicate, horrific balancing act Just as important as building tension, it is important to have a period of release. A way to impact pace and inject those moments of tension release in combat is something we call a master key. It is a system breaker, entirely subverting the gameplay rhythm the player has been engaging with thus far. Many combat systems can be distilled down to a rock, paper, scissors design, where certain weapons work better against certain monsters. That rhythm builds tension and, to release it, we have the master key. In a horror game with ranged combat, a master key could be a grenade or rocket launcher—a weapon or item that doesn’t care about balanced design and just damages your enemy no matter what. You don’t have to think; you turn your brain off and get this thing out of your way. Players are diverse and are challenged by different situations, so it’s important to have systems where they can choose when they want to break out on their own terms. In Silent Hill f, that is the fox arm, which is a part of Hinako’s transformation throughout the game. The focus hit system I mentioned before is also a much lighter sample of that master key experience. Thanks from NeoBards GDC is a major knowledge-sharing hub where developers and other industry professionals share insights into the many different things that bring your favorite games to life, and I appreciate this opportunity to give some insight into how the NeoBards team crafted a new survival horror title while respecting and engaging with the long history of horror gaming that has come before us. For those who have played or those who have yet to play, I hope you enjoyed getting some new insight into this game that we’re very proud of. Silent Hill f is available now on PlayStation 5.

Title: How the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 dev process powered creative design freedom Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:33:04 +0000 Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/03/11/how-the-clair-obscur-expedition-33-dev-process-powered-creative-design-freedom/ I’m Tom Guillermin, co-founder and CTO of Sandfall Interactive, and I’m excited to share some insight into how our team created the community and critically acclaimed RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This blog draws on our session at the GDC (Game Developers Conference) Festival of Gaming, where video game professionals from across a range of disciplines come together to share knowledge and experiences. Our talk, which was delivered alongside our senior gameplay programmer, Florian Torres, explores how our small technical team aimed to give designers maximum creative freedom by enabling them to create and combine gameplay elements. Here, we will highlight examples that we believe this great community will appreciate. The team and our reality Creating video games is a marriage of many disciplines, and the skill set available changes as the team changes. From the bombastic abilities you see in combat to the assets that make up the game’s world map and beyond, efficient and smart structuring and planning put us in the best position to bring Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to life. The earliest versions of the game were made by Guillaume Broche, CEO of Sandfall Interactive, alone in his bedroom, with occasional help from me. Then we moved on to more advanced prototypes, growing the team with the ultimate goal of creating a vertical slice. Suddenly, there were twelve of us, and in 2022, we went to GDC in hopes of finding a publisher to help us continue development. There, we met Kepler Interactive, whose support meant we could develop an Alpha build and continue adding necessary roles: artists and programmers, especially. Now for an important confession: We’re not much for coding. Our development philosophy at Sandfall is based on the reality that we have limited programming bandwidth, so we focus on what’s most important to delivering a good player experience and helping the creative team achieve their aims. For that reason, we’re big fans of the Unreal Engine for its many core features. It also offers many additional benefits, such as bug fixes and performance optimizations. You have to do some integration work on each update, but as a small team, you try to keep the engine as-is to keep the process straightforward. During production, we also used quite a few external plugins for engine features not native to Unreal, as well as to prototype gameplay features. Unreal Engine Blueprints Because not everybody on the team is a programmer and we needed everyone to be able to contribute to the logic of the game, we used Blueprint visual scripting instead of C++ programming language: it’s a system in Unreal Engine that uses a node-based interface to script gameplay elements directly in the Unreal Editor. Essentially, you have a collection of recipes made of code that you can creatively deploy to get the results you want. It gives designers the ability to use many concepts and tools generally restricted to programmers. With the team able to engage with this shared language, Blueprints allowed us to craft everything that goes into showcasing a skill in-game—character movement, visual effects, camera movement, etc. It’s really similar to any 3D software. You control the camera’s location and rotation, as well as the focal length, which can be animated. We have camera shakes, visual effects, and time dilation… All this contributes to a feeling of intensity over the course of the skill activation. Creative solutions There’s a lot of work that goes into the assets your team makes for these engaging and exciting experiences. You can deploy them multiple times and get very creative in different situations. A different perspective, visual deployment, detailed changes, etc. The world map is a great example of this for us, and it was a major focus in development. It was one of the last levels we created, but it is also the biggest, with the most features. We used elements from other levels to create this one, even if it doesn’t appear that way. Technically, everything related to enemies and battles is the same—interaction, looting, NPCs, dialogues, and so on. We also repurposed art elements from the other levels, in keeping with our emphasis on efficiency. Coding is an incredibly important part of video game development, and Blueprints, which are themselves a different way of coding, are one of the modern ways for aspiring developers or the infinitely curious within the PlayStation community to start creating their own projects. At Sandfall Interactive, programmers create the building blocks—like the Blueprints nodes—and we let the designers play with them. Usually, that means using them in a way different from how the programmers imagined, which is exactly what we wanted. As programmers, our job is to make designers’ lives simpler. There’s truth in many cliches, and we certainly stress this one: Teamwork makes the dream work. It sounds simple, but you need to truly need to lean on each other and create workflows that recognize, encourage, and benefit from that teamwork. We chose an engine that gave us a lot to work with in its base form, grabbed a few external enhancements, simplified the set of tools in our toolbox, reused elements we crafted, and more, all to achieve our goal of realizing our shared creative vision. That’s game development. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available now on PlayStation 5, and there’s also a two-hour trial for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Title: Moonlighter dev's next haunt is ReVamp, a tower defence roguelike where Dracula is cursed to defend his castle forever Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 22:57:09 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/moonlighter-devs-next-haunt-is-revamp-a-tower-defence-roguelike-where-dracula-is-cursed-to-defend-his-castle-forever The devs behind Moonlighter are already back with something new. While they're still tinkering away with the early access release of Moonlighter 2, at the Future Games Show Spring Showcase they revealed another roguelike entirely: ReVamp, a tower defence spin on the genre that pits you as Dracula himself protecting his castle. Read more

Title: Hazard Pay is a block-pushing puzzle game you can really sink your mop into Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:42:30 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/hazard-pay-is-a-block-pushing-puzzle-game-you-can-really-sink-your-mop-into Video games are such funny things, because I think if you were to tell someone unfamiliar with them that there is genuine enjoyment to be had in pushing some blocks around in a virtual space they'd look at you as if you'd told them there's genuine enjoyment to be hand in pushing some blocks around in a virtual space. And yet it's true! It's one of the classic puzzle game genres, going way back to 1982 with Sokoban. And here we are now, many years later, with a new entry to the genre in the form of Hazard Pay, a dystopian take that sees you cleaning up mysterious messes in secret labs. Read more

Title: Behold Subnautica 2's fancy fresh windows that come as part of its new procedural base building system Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:05:23 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/behold-subnautica-2s-fancy-fresh-windows-that-come-as-part-of-its-new-procedural-base-building-system Subnautica probably wouldn't be the beloved ocean exploration/survival crafting game that it is without its underwater base building, so of course it's no surprise that it's returning for the impending sequel. But being a sequel, it of course can't just be the same thing with a new coat of paint slapped on, and in a dev log some of the improvements of base building in Subnautica 2 were put on display. Read more

Title: I am going to be playing this rap album that's also a walkthrough of indie classic Cave Story on repeat Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 17:56:51 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/i-am-going-to-be-playing-this-rap-album-thats-also-a-walkthrough-of-indie-classic-cave-story-on-repeat What's the best video game guide you've ever used? There's an art to it, knowing what information is imperative to include, how to include it, is it a written guide, or a video? Well, how about a 21 track long rap album? I only ask because, I am so delighted to say, someone has done just that for indie classic Metroidvania Cave Story. Read more

Title: Don’t know your FSR Diamonds from your DirectStorages? Here’s what all that Project Helix tech-speak actually means Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 17:48:54 +0000 Link: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/dont-know-your-fsr-diamonds-from-your-directstorages-heres-what-all-that-project-helix-tech-speak-actually-means A man with a gun stands above the crowd at GDC, the barrel levelled at the words "Next Gen Raytracing Performance & Capabilities." Alas, he is not here to shoot the technojargon out of existence, nor to ballistically punish the unforgivably inappropriate use of title case. He himself is a ray-traced gamething, here to illustrate at least three of the many hardware-based tricks and tools that Microsoft are hyping up for Project Helix: the next, apparently PC game-running Xbox console. Read more