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The Blood of Dawnwalker director confirms human form is meant to be harder

The Blood of Dawnwalker game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz confirmed that struggling in human form is intentional, saying vampires should always be stronger. In human form, claw damage scales with level and healing in combat requires crafted potions, while vampires can heal by biting enemies and drinking blood vials. The game released at the beginning of September, sold 1m copies in three days, and its first major patch is planned for early October.

Naughty Dog Is Working On Two The Last Of Us Projects That Will Expand The Series' Canon Beyond Part I And Part II

Naughty Dog co-creator Neil Druckmann revealed in an Outbreak Day blog post that the studio is working on two new projects in very early stages that will expand The Last of Us canon beyond Part I and Part II. Druckmann wrote "projects" rather than "games," leaving open the possibility of TV, movies, comics, books, or something else. With Naughty Dog yet to release Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, it will likely be a while before these projects surface.

How Control Resonant's art design and tech shaped its bosses, paranaturally-twisted Manhattan and more

Control Resonant launched last week on PlayStation 5, and Remedy's lead level designer, art director, and lead gameplay designer discussed the art direction and design behind its characters and environments. The game keeps dynamic destruction and reactive environments while presenting a movie-like retro "Strange York" version of New York. Boss fights are intended as skill checks, and areas like The Gap and the Sinkhole reflect Dylan's psyche and gravity-warped spaces.

"Why should we just give up the entire month of November?" – The indie games going head to head with GTA 6

Grand Theft Auto 6 is set to launch on November 19, and while major publishers have moved their games away from that date, Fairy Mount's Flame, Forest and Flood and Devolver Digital's Volvy's Adventure: Reslimed are still launching the same day. Fairy Mount's CEO calls it a statement for the small gamedev scene, while Devolver points to GTA 6 not launching on Steam as a gap worth targeting.

Gears of War: E-Day's Intended Difficulty Is Hardcore, Says The Coalition Creative Director

The Coalition creative director Matt Searcy says Hardcore is the intended difficulty for Gears of War: E-Day, which launches on Xbox and PC on 1st October. The campaign has four difficulty modes — Casual, Normal, Hardcore and Insane — and defaults to Normal, with split difficulty supported in co-op.

The Elder Scrolls Online is partly why Skyrim never got a Fallout: New Vegas-style spin-off, says Bethesda veteran

Bethesda veteran Kurt Kuhlmann says The Elder Scrolls Online is partly why Skyrim never got a Fallout: New Vegas-style spin-off, since the MMORPG kept Elder Scrolls fans occupied with ongoing new content. He added that the rivalry sparked by New Vegas made Todd Howard protective of The Elder Scrolls series. Obsidian has since been confirmed to be working on a new Fallout game with Bethesda.

The Last of Us Season 3 Casts John Goodman and Last of Us Part II Actors Laura Bailey and Ian Alexander

HBO's The Last of Us Season 3 has added John Goodman, Ian Alexander, and Laura Bailey to its cast. Goodman plays Joey, partner of Alexander's character Paco, while Bailey plays Elizabeth, a leader of the Seraphites. Bailey and Alexander previously voiced Abby and Lev in The Last of Us Part II; the season has no premiere date but is expected in 2027.

How DICE bounced back from Battlefield 2042's disastrous launch to release Battlefield 6

Rebecka Coutaz, VP and GM of Battlefield Studios Europe, detailed how DICE reorganized its development approach after Battlefield 2042's disastrous launch. Battlefield 6 was developed from the start by four studios—DICE, Criterion, Motive Studios, and Ripple Effect—and sold over 7 million copies in its first three days, becoming the best-selling game of 2025 in the US.

The latest phase of the Xbox Reset discussed on the latest DF Direct Weekly along with Halo going to Activision, Silent Hill Townfall tes...

This year's update to my Capcom story includes an updated animation of Capcom's ever-evolving list of 10 best-selling games

All New Games Coming to Xbox in October 2026

Pure Xbox has rounded up every Xbox game with an October 2026 release date, along with the confirmed Xbox Game Pass lineup so far. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve arrives October 1, Gears of War: E-Day lands October 6, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches October 23. On Game Pass, Keeper is confirmed for October 2 as a new XGP Premium addition.

This week in PC games: new Ace Combat, Transport Fever 3, and a System Shock-alike set on a disco space station

This week's PC releases include Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve from Bandai Namco, Paradox's Transport Fever 3, and RetroSpace, an immersive sim set on a space station pulled into a black hole. Nivalis Nights, a cyberpunk restaurant management life sim from the makers of Cloudpunk, arrives September 29th, while Crusader Kings 3: By God Alone lets players run the Vatican.

New Action RPG DAWNGAZER Suddenly Adds Xbox Version After Fan Requests

Action RPG DAWNGAZER was originally announced only for PS5, Switch 2 and PC, but an Xbox version has suddenly been added "thanks to your many requests." The game is led by Takafumi Noma, best known for directing Unicorn Overlord, and is pencilled in for a 2028 launch window.

Seven Xbox Games Are Out Today, Including Early Access To The Danger Zone (September 28)

Seven games launch on Xbox on September 28, led by Deluxe or special editions that offer an Early Access window: Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve - Deluxe Edition, Way of the Hunter 2 - Deluxe Edition and MXGP 26 - Fox Holeshot Edition, all on Series X|S, PC and Cloud. Also out the same day are Blades & Battles, Keep Driving, Lost in Loss and Sneak Cheese.

Marvel's Wolverine patch 1.001.006 lets you turn off "fart gas" scent trails completely, with a catch

Marvel's Wolverine patch 1.001.006 adds three separate toggles in the Gameplay menu to turn off scent trails for Whiskey Bottle collectibles, Material Crate audio pings and Nightmare Door roots. Senses will remain for "story-critical" moments. The patch also fixes reported crashes, instances where players could become stuck, and the overlapping bathroom sign in the casino level.

Casual Mobile Game Data Report: New Games Make Up Only 2% of Top 300 as Older Titles Dominate

Azur Games' internal casual games report shows downloads fell across all categories in the first half of 2026, with casual, hypercasual and hybridcasual each dropping more than 10%, while hypercasual and hybridcasual revenue grew 64% and 24% respectively. More than half of the current download Top 300 titles launched before 2024, and new games fell from 8% of the list in mid-2023 to 2%. Block Puzzle rose sharply between January and summer 2026, establishing itself as a major subcategory.

A New Generation of Esports Players "Proving Themselves" in Delta Force

The Delta Force Fierce Fire Pro League (DFPL) Summer Finals took place on September 25 in Chongqing, where TES came from behind to secure the Mandel Brick and defend their title, with player white earning his second career FMVP. The summer season adopted a points-and-match-point system, requiring teams to reach 40 points to open match point and then successfully decode a Mandel Brick to end the match. The 2026 Delta Force Fierce Fire World Cup will run from November 27 to 29 in Stockholm, Sweden, with TES, RSG and IBG representing the Chinese mainland region.

The Sunday Papers: FF16's Middle Eastern Influences, Armored Core 6's Violence, and AI Research

Rock Paper Shotgun's The Sunday Papers rounds up the week's games writing, including a critique of Final Fantasy XVI's shallow handling of Middle Eastern and North African cultural influences and a piece on violence and empowerment in Armored Core 6. It also features AI researcher Michael Cook on how AI papers now just ask an LLM to do something, plus writing on Microsoft layoffs and Bobby Kotick.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director says Platinum trophy will be "easier to get"

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi says the game's Platinum trophy will be "easier to get" than Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's, with around 20 percent of players or more expected to obtain it. He acknowledged Rebirth's Platinum difficulty was "by design," with about 2.6 percent of players unlocking it, and said the team underestimated demand and he has regrets. Revelation is due out on 8th April 2027 on Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series.

Minecraft still gains around 300,000 new players a day, Xbox boss reveals

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said Minecraft still draws more than 300,000 first-time players on an average day, after 17-plus years and over 425 million copies sold. She also teased Minecraft Live content including Dungeons II, the first new dimension in more than 14 years, new creator tools, and Minecraft on Nintendo Switch 2. The Switch 2 version is confirmed for an October 27 release, with a paid upgrade path for Switch 1 owners.

TALON TOWERS is a Fumito Ueda-coded parkour platformer about hopping around massive structures while avoiding falling to your foggy doom

Jan Malitschek, the developer behind BETON BRUTAL, has announced TALON TOWERS, a parkour platformer made with Blanksword's Quinn K. and If Found's Hyphinett. Set on dilapidated towers above an endless fog, it offers running, climbing, monkeybar swinging, wallrunning and wall-kicking, tightrope walking, crouching and crawling, plus chase sequences and moments where you play as a bird. It can be wishlisted on Steam, with no release date given.

Psychological horror beat 'em up Brokensides announced: play a violent sea bunny fresh out of prison

juicce has announced Brokensides, a psychological horror beat 'em up in which you play a violent sea bunny recently freed from imprisonment after committing a Cardinal Crime. You can dropkick and suplex glass-bodied enemies, and the game's visuals mix oldschool wireframe 3D, oddly rendered models and ASCII art. There is no release date or window yet, but it can be wishlisted on Steam.

Video Game Menu: The Game is all about pressing buttons in menus and seeing what they change

Video Game Menu: The Game is out now on Steam, and its gameplay consists entirely of moving through menu screens and pressing buttons to see what happens. Options range from standard graphics quality, v-sync, FPS targets and brightness to absurd ones like buttons that flee your cursor, screen rotation, an airplane mode cockpit PNG overlay, and text and buttons that shrink as your cursor approaches. Actual video games appear to lurk inside as minigames.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's Chimera tank boss fight took two years of "reiterating over and over"

CD Projekt Red said on the AnsweRED Podcast that the Chimera tank boss fight in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty took two years of repeated iteration to get right. Art director Paweł Mielniczuk said the tank was made four times with changing equipment and weapons, and creative director Igor Sarzyński called it "one of the most expensive art assets I think ever." Game director Gabe Amatangelo described the fight as a nexus of gameplay, narrative, art and worldbuilding that required striking a balance.

Control Resonant gets New Game++ next month, photo mode to follow

Remedy has outlined plans to add a New Game++ mode to Control Resonant in October, letting players start NG+ run after NG+ run without erasing progress. A photo mode is planned for November, with new cosmetics also coming in future updates.

What are we all playing this weekend?

The Rock Paper Shotgun team shares what they are playing this weekend. Jeremy continues Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, Ollie is still enjoying Wardogs despite PC troubles, James is mopping up Control Resonant side gigs and practicing Darktide ahead of its boss fight update on the 29th, and Julian plans to start Ace Combat 8.

The Video Games And More You Should Play This Weekend – September 25, 2026

Game Informer announced Grand Theft Auto VI as its next cover story, featuring a 14-page report with exclusive Rockstar developer interviews, new screenshots, and original cover art, available digitally to subscribers next week. The game itself releases November 19. The weekend recommendations also cover a Sonic Adventure 2 design document, Critical Reflex demos, a Final Fantasy VII Revelation preview, a StarCraft developer interview at BlizzCon, and a Control Resonant review.

NEW: In a sequel to one of Game File's biggest posts from 2025, I've got new charts and discoveries about how Capcom's games are doing

Podcast: We're Digging Wardogs

This week on The Game Informer Show, Alex and Eric share their impressions of Wardogs, the new breakout FPS on Steam that has surprising lineage and refreshing ideas. Marcus also discusses his review of Control Resonant and whether its day-one patch will affect early impressions. The episode ends with the crew opening Collector's Boosters from Magic: The Gathering's latest set, Reality Fracture.

Ex-Elder Scrolls loremaster says Bethesda is "very protective" of the series, so it never got a Fallout: New Vegas-style spin-off

Former Elder Scrolls loremaster and Skyrim lead developer Kurt Kuhlmann said on the FRVR podcast that Bethesda never let an outside team make a mainline-style Elder Scrolls spin-off because it is "very protective" of the series. He said director Todd Howard did not want to recreate the debate over whether Bethesda or Obsidian made the better Fallout game after Fallout: New Vegas. Kuhlmann, who left the studio in 2023, added that The Elder Scrolls Online's ongoing new content has become many players' Elder Scrolls experience.

GDC Side Quest - Exploring co-development opportunities with Sam Carlisle

On GDC Side Quest, content marketing manager Beth Elderkin and XDS Spark co-founder Steve Carlisle discuss the nuances of co-development and external development. As game productions grow larger, hiring outside studios to work alongside the main team has become one solution for shipping games without blowing up budgets. Treating co-dev and ex-dev colleagues as glorified contractors can lead to disaster.

TES Wins 2026 Delta Force Beacon Pro League Summer Split, Beacon World Cup Roster Revealed

TES won the 2026 Delta Force Beacon Pro League Summer Split final in Chongqing on September 25, with RSG and IBG finishing second and third. TES will join RSG and IBG, the top two teams by cumulative spring and summer points, at the Beacon World Cup in Stockholm from November 27 to 29, where 12 teams will compete at DreamHack. TES white was named Finals FMVP for both the spring and summer splits.

Control Resonant's post-launch plan includes a Photo Mode and New Game Plus Plus coming next month

Remedy Entertainment has detailed post-launch plans for Control Resonant, including new outfits, a Photo Mode and a New Game Plus Plus option. New Game++ is set to arrive sometime in October, letting players start NG+ run after NG+ run without erasing progress, while a Photo Mode update is expected in November. More cosmetics for Dylan are also in the works, though no release window was given.

Sonic Adventure 2's City Escape Design Document Revealed

The design document for Sonic Adventure 2's City Escape level is being shown at the 35 Years of Speed: The Sonic Art Exhibit in Los Angeles the weekend of September 25, with free admission and registration through Eventbrite. It details elements of the Hero Side's opening mission, including the snowboard sequence and the GUN truck chase. Sonic Team developed the level after its staff was cut from 120 to 11 and relocated to San Francisco, whose hilly urban design inspired the stage.

After nearly 19 years in development hell, Ubisoft's Beyond Good & Evil 2 is somehow still showing signs of life

A Ubisoft Bordeaux developer says he has spent the past few months working on Beyond Good & Evil 2 in a support/consultant role, with Ubisoft's permission to say so. The game was announced in 2008 and in 2022 overtook Duke Nukem Forever as the longest game in development in the Guinness Book of Records, with Ubisoft's latest reassurance coming in January.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's Chimera tank fight took roughly two years and "one of the most expensive art assets ever"

CD Projekt Red said on its official AnsweRED podcast that the Chimera tank boss fight in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty took about two years to get right, with the tank built four times and its equipment and weapons changed along the way. Creative director Igor Sarzyński called it "one of the most expensive art assets" ever, while game director Gabe Amatangelo described the fight as a nexus of gameplay, narrative, art and worldbuilding that required beat-by-beat balancing.

What developers need to know about funding a game with Kickstarter in 2026

Games companies raised $26 million on Kickstarter in 2025, level with 2024, with 443 video game projects successfully funded, including 55 over $100,000 and 11 over $500,000, according to Ico Partners' Thomas Bidaux. Bidaux says early indicators suggest 2026 will be in line with 2025's pace, but projects now need release-quality footage, ideally a demo, and an already engaged audience, since crowdfunding is fundamentally a marketing and community exercise. Skyhook Games' David Harper says Lawn Mowing Simulator 2's campaign fell below its target in the final 24 hours after a large pledge was removed, and only completed after Kickstarter extended it by a week.

Sony reportedly surveying developers about PlayStation disc-ending decision — is it having second thoughts?

Sony reportedly sent developers a survey "bigger than they've sent almost ever before" asking for feedback on its decision to stop producing disc-based games. The claim comes from YouTube channel Moore's Law is Dead, with no other evidence and no response yet from Sony. Sony announced in July it would begin ending PlayStation disc production from early 2028, citing dwindling physical sales and digital dominance.

LOVE alt delete is a Y2K horror visual novel where you use one AI chatbot to date another, without any generative AI

LOVE alt delete is a psychological horror visual novel coming to Steam in 2027, where you beta test and romance an AI chatbot called a MUSE. You enlist another chatbot, Liste, to help you chat, and can also surf the web, draw, play a digital piano and send virtual love letters. Despite the in-game AI premise, the game features no generative AI and uses hand-drawn Y2K cybercore art.

The Blood of Dawnwalker's timer mechanic was toned down after pre-release complaints

The Blood of Dawnwalker director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz confirmed the game's timer mechanic was rebalanced after pre-release feedback, saying the original version was more restrictive and harder to beat. He said the team changed the main game beyond the prologue to avoid players feeling too restricted, while quests and spending skill points still advance time. He explained that tying skill upgrades to time prevents players from farming enemies to level up and killing the antagonist Brencis on the first day.