Taking your Steam Deck on the go this Summer? You’ll probably know all too well just how quickly the battery drains, and while we’ve seen recent deals on some sizeable options like the AOHI Future Starship, this one is a bit more compact.
2 million units strong.
We knew that the Switch 2 had gotten off to a pretty strong start, but according to recent numbers from Circana’s Mat Piscatella, Nintendo’s new console is doing remarkably well in the US.
In a post on Bluesky, Piscatella confirmed that Switch 2 sales have now surpassed 2 million in the US. Not only that, but the console is currently outpacing the original Switch by 75%. 75%! That’s wild. According to Nintendo’s most recent financial release, the console surpassed a total of 6 million sales worldwide in the seven weeks following its launch.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
We know, we know… we’ve been silent for a while. It takes a lot of time and energy to make marketing materials like trailers, and we’re trying to focus all our efforts on finishing Judas.
But we also miss the days of having a more direct relationship with you, the gamer, so we thought, “Why not start releasing some dev logs?”
Through these, we hope to communicate more frequently to update you with new details of what we are working on, without spoiling too much of what Judas has in store. The goal is to keep this pretty lo-fi, meaning more frequent updates than before, but not necessarily always with fancy trailers and super polished final imagery. (Though there will be more of those as well!)
Want to Rent-A-Deputy?
We’ve just finished a major milestone: Villainy. Villainy is a central feature of Judas. When you play BioShock or BioShock Infinite, the villain is always going to be the villain. Fontaine, Comstock — they’re always going to be the bad guys. In Judas, your actions will attract members of the Big 3 to you as friends. But ignore one of them enough, and they become the villain. From there, they will get access to a new suite of powers to subvert your actions and goals. The clips below demonstrate just a little bit of the feature.
This is just one example of how the Big 3 can retaliate. The more dangerous and character-specific stuff will be kept a secret, for now.
Eventually, you’ll have to make decisions about who you’re going to focus your energy on… and who you’ll wind up alienating.
But… be careful not to rent one when Tom is pissed off.
One of my personal favorites of all time is Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor because of the emergent gameplay made possible by their Nemesis System. The system allows you to develop small relationships with multiple orcs. However, their goals were a little different than ours, because there are so many different orcs and they don’t have time to develop them into characters.
In Judas, you’re going to get to know these characters intimately. We want losing one of them to feel like losing a friend. We want to play with that dynamic, and we want that choice to be super hard. The Big 3 are all going to be competing for your favor and attention. They can bribe you, save you in battle, talk shit about the other characters, and share with you their darkest secrets. But eventually, you’ve got to decide who you trust and who you don’t.
In BioShock Infinite, there was a lot of energy invested into developing your relationship with Elizabeth. By the end of the game, you knew everything about her, her abilities, her hopes and dreams.
But the truth is she knew almost nothing about you, the gamer playing Booker. In Judas, the Big 3 observe you as you play, and they have feelings not only about how you approach combat, hacking, and crafting, but most importantly your interactions with the other two characters.
As part of the Villainy Milestone, we also completed the biggest Judas playtest yet, where new players experienced this feature firsthand. Every time we test, we learn so much, and we love having that level of knowledge when working on the game. The testers shared tons of valuable feedback on the weight of decisions and how it impacted outcomes, their interest in learning more about character motivations, and how moments where the Big 3 helped — or turned on them — changed their future decisions.
Another thing we’re excited to be able to share is… this:
We’re really happy to finally show this off. I have always personally been a huge fan of Drew Struzan’s work and that era of movie posters. The style is great at presenting films that have a big cast, like Star Wars. And Judas has a big cast. Outside of the lead roles, there’s likely going to be more than one hundred speaking parts… If you look closely, there’s probably some details you might be curious about. Let’s just say there’s some stuff in this game that we’re not going to talk about right now, but everything here is relevant.
There’s one thing we’re sure you all want to know: when is Judas coming out?!?!
While we wish we could give you an exact date today, we’re not quite ready to finalize that. As you know, release dates have a way of slipping by, and we’d like to avoid having to change the date after we announce it. But we know Judas is not really a game until the players get their hands on it, and that’s a day everyone on the team is working toward.
Crystal Dynamics has laid off an unknown number of workers following the cancelation of Perfect Dark by Microsoft.
In a statement on LinkedIn, Crystal Dynamics confirmed the layoffs, but did not specify the number of people impacted.
“Today we made the very difficult decision to part ways with a number of our talented colleagues as the result of evolving business conditions,” the statement reads. “This decision was not made lightly. It was necessary, however, to ensure the long-term health of our studio and core creative priorities in a continually shifting market.”
The company also confirmed that Tomb Raider, still in development, was unaffected by the decision.
While the statement does not explicitly mention Perfect Dark as the reason behind the layoffs, multiple former workers have posted on social media whose posts and profiles suggest that was the game they were working on. These layoffs seem to be a delayed reaction to Xbox canceling Perfect Dark, which Crystal Dynamics was working on with The Initiative, earlier this year. The Initiative was shuttered at the time of the cancelation, back in July.
Crystal Dynamics was originally brought in to revitalize Perfect Dark after struggles getting the project moving with former co-developer, Certain Affinity. Crystal was later acquired by the Embracer Group in 2022, at which time the studio was revealed to have 273 employees across its Austin, Bellevue, and San Mateo offices. Crystal laid off ten people in 2023, and laid off 17 more people earlier this year. It’s unclear how many remain now.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Ghost Story Games must have sensed that we were becoming antsy about Judas, the upcoming game from BioShock creator Ken Levine that’s touted an impressive-sounding “narrative LEGOs” approach. The studio has dropped the first of seemingly multiple Dev Logs today, with this one talking about the game’s complex, Shadow of Mordor-like “Villainy” system.
Levine has been alluding to the game’s Shadow of Mordor inspirations ever since he first teased Judas waaaaay back in 2017. At the time, he said that he wanted to do a more ambitious version of the game’s Nemesis system, which allowed players to form relationships with orcs they fought and developed them into characters with motivations, special abilities, and more. It’s a system that’s been praised industry-wide, but few if any games since have included a similar feature.
Originally, Levine talked about the concept of “radical recognition,” essentially the process of a game recognizing player accomplishments or failures or other activities as often as possible, and reacting to them. He elaborated more in an interview we did with him last year, explaining the game’s “Big Three” trio of main characters and their relevance to the plot and relationship to the player. Judas revolves around making choices to help or hinder these three characters, which in turn will change their relationship to the player.
Today’s Dev Log elaborates even further. As the blog explains, the Big Three’s ebbs and flows are part of a system Ghost Story is calling Villainy. While in most games, the story’s villain is set from the beginning, in Judas, player choice guides who the villain will be. Players can befriend and interact with all three members, but inevitably, one will end up being neglected or refused, and that character will become the villain. Once that happens, they gain new abilities and will begin to take action to subvert the player’s goals.
In Judas, you’re going to get to know these characters intimately. We want losing one of them to feel like losing a friend. We want to play with that dynamic, and we want that choice to be super hard. The Big 3 are all going to be competing for your favor and attention. They can bribe you, save you in battle, talk shit about the other characters, and share with you their darkest secrets. But eventually, you’ve got to decide who you trust and who you don’t.
Ghost Story says that the Villainy system marks a new development milestone for the team, which also incorporated the team’s biggest playtest yet. The blog also notes that the game will likely have over one hundred different speaking parts due to a big cast of characters. And while unfortunately, the studio isn’t ready just yet to lock in a release date, it did drop this new Judas official art by Drew Struzan:
Judas is planned for release on Xbox, PC, and PlayStation at an unknown later date.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Christophe Gans’ Return to Silent Hill is hitting theaters in January 2026, just in time for the 20th anniversary of the original Silent Hill movie. This is good news, given that Silent Hill still ranks as one of the better video game movie adaptations to date. 2012’s Silent Hill: Revelation? Not so much.
Cineverse just released a short first teaser for Return to Silent Hill, offering a glimpse of the many horrors Jeremy Irvine’s James Sunderland will face as he navigates the town in search of his missing wife.
Given that so much time has passed since Gans last set foot in the moody town of Silent Hill, you might be wondering how this sequel is connected to its predecessors. Is it a direct continuation of Silent Hill and Silent Hill: Revelations? Which game is it adapting? Here’s everything you need to know before Return to Silent Hill hits theaters.
2006’s Silent Hill stars Radha Mitchell as Rose Da Silva, a woman who brings her adopted daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) to the remote, abandoned town of Silent Hill in order to get to the bottom of Sharon’s recurring nightmares. Sean Bean also stars as Rose’s husband Christopher, who attempts to rescue his family even as they become trapped in a hellish other dimension.
Despite featuring a different director and writer in M.J. Bassett, 2012’s Silent Hill: Revelation serves as a direct sequel to the first movie. Adelaide Clemens stars as the adult Sharon, now assuming the identity of Heather Mason. When her father disappears in Silent Hill, Heather and her classmate Vincent (Kit Harington) return to the town to find him. Revelation also deals heavily with the religious cult known as the Order of Valtiel.
Return to Silent Hill is not a direct follow-up to either of those films. Instead, this film is telling a standalone story with a different set of characters. Return to Silent Hill stars Jeremy Irvine as James Sunderland, a widower who is stunned to receive a letter from his dead wife Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson), urging him to meet her in Silent Hill. James will descend deeper and deeper into the otherworldly dimensions of the town in order to find her. Silent Hill 2 Remake’s Evie Templeton will reprise her role as Laura, a young girl also caught in the web that is Silent Hill.
In short, it seems you don’t necessarily need to have seen the other Silent Hill movies in order to enjoy Return to Silent Hill. This sequel follows the approach of the games in that the spooky town itself, not the characters, provides most of the connective tissue. Most of the games aren’t directly intertwined by plot, but instead focus on different characters being drawn into the town and finding their personal demons manifesting into literal monsters. The series is not unlike Hellraiser in that regard, as the Hellraiser movies are mostly standalone horror stories linked together by the overarching mythology of Pinhead and the Cenobites.
“The script for a new Silent Hill movie that is totally independent from the two previous movies made and respects the way Silent Hill has evolved,” Gans said in 2022. “Silent Hill is a bit like Twilight Zone, the Fourth Dimension, a place where anything and everything can happen.”
If the description of Return to Silent Hill’s plot sounds familiar, it should. This film happens to be a direct adaptation of the Silent Hill 2 game, which was originally released in 2001 and remade in 2024. Just like this film, Silent Hill 2 follows James Sunderland as he navigates the various dimensions of the town in search of his late wife.
Return to Silent Hill looks to be the most faithful adaptation of the game out of the three films to date, to the point that Gans went to the trouble of casting Templeton as Laura again. We assume the film will follow the core beats of the game, pitting James against terrifying monsters like Pyramid Head and culminating in a similarly tragic twist ending. Pyramid Head himself can be seen in the teaser, making him the one character confirmed to appear in all three films.
Neither of the previous Silent Hill movies could be considered more than loose adaptations of the source material. The first Silent Hill film may borrow liberally from the imagery and music of the series, along with a few basic plot points from 1999’s Silent Hill, but its plot and cast of characters are largely unique. Silent Hill: Revelation is sort of an adaptation of the Silent Hill 3 game, transforming Rose and Christopher Da Silva into Heather and Harry Mason. But, again, the less said about Revelation, the better.
Direct adaptation or not, it doesn’t appear that Return to Silent Hill will be a 1:1 copy of Silent Hill 2. Gans has hinted the film also draws inspiration from 2014’s P.T., the infamous demo that was meant to lead into Hideo Kojima’s canceled Silent Hills game. Does that mean the film will feature first-person sequences, a la 2005’s Doom? Or is the P.T. influence more in terms of the steadily mounting sense of dread and psychological horror? We’ll find out when Return to Silent Hill hits theaters in January 2026.
For more on Return to Silent Hill, find out why the teaser trailer has divided the Silent Hill fan community.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
Dread Delusion developers Lovely Hellplace and their sinister backers at DreadXP have announced Entropy – a turn-based party RPG inspired by classic Japanese RPGs, which retains Dread Delusion’s fungal pixel aesthetics.
Like Final Fantasy 9, it starts with a theatre show. You play a rank thespian initially equipped with a simple prop sword. But then horrible creatures crash the stage, and it’s time to armour up your troupe and quest forth to snuff out a demon incursion. What’s the best Shakespeare line to invoke here, hmm. Ah yes: “target their elemental weaknesses!” Hamlet said that before he shanked Polonius through the curtain. No, don’t google to check, dear reader – I am in haste. Quickly, watch the below trailer.
It’s already made the top 20 for 2025.
Circana has released data for game and hardware sales for July 2025 in the US, and despite a competitive month, Donkey Kong Bananza has made a bit of a splash.
Shared by Mat Piscatella on Bluesky, DK’s latest adventure was the third best-selling game of the month, beaten only by EA Sports College Football 26 and EA Sports MVP Bundle. It’s sandwiched between the two sports releases and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Every Wednesday, dive into the Indie Select Hub—your gateway to a fresh, curated indie collection plus four themed spotlights that rotate weekly! You can always find this collection hub in the Xbox Store and on Xbox.com/IndieSelects.
Indie Selects is back for another month and, in honor of the new school year, we are pleased to inform you that the (definitely, absolutely real) ID@Xbox School of Independent Gamers has put together a curriculum of indie games that will give you an education in new ideas, advanced mechanics, and “having a really good time”. Here are the courses we think you should attend this month:
Here’s more on what we’ve got for you this month (in no particular order):
From the studio behind the Blasphemous series, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a new 2D action platformer that serves as a side-quel to Ninja Gaiden (NES), with all the modern-retro polish that publisher Dotemu (Streets of Rage 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge) has become known for. Players control Kenji, a student of Ryu Hayabusa (franchise main protag, former Halo 3 armor), who’s merged with a rival ninja, Kumori, to fight off a demon invasion… and maybe the CIA.
If you’re wondering whether this can capture the gratifying difficulty of classic Ninja Gaiden, well, I’d say the game is called “Ragebound” for a reason (please don’t roll your eyes). It’s hard but it feels rewarding.
A combination of compulsive storytelling and satisfying gameplay mechanics helped me overlook the hours I’ve accumulated fighting the same boss, or when navigating the unforgiving level design. The emphasis on combat mastery and skill has been a staple of the modern series, while the tight platforming, pattern recognition and frankly, punishing enemy placement has been around since its first title on the NES. Developer The Game Kitchen has done an excellent job of bridging the two eras of Ninja Gaiden – leveraging a refined, classic 2D formula as the base while interweaving the combat complexity of the later installments.
Don’t be discouraged by the promise of difficulty, though – Ragebound does a great job of onboarding new players, and the difficulty curve is pretty graceful between acts. It doesn’t feel sudden, rushed or unexpected and instead played well into the narrative. Things got harder as the situation for Kenji became worse, which made sense, so I couldn’t really be mad (even if I frequently was). Regardless of what this game put me through, I could not put it down – I recommend this to you if you’re into old-school action and gameplay, if you’re a fan of the franchise… or if you just like ninjas – Deron Mann
Dotemu
From the acclaimed team behind Blasphemous, NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound successfully unites the classic lore and gameplay of the Tecmo-developed (now KOEI TECMO GAMES) NINJA GAIDEN series from the classic era with the depth and intensity of the modern 3D entries. The best of both eras come together to create an epic and thrilling adventure.
DIVE INTO AN UNTOLD CHAPTER OF THE NINJA GAIDEN SAGA
Our story begins when Ryu Hayabusa journeys to America to honor his father’s will. While he is away, the barrier between the human and the demon worlds suddenly shatters, unleashing a terrifying army upon the Hayabusa Village, which now faces an unprecedented threat in Ryu’s absence.
To stand against this new threat, Kenji Mozu, a young ninja from the Hayabusa Village, rises to the challenge! Trained by Ryu, he fights fiercely but soon finds himself in desperate straits. Forced to tap into forbidden power, Kenji sets aside centuries of animosity and forms an alliance with the sinister Black Spider Clan, convinced that combining their souls and skills is the only way to protect the world out of the Demon Lord’s grasp!
OLD SCHOOL GAMEPLAY WITH A BRAND-NEW POLISH
Combining old-school feeling with modern precision, NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound retains the pick-up-and-play action of the classic titles, while introducing new layers of depth.
Alongside the new protagonist, Kenji Mozu, is the skilled assassin Kumori. Take control of these two powerful ninjas simultaneously and unravel their interconnected stories.
Use the Ninja Fusion to unleash devastating abilities and obliterate your enemies. NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound features impeccable mechanics that are easy to learn but hard to truly master, challenging the skills of even the most seasoned fans of the NINJA GAIDEN series!
A SPECTACULAR PIXEL ART SHOWDOWN
Step into a reimagined version of the classic NINJA GAIDEN universe, brought to life through stunning, meticulously crafted visuals. Every enemy is recreated with a level of detail that was once impossible.
The brutal, nostalgia-filled aesthetic of NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound pays homage to the past while pushing the boundaries of modern pixel art, making every battle a feast for the eyes.
Do you have what it takes to become a true ninja master?
Wildgate is a team-based PvPvE extraction shooter that throws players into the chaos of deep space, blending high-stakes spaceship battles with close-quarters crew combat. Each match features 20 space pirates called Prospectors split into squads of four. The mission? Dive into space, raid PvE dungeons for loot, upgrade your ship, outgun rival crews, secure the mysterious artifact, and make your escape through the Wildgate. The game features a variety of weapons and abilities to contend with, deadly environmental hazards, and, of course, loot worth fighting for. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if Sea of Thieves and Overwatch had a baby—this is it.
From the very first match, it’s clear to me that Wildgate isn’t your typical multiplayer experience. Coordination over voice chat isn’t just helpful, but essential. You and your crew will be leaping from asteroid to asteroid, raiding different spots in pursuit of loot, upgrades, and the elusive artifact that everyone’s after. That means the faster you can be in and out, the less likely you are to run into an unexpected ambush.
But running and gunning is just half the battle, as your crew will have to coordinate piloting the ship, performing repairs, and boarding rival ships. With the right team, few things are more satisfying than hopping onto an enemy ship, picking it clean, and making a daring escape. But I’ve also been in squads that were either eerily silent or loud and chaotic – both of which can make the experience feel overwhelming or, worse, made us cannon fodder for more organized crews. You truly need to find a squad for this one.
Customization in Wildgate is impressively well-designed. Each of the characters you have to choose from, called Prospectors, have unique traits, loadouts, and a signature ability that can dramatically shift the tide of a match. Traits can include not needing to breathe, healing while aboard your ship, seeing through walls, or punching through enemy hulls, all of which can lead to some wild and memorable encounters with rival crews. The same goes for weapons, gear, and unlockable ships offering plenty of room for creative builds and min-maxing opportunities.
Wildgate’s design is layered and impressively polished, yet it still feels like it’s in its initial stages – there’s so much scope to grow from here. This could easily become a standout in the fiercely competitive extraction shooter genre as more content rolls out. If you’re a fan of the genre already, this needs to be in your queue – and if you’re a newcomer, get yourself a crew and come aboard – Raymond Estrada
Dreamhaven, Inc.
Your ship is your home and lifeline — for you, and your prospector crew. Keep it topped up with ice, fuel and ammo so you’re ready for anyone or anything the Reach throws at you.
EPIC SPACESHIP BATTLES
Blast your enemies with hi-tech cannons and gadgets, lure them into deadly traps, or even mess with their ship… as long as they don’t sabotage yours first. When your perfect plan goes out the airlock, there’s only one option… wing it!
NEW ADVENTURES, EVERY MATCH
Stay one step ahead as you and your crew navigate the Reach — a vast, procedurally-generated map that changes with every game.
UNIQUE PROSPECTORS
Choose from a variety of daring prospectors, each with their own abilities and tools. Whether you’re a brave pilot or a clever trickster, there’s no wrong way to commit space crimes!
EXPLORE THE REACH
The Reach is a dangerous, unpredictable place, filled with deadly hazards and treasure beyond your wildest dreams. Navigate through cosmic storms, battle space vermin, and plunder alien ruins for lost caches of loot. Just make sure you beat the other prospectors to the punch, or you’ll fly away empty-handed!
OUTRUN OR OUTGUN
The Artifact is the most valuable object in the known universe. Be the first to find it, snatch it, and pass through the Wildgate, or destroy the ships of every other crew and be the last crew standing.
I still remember my first time booting up the original Killing Floor – the frantic reloads, the eerie silence before a wave, and the absolute panic when a Scrake rounded the corner. Killing Floor 2 dialed it all up: better weapons, bloodier battles, and a glorious soundtrack that made every fight feel like a metal concert in a warzone. So, when Killing Floor 3 dropped, I didn’t hesitate. I was already home.
Developed by Tripwire Interactive, Killing Floor 3 is a co-op FPS that throws you and your squad into the heart of a sci-fi nightmare. You’ll face relentless waves of Zeds – genetically engineered monstrosities that are faster, meaner, and somehow even uglier than before. The combat is crunchy and satisfying, the maps are drenched in neon and dread, and the pacing keeps you constantly on edge.
It’s everything longtime fans love, but sharper. The atmosphere feels like Doom and Aliens had a baby, raised in a bunker lit by strobe lights and soaked in adrenaline. I’ve spent hours perfecting my loadout, yelling “Cover me, I’m reloading!” with unnecessary action hero bravado , and laughing with friends as we barely survived wave ten.
Tripwire Interactive knows exactly what makes this franchise tick – and they’ve delivered a third chapter that’s as brutal and brilliant as ever. If you’ve been with the series since the beginning, Killing Floor 3 feels like a love letter to the chaos we grew up with – just louder, faster, and somehow even more fun. And if you’re new? Welcome to the party. Just don’t forget to heal your teammates. Or at least pretend you tried – Steven Allen
Tripwire Interactive
Killing Floor 3 is the next installment in the legendary action/horror series. This intense FPS puts you in the boots of a Nightfall specialist joining forces with up to five teammates to battle waves of Zeds, earn dosh, unlock skills, and build the ultimate arsenal.
KILLER CO-OP
Assemble the ultimate zed extermination squad for frenzied 6-player co-op. You can also brave the battlefield alone in tense single-player mode.
RELENTLESS ZEDS
Brace yourself for the most lethal zeds yet. Every enemy has been redesigned and retuned with smarter AI; making them faster, deadlier, and more strategic than ever.
SURVIVAL TECH
From flamethrowers to shotguns to katanas, you’ll have an expansive arsenal at your disposal. Customize your own unique brand of bloodletting with hundreds of mods, gadgets, and skills to choose from.
DANGEROUS LOCATIONS
Drop into a variety of treacherous hot zones where you’ll have to contain the further spread of the Outbreak. Thankfully, you can use the environment to your advantage by activating turrets, fans, and other devastating traps.
MORE GORE
Our MEAT System returns to deliver even more realistic carnage. Featuring additional points of dismemberment and persistent blood, the game responds to your attacks with gruesome authenticity.
Monument Valley 3, the newest installment in the acclaimed puzzle series, has arrived on Xbox. Renowned for its serene, visually captivating gameplay, this series challenges players with clever puzzles while immersing them in stunning, artful environments. With its fixed perspectives, Persian-inspired aesthetics, and mesmerizing Escher-like architecture, this latest chapter continues to offer a soothing yet stimulating experience that’s as beautiful as it is brain-bending.
New to the series? No worries! While Monument Valley 3 follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, it tells a completely standalone story. With minimal dialogue and text, the game relies on subtle visual storytelling through movement, animation, and atmosphere to convey its themes. The crux of the story is that the world is crumbling, the water is rising, and you must find a way to restore light back into the world by navigating architecture-based puzzles.
After the introduction, you’ll find yourself guiding the protagonist, Noor, to the exit of each area by moving parts of the environment around – the architecture bending reality through optical illusions. Structures that go across an axis can sometimes blend into one another, changing the structure of the environment just by altering its perspective. At times, it feels like solving a living Magic Eye puzzle – spotting the hidden path can make your eyes work overtime.
The puzzle difficulty in Monument Valley 3 ramps up nicely. Early levels gently ease you into the game’s signature perspective-shifting mechanics before gradually presenting more and more intricate challenges that will have you scanning every detail for clues. A standout new feature in this installment is the addition of a boat, which you can navigate across rising waters. This mechanic adds a new layer of complexity, especially in puzzles that require you to coordinate movement between multiple areas to progress.
Monument Valley 3 is a beautiful, bite-sized puzzler that is very enjoyable while it lasts. I would recommend it for anyone that enjoys a calm serene puzzle but won’t get frustrated when the answer is literally staring you in the face – Raymond Estrada
ustwo games
Guide Noor, an apprentice lightkeeper, through impossible monuments, shifting landscapes, and tranquil seascapes to uncover the Sacred Light and save her home.
Monument Valley 3 takes you beyond the monuments and into the open sea. As Noor, you’ll navigate stunning, changing environments, solve mind-bending puzzles, and uncover the secrets of the Sacred Light. With her village threatened by rising tides, Noor must chart her own course—and discover her own strength—in this stunning, emotional adventure.
Sail between geometry, manipulate architecture to reveal hidden paths, and let the iconic soundtrack guide you forward. With new mechanics, breathtaking visuals, and the series’ signature charm, Monument Valley 3 is a voyage like no other.
Features:
– Defy Perspective: Rotate and manipulate the environment to reveal hidden paths, solve intricate puzzles
– Uncover The Mystery: Help Noor unlock the secrets of this ever-changing world.
– Beautiful Art: A stunning world inspired by modern design, global architecture and hand-crafted, personal stories.
– Every Update Included: Full Story is included, with brand new updates to come
Adventure awaits—will you uncover the light that guides the way?
ustwo games are proud independent developers, best known for the award-winning Monument Valley series, Land’s End, Assemble with Care and Alba: A Wildlife Adventure.
Every so often, a game comes along that defies neat descriptions. RatShaker is one of those. It’s short, strange, and unlike anything else I’ve played on Xbox and that’s exactly why it stuck with me. This isn’t the kind of game where you grind levels or chase loot. Instead, RatShaker asks you to slow down, lean into the absurd, and let yourself experience something that feels more like an experiment than a traditional adventure. The controls are simple, the pacing deliberate, and yet the effect is oddly captivating.
This is a game for players who appreciate the unconventional. If you enjoy titles like What Remains of Edith Finch, The Stanley Parable, or Don’t Touch Anything, you’ll likely find RatShaker intriguing. It’s perfect for those who value atmosphere, experimental design, and games that make you think (or squirm). If I had to pin it down, I’d call RatShaker a surreal narrative experience with elements of psychological comedy. It blends interactive storytelling with absurdist humor and a touch of eerie tension – think walking simulator meets performance art.
What impressed me most was how RatShaker balances its humor and its tension. It never feels like it’s trying to be a blockbuster or a polished crowd-pleaser – instead, it leans fully into its own identity. You’re invited to play along, to laugh, to feel uneasy, and, above all, to experience something you probably didn’t expect when you pressed start. It’s the kind of game I recommend not because it’s “fun” in the conventional sense, but because it’s memorable.
You’ll finish RatShaker in one sitting. It’s roughly 1 to 2 hours, depending on how much you explore or linger. It’s designed to be brief but impactful. You might finish RatShaker in an evening, but you’ll likely be thinking about it the next day, wondering how such a simple idea managed to get under your skin in such a playful way. If you’re looking for something different, something you can’t quite compare to anything else, RatShaker won’t be easily shaken after you finish – Steven Allen
Dark Product
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Developed by Void Interactive, Ready or Not is a co-op FPS that puts you in the boots of a SWAT officer called in when things go from bad to worse. Hostage rescues. Barricaded suspects. Active threats. The tension is relentless, but the game makes it thrilling, not overwhelming. You don’t need to memorize military jargon or master complex controls. Just grab your gear, trust your squad, and try not to flashbang yourself (again). So, it started with a simple plan: hop online, play a few rounds, and maybe not embarrass myself. I’d heard Ready or Not was intense, but I figured, how hard could it be? Then came the mission.
A quiet suburban house. The briefing said, “hostage situation.” My brain said, “don’t mess this up.” We stacked up at the door, flashbangs ready, hearts pounding. Two floors cleared. One room left. The hallway was silent, too silent. Lights flickered. A suspect shouted from behind the locked door. My team waited for my signal. I nodded. Breach. Flash. Chaos. Victory. Fist-bump.
Since then, I’ve spent countless evenings laughing, learning, and slowly mastering the art of clearing rooms without yelling “clear!” into empty hallways. It’s got the tension of Rainbow Six Siege, but with more breathing room and a slower, more deliberate pace. Ready or Not doesn’t ask if you’re prepared, it surrounds you with silence, pressure, and the kind of intensity that makes you lean in. And once you’re in, you won’t want to leave – Steven Allen
VOID Interactive
Lead a team of highly-trained SWAT officers through harrowing, high-risk missions against violent, cruel and calculated criminals to stop the city from spiralling into disorder. Equip real-world weapons and gear to tackle missions inspired by current events against Los Sueňos’ ruthless criminal element.
Every decision, from squad selection to tactical breach and engagement is the difference between life and death.
Are you ready?
FEATURES
Take Command
Ready or Not delivers an immersive SWAT experience. Equip your team with authentic weapons and gear, deploy into high-stakes, real-world inspired missions to secure locations concealing unknown criminal threats and potential civilians. Every mission demands tactical precision and situational awareness. Bullets from known and concealed threats react realistically with the environment, passing through walls, furniture and bodies. Cover your six, clear your corners, apprehend the threats and rescue the innocent.
The Weight of the Badge
Shoulder the weight of being a SWAT commander entrusted with confronting Los Sueňos’ criminal corruption and stopping it from overwhelming the city’s citizens. Every tactical decision matters, every outcome is yours to bear. Your choices in the field dictate mission success, the survival of your squad and the safety of hostages. Squadmate and hostage deaths take a profound psychological toll on surviving team members, affecting their performance or ending their careers altogether.
True Tactical Gameplay
Ready or Not is a true tactical shooter. Every mission is a high-stakes, life-or-death operation. Strategically forge your squad of elite SWAT officers, equip them with the right weapons and gear for the mission, position your team to tactically breach criminal strongholds and quickly identify and neutralize threats in tense, life threatening scenarios. Follow the rules of engagement, communicate with your team, and execute flawlessly – failure is for the unprepared.
Your Mission is the Story
Ready or Not confronts you with a raw, unflinching mirror of real-world crime, exposing the horrors of human trafficking, drug running, illegal arms dealing, militant extremism and terrorism through interwoven storylines that span multiple missions. Grapple with moral dilemmas as you’re forced to balance your duty to exercise constraint in the face of Los Sueňos’ most vile criminals.
Cross-Comradery
Team up with friends to stem the tide of crime infesting the city. Enhanced with crossplay, Ready or Not supports up to five players in a co-operative tactical experience on all platforms. Communicate effectively to increase your tactical precision, watch your squad’s back and successfully complete your mission.
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Fifteen years since its last release, the Skate series returns with an entry that turns a whole city into a skater’s paradise. The newest Skate is a free-to-play open world where you can take on a series of challenges, spectate other skaters, team up with friends, or challenge other players to throw down and trade tricks.
Electronic Arts pulled the curtain back on Skate with a hands-on preview of Early Access ahead of its September 16 release. I shredded and slammed across the city of San Vansterdam for nine hours and saw a whole lot of what developer Full Circle has to offer. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty.
Flick-It returns — When it was released back in 2007, Skate introduced the “Flick-It” control system, where executing tricks is done with fast flicking movements of the right control stick, to better simulate the sense of pulling off ollies and kickflips. Full Circle says that it didn’t rebuild Flick-It, it “resurrected” it, with improvements to the controls to make them easier to learn and use for newbies, but with all the nuance veterans expect.
Flick-It comes with three control schemes. The Streamlined version makes snapping off tricks intuitive and a bit easier than in previous games, with flicking up on the right stick enough to ollie and your character pushing your skateboard automatically as you steer with the left stick.
Classic feels familiar to Skate fans—pushing the skateboard is done with Square or X, and you need to flick the stick down to set and then up to jump, with lots of different patterns for more complex tricks.
Finally, there’s the Experienced level, which provides even more nuanced control but removes the Flick diagram from your screen.
If you need a hand remembering the moves, Skatepedia is always just a menu away to show you how to do every trick in the game.
A city of skating — San Vansterdam is a big, open place, and the game dots many locations with challenges to put you through your paces.
Lines task you with doing tricks and hitting a certain score along a specific series of obstacles, grabbing icons along the way.
In Own the Spot, you’re looking to hit a high score in a location, while trying to knock out a certain set of tricks in a single sequence.
Session gives you a free-form, timed opportunity to rack up a high score in a larger location.
And in Stunt challenges, you fling yourself off high places and ragdoll through ridiculous requirements. These ones were my favorite of everything I played in Skate, and they’re always hilarious.
There are also missions that will teach you the ropes of how to play and perform different tricks if you’re new to Skate
Parkour and Exploration — Finding skate spots off the beaten path is another big part of the fun of San Vansterdam. You can hop off your board anywhere by hitting Triangle and then use X to jump and climb walls or scale buildings to look for new places to Skate
San Vansterdam also has rotating community parks you can find around the city, so there’s always something fresh to Skate
Quick Drop lets you make your own spots — You’re not stuck skating the spots and challenges the developers have created, either. Pressing down on the D-pad opens up your radial Tool Box, where you can find the Quick Drop menu. You can instantly add your own ramps, grind rails, and other objects to any location to create your own spots, or improvise a solution to a problem, like jumping a big gap. Other players can skate your Quick Drops, too.
Progression and Customization — Clearing missions and leveling up your reputation in each neighborhood unlocks new customization and drop items. Credits you earn from rewards can be used to buy more random cosmetics from each neighborhood to unlock new looks, decks, and other options.
Spectating and Spectaporting — The big benefit of Skate’s always-online, free-to-play nature is you’re constantly able to play with other skaters. Tapping the Touchpad on your DualSense controller brings up the map and menu tabs, where you can find your social options. Here, you can see everyone else in your server, spectate what they’re doing, and even instantly “spectaport” to their location to say hi or skate the same spot. Full Circle says servers will support up to 150 players at a time, so there will always be other people skating San Vansterdam with you.
Replay editor — It’s quick and easy to create clips of your best moments (or most painful fails). You can access the Replay Editor from your Tool Box menu at any time, which captures the last few minutes of your session and lets you edit, save, and share videos.
Grabster — One of the cooler ways skate makes San Vansterdam feel alive is by supplying it with a ton of diegetic music, coming from everything from store displays to passing cars’ speakers. You can grab any song you like by holding R3 to add it to your personal playlist.
Even over just a handful of hours in San Vansterdam, it’s clear Skate puts a ludicrous amount of skating opportunities on offer, with plenty of ways for players to have fun together and get creative, as well.
The good news is that you can see for yourself when Skate hits PlayStation 4 and Playstation 5 in Early Access on September 16.
