Kirby has the ability to put everyone in a good mood, right? I mean, I’ve been in a lovely mood thanks to the pink puffball (and Nintendo), as I was lucky enough to go hands-on with the upcoming racer Kirby Air Riders for the Nintendo Switch 2 at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany.
As a surprising sequel to Kirby Air Ride on the GameCube, it’s a really fascinating game, and it does, as director Masahiro Sakurai said in yesterday’s Nintendo Direct, feel very different to Mario Kart World. So let me run you through what I got to play during my behind-closed-doors session.
Hollow Knight: Silksong – Yes, We’ve Finally Played It
The sheer weight of anticipation, expectation and, yes, a lot of memes, gives Hollow Knight: Silksong a pretty unique challenge to overcome as it makes a first impression. Six years since its announcement, and eight years since the original game arrived, it needs to demonstrate two things: that it’s familiar and that it’s different. Not the easiest thing to balance.
As paradoxical as it sounds, I’m delighted to say that having played a new public hands-on demo at Gamescom 2025, Team Cherry has managed just that. If you, like me, have been part of the baying millions waiting to see what a Hollow Knight successor could possibly be, I’m pretty confident you’re going to be pleased.
The trick is in how the developers have chosen to introduce this new game – as I turn on the demo for the first time, I’m given a choice of two locations to enter: Moss Grotto and Deep Docks. The first shows how returning players are getting more of what they want, but the second shows we’re getting the new ideas a sequel needs.
Moss Grotto
Beginning with a cutscene showing a captured Hornet (the NPC/boss from the first game, who is now our playable character) escaping into the mysterious new world of Pharloom, the verdant Moss Grotto is an immediate reminder of the key pleasures of the original Hollow Knight.
Even with this much distance from the first game, the first minutes of Silksong feel blissfully familiar – and reveal how right Team Cherry got things the first time around. This is still an immaculately drawn and animated world – its weaponized insects shudder gorgeously through lush environments, always darkened and inviting at the corners.
It still offers a maze of tunnels, beckoning you to explore in new directions, few of them truly signposted. And, crucially, it still feels unerringly good at reacting to exactly what you want to do – every button press rewarded with snappy, precisely judged reactions, from platforming to combat.
But, having returned to the original game to prepare for this demo, Moss Grotto also gives us a hint of what Hornet offers as a main character that the first game’s silent protagonist did not – namely, speed. Hornet attacks more precisely, can mantle obstacles, and even uses a new Bind ability to instantly regain health. But don’t take this as a notoriously difficult game getting easier for its second outing – Deep Docks disavowed me of that notion very quickly.
Deep Docks
Set further into the game, this second area is clearly designed to challenge you. More labyrinthine, and often verydark, this warren of an area immediately pits me against flying enemies able to pelt me with magma, enemies who block, and a boss who mercilessly takes me down, time and time again (more on her later).
It serves as a reminder of quite how challenging Hollow Knight could be, but also an introduction to the ways this game will enliven that. Yes, Hornet is a swifter fighter than the original protagonist – so Team Cherry has simply applied to the same logic to her enemies. The result is a combat system that feels less like a slugfest and more like a swordfight – you’ll need to evade, attack, and parry with more purpose. And when you get into the flow, it feels superb.
Also introduced in the Deep Docks are your Tools – perhaps the biggest change to how Silksong works compared to Hollow Knight. As part of a new crafting system, Hornet can equip Tools to add abilities to her repertoire. I’m able to use the Straight Pin – a ranged attack that functions like a throwing knife – and Silkspear, a much more powerful attack that only recharges through combat, forcing me into the fray in order to activate it. Even with a limited number on offer, it’s clear how much my choice of Tools will affect how I play through the full game.
And that’s clearest when I meet Lace, the boss guarding the end of the demo. Another swordfighter, she’s as fast – perhaps faster – than Hornet, able to parry, and with shifting attack patterns that feel as though they’re responding to how I’m choosing to fight. It’s here that I realise quite how far Team Cherry is pushing speed as a defining factor in Silksong –after many, many failed attempts, it’s only by using my own maneuvrability (and some well-thrown Tools) that I’m able to take her down. I’m not simply learning attack patterns, or spamming moves, I’m reacting. It might look like Hollow Knight, but it feels like I’m playing on some hidden Turbo Mode at times.
And Beyond…
There’s much still to be discovered, only hinted at in the demo. I’m able to collect both currency (called Rosaries) and crafting materials (called Shell Shards) in the demo, but I’m unable to spend either. Entire fundamental abilities – like wall grabbing – aren’t shown as part of my playthrough, either. And, beyond a brief chat with Lace, I don’t see much of Hornet’s own character – lest we forget, she can speak, unlike our original hero – meaning the story is still fairly unknown. Like any good demo, it leaves me excited to see more, rather than a feeling of knowing everything there is to know.
But what is on show here is a clear message – the core of this game is about fast, muscular, precise platforming and combat, taking what Hollow Knight achieved, but augmented with years more experience, years more thought, and years more confidence for Team Cherry as developers. I feel pretty good about saying, yes, this is the game you’ve hoped for during all those years.
Ascend to the peak of a vast, haunted kingdom in Hollow Knight: Silksong! The sequel to the award-winning action-adventure, Hollow Knight. Explore, fight and survive as Hornet, princess-protector of Hallownest, as she discovers a land ruled by silk and song.
After zipping around in Kirby Air Riders for maybe an hour, I rushed back to my apartment to get in a round of Mario Kart World just to see. In the game’s Direct earlier this week, director Masahiro Sakurai said (even if he was just being cheeky) his unlikely GameCube sequel was “basically Mario Kart.” And yeah, if you compare the two on the level of “a bunch of guys from decades of Nintendo games race around and/or duke it out” then sure, I guess.
In every other way, Kirby Air Riders is so extremely not just a Mario Kart redux that riding around 150cc matches at home felt practically quaint. Wall rides and bar grinds? That’s cute. In Kirby Air Riders, I’m drifting corners so screamin’ fast that I barely had time to blink. Whirlpool traps and gentle river runs? How serene. Air Riders’ Waveflow Waters race course has violent vortexes and corridors of walls made of water to punch through. Oh, and brace yourself for a gigantic meteor shower of fireballs that reign down during City Trials too!
In the time I spent with Air Riders, I got through a good chunk of tutorials, raced through two Air Rider courses (Floria Fields and Waveflow Waters, both of which were featured in the Direct), and crushed three rounds of City Trials, the topographical brawler and power-up collection zone that ends in a challenge of your choosing. Getting through the checklist of lessons to get a handle on maneuvering, as patronizing as they may seem for a game that now relies on two whole buttons (up from one!), was actually quite nice. Because once an Air Ride or City Trial started, it was buckle-up time and not as easy as it might seem on paper.
As for the expanded cast of characters, I only got to mess around with a few, but Bandana Waddle Dee with his spear flurry is my early frontrunner for favorite.
Part of that boils down to each of the many machines having distinct characteristics that aren’t just a matter of alleged differences in weight and handling that a chart claims when I’m picking it. The way, say, a tank drives, which is heavy and super directionally flexible, is wildly different from Meta Knight’s soaring shadow glider, and I think a lot of the fun will be in the trial-and-error of those. As for the expanded cast of characters, I only got to mess around with a few, but Bandana Waddle Dee with his spear flurry is my early frontrunner for favorite. (I wanted to love Starman, but I need some more time for him to grow on me.)
Like my NVC host colleagues have already called out about Kirby Air Ride (2003), City Trials is still the standout game. It’s also the most derived from Sakurai’s Super Smash Bros. directorial sensibilities, from its brawler nature down to the selection screen and slow-mo KO animations. It is, however, utter pandemonium, like the aforementioned meteors that you’ll need to avoid or sudden calls to zoom over to a highlighted area to fight in a dust-up, if you so choose. The five-minute countdown breezed by as I attempted to manhandle my gliders to collect power-ups, food items that were practically copy-pasted from the real world into the dreamy palette of Kirby Air Riders, and also wreck some other players. Was I excelling at any of this? Not really, but the game didn’t make winning feel like it was the priority (which I guess is quite different from Smash Bros., where loser characters look onto the winner with existential anguish). It was more important to simply have fun, and it’s easy to imagine anyone from grade schoolers to college kids and cool adults (ahem) turn Kirby Air Riders into a shouty party game.
The maximalism of Kirby Air Riders is its core charm; it feels brewed from impish, chaotic-neutral alchemy. Even Nintendo is calling this a “vehicle action game,” not a kart racer, which honestly seems apt – a silly genre distinction for a purposefully unserious game. It might not have been the sequel the people were clamoring for, but I’m glad that it exists.
Harvest Moon is returning to the Switch next month with two 3DS games, but it looks like there could be even more on the way.
According to a new rating that’s popped up in Taiwan, the mobile game Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home is making its way across to the Switch and PlayStation 5. As mentioned by Gematsu, this game originally made its debut on iOS and Android devices in August 2024.
Pac-Man and the “iconic rival ghosts” will link up with not only Sonic’s crew but also characters from other Sega universes and beyond. Apart from this, there will also be a track inspired by Pac-Man’s modern and classic arcade-era titles.
Wrapping up the summer of gaming in Cologne, Gamescom 2025 has kicked off with Opening Night Live, a two-plus-hour showcase of new game announcements and updates.
And, well, things started off strong for the hybrid consoles, but as the show progressed, the announcements slowed down. That didn’t stop us from getting a few big surprises, including a port we desperately wanted to see.
Distinctive New Sci-Fi Horror Game Routine Launches Later This Year on Xbox
Gareth Bagg, Brand Manager, Raw Fury
Imagine another version of our world, where people have begun to work and even live on the moon. You’re sent there on a job to repair a fault in a lunar base’s automated security network, but when you arrive, the station is empty.
This once thriving tourist attraction is now abandoned and uncomfortably still. As you begin to search for answers, you discover that something else got here before you – and it sees you as a threat.
A Distinctive Horror Experience
Launching later this year on Xbox platforms, Routine is a sci-fi horror game played in first-person with its own original take on space horror. It brings the player into an alternative future, set on an abandoned Lunar base with a design inspired by the cultural vision of the future that was established during the 1980s.
Analogue technology can be found everywhere. Terminal screens flicker and distort imagery in a way that’s instantly recognisable to anyone that’s owned a CRT television; while the halls, corridors and facilities of the base all contain details that feel like they have some kind of purpose, or function.
Investigating the Unknown
Your arrival on the lunar base places you into immediate uncertainty and danger. It’s not clear what’s happened, but it’s obvious something has gone terribly wrong.
By exploring, overcoming obstacles both physical and mental, and accessing critical terminals and locations, you can progress through the various areas of the lunar base and uncover crucial information that may help you piece things together. Or perhaps your discoveries will only lead to further, deeper mysteries.
Introducing the Cosmonaut Assistance Tool (C.A.T.)
Your investigation is aided by a sci-fi take on the swiss-army knife – the Cosmonaut Assistance Tool (C.A.T.). This handy bit of tech acts as an essential maintenance tool for the engineers working on the lunar base, allowing them to access terminals, diagnose system problems and navigate its diverse environments. It can also come in handy when exploring dark corridors or staying out of sight.
The Rules of Survival
As a game primarily focused on exploration, immersion and problem-solving, Routine does not feature direct combat as an ideal method of defence. It’s usually safer to run or hide within enclosed spaces, as a way to outmanoeuvre threats or avoid detection entirely.
However, in emergency scenarios, the C.A.T. can be used as a last resort to defend yourself. Just make sure to keep it charged with batteries to use this functionality.
Immerse Yourself Into This World
Routine has been designed to fully immerse players into its world, in order to create a strong atmosphere and firmly establish its specific horror tone. There is minimal UI, deadzone aiming and it’s possible to view your entire body by looking down.
Great attention has also been paid to audio in the game. Influenced by the lo-fi, tangible sounds of 80s technology, the diegetic audio of Routine is all encompassing and firmly grounded in reality, so that players will feel almost as if they are right there on the lunar base.
Made by a Passionate Development Team
Lunar Software is a small team of three based in the UK, driven by a strong passion for horror, science fiction, and atmosphere, which they have poured into Routine. It’s taken some time to bring this vision to life but today they’re very happy to share the news that development on the game has almost finished, and Routine will release later this year on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Windows 10. Routine will also be available to play via Xbox Game Pass from launch day.
ROUTINE is a First Person Sci-Fi Horror title set on an abandoned lunar base designed around an 80s vision of the future.
Curious exploration turns into a need for survival when a lunar base goes completely quiet. Searching for answers puts you face to face with an enemy who is certain the main threat is you. Discoveries lead to deeper unknowns and the only way to go is forward.
EXPLORE: Roam through contrasting sectors of the lunar base, from abandoned malls to deteriorating Living Quarters.
OBSERVE: Investigate your surroundings and uncover crucial information to progress and piece together the events that unfolded before your arrival.
IMMERSE: Full body awareness, diegetic audio, and a minimal UI help create a gripping and atmospheric experience.
OPERATE: Your Cosmonaut Assistance Tool (C.A.T.) is vital. Use it to access critical terminals, navigate the environment and identify clues.
SURVIVE: Run, hide, or attempt to defend yourself against unknown threats using the C.A.T. as a last resort.
The PlayStation store is selling guitars now. If you’re a fan of Naughty Dog’s Last of Us series, either the games or the TV show, you can now preorder a replica of Ellie’s guitar that Joel customized with the custom moth inlay fretboard. This guitar was first featured in The Last of Us Part II and made an appearance in the second season of the HBO series.
The guitar is a collaboration with Taylor Guitars and is a special edition of the Taylor 314ce. You can preorder it for $2,999.99 at the PlayStation Store and it will officially release on November 18, 2025. It’s listed in the PlayStation store’s hardware section among various consoles, controllers, and other accessories.
Taylor 314ce The Last of Us Part II Replica Guitar
The guitar has distinctive rich tobacco sunburst top in Sitka spruce pulled straight from the game and the latest season of the TV show.
If you think that $3,000 is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a guitar, it’s actually not that terribly priced, especially for a nice acoustic guitar. The standard Taylor 314ce costs around $2,499 on its own without the Last of Us details included.
It’s worth noting that Taylor is selling a slightly cheaper version of this replica directly from its website. It’s a Taylor 314c (rather than a 314ce) and it’s priced at $2,799 without the bundled accessories.
What’s next for The Last of Us?
This replica guitar is the latest piece of merch inspired by the popular Naughty Dog game and likely won’t be the last. But what about new games and episodes of the show? Game-wise, The Last of Us Part 3 has yet to be officially confirmed and it seems unlikely that it ever will be. Creator Neil Druckman has said during an interview to not “bet on there being more of ‘Last of Us.’ This could be it.”
As for the TV series, HBO CEO Casey Bloys confirmed that Season 3 of the show is definitely planned to arrive in 2027. He also said that this season will potentially be the last run of episodes.
Enotria: The Last Song developers Jyamma Games are making a new action-RPG inspired by and named after Dante Alighieri’s 14th century epic poem La Divina Commedia, aka the Divine Comedy.
Like the poem, it sees you descending through the circles of Hell, each the geological manifestation of a particular Sin. Unlike the poem, it features a set of combat classes, a choice of protagonist genders, a narrative alignment system, procedurally generated extraction dungeons, and customisable weapons and armour. As the poet himself might say: in the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where I had to grind for crafting materials.
Black Myth: Wukong developers Game Science have revealed Black Myth: Zhong Kui, another single-player action-RPG steeped in Chinese mythology. It casts you as a ghost-hunting god who wanders between hell and Earth. Here’s a CG short from Gamescom’s Open Night Live 2025, which shows the fearsomely bearded Zhong Kui himself riding an extravagantly sized tiger.
