Not actually a stealth FPS hybrid of Blood and Thief – although I’d pay good money for that – Bloodthief is closer to something like Ghostrunner but also, I think, much better. The Steam demo‘s opening levels are roughly as tricky and demanding as the cyberpunk parkour series but, perhaps to due to less concern with being stylish, the movement here feels a lot more caffeinated. You only have to look at the visuals to clock that Bloodthief isn’t that sort of game that’s precious about letting you do silly things with momentum.
Also you’re a vampire, with a sword, exsanguinating armoured knights in a vaguely Germanic medieval town. Well, Vae my Victus. I do get very excited when anything reminds me, even a little, of Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain. Here’s a nice little video of the game in action. Warning: this trailer for the game Bloodthief has blood in it.
Jade Raymond has left Haven Studios, the Sony-owned developer behind online multiplayer shooter Fairgames, and reportedly delayed the game following an external test in yet another blow to PlayStation’s live service ambition.
According to Bloomberg, Raymond exited the company she founded several weeks after an external test of Fairgames apparently didn’t go down well. The game was due out fall 2025 but is now delayed to spring 2026.
As Bloomberg put it:
PlayStation leadership didn’t give Haven staff a reason for her departure, but it came several weeks after an external test of Haven’s first game, the online shooter Fairgames, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some developers at Haven were concerned about how the game was received and its progress, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly.
Sony is sticking with Haven and Fairgames for now, with new co-studio heads Marie-Eve Danis and Pierre-François Sapinski in place.
It’s yet more trouble for Sony’s embattled live service ambition, which now appears to be in full retreat. While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 was a breakout hit, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, Sony’s other live service games were either canceled or suffered disastrous launches.
Indeed, Sony’s Concord is one of the biggest video game disasters in PlayStation history, lasting just a couple of weeks before it was brought offline amid eye-wateringly low player numbers. Sony later decided to kill the game entirely and shut its developer.
The Concord flop came after Sony had already canceled Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer game. And earlier this year, Sony reportedly canceled two unannounced live service games, one a God of War title in development at Bluepoint, the other in the works at Days Gone developer Bend.
In 2023, Sony president Hiroki Totoki said the company was reviewing the 12 live service PlayStation games it had in the works, and committed to launching only six of them by the end of financial year 2025, meaning by the end of March 2026. Totoki said Sony was still working on when the other six live service games would come out, adding: “It’s not that we stick to certain titles, but for the gamers quality should be the most important.”
Bungie is still flying the live service flag, with Destiny 2 ongoing and the in-development Marathon set to launch fully. Earlier this month, Sony announced a new PlayStation studio called teamLFG and teased its debut game, which is a live service incubation project. Guerrilla’s Horizon multiplayer game is also in development.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
As you might recall, Nintendo will be releasing “free updates” for select Switch games on the Nintendo Switch 2.
It’s already revealed the specific titles that will be getting this treatment and now it’s detailed what exactly you can expect. Once again, these updates will enhance the overall gameplay experience with visual enhancements, frame rate improvements, additional feature support, and more.
Fighting game and Rare fans are in for a treat today with Nintendo adding Killer Instinct Gold to the Switch Online + Expansion Pack service.
As long as you have an active subscription to the Expansion Pack tier, you’ll be able to update your Switch app and play it right now. Here’s a bit more about it, courtesy of the official Nintendo description:
Toward the end of the call, Zelnick was asked whether he was concerned specifically about potential console price increases and their impact on the overall gaming ecosystem. This was referring to the recent price bump on Xbox Series consoles, and the expected PlayStation 5 increase that may follow.
Zelnick believes that confusing as the tariff back-and-forth is, Take-Two’s fiscal guidance is fairly set in stone, at least for the coming year:
“Our guide is for the next ten months, essentially, that’s the part of the fiscal year that hasn’t elapsed yet, and it’s very difficult to predict where tariffs will land, given how things have bumped around so far. We feel reasonably confident that our guide wouldn’t be meaningfully affected, unless tariffs ran off in a very different direction than we currently expect. In any case, there’s already a very substantial install base for all of our target platforms except Nintendo Switch 2, which is pre-launch. So we have, I think, enough insight that we wouldn’t be affected by any changes.”
Zelnick has reason to be confident. As he points out, most of the games Take-Two will release in the coming fiscal year are coming to platforms people largely already own. A few people buying or not buying an Xbox Series or a PS5 or even a Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t going to make a massive difference. What’s more, much of Take-Two’s revenue comes from digital purchases in ongoing games like GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and its mobile business, which aren’t subject to tariffs at all.
Still, as Zelnick notes, everything is still up in the air. We’ve spoken to analysts numerous times over the last few months on the subject of tariffs, and all of them have reiterated that the situation is ever-changing and unpredictable, which even the CEO of Take-Two is leaving room for.
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.
Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios are cooking. I’m not exactly sure what just yet, but there’s a faint aroma of a new game in the air, and it doesn’t seem like they’re ready to share anything about the game right now either. Still, after the runaway success of Helldivers 2, something new from the studio is still an exciting prospect. Interestingly enough though, whatever they’re making, it won’t have anything to do with PlayStation when it comes to funding.
As an ancient gamer (now 32), I’ve had plenty of experience playing Pac-Man. During my pre-teen years, many of my summer days were spent losing quarters to my local arcade, attempting to reach the mythical “split-screen level.” As a devoted fan of the franchise, I admittedly had reservations going into my PAX East preview of Bandai Namco’s new, unconventional take on the series, Shadow Labyrinth.
On paper, Shadow Labyrinth should not work. Pac-Man as a dark sci-fi metroidvania where he turns into a giant mech and shoots lasers out of his mouth sounds like bad gaming Wattpad fiction. Yet, that is exactly what it is…and Puck, Man, it was glorious.
The story takes place shortly after the events of the Prime Video animated short, Secret Wars, as the protagonist, the dark and brooding Swordsman No. 8, wakes up surrounded by monsters and aliens. He soon meets a mysterious figure known as Puck, a yellow circular creature who looks like he enjoys eating pellets, fruit, and blue ghosts. After a brief introduction, the duo vows to work together by combining their unique abilities of strength and mobility in the hopes that they can navigate the treacherous world and survive the darkness that awaits.
That darkness comes in many shapes and sizes, as the setting features a handful of different biomes, each with distinct personalities, backdrops, and characteristics. No two mazes in this 2D adventure will have the same layout, and enemy designs and types will change depending on the region that is being explored.
My preview started by placing me in an underground tech biome filled with various melee, flying, and ranged enemy types that could only exist underground, like bat-creatures and angry hedgehogs. Gameplay was straightforward and intuitive enough initially. Combat and dodging reminded me a lot of the original Castlevania titles, and its platforming elements are akin to a love child of Ori and the Blind Forest and Celeste, thanks to Puck’s ability to grapple onto spots, adding extra layers of maneuverability.
The story takes place shortly after the events of the Prime Video animated short, Secret Wars.
Combining the grapple with aerial attacks makes for interesting gameplay against enemies, especially when challenge rooms come into play. Like many other Metroidvanias, Shadow Labyrinth has rooms that will seal off once entered, requiring the Swordsman to defeat each combatant inside to unlock the room.
Enemies spawn in from all over the room, attempting to overwhelm with quantity and variety, making for a bullet-sponge-like environment. I frantically grappled to avoid ground foe charges while dodging flying enemies simultaneously, failing to do so multiple times, and needing to respawn.
After getting the hang of their patterns and placements, I grappled up and used melee attacks to chain movements in the air, then slammed my sword down from above on the enemies below, making for an immensely satisfying victory. While I only experienced two challenge rooms in this particular build, I was impressed with how difficult but rewarding each room was. But despite how much I enjoyed this, the true beauty of Shadow Labyrinth’s platforming and combat comes to light when Puck becomes the controllable character.
The platforming element of controlling Puck is both clever and nostalgic, as the Swordsman will morph into him and ride waves of electricity to help them move around areas otherwise blocked by environmental hazards or inaccessible heights. While riding the wave, you’ll move identically to the old Pac-Man games, but with an added twist.
Puck is still limited to moving left, right, up, or down on the violet electricity line, but he is no longer limited to a lined grid and can also stop, aim, and jump. While this might sound simple, it adds a new layer to movement and combat. Some challenge rooms even feature these lines, which can be used to execute sword attacks, creating an entirely new approach to beating each room’s combat puzzle.
My favorite instance of this occurred halfway through the preview during the Kaiju boss battle (yes, you read that right). The fight is similar to a challenge room in the sense that it blocks off any retreat, but this time it is a one-on-one fight, as the boss is much bigger than Swordsman No. 8. To combat the size difference, Swordsman No. 8 can use Puck’s ability to ride up the wall to not only get a height advantage and deal extra damage to the enemy’s horn weak spot, but also avoid massive laser attacks that would otherwise kill them both.
As it turns out, the boss isn’t the only one wielding a laser, which leads to my other favorite, absurd moment in this preview: Puck can turn into a giant mecha named Gaia. Yes, this is a Metroidvania Pac-Man game where you can control a Gundam and fight Kaiju. Again, this should not work, but it does so marvelously, resulting in an epic crescendo to a fever dream of a boss battle and transformation.
Even after the boss battle ended, there was still plenty to explore in Shadow Labyrinth. The first thing I unlocked afterward was a pared-down version of Gaia’s laser ability, which the Swordsman can use by holding down the charge button. Not only is this move great for dispelling large groups of foes blocking an area, but it can also be thrown into attacks in locations like the challenge rooms to make for some delightful combo kills.
Alongside the new power move, I also unlocked a new location featuring another strangely familiar-looking set of enemies that would begin to float through the level toward me until they touched the ground. At first, I was confused about how to beat them, as hitting them with a sword wasn’t working.
It wasn’t until I started listening to the music and sound effects and remembering why the enemies’ movements looked so familiar that a lightbulb went off: these are the Pooka from Dig Dug. Just like the 1982 classic arcade title, the only way to destroy Pooka is to stun and inflate it when they are materialized. After experimenting, it turns out that using Puck’s grapple ability on them to knock them out and then using it again to inflate them is the only way to kill them.
This is just one of the many references to Bandai Namco’s library of beloved arcade games, as the story and setting of Shadow Labyrinth are set to include plenty of references and modernized takes on a handful of other iconic games. While there was no hint or mention of which one it would be, the developers teased that the war-torn world of Shadow Labyrinth itself will be a major reveal as the narrative progresses.
The story and setting of Shadow Labyrinth are set to include plenty of references and modernized takes on a handful of other iconic games.
If you had told me back then that one day someone would make a Metroidvania version of everyone’s favorite Puck Man, I’d probably think you’re insane. After playing Shadow Labyrinth at PAX East 2025, that statement is probably still true, but I’m right there beside you, enjoying the insanity.
Whether it is the fluidity of Puck’s grappling hook and wall traversal combined with Swordsman No. 8’s raw power and durability, or the fact that Pac-Man can turn into a mech that shoots lasers out of its mouth, everything about this Metroidvania is absurdly fun. The game features something for everyone here, as the platforming, combat, and puzzles each stand out on their own as enjoyable experiences.
I implore you to suspend your disbelief about how this bizarre concept can even work, and at least give Shadow Labyrinth a try when it is released, as this insane creative bet by Bandai looks like it might actually pay off.
That Hideo Kojima is a bit of an odd chap, ‘ey? It was only recently he said that he wants to make a game where the protagonist forgets their own abilities if you, the player, take a long break between play sessions. As a reminder this comes from the guy who made a whole game about delivering packages, another game where a character can die of old age if you wait long enough, and another game that knows if you’ve played Castlevania or not. The guy likes doing things differently!
What changed in those few months? That’s what I asked Zelnick in a new interview to coincide with Take-Two’s just-published financial results. He said that as GTA 6 got closer to launch, the need for more polish “became clear.”
“As we get closer to completion of a title that’s seeking perfection, the needs or lack thereof, for continued polish become clear,” Zelnick said. “In this case there was an opportunity with a small amount of incremental time, we thought, to make sure Rockstar Games achieves its creative vision with no limitations. And I supported of course that approach.”
GTA 6’s delay outside Take-Two’s current financial year into the next is a blow for the company’s numbers in the short term, but Zelnick told me he still feels really good about what he has coming up, including Gearbox’s Borderlands 4, Hangar 13’s Mafia: The Old Country, and of course new games in its NBA 2K and WWE 2K franchises.
“I feel really good about how Fiscal 26 looks sitting here today,” he said. “And while of course, delays pain me — how could they not? — the most important thing to do is to support your teams in their search for perfection.”
Now, the obvious next question is a repeat of what I asked Zelnick back in February: how confident are you that Rockstar will hit May 26, 2026? This time around, Zelnick sounded even more certain:
“I think historically when we set a specific date, generally speaking, we’ve been very good about reaching it.”
That, to me, is saying GTA 6 won’t be delayed without actually saying it. Never say never, of course, but now GTA 6 has an actual release date, it would be a pretty big shock if it slipped again.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Diddy Kong has been strangely missing in action from much of Nintendo’s marketing, particularly around the Switch 2. At least he was there when Donkey Kong Country Returns HD came out in January…?
Anyway, the big question on everyone’s lips when Donkey Kong was shown off in Mario Kart World back in January, sporting a brand new design was: will Diddy Kong meet the same fate?
