Mecha Break Open Beta Begins Today: Tips on Choosing Your Striker
Nick NielsenSr. Social Media Manager, Seasun Games
Mecha Break is the PvP mech shooter you’ve been waiting for – and the game’s Open Beta Test starts today! In this test, you will be able to experience 3 distinct game modes: 3v3, 6v6, and a sprawling PvPvE extraction game mode called Mashmak.
Before you can take part in our mech battles you’ll first need to choose your mech, or “Striker”, each featuring its own unique weapons and abilities. With 13 different Strikers to choose from in the Open Beta Test, picking the right one will be key to your success. To help you on your way, here are our tips for every single one, and what kind of player fits them best.
Alysnes
Alysnes is your first Striker and a classic all-rounder. A Medium Attacker, featuring both devastating ranged and melee options, Alysnes is perfect for a jack-of-all-trades! If you find yourself low on health, don’t worry – Alysnes has a unique Armor Purge mechanic that gives you a second chance at victory!
Aquila
Aquila is a Heavy Sniper with some major firepower. It’s perfect for a crack shot who wants some beefy defense. Unlike most snipers, Aquila excels in maintaining advantageous positioning with their Airborne Kit, not to mention locking down enemy units with their Claw Drone to ensure their shot never misses.
Falcon
A terror in the skies, Light Attacker Falcon embodies the heart of an ace pilot zipping through the air, quickly striking opponents before they’re already moving on to another target. With multiple missile barrages available, Falcon can bombard an area and quickly reposition for another strike.
Hurricane
A storm is brewing! Hurricane is an Ultra-Heavy Defender. By focusing the crystals in its armaments, they can redirect their power to target a wide area, denying enemies the chance to retaliate. This one is for players who like to wipe out the competition while remaining safe amid the carnage.
Inferno
When we say Ultra-Heavy Attacker, we mean it! This Striker can focus a high-powered energy beam onto a single target for huge amounts of damage. Some call them a sleeping giant. We call them Inferno.
Luminae
This Light Support Striker has two modes: Support or Corruption. While in Support Mode, your Drone Launcher will repair allies over time. Swap to Corruption mode, and it will attach to an enemy Striker and directly attack its health, bypassing their shields. This mech is for those who want the best of both worlds.
Narukami
As a Light Sniper, Narukami excels in quick hits that pack a punch. Utilize their Optical Camo Drone and Decoy Drones to confuse the enemy and multiply their damage before grappling away. This Striker is for players who like to be sneaky.
Panther
Panther is a Medium Brawler that can charge and single out enemy Strikers with a giant lance to deal pinpoint damage that bypasses all shields. This is one Striker that will excel in the hands of a player who likes to get up close and personal.
Pinaka
Pinaka is a Medium Support that can deploy shields, wall off areas, and provide crucial support for Strikers in need of repair. This Striker is perfect for players who want to command the battlefield.
Skyraider
Aerial denial is the name of the game here. Skyraider is a Medium Attacker that comes equipped with armaments that excel in crowd control and area denial. Their ability to transform between a biped or aerial unit gives it the versatility to handle most situations.
Stego
With a front-facing shield, micro missiles, and rockets upon rockets, the Ultra-Heavy Attacker Stego is the epitome of ‘mess around and find out’! If you find yourself in a sticky situation, use your Complex Haze Diffuser to disrupt enemies and zip away to safety.
Tricera
The crown prince of “pull the trigger”, Ultra-Heavy Defender Tricera features four heavy-duty gatling guns that rip and tear through enemy strikers. Their turret mode comes complete with high-capacity shields and Healing Drones, meaning that it can take a beating and dish it out.
Welkin
A big mech deserves a big axe. Not only can the Heavy Brawler Welkin cleave through the opposition, but they can also lock down enemy strikers in their Stasis Shield to savor every last slash. Perfect for those who walk quietly and carry a big stick.
The most important part of selecting a Striker is… variety. You’ll have plenty of time during the Open Beta Test, so hop into the robust training mode, and give each Striker a try to find your favorites!
The Mecha Break Open Beta Test begins today. See you on the battlefield!
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 launches for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Battle.net, Windows PC, Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on July 11 – and it’ll arrive day one with Game Pass.
This new game is faithfully remade from the ground up, adding new skaters, new parks, new music, and much more.
Pre-order today to access the Foundry Demo in June – or pre-order the Digital Deluxe Edition for three days of Early Access, Doom Slayer & Revanant playable skaters, and more.
The Birdman returns on July 11 – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is back. Launching on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Battle.net, Windows PC, Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, and available day one with Game Pass, THPS 3+4 is at once a faithful remake of the original classic skateboarding games, but expands on the experience with new parks, skaters, and music, as well as cross-platform multiplayer, new creation tools, a New Game+ mode, and more.
Rebuilt from the ground up, THPS 3+4 will include parks from the original games as well as new locations (more on that later), plus a Career Mode that includes the original tours from both. Playing with friends? Cross-platform multiplayer supports up to 8 skaters at one time, meaning you’ll have plenty of competition.
Multiple new skaters are joining the original line-up, and you’ll also be able to create your own skater, not only customizing their appearance, but their hometown, skating style, and more. And of course, no Tony Hawk game would be complete without music, and you’ll be skating along to tracks from the original soundtrack, as well as new tracks.
THPS 3+4 builds on the work started by Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, bringing the easy-to-learn, hard-to-master controls and handling you’d expect – and for those taking on the series for the first time, an in-depth tutorial from Tony Hawk himself will walk you through exactly how to play.
Welcome to Waterpark
You may have caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar location in today’s reveal trailer – this is Waterpark, a new level added to THPS 3+4. Introduced as part of the revamped THPS 4 Tour, this is a broken-down, dried-out park in the heart of the Mojave desert – perfect for budding skaters.
The rides might not be functional any more, but they’re more than open for finding lines and trick opportunities. Six rides are open for you to try and trick off of – Down the Drain, Peak Cyclone, Twisted Vipers and more offer challenging trips down to ground level. Just skate to the entrance of each one, and you’ll be transported to the top to try your luck.
If you’re looking for something a little more chill, take a trip down the Lazy River, which snakes around the entire map, head to the Marquee for a ramp-filled area perfect for combos, or find a way to open up the Castle Slide for even more opportunities to earn points.
Pre-Order Now for Early Access and More
Pre-orders for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 open today, and will give you access to the Foundry Demo (not available on Nintendo Switch). Kicking off in June, this demo will include two skaters and two parks to try out – and your pre-order will also net you an extra in-game shader for Tony Hawk at full game launch.
Pre-ordering the Digital Deluxe Edition will give you three days of Early Access to the full game – as well as some far more unexpected bonuses. Play as both the Doom Slayer (with two outfits, two unique tricks, and a hoverboard) or a Revenant (with its own two unique tricks), not to mention themed skate decks, Create-a-Skater items and bonus soundtracks.
And if you want to go all-out, the Collector’s Edition of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 will come complete with a limited-edition, full-size Birdhouse skateboard deck (deck-only, other skateboard components not included) featuring a reissued version of the iconic Wings graphic and a printed Tony Hawk autograph. The Collector’s Edition includes a physical copy of the game, and all the Digital Deluxe Edition benefits.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 launches on July 11. Pre-orders open today. Learn more on tonyhawkthegame.com.
A Cracking Clean-up: Peek Inside The Home of Wallace & Gromit With The PowerWash Simulator Devs
Jess Green, Marketing Manager, FuturLab
Cracking clean Gromit! We hope you’re ready for a grand day out to clean up the world of Aardman’s endlessly inventive duo, in the new PowerWash SimulatorWallace & Gromit Special Pack, available today.
We worked closely with our partners at Aardman Animations to faithfully recreate the world of 62 West Wallaby Street in PowerWash Simulator. In the special pack’s five new levels, you can explore the nooks and crannies of their garden, kitchen and dining room and basement, before blasting into space to clean the Moon Rocket.
Grab the cheese and crackers while FuturLab’s Mark Ginbey, who writes PowerWash Simulator, and Animator Alannah Meek, who works on the game’s charming animations, take us behind-the-scenes of bringing the pack, and the WASH LAD, to life!
Get Cracking!
A key part of designing any PowerWash Special Pack is deciding why everything got so messy in the first place. In the case of the Wallace & Gromit pack, things have gone a bit pear-shaped over at 62 West Wallaby Street following a mechanical malfunction – the biggest disaster since the cracker catastrophe of ’89!
“Creating the story for such beloved creations was quite a daunting prospect, but luckily they’re a mucky pair who effortlessly find themselves in all manner of sticky situations, so ideas flowed as quickly as porridge from a malfunctioning AutoChef,” says Ginbey.
“There was no need for any convoluted over-arching narrative, we just needed to put the pair in a series of familiar environments and ask ourselves ‘what could possibly go wrong here?’ Then it was just a case of letting the dirt tell the story.”
“Incredibly, we were also helped by Aardman’s amazing writer Finbar Hawkins to finesse the script and give authenticity to our ideas.”
Well Done, Lad
The WASH LAD is all charged up and ready to assist you in your cleaning escapades, along with their very own industrial washer.
Based on Wallace’s existing LAD (Labor Assistant Device), that first appeared in Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention, the WASH LAD has been adapted in a couple of different areas to better suit this niche task. From the original, we changed the arms to hinge at the elbows – crucial to provide the elbow grease needed to slough off the muck in the pack. We switched out the wheels for legs, to give our WASH LAD the full range of motion to reach up, crouch down and clean every crevice.
“We created a brand-new character model for Wallace and Gromit, keeping as many elements from the original LAD character as possible,” says Meek. “This was then skinned to the PowerWash Simulator character rig, and a new set of animations were created to better match the LAD character, mainly focusing on making it feel more robotic than the PWS character.”
As you pilot WASH LAD’s stout and sturdy frame, you’ll notice a distinct height difference from the usual PowerWash Simulator character model, as well as the metallic sounds of the hydraulics powering the small bot. It’s also particularly fun to team up with your friends to tackle the filth as a small robot army.
Level Deep Dive
Before we all settle in front of the TV with some cheese and crackers, let’s take a look at our inventive pals’ cosy home, starting with the Dining Room and Kitchen.
Wallace & Gromit’s Dining Room & Kitchen
You’ll be able to spot references from throughout the brand’s history and interact with moving elements such as the train set to immerse yourself within the action.
“The toy train was a challenge to set up animation for!” says Meek, “Washable objects in PowerWash Simulator can’t use the standard animation set up so we had to devise a new system to animate the train and make sure all the carriages follow the train tracks smoothly with a spline curve. Hopefully players will have fun riding the toy train around the circuit!”
Wallace & Gromit’s House
Soak up the serenity of sleepy British suburbs in this level, where you’ll hose down Wallace & Gromit’s quaint front garden and front façade of their classic two-up-two-down. Here, you’ll also walk in the pawprints of an icon as you stoop your way into Gromit’s kennel and have a snoop through his belongings, all in the name of cleaning, of course!
As well as a couple of iconic inventions, like the Soccamatic and Shopper 13, you can also flip the pond to complete the driveway, just like in A Close Shave.
The Knit-O-Matic
The Knit-O-Matic’s in a bit of a tangle, requiring some TLC (tender-loving-cleaning). Head down to the basement to scrub up the infamous contraption – there’s ‘knot’ a moment to lose!
Power up the goliath machine to give it a thorough service, and don’t forget to check the technical (and-not-so technical) drawings!
Meek adds: “Animating washable items, like the Knit-O-Matic, really breathes life into the scene and adds an extra layer of detail for the players to have fun with!”
This lofty space is one to settle into, with high ceilings, heavy machinery and heaps of basement-dwelling odds and ends. When you’re done, give yourself a round of applause by powering up the auto-wash machine! Pfft, automatic washing is over-rated!
Wallace & Gromit’s Vehicles
A rare rain-free day in the usually drizzly English climate can only mean one thing – time to give the car a hose-down! Not one for normalcy, however, Wallace’s collection of vehicles is far from your average hatch-back.
Everything from the Snomanotron to the Top Bun bakery van is caked in filth, even the iconic Techno Trousers need some soapy assistance – just don’t put them through the wrong spin cycle!
The Moon Rocket
Restore the Moon Rocket to its former brie-lliance in the final level of the pack. Covered in more than just stardust, the duo’s space craft has seen better days. Blast off the muck coating its bodywork, before venturing inside to revive the cosy cockpit.
Oh, and there’s also the aftermath of a certain extra-terrestrial picnic that could do with a quick spritz while you’re up there.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this access-all-areas look at our new Pack. See you at 62 West Wallaby Street for a cracking cleaning adventure – I’ll stick the kettle on!
Xbox Game Pass members can play the base game, PowerWash Simulator, as part of their membership. TheWallace & Gromit Special Pack is available today for a separate purchase on the Xbox Store (a copy of PowerWash Simulator is required to play).
Make Plays at Light Speed With Waylay, Valorant’s New Agent
Kenny Cameron, Global Community Manager, Riot
Rise and shine. The Dawn of the Duelist is upon us with the arrival of Waylay—Valorant’s latest high-mobility Duelist hailing from Bangkok, Thailand. Here, you’ll learn everything you need to know to get in the game and get fragging.
Waylay is a new take on an iconic subclass of Duelist. She’s also the first new space-taking Duelist since Valorant’s launch with Jett and Raze.
“We saw an opportunity in this space since it’s been so long since we’ve created a Duelist like this,” explains Waylay’s Design Lead, June “Riot Junebird” Cuervo. “We wanted to add some more variety to this role since we see one on basically every team, especially in Pro play.”
Space-taking Duelists are designed to be highly mobile in order to break chokepoints and displace enemy crosshairs. They’re the tip of the spear for their team and create opportunities for others to follow-up and get on the plant site.
Abilities Rundown
Refract (Signature)
Waylay Refracts out of harms way after she sees Raze send a rocket her way.
With Refract, Waylay instantly places a beacon of light on the floor. When she reactivates the ability, she travels back to that beacon’s location as a pure mote of light, invulnerable to all damage and abilities. It’s essentially a safety net for Waylay, but not necessarily one for her team.
“With Jett, once you’re on the site, you’re on the site. With Raze, once you’re there, you live or die. But Waylay has this backup plan. She can still break that angle, displace crosshairs, and draw attention, but also keep herself safe,” Riot Junebird says about Waylay’s Refract ability. “But once she uses that ability, nobody has to pay attention to you anymore. All eyes are back on her teammates and now they have to be the ones to continue taking that space and getting those kills.”
Light Speed
Waylay using her Light Speed ability to dash into Ascent’s B site.
Light Speed allows Waylay to dash up to two times in the direction(s) of her choosing. However, only the first dash will allow you to move upwards at the same time, givingWaylay a lot of potential to take some creative spots on site.
“I wanted movement to be the focal point of Waylay’s kit,” Riot Junebird adds. “Raze is an example of an Agent with really expressive movement utility, but with that comes a really high mastery curve. With Waylay, I wanted to provide the same amount of skill expression but make it a little bit more accessible.”
Saturate
Cypher experiencing the Hindering debuff after being hit by Saturate.
Beyond the movement, Waylay has a couple of other tools at her disposal with a throwable cluster of light called Saturate. Saturate acts as a light grenade that debuffs enemies hit in its area of effect. Enemies are affected with a new debuff called Hindering. Think of Hindering as a softer version of a Concuss that slows vertical movement and reload times as well, without the blurred vision.
“We felt like it was probably really out-of-line from a power budget perspective for a Duelist to have all this mobility and also a debuff as strong as a Concuss,” Riot Junebird explains. “But we thought there was an interesting gameplay space here where the character could have some kind of debuff that would help unlock their Duelist potential. We think that Hindering is like a softer, more appropriate debuff version of a Concuss for a Duelist.”
Convergent Paths
Waylay’s Convergent Paths spreading onto the plant site and Hindering a hiding Killjoy.
With Convergent Paths, Waylay focuses her prismatic power to create an afterimage of herself that projects a beam of light. After a brief delay, you gain a powerful boost of speed and the light expands, Hindering everyone in its path.
“Waylay is still a Duelist. The ult might make people think of initiator utility at first, but the way the ult is shaped, and the way there’s that delay up front—that’s the moment where the Duelist part of her still shines,” Riot Junebird reveals. “The delay from your afterimage casting the ultimate still gives you the window of opportunity to still be the first one out and on the site for your team.”
Waylay is out with the start of Valorant Season 2025 Act 2, coming March 5. You can get in game and start grinding during her recruitment event, or unlock her instantly with an active Xbox Game Pass subscription linked to your Riot Games account. GL HF GG.
VALORANT is a character-based 5v5 tactical shooter set on the global stage. Outwit, outplay, and outshine your competition with tactical abilities, precise gunplay, and adaptive teamwork.
DEFY THE LIMITS
Blend your style and experience on a global, competitive stage. You have 13 rounds to attack and defend your side using sharp gunplay and tactical abilities. And, with one life per-round, you’ll need to think faster than your opponent if you want to survive. Take on foes across Competitive and Unranked modes as well as Deathmatch and Spike Rush.
CREATIVITY IS YOUR GREATEST WEAPON
More than guns and bullets, you’ll choose an Agent armed with adaptive, swift, and lethal abilities that create opportunities to let your gunplay shine. No two Agents play alike, just as no two highlight reels will look the same.
FIGHT AROUND THE WORLD
Each map is a playground to showcase your creative thinking. Purpose-built for team strategies, spectacular plays, and clutch moments. Make the play others will imitate for years to come.
Looking to improve your Spectre Divide gameplay? You’ve come to the right place. The Santai arena is packed with thrilling gunfights, tactical plays, and high-stakes competition. Whether you’re struggling with Duality or looking to optimize your Sponsor kit usage, these strategies will give you the competitive edge you need!
Don’t Sleep on Duality
Duality is one of Spectre Divide’s defining features – the capability to control two bodies with one mind. With Duality, you can defend two sites at once, cover your own cross, or even trade yourself. Mastering Duality is the key to becoming a top-tier competitor in the Santai arena- with these tips, you’ll get a head start on your path to the top.
Mind Your Positioning – Be careful not to place your Spectre too close to your active body. It only takes one well-placed grenade or planned rush to take you out of the round!
Split Your Presence – Don’t place both bodies on one site, or in one small area. It’s a big risk to concentrate your presence in a single location when you could be gathering intel or controlling multiple areas.
The Plant n’ Swap – Use Duality swap during a plant or defuse to cover yourself while completing the action. No need to have your team-mate cover you, leaving you vulnerable to enemy fire.
Silent Movement – Plan your approach carefully. Slow walking won’t trigger the sound alert for another player’s inactive Spectre, giving you the element of surprise. Jumping, falling, running, and sprinting will all trigger a “Spectre Warning” if you perform these actions too close to an inactive enemy Spectre.
Terrific Transfers – When you use your Puck to reposition your Spectre, enemies will be able to see the Recall line, which leads from your Spectre’s previous location to the new location of your Puck. Make sure to avoid giving the enemy too much information with your Puck throw.
Tactical Teamwork Tips
Gunplay is king in Spectre Divide, but your personal skill will only carry you so far.
Resource Sharing –While you can’t drop weapons for teammates during the Buy Phase, you can buy for them directly! Plus, if a teammate is upgrading or changing their weapon; you can pick up their gun from the Team Inventory for free.
Weapon Economy – Pick up dropped weapons during the post-round phase to add them to your team inventory for the next round’s buy phase (editor’s note: this doesn’t carry into the second half swap).
Play the Objective – Planning your next move based on planting or defusing the ZEUS is very effective to secure the win. Many players get obsessed with chasing down kills, when playing the objective provides the best chance at winning!
Money Management – During the Buy Phase, don’t handicap your team by failing to coordinate your purchases. Save your cash when appropriate and buy with your team to maintain the economic advantage. More money means better guns and equipment!
Defensive Patience – Staying alive as a defender is crucial. Getting a kill and then falling back to retake a site with more teammates isn’t a bad call when getting overwhelmed. You don’t need a heroic last stand – get a kill, reposition, and wait for your team to regroup.
Sponsor Secrets
In Spectre Divide, you begin each match by selecting your Sponsor of choice. Sponsors provide you with powerful gear and unique abilities that you can use to get the edge over your opponents. You can pick from nine unique Sponsor kits; each with a distinct loadout to best fit your playstyle. Whether you love to throw explosives, set traps, drop smokes, or heal teammates— there’s a sponsor for you!
Alternate Fire – Many Sponsor utility items have an “alt-fire” which allows you to use them in a unique way. Don’t forget to experiment with these alternate capabilities to give you even more options on the battlefield.
Doorway Demolition – There are several destructible doors in Spectre Divide. Is there a pesky foe hiding behind a door? You can shoot the door to make an opening, and then throw Sponsor equipment like the Pinnacle Splinter Grenade through the hole in the door to clear with ease.
Vector Dynamics – Use the Primary abilities passive reactivation to move your other body to the location of your placed beacon. This pairs very well with a fake rush, or mid peek play. Or, perform a more risky movement to give away your position, and then teleport to safety.
Ryker Industries – Place your turret at a location different from where you’re standing. Your enemy will have to choose between you and the turret, giving you an edge either way: a slowed target or a distracted one!
Morrgen United – Did you know that by using the alt-fire of Smoke Shift, you can actually teleport your Spectre into the smoke grenade? With this tip, you can cause mayhem behind enemy lines with ease!
Mastering Maps
Quick Map Placement – During the Buy Phase, you can open the map to quickly place both your Spectre and your Active Body on the map! Then, double tap ‘X’ if you need to swap your bodies’ locations on the map, allowing for faster setup and early positioning.
Rapid Recall Zones – Keep an eye out for bright green areas on the ground in certain maps in Spectre Divide. These areas allow your Spectre to reposition even quicker if you throw your Puck into the area.
Take the High Ground – To reach advantageous high ground in most maps, you need your puck to toss up to that area; swapping to that position. Keeping both bodies alive gives you the most options for getting to hard-to-reach places.
Fences – Certain maps have grated fences that block your movement, but can be shot through. While they will block your active body from passing, you can toss your puck through grated fences, repositioning your Spectre onto the other side.
Window of Opportunity– It’s risky, but you can toss your puck through windows or openings on any map. Execute this maneuver well and you can teleport behind your enemies, or escape from danger when you’re pinned down.
With these tips in mind, you’ll be well on your way to dominating your Santai matches and claiming the win. Ready to forge your legacy? You can play Spectre Divide for free on Xbox Series X|S today.
Spectre Divide is the genre-evolving 3v3 tactical shooter driven by Duality.
Use Duality to control two bodies in real-time, letting you defend two sites at once, cover your own cross, or even trade yourself.
Master tactical gunplay and an arsenal of future tech to achieve infamy.
DUALITY: ONE MIND, TWO BODIES
Use Duality to freely swap between your second body—called a Spectre—at any moment to outplay the enemy team.
Strategically place your Spectre to cover multiple sites across the map, play two angles at once, and quickly reinforce teammates.
Death can’t stop you. Your Spectre is a second chance at victory, giving you twice the uptime so you can run it back and make sure to hit your shots the second time around.
TENSE, TACTICAL, GUNPLAY
Hold, peek, or push using aim-down-sights (ADS) gunplay. True-to-crosshair accuracy means you can shoot on the move.
Master combinations of 20 different weapons for infinite paths to victory.
FUTURE TECH ARSENAL
Pick from 9 Sponsor kits, each with a distinct loadout to fit your playstyle. Whether you love to set traps, drop smokes, or support teammates—Sponsors let you flex on the opposition. Every Sponsor loadout is integrated with Duality, so grab your guns, grab your gear, and craft new ways to outplay the competition.
CRAFTED FOR COMPETITION
Earn rank as a team or a solo competitor in highly competitive ranked matchmaking. Or get your reps in with casual and custom play.
Every match matters with Crews, a weekly engagement-based competition, where teams of 50-60 players compete to score the most points and move up the seasonal leaderboard.
Custom networking technology and a modern anti-cheat approach means you can focus on the win instead of the playing field.
VISCERAL, ANIME-INSPIRED WORLD
Spectre Divide’s style is rooted in sci-fi comic book art and the classic Japanese cel animation of the ‘90s. The world has a hand-drawn look and feel, capturing the same energy and momentum as the concept sketch.
The style presents clean visual reads, perfect for executing next-level plays.
FORGE YOUR LEGACY
No predetermined characters—this is your climb. Personalize the look of your own pair of competitors and crush the competition in style. Customize faces, hair styles, tattoos, outfits, and weapons, then live your journey to champion.
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Xbox App on Windows PC, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for further info (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!
VILE is back on the scene, and for once, ACME and Carmen Sandiego have a common enemy. In a rare and temporary alliance, the world’s greatest thief must track down the syndicate before they can pull off their next big heist. Rookie gumshoes and seasoned detectives are invited to put their sleuthing skills to the test whether it’s in the narrative driven main campaign or the classic mode ‘The Acme Files’.
Embark on a delightful new adventure with Marshmallow Marvin in Greenwood! Journey through a magical forest brimming with colorful mysteries, eccentric creatures, and hidden secrets. Explore every nook and cranny, where each step unveils fresh challenges and surprises for our squishy hero. Get ready for an unforgettable adventure in a world full of sweetness and wonder!
The human kingdom is facing a food shortage crisis and the only option to survive is defeating the monsters from a mythical land called Sugarbound, but only a master patisserie can transform the defeated monsters into edible food! Chloé Fondant is the only hope humanity must survive (and eat delicious cakes).
Two Point County’s most daring adventurers have travelled to the far reaches of the known map and returned with unique artefacts to host in your museum, along with the coordinates of a new expedition location, home to an exclusive special exhibit and events! Pre-order now for exclusive Sonic themed items to decorate your museum and entertain your guests with! Or you can also start playing today by picking up Two Point Museum: Explorer Edition version of the game.
Gear up for tactical mech action in War Robots: Frontiers, a free-to-play multiplayer mech shooter. Construct and customize your War Robots, squad up with other Pilots online, and fire up your engines in massive battles across the stars. Using tight team coordination and tactical gambits to edge out rivals in a variety of PvP modes: Push for all-out destruction in Team Deathmatch, fight for survival in Last Robot Standing, control points in Warp Rush, and rank up in Leagues.
Beautiful Sakura: Racing Club is a captivating visual novel about Kaito, a young dreamer determined to become a professional racing driver. With passion in his heart and the support of his friends, he must navigate through thrilling challenges, tough decisions, and emotional moments to chase his dream. Will you guide Kaito to victory on the racetrack and in life? The journey is yours to unfold!
You’re just an ordinary teen girl looking for work after your college dreams didn’t quite pan out. But when you get lost backstage during a national debate, you find so much more: a bunch of talking cats who are running for President. And that’s not even the weird part – they all want to hire you as a campaign manager!
A trip to the Dino Park may sound awesome, and it is, but what if that trip was also full of cats to find and pet? If you have a penchant for seeking cats, the Dino Park would be thankful for your help with spotting them all! The game features 500 cats to find, along with many special cats to collect. It offers five levels dense with friendly-looking, handmade drawings, three adorable music tracks to make your game nice and cozy.
Get ready for another enigmatic and challenging adventure with O.W.L Projekt 2, a 3D isometric puzzle game that will test your mind and logic skills. Once again controlling Elysion, a young being created in a mysterious experiment, you will face the enigmatic Watchers in a journey to escape and uncover secrets.
Immerse yourself in Solid Void, a unique puzzle experience that merges two classic puzzle styles into one addictive journey. Start by solving intricate nonogram puzzles to complete the grid. Once your grid is complete, take the challenge to the next level by placing pentomino-like blocks to complete beautiful designs.
Funshine Bear, Grumpy Bear, Share Bear, Cheer Bear and Good Luck Bear are on a mission to save the Silver Lining from Bluster’s most devious and daring plan so far! A ginormous, uncontrollable Bad Seed is wreaking havoc across the Silver Lining. If it isn’t stopped soon, the entire land and its inhabitants will be in big trouble!
The adventure-filled worlds of Eldrador are in danger! Lead battle-ready creatures in turn-based strategic combat to defeat a mysterious shadowy menace. Utilize a range of accessible tactics to outsmart your opponent.
Kick off your FragPunk fights by bending the rules in style! Purchase the FragPunk pre-order bundle to get platform-exclusive skins, stickers, and a charm as well as the first season’s premium battle pass at an exceptional value! FragPunk will be free-to-play when it releases on March 6, 2025 — this exclusive bundle will be permanently removed from the store after the pre-order period ends.
A 2D video game that combines platforming and action with a touch of exploration, control Morkull, God of Death and Darkness and Lord of the Ragast. His main mechanic – breaking the fourth wall, which allows him to communicate with you in a multitude of ways. Your objective? Help Morkull escape from the Ragast so he can rule the world and carry out his evil plans.
An eccentric story-driven survival horror game about angels and demons that mixes fixed-camera exploration and arcade-style shooting. Michelle must use her Third Eye to see between worlds and uncover secrets. Follow her final days as she battles to break the curse placed on her by a powerful archdemon looking for love. Help (or hinder!) the lives of curious residents in Michelle’s bustling London borough as she pursues freedom from her own untimely demise.
Embrace mind-blowing moments as you’re pulled deep into the many worlds of Split Fiction, a boundary-pushing co-op action adventure from the studio behind It Takes Two. Mio and Zoe are contrasting writers – one writes sci-fi and the other writes fantasy – who become trapped in their own stories after being hooked up to a machine designed to steal their creative ideas. They’ll have to rely on each other to break free with their memories in-tact, working together to master a variety of abilities and overcome diverse challenges while jumping between sci-fi and fantasy worlds in this unexpected tale of friendship.
Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars + Pre-Order Bonus
The legendary Konami JRPGs, Suikoden I and Suikoden II, have now been remastered in HD, bringing upgraded background illustrations, updated effects that breathe new life into the pixel art animation, and new environmental sound effects for an immersive experience.
In this interactive game experience, you step into the role of a small bird, soaring through breathtaking landscapes while collecting magical crystals that mark certain locations. The game is not about defeating enemies or overcoming dangerous obstacles, but rather about immersing yourself in a peaceful and tranquil environment. It is designed to relax your mind and soul, providing a soothing escape from the stresses of everyday life.
Alter Age – March 7 Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Xbox Play Anywhere
Arga trains daily to measure his strength against his father, known as the world’s strongest. He learns Soul Alter, enabling him and his companions to switch between adult and preteen forms. Facing many challenges, they alternate roles in turn-based battles, using various skills and strategies to win. Explore a vast pixel world with puzzle dungeons, gather ingredients, complete quests, and uncover all of Alter Age!
Experience nature, your way. Immerse yourself in the beauty and challenges of the great outdoors with Camping Simulator. Whether you’re looking for a peaceful escape or a test of survival skills, this game offers a dynamic camping experience tailored to your style.
You’ll need strategy and precision to clear each level full of malicious hoodlums toting bats, knives, guns, and other arms. Pick up the weapons of fallen enemies and use them to your advantage. Investigate a dangerous gang hideout, shut down an insidious drug-selling operation, and get your revenge against the notorious criminals responsible. Can you take on this challenge and defeat all your enemies?
Get ready for the electrifying journey of Steampunch, a casual and challenging 2D platformer! Overcome enemies, traps, and obstacles to reach the elevator that takes you to the next level. Run, jump, and wall-slide with precision. Use double jumps and air dashes to reach secret areas and overcome challenges!
Why Two Point Museum Takes the Management Sim in a Whole New Direction – Play Today
Ben HuskinsDesign Director, Two Point Museum
For years, the Two Point series has taken players on delightfully eccentric journeys through the world of management sims. We’ve built busy hospitals, shaped the future of academia, and now, we’re setting our sights on a whole new challenge, and something rarely seen in the genre: museums!
Two Point Museumlaunches for Xbox Series X|S on March 4, but you can play from today by purchasing the digital Explorer Edition. Find out why we made the switch to a brand new kind of management sim and, if you want to jump in right now, stick around for some handy tips on what we think is the best game in the series so far.
Evolving the Two Point Formula with New Features
One of the biggest challenges – and thrills – of creating Two Point Museum was adapting our beloved Two Point formula to an entirely new setting. Unlike hospitals or universities, where the core gameplay revolves around treating patients or educating students, museums are all about curation. You will build and expand your own institutions, filling them with exhibits that range from ancient relics to futuristic wonders, and even a few… let’s say, “unexpected” surprises, like guest-eating plants.
We’ve also introduced some exciting new layers of strategy to Two Point Museum, with the Expedition feature offering a whole new sense of adventure. As curator, you will be tasked with sending a team of (partially) trained experts on Expeditions to discover unique exhibits. You can find over 200 rare exhibits across multiple map locations across your home of Two Point County. Will they return with priceless fossils, cosmic relics, or a rapidly melting ice sculpture containing a caveman who may – or may not – make a run for it?
In Two Point Museum you will explore five distinct museum locations, each with their own unique progression path, exotic relics and creatures to find. Discover unusual dinosaur bones in your Prehistory Museum, keep restless ghosts entertained in the Supernatural Museum, or journey to the far reaches of the Two Point universe to encounter aliens in your Space Museum. Venture beneath the waves to access aquatic marvels in the Marine LifeMuseum or unearth an abandoned lab and do science-ey stuff in your Science Museum. Oh, and don’t forget to look after that carnivorous plant in your Botany Museum! There is so much to explore and discover in Two Point County, meaning you will always have plenty to be getting on with.
Guests Know Best
In Two Point Museum, guests really do know best. You will encounter 18 different visitor types, from science enthusiasts and goths, to meddling kids who love touching things they shouldn’t. You will need to think carefully about how you place your exhibits, which will affect the overall mood of your guests – everyone likes different stuff, you know! Sometimes that means providing an alien Cheese-Moonger with a specific cheese-related dish at the cafeteria, while at other times it’s finding a way to transform a goth into a vampire. Unravel evolving mysteries and unlock new tools in a bid to create your own museum empire and offer the ultimate guest experience.
Running a museum isn’t all serious business – there’s plenty of room for creativity. Want to mix prehistoric fossils with alien artifacts? Go for it! Just don’t be surprised if the results are… unusual. Two Point Museum gives you more creative freedom than ever before, letting you customise everything – from floor tiles and wall coverings to staff uniforms and exhibit names.
Tips for Future Curators
To help players make the most of their museum experience, here are a few handy tips from us:
Plan your layout wisely: Use interior walls to create themed sections and guide guests along optimal routes. Nobody wants to find the cafeteria next to a cursed sarcophagus.
Keep the guests happy: Visitors expect beautifully decorated exhibition spaces, cleanliness, snacks, a giftshop and plenty of restrooms. You can attract specific guest types via marketing campaigns, check in on their experience and cater to their whims to maximise success, happiness and of course….revenue!
Train your staff: Experts can gain new skills over time – investing in training can mean the difference between a well-run museum and total exhibit catastrophe.
Security challenges: Heists aren’t just for movies! Thieves will try to make off with your precious artifacts, so keep those security guards on high alert. Security chairs and cameras can be used in tandem to ensure boots on the ground, eyes in the sky, and, er, backsides on seats.
What Players Can Expect
Two Point Museum takes everything fans love about our previous games – deep yet accessible management mechanics, charming humour, and a world filled with personality – and applies it to a brand new setting full of possibilities. Whether you’re designing the next great historical exhibition or uncovering long-lost artifacts, you’ll be shaping a museum that’s uniquely yours. So, are you ready to become a world-class curator?
Two Point Museum launches on Xbox Series X|S on Tuesday, March 4. Aspiring curators can play it right now with Advanced Access when ordering the digital Explorer Edition.
Pre-order now for exclusive Sonic themed items to decorate your museum and entertain your guests with! Only available during pre-purchase.
• Sonic decorative statue
• Shadow decorative statue
• Interactive display grabber machine
• Sonic, Tails and Shadow staff outfits
• Exclusive gift shop item – Sonic, Tails and Shadow children’s onesies
• Exclusive gift shop item – Sonic and Shadow plushies
• 2 Sonic level themed floor patterns
• 1 Sonic level themed wallpaper
Two Point County’s most daring adventurers have travelled to the far reaches of the known map and returned with unique artefacts to host in your museum, along with the coordinates of a new expedition location, home to an exclusive special exhibit and events!
The Explorer Edition brings a selection of decorative items to embellish your halls, walls and floors with bespoke designs and well travelled statues. As well as exclusive items to help your experts replenish faster to send out on more expeditions. See a full list of the contents:
• DIGITAL ONLY: 5 days advanced access
• 5000 Kudosh!
• Exclusive Map Location to explore for unique exhibit
• Exclusive pop-up challenge museum
• Prestige Package – start your museum with a rare, high buzz level item
• Explorer staff outfit
• Additional interactive display
• Decorative arch way
• 2 decorative items
• Explorer ticket desk theme
• Explorer helicopter skin
• 3 unique statues
• 3 floor decorations, 3 wallpapers
• 3 bench styles
• Staff Replenishment Trunk which provides additional bonuses after a perilous expedition!
Pre-order now for exclusive Sonic themed items to decorate your museum and entertain your guests with! Only available during pre-purchase.
• Sonic decorative statue
• Shadow decorative statue
• Interactive display grabber machine
• Sonic, Tails and Shadow staff outfits
• Exclusive gift shop item – Sonic, Tails and Shadow children’s onesies
• Exclusive gift shop item – Sonic and Shadow plushies
• 2 Sonic level themed floor patterns
• 1 Sonic level themed wallpaper
Two Point Museum Includes:
Design, manage and develop incredible museums
5 unique main museum locations to Two Point County:
– Prehistory – Memento Mile
– Aquarium – Passwater Cove
– Supernatural – Wailon Lodge
– Science – Bungle Wasteland
– Space – Pebberley Heights
3 Pop up museums with set tasks and challenges
Sandbox mode to build your very own MEGA MUSEUMS!
6 main exhibit types and 30+ sub categories of exhibits
You’ll adventure through 5 different expedition maps with 100+ unique points of interest
200+ unique exhibits to uncover and fill your sticker book
350+ decorative items to make your museum uniquely you
18 guest types to meet and cater for …. including those meddling kids
Unlock and manage all the museums in Two Point County!
As fledgling curators, you have the task of designing and refining your very own museums to create the ultimate guest experience. Coordinate Experts on far-flung expeditions to discover new Exhibits, generating Buzz to entice droves of knowledge-hungry guests who will expect top info-tainment if they’re to leave impressed. This is all while you keep your Exhibits safe, rooms clean, staff happy… and children off the dinosaur bones.
EXPLORING FOR EXHIBITS
As Curator, the design and management of your expanding museum is in your hands! Send your team of partially trained Experts on Expeditions in search of rare and mostly well-preserved artefacts. When (and hopefully not if) your Experts return from their adventure, proudly display their fantastic finds in your museum.
You’ll unlock new locations as you decide where the next adventure takes you, and complete a sticker book to document your journey as a souvenir of your discoveries.
Your work doesn’t end there; Exhibit maintenance is crucial. While some Experts are gallivanting across Two Point County and beyond, you’re in charge of managing staff back home to ensure Exhibits and the museum stay in tip-top condition. If taking care of the carnivorous Chomper isn’t enough, there are also meddling thieves to watch out for. Thieves, and more frequently, children, are known for touching and grubbing up the displays, so make sure enough security is guarding your prized collection!
DESIGN-OSAURS
Get creative to design your museum layout your way! You have decorative freedom, so design thematic areas to guide your guests’ visit. Splash paint and lay carpet as you lovingly arrange each prehistoric fern, potentially melting iceman, and dinosaur remains wherever you see fit.
Once you’ve created the perfect atmosphere, arrange guided tours with custom routes led by a charismatic Expert. Tours are a fantastic way to enrich your guests’ experience. To keep guests enthused, showcase Exhibits with the highest Buzz – those that are top quality, provide ample info and beautiful decorations are likely to attract the most donations!
GUEST-ERTAINMENT
Guests know best! The different types of guests who will frequent your museum may have different interests, but they do have some things in common… they expect the place to be kept clean, have plenty of refreshments, ample toilets, and a gift shop filled with goodies. And, of course, they need to be dazzled with knowledge of your Exhibits, which are kept well-maintained… or else you could make them sick.
Two Point County will bring a variety of guests to your museum, and they all hope to discover their new favourite Exhibit… From dino fanatics and botany buffs to haunted horror seekers, you’ll need to cater to their personal preferences to meet their needs. By exceeding their expectations, you can keep them engaged, leading to longer visits, increased donations, and glowing reviews!
Undermine(d): How World of Warcraft’s New Update Added Driveable (and Driftable) Vehicles
Summary
One of the lead developers for Undermine(d) joins us to talk about the latest chapter for World of Warcraft.
This new city is unlike any we’ve seen before in Azeroth, bustling with life, with streets made for speed!
Find out more about how you’ll drive and drift around city streets in brand new hot rods.
Imagine taking New York and smashing it into a steampunk vibe where safety doesn’t matter. That’s the feeling you get when you step into Undermine, the new zone that went live this week in World of Warcraft. I had the pleasure of leading this zone’s design alongside my super talented teammates on the WoW team – and I’d love to tell you more about this never-before-seen goblin city… and its wild, driveable vehicles.
Deep Dive, Then D.R.I.V.E.
Adding a dynamic twist to the World of Warcraft experience, this new update introduces the D.R.I.V.E. feature, also known as our Dynamic and Revolutionary Improvement to Vehicular Experiences (we took that acronym and manifested it into that mouthful, you’re welcome! It’s sick).
This new feature allows players to travel on the ground with a mechanically intriguing G-99 Breakneck – otherwise known as WoW’s take on a hot rod. You will unlock this car pretty early while questing – complete “Eyes from Above” in the main campaign, then accept “No More Walkin’ Here” and progress through the Breakneck’s tutorial.
The design philosophy behind these vehicles is rooted in the art style of World of Warcraft goblins, where everything looks cobbled together yet oddly ingenious. The G-99 Breakneck has exaggerated features—like massive flames shooting from the scoop—which fit perfectly within the chaotic streets of Undermine.
One of the key aspects we wanted to bring to this feature was the ability to drift, which is a classic mechanic in older racing games. Bringing this to World of Warcraft was a challenge, but it ignited excitement across the team. Our goal was to capture that feeling of freedom and control, akin to the sensation of getting your first car and the newfound access it brings.
The car isn’t just for getting around; it’s also a passenger mount, allowing friends to join in and explore the streets of Undermine together. Players can participate in races, testing their skills on both regular and reverse courses. For those who might get motion sick or find the speed too much, we’ve ensured that the experience is accessible, offering options to customize with a lower top-speed engine immediately after unlocking the car, or to use regular ground mounts instead—whichever you prefer.
Take to the Streets
But your new car would be nothing without somewhere interesting to drive it. In Undermine, you’ll see these cars racing around you, providing both a vibrant backdrop to your adventures and an invitation to join in the chaos. Tasks like delivering hot towels, or fighting a ghostly tiger that is rudely scaring children, allow you to become a true part of the fabric of the city.
As you can probably tell, Undermine is full of life. As you drift your car around the streets (above sewers with fighting rings in them!), you will encounter pirates, mobsters, people who want to break your ankles, the best cooks you’ve ever met, and so much more.
Beneath Undermine’s false sky is a city that bustles with energy, a hub of commerce and culture for goblins. This diverges from the usual city landscapes you’d see in World of Warcraft—this is a densely populated city that’s very much lived in, bustling with life as people go about their day-to-day business.
The zone itself is a testament to the possibility of more. With features like Slam Central Station, which can take you anywhere your imagination permits, Undermine stands as a beacon of goblin ingenuity and ambition. The city is filled with cleverly named landmarks like the Incontinental Hotel and the Gallagio, reflecting a unique society driven by growth.
The narrative of Undermine is all about bettering one’s circumstances. It ties into the main storyline of The War Within, with characters like Orweyna introducing players to the Ringing Deeps and the initial chapters of the story. You’ll meet (or be reintroduced to, if you’ve played in the past) characters like Renzik and Gazlowe, who provide a window into the lives of those who call Undermine home. While some characters, like Gazlowe, left to find something different, others see Undermine as their home—for some, there’s anywhere but home. For others, there’s no place like home.
As the story unfolds, Gazlowe undergoes a change of heart, leading to a revolution where players can take down dictators and liberate the streets. This narrative of reclaiming the city highlights the power of the people over oppressive forces.
Join us in Undermine, a city of fast wheels and dark deals. It doesn’t matter if you drift an inch or a yard, drifting’s drifting!
The Undermine(d) update is live now in World of Warcraft, available on PC via Battle.net. To learn more, visit WorldOfWarcraft.com.
This February, let the ID@Xbox team set the vibe. In this, the month of Valentine’s Day, indie game developers are competing to be your next love – but don’t stress, because our team of wingmen and wingwomen have handpicked six Indie Selects that can meet what anyone’s heart desires.
If you’re looking for some tasty food for the soul, satisfying beats that really pop, dangerous exploits to get the heart pumping, and unbelievable deliveries that really soar, February Selects had you at hello. Here’s what we’ve got for you this month (in no particular order):
This game answers the question,” What if you had to earn your meal by engaging it in a fight to the death?”. Cuisineer is the first food-focused action roguelite that I’ve ever played and I am very much obsessed. I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time bashing cute (but hostile) creatures in its dungeons to restock my fridge back in my character’s hometown. The demand for more wood, more types of stone, and various grades of meat never ends and the loop of “spend a day cooking for fussy customers, then return to a dungeon, then come back and upgrade your tools, etc.” is constant. It’s a hustle that I’m hooked on, to be honest, and Cuisineer delivers up this cycle in a way that’s both cozy and challenging.
Those monsters in the various dungeons aren’t joking around and you’ll be battling through multiple floors and bosses to get to the end of each gauntlet (though there are options to exit early). You’ll also be plunking down hard-earned gold (from your restaurant’s till) to upgrade your backpack and eatery capacity to continue growing and progressing through the game. It’s a soothing, dopamine-hit formula that Cuisineer does incredibly (and adorably) well, but it’s not absent of difficulty and learning curve. So, think of it as equipping cutesy cat ears while prepping for a lengthy workout. Give yourself some time to onboard and you’ll be harvesting fuzzy little fluffballs for “fatty meat” in no time.
Upon receiving a startling letter from her parents, the independent adventurer Pom swiftly returns home to Paell, only to find her parents gone and their beloved restaurant abandoned. Now left with mounting debts and a village in dire need of some fine cooking, Pom will have to delve into the deepest dungeons for the scarcest spices, rarest meats, and the most valuable vegetables she can find to keep her parents’ dream alive.
Dive into dungeons and cook up a storm as Pom, an adventurer-turned-restaurateur! Cuisineer‘s food-focused action challenges you to build your dinner the hard way: by dungeon-diving for materials and ingredients. Wield your cooking utensils against giant chickens, artillery shrimps, fire-breathing peppers, and other pesky perils, sipping boba tea along the way. Work with local artisans to customize your kitchen, and tailor your dining hall to the needs of loyal patrons eager to experience the rare recipes you’ve cooked up.
The Xbox Series X/S and Windows Store release of Cuisineer plates its enticing gameplay with fresh ingredients like new weapons, year-round festivals, a wardrobe feature, and more tasty inclusions that are sure to spice things up.
A Smorgasbord of Dungeons
Explore procedurally generated biomes such as the Green Ruins, Frozen Fjord, and Konpeito Swamps that change their size, shape, and resources every time you visit.
Craft Your Own Culinary Experience
Cook over 100 different recipes from around the world, from crunchy Popiah rolls to rich Kaya jam, from double-fried crispy chicken with zesty lemon, to sweet treats piled high with berries. Get the right dishes to the right customers and customize your kitchen and dining hall with the help of local artisans.
Master the Flavors of Fighting
Knock out monsters and rivals with Salty, Sour, Sweet, Bitter, Umami, Frosty and Toasty powers that unleash flame, poison, chain lightning, and other fantastic effects. You can also fight with unique utensils and gourmet gear, like Spatula, Smackerel, Swordfish, and the newly added Konpeito Fist weapons!
Take Quests to Go
From Naicha the Bubble Tea seller to Alder the big friendly carpenter, Paell is full of sweet and spicy townsfolk to befriend. While you’re dungeon diving, be on the lookout for items the townsfolk need. You’ll be rewarded with gold, new items, and even more recipes to take your cooking and adventuring to new heights.
Turbo Overkill is an FPS game that invokes the spirit of ’80s cyberpunk media and classic shooters such as Quake & Doom. By modern definition, you might categorize it as a “boomer shooter” – a game that either IS a retro FPS or a newer title that’s designed to create a similar feeling. Yes, this is a real thing, and no, we didn’t make it up, but we can agree that it’s fitting! As much as I love modern FPS games, I’m a huge fan of the classics, and Turbo Overkill does this subgenre justice in as many ways that it can.
Taking place in a futuristic, cyberpunk city called Paradise, players control a cybernetic bounty hunter by the name of Johnny Turbo who, paired with his trusty chainsaw leg and large arsenal of weapons, is set to take down rogue AI, Syn, and their augmented minions. The gameplay revolves around fighting various enemies and bosses, exploration, puzzle solving, upgrading Johnny and his weapons, and platforming. But what I love most is its pacing and combat flow. Players can leverage Johnny’s chainsaw leg by crouch sliding (a staple in most modern FPS games) to not only maneuver but also take down most enemies in one hit. Pairing this movement with jumps, air dashes and cycling through the various familiar weapons, makes the game feel like a classic arena shooter on top of its retro heritage.
In homage to the classics, Turbo Overkill features a single player campaign with several difficulties to choose from, secret levels to find, and unlockables to keep you busy. There’s also two additional modes, Endless Mode and Arcade Mode, both of which add a medal and scoring system for additional replayability. If you’re a fan of FPS games, whether modern or classic, then you must check this one out!
Turbo Overkill is the most savage FPS ever released by Apogee. You play as Johnny Turbo, augmented with hidden arm rockets and a chainsaw that extends from your lower leg allowing you to slide-slice enemies wide open.
Johnny returns to his hometown of Paradise and finds its entire population possessed by Syn, a rogue AI, and its army of augmented minions. Desperate for enough money to outrun his past mistakes, Johnny takes on the impossible job of destroying the greatest AI ever created. Rival bounty hunters want to claim the prize first. Nothing is easy in paradise.
TURBO TIME, WALL-RUNNING, DASHING AND GRAPPLING HOOKS, OH MY
Turbo Overkill takes over-the-top to never-before-reached heights. Activate Turbo Time(), a new form of slow motion with a twist. Build incredible speed by wall-running and dashing. Slide on your chainsaw leg, eviscerating foes and opening up bosses for critical damage, and go car-surfing on the hoods of flying cars. Blast away with the Twin Magnums, which lock-on and instagib several foes, the Boomer Shotgun and its attached grenade launcher, or the Telefragger sniper rifle, which teleports Johnny inside an enemy before they explode from within.
Race through two dozen stages packed with secrets, bonus arena stages, and white-knuckle combat puzzles. Find game-changing collectibles to unlock punishing modifiers like triple-monster-speed and insta-kill. Combine all of Johnny’s weapons and powers to outsmart, outgun and outrun the corrupted legions.
Tails of Iron 2 is a gritty and challenging 2D action-RPG that mixes Soulslike combat with Metroidvania elements. I’ve been interested in this series since the first entry, but I never picked it up – my backlog is infinite! After playing this one though, I feel like I owe it to myself to try it out! It helps that, while the new story shares the same world, the sequel features a new protagonist, Arlo meaning you don’t need to play its predecessor to catch up. As the heir to the Warden of the Wastes, Arlo must avenge his father’s death, taking on threats like the merciless Dark Wing Bats and other creatures as he fights to restore his homeland. Oh… and Arlo’s a rat.
I won’t get too deep into the gore, but all I’ll say is, don’t let this game’s storybook-like appearance fool you – the themes in this game are grim. The hand-drawn visuals remind me of a hidden gem you’d find digging through the Xbox Live Arcade library, in all the best ways. It has that nostalgic charm that makes it feel familiar, yet ultimately fresh and unique. And the world? Absolutely awesome. Viking themes aren’t new, but Viking rats? They’re adorable, and at the same time, so metal.
After spending hours fighting bosses, I can confirm this game is challenging. You’ll have to backtrack, platform, upgrade your gear, and parry and roll… a lot. You’ll need patience, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably die more than you survive—unless you switch to Fairy Tale mode, where enemies have less health and do less damage.
If you’re a fan of Metroidvanias, Soulslikes, or just really love the idea of rats in Viking armor, I recommend giving this a shot. Oh, and they got Doug Cockle (Geralt from The Witcher game series) to narrate the story, which only adds to the appeal.
Just as the Rats of the South start to piece their lives together, following the great war between Rodent and Frog, an old and unspeakable evil stirs in the North; wings black as death; fangs sharp as steel; and a thirst for blood rivalled only by their insatiable hunger… for vengeance.
As Arlo, young heir to the Warden of the Wastes, journey through the vast, snow-ravaged lands of the North in an epic quest to overcome the Dark Wings once and for all. Hunt down giant beasts. Unite disparate clans. Upgrade your settlement. And discover a terrible secret of blood and crown…
The time for heroes is over. For the Kingdom needs a warrior; forged of the North and as cold as the snow that shrouds these lands. A rat… carved from iron.
And so, a new tail begins.
Explore a Vast, Wintry Kingdom
Fully narrated by RPG-legend, Doug Cockle, prepare to embark on an epic adventure across the northern realms of the Ratdom; an expansive, frost-bitten land on the brink of all-out war.
Hunt down Giant Beasts
Track down and defeat the legendary monsters of this realm, and be rewarded with rare resources with which to craft devastating equipment. But be warned, these colossal creatures won’t go down without a fight… and then some.
Master Brutal Combat
The lands of the North are a perilous place, so you’ll need to master the fast, challenging combat for any chance of survival. Evade attacks with a dodge roll, nail split-second parry bashes, and unleash an array of gruesome executions.
Customise your Attack
Craft your own extensive arsenal of upgradeable weaponry, ready to fight as you see fit; strike quick with a spear, afar with a bow, or go claw-to-claw with a heavy-hitting mace. Alternativity, gain a tactical advantage with a range of new, deadly traps…
Upgrade your Settlement
As Warden of the Wastes, defending your lands is only half the battle. Construct and upgrade your settlement with hard-earned gold to gain access to more powerful items from the Smithy, tastier meals at the Kitchen, a wider range of powerful traps from the shoppe, and more!
Unleash All-New Sorceries
Unlock the devastating ‘Elementa’ sorceries of Electric, Poison, Fire, and Ice in an all-new magic system. Bestowed upon you by the gods themselves, these arena-devastating powers can quickly turn the tides in battles.
Rhythm games are back, baby! Robobeat is (deep breath) an innovative, fast-paced, futuristic, roguelite rhythm boomer shooter. To say this game is in a league of its own is putting it mildly. There are not many games that combine slick combat mechanics with music-centric gameplay in procedurally generated environments, and I would say even fewer that do it well. You play as Ace, a famous bounty hunter, chasing after an eccentric cyborg named Frazzer. However, in order to stop Frazzer in his tracks, you’ll have to make your way through his distorted techno playground, which is comprised of five randomly generated “pathways” where you will need to shoot, wall-run, slide and bunny hop, all in sync with the beat of the soundtrack.
The most unique part of Robobeat, and probably my favorite part, is the ability to change songs as you play. Switching between energetic metal, jazz-like grooves, and frantic EDM allows you to set the pace of your run. Sometimes a slower pace is needed in order to get the hang of the next stage. The enemies become tougher and the hordes become more intense the further you go, and throughout your runs you’ll collect blueprints that can be unlocked using currency – however if you die before cashing in your blueprints, you’ll have to reacquire them. Once a weapon or ability is unlocked, it can appear in any future run.
The tunes are great, the gunplay is manically intense, and roguelite mechanics set Robobeat apart from its peers across several genres. This was a bold bet that paid off.
You’re Ace – a famous bounty hunter after your latest target, the eccentric robot-showman Frazzer. To find your way through his twisted techno-playground, you’ll have to master the art of shooting, wall-running, sliding, and bunny hopping, all in sync with the beat! Get ready to dance till you’re dead and then suit up for the remix in rogue-like rhythm shooter ROBOBEAT.
Move to the Music
You’ll want some slick moves to go with those slick new weapons. Your enemies aren’t going to wait around for you to take a dance break, so you’ve got to keep moving if you want to survive.
Wall run, slide, double jump, bunny hop, and grapple hook your way through technicolour levels to give your enemies the runaround. Keep it fluid, keep it funky, and keep it moving.
Rewind, Remix, Replay
ROBOBEAT is a rogue-like remix.
Fast forward through procedurally generated levels, equip an arsenal of finely-tuned weapons, and accompany your arsenal with a symphony of modifications. Your playstyle is on continuous shuffle, so you never know what each new run is going to bring!
Will you have what it takes to break the infinite loop and stop Frazzer in his tracks?
Mexico, 1921: A Deep Slumber is a narrative adventure game inspired by true events. You’ll step into the shoes of Juan Aguirre, a photojournalist in post-revolutionary Mexico City. The game not only entertains but educates players by involving historians and cultural institutions in its creation. This collaboration transforms the game into an interactive archive of Mexican history. I was absolutely fascinated as the game transported me to a tumultuous period in Mexican history, allowing me to uncover the truth behind President Álvaro Obregón’s assassination.
You’ll navigate through Mexico City, interviewing and photographing subjects, which I found created a deep feeling of involvement in the storyline and historical events. It’s a layer of authenticity only added to by the photography mechanic, which requires you to master early 20th Century photographic techniques. The game follows a classic point-and-click adventure style, where you examine objects, gather clues, and engage in conversations with various characters, and I was deeply captivated by the connection to the historical events and cultural aspects of post-revolutionary Mexico. is a compelling and emotionally engaging game.
Mexico, 1921. A deep slumber is an intriguing narrative adventure where you try to solve a hundred-year-old mystery: who planned the assassination of President Álvaro Obregón? You play as Juan Aguirre, a photojournalist who will interview and photograph subjects, collect historical data and report the news that will shape Mexican history. Join Juan in post-revolutionary Mexico City to discover why Mexico ain’t no place for the weak. Developed hand in hand with the National Newspaper Library and the Popular Arts Museum, this game will be an interactive archive of Mexican post-revolutionary history.
Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is a charming E-rated adventure game. You play the role of aspiring young witch Mika, who is declined admittance to witch school and has to take a job delivering packages to fund her broom repairs. The game takes place in a small open world, the Island of Winds, asking you to fly from point to point by way of broomstick– opening more of the world as you unlock additional traversal abilities for your broom.
With a Studio Ghibli-inspired art style, the charm of this island location and its many inhabitants is infectious. There are dozens of residents that you get to know and help on your journey to ascend the mountain to witch school. The main story does not overstay its welcome, but there are additional puzzles, races, and secrets to extend your time on the island. The simplified control scheme and cute aesthetic means this is suitable for all ages and skill levels of gamers. The art style, the characters and the music elevate a game that is almost exclusively a series of fetch quests into an endearing, relaxing and memorable adventure.
Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is a fantasy adventure about an aspiring witch who delivers packages to the townspeople of a small island. Explore every cranny and soar through the sky with your magic broom.
), a new form of slow motion with a twist. Build incredible speed by wall-running and dashing. Slide on your chainsaw leg, eviscerating foes and opening up bosses for critical damage, and go car-surfing on the hoods of flying cars. Blast away with the Twin Magnums, which lock-on and instagib several foes, the Boomer Shotgun and its attached grenade launcher, or the Telefragger sniper rifle, which teleports Johnny inside an enemy before they explode from within.
