World War Z x The Walking Dead Lurches onto Xbox Today
Timur Bazhinov, General Producer at Saber Interactive
When two of the most iconic zombie universes collide, the result is something uniquely intense, atmospheric, and unmistakably thrilling. Today we’ve launched World War Z x The Walking Dead, bringing four legendary survivors into the heart‑pounding co‑op action of World War Z.
Players on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One can step into the boots of Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Michonne, and Negan as they fight through three new story chapters inspired by some of the most iconic locations in AMC’s “The Walking Dead.”
The Prison
Once a symbol of stability and hard‑won peace for Rick’s group, the Prison became one of the earliest and most dramatic battlegrounds in AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” In the crossover’s opening chapter, players return to this fortified correctional facility as a rescue mission spirals into a desperate fight for survival. Narrow hallways, cell blocks, and open yards create a mix of tight encounters and massive swarms — a perfect showcase for the new Walkers.
Walkers – The Walking Dead – Season 3, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
The Alexandria Safe Zone
Alexandria has long represented hope — a walled community striving to rebuild civilization. But when Rick, Daryl, Michonne, and Negan arrive in this chapter, they find the settlement engulfed in flames and overrun by Walkers. Players will navigate and extinguish burning structures, defend panicked survivors, and push through increasingly dire challenges as the Safe Zone teeters on the brink. It’s a homecoming turned nightmare.
Walkers – The Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Grady Memorial Hospital
The final chapter takes the survivors to Grady Memorial Hospital, a location remembered for tense standoffs and its inhabitants’ moral flexibility. In World War Z, the hospital becomes a claustrophobic maze of dark corridors, abandoned wards, and sudden ambushes. Players will desperately search for much needed medicine — but will they make it out alive?
– The Walking Dead _ Season 5, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
A New Breed of Undead
This crossover doesn’t just bring iconic characters — it transforms the battlefield. The standard Zeke that you face are now replaced by the slower, more methodical, and menacing Walkers from The Walking Dead, creating a threat that forces players to rethink every corridor, choke point, and fallback plan. A new special enemy, the Spiked Walker, adds even more tension. Armored, relentless, and capable of inflicting bleeding damage, it demands precision and teamwork to bring down safely.
Gino Crognale as Walker – The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
A Crossover Years in the Making
By blending WWZ’s frenetic Swarm Engine technology with the atmospheric dread of “The Walking Dead”, we’ve aimed to create a crossover that feels both familiar and entirely new. The result is hopefully a campaign that honors the legacy of both franchises while offering Xbox players a fresh, high‑stakes survival experience. If you own a copy of World War Z, you can pick up World War Z x The Walking Dead right now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One!
Humanity is on the brink of extinction. From New York to Moscow and Jerusalem, the undead apocalypse continues to spread. As the end looms, a hardened few bands together to defeat the horde and outlive the dead.
World War Z is a heart-pounding co-op third-person shooter for up to 4 players featuring swarms of hundreds of zombies. Based on the Paramount Pictures film, World War Z focuses on fast-paced gameplay while exploring new storylines from around the world.
Battle swarms of hundreds of zombies – the Swarm Engine seamlessly renders hordes of zombies in incredible firefights. Advanced gore systems offer gruesomely satisfying action.
Co-op story-driven campaigns – survive around the world, as unique groups tell their stories of perseverance.
Fight other players for survival – several intense Player vs Player vs Zombies game modes complement the co-op campaigns.
Grow stronger – unlock powerful weapon upgrades and level 16 character classes to take on greater challenges.
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox on 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!
DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined Digital Deluxe Edition
As a bright-eyed young fisherman’s son, you’ve lived your entire life on the peaceful island of Estard. Your journey begins with a simple question: is there more to the world than this small island kingdom? On a quest for answers, you and your childhood friends discover the Shrine of Mysteries and are swept back in time. There, you uncover the shocking truth that entire lands have been sealed away by a malevolent force. The fate of the world now rests in your hands. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined brings a timeless classic to life in a whole new way with charming diorama visuals, updated gameplay mechanics, and a streamlined story.
MY HERO ACADEMIA: All’s Justice – Ultimate Edition Pre-Order
My Hero Academia: All’s Justice is the super-powered 3D arena fighter where your favorite characters from the My Hero Academia franchise appear in their latest and most powerful forms, framed within a refined battle system. Furthermore, dive into a variety of game modes, including original scenario-based team-up missions where you’ll experience hero life as a U.A. High 1-A student in a virtual space!
The original Carmageddon spirit of vehicular mayhem has been refined and redesigned. We looked at the past and the present to create a visceral, fast and accessible form of combat racing. But the Carmageddon ain’t over when your vehicle is wrecked. Another driver will step up, and the challenge will resume anew, in a typical roguelite loop. Earn Beatcoins to unlock permanent bonuses and new content between runs in the Black Market. Find synergies between these elements to create the ultimate killing machine: the Carmageddon never ends.
The Hidden Cats are celebrating the holidays in the magical Christmas World Park! Start with a snowy, grey canvas and watch it burst into festive colors as you spot more than 900 hidden kittens and characters inspired by global traditions. Discover photos of real cats from the Hidden Cats community and pair them with illustrated felines to unlock 7 bonus stages featuring a new progressive colorization effect!
Labs and Matt Kap present Lovish, an outrageous 8-bit-styled action-adventure game! Venture through a series of bite-sized rooms, slicing up monsters, collecting items and getting to the exit! After exiting each room, enjoy a short event scene, in which anything could happen! Will you find an item? A random encounter RPG fight? Will the world get destroyed? Find out by conquering each room of the Devil Lord’s castle, one challenge at a time!
New Yankee: Through the History Mirror Collector’s Edition
Guide John and Mary and their friends on two thrilling parallel escapades filled with excitement, perils, and regular errands! Explore mysterious lands and times, navigate mystical phenomena as you join them in traversing space and time. While John and Mary venture into the unknown, you will also help their loyal companions – the brave dog Max, the wise Raven, the inventive Gremlin, and the erudite Spellbook – to unravel the mysteries of their disappearance. Their parallel quest takes them through enchanted forests, crystal caves brimming with wonders and dangers, and epic battles against undead invasions in an attempt to save John and Mary.
Tiny Biomes – February 4 Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Xbox Play Anywhere / Handheld Optimized
Restore life to the troubled lands in tile-based brainteaser style! The natural order has been disrupted, and it’s up to you to set things straight again! Travel to the forest, volcano and winter biomes as a brainteasing top-down adventure ensues. Tiny Biomes is a relaxing yet challenging tile-rotation puzzle game where you must guide the flow of water, snow or lava to bring life back to the biomes, each consisting of 50 unique levels of gradually increasing complexity and challenge.
A thousand years ago, the divine created the world and six eggs. The beings born from them, Spirit Beasts, were entrusted with prosperity, but rebelled. Enraged, the divine sealed them away and vanished, leaving behind humanity, the Divine Sword, and the Seed of Hope. Now, fate stirs once more as a new hero rises… Experience a nostalgic pixel-art RPG packed with classic turn-based battles, a board game-style growth system, and a wide range of customizable jobs. Collect items, unlock powerful Wonder Skills, and raise a Spirit Beast companion that evolves with the story. Spin the roulette, grow stronger, and uncover the truth behind the sealed legends!
Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is a Japanese-style RPG made by a guy from Texas. It blends classic 16-bit RPG design with surreal dream logic and psychologically charged environments. The game takes place in the dream of an eight-year-old boy. When the Pulsating Mass threatens his family and the stability of the dream world itself, Jimmy sets out on an adventure to save his family and eradicate the Pulsating Mass. Along the way, Jimmy must work with his family, confront his own shortcomings, and brave the creeping nightmares of his subconscious.
Command a strike force of marines, mercenaries, and criminals in a distant system, cut off from the Core Worlds. At the lawless frontier, the Wayback system is controlled by pirate warlords, questionable corporations, and fractured planetary governments who struggle for a new order. Though you initially lead your strike force of marines from aboard the strike cruiser TCRN Impetus, you’ll quickly need to unite the disparate locals under your leadership to defeat an unknown threat. Fielding tanks, walkers, and infantry squads with a massive selection of equipment to choose from, you’ll train your troops, plan out operations, and engage in deadly tactical battles.
Embark on a breathtaking journey through the jungle skies in Sora – Winds of the Jungle. Play as a vibrant parrot and soar across tropical islands, dense canopies, waterfalls, and ancient ruins. Your goal is simple yet meaningful: stay close to your flock as you all travel across the wild, untouched archipelago. Each of the handcrafted levels features 40–60 sky markers guiding your path as your flock leads the way. Fly through wind boosts to gain speed, discover hidden shortcuts, and enjoy the feeling of freedom as you glide above treetops and turquoise waters. The world is full of life and color, rewarding you with beautiful vistas and relaxing moments of harmony in flight.
In Car Cops, you’re more than just a regular cop – you’re the sharp-eyed officer who never misses a clue! Patrol the streets, pull over suspicious drivers, and dive into the action-packed life of a police officer. Each stop could lead to a dangerous criminal, a desperate chase, or someone in need of urgent help.
An evil sorcerer has established a dungeon beneath the village of Darkwood, sending his minions to raid nearby settlements. Command a party of heroes, explore dangerous dungeons, and fight strategic battles on a grid-based battlefield to stop the growing darkness. Built for players who enjoy thoughtful tactics and old-school fantasy RPGs, Dark Quest: Remastered combines accessible gameplay with deep strategic decision-making.
Un.Key – February 6 Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Xbox Play Anywhere / Handheld Optimized
In un.key, you control a small key on a quest to find its lock, dodging saws, spikes, and clever traps along the way. With smooth, precise rotation mechanics, every turn matters. Test your reflexes and strategic thinking across challenging levels. The game’s minimalist style keeps the focus sharp — clean visuals, bold colors, and obstacles that demand precision.
I Hate This Place is an isometric survival horror game that very intentionally uses a lot of comic book–infused design choices. With the launch of the game today on Xbox Series X|S, I’d love to take this moment to dive a little into the how and why this was done to help create I Hate This Place.
Living Alongside the Original “I Hate This Place” Comics
The first obvious reason for the comic aesthetic is that our game is set in the same world and universe as the award-nominated comic series “I Hate This Place” by Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin. But since we were always going to be making a standalone story with our own characters, we decided that keeping that connection to the comic series alive was important, but it had to be in a way that wasn’t just parroting the original look.
Below are some examples comparing the game to the comics so you can see where and how we stayed true to the source while also allowing our team to make the art style and overall feel our own. Elements such as proportions, the vibe of the setting, sticking more to realism vs a totally cartoony approach, were all taken from the original comics. Where we chose to diverge was things like in the shading, line thickness, and the use of a wider color palette.
Bringing the 80s Back
Since the original series takes place in the 1980s, both the comics and the game lean heavily into that strong, stylized comic book aesthetic inspired by that decade. This is not a muted or realistic take on horror. Instead, it is loud, a bit graphic, and unapologetically over the top.
Visually, that again meant thick black outlines, bright and punchy colors, and heavy contrast and saturation throughout the world. Shadows are deep and deliberate, highlights pop, and there is, of course, plenty of VHS-style static.
Sound You Can See
While comic-inspired visuals are the most obvious choice, we also wanted the gameplay itself to have comic flair. One of the most distinctive design choices in I Hate This Place is how sound is communicated visually. Instead of relying purely on audio cues, the game translates sounds into comic book-style callouts that appear directly in the world.
For example, your footsteps are represented on screen as bold “thud” effects and are color-coded to communicate volume. Green footsteps mean you are quiet, crouched, moving slowly, and minimizing danger. Yellow footsteps signal normal movement and moderate noise. Red footsteps mean you are running or being loud, effectively becoming a beacon for nearby threats. This is especially important because many of the monsters in I Hate This Place also hunt by sound, not just sight.
Weapons follow the same philosophy. Guns don’t simply fire out an audio crack. Instead, they visually rattle across the screen with bold “bang!” and “ratatat!” effects. Creatures also announce themselves with jagged, unsettling visual screech callouts, reinforcing their presence just as they are about to attack. As a result, sound becomes something you read just as much as hear, much like in a comic panel.
Dialogue in Bubbles, Not Boxes
Another way we ramp up the comic book presentation is through character communication. Dialogue in I Hate This Place appears in speech bubbles above each characters’ heads rather than as traditional subtitles at the bottom of the screen. This keeps conversations grounded in the feeling that you are playing through a graphic novel rather than watching a cinematic overlay.
Available Today on Xbox Series X|S
At its core, I Hate This Place is about honoring the comic while finding ways to make its visual language interactive. The thick lines, vibrant colors, on-screen effects, and speech bubbles are not just stylistic flourishes. They are intentional design choices meant to shape how you read the world and make it feel like both a game and a comic book at the same time.
Thanks so much for reading. I Hate This Place is out today on Xbox Series X|S, and we really hope to see you out there on our twisted, haunted ranch!
I Hate This Place is an isometric craft-based survival horror game set in a cursed land filled with reality-bending nightmares and terrifying creatures that thrive in the dark. You’ll need to scavenge, build, sneak, and fight if you want to make it out alive.
Classic Craft-Based Survival Horror
Scavenge every corner of Rutherford Ranch to stay alive. From haunted forests, a derelict town, to infested bunkers. Explore a world teeming with danger as you gather vital resources, craft essential gear, upgrade your campsite, and rebuild outposts to have somewhere to hide.
Day Prepares You. Night Hunts You
A dynamic day-night cycle that changes the world. Use daylight wisely to explore, scavenge supplies, craft what you need, and prepare for what’s coming. When night falls, the real nightmares come out to play. More enemies appear, stronger and more aggressive than before. The landscape becomes harder to navigate with just your flashlight. Sometimes your best hope is to find shelter and hunker down till morning.
Deadly Silence Goes A Long Way
Stealth and combat go hand-in-hand here as many of the twisted creatures in Rutherford Ranch hunt and stalk you by sound alone. Brute force will often just land you in an early grave. Use sound to your advantage, luring creatures away from your path or cleverly leading them straight into deadly traps you laid.
80’s Vibes Meets Comic Book Flair
Inspired by the award-nominated comic book series created by Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin, I Hate This Place comes to life with bold colors, a punchy retro comic book style, and a heavy dose of ’80s flair. A unique blend of horror, dark humor, and just the right touch of camp and gore where unsettling dread meets stylized charm.
Grounded 2 Update: The Toxic Tangle – Available Now
Summary
The Toxic Tangle update is available now, expanding Grounded 2 with a massive new Garden biome to explore, new creatures and gear, the mysterious Tang effect, and much more.
Ride into danger on the Ladybug Buggy, a heavy-duty mount with a water cannon, ramming charge, and serious tank energy.
The Founder’s Pack has been updated, with new decorative unlocks for players ready to show off their park style.
The garden is awake.
Ominent’s experiments have taken a sour turn, and a strange new corruption is spreading across Brookhollow Park. Tang now stains the soil, seeps into water, and clings to unsuspecting creatures—and it’s up to you to survive whatever’s brewing beneath the surface.
Welcome to The Toxic Tangle, the first major content update for Grounded 2, available now for all players. This update expands the park with a new biome, new creatures, armor and weapons, trinkets, building sets, and a few threats that may be more than they appear.
A Whole New Garden
Overgrown vines choke the greenhouse, creating twisting paths and hidden crawlspaces. These massive monstrosities and staggering structures all combine to produce that ‘how did I get up there?’ moment. The Garden biome is ripe for exploration, stacked with vertical climbs, secret stashes, and probably a bug or two you didn’t see coming.
From the pumpkin patch to the carrot jungle, every corner offers something to harvest, hoard, or accidentally aggro. It’s big, it’s messy, and it’s absolutely crawling with trouble. Bring your best gear—and maybe a backup plan.
The Ladybug Buggy Rolls In
One of Grounded’s most iconic bugs is finally rideable—and she’s not here to play nice.
The Ladybug Buggy is a heavy-duty, tank-style mount equipped with a pressurized water cannon. Use it to blast airborne pests out of the sky, rinse away sour Tang buildup, or just give your enemies a bad day. It can also ram headfirst into foes with a powerful charge and slowly regenerates health over time.
If you ever jumped on a ladybug in the first Grounded and wished you could stay there, this one’s for you.
New Threats (and Familiar Faces)
The Garden is full of life, but not all of it wants to share the space.
New creatures like the coordinated Earwigs, the bulky Potato Beetles, and the soon-to-be fan-favorite, the Woolly Aphid, will challenge your reflexes, your timing, and your trust in anything with antennae.
You might also want to keep your eyes open. The Masked Stranger may have retreated after your first encounter, but she’s not gone—and she may not be alone.
Oh, and the Snake Colossus? You’ll know it when you see it. Probably right before it sees you.
Mutation Updates, BUILD.M Upgrades & More
Mutations have leveled up. They’re now split into active and passive types—actives still work the way you know and love, but passives now apply automatically based on your weapon loadout. That means less menu juggling and more time doing cool stuff, like perfect blocking a Tang-covered Rust Beetle or showing off your hybrid build mid-fight.
And for all the architects, decorators, and “I-just-need-one-more-wall-piece” players out there, this update’s for you. The builder toolkit gets a serious upgrade with new kits like the Pumpkin Set, a refreshed Mushroom Kit, Scale Roof Set, updated Acorn Stairs, and a community request for floor hatches. It’s all about more pieces, better parity between sets, and smoother snapping to bring your backyard blueprints to life.
Whether you’re crafting a greenhouse hideout, a pumpkin fortress, or a garden party palace, we can’t wait to see what you build—and share. Tag us, drop it in Discord, or show it off wherever you hang out. We’ll be watching (with admiration, not binoculars).
The Garden MIX.R and O.R.C. wave challenges are also live, ready for anyone who thinks they’re tough enough to survive the swarm.
Lastly, the Founder’s Pack also grows with this update, adding new base-building items like the High Roller’s Dice Bag, Champion’s Banner, and more ways to personalize your park adventure.
What’s Next?
Alongside this update, we’re preparing for the return of Playgrounds Mode, entering PTB (Public Test Beta) in February with all the core tools from the first Grounded. Whether you’re building mini-games, boss arenas, or custom gauntlets, Playgrounds will give creators the tools they need to thrive. To keep an eye on what’s coming to Brookhollow Park, be sure to check out our updated roadmap for a sneak peek at what’s in store for Grounded 2.
There’s never been a better time to shrink down, suit up, and explore the weirdest corners of Brookhollow Park. The Toxic Tangle update for Grounded 2 is available now in Game Preview for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud, and in early access on Steam —jump in today with Xbox Game Pass and untangle the chaos.
Shrunk again, but the world is much larger. Survive a sprawling open world alone or in co-op with friends. Craft weapons, forge armor, and build bases while exploring the park on your trusty Buggy mounts. Unravel hidden mysteries and face unexpected threats. But something else is out there—and it hasn’t forgotten you.
Shrunk to the size of an ant, you’ll find once-familiar spaces turned into a sprawling, uncharted frontier. Survive alone or in co-op with friends, crafting weapons, forging armor, and building bases as you explore manmade playgrounds overgrown by nature. Traverse this new realm on trusty Buggy mounts—your capable allies—and uncover the mysteries lurking beneath bright colors and towering structures. But stay wary: something else is out there, and it hasn’t forgotten you.
Survive, Adapt, Overcome
The world is relentless, but so are you. Shape your adventure with unique archetypes, each offering distinct abilities to match your playstyle. Whether you rely on precision, cunning, or sheer strength, you’ll need every advantage to survive against the threats lurking in the park.
Stronger Together
The perils of the park are daunting alone, but with friends, every challenge becomes an adventure. Work together to build, fight, and uncover the secrets buried beneath the grass. Whether you’re facing danger side by side or continuing your journey in a shared world, survival is always better with allies.
Because Walking is Bogus
They scurry, they fight, and now—they help you survive. Hatch, raise, and ride your own insect friends – Buggies! Saddle up and traverse through the park, fight on them or alongside them in battle, or use them to gather resources and build your base. The right partner could mean the difference between thriving and barely surviving.
A Shadow That Follows You
The threat is always there—watching, learning, waiting. You don’t know where it’s coming from, only that it never leaves. The deeper you dig, the closer it gets. Some mysteries should stay buried, but it’s too late now. It knows you’re looking. And it’s ready. Every answer drags you deeper, every step invites something closer. You were never alone. You thought you were in control. You were wrong.
Try the New Xbox Cloud Gaming Web Experience — Now in Public Preview
Patrick Siu, Principal Product Manager
Starting today, we’re testing a refreshed web experience for Xbox Cloud Gaming that lays the foundation for accelerating our ability to build new experiences for players. This preview is a first look at our new web interface on your browser and lets you try the updated design and product flow before it is rolled out broadly.
What to expect:
Players who opt in to this preview will see some changes to their experience including updated navigation features and a refreshed look and feel. As this is a preview, some functions may not yet be available or may behave differently than the current web experience. We will continue iterating during the preview period and changes may be made over time.
How to access:
Go to xbox.com/play in your compatible browser and sign in with your Xbox Account
Once logged in on xbox.com/play, go to Settings and ensure the Preview Features toggle is set.
Launch into our new Experience by either:
Following the prompts and links to the new experience once you’ve enabled the Preview Features toggle.
Note: After you the enable the toggle, it may take up to 10 minutes for the prompts and links to appear. You can try logging out and back in to expedite this or perform the other option listed below.
Enter play.xbox.com into your browser.
Note: You can always return to using the existing experience by going back to xbox.com/play.
Why your feedback matters:
This preview helps us validate the new web platform and refine the experience for everyone. If you encounter issues or have suggestions, please share them through the Feedback feature in the preview experience. Your reports will directly influence what we improve next.
How to provide feedback
On play.xbox.com, you can file feedback within the experience, accessible from two different entry points:
Profile Button
Select the profile icon in the top right and in the drop-down menu, select “Give Feedback
Xbox Web Guide
Open the Guide by pressing the Xbox button on your Xbox controller or pressing the Xbox icon in the top left corner and selecting Give Feedback.
Thank you for being part of Xbox Insiders. We can’t wait to hear what you think.
— The Xbox Experience Team
How to Get Xbox Insider Support and Share Your Feedback
We want to thank all the Xbox Insiders for the feedback you share with us. If you’re an Xbox Insider looking for support, please join our community on the Xbox Insider subreddit, where official Xbox staff, moderators, and fellow Xbox Insiders are there to help. We recommend adding to threads with the same topic before posting a brand new one. This helps us support you the best we can! We’re grateful to our Insider community for the helpful feedback you provide, it continues to shape the future of Xbox.
For more information on the Xbox Insider Program, follow us on Twitter at @XboxInsider and keep an eye on this blog for all the latest news.
For more information: follow us on X/Twitter at @XboxInsider and this blog for announcements and more. And feel free to interact with the community on the Xbox Insider SubReddit.
Highguard is a free-to-play 3v3 first-person raid shooter, available today on Xbox Series X|S.
It is the independently published debut of Wildlight Entertainment, a new studio comprising veterans from Apex Legends, Titanfall, and Call of Duty.
Wildlight told us about their ambitious plans to support the game with monthly content updates, adding new characters, maps, modes, and more.
Lots of games offer intense, competitive, squad-based action, but I can’t think of any besides Highguard where I can sling spells and bullets from the back of a majestic, galloping bear as I charge in to destroy an enemy fortress.
Highguard turned a lot of heads with its flashy reveal at the end of the Game Awards last month, but many were left wanting to know more about this mysterious debut from Wildlight Entertainment, a new studio of Apex Legends, Titanfall, and Call of Duty veterans. The developers are first to admit that the intervening month has been quiet, but are confident that the game they’ve toiled over in secret for four years will speak for itself on release today.
I spent a whole day playing the game and interviewing its lead developers and studio founders last week, and I am here to tell you exactly what we’re all about to play with Highguard.
Ready to Raid
As a “PvP raid shooter,” Highguard is built around a new and interesting gameplay loop in which two teams of three players fortify bases, ride out on mounts to gather resources and gain power, and initiate a series of raids to try and destroy the opposing team’s base first. It’s a little bit MOBA, a little bit survival shooter, and a little bit Capture the Flag, among other influences.
Game Director and studio Co-Founder Chad Grenier tells me that the mode’s genesis came from team members enjoying the thrill of raiding an enemy base in multiplayer survival classic Rust, and wanting to distill that into a refined, competitive, repeatable experience. “Every match is about escalation: fortifying, venturing out, clashing, then mounting coordinated raids and defenses until only one base is left standing.”
Each round starts with a minute locked in your base to selectively fortify walls, before being cut loose to find better gear and harvest crystals that can be turned in at shops all over the map to also change and upgrade your kit. The maps are wide open, and I very rarely ran into members of the other team until after several minutes into a match, when a storm would form over one of several predetermined locations, where the Shieldbreaker soon materialized. This magical sword is your key to victory—teams fight to grab it first and run it to the enemy base (“like reverse Capture the Flag,” according to Grenier) and insert it into one of several slots around their magical perimeter shield, initiating a raid.
A siege tower immediately materializes from a portal, which cracks a segment of the base’s shield for the invaders to enter, also serving as their forward base for respawns during the raid. The invading team’s objective is then to breach the base (which is full of breakable walls), plant bombs on one of three key spots, and defend them until they go off. Two of the points will do substantial damage to the base’s life total, while successfully destroying the main, centrally fortified point will take it out entirely. The match ends when only one base remains standing.
If both bases are still there when the raid ends, the match resets and another Shieldbreaker starts to form, but with new and improved gear found scattered around the map and in shops. Each of these phases is on a tight timer, on which respawns for both teams will be capped until the next phase begins, which keeps things moving. My matches ran anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, with some of the longer ones being quite dramatically swingy.
The tempo variation between the phases and escalating power over the course of the match gave it a distinct and pleasant rhythmic cycle of rising anticipation in preparation leading into tense raids with higher and higher stakes. Lead Designer Mohammad Alavi says that this was deliberately tuned to make it enjoyably sustainable, where the same number of hours of nonstop PvP deathmatch would be more exhausting for most players.
Need for Steed
Most of Wildlight’s creative leadership and design team worked on Apex Legends, and it shows in how buttery smooth the action feels.
There are 10 weapons available at launch, all of which will feel familiar to a seasoned FPS player. With slots for two at a time, I tended to use the Ranger sniper rifle and Paladin automatic shotgun to cover long- and close-range engagements, as matches would inevitably include both. You also have one of three raid tools (a rocket launcher, an explosive sledgehammer, or a zipline gun), which provide limited-use tactical utility or base destruction. Everything looks and sounds as good as you would expect from so many genre veterans, and the difference in approach between each piece of the arsenal is immediately noticeable.
Respawn games are also famous for their movement tech, and Highguard carries that legacy confidently. In addition to the expected running, jumping, sliding, and mantling, the big new mobility addition is mounts, which you can summon and dismiss at will in most parts of the map. There were horses, bears, panthers, and gryphons available to choose from, though the differences are cosmetic. I rode a large, brown bear clad in bone armor, and I loved my chonky, beautiful son.
Mounts are a necessity for covering the maps’ huge distances efficiently, and also lend themselves to fun gameplay moments that I’ve never experienced in a shooter before, like being able to mount up and dramatically gallop off to head the enemy off at the pass as I see the Shieldbreaker icon on the minimap moving up towards our base.
Choices, Choices
Adding to the sense of flexibility and choice, players also choose to play as one of eight Wardens available at launch, with more coming later. They are unique characters, limited to one per team, each with a passive ability, a tactical ability on cooldown, and an ultimate that slowly charges up. The two I ended up spending the most time with both had powerful area denial abilities.
Atticus is a proud, armored warrior that throws lightning spears as his tactical ability, which spark damage to nearby enemies like a Tesla coil until destroyed. When covering an imminently forming Shieldbreaker or a ticking-down bomb, I liked throwing these in corners or above doorways at strategic choke points, peppering the enemy team with additional damage as they tried to come in.
Una, on the other hand, is a masked shaman who summons adorable little nature spirit buddies (not unlike like Zelda’s Koroks), which throw stunning grenades to pester passing enemies as well as occasionally popping up to give her loot. Her ultimate summons a huge tree spirit that can really lock down an important spot in a crucial moment. Both characters reminded me of how much I enjoy playing as Symmetra and Torbjörn in Overwatch, finding the trickiest and most obnoxious spots possible to stick their turrets. Kai was perhaps the character I saw the most in my matches, a monk fused with a frost demon that summons a big wall of ice as his tactical ability, which proved clutch time and again for controlling space.
The bases themselves are also a sort of character choice, as players on each team will vote for one the six total in the game at launch, which will then slot into any of the maps. The bases have distinct advantages and vulnerabilities that interact with the Wardens’ abilities in all sorts of interesting ways. For instance, Hellmouth is a fortress suspended over a lava chasm with narrow bridges that are perfect for shutting down with Kai’s wall.
The Wardens, bases, weapons, and items in the game at launch already provide a fun and wide range of possibilities to explore in how they can remix to synergize or counter one another, giving a lot of dimensions around which the gameplay meta can evolve. Moreover, Wildlight already has a robust plan in place for infusing the game with a generous, steady drip of new content in all of those areas and more.
Eyes on the Horizon
Highguard’s live service additions will come in the form of two-month chapters, divided into two halves. That means that every single month they intend to release some combination of new Wardens, bases, maps, weapons, raid tools, and more. The first update, coming in just a few weeks, will introduce ranked play, and Grenier tells me they have lots of alternate gameplay modes in the works that will cycle in and out – such as Mario Kart-inspired mounted racing. All gameplay content will be added for free, with monetized elements strictly cosmetic.
That’s an ambitious plan, but one for which this team is extremely well prepared. Wildlight CEO and Co-Founder Dusty Welch tells me that, while the Respawn team were very happy with the initial launch of Apex Legends (which arrived as a total surprise), they hadn’t started to plot out any post-release content until after it had come out, leaving months of lag time before they could release anything new. Wildlight and Highguard were conceived with this hard-earned experience in mind to be oriented around live-service production from the very beginning.
“Starting this company, Chad [Grenier] and I knew we have to think about building it differently,” Welch told me, “and the people we hire, the mindset that we have, the pipelines that we set up, the tools, the technologies, the external partnerships and relationships, so that we’re thinking from day one how to successfully operate a live service and have an ongoing, meaningful dialog with our player base, and constantly be delighting and surprising them with content. We didn’t do that well with Apex at launch, and we are extremely well-prepared as we sit here today.”
That whole year of new content for Highguard is already deep into development. Both Welch and Alavi gave the same sly look and non-answer when asked about their favorite Wardens to play, since they’re not in the game yet at launch (Welch confirmed it’s the same one). The standards and expectations for live-service games are higher than ever, but this team comprises people who have been doing it for a very long time already, and they’ve come about as correct as any studio I’ve yet seen chase this model.
Highguard surprised and impressed me. I’m not great at fast, competitive shooters as a baseline, but its vibrant aesthetics and thoughtful design have absolutely piqued my interest. The market for live-service shooters is crowded, but Highguard has the advantage of offering an interesting new gameplay mode that doesn’t map onto any of the existing genres like battle royale or extraction. This may be Wildlight’s first game, but that belies a deeply confident and passionate team at the top of their form, excited to make the best game they can without the constraints of a major publisher.
You don’t have to take my word for it: try Highguard today for free, available on Xbox Series X|S.
Resident Evil Requiem, the series’ ninth main entry, arrives February 27 on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC.
Newcomer Grace Ashcroft joins recurring series hero Leon Kennedy as dual protagonists, investigating the zombie-overrun Raccoon City Hospital.
We experienced firsthand how each character leans into the series’ two distinct signature gameplay styles of survival and action.
The long-running Resident Evil series contains multitudes. At times it’s been about quiet menace, carefully weighing when to use each of the handful of bullets in your pocket as you try to explore and solve puzzles while avoiding terrifying and often unkillable monsters. At other times it’s been about kicking ass, tearing through hordes of zombies with grenades and shotguns. Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth mainline entry, dares to ask: why not both?
Requiem pulls off this feat of being two games in one with dual protagonists: series newcomer FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft for the classic survival horror and recurring lead and one-man army Leon Kennedy for the action. I recently played a demo that gave me a taste of both — three hours from the beginning of the game, with a lengthy Grace section bookended by bursts of Leon-fueled frenzy.
By default, you play in a first-person perspective with Grace and third-person with Leon. This nicely reflects the different levels of situational awareness between a timid desk analyst and a battle-hardened field operative, and helps Grace’s sections feel appropriately scarier, but you are free to toggle the perspective for either character at any time from the menu, which is a nice accessibility touch (and, again, a way for Resident Evil’s developers to play with the series’ history of switching between the two).
Both characters show up in Raccoon City’s creepy old hospital on their respective investigations and briefly meet before being separated in different parts of the building to continue alone.
Grace Under Pressure
Suffice it to say: Grace Ashcroft is having a really bad time.
Amid all the horrors on show, the thing that stood out to me the most about my time as Grace was her ragged breathing. More a proxy for the player than a power fantasy, Grace is terrified to be in the hospital, and not qualified for this. Even in her default first-person, Grace’s timid character is present at all times through her panicked breathing and muttering.
In classic Resident Evil fashion, my time with Grace was spent searching through different wings of the hospital to solve puzzles and collect sun, moon, and star keys in order to unlock the main door out. Healing herbs, bullets, and limited-use melee weapons (as well as inventory slots) were all scarce, so I had to be mindful of when I used them, lest I end up in a bind with no options. She eventually unlocked crafting, allowing me to be even more strategic with my finite resources.
The zombies shambling the halls weren’t fully mindless, with their locations and actions showing that they still retained some imprint of their former lives, performing a hollow pantomime of their duties as doctors, nurses, janitors, etc. Some of them seemed sensitive to light, creating an opportunity for me to turn on a nearby light switch to draw one out of a narrow hallway he’d been blocking to turn it off, allowing me to sneak by.
There was also a hulking chef lumbering through the kitchen and surrounding hallways, looking for meat. At worst, bullets seemed to just annoy him, so the only real thing to do was stay out of his way. Unlike previous games with unkillable threats like Mr. X or Nemesis being more omnipresent throughout the game, Requiem seems to have a variety of more localized horrors. I first encountered — and had to sneak past — the chef in his own kitchen, and once I’d advanced further and opened a nearby shortcut, he was roaming a wider radius, but I never found him outside the general vicinity of where he started.
My colleague Joe described a different, nurse-like monster in Summer Game Fest demo of another section that I never saw, and then across the lobby in the medical wing I encountered yet another unkillable threat: a monstrously fat zombie with the proportions of a giant baby that jump-scared me by obliterating a door frame right next to me as I picked up a key item before crawling after me, smashing through the building around it and cussing up a storm about how hungry it is. It fully took up whatever hallway it was in, forcing me to reroute around it as I continued to navigate that wing.
In my time with Grace, the point was made very clear: approach all of this with caution, because brains will trump your limited brawn. The instances when I tried to brute force my way through a problem in this section — just shooting or shoving my way past everyone — were when my efforts were most frustrated. It rewarded observation and punished impatience.
Leon, the Professional
Leon, on the other hand, is here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, etc.
Resident Evil’s resident himbo is back, and where Grace spends her time in frightened lurking, he’s all roundhouse kicks and quips. “I think I want a second opinion,” he says dryly after slaughtering a room full of zombie medical staff that swarm him at the start of my session. As if to emphasize the over-the-top tone, the doctor had a chainsaw for some reason, which I naturally took and turned on them.
Leon’s sections feature way more enemies, because he’s way more capable of handling them. In addition to more plentiful guns, bullets and powerful kicks, Leon has a hatchet that, unlike Grace’s breakable knives, only dulls with use, and he can resharpen it at any time. When exploring areas that I’d already been through as Grace, I could use that hatchet to pry open cabinets, which typically seemed to be stuffed with ammo.
Beyond just reframing previous areas by returning as Leon, what’s unkillable by Grace isn’t necessarily beyond Leon’s capabilities. “Sorry, but I’m not on the menu,” he smugly told one previously impervious hungry monster, after blasting it to death with a shotgun. It’s a common trope to encounter a boss earlier on in a game and be unable to defeat them, but here it’s nicely used to contrast the characters’ capabilities, giving a sense of cathartic revenge to Leon bullying something that had seemed so impossibly dangerous to Grace.
Leon’s sections were charmingly big, loud, and dumb, and a relieving change of pace from my tense exploration as Grace. The balance between two distinct tones and modes of play worked well in the limited context of the demo, each enhancing the other by contrast, and I’m excited to see how it pans out over the whole game. The Resident Evil series has ranged widely over the last 30 years, and Requiem’s developers have managed the impressive feat of a sequel that embraces all of it.
– This content may be made available at a later date.
– This costume will change Grace’s appearance only.
Resident Evil Requiem Deluxe Edition. Includes the full game and the Deluxe Kit. A must have for true survivors.
The Deluxe Kit contains the following content:
– Grace’s Costume: Dimitrescu
– Grace’s Costume: Film Noir
– Leon’s Costume: RE4
– Leon’s Costume: Apocalypse
– Leon’s Costume: Film Noir
– Screen Filter: Apocalypse
– Screen Filter: Film Noir
– Four weapon skins including S&S M232 Weapon Skin: Apocalypse
– Mr. Raccoon Charm
– DSO Emblem Charm
– Audio Pack: Raccoon City Classic
– Files: Letters from 1998
A new era of survival horror arrives with Resident Evil Requiem, the latest and most immersive entry yet in the iconic Resident Evil series. Experience terrifying survival horror with FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, and dive into pulse-pounding action with legendary agent Leon S. Kennedy. Both of their journeys and unique gameplay styles intertwine into a heart-stopping, emotional experience that will chill you to your core.
*The items in this set can be purchased individually. Please be careful not to purchase the same item twice.
– This content may be made available at a later date.
– This costume will change Grace’s appearance only.
A new era of survival horror arrives with Resident Evil Requiem, the latest and most immersive entry yet in the iconic Resident Evil series. Experience terrifying survival horror with FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, and dive into pulse-pounding action with legendary agent Leon S. Kennedy. Both of their journeys and unique gameplay styles intertwine into a heart-stopping, emotional experience that will chill you to your core.
*There are other bundles that include this product. Please be careful of duplicate purchases.
seamlessly renders hordes of zombies in incredible firefights. Advanced gore systems offer gruesomely satisfying action.
