From 1999 to 2017, Bruce Straley was one of the key players at Naughty Dog, and the co-director of two its best-selling games, The Last of Us and Uncharted 4. However, Straley essentially left the game industry for several years despite that impressive track record. Now, Straley is sharing more details regarding his departure, following up on comments he made years ago.

"I had been there 18 years. That's a long time for anybody to be anywhere," Straley told Polygon. "I need new problems to solve, I need new creative outlets. I'm not saying there wouldn't be opportunities there, but couple that feeling with the idea that I was working really, really hard at something that wasn’t mine."

Straley went on to explain that he didn't jump to another AAA studio because he felt Naughty Dog was the "pinnacle" of developers that made the games he was interested in. And he didn't want to deal with "a whole different bureaucratic or cultural system."

The new Tomb Raider games announced at The Game Awards, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst, will feature the voice of Alix Wilton Regan as Lara Croft.

This is a change from the latest trilogy--Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider--which featured Camilla Luddington voicing and performing the motion-capture for Croft.

Wilton Regan is known for her roles as Samantha Traynor in Mass Effect 3 and the female Inquisitor in Dragon Age: Inquisition. She also played Aya in Assassin's Creed Origins.

New Metroid games are few and far between, so the launch of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond should have been a monumental event for the fanbase. Instead, eight years after its announcement, and 18 years after the previous game, Nintendo’s big December 2025 release landed with a loud thud. Already, this once highly anticipated title is poised to be one of the series' most divisive games, earning a spot alongside Other M and Federation Force.

This isn't for lack of polish, as Prime 4 is indeed visually stunning and perhaps the greatest first-party showcase of graphics on the Nintendo Switch and its successor. But while it has its share of enthusiasts, it’s difficult not to feel underwhelmed by the final product in comparison to prior Prime games and even other, similar entries in the Metroidvania space that has grown in Nintendo’s frequent absence.

The list of Metroidvania games from independent and third-party developers in the past decade alone is astonishing, with Ori and the Blind Forest, Axiom Verge, Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, Animal Well, and others throwing new concepts and innovations into the genre’s well of ideas. Hollow Knight and its follow-up, Silksong, have captivated players with their dense worldbuilding, roaming NPCs, and optional side objectives, all of which have come to define the critically acclaimed series. Nine Sols stood out with its intricate combat system, while more out-there games like pinball Metroidvania Yoku’s Island Express have proven anything can be a Metroidvania with the right amount of determination and creativity. Even Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown changed the game with something as simple as an in-game screenshot system to help with backtracking. The Metroidvania genre is rapidly iterating with a volume of unique takes.

Oscar-nominated actor Sigourney Weaver has confirmed the reports that she will appear in the upcoming live-action Tomb Raider series on Prime Video.

Speaking to Deadline, Weaver said she is "very excited" to join the cast and work with writer-producer Phoebe Waller-Bridge on the project. "The scripts are incredible and very funny, very charming, very witty, as we've come to expect from Ms. Waller-Bridge," she said. "I've always been a huge fan of hers. So I am delighted."

Also in the interview, Weaver revealed that she's playing a character named Wallace. It appears this may be a new character created for the show.

The release of the upcoming RPG Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic is likely far, far away. While last night's announcement trailer at The Game Awards 2025 was surely exciting for Knights of the Old Republic fans, the truth is that the game, led by original KOTOR and Mass Effect director Casey Hudson, is in a very early stage of development.

According to the official Star Wars website, Hudson's new studio, Arcanaut Studios, was formed just this year, after his previous studio closed in November 2024. The studio's careers page contains listings for several senior-level positions, so the announcement trailer also doubles as a recruitment advertisement, a tactic that developers often employ.

With the lengthy development cycles that high-profile games undergo these days, we're probably years away from seeing anything concrete from Fate of the Old Republic, and even further from a release. Skepticism about the game even releasing this decade is quite reasonable.