Unravel celebrated its 10-year anniversary on February 9, 2025. Below, we look back on the tiny passion project and speak with a developer about how it came together.

During EA's E3 2015 press conference, Coldwood Studios' Martin Sahlin came out on stage and revealed a cute platformer called Unravel. As he revealed Yarny's handcrafted origins and spoke about the heart and passion Coldwood had in creating this new experience, you could hear and see him growing more emotional. It wasn't an E3 flub, but a reminder that the industry is at its best when developers have space to make games they love.

Unravel turned 10 years old on February 9. I still remember the game's impassioned reveal and how I had such a wonderful time playing. Revisiting Unravel at its surprisingly distinct sequel ahead of this anniversary, I was taken aback by how refreshing these yarn-filled adventures were. I was even more excited to learn that some of the team is reuniting to work on a new game launching later this year.

Firewatch celebrated its 10-year anniversary on February 9, 2025. Below, we examine the origins of the so-called "walking simulator" and why the fire appears to have died out.

When Firewatch launched on February 9th, 2016, it was easy to relate to the game's leads, Henry and Delilah. These characters spent a summer staring down as fire spread, slowly filling the forest around their watchtowers with smoke. Observers of the "walking sim" genre saw a similar blaze burn across the decade. It began with Dear Esther, sparked to scorching flame with the friction of Gone Home's release, and became a towering creative inferno with modern classics like Firewatch and What Remains of Edith Finch. As the 2010s came to a close, fans expected the fire to continue raging through the '20s.

Instead, it burned out. A decade after Campo Santo released this deeply human game about paranoia in a national park, walking sims have fallen from mainstream prominence. It's not that no one is making them anymore--there are tiny indies available on platforms like itch.io. But the teams that made the defining games have spun their wheels, sold their studios, or split. And The Game Awards nominations have dried up, too. Despelote is the only game in the genre to receive recognition this decade with two nods, compared to five for Firewatch, three noms and one win for Edith Finch, a Games for Impact nod for Sunset, and a Best Independent Game nomination for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter--all in a three-year span. In the 2010s, every year or two saw the release of an iconic, widely discussed entry, but we're six years into the 2020s and still waiting.

The Walt Disney Company's new CEO, Josh D'Amaro, has further discussed the company's $1.5 billion investment into Fortnite. During a recent Q&A, D'Amaro was asked about the partnership, saying people can expect extensive synergy with Disney's other businesses, and this includes the possibility of premiering new movies within Fortnite.

"It's not just gonna be one character. It could be a new film premiering there, it could be the place that you decide to book your next cruise vacation. You could participate in the Super Bowl in some way there," D'Amaro said, as reported by Puck.

D'Amaro spearheaded Disney's investment into Epic for the Fortnite project, and the incoming CEO wants to do more with gaming overall. It was recently reported that Disney was close to making even more gaming deals, but the search for a new CEO may have disrupted or delays these plans.

Epic Games is adding a new anti-cheat requirement for Fortnite tournaments for PC players, though it's not something most folks are going to have to worry about. Starting February 19, those who want to play in Fortnite tournaments on PC will have to have IOMMU protection (input-output memory management) enabled, in addition to the previously required SecureBoot and TPM. The good news is that most everyone playing on Windows 11 will already have this enabled, since it's typically enabled by default on compatible motherboards.

IOMMU, like TPM, is another method to protect against cheaters using hardware cheats, while the Easy Anti-Cheat application handles the software side of things. Note that this new requirement is just for tournaments. IOMMU is not required if you're just playing casual or ranked Battle Royale with your friends. If you try to play a tournament while IOMMU is off, you won't be banned--the game simply won't let you play. Learn about how to enable IOMMU here.

The topic of cheating in Fortnite has been a common one since Epic unbanned past cheaters a year ago to give them a second chance--since then, players on social media often baselessly claim the move has led to a cheating epidemic. Meanwhile, Epic has been taking legal action against cheaters and forcing them to apologize publicly several times over the past year.

Hearthstone's Cataclysm expansion is just over a month away, and that means it's time for Blizzard to begin unveiling the cards we can expect to shake up the meta in the coming months. We're kicking off reveal season with an exclusive look at the dragon lord Ultraxion.

Ultraxion is a 6-mana 6/7 minion, aligned with the Deathwing classes, and it comes with a pair of big effects. Its Battlecry effect will Herald your Colossal minion and reduce Deathwing's cost by 1. But on top of that, if you've strengthened Ultraxion itself with other Herald minions, you can improve the cost-reduction effect as well.

The Cataclysm expansion imagines a world in which Deathwing was victorious, and Murozond pulled this victorious version of Deathwing into the world of Hearthstone. Naturally some of the classes align with Deathwing, while others align with Chromie, the dragon aspect who gathers her dragonflight against him. The new Herald keyword is used by Deathwing-aligned cards and has stacking effects the more you play. Each Herald card you play has an immediate effect on the board, while also strengthening your class's Colossal minion, and powering up Deathwing's cataclysm effect. Colossal minions, powerful Legendaries that spread their stats across several bodies on the board, make their return from 2022's Sunken City expansion.

Catherine O'Hara played Gail in The Last of Us Season 2, and she was planned to return for Season 3 before her recent passing.

Gail is Joel's therapist in Season 2, and the role was created for the TV show. Gail was a supporting character in Season 2, and while she didn't have all that many scenes, the time she was on screen was memorable due to O'Hara's impressive performance.

"I don't think it's a big spoiler to say that she was gonna be in our show again, because of course she was," Mazin said in an appearance on the Scriptnotes podcast (via GamesRadar). "She's so good. But she was stolen from all of us. The thing that's upsetting me is I don't get to see her in other stuff. I don't care about my show. I wanted to see her in other things, cause what else was gonna happen?"

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will become much easier to complete on PC and PS5 when the RPG arrives June 3 on Switch 2 and Xbox. That's because a ridiculously easy mode that debuted with Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade earlier this year is now planned for the second part of the trilogy, too.

The official Final Fantasy account on X revealed that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will get Streamlined Progression options. This means you can switch a toggle to always dish out 9,999 damage, for instance, or have your HP always at its fullest. Square Enix allows for players to mix and match these easy settings, meaning you can choose how relaxing to make the RPG.

Streamlined Progression, letting you keep all gauges fully charged and continually hit for 9999 damage is included in the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox versions of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and will be added to the PS5 and PC versions.
More details to come soon. pic.twitter.com/ja4r9MZ4IW

This announcement comes a few weeks after Square Enix updated Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on PS5 and PC with these easy options. That ensured all versions of the RPG were comparable, as the Switch 2 and Xbox versions got Streamlined Progression options, too. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is one of many Switch 2 games--including Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata, and 007: First Light--on the way that could fix a long-running Nintendo problem this year.

Are you excited to join the rumble with your cats in Mewgenics? This roguelite game has you coming up with ridiculous builds for your characters, which includes breeding their offspring, selecting their classes, and finding the right skills among hundreds of available options. Throughout your adventure runs, you'll stumble upon unique items, zany events, and terrifying bosses. Progression can be very daunting, which is why we've got a Mewgenics guides hub to help you every step of the way.

• Mewgenics guides hub
  • Basics and fur-damentals
  Mewgenics guides hubBasics and fur-damentals

  Beginner's guide - Learn the basic mechanics and understand the core gameplay loop.

  How to get more food - Gather enough food to keep your cats from starving.

  Continue Reading at GameSpot

If there’s one thing Resident Evil is known for, outside of zombies, it’s action heroes with impeccable hair and impressive catalogs of one-liners. Who could ever forget fending off hordes of crazed villagers in Resident Evil 4, only to have Leon say, “Where’s everyone going, bingo?” There’s an edge of “cool” that has become integral to Resident Evil over the decades, but after the debacle of Resident Evil 6, Capcom knew it had to do something different.

Ethan Winters is not cool. He’s more the absence of cool than anything--a dad joke dressed up as an action hero. But perhaps what’s most amazing is how all that invariably turns him into one of the most compelling protagonists of the series’ history. Ethan is likable in spite of himself, and a surprisingly meaningful piece of the puzzle in how Resident Evil 7 and Village redefined the franchise’s tone while still keeping its heart alive. Sometimes, horror games don’t need an action hero; they just need a dude.

Ethan isn’t a highly trained specialist, he’s not a member of an anti-terrorist organization, or even a cop--he’s a systems engineer. Oh, you didn’t know he’s a systems engineer? That’s because the game itself never tells you that. Perhaps the most apt way to define Ethan Winters is as Resident Evil’s “wife guy.” What I mean by that is that Ethan’s entire identity is tied to his relationships, along with the driving force behind all of his actions. For all intents and purposes, Ethan really is just some guy--a milquetoast middle-of-the-road average dude who just happened to fall in love with and marry a woman who worked on horrific bioweapons. But in a world where zombie apocalypses happen every few years, maybe that’s not so weird. Mia is the one wrapped up in the ongoing soap opera about freakish creatures; Ethan’s just along for the ride.

There are two ways developers can go with a tabletop-game-to-video-game adaptation. They can go the Gloomhaven route, and directly recreate the tabletop game in digital form, or they can go in Baldur's Gate 3's direction by taking the world, lore, and general vibe as inspiration for a whole new experience. Terrinoth: Heroes of Descent follows that second option.

Announced today by The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos developer Artefacts Studio and Waven publisher New Tales, Terrinoth is a tactical RPG based on Fantasy Flight Games' Descent tabletop universe, more specifically Descent: Legends of the Dark. Ahead of its announcement, GameSpot had the chance to play two early missions in Terrinoth: Heroes of Descent and speak to its developers, and we learned why Artefacts Studio took the road traveled by Baldur's Gate 3 and not Gloomhaven.

Terrinoth: Heroes of Descent is technically a prequel to Descent: Legends of the Dark, following a ragtag group of tabletop RPG character-archetype clichés as they fight off thieves, undead, vampires, and other evil forces ravaging the titular world. While the original tabletop game has players placing tiles to build dungeons and frequently interfacing with a mobile companion app, Terrinoth: Heroes of Descent is a tactical RPG with an original story and neither of those features.

Capcom has confirmed that support for Monster Hunter Wilds isn't ending anytime soon, as a major expansion is in the works for the action-RPG. Ryozo Tsujimoto, the game's producer, stated that the DLC will be similar in scope to Sunbreak for Monster Hunter Rise and Iceborne for Monster Hunter World.

The announcement came during a first anniversary video for Monster Hunter Wilds on YouTube. Tsujimoto added that more details will be divulged for the "large-scale expansion" this summer. In the meantime, on February 18, the game will get an update featuring 10-star Arch-tempered monsters and a collaboration event with Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. The turn-based RPG spin-off is set to launch March 13.

Last month, Capcom rolled out a patch for Monster Hunter Wilds that addressed performance issues on PC. The patch even apparently fixed a weird bug where the game would run worse if you didn't have DLC.

Ashley Johnson famously played Ellie in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us games, and now she's reacted to the criticisms of Season 2 of the HBO series. Speaking to The Direct, Johnson said the series has "very passionate" fans, and this can go both ways in terms of sentiment.

"Sometimes that passion feels really great, and sometimes it feels not great. But you know, I understand it. I understand loving something so much, and wanting it to be what you want it to be," she said.

The HBO series makes many changes from the games, and showrunner and writer Craig Mazin said before Season 2 even came out that he expected fans to revolt. Regarding fan feedback in general, Mazin said he is only trying to do what is right for the story, even if people don't like it.

Arc Raiders players are being encouraged to team up for increased merits in Shared Watch, a new limited-time event designed to remind fans that the Arc machines are the real enemy. This launches alongside the new 1.15.0 update, patch notes for which you can see below.

From now until February 24, PvP encounters won't generate any merits for players. Instead, players can earn merits by damaging and destroying Arc machines, or by assisting in their destruction. This event will debut two new cosmetic sets: The Vulpine set and The Slugger set.

Additionally, Cold Snap has been added back to the rotation of outdoor map conditions. The intense cold can inflict frostbite damage on players if they linger too long, but there are greater rewards for those who take the risk. Players can also lob snowballs at each other.

Valheim is still in early access five years after its debut, but a small handful of devs behind that game are now ready to debut the demo for their next title, Begraved. This first-person co-op dungeon-crawler is available on Steam, and the creative team is looking for some feedback.

Begraved is the first game from Grip Jaw, an independent studio formed by Valheim creative director Robin Eyre, vice president Emilia Oscarsson, and designer Andreas Tomasson. Players are cast as Gravebound, lost souls whose debt to the Taxman extends beyond the grave. To escape their crushing obligations, they are forced to enter cursed tombs in an attempt to survive long enough to escape with any loot they can carry. But some treasures require two hands to handle, and that's going to make it hard to evade the angry spirits you've unleashed by stealing from them.

Begraved's tombs are procedurally generated areas with support for five-player co-op and proximity voice chat. The current build of the game supports both solo and co-opt playthroughs in two complete zones, with upgrades and hideouts already incorporated into the game. The eventual 1.0 release will include two additional zones, as well as new enemies, relics, and afflictions.

After announcing a year ago that Hazelight had "already started" development on its next game, it seems things are continuing to progress.

"We're back in the kitchen, cookin' up something really delicious!" Hazelight said in a social media post. Hazelight's Josef Fares also shared an image of himself in some kind of studio, with his arm outstretched strategically to block the faces of three performers. He captioned the image, "Next game in the making." Hazelight's post jokingly referenced the new game having "Strategic Arm Placement Tech."

Work began on Hazelight's next game in February 2025. At the time, Fares said the game was "quite early" in development. He said the team is feeling like they can do "way better" with the next game, whatever it turns out to be.

Much like the undead, Uwe Boll's film directing career shambles on, with the purveyor of schlock announcing a crowdfunding campaign for an unofficial sequel to his maligned 2003 House of the Dead adaptation.

Boll launched an Indiegogo campaign (spotted by GamesRadar) for his new film, 23 Years Later: Return to Zombie Island. As Boll laments, he can't name the movie "House of the Dead" because "they're making a $50 million House of the Dead movie with somebody else," referring to the Paul W.S. Anderson-directed film that recently cast The Last of Us star Isabela Merced.

"It's pissing me so off, that I would say, give us the money, produce the film with us, buy some of the perks," Boll said in his signature unfiltered cadence. "We will really compete with that other movie." Boll characterizes his 2003 movie as "the most hated video game-based movie ever" that turned "into a total cult classic." The film scored 15 on GameSpot's sister site Metacritic, indicating "overwhelming dislike," and sports a "generally unfavorable" 2.2 user score.

The year has barely begun, and we've already seen several showcases from big companies like Nintendo and Microsoft. Now, it's Sony's turn to show what it has lined up for 2026 and beyond with a new State of Play broadcast on February 12. We've rounded up all the details for the livestream, so you can see exactly when it kicks off, where to watch, and what to expect.

As usual, State of Play will be streamed live on Sony's YouTube and Twitch channels.

The State of Play broadcast begins February 12, at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET and will run for approximately 60 minutes.

Arc Raiders features instruments like a guitar and recorder that players can use, and developer Embark's CEO wanted the game to have even more at launch.

Speaking to IGN, Patrick Soderlund said he was "so upset" that Arc Raiders launched with a minimal roster of instruments--today, the game has shakers, a recorder, and an acoustic guitar. Soderlund said the team designed and built "so many" more instruments, but they haven't been added to the game yet.

"I happen to be in a position of decision-making authority [laughs]. So, the answer is yes, there will be more instruments. For sure. I love them, and they create such cool moments," he said.

Remedy's next big game, Control Resonant, does not utilize generative AI, according to the company's interim CEO. Markus Mäki said during Remedy's latest earnings briefing that there is "varied interest" in the technology at the company, however.

"I'm a big believer in player value--so doing things that really add something to the gameplay experience and player experience. I'm also a big believer in the creative people on our team and that they know the best ways to add that value. There is varied interest in different crafts at Remedy into investigating these AI tools," Maki explained, as reported by Game Developer.

He flat-out confirmed that Control Resonant "does not use generative AI content at all." However, he said he's unable to say definitively if future projects could utilize the technology.

Fallout star Aaron Moten has now completed two seasons on the show as Maximus, a former knight in the Brotherhood of Steel. Moten recently noted that he enjoys playing video games, but the one gaming franchise he won't touch now is his own. In fact, he's actually forbidden himself from diving into any of the Fallout games.

"I am a gamer," Moten told GamesRadar. "I really enjoy taking a break from watching TV and movies. It's work for me, and I really have a hard time turning that brain off when becoming a viewer. I have not played Fallout, but I have watched Twitch streams ... I've watched others play it. But, partly, I forbid myself from playing it at this point. It's our job to bring a sense of humanity to these three characters."

Out of the three primary characters on the show, only Walton Goggins' The Ghoul has appeared in a primary Fallout game. The Ghoul was introduced into the gaming universe in Fallout '76's Burning Springs expansion last year. Maximus has been briefly seen in the Fallout Shelter mobile game, but neither he now Ella Purnell's Lucy MacLean have made the leap to consoles yet.