Some of the best games of recent memory have been deceptively simple, and Kill the Brickman looks like it might just scratch that itch for arcade-inspired fun. Published by Vampire Survivors developer Poncle and developed by Doonutsaur, Kill the Brickman is a turn-based roguelike brick-breaker game, and it's out now on PC and Xbox consoles.

The goal here is simple, as each run will see you blasting your way through chapters, powerful bosses, and bricks featuring leering faces on them. How can you not want to smash them?

The catch here is that you'll need to build bullet-blasting loadouts by combining relics, clip layouts, and variant rounds, experimenting to find the perfect synergy to work your way through each level. If you feel like a real challenge, you can also grab an extra mission from the intergalactic bounty board for extra rewards.

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Remember earlier this week when The Pokemon Company put out a teaser image for Pokemon Legends: Z-A that looked like it could legitimately be from something like the Blair Witch Project? Well, the full trailer is out now, and unsurprisingly it isn't actually all that scary--apart from that one bit with the Espurr. That thing still is terrifying. Still, the trailer is a fun riff on the found-footage genre, and it even revealed a completely new Mega Evolution Pokemon.

Titled The Case of the Sweet Scent Incident, the trailer follows a couple of people exploring an abandoned building as they come across more and more mysterious happenings. Surprising mirrors, mysterious purple sludge, that titular sweet scent, some Pokemon-oriented jump-scares--all of it builds towards the reveal of Mega Victreebel. And it's looking … large.

Victreebel's Mega form essentially looks like a giant water balloon with some leaves growing out of it, and it bounces around the place as it moves. Over on the official Pokemon Legends website, a description explains, "It has so much acid that even closing its mouth tight isn’t enough to hold it in, so it contains the acid by wrapping its own vines around its throat." It certainly paints an uncomfortable picture.

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This week Steam made a small change to how it displays reviews and will now show a score for reviews in your language instead of an "all reviews" score. One game that has benefited from the change is Palworld, which now shows Overwhelmingly Positive for all English reviews.

Palworld has been the source of some controversy since it first came to the public's attention, with some claiming the monster-collecting title is a direct rip-off of Pokemon--an opinion that seems to be shared by Nintendo, who eventually sued developer Pocketpair for patent infringement. The game has still proven popular with players, reaching huge player numbers in its first month of release.

While Palworld used to show an all-time review rating of Very Positive on Steam, the reviews update has given the game a small boost in English, granting it the coveted Overwhelmingly Positive rating. The upgrade was celebrated by Pocketpair's communications director and publishing manager John "Bucky" Buckley, who posted to X about the milestone. Bucky clarified in the comments that Palworld isn't rated particularly low in any language--it "just happens to be higher in English," he said in a reply.

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Hell Let Loose is getting a sequel that takes place during the Vietnam War. At Gamescom, Team17 and Expression Games announced Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, a platoon-based "hardcore" FPS featuring 50v50 multiplayer battles focused on team play and strategy.

"Retaining the gameplay base that fans loved from the first title, this is a brand-new experience, utilizing combined arms, with air, water, armor, infantry, and support weapons that encapsulates the theatre of war feeling beloved by fans of the original title," the publisher said.

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam will have six maps, pilotable helicopters and patrol boats--including the famous PBR--and a tunnel system for another layer of strategy.

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Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has a new patch on all platforms, bringing a brand-new photo mode, new abilities for mounts, a wide camera angle for the Base Camp, and a heap of other quality-of-life upgrades.

Version 1.5.0 is out now, bringing with it a brand-new photo mode that can be accessed directly from the Weird Pad. The photo mode looks pretty thorough, including plenty of options for posing multiple characters in a scene, as well as a multitude of emote expressions.

The update also adds a new item called Pride of the Mount, which can be unlocked by completing a quest from Monsieur Cobra. Once acquired, Pride of the Mount will unlock a dash-speed upgrade for your mounts, as well as two new mount abilities--double=jump and cliff climbing.

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California governor Gavin Newsom has reacted to the PlayStation 5 price hike in the US, jokingly thanking US President Donald Trump for making it happen via his controversial tariff strategy.

Re-sharing a news story about the PS5 price hike, Newsom, a Democrat, posted on social media, "Great work, Donald Trump!!"

On August 20, Sony announced a price hike for the PS5 in the US, with all models of the console going up by $50 effective today, August 21. PS5 accessories, however, will hold their prices. With the price hike now in effect, the cheapest PS5 model is $500. The PS5 Pro, meanwhile, now costs $750.

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Ahead of its release next year, The Blood of Dawnwalker developer Rebel Wolves revealed more details on the dual-gameplay loop that will drive this experience. Set in 14th-century Europe, players will step into the boots of Coen as he works to save his family from a local vampire warlord.

The catch here is that Coen has two sides to him, as his Dawnwalker abilities allow him to unlock vampiric powers at night. Daylight hours make Coen revert back to his human side, and Rebel Wolves says that players will be able to experiment with different approaches and discover how the world reacts to their actions.

"Choices and consequences in our games have three layers," game director Konrad Tomaskiewicz said in a gameplay deep-dive video shown during the Future Games Show at Gamescom livestream. "First, is quite traditional. Similar to other RPGs, you make choices and then deal with the consequences. The second layer plays into our dual-gameplay loop. Day and night often present different choices. And finally, not making a choice is also a choice. You can choose not to react, and the world will react in ways that are often hard to predict."

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Mafia: The Old Country's Sicily's turn-of-the-century setting was getting a little more explicit than Take-Two Interactive would like. The publisher has issued a takedown notice to Nexus Mods to remove a pair of custom nude mods that left the game's lead female character, Isabella Torrisi, without anything to wear.

Nexus Mods acknowledged the request from Take-Two (via PC Gamer), and complied by removing the Nude Isabella mod and the Extended Textures for Nude Isabella mod, both of which were created by a user known as norskpl. PC Gamer speculates norskpl may have used Isabella's model from her love scenes in the game. Norskpl's non-nude mods created for The Old Country appear to have been left intact. That includes a few mods that let players assume the role of other characters from the Mafia franchise.

In the context of the game, Isabella is the daughter of Don Torrisi, the boss of the player's character, Enzo Favara. Although the Don is fiercely protective of Isabella and has his own ideas about who she should marry, she and Enzo have a clandestine affair behind his back. That's the primary romantic relationship in the game, and the source of inevitable conflict.

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Earlier this week, 2K Games acknowledged a shake-up at Cloud Chamber--the studio behind BioShock 4--following reports that the game failed an internal review. Now, a new report suggests that the game could have come out as soon as next year if BioShock 4 had been more favorably received by the company.

According to Bloomberg, BioShock 4 was planned for a debut in either late 2026 or early 2027. However, the subsequent layoffs at Cloud Chamber will likely delay the next BioShock game even further. Bloomberg notes that 80 employees from Cloud Chamber were let go, leaving approximately 170 people remaining at the studio.

Studio head Kelley Gilmore was ousted from Cloud Chamber after the game's internal review, according to the report. In his place, 2K Games has hired Rod Fergusson to take over the studio following his own departure from Blizzard. In addition to leading the Diablo franchise for Blizzard, Fergusson previously worked on BioShock Infinite and helped get that game's production on track.

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Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter

$60 | Releases September 19

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The upcoming remake of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is getting a Nintendo Switch 2 edition. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter's Switch 2 edition is a digital-only release, but the Switch physical edition can be upgraded to Switch 2 for one whole dollar. Preorders for the physical edition of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter are available for PS5 and Nintendo Switch. The highly anticipated turn-based RPG launches September 19 for $60.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter features entirely overhauled 3D visuals, new voice acting, turn-based and real-time battle systems, and a bunch of new side quests and regions. Widely regarded as one of the best entries in Nihon Falcom's sprawling catalog of Trails games, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter should be the ideal entry point for newcomers and a welcome treat for longtime fans.

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Jurassic Park Trilogy - Limited Edition Steelbook (4K Blu-ray)

$60 (was $65)

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Jurassic World Trilogy - Limited Edition Steelbook (4K Blu-ray)

$60 (was $65)

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Jurassic World fans can soon add the latest film in the franchise to their home media collection. Jurassic World Rebirth stomps onto 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on September 9. Preorders for Rebirth's 4K Steelbook Edition are in stock for $38 at Amazon and Walmart. If you skip the collectible case, you can get Rebirth on 4K Blu-ray for only $30 at Walmart. The standard Blu-ray edition is $25, and the DVD is $20. All four editions are top sellers on Amazon, with the 4K Steelbook and standard Blu-ray proving to be the most popular picks so far.

Launching alongside Rebirth is the new Jurassic World 7-Movie Collection on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD. At the moment, Walmart has the best prices for the box set. The 4K Blu-ray edition is $100, while the 1080p Blu-ray edition is $70. Notably, both of these sets include digital copies that can be added to your Movies Anywhere library. The 7-Movie DVD Collection is only $50, but you won't get digital editions.

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Goddess of Victory: Nikke--the sci-fi-RPG gallery shooter on mobile and PC from the developer of Stellar Blade--is adding one of the most famous heroines in video game history to its roster. As teased during Gamescom, the Goddess of Victory: Nikke × Resident Evil collaboration will feature Jill Valentine, one of the original RE game's main characters.

The initial teaser features a cult as it prepares to take part in a gruesome ritual. Poli--one of the characters from Goddess of Victory--is briefly seen when she is grabbed by someone with a bloodstained hand. The initial trailer hid Jill's debut, but developer Shift Up subsequently confirmed it was her.

Jill Valentine in Goddess of Victory: Nikke x Resident Evil.

Shift Up also hinted that Jill may not be the only RE character to appear during this crossover. Further details about the collaboration's story and launch date are being withheld for now. But this isn't the first time that Goddess of Victory has been given a prominent crossover. Previous collaborations have included characters from Evangelion and Nier: Automata. There was even a collaboration between Stellar Blade and Goddess of Victory earlier this summer.

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Look: Like many of you, I have suffered from Lego fatigue. No matter how much I might care about Avengers or Lord of the Rings or Indiana Jones or any of the other properties Lego has adapted over the years, there have been so many Lego games, each of them with so much to do. It was impossible to keep up or sustain my interest.

But Lego franchise games seem to have turned a corner now, as Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was a nicely refreshed take on the entire series, even as it retained the core Lego game collectathon loop. Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight looks to be an even greater departure, standing firmly on a love of Batman across all his media incarnations.

At first, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight looks to be an anthology of various Lego-ized Batman movies similar to Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, but even that isn't quite right. It would be more accurate to call it a fusion of Batman movies, alongside other influences and stories, to build something new and original from all of its various parts. In that way, it's perfectly Lego.

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Xbox's Design Head posted on LinkedIn about the current generation of Xbox wrapping up. That could mean a lot of things, so we can't read much into it. Given the timing though, it makes sense that Microsoft is thinking about what's next. Here's what was said, and what's happening with Microsoft's gaming division these days, to help us make sense of the situation.

"As we wrap up this journey with the Xbox Series X and Series S, the mission behind these consoles echoes everything I’ve learned over 30 years--to create technology that’s powerful, purposeful, and beautifully integrated into people’s lives,” wrote Carl Ledbetter, Partner Head of Design at Xbox.

"Xbox is about fun and playing games," he continued. "The console, the controller, the headset, all of the devices become a reflection of the people who make them, but more importantly, of the people who choose to purchase and use them. These products matter to people."

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Eight months after releasing in early access, Path of Exile 2 is set to receive its biggest update yet, one that not only adds a heap of new content in the form of Act IV, three temporary acts, and even a seasonal league, but also brings big changes to how the game is played.

GameSpot had the chance to learn more about Path of Exile 2's huge 0.3.0 update, The Third Edict, ahead of its release on August 29 during a press Q&A, which included a one-on-one interview with the game's director, Jonathan Rogers.

In addition to learning more details about the update itself, which Rogers said takes "a good crack at solving every problem people are currently unhappy about," we discussed why developer Grinding Gear Games thinks including a league as part of the update is essential, how GGG is looking to avoid the pitfalls of the game's initially poorly received Dawn of the Hunt update, when players can expect a new class and the game to leave early access, and more.

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Path of Exile 2 won't be leaving early access and launching in full this year, according to game director Jonathan Rogers.

In an interview with GameSpot ahead of the reveal of Path of Exile 2's huge The Third Edict update, which adds the ARPG's fourth campaign act, new temporary interlude acts, its first seasonal league, and more, Rogers said that despite his hopes earlier in the year, Path of Exile 2 won't fully release in 2025. That also means the game won't be going free-to-play anytime soon.

"I definitely don't believe that's possible anymore," Rogers said. "Things have taken a bit longer than we'd hoped. Ultimately, there's two things that need to happen before we can leave early access. One of them is that we obviously need to finish the campaign. I don't think that will take too much longer. But the other one is we have to get to the point of balance where everyone is actually happy with how things are. The general opinion needs to be that we've actually got it locked in. Obviously we can't go into full release until we've sorted that out. Once those two things are true, then we'll release."

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A cursory Google search of the term "job simulator" would show the 2016 VR game Job Simulator as the top result. But it is not representative of the plethora of simulation games answering the question: Can a job be fun?

From Microsoft Flight Simulator to Overcooked, the workplace has been a subject by game developers for a long time. Yet in the last few years, there has been a considerable explosion in their exposure. Likely in part from marketing strategies using Tiktok or Twitch, it has become common to find content creators role-playing as cashiers or managers, further drawing intrigue as to how these non-traditional games have garnered such popularity.

PowerWash Simulator surprised many (myself included) when its zen-focused cleaning mechanics soared in sales and popularity. Lead designer Nick McCarthy told me via email, though, that while satisfying cleaning is central to the game's identity as a type of "anti-first person shooter," the team did consider adding business-focused elements.

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It's possible at this point that Hollow Knight: Silksong has become overwhelmed in the public consciousness by the wait for Hollow Knight: Silksong. The name has become synonymous with the many memes and jokes that have followed it, as eager fans and press alike met every event with the possibility that now, finally, Team Cherry may be ready to announce a date, show us fresh footage, anything.

Now that day is finally near, and the gaming community's furious obsession with the lack of Silksong could make it difficult to focus on the real, actual game, which looks to be a worthwhile successor that doesn't deviate too far from its acclaimed predecessor.

To be clear, my experience with Hollow Knight: Silksong was very brief--only about 10 minutes in all, which you can see in the video above. The limited demo only gave me enough time to complete one starting area, following a brief cutscene. And it at least appears to be the same demo that we played in 2019, though I can't speak to any under-the-hood changes the game has gone through since then. The opening cutscene, which set the stage for the new heroine Hornet, is moody, poetic, and haunting in a way that will feel familiar to fans of the first game. Its color palette was also a good deal more muted than most of the demo, which was a nice surprise.

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Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has once again commented on the price of Borderlands 4, saying the game would be "worth it" even if 2K Games opted to charge as much as five times more than the actual price of $70.

Pitchford previously stirred things up by saying "real fans" would find a way to come up with the money to buy the game if 2K opted to charge more than the current going-rate for AAA games. He addressed this later, saying he did not intend to "trigger" people.

Speaking to IGN at Gamescom, Pitchford revisited that discussion, starting off by saying he's a person who enjoys conversing with fans online. While his comments about Borderlands 4's price certainly caused a stir in online communities, he said he believes online chatter doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

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Sometime in 2026, it will be the "night he came home," as Illfonic and Gun Media have revealed Halloween: The Game, a new single-player and multiplayer take on John Carpenter's iconic 1978 slasher. The duo previously worked together on Friday The 13th: The Game, a beloved multiplayer spin on another masked slasher franchise.

Halloween debuted during the recent Future Games Show, coinciding with Gamescom 2025. The game is said to be due out in 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. It seems to focus specifically on adapting material based on the first movie.

In Halloween: The Game, players will take on the roles of either residents of Haddonfield, Illinois or The Shape himself, Michael Myers. As residents, players will need to survive, stick to the shadows, warn other residents, and hopefully reach the authorities before Michael gashes them up.

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