Sys:Celes sinks towards ruination. For the Immortalize, the collapse of all that is, looms on the horizon. The curtain rises on the final chapter of the Hollow Night. Catastrophe beckons... Experience the Dramatic Stylish 2D Fighting Action in the latest entry of the UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH series!

The Oldest Edda will tell the story of Runar, the toothy, the Norse warrior badly wounded in battle and kept in a near-death state by the great Odin, to fight like the living in Niflheim and go where only the dead can go. Control Runar, chosen for his courage, through mountains filled with trolls, snakes and creatures from Norse mythology to confront the terrible beast known as Grabak.

Embark on a breathtaking journey unlike any other in "UpWorld - Multiplayer," a parkour adventure that will challenge your skills, your heart, and your sense of wonder. Reach for the skies as you scale towering cliffs, navigate treacherous chasms, and defy gravity in your quest to reach the mythical Upworld. You are the chosen one, entrusted with the sacred "Celestial Relic" - a mission that will take you through a world teeming with wonder and enchantment. Encounter a cast of mystical creatures and characters who will aid you on your journey, from wise guardians to imprisoned angels, all of whom have destinies entwined with yours. As you ascend, you won't just face challenges; you'll forge deep connections. Help animals and creatures in need and experience an emotional journey that will touch your heart.

Picture this: It's the year 2045 and you want to show your future partner/child/pal your favorite game of 2023, Alan Wake 2. You've still kept your trusty PlayStation 5 around, waiting for nostalgia to inspire you to dust off the old console and boot it up once more. But as you do, you discover you don't have Alan Wake 2 installed on your system. And the PlayStation store no longer supports the PlayStation 5. And the game was never available to purchase physically, so... you get the picture.

For years now, digital game sales have been on the rise while publishers have simultaneously emphasized that the video game industry's future and growth lies in the subscription market. However, for that to be realized people need to be okay with one small thing: not actually owning games.

This week, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown released and it is incredible. But that’s not the only thing Ubisoft debuted. The publisher has taken its subscription service and rebranded it as Ubisoft+, while also changing up the offering. Ubisoft’s director of subscriptions, Philippe Tremblay, spoke to gamesindustry.biz to talk about these changes, but there was a choice quote that definitely angered some. Tremblay said that gamers needed to start getting comfortable with not owning their games.

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Combat in The Last of Us Part 2 creates a pretty specific feeling. It's often slow and heavy, providing a weight to every interaction that demonstrates just how tough it is to kill someone and how quickly things can go wrong. At the same time, it relies heavily on improvisation as you vault over objects, smash people with bricks, and bury machetes in guts--or just silently open someone's jugular with your knife as you clamp a hand over their mouth.

Despite having a certain clunkiness, there's an intensity to combat in The Last of Us Part 2 that many games never really achieve. And with the release of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, developer Naughty Dog pares back on story elements to focus on that combat in No Return, a roguelike mode that puts you into a series of random combat encounters.

No Return can generally be pretty fun. It flings you into encounters of a few different types against the different human factions of the game and its fungally infected monsters. Sometimes you'll be hiding and sneaking around as enemies search for you, while other encounters focus on the scramble by shipping in enemies ready for a fight. Each "run" of No Return has you moving through six different encounters with a few opportunities to pick one set or another, with the series culminating in a boss fight. You'll choose upgrades from random unlocked skill trees along the way, but if you die, the run restarts, and you lose everything you've earned.

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Knowing Palworld's Pal strengths and weaknesses is key to getting through some of the tougher fights in Pocketpair’s monster-catching game, but there’s no actual Palworld type chart in Palworld itself. Like in Pokemon, having a type advantage makes tough battles a little easier, so if you can, it's always a good idea to pick the right type before starting a battle.

Our Palworld type chart and Pal strengths and weaknesses overview lays out how type advantages work in Pocketpair's new hit game.

Palworld type strengths and weaknesses explained

Pal type strengths and weaknesses will look pretty familiar if you’ve played Pokemon at any point in the last two decades, though there is one important difference. Where nearly every Pokemon type has at least two strengths and two weaknesses, Pal’s don’t. Every Pal type is strong against just one other Pal type and weak against just one other Pal type.

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Did you hear about this creature collector game that's been upsetting people lately? In it, you capture wild animals, forcing them out of their habitats and into fighting others, and even breed them for personal gain. Many of the creatures have dark backstories involving death and dismemberment. The cuddly designs of the creatures belie the true nature of a world that preys on its wildlife for fame and fortune. It's understandably become a lightning rod of criticism, where gamers seeking a wholesome, cozy experience are instead left to confront these simulated analogs of real-life animal exploitation. It's been an uncomfortable experience to say the least, but, hey, that's Pokemon for you.

Oh, did you think I meant Palworld? Nope. For the first time in the genre, as far as I'm aware, a creature collector game has owned up to its exploitation-as-gameplay systems--and I appreciate the sincerity.

In Palworld, the latest in a long line of Pokemon-inspired games, the otherwise ubiquitous cognitive dissonance between what a game in this genre says versus what it shows has finally closed. It must be the most cynical creature collector I've ever played, and that's a refreshing perspective in a genre so often tripping over itself to present things as joyous and heartfelt.

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