Things appear to be in shambles at the California-based developer Intrepid Studios. Game director Steven Sharif resigned at the end of January "in protest" of the company's management board, which led to several other senior staff members quitting and leaving the developer's ambitious MMORPG, Ashes of Creation, in turmoil.

Funded through a combination of Kickstarter backing (to the tune of $3.2 million) and Sharif's personal investment in 2017, Ashes of Creation is described as an "old-school take on the modern MMORPG set in a living, reactive world where your choices shape civilization." It was in a lengthy alpha phase before launching in early access via Steam on December 11 for a discounted $50. Now, however, the game and its studio are experiencing some tough turbulence. On January 31, game director Steven Sharif announced his resignation in Discord (via PCGamesN) as a result of the management board's decisions that he felt he "could not ethically agree with or carry out."

"I can make a limited statement in my personal capacity and not on behalf of the company, regarding the situation," Sharif wrote. "Control of the company shifted away from me, and the Board began directing actions that I could not ethically agree with or carry out. As a result, I chose to resign in protest rather than lend my name or authority to decisions I could not ethically support. Following my resignation, much of the senior leadership team resigned. Following those departures, the Board made the decision to issue WARN Act notices and proceed with a mass layoff."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Helldivers 2's introductory cinematic/slick propaganda is arguably its best recruitment tool. Within minutes, the sight of an idyllic lifestyle being torn apart by a rampaging Terminid makes you want to sign up to bring Managed Democracy to the far-flung corners of the galaxy. Thanks in part to the motion-captured performance of actor Craig Lee Thomas--better known to the fanbase as John Helldiver--the game sets its tone and stakes quickly, and it's one that came about at the eleventh hour as Arrowhead revealed more details on how the iconic cinematic was created.

As part of the two-year anniversary for Helldivers 2, Arrowhead has released a new "Dev Tales" video that features behind-the-scenes content. Former Helldivers 2 lead writer Russ Nickel explained how he was contacted a week before the scene was meant to be shot, with animation studio Goodbye Kansas having a completely different actor in mind for John Helldiver.

"They actually hadn't really done any casting," Nickel explained. "They were just going to use this actor who's based in Sweden--who was perfectly good--but I was like, this is going to be John Helldiver! We can't just get someone who's good, like, we need to get the funniest person we can possibly find."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Doom and Wolfenstein creators id Software is celebrating its 35th anniversary, with studio director Marty Stratton teasing some announcements during the momentous occasion.

Stratton, in a new video from the studio marking the anniversary, vaguely mentions that the team have "a lot coming up this week to celebrate with all of you", continuing on to say that "throughout the years we'll be celebrating this anniversary, and a lot of other anniversaries." The studio's X account also shared a promotional image for the anniversary, depicting the Doom Slayer from the studio's most recent title, Doom: The Dark Ages.

Stratton and game director Hugo Martin thanked the studio's dedicated fanbase, while also praising id as a "visionary studio" and thanking its original co-founders. "We always say we stand on the shoulders of giants," Stratton concluded.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Starbites: Deluxe Edition

$50 | Releases March 31

Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart Preorder at GameStop

2026 is kicking off with several big RPGs, but one of the lesser-known upcoming releases is Starbites. Published by NIS, the story-driven RPG mixes traditional console RPG gameplay like turn-based combat and a cast of unique characters to customize with a unique sci-fi setting that sees you exploring a backwater planet with the aid of giant mechs. If you're looking for something that can stand out among the droves of fantasy-flavored RPGs launching this year, this one might be worth a look when it launches for PS5, Switch, Switch 2, and PC on March 31. Even better, Starbites is getting a physical Deluxe Edition release on consoles that includes several pieces of exclusive content, and it's only $50. Preorders are now live at multiple online retailers.

Starbites: Deluxe Edition $50 | Releases March 31

The Deluxe Edition is actually the cheapest version of Starbites up for preorder. It's bundled with the base game, a digital soundtrack, and a mini art book. Considering it's just $50 across PS5, Switch, and Switch 2, that's a pretty great offer. Note that the Switch 2 version is offered as a Game Key Card, meaning you'll need to download the full game before you can start playing.

Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart Preorder at GameStop Starbites Limited Edition$90 | Releases Early 2026

If you want a few additional goodies with your game, swing by the NIS Online Store. Here you'll find the Starbites Limited Edition up for preorder. It currently says its release is slated for "Early 2026," not March 31, but it comes with the following:

• Base game
• Collector's box
• Starbites art book
• Digipak original soundtrack
• Acrylic stand
• Rubber keychains (Set of 3)
• Metal Pins (Set of 6)

That's a pretty nice list of extra collectibles for $40, and if you're a fan of previous NIS America launches, it might be worth the investment. The Switch 2 version is already out of stock, and it's unclear how long the PS5 and Switch versions will remain available. Head over soon if you're interested in securing a copy at release.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

EA Sports has released the results of its annual Super Bowl simulation using Madden, and this year, the simulation predicted that the Seattle Seahawks will beat the New England Patriots by a score of 23-20 in Super Bowl LX.

The game will come down to the very last play, according to the simulation, but the Seahawks will ultimately get it done and avoid losing at the last-second to the Patriots again like they did at Super Bowl XLIX 2015. Seahawks QB Sam Darnold will be named Super Bowl LX MVP, according to the simulation.

EA's simulation has accurately predicted the past two Super Bowl winners, as it chose the Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LVIII and the Philadelphia Eagles to win Super Bowl LIX.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The fallout continues from Dispatch launching in a censored state on Switch and Switch 2 last week. While developer AdHoc Studio initially implied this issue was because of the platform holder, Nintendo responded that it "does not make changes to partner content." Now, AdHoc is admitting that "people have a right to be pissed" and is hoping to release an update for the game "to address at least some of the censored content."

Eurogamer received a new statement from AdHoc about why nudity was covered up on Switch and Switch 2--along with changes to other sexual content. "We initially assumed, like some of you, that because games like Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk [2077] are on the platform with similar types of uncensored mature content, Dispatch would be allowed to do the same," AdHoc said. "During the porting process, it became clear that was not the case."

AdHoc added that "it was our intent to go out of our way to tell people looking to buy the game that the content was censored." The Dispatch developer explained that the disclaimer about the censored content should have been more prominent on the eShop store page for the game. "Wires got crossed, and we put the disclaimer in the field literally titled 'Disclaimer' instead of the 'About The Game' section," AdHoc said. This created a situation where the PSA was put in "the absolute worst spot that makes it look like we were trying to hide it," according to the developer.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Dragon Quest VII? Why? That was the question when I heard about this remake. Square Enix had successfully made HD-2D ports of Dragon Quest III, and a combined package for I-II. It seemed intent on reviving classic Dragon Quest games, in particular for newcomers who missed them the first time around. I was one of those newcomers, having only dabbled in a handful. But why skip ahead to Dragon Quest VII, by reputation one of the most notoriously off-putting and bloated games in the series? After more than 40 hours, I'm still not quite sure. Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined does a lovely job in presenting the world and spiritual aesthetics of Dragon Quest, and its suite of quality-of-life tools and shortcuts are appreciated for how they speed up the flow of the game. But it can often feel meandering and old-fashioned, in spite of itself.

Dragon Quest VII follows a pair of friends--Auster, the son of a humble port town fisherman, and Kiefer, the princely heir to their kingdom. The two are convinced that there's more to the world than their one humble kingdom, but when the adventure begins, there actually isn't. Your island is the only landmass on the map, and the world is isolated and lonely. This is essentially a world in which the villain has already won and wiped out nearly the entire planet. As the adventure unfolds, the two are joined by more companions and begin to find magical tablets that transport them back in time, helping to right some historical wrong or overcome an evil in the past, which then restores that island in the present. This structure sometimes goes to dark places, since each island is a place that was ultimately doomed in the past, often by their own hubris or inability to come to an understanding.

On one level, this time-hopping premise carries echoes of Chrono Trigger, another game famous for its Akira Toriyama character designs. You get to see what's gone wrong in the past and fix it, and then discover how your own intervention has manifested itself in the present, where inhabitants of the restored island have been living peacefully for centuries, unaware that they had previously been blinked out of existence. Some of the scenarios even have playful touches subverting expectations about what you'll find after centuries of the new land's culture left to its own devices.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Nioh fans hoping the latest entry would arrive on more than just PC and PlayStation 5 may be in luck, as the game's latest trailer suggests that it could arrive on other platforms just six months after its launch later this week.

According to a features trailer posted to PlayStation's official YouTube channel on January 29, Team Ninja's upcoming souls-like will be allowed to release on other platforms six months after its PC and PS5 debut on February 6. The language is quite specific: "[Nioh 3 will not be] available on other consoles until at least [six] months after February 6, 2026." This means the latest souls-like action-RPG from the Japanese developer could land on Xbox--and maybe even Nintendo--consoles as soon as August 2026.

If you remember the previous entries in the franchise--2017's Nioh and 2020's Nioh 2--neither came to any other platform, staying locked to both PC and PlayStation consoles for the duration of their releases (and even to this day).

Continue Reading at GameSpot

It's a scientific fact that two of the coolest things in life are military fighter jets and the Devil May Cry franchise. So what happens when you smash the two together? You get Delivery Must Complete, a "high-speed Acelike Roguelike with SSStyle" created by Australia-based developer Yoyoyollie. Revealed last year, Delivery Must Complete is what happens when a sidewinder missile locks onto the laws of physics and promptly blows it out of discussion, leaving behind a game where every fight is a spectacle and the sky truly is the limit.

The Steam page explains that you really will need to make a delivery via a fighter jet express courier service, but in the middle of an aerial warzone. Fortunately, blimps, dragons, and mechs are no match for an ace pilot who can tear across the sky, powerslide out of harm's way, and parry missiles. Every map is procedurally generated, with weather changes, varying cloud cover, terrain anomalies, and random map events that add variety to each zone.

Since revealing the project, Yoyoyollie has been joined by sound designer Jonathan Foe and Project Wingman composer Jose Pavli. Speaking to GameSpot, Yoyoyollie revealed that a wide range of influences had inspired the design of Delivery Must Complete--like Ace Combat, Project Wingman, Devil May Cry, Ultrakill, Afterburner, Sephiria, and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. The game's cel-shaded look was born of Yoyoyollie's desire not to be bogged down by the time-consuming pursuit of realistic graphics, and because the cel-shaded design was refreshingly different.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Fallout Season 2's penultimate entry, Episode 7, puts all the chips are on the table.

While Lucy (Ella Purnell) is with Hank (Kyle Maclaclan) in the Vault-Tec executive bunker, The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) finally partied up with Maximus (Aaaron Moten) and Thaddeus (Johnny Pemberton) in the wake of the chaos at Area 51. Meanwhile, Norm (Moises Arias) discovered that Vault 33 is set to be used for an experiment involving the “Forced Evolutionary Virus” and Overseer Stephanie (Annabel O’Hagan) struggles with her authoritarian rule over Vault 32 while prepping for her wedding to the unwilling Chet (Dave Register). With the odds stacked against all of our main players, can someone take the jackpot, or does the house always win?

The episode opens up with a pre-war flashback on the Canadian border. Now a territory of the United States, two prisoners manage to escape an internment camp and run through the woods toward the border. The prisoners are revealed to be Stephanie and her mother, fighting for a better life than the one they have as prisoners in Canada. As they near the border, they’re stopped by a Marine in USMC Power Armor. Hope seems lost for a brief moment, until another prisoner appears, and turns out to be a suicide bomber--killing the Marine in the resulting blast. While Stephanie and her mother manage to get away, her mother is injured from the explosion and, as she dies, motivates Stephanie to make it to the border by any means needed, even if it means killing innocent people. As Stephanie crosses the border into the United States, she’s stopped by a Border Patrol guard and prepares for her first kill.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

A gospel rendition of Super Mario music just won The 8-Bit Big Band its second Grammy Award. The orchestra, famous for its jazz arrangements of video game soundtracks, overcame stiff competition in the category of Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella.

The arrangement, titled "Super Mario Praise Break," beat out Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, saxophonist Remy Le Boeuf, and the brass quartet The Westerlies for the award. The medley includes lively takes on the Super Mario Bros. theme, Bob-Omb Battlefield from Super Mario 64, Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy, and the Athletic Theme from Super Mario World.

"In this offering to the VGM community, we humbly present this medley of some of Super Mario Bros. greatest melodies to help you gain entrance into the Mushroom Kingdom of heaven," the video's YouTube description reads.

Continue Reading at GameSpot