Rockstar has spent more than eight years developing Grand Theft Auto 6, but the studio hopes its next project will arrive considerably faster. Speaking to Bloomberg, Rockstar's head of development Phil Hooker explained how the company expanded its team and developed its technology for the hotly anticipated upcoming game, and how that'll make it easier to build future releases.

Hooker said the studio expects to benefit from the foundations established during the lengthy production of GTA 6. "The engine, the tools, and the team we've built during this project will allow us to do things more quickly," he explained.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQRLujxTm3c&t=5s

He added that Rockstar wants to focus on expanding what it has already created rather than continually rebuilding its technology. "I feel confident that we can build on top of this and go more sideways than upwards to build more compelling content," he explained.

The approach should help Rockstar avoid another extended wait between major releases. GTA 5 launched in 2013, followed by Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018. GTA 6, meanwhile, is scheduled to arrive on November 19, 2026, following a series of delays. Its development has seen significant changes to Rockstar's structure, with the company growing from 2,441 employees around the release of RDR2, to 4,711 staff across 12 offices.

There is a precedent for Rockstar building a new game relatively quickly by reusing existing technology. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City followed GTA 3 in less than a year. Rockstar's leadership hopes the studio can take a similar approach to future projects now that so much of the GTA 6 groundwork is complete.

Of course, Rockstar hasn't announced its next major game yet. The comments also don't confirm that the next title in the Grand Theft Auto series will arrive quickly, especially considering the scale of the studio's ambitions. Still, the systems built for GTA 6 will help Rockstar spend less time solving technical problems.

For now, Rockstar's attention understandably remains on GTA 6. The game is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in history, with analysts predicting tens of millions of sales during its first few months.

Writer-director Hideo Kojima has seen Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie, and he has now shared his review. Kojima, a true cinephile known for his public movie reviews, said he "wasn't particularly interested" in seeing the movie at first, but he did, and he sounded pretty impressed by what he saw.

"Right from the opening, it hits you with music reminiscent of The Thing. From there, it’s a relentless barrage of classic horror techniques, terrifying situations, and jump scares that never lets up until the very end," he said.

Kojima went on to observe what others did as well, which is how the Resident Evil movie is more of a film that provides the "experience of playing Resident Evil" as opposed to watching an adaptation of one of its stories.

"It reminded me of how I felt when I first played the original Resident Evil on PlayStation back in 1996," he said. "I was just like [main character] Bryan in this movie. I kept getting game over after game over, shouting “F***!” over and over again. lol."

Austin Abrams as Bryan in the Resident Evil movie.

This is the kind of response that Cregger said he wanted viewers to have. It's also what got Cregger in some hot water with hardcore fans who wanted to see a straight adaptation of one of the games instead of Cregger's own original story set inside the world of Resident Evil.

Another bright spot for Kojima? While he was at the theater, he picked up some physical reading materials for the divisive new Tom Cruise movie Digger. A lot of people have had a lot of things to say about that film, and we are all waiting to hear what Kojima thought of it, whenever he sees it.

The new Resident Evil has made more than $320 million worldwide, following its big debut in China where it's made $40.7 million so far. Cregger's Resident Evil movie is now the highest-grossing entry in the series to date, surpassing the previous record-holder, which was 2016's The Final Chapter ($312 million).

For more, check out GameSpot's rundown of the highest-grossing Resident Evil movies of all time.

While Cregger has said he has ideas for another Resident Evil movie, he’s done with franchise movies and is instead making an original movie, The Flood, next.

As for Kojima, he's keeping very busy with the upcoming games OD and Phsyint, both of which are in the works for Xbox. Physint will also be adapted for film and TV, while Kojima's Death Stranding is coming to the big screen as well.

It's a big week for Battlefield 6, as the game just launched its big Season 5 update, arrived on Xbox Game Pass, and ushered in a new Game of the Year Edition. That's not all, however, as the military shooter added a big new microtransaction in the form of the Ultimate Shortcut Kit.

Similar to how these shortcut kits worked in past Battlefield games, Battlefield 6's $30 no-so-microtransaction instantly unlocks all of the game's guns for all four classes, and at 100% Mastery--this means they are fully leveled up and kitted out.

Get all the Battlefield 6 guns and upgrades for $30.

People online have raised concerns about the existence of the Ultimate Shortcut Kit, saying it's unfair to allow people to buy every gun right from the start instead of grinding to progress. Other people said they welcome the Ultimate Shortcut Kit because they do not have the time or the interest in spending countless hours levelling up their guns and just want to play everything the game has to offer.

In addition to all the guns, the Ultimate Shortcut Kit for Battlefield 6 includes the Mortal Shriek dog tag and the Field Training: Cross Trained title. Below is a rundown of everything you get in the Ultimate Shortcut Kit.

Similar Ultimate Shortcut Kits for Battlefield 3 ($40) and Battlefield 4 ($50) cost more.

Battlefield 6 was 2025's best-selling game in the US, reportedly selling more than 20 million units in about three months. Despite the game's enormous success, EA cut staff at the studio after launch.

Battlefield 6 Ultimate Shortcut Kit:

Assault Shortcut Kit:

• 7 Weapons (100% Mastery)
• 2 Vehicles (100% Mastery)
• Frontliner Training Path
• 4 Gadgets

Support Shortcut Kit:

• 7 Weapons (100% Mastery)
• 2 Vehicles (100% Mastery)
• Fire Support Training Path
• 4 Gadgets

Engineer Shortcut Kit:

• 7 Weapons (100% Mastery)
• 2 Vehicles (100% Mastery)
• Combat Engineer Training Path
• 7 Gadgets

Recon Shortcut Kit:

• 7 Weapons (100% Mastery)
• 2 Vehicles (100% Mastery)
• Spec Ops Training Path
• 4 Gadgets

The big Halo Fest event planned for December is going ahead as planned, despite mass layoffs and other major changes at developer Halo Studios.

Halo Studios director of competitive engagement, Tashi, confirmed this and said there will be news about Halo Fest this week. Additionally, Halo Studios will release materials "celebrating the community and 25 years of Halo," while fans can also look forward to "relevant game info" about in-market Halo games.

"There's a huge amount of Halo fans who are looking forward to the event to attend or watch from home, and we're looking forward to providing a platform for the community to celebrate 25 years of Halo and each other," Tashi said of Halo Fest.

Halo Fest takes place December 11-13 in Seattle--the event is totally sold out. "No matter why you love Halo, whether it’s the story and characters, the music, the art and universe, or just playing with friends--Halo Fest will have something for you," Microsoft said of the event.

The voices of Master Chief and Cortana, Steve Downes and Jen Taylor, will appear at Halo Fest, while there will also be a range of community events celebrating the series. Some had expected Halo Studios to announce the next big Halo game at Halo Fest, but it's not unreasonable to think that plans may have changed.

Halo Fest is happening against a major shift for the Halo franchise following the gutting of Halo Studios and the transition of the series from Halo Studios to Activision. Halo Studios now employs a significantly smaller team that will support already-released Halo games like Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite, but future games in the series--including the rumored reboot--will be made at Activision.

Halo Studios was rumored to be working on Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes, as well as a new live-service Halo game. That was before the big changes, however, and it's been reported that Activision is working on a Halo reboot.

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has recalled the controversial ending to 2010's Red Dead Redemption in which the main character, John Marston, is killed.

He said in an interview that the game's lead designer, Christian Cantamessa was on board with the idea to kill off Marston, but Houser wondered about the production realities of, "How does an open-world game work if you've killed the protagonist?"

"So I said, ‘I think maybe we have to kill him.’ And he goes, ‘That's a great idea. Got to do it.’ I said, ‘I don't know if… let me just think about this,’ because we're just dealing with audio and dialogue," Houser told IGN "The nature of an open-world game is you finish a story, then you go back into the world and wrap up all the side content if you want to. We'd have to play as someone else for that. We could play as Jack, but what does that mean? So I had to think through for a while what it would mean production-wise.”

2010's Red Dead Redemption.

How Rockstar handled it was by setting RDR's epilogue years later, in the year 1914, with players taking control of Marston's son, Jack. He said this setup presented challenges, too, in terms of the technical realities of playing as Jack as opposed to John. There were story and mission concerns, too, including how multi-stage missions might play out if players, as John, completed one part and then came back to finish later as Jack.

"How would that work? We had to think through all of that stuff and concluded we could probably make it work, but we were still scared," he said.

The RDR epilogue has Jack hunting down and killing the men who killed his father, and Houser said players "really loved" that feeling of vengeance. Ultimately, Houser observed that there was "broad consensus" that it was the right call in the end to kill off John, even if it was an "unusual and out-there decision." Houser was, however, surprised by "how angry some people were about that decision."

"There were people who were livid with you. And part of you goes, ‘That's fantastic,’ because it means you've really engaged in the story and the characters," he said. "Now, I think it was the right decision because you want those big, strong reactions, but I think people were really confused by it. As a writer, it was like he had to die for the story to have any weight."

Also in the interview, Houser said he wanted to achieve something like this in the GTA franchise, but it never happened due to technical reasons.

He and the Rockstar team did, however, pull it off again with Red Dead Redemption II, which is a prequel to the earlier game. RDR2 famously killed off its own main playable character, Arthur Morgan, though he died from tuberculosis or at the hand of Micah. RDR 2 had an epilogue as well, featuring John and Jack Marston.

Houser left Rockstar in 2020 and now works at Absurd Ventures, which is crafting an open-world comedy game. His brother, Sam Houser, remains at Rockstar and helped lead the team bringing GTA 6 to market on November 19.

It's a big day for Xbox Game Pass, as developer Battlefield Studios has launched Battlefield 6 into Game Pass, and it comes at a big moment for the game.

Battlefield 6 is now available for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate ($23/month) subscribers on PC and console. It can also be streamed.

The game's arrival in Game Pass is notable because Battlefield 6 was 2025's best-selling game overall in the US, and was released a year ago this month. The game had a very strong start, but player numbers have dropped. Battlefield Studios is attempting to reignite the fanbase in a number of ways, including bringing the game to Game Pass and continuing to support the FPS with big new updates. The latest of these, the Season 5 update, is out today, October 13.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5ufBOI6Dto

Season 5 adds a new maps, including environments set in Las Vegas and Area 51, while it also brings something fans have been asking for since launch: a proper server browser. Check out the gameplay trailer above to see the Season 5 content in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeHxMayIpaI

Additionally, Battlefield Studios announced a Game of the Year Edition for Battlefield 6. The biggest selling point for the GOTY edition is the Ultimate Shortcut Kit, which instantly unlocks everything for all four classes, along with one season of Battlefield Pro, among other digital perks and extras.

The Ultimate Shortcut Kit, which was also available in other previous Battlefield games, is available to purchase by itself for $30.

It looks like another new Xbox feature is in development, and this time, it's designed to encourage users to go on a hot streak--of using their console, not disrupting a sports event with a quick birthday-suit-run.

Spotted by Game File's Stephen Totilo, a new number appears to be popping up on the dashboard of Xbox users who are signed up for the Xbox Insider program, suggesting that a streak counter is in development. Microsoft hasn't formally announced this feature yet, and it looks like it kicks in after using your Xbox for three days in a row per week. It's an idea that Microsoft has experimented with in the past through Game Pass and the Xbox mobile app, but never to this extent with a prominent display of how many days in a row you've dedicated to playing Xbox games.

Is there any benefit to Streaks for Xbox users? Totilo's research suggests that it could be tied to Xbox reward points, which can be redeemed for digital items and Xbox gift cards. On Microsoft's side, this could also be a subtle way to keep users engaged more consistently, since the lure of a score streak is powerful. Just look at Wordle, with its subtle emphasis on keeping your streak going, or mobile free-to-play games that offer daily login rewards to tempt you to sign in regularly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRAhlxrLnAo&pp=0gcJCT8MAYcqIYzv

That could be good, bad, or irritating depending on how it is implemented, as Xbox users could find themselves regularly pinged on their progress while they're in the middle of a game. Your tolerance mileage might vary when it comes to these notifications, so hopefully there's an opt-out option if Streaks roll out. But as Totilo noted, just because Xbox is testing this new streak function doesn't mean it'll be implemented across the Xbox ecosystem in the future. The fine print for Xbox Insiders mentions that these features may not become "permanent additions" to Xbox.

One new addition to Xbox that has been confirmed are Mythic Achievements, which are designed to be proof of your accomplishments in a given video game. Similar to PlayStation Platinum Trophies, a Mythic Achievement is earned whenever all of the original achievements for a game have been earned.

The November launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 will leave PC gamers sitting out in the cold, but the wait for the yet-to-be-announced PC port might be surprisingly short this time. According to a new report, GTA 6 will launch on PC "within the first three months" of 2027.

Speaking to GamesBeat, industry sources claim that Rockstar Games plans to launch the game just a few months after its console release. If the reports are accurate, this would mark a major departure for Rockstar Games, as previous PC ports arrived long after their original console releases. GTA 5, for example, landed on PC 18 months after its PS3 and Xbox 360 release, while the PC version of Red Dead Redemption appeared 11 months after its PS4 and Xbox One release.

Take-Two Interactive boss Strauss Zelnick previously commented that PC was becoming an important platform for the GTA 6 parent company to focus on, saying sales of the publisher's PC games had increased dramatically over the years. 

https://youtu.be/y2WDkOiC1lg

As for why GTA 6 won't be available on PC at launch, former Rockstar producer John Ricchio theorized that a console-first approach to development would give Rockstar more room to build a PC version later. Since consoles have limited hardware, it's easier for a studio to expand a game to run on more powerful hardware like a PC instead of scaling back to fit console constraints.

Rockstar hasn’t officially said anything about GTA 6 on PC yet, and the game officially lists only PS5 and Xbox Series X|S as its platforms. Xbox also recently clarified that GTA 6 will not be streamed to PC through Xbox Cloud Gaming, despite initial reports that Microsoft had secured exclusive streaming rights.

GTA 6: 268 Screenshots To Ease The Wait View Images

Take-Two has announced the details for its next earnings briefing, and as you might expect, GTA 6 fans are circling the date on their calendars.

The next Take-Two quarterly earnings report will be released on Monday, November 9, with management holding a call at 1:30 PM PT / 4:30 PM ET that day to discuss the results and answer questions. Anyone can listen to the call online.

The report is being released 10 days before GTA 6 launches on November 19, so it's expected that analysts and investors will ask questions about the upcoming launch. Management, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, will likely have some kind of update or commentary to share.

However, fans should not hold out hope for any big details about the game itself, as those kinds of details historically come by way of developer Rockstar Games.

The next Take-Two earnings report is expected in February 2027, but if GTA 6 is the enormous success that everyone expects it to be, the company will likely share details about the game's commercial impact before then.

For GTA 5, Take-Two announced sales right away, confirming $800 million in revenue after the first 24 hours and $1 billion in revenue after three days.

If Sensor Tower's data is accurate, GTA 6 has already sold more than 6 million copies via pre-purchases, bringing in close to $600 million in revenue. Sensor Tower said the game could reach 25 million preorders by release, meaning the game will have made more than $2 billion before launch.

Take-Two investors are understandably excited about GTA 6's release, but the game stands to make even more money once the next evolution of GTA Online launches. To be sure, Rockstar has not yet announced any details about GTA 6's online component, and GTA 6 has been described as a single-player experience.

That being said, given the gigantic success of GTA Online in terms of popularity among fans and its moneymaking ability, it's a safe bet that Rockstar will bring online functionality to GTA 6 at some point.

Beyond any possible updates about GTA 6, the Take-Two earnings report and following call is expected to include updates on the company's numerous other franchises and studios. After all, the GTA franchise represents a very small part of Take-Two's overall business, accounting for less than 15% of total revenue. That number is for a typical quarter–when GTA 6 launches, it will significantly increase.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The God of War Laufey Collector's Edition has been revealed, but unlike the standard and digital deluxe editions that went up for preorder last month, this is purely a box of merch. Spotted on the UK PlayStation Direct store, the main attraction of this collector's edition is a light-up statue of the game's protagonist, Faye, locked in combat while Phranque the Cube watches on.

The set also includes a deck of 51 oracle cards and a small art book, all housed in collector's edition-packaging. As noted in the image, God of War Laufey is sold separately, and this edition costs £130 if you're purchasing it from across the pond. In the US, this will likely cost around the same in US Dollars given the price parity between PlayStation regions, and you'll need to shell out another $70 for a physical edition to complete it.

Sony has released several collector's editions in the past that bundled a digital download key for a game. A merchandise-only box set isn't uncommon, as just a few weeks ago, Rockstar Games revealed the $400 GTA 6 collector's edition that comes with plenty of stuff.

So what's the thinking behind one of these boxes? These boxes typically target dedicated, high-spending superfans who can afford to shell out extra for bonus physical content like this, acting as high-margin merchandise. At the same time, publishers can save some cash by not including the game, streamlining their supply chains and lowering production overhead in the process. Essentially, a bigger slice of the pie for companies, while consumers with deep pockets get limited-edition swag to display.

In other God of War news, the next game in the series will see Kratos return to the spotlight, and it'll pick up directly after the end of God of War Laufey. A live-action God of War TV series is also in development for Prime Video, and its new leading man, Dave Bautista, is already working to get shredded for the role after the original Kratos actor, Ryan Hurst, departed due to injury.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has once again discussed the new direction for Microsoft's gaming division and how it'll continue to focus heavily on its biggest franchises, while also calling on its studios to create new IP. According to Sharma, relying solely on established franchises can only take Xbox so far, and without an injection of fresh IP blood, Xbox will not survive.

"We're backing our strongest franchises. I want our great games to become great global billion-dollar franchises," Sharma said in a town hall meeting shared with Windows Central. "I would also like to see us continue to create enduring new IP. We will not survive if we only revive on the past. We have to find new ways, and courage, to have invention on new IP that reaches new sets of audiences."

This year has focused primarily on several of Xbox's biggest franchises, like Forza Horizon, Halo, and Gears of War, ahead of the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 later this month. Next year will see the launch of a new Fable and InXile Entertainment's Clockwork Revolution, and Xbox has signed deals with Hideo Kojima to get his next two projects, OD and Physint, over the finish line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teClq4qYyzQ

The irony of this call for more original content is that Xbox has parted ways with several studios known for creating unique games. Compulsion Games, Undead Labs, and Double Fine all have a legacy of producing weird, story-rich games. While some of them may not have been massive commercial hits, they helped position Xbox as a home for unique experiences.

At the same time, AAA games are taking longer to make and costing more to produce. Blizzard's next big games, like StarCraft and Diablo 5, are several years away, and smaller releases sandwiched between them are a solid way to keep users engaged. Call of Duty is the exception, as Activision invested heavily in a multi-studio system to release a new game every year, creating an annual blockbuster franchise.

But right now, the gaming industry faces several more existential threats beyond the need for new IP to draw in audiences. Established live-service games vacuum up player time--and wallets--regularly, making it harder than ever for new games to break through, while the rampant investment in AI has driven up component costs and have thus made owning a console or gaming PC more expensive than ever before. Recently, we've also seen people use AI to recreate games from scratch and make them playable in web browsers, a feat that was unheard of just a few years ago.

Xbox could be facing an uphill battle, especially with its ambitious goal of entertaining 1 billion people every day.

When playing Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, I couldn't stop thinking about Symphony of the Night. Almost 30 years ago, that game reinvented Castlevania as a search-action game, and did it so brilliantly that it earned half of the "metroidvania" portmanteau. Belmont's Curse does not attempt such a dramatic shift. It doesn't change genres or reinvent the series as something entirely new. What it does, however, is achieve a brilliant synthesis, with every component operating at peak performance to deliver a new high for the series. Castlevania is back, and it is fantastic.

Put simply, Belmont's Curse is the total package. A sprawling map bursting with mysteries to uncover, joyous traversal tools that make roaming the map feel great, a story that balances a macabre tone with occasional lightness, a cast of creative and well-drawn characters, and hands-down the best combat of any Castlevania game--in fact, among the best combat of any 2D action game, period.

What makes all of these synergize so well is the addition of the tarot cards, which serve as an elegant way to fuse the game's disparate elements, and makes them all feel like part of one cohesive whole. At different points your tarot deck serves as mission signposting, environmental puzzles, pieces of story lore, characters to serve as dialogue for Rose, boss locations, and ultimately, your pool of spells.

You play as Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor Belmont, who has trained her whole life as the successor of the Belmont clan. Though silver-maned Trevor is still a capable fighter, Rose volunteers to investigate the otherworldly happenings in Paris, France, eager to prove herself worthy of the family name. But Rose is also afflicted with a cursed red mark on one arm, making her dangerously instrumental to the machinations of Dracula and his armies. 

The tarot deck is a set of magical cards gifted to Rose by her late mother, Sypha, who passed on the curse to her at birth. Each card represents a follower of Dracula, with honorific names like The Fallen, The Warrior, or The Builder. As you explore the castle you find clues that reveal story details and hints about how to find them, often both simultaneously, and they each have their own roles in Dracula's royal court. When Dracula's castle emerges in the heart of Paris--as you obviously knew it would, this is a Castlevania game, after all--the full deck is revealed, putting the complete array of monsters in your sights. Once you've tracked down and defeated one of Dracula's servants, their tarot card becomes an Arcana you can use as a spell, which then opens its own flexible progression system. It may sound complex, but the system is actually an ingenious way to merge different gameplay elements and make them all feel digestible and cohesive.

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse

As an example, take the first boss, The Fallen. Finding him is a relatively simple task, given that it's meant to serve as a basic primer for finding clues and navigating the winding streets of Paris. When you defeat him, you absorb his Arcana, which grants you two important tools: a recognizable boomerang axe spell, and an arcane whip that allows you to grab onto grapple points to reach new locations. But this new traversal tool is also a combat tool, since the same function can grab onto any enemy; a well-timed strike while grappling toward the enemy can then do serious damage. Then on top of that, the combat tool itself can also be used for traversal, as enemies flying midair can help you reach distant platforms, as long as you can grapple onto them. It all harmonizes beautifully, and exemplifies Belmont's Curse as a whole--abundant with mechanics that complement and fold into others in surprising ways.

Dracula's legion of followers also serve another purpose, as being captured forces them into the tarot where they occupy a mindspace for Rose to speak with. This ultimately gives her characters to bounce off of for story purposes, but the characters are also well differentiated from each other. The Fallen is a gruff creature that comes to feel protective of Rose, whereas Medusa, even imprisoned in Rose's deck, is unsubtly rooting for her to fail and constantly trying to trick her into making moves that will further her master's plans. Lots of characters you find throughout have their own agendas and rivalries, and are often at cross-purposes with Rose or each other, adding a compelling dynamic as they all bicker inside of your head. The regular addition of characters in your deck means that any of them could interject in dialogue to offer some commentary--though the core cast, so to speak, remains the first three that you find. 

One drawback of having such a dynamic cast of characters is that the protagonist, Rose, is less interesting by comparison. She's a determined heroine archetype and remains that way throughout. She is a central point of gravity for all of the other characters to orbit around, and works on that level, but I do wish she had more agency herself. She is deadset on her mission from start to finish, and not much more. 

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse

Each Arcana spell also comes with a set of three objectives to complete, called Works of Mercy. These can be as simple as defeating a set number of enemies with the relevant spell, but often are more complex to incentivize exploration or experimentation. One notable objective for The Warrior rewards you for finding a particular location, which works thematically with that character's story. One of Medusa's has you petrify an enemy carrying a shield, a reference to the myth of Perseus. Your reward for completing these is opening a node to choose one of three power-ups for the spell; once you've completed all three, you're rewarded with extra dialogue from the Arcana character. 

And so you explore the streets and undercity of Paris along with Dracula's castle in freeform fashion, an open structure lightly guides you toward critical objectives for unlocking new equipment that you need to reach other corners and layers of the world. If you're ever stuck you can refer to your tarot deck for clues that you may not have thought about for a while. The environmental puzzles add just enough brain-tickling challenge to make you observe carefully and think through the clues, without grinding your progress to a halt. And the ability to track down enemies and steal their powers makes for a compelling loop that reminded me of one of my favorite series: Mega Man. I was always eager to take down the next boss and see how they would augment my combat and traversal abilities. 

Combat is where you can truly see the expertise of developer Evil Empire shine through the most, as its expertise from Dead Cells transfers beautifully to this franchise. Your strikes across the wide variety of weapon types feel forceful and kinetic, and each weapon type has its own advantages and special charged ability. Your basic longsword is well balanced and lets you dash through enemies, while the whip has long reach but only the tip strikes with its full power. I found I favored the lance, with its versatility of long reach as a handheld weapon or the ability to throw it as a projectile, and ultimately stuck with it for a long time even after finding other weapons at higher levels. There are four weapons each across seven type categories, so the seven weapon types offer loads of room for experimentation to dial in on the one you like best, or just swapping situationally.

What makes the combat transcendant, though, is the addition of a parry. This is new ground for a Castlevania game, but it also works differently than the parry I've seen in many other games. As a holy shield gained from your second boss encounter, it works independently of your regular strikes. It doesn't interrupt your attacks, and by default the attack button is mapped to a face button while the parry is mapped to the left trigger. That means you can be attacking while also parrying your opponent's attack, making combat a lightning fast series of choices that puts you on offense and defense simultaneously. As someone who has struggled with many parry systems and never quite got into them in other games, this one made a believer out of me. It just feels so good to wail on an enemy, parry a projectile from behind, and then grapple over to finish them off. Belmont's Curse is full of moments like this, as practically every room you enter is occupied by enemies, and frequent forced combat encounters test your mettle against mixtures of them. 

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse

This is not to say combat is easy. Far from it. The cursed streets of Paris and Dracula's castle are littered with monsters and ghouls familiar to Castlevania fans, reimagined for this combat style, and Rose is very vulnerable. It's easy to die even in regular combat encounters, and boss fights take a good bit of pattern recognition to learn tells before you can successfully fend them off. But the combat is so fine-tuned that you constantly feel in control and recognize what you did wrong. Very occasionally the screen would be so full of enemy attacks I missed a parry window because it was hard to read all the visual information at once, but it was rare enough not to detract from the overall experience. Similarly, navigating extended gauntlets of traps can be trying, but they always feel satisfying to complete, and you're rewarded with items like ability-augmenting Relics or further clues for your tarot deck.

If combat or traps give you trouble, Belmont's Curse adds a few quality-of-life features and options to ease your growth. For one, you keep all the XP earned during your runbacks to bosses, so even if you have to try a boss multiple times, you're still leveling up and gaining power on the way. You can also turn on the Custom Mode to tweak options like setting a checkpoint right in front of boss doors, boosting your damage output, reducing the damage from traps, and more. There doesn't seem to be any cost to using this system, and you can turn it on or off as you'd like. The one element missing, for good reason, are any extra navigational tools to find your way. It's clear that Evil Empire doesn't mind giving you a leg up on reflex-based challenges, but it still wants you to think through puzzles and explore to uncover secrets.

Belmont's Curse also has some of the most inventive bosses I've seen in the series history. One notable boss twice escaped to a different section, introducing a difficult platforming challenge in the middle of the fight to continue it. Another hexes you with a sigil indicating the number of hits you can take before you simply die, forcing you to minimize strikes on you even if you have plenty of healing items to prevent dying outright. Even after 20 hours there are many other bosses in my deck I have yet to find, and I'm eager to see what else Castlevania has to offer. 

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse

Exploring the castle is a visual delight, because Belmont's Curse is gorgeous. Far from a gray-soaked castle, Evil Empire has leaned into its house art style of vivid, saturated hues and unexpected color palettes. The approach to Dracula's castle, in which Rose and all of the enemies are silhouetted against the pink-red color tone of a burning Paris behind them, is one of the most visually arresting moments I've seen in a game lately. The character designs themselves are distinct and creative, like Carmilla, a hemomancer whose slinky red gown is made of dripping blood. I could go on and on, but I'll let you discover them for yourself. Plus as you explore you get treated to new renditions of classic Castlevania music alongside new tunes that fit right into its milieu. 

Every element in Castlevania: Belmont's Curse works so well both independently and as part of the whole: flexible combat, beautifully acrobatic traversal, fine-tuned environmental puzzles, wide cast of interesting characters, and eye-catching visual panache--all wrapped within a smart tarot system that lets these ideas complement each other. Belmont's Curse feels destined to be regarded alongside Symphony of the Night as one of the best Castlevania games, and one of the best metroidvania games, of all time. 

Haunted Chocolatier looks like it could be the perfect, candy-bar blend of sweet and creepy once it launches--but developer ConcernedApe doesn't know when that might be. So I'd like to consider an alternate option for after-funeral desserts and try the upcoming Steam game Tearoom of Terror, whose developer, Sundew Studios, was just featured during the new Cozy After Dark Showcase.

Sundew studios writer and designer Allie Ast shows off the "cozy gothic murder mystery" Tearoom of Terror in all its Edward Gorey detail during the stream, which was presented by the Dames 4 Games nonprofit.

Like Haunted Chocolatier, which will let you melt, swirl, and sell your own fancy chocolates, Tearoom of Terror involves brewing lovely lavender teas and doling out cheesy scones to strange customers, like a seemingly homicidal heiress and an opera singer of no renown. You'll go through the soothing motions of keeping your own Victorian tea parlor running as finely as white lace… but it won't be as lovely as it looks. 

https://youtu.be/7VJ07UqoUyI?si=9ImYGyEay_hblvLB&t=2876

"You're also the primary suspect in your aunt's murder!" Ast cheerfully reveals. So Tearoom of Terror will also feature moments of deduction like the underrated The Séance of Blake Manor, except you have a stickier relationship with justice than that puzzle game's upright detective. 

"Find the true culprit, or instead of serving scones, you'll be serving time," Ast warns. Desperate times may call for desperate measures--like an excessive lump of poisoned sugar, or a little pinch of worms to keep your "immoral" clientele in line. Ast explains, "Luckily, the officer has a weak constitution." 

I'm already preparing business names for my tearoom that will no doubt fail health inspection standards--Sleepy Marshmallow? The Headless Horseradish? So I'm eager for Tearoom of Terror to launch sometime soon. Its demo is available now on Steam.

My 2012 belonged to Slender Man. I was easily terrified by creepy, early 2010s computer games like Slender: The Eight Pages, but I couldn't resist their special blend of unicorn blood and twee. Recently, I've been missing the pink bittersweetness of the Tim Burton-style horror games made in those years, like Fran Bow and Alice: Madness Returns, so the inaugural Cozy After Dark Showcase has arrived with a new trailer for Hell Is Other People at just the right time. 

The teaser from indie developer Miss Self Destruct describes Hell Is Other People--named for the famous Jean-Paul Sartre quote about being trapped in other people's perceptions of you--as "a psychological horror about social anxiety." 

Its little girl protagonist has onyx eyes and hair that goes nearly down to her fingertips, so she looks a bit overgrown, like she might have washed up on some riverbank. Otherwise, she seems normal, with a thin mattress to curl on top of every night like any other lonely child. But that's not what her mother thinks.

https://youtu.be/7VJ07UqoUyI?si=UM_03yezg2sQ1YA-&t=3530

"See what I have to deal with?" Mother says as our little girl stares politely at a party tray of frosted cupcakes. Hell Is Other People's Steam description explains that you won't collect items in your inventory, but social skills, so the girl responds to her mother's snide comment with Guilt--but it isn't impactful. She becomes paranoid, making lines of dialogue seem to jumble and melt together as the girl explains, "When I feel bad, people become so hard to read."

You'll have to manage these shifting tides of emotion by consulting your notebook for how normal people behave. Initially, I was drawn to the pretty Gothic caricature of Hell Is Other People, black cats with sharp syringe teeth and patterned arsenic wallpaper, but now I'm feeling understood by it as a true social survival game. 

When I myself was a strange girl with long hair that blew around on the swingsets, I was much like the Hell Is Other People protagonist; I was desperate for my parents to understand me, and I couldn't understand why they didn't try. My only solace in those years was Tim Burton's corpse bride and monsters like Slender Man--outcasts. It can be pleasant to give up and call yourself a freak, exist among freaks. So I'm excited for the gloomy nostalgia Hell Is Other People brings me when it's out sometime soon.

The new Street Fighter movie hits theaters in just a few days, and if you're a fan of the Capcom series, you might be tempted to celebrate with some new poster art on your wall. While the official poster for that movie is fine, Mondo's new Street Fighter 2 poster is much better, striking, and it doesn't feature a gallery of floating heads--just one, in fact, being punched off the beefy shoulders of a Shadaloo enforcer. If you're wondering what that piece of fine art looks like, GameSpot can exclusively reveal it for you below. Can you see it? Sure you can!

Designed by artist and painter Gian Galang, this Street Fighter 2 poster captures one of the most iconic moments of the fighting game franchise, highlighting the legendary rivalry between Ryu and Sagat.

The new Street Fighter poster from Mondo Preorder at Mondo

"Street Fighter 2 was the first video game I ever owned, and it reinforced the bond between art and martial arts that I loved as a kid and has defined my career as an adult," Galang said. "I did my best to create an image worthy of the Street Fighter legacy, depicting the Shoryuken between Ryu and Sagat, exploding with lightning, splitting the composition in two."

For this poster, Galang created a unique, multi-layered composition, and Mondo has reprinted it as a nine-color screenprint on high-quality House White paper. The poster will go on sale starting October 16 at 9 AM PT, and it is priced at $90.

While you'd think Ken Masters is Ryu's ultimate rival, a storied history between the globe-trotting fighter and Sagat has been explored over the years in film, manga, and comic books. In the original Street Fighter lore, their first meeting resulted in Sagat receiving his iconic chest scar from Ryu's Shoryuken, which drove the Thai fighter to join Shadaloo so he could get his rematch.

Street Fighter Alpha changed things by showing that Sagat delivered a one-sided beatdown to Ryu, and in a moment of sportsmanship, he reached out to pick the young warrior up. Unfortunately, Ryu's dark side--the Satsui no Hado--manifested at that point, resulting in him launching a Shoryuken uppercut that left Sagat scarred and beaten. The two would eventually cross paths again, with Sagat picking up the victory over Ryu after his brainwashing at the hands of M. Bison, and since then, they've developed a mutual respect for each other.

In more Street Fighter news, the developers behind the popular fighting game series recently remarked that it was on life support 10 years ago, and the Street Fighter movie is out on October 16. Helmed by Bad Trip director Kitao Sakurai, it features a stacked roster of actors, Easter eggs, and a version of Guile's theme music that goes with everything.

Street Fighter Movie Cast Revealed, Including An Unexpected Eric Andre Role View Images

Unlike Sony, which has decided to move toward a digital-only game marketplace starting in 2028, Nintendo is sticking to an "agnostic" approach for the Switch 2 console. In a new interview, Nintendo's VP and general manager for Latin America, Bill van Zyll, said the company will still offer both physical and digital versions of games to meet consumer demand.

"Historically, we’ve been very agnostic," van Zyll said to YouTuber Coelho no Japão. "We go off what the consumer prefers, and take that into account very heavily. We also have a platform that was just launched. We're barely just over a year into NS2 (Nintendo Switch 2), and it's got both digital and also physical--that capability. There are no plans to ditch physical. We know how much the fans like it as well, so our position has been to be agnostic."

https://youtu.be/BaLVcqavw74?t=715

Like its predecessor, the Switch 2 lets you run games by using either foul-tasting physical cartridges or downloads from the Nintendo eShop onto the console. One big difference in this generation is the introduction of Game-Key Cards as a low-cost solution for developers, which act as authentication keys for games.

These will require you to both insert the cart and download the game to the Switch 2, but since the cartridges aren't tied to your account, you can still sell them off at a later date if you choose to. Some Switch 2 games--like first-party Nintendo games and the upcoming Stellar Blade: Complete Edition--do contain the full game on the cartridge.

While not everyone is a fan of Nintendo's Game-Key Cards, the middleground between digital and physical games is still more well-received than Sony's push for an all-digital future. The company is still cautiously pushing ahead with its plans, but as critics have argued, there are several big risks attached to this drive to transition away from physical media.

Bandai Namco has dropped a new trailer for Tekken 8, and while this one is mostly focused on everyone's favorite Kangaroo, Roger, it also included a brief tease of one of the most ridiculous characters in anime: Yujiro Hanma. The sneak peek at the Gigachad of fighting anime is quick, but it does show off the character's infamously toothy grin and morning-splits flexibility that would make Jean-Claude Van Damme jealous.

While there's no release date yet for when Hanma will be added to the game, the trailer still lists him for the winter season, and Bandai Namco says he'll get his own Tekken 8 trailer at the Tekken World Tour Finals on January 17, 2017. That suggests Hanma will be added to the game soon after, if previous Tekken 8 trailers are any indication.

https://youtu.be/fehoyeYVOtE

If you're unfamiliar with the source material, Hanma is essentially the apex predator of strength within the Baki universe. While most characters in the manga are somewhat limited by the rules of physics, Hanma is an anomaly: an undefeatable collection of muscles that can do the impossible. Why? Because he's Yujiro Hanma.

While his son, Baki, is the protagonist of the manga and anime, Hanma is arguably the breakout star thanks to the sheer absurdity of his feats. US presidents have to regularly swear their loyalty to him, he once stopped an earthquake by punching it, and even being struck by lightning doesn't bother him. Because he's Yujiro Hanma.

If there's one thing his Tekken 8 character model accurately captures, it's the ridiculous amount of muscle mass he has. Tekken 8 was built in Unreal Engine 5 and designed to showcase hyper-realistic human anatomy in real time. To pull this off, the developers doubled the digital bone structure from Tekken 7 to 8 for each character and implemented a system that automatically triggers auxiliary bones to drive realistic muscle bulging, twisting, and tightening based on character positioning and movement.

On top of that, dynamic muscle striations, bulging veins, and sweat effects are also baked into each character, while a special dual-mesh system prevents clothing clipping. All of this is a lot of fancy tech for a split-second glimpse of muscles bulging before they land a knockout blow, but it feels custom-made to show off Hanma's physics-defying physique.

Since launch, Tekken 8 has expanded its roster with several new and familiar characters, including a reborn Heihachi Mishima, Anna, and Final Fantasy 16's Clive Rosfield. It hasn't been smooth sailing recently, as several controversial balance updates, gameplay systems that stripped away defensive options, and aggressive monetization choices have led to community backlash.

Longtime Tekken development chief Katsuhiro Harada also left Bandai Namco late last year, and he has since set up a new studio at SNK.

The soulslike genre has been around long enough now that it's easy to pick out its most recognizable traits. Whether it's managing stamina in combat, the risk of losing progression with each death, health items and enemies that respawn when you reach a bonfire, lantern, or some other recognizable checkpoint; all of the best in the genre adapt these in their own distinct ways. 

Valor Mortis is no different, but attempts to stand out through its shift in perspective. By moving the action to a first-person view, Valor Mortis affords itself novelty, which works well with snappy and satisfying combat that rewards deft parries and patience in equal measure. But it's also marred by a weak story and sluggishly paced opening hours that betray the more captivating moments in its second half, where Valor Mortis' most interesting narrative beats and combat encounters finally deliver on some of the potential you can see being established in the hours prior.

You play as William Dowsett, a very British-sounding member of Napoleon's army who returns from the dead only to find former allies taken over by corruption sweeping across Europe. The corruption has twisted people; large red boils replace the heads of riflemen, infantrymen have their spines snapped as they are transformed into grotesque and rabid attack dogs, and piles of bodies have become living masses of flesh that slowly crawl toward you when you least expect it. It's a familiar world that has been transformed into a nightmare for William as he attempts to reconnect with missing comrades and understand how the war has found itself in this state, leading him to answers that will likely be far less surprising for you as a player.

Valor Mortis' story is frustratingly straightforward, and wastes a setting so rarely used in action games. William's slow realization that the war he's been waging on behalf of the bloodthirsty Napoleon Bonaparte might not be as noble as he assumed is annoyingly drawn out for how predictable it is. It's hard to get invested with a main character who has little more going for him than verbalizing his disgust over the consequences of a war he so recently was proud to be a part of, blissfully ignorant to the horrors he was unleashing on innocent citizens along the way. Conversations with the game's supporting cast don't help either, with none making a lasting impression. 

Once Valor Mortis starts exploring the villages and cities besieged by Bonaparte and his corrupted forces, there are more compelling stories to discover. You'll come across brief echoes that capture fleeting conversations from the past, distilling short but often heartbreaking stories. They effectively convey the desperation some civilians endured when faced with a foreign, oppressive force taking over their day-to-day lives. There's an entire city filled with orphans who scurry around underground tunnels, and another nearly entirely underwater after a heinous war crime extinguished a rebellion without care for civilian casualties. They're effective at contextualizing why so much of the world around you is desolate and broken without having to see those events play out, and they do a great job of making you hate an antagonist you'll hardly ever see.

It's frustrating that it takes a while to get here, however, with many of Valor Mortis' opening hours taking place across battlefields that, while twisted by the corruption around them, ultimately blend together in forgettable ways. These areas are almost strictly linear, with clear paths from beginning to end and only slight detours to explore. Around the halfway mark, this monotonous world design flips around entirely--you move from abandoned villages to burning cities and down into labyrinthine catacombs beneath an eerily empty university. These spaces feel more like small hubs, with smart shortcuts back to resting points (represented here as lanterns, which restock your healing vials and respawn enemies as you might expect) that make them feel more carefully considered in comparison to the opening hours.

Valor Mortis' combat is where it takes its biggest swings. Its shift to a first-person perspective is the most immediate and distinct change from typical soulslikes, but its split between melee and ranged combat and multiple weapon options are equally impactful. It is still all about crowd and stamina control, as well as a familiar reliance on parries, too. The tighter field of view makes it important to intelligently choose which enemies to engage and when, though off-screen markers  help alleviate potential frustrations the perspective change would otherwise introduce. Melee combat is fast and responsive, with parries being especially satisfying to pull off given the tight windows that make many duels, especially those against bosses, exhilarating. I rarely tired of hearing the sound cues of a critical attack, be it from a stealth attack or through breaking their posture, accompanied by violent, contextual executions that varied based on the weapons I had equipped. Ranged combat is given a greater emphasis than most other soulslike games too, and you'll routinely be challenged to pick off enemies from afar while juggling those within striking distance. 

"By moving the action to a first-person view, Valor Mortis affords itself novelty, which works well with snappy and satisfying combat that rewards deft parries and patience in equal measure"

There is a range of offensive weapons and abilities on offer, each of which is introduced as you progress through the story. Included are three types of swords: a rapier that excels at parries and building posture damage, a two-handed claymore that forgoes parries entirely in favor of slow, powerful, and magically imbued attacks, and a well-rounded saber that balances damage and posture damage. Firearms are similarly varied, with a quick-firing pistol, a slow but powerful blunderbuss that's devastating at close range, and a two-handed musket that's great for picking off enemies from afar. You're also granted three transmutations, or magical abilities, which allow you to hurl fire at enemies, freeze them with stasis, or absorb and reflect their damage back at them, as well as the ability to wall-run (which feels just as good as it did in developer One More Level's Ghostrunner series).

Each of these weapons and abilities feature its own upgrade trees, with specific materials required to unlock each sequential node. I ended up finding enough materials to nearly max out each upgrade tree without specifically hunting for them, which allowed me the freedom to experiment with each one without having to commit to specific configurations. This seems by design, given that you'll always have one sword equipped in your main hand and either a firearm or spell in your off hand, similar to Dishonored or BioShock 2, as well as the ability to swap either one at any time.

Despite the freedom of choice, I was surprised by how little I swapped between the various options, especially when it came to both swords and magical abilities. The saber, which is the first weapon you're given, fulfilled my needs so perfectly that I only briefly dabbled with both the rapier and claymore before changing back. The rapier's slightly additional posture damage never made up for its inability to block attacks without perfect parries, and the claymore is introduced so late and is incapable of performing parries entirely, stripping out one of the most satisfying elements of the entire combat loop. 

The same goes for the three transmutations, as I found myself mostly sticking to fire given its effectiveness against most enemies. Building up enough stasis on enemies consumed more nephtoglobin, or mana, than it seemed worthwhile, and the act of absorbing and returning damage with the third ability always felt more clunky in practice and less effective than just sticking to the far more satisfying parrying mechanic. These two other abilities are utilized more often in environmental puzzles, though these are predominantly used to initially explain how the abilities work. They go mostly ignored afterward, annoyingly not building on the gameplay design introduced early on.

Enemy variety is partly to blame. Valor Mortis features a relatively shallow pool of foes and takes a long time to start combining them in ways that make you consider how to approach a fight in specific ways. You'll be fighting the same slow-moving and weak infantryman in your first and last hours of the game, which saps some of the satisfaction out of the combat when you're pulling off the same parries against the same attacks for hours on end. In a similar fashion to the level design, this starts resolving itself when you have the full complement of weapons and abilities at your disposal, at which point enemy combinations and slight variations start becoming more abundant. With the added benefit of more open spaces to explore and more opportunities to deliver surprises with enemy placements, Valor Mortis' combat eventually starts to shine. It's just a pity that it takes some time to get there.

That might be a blessing or a curse depending on what you're coming to Valor Mortis for, but it has a noticeable knock-on effect that's difficult to ignore. Runbacks after death were far less tense because of how familiar and, in many cases, sparse enemies were. Character progression, which is governed by an upgrade tree with no branching paths to commit to, didn't drastically change the way I played, instead just giving me a means to buff my attributes to keep up with the escalating damage and health pools of enemies. I was rarely seeking out a specific upgrade to help deal with new foes because I had become accustomed to fighting the same ones over and over again. Thankfully boss fights offered some reprieve to this, as they tend to feature a good variety of enemies, large and lumbering to small and nimble, that inject the combat with a sense of challenge and tension. 

There are many other elements outside of combat, too, that only start to really click closer to the game's climax. Early stages are so preoccupied with introducing you to new weapons and abilities and providing you with spaces to learn each one of them that they feel disjointed and unfocused. At one point you're taking out distant groups of enemies conveniently placed next to explosive barrels to showcase the effectiveness of your new musket, and at another you're engaging in a long platforming sequence where you need to string together wall runs and grapples while maintaining pace with a moving cart through a mine shaft. Ultimately, all these issues stem from a lack of restraint; There are too many disparate ideas that feel at odds with the best aspect of Valor Mortis, making it feel directionless at times.

Valor Mortis betrays the heights it reaches in its second half. Its first-person combat is snappy and satisfying, but the limited enemy pool, underutilized weapons and abilities, and lack of consistent challenge ultimately prevent it from shining. And while this historical period is novel to explore with a dark, supernatural twist, it doesn't play host to a wider, captivating story, and is only salvaged by smaller, emotionally charged vignettes that effectively convey the consequences of a war that its protagonist so naively comes to terms with. There are the bones of a great game here--one that would benefit from a tighter focus on its engaging first-person combat and a trimming of the superfluous mechanics that detract from the ones that work. Instead, it's an uneven experience that delights as much as it disappoints.

Star Citizen's single-player mode, Squadron 42, has made a reappearance with a new trailer showing off the mode's impressive cast and interstellar warfare. In development for 12 years, the ambitious mode blends outer space dogfighting and first-person action, set during an era when hostile alien forces have pushed humanity to the brink of defeat. As a rising star in the United Empire of Earth Navy, players must push back the invaders and save the day.

The new trailer is the best look yet at the mode and the many, many actors who play various characters in the story mode. From Mark Hamill (who knows a thing or two about space combat) to Gary Oldman, the rest of the cast also includes Gillian Anderson, Ben Mendelsohn, Henry Cavill, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Rhona Mitra, and more famous faces in the mix. For the player characters, Ian Duncan (Broken News) plays the male player character, while Alix Wilton Regan (the new face and voice of Tomb Raider games) portrays the female player character.

https://youtu.be/i4rVtLAenmk

With development being led by Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts at Cloud Imperium Games, the trailer includes a healthy mix of cinematics and gameplay, showing off on-foot sections, life aboard the capital ship that players will be stationed on, minigames, and the space combat that fans of the genre have shown up for. There's no solid release date yet for the mode, but a Q2 2027 release window is listed instead, and you can wishlist it now on the CIG website and Steam. As of 2023, CIG described the standalone campaign as feature-complete, and the team said it was working on "dialing in" the gameplay so it would feel as "immersive as possible."

Squadron 42 has been brewing in the background ever since Star Citizen was first announced, with the mode seemingly being close to release earlier this year and then getting a delay to 2027 so that it could escape being overshadowed by GTA 6--which to be fair, is a strategy that many games have opted for recently.

"Much like the rest of the industry there is no way I want to launch my spiritual successor to Wing Commander, a game that has had 12 years of blood, sweat and tears invested into it, launching into the attention buzz saw of GTA 6," Roberts wrote in a blog post earlier this year. "While GTA 6 isn’t launching on PC this November, pretty much all outlets and most content creators will be all over it, not leaving a lot of room for other coverage."

Development on Star Citizen is still ongoing, and the game has raised over $1 billion in funding since it was first announced. A large chunk of that cash comes from CIG selling spaceships that can cost as much as $5,000 each, money that the game's devoted fanbase is happy to spend on the project. Worryingly, Star Citizen was in the spotlight after a recent developer livestream intended to show the game off in a positive light. 

But instead of seeing what Star Citizen could be, the gameplay shown off was littered with bugs, glitches, and palpable tension between the developers as they attempted to salvage the broadcast.

Haunted Chocolatier, the second game from Stardew Valley creator, Eric Barone, has been in development for more than five years, having been announced in October 2021. While there's no official word on the Haunted Chocolatier release date, Barone has been discussing the development of the game, including who it's for and more about the playstyle. In a recent interview with GQ, Barone said that Haunted Chocolatier is "more of an action RPG," although it is still what he'd call "a town game."

"The main focus is more about adventuring, finding equipment and getting more powerful. There are monsters, there are boss fights. It's for the people in Stardew Valley that go into the mines," he explained.

https://youtu.be/kJy7LF789lo

Writing on the Haunted Chocolatier website, Barone regularly apologizes for the game "taking so long," but reassures fans that he's making good progress on the game. "I won't compromise on the quality of the game by rushing it or releasing it too early," he adds.

Still, now that we have more information on what the game might entail, the wait feels like it will be worth it. According to GQ, Barone has "returned to isolation" to focus on finishing Haunted Chocolatier. "I really want to recapture that feeling that I had when I was making Stardew Valley," Barone said. "Everyone's watching me, and if I don't do things a certain way, it might disappoint millions of people."

Haunted Chocolatier is also shaping up to be bigger, and creepier, than Stardew Valley. In 2025, Barone said he "hoped" the game would release within the next five years, so we should get our hands on it before 2030, all being well. Fingers crossed.