Wildlight's free-to-play shooter Highguard was not the success that the studio wanted to see, and now senior level designer Alex Graner has said he thinks the gameplay being so intense didn't help.

He said on the Quad Damage podcast that Highguard releasing as a 3v3-only game required "such a high intensity of communication" with teammates. "It doesn't leave much room for casualness. I think that was the biggest thing that turned a lot of players off Highguard," he said, as reported by Kotaku.

"3v3 duos is always the sweatiest version of anything like battle royale, objective modes, wingman, you know it, you name it," Graner added.

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The Second Galactic War rages on in Helldivers 2, with more than 8.6 billion Helldivers giving their lives last year. Of that number, 177 million were from friendly fire.

That's just one of the staggering statistics revealed by developer Arrowhead Studios in a new infographic charting enemy casualties, friendly-fire incidents, most popular stratagems, and more data from the game's second year.

While billions of Helldivers died defending democracy, it was much worse for Super Earth's foes. According to Arrowhead, Helldivers 2 players killed nearly 280 billion enemies across the game's three factions. The bug-like Terminids made up the majority of those, with 121 billion of the bugs slain over the course of the last year. In return, the Terminids claimed 2.8 billion Helldivers.

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Bungie's Marathon launches soon, and similar to its work on Destiny 2, the extraction shooter will be anchored by seasons that run for three months at a time. Each season is designed to contribute to the evolution of Marathon over time, but the main takeaway is that as soon as a new one begins, all players will have their progress reset to zero.

Bungie says that seasonal resets will include everyone's gear, contract progression, faction progression, and player level, but achievements and cosmetics--both earned and paid--will not be affected. Codex progression and liaison contract progression will also carry over, and Bungie says the reset is designed to make loot feel meaningful while keeping the game dangerous. "It's a way to say goodbye to the old, welcome the new, and kick off a journey from zero-to-hero with new ways to play, content to master, and things to discover," Bungie added.

Seasons will also be free for all players and won't require them to purchase expansions or DLC to access. As players complete contracts and progress through faction upgrades, they'll steadily increase their power and gain access to better gear from the armor, allowing them to craft their ideal build and recover easily from a bad run on Tau Ceti 4. Once a season starts to draw to a close, Bungie explained that this will create a sense of urgency as players decide to jump into battle with their best gear before they lose it.

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Last fall, Prime Video announced that it's adapting Square Enix's Life Is Strange as a live-action TV series. Now, the two primary leading roles have been cast.

Tatum Grace Hopkins will portray Maxine "Max" Caulfield, while Maisy Stella will play her best friend, Chloe Price. Outside of her roles on Broadway--including The Queen of Versailles and For the Girls--Hopkins is virtually unknown in the entertainment industry. Life is Strange will be her first TV role ever.

Stella is better known as a musician, but she has an impressive acting resume as well. She had a co-starring role on ABC's Nashville for six seasons, and had a starring turn opposite Aubrey Plaza in the Prime Video original film My Old Ass. Her next films, Poetic License and Flowervale Street, are slated to debut later this year.

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Steam Next Fest has wrapped up--for now--and out of the thousands of game demos that were available to try, Bungie's Marathon rose to the top of the list. According to Steam, it gathered the data and listed the games below by the number of unique players during Next Fest. While that metric does technically work, it does raise an eyebrow around the definition of a demo during Next Fest.

Bungie had labeled this preview of Marathon as a "Server Slam" test that was open to everyone for several days and was primarily designed to stress-test the game's online functionality while providing feedback to the studio. Does that count as a demo, let alone a Next Fest demo? That's debatable, given the origins of Next Fest, which sprang to life in 2019 as part of a week-long Steam Game Festival that was held in conjunction with The Game Awards.

The event originally promised a selection of time-limited game demos for upcoming games, with it eventually transforming into Steam Next Fest a few years later. The first Next Fest of the year has been criticized for being flooded with far too many demos, with users on the Steam Forums calling out developers for diluting the event with AI slop that drowns out legitimate efforts from other studios and publishers. To make things even more complicated, many of the Next Fest demos went live several days before the event kicked off--in an effort to gain some visibility--while other studios submitted older demos for Next Fest that had been active for several months already.

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If you visited the internet in the past two weeks, you probably know about Punch the monkey, the adorable little guy who was abandoned by his mother and shoved by his zoomates, turning to a stuffed animal from IKEA for love and attention. He later found friends in his enclosure at the Ichikawa City Zoo, but the story isn't over yet. A video game based on Punch the monkey has now arrived.

Zoo Fighter, as it's called, is a free web game made by former Fortnite developer Marcus Brown, who developed the game under the name Richie Branson.

In the game, you play as Punch and tap the screen on mobile, or click your mouse on desktop, to swat away bullies. Knock out 100 and Punch gets to go to a sanctuary, instead of a zoo. And that's the point of the video game. "This game is a love letter to all animals doing a bid at the zoo. Animal sanctuaries are often better for primates than zoos because they put the animals' well-being first instead of public display," reads a line from the game's description.

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Everyone loves a good shadowdrop, and Nintendo revealed not just one, but three of them in today's Indie World presentation. The biggest of the trio--and saved for last--was Blue Prince, which was one of GameSpot's 10 best games of 2025. The critically acclaimed puzzle game will be available later today on Switch 2, even featuring mouse controls on the system.

Joining Blue Prince on Switch 2 today are Rotwood and Minishoot Adventures. The former comes from Mark of the Ninja and Don't Starve developer Klei Entertainment. In fact, Rotwood is a console exclusive on Switch 2, previously being in Steam Early Access since 2024. The co-op brawler sees you battling enemies across seven different environments with weapons like a hammer and bow. Intriguingly, Rotwood was planned to release on Netflix at one time.

Meanwhile, Minishoot Adventures is the only title arriving on Switch 2 and the original Switch. One of GameSpot's favorite PC games from 2024, the twin-stick shooter sees players fighting through dungeons and rescuing cute friends. Minishoot Adventures basically marries together Geometry Wars with The Legend of Zelda to create a captivating experience.

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A new Pokemon generation is on the horizon, now that Pokemon Winds and Waves has officially been revealed. The next mainline game--once again developed by Game Freak--will introduce the tenth generation of Pokemon, and while exact details are being kept under wraps for now, the reveal trailer showed off plenty of details. We've been busy connecting the poke-dots ahead of the game's release next year, and here's everything we know so far about Pokemon Winds and Waves.

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• When will Pokemon Winds and Waves be released?
• Pokemon Winds and Waves platform

When will Pokemon Winds and Waves be released?

Nintendo has penciled in a 2027 release window for Pokemon Winds and Waves, which means that this new mainline entry will be skipping the 30th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise. Big Pokemon games typically launch in the second half of the year, but if you need something Poke-flavored to play right now, Pokemon Pokopia might be the surprise hit spin-off game to check out.

Pokemon Winds and Waves platform

The new Pokemon game will be waving goodbye to the last-gen Switch console, as Nintendo has confirmed that Pokemon Winds and Waves will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. While the news might be disappointing to anyone who isn't ready to upgrade to the Switch 2 yet, the shift to Nintendo's new hardware might be for the best given the rough presentation of previous mainline games on the older console, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in particular looking sub-par when compared to other open-world games on the system.

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As part of the Indie World showcase, Nintendo announced that Minishoot Adventures is releasing today, March 3, on Switch and Switch 2. Not long after, the developer announced it's actually widely available on PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X as well, and included in Xbox Game Pass. The unconventional mash-up is a blend of puzzle and exploration akin to a classic top-down Zelda game, with combat and movement that feels like a twin-stick shooter. It was one of our favorite under-the-radar hits when it first released on PC in 2024, and it's an absolutely perfect fit for the handheld Switch systems. Check below for our impressions of the original and why this one is a can't-miss.

The enduring popularity of The Legend of Zelda has led to no shortage of imitators. For those lamenting the lack of a new top-down 2D Zelda from Nintendo, Steam is rife with homages that approximate the feeling of delving into forests, caves, and dungeons armed only with a plucky attitude and your uncle's sword. Minishoot Adventures, the sophomore game from indie studio SoulGame, is different, but no less reverent as an homage. Rather than crib from Zelda in a very literal sense, this one reimagines and recaptures the same sensation of classic Zelda by recontextualizing it as a bullet hell shooter.

Instead of an elven tween, you're a sentient spaceship. Your allies and enemies, also spaceships. The world is open and free roaming with item gating, like classic Zelda and metroidvania games. Movement feels sharp and snappy immediately, like picking up a game of PixelJunk Shooter or Geometry Wars. It even has a series of dungeons with clever traps, environmental puzzles, game-changing powers, and tough boss battles.

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Video game developers aren't waiting until the usual June-July window for livestreams, and next on the digital showcase block is Capcom. Kicking off on March 5 at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET, the Capcom Spotlight will highlight several more of the company's upcoming releases, and it will run for 30 minutes.

With one of its biggest releases of the year, Resident Evil Requiem, now out and scaring up some positive review scores, Capcom will be shifting the spotlight to games like Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, Pragmata, and Megaman Dual Override. Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection and Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition will also be shown off.

Pragmata is looking to be one of the more interesting games released in 2026, as this sci-fi adventure mixes shooting, deadly robots, and hacking together. Players take control of an astronaut and his android companion, and together the duo has to work their way through a research station in space while dealing with mutinous robots hellbent on stopping them. It'll launch soon on April 24 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.

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Warzone's Season 2 Reloaded update adds a new mode called Black Ops Royale, which is inspired by Call of Duty's original Blackout battle royale. This new experience removes the custom weapon loadouts found in Warzone's other game modes, and it requires scavenging of ground loot and upgrade kits. Here's everything you need to know about weapon archetypes and how to upgrade them in Black Ops Royale.

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• How to get guns in Black Ops Royale

How to get guns in Black Ops Royale

There are no custom loadouts to buy or earn in Black Ops Royale. All players start with a pistol and a knife, and any additional weapons are obtained from ground loot, supply boxes, or activity rewards.

More details on Black Ops Royale's activities can be found here, including the high-tier loot areas called Cradle Breaches.

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Warzone's Season 2 Reloaded update adds a new mode called Black Ops Royale, which is inspired by Call of Duty's original Blackout battle royale. While perks are available in this mode, they work much differently than traditional Warzone modes. In this guide, we'll discuss all available perks, how to find them, and when to use them.

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• How perks work in Black Ops Royale

How perks work in Black Ops Royale

Black Ops Royale removes Warzone's custom loadouts and overhauls the perk system. All perks in this mode are looted during the match. Perks can be scavenged as ground loot, found in supply boxes, or earned as activity rewards.

Unlike Warzone's perks that are active until death, Black Ops Royale features Blackout's temporary consumable perks. The duration of each consumable perk varies, but they usually last around two-to-four minutes. This means you're not locked into three set perks, but instead, you can loot and choose perks based on specific situations.

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Toronto, 20XX. The city has been taken over by 3 rival gangs - the VEGANS, the ROBOTS, and the DEMONS. But who’s behind this madness? When Scott Pilgrim’s bandmates are abducted by shadowy forces, a brand-new adventure begins! Scott Pilgrim EX is an action-adventure game where players can fight as Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers and more as they battle through the fractured time and space of Toronto. The combat gameplay is driven by instinct and improvisation - a hectic ballet of fists and flair that rewards strategy, spontaneity, and a good bit of brawling chaos. String together stylish combos, experiment with wacky weapons and unleash over-the-top special attacks. Characters can be upgraded with special badges that enhance their stats and grant special bonuses. Players will explore a whole city of interconnected levels to meet old and new faces, complete quests, and discover hidden areas. Multiplayer co-op, local or online, lets up to four players join in on the action, making it a fun, dynamic experience.