In a faraway kingdom in a land of legend, a mysterious plague of unknown origin has rapidly infected the population. Dubbed the "Red Plague", the evil nature of the phenomenon is unmistakable: the dead begin to rise from their graves, and demonic incarnations begin to appear. Within months, the dead form an evil army commanded by the Lords of Darkness. Villages and towns begin to be ravaged, the demonic legions growing with each victory. Make your way through the 5 levels and many powerful Bosses, kicking the butt of enemies specific to their environment. Use your double jump to dodge enemies and traps, or to reach certain platforms. As in old arcade games, you can only be hit twice before losing a life. The first time, you lose your armor, but you can continue to fight the forces of evil in UNDIES! Get hit again, however, and you'll lose your life miserably. Losing a life takes you back to the beginning of the level, or to the ... checkpoint if you've reached it. Beware of "Game Over"...

The launch of Split Fiction couldn't have gone any better for Hazelight Studios and EA. In just two weeks, Split Fiction has become EA's No. 2 all-time game on Steam. Now, a Split Fiction movie is reportedly in development, and the project is expected to attract a bidding war from Hollywood Studios.

According to Variety, Hazelight is reuniting with Story Kitchen, the media company that helped sell the movie rights for the studio's previous game, It Takes Two, which landed at Amazon MGM Studios. The report indicates that Hazelight and Story Kitchen are already assembling cast members, writers, and a director for the pitch before Split Fiction goes out to potential buyers.

The game follows two young women, Zoe and Mio, who are strangers to each other before they find themselves trapped together in mishmash of the sci-fi and fantasy stories they've written. In order to escape from the virtual world and return to reality, the two women have to figure out how to work together and use their skills to survive the experience.

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Hold your breath, plug your nose, and dive into a new horror game revealed during the Future Game Show, as the first-person horror-adventure Dark Mass is coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.

Similar to 2021's French horror film The Deep House, Dark Mass is set almost entirely underwater. Players take on the role of Alice, a deep-sea explorer who comes upon the wreckage of an ancient ship while diving with her brother Reed. Creepily, it's not so much the ship but an entire manor lost to history and buried beneath the wreck that becomes the centerpiece of the scary story.

The game will use underwater physics to affect player movement and worsen an already unfortunate situation for the siblings. Gameplay consists of puzzles to solve and choices to make, all while an entity is pursuing you beneath the waves.

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Remedy is a studio known for disappearing into its work for several years, then emerging with an inventive, often mind-bending, single-player game such as Max Payne, Alan Wake, or Control. But the studio has grown a lot lately, becoming a team juggling several projects simultaneously. Alongside the upcoming Max Payne remakes and Control 2, Remedy is also trying something very different from its past games. FBC Firebreak is a three-player co-op PvE first-person shooter set in The Oldest House, the setting for Control. I recently got to see a hands-off preview of the game, which strives to combine the team's signature strangeness with the pick-up-and-play appeal of a modern multiplayer shooter. But its best feat may be what it doesn't want to be: your part-time job.

In FBC Firebreak, teams of three players go on missions called Jobs, in which they have to cleanse various sections of the unpredictable Oldest House, fighting The Hiss with an array of weapons that feels decidedly Remedy-like. Control's wide variety of Hiss enemies was on exciting display in the mission I saw, called Paper Chase, in which FBC first responders had to make it through hordes of corrupted agents using weapons like a piggy-bank mallet, all before fighting a gigantic boss monster that had formed from millions of sticky notes, like a chaotic blend of Office Space and Ghostbusters.

FBC Firebreak leans into some classic co-op mechanics, such as complementary player builds, but it leans into Remedy's weirdness, too.

The demo I saw showed off several "Kits," each of them meant to lean into a type of play and collectively complement each other in a three-person squad. The Jump Kit uses electricity abilities and offers buffs to mobility; the Fix Kit is a tanky offering with a huge wrench for melee attacks; the Splash Kit is designed as a support class that can disrupt the environment using a water-based loadout.

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The Sims fans, rejoice. Finally, a competitor to the life simulation game is around the corner as InZoi launches on March 28. Ahead of its release, Krafton is providing access to the game's Creative Studio mode via a demo on Steam, but you'll need to complete a few steps before you can play it.

The first part of the Creative Studio is the Character Studio, where players can create their character, called a Zoi, whether they choose to go true-to-life, replicate a celebrity or character, or just come up with a brand-new creation. The second mode is Build Studio, where you can design a house from the ground up, including decorations. It even has the ability to use custom textures, so you can import your own home's artwork should you so wish.

A custom character made in the Inzoi Character Studio

To get access to the InZoi Creative Studio follow these steps:

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Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is taking to the seas, as the game's first expansion, War Sails, will introduce naval warfare to the unique medieval action-RPG sandbox on June 17.

War Sails will expand Mount & Blade 2's world map and introduce an entirely new region to the world of Calradia: the Northern Kingdoms and its surrounding sea. It's there the Viking-themed Nords call home, and they can be traded with, recruited, or battled against, just like Mount & Blade 2's other factions.

But the real star of the expansion is the introduction of naval battles, where players can master the wind, upgrade and customize ships, and defeat their enemies on the high seas. Rivers come into play as well, with players able to sail up them to strike into enemy territory, cut off supply lines, and blockade enemy towns.

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Reviewing InZoi without mentioning The Sims, which is easily its most direct influence, comparison, and competitor is, quite simply, a fool's errand. There was a part of me--a very naive part, mind you--that thought it might be a bit fun to see how long I could go without making mention of the game in this review as a sort of challenge for myself. Clearly, I have already failed.

However, the context in which InZoi exists matters. Whereas the world is filled with cozy games, life sims, and plenty of other titles that reside somewhere between the two, extremely few play quite like The Sims. It goes without saying that Maxis created something extremely special back in 2000--something so creative, charming, innovative, and intricately designed that seemingly no other game studio has even attempted to put an end to its quarter-century long reign over the life-sim genre. There is no denying that the franchise's reputation has taken some hits over the years, primarily due to its perceived stagnation and parent company EA's predatory monetization tactics. As this discontent has grown, so too has the number of people looking for a viable competitor. And now, thanks to InZoi, we have a fresh-faced and utterly gorgeous new challenger.

Four Zois meet up to have a chat in Bliss Bay

Considering its good looks were among the first of many things that made InZoi such a highly anticipated title, I'll start by saying that it is just as mind-blowing to look at as it seems. From its UI to its city streets to its pouty-lipped, pop star-esque characters, everything about InZoi is visually remarkable. Vast amounts of customization options, an immersive and ever-changing open world, and an intense focus on making things feel true-to-life yet just slightly more grand further polish this gem. And I was relieved that, despite all its luster, the game ran perfectly fine on my less-than-great gaming PC (AMD Ryzen 5 3600/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super). And yet, I was ultimately forced to reckon with the fact that, in my 20 or so hours with InZoi, I missed out on something incredibly important: having fun. Though InZoi is impressive, immersive, and brimming with potential, in its current state there is a sterility and lifelessness that is hard to move past. This paired with stale gameplay ultimately made InZoi a game I desperately wanted to enjoy, but seldom did.

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At the Future Games Show: Spring Showcase, publisher Arc Games revealed a video game adaptation of Frosthaven. Based on the popular board game and in production at Snapshot Games, development on the project is being led by CEO and X-COM creator Julian Gollop. Isaac Childres--who designed the Frosthaven board game--is also involved with the adaptation and fans can check out a closed beta playtest for Frosthaven starting March 27 and running through April 24. This will feature six starting character classes and 20 quests to try out.

"We're very excited to bring Frosthaven into the digital realm," Gollop said in a press release. "With this video game adaptation of Frosthaven, all of us at Snapshot Games know just how beloved the board game is and have been taking great care of replicating the board game experience as much as possible. We feel that fans of the board game, both newcomers and long-time veterans, will find that the video game we're working on is not only a faithful adaptation but also another way to play their favorite board game in a more accessible way to help introduce their friends to the game."

If you've never played it, Frosthaven is a spiritual successor to the board game Gloomhaven. One of the most successful board games to be crowdfunded through Kickstarter, the core focus of Frosthaven is on carefully managing resources, coming up with powerful synergies between character classes, and exploring a world of grim fantasy.

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Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days is coming to Steam in just a few weeks as an early-access game. The news was revealed during the latest Future Games Show. The 2D zombie survival game debuts on April 9 for $25 and is a spinoff of a series that's gathered 150 million downloads on mobile.

Unlike the original mobile games, which are first-person auto-runners, Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days is a 2D third-person survival game set in Texas circa 1980 that asks players to manage characters' health and wellbeing, scavenge for supplies, and build a base. Combat is best avoided, as just one or two undead monsters can kill playable characters, especially if they're already injured, sick, or tired.

Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days lets you build out a base, but demands you defend or even ditch it when it's time.

Like State of Decay, the game features permadeath, so there are no do-overs and killing off your entire community will spell game over. The game's dwindling resources and difficult choices are reminiscent of This War of Mine, routinely asking players to choose the best of a bad bunch of options.

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Bloober Team has been busy recently, with the recent Silent Hill 2 remake garnering critical acclaim and its next project, Cronos: The New Dawn, due later this year. Today, during the Future Games Show, the Polish studio not only announced a new development studio in Broken Mirror Games, but also the label's first project: I Hate This Place, an adaptation of the popular comic series via a partnership with Skybound Entertainment.

I Hate This Place is an isometric survival-horror game that puts players into the role of Elena, who finds herself dealing with a supernatural evil she mistakenly unleashed into the world. Elena will fight her way through hordes of monsters with both melee weapons and firearms, while also crafting important supplies in her bid to reach each safehouse before nightfall.

I Hate This PlaceGallery

A brief teaser trailer shows off the adaptation's visual style, which will use a retro comic-book theme similar to its source material. We also see a few of the giant monsters Elena will face off against, as well as a brief tease of the Horned Man at the center of it all.

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33 Immortals couldn't be further from Spiritfarer if it tried. Developer Thunder Lotus made an impression with its cozy and, at times, tear-jerking management and platforming mash-up, but is trading its glistening seas and carefree exploration for a far more dangerous expedition. 33 Immortals is all about action, thrusting you and over 30 others other players into chaotic PvE skirmishes and even greater challenges as you attempt to ascend through the different floors of the underworld and wage a rebellion against the forces that keep you there.

33 Immortals attempts to distill the rush of an MMO raid into smaller, run-based encounters that you can participate in with up to 32 other players. Each run starts on a relatively large map that revolves around PvE encounters. You're encouraged to quickly link up with other players in order to survive, while also empowering yourself by killing enemies and collecting resources for upgrades. Dotted around the map are 12 Torture Chambers, which are your initial objectives to tackle. These combat arenas only allow six players in at a time but through two intense waves of enemies at you in a confined space. Clearing these rooms offer rewards, but also work towards the greater goal of unlocking an ascension challenge. The stakes shift here, with a more involved combat encounter waiting for a larger group of 11 players. Those remaining outside can use the time to continue getting stronger before attempting the challenge too, with the final, climatic boss fight waiting once everyone still alive manages to succeed.

As its name implies, 33 Immortals sees you teaming up with 32 other players.

The structure that each run follows offers an easy to understand process that you need to follow to ultimately succeed, stripping out a lot of the guesswork usually associated with raid-like activities in games like Destiny and World of Warcraft. This not only allows runs to be significantly shorter, but also means you can easily hop in and out of sessions without having to commit potentially a few hours at a time to make progress. This streamlining is exactly what 33 Immortals is aiming to achieve, but right now it comes with the caveat of reducing your focus solely down to its combat, which doesn't yet exude a level of depth that suggests it'll be enough to carry run after run.

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If you're looking for a unique way to experience the Harry Potter book series, consider diving into the Interactive Illustrated Editions. These beautiful hardcover editions include full-color artwork alongside interactive papercraft elements based on iconic moments from the story. Interactive Editions of the first three Harry Potter books are currently available, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Interactive Illustrated Edition is up for preorder for a 20% discount ahead of its October 14 release.

See all four Interactive Editions Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Interactive Illustrated Edition (Hardcover) $40 (was $50) | Releases October 14

The Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Interactive Illustrated Edition is a special hardcover edition of the fourth novel in the series with new cover art and 150 full-color illustrations by Karl James Mountford.

Along with artwork throughout, eight scenes from The Goblet of Fire are accompanied by interactive elements. Scholastic has teased a few of the papercraft components: the Weasley family tent at the Quidditch World Cup, the moment Harry sees the Dark Mark in the Sky, Harry's journey to the Lake at Hogwarts, and the maze from the final challenge of the Triwizard Tournament.

The Goblet of Fire: Interactive Illustrated Edition is 608 pages, which is markedly shorter than the original 752-page hardcover, but it's worth emphasizing that the upcoming edition still contains the complete unabridged text.

Preorder at Amazon Harry Potter: Interactive Illustrated Editions

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- $21.61 ($38)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -- $19 ($38)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -- $22.39 ($40)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -- $40 ($50) | Releases October 14
• Harry Potter: Interactive Illustrated Edition Box Set (Books 1-3) -- $82.38 ($116)

Harry Potter fans interested in starting a collection of Interactive Illustrated Editions can save big on the first three books. A box set compiling the first three released last fall, but it's roughly $20 cheaper to buy each book individually right now. The only downside to buying each book on its own is you miss out on the gorgeous display box. Like Goblet of Fire, the first three novels each contain over 150 full-color illustrations and eight interactive elements.

Harry Potter: Interactive Illustrated Edition Box Set (Designed by MinaLima)

The Interactive Illustrated Edition series debuted in 2020 with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The second book in the series, Chamber of Secrets, was published in 2021, and was followed up by Prisoner of Azkaban in 2023. Notably, those three books were designed and illustrated by MinaLima, a design studio who worked on the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts film franchises from the beginning.

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The latest Palworld update v0.5.0 added several new features to the game, and it finally lets you make use of all the schematics duplicates you find in the game. Here we'll walk you through the steps needed to use those old Palworld schematics as upgrades for better rarities.

Palworld's schematic upgrades explained

Palworld's schematics can help you craft better weapons and gear, but the really helpful high-rarity schematics are often difficult to obtain. Like the name suggests, those high-rarity schematics are indeed very rare.

Instead, you probably have tons of low-level schematics stored away in your game because they feel useless. Now, the latest update lets you use those duplicates to craft higher-rarity versions.

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