Author: Karen M. Menke
Beginning with the much-delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft is bringing back Day 1 Steam releases. This decision appears to be a reaction to Star Wars Outlaws’ less-than-expected sales. The change is a reflection of Ubisoft’s significant internal changes as well as the dominance of Steam. With 38,366,479 concurrent users earlier this week, Steam shattered its previous record for the most PC players online. The move is an awareness that any PC game that doesn’t launch on Steam is likely to leave behind a significant section of the audience. It is not just Ubisoft that uses Steam. Almost precisely a year…
This year, Nintendo at last accorded royal treatment to its beloved princesses, giving Peach and Zelda prominent roles in their games. With all due respect to the Mushroom Kingdom’s ruler, however, the leader of Hyrule’s journey is not just another mediocre derivative. Believe me when I say that The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is the next mainline Zelda game (the 2D line, at least) in every meaningful manner. It seamlessly blends the absurdly creative, freeform problem-solving that made Tears of the Kingdom so engrossing with the traditional dungeon crawling and key item-style progression I missed from the earlier…
Gravity Forge, a new third-person cooperative “horde-slaying movement shooter” powered by Unreal Engine 5, has been announced by developer Relay. It immerses you in the role of a skilled parkour assassin who can control gravity in a diesel-punk setting, including walking on walls and creating gravity wells. It is being developed for the PC. View the initial trailer above and the gallery with the initial screenshots below. “Gravity Forge gives the player an additional degree of freedom in both movement and battle,” Relay explains how they hope to differentiate their game. The environment turns into a weapon. You will be…
Tomorrow, Sega will host the fourth annual Sonic Central event, which will give fans a sneak peek at some of the upcoming developments in the universe of Sonic the Hedgehog. On Tuesday, September 24, at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET, the presentation will take place. Beyond stating that it will be “a sneak preview of some of our upcoming projects, partnerships, and events happening through 2025,” Sega did not disclose any information about what will be featured. With Sony having just released the most recent State of Play for later on Tuesday, it could be a busy day for gaming…
Ara: History Untold is one of the most capable turn-based 4X games that has recently attempted to take over Sid Meier’s Civilization, which was once its exclusive domain. As a historical ant farm, at least, the liveliness and attention to detail of its animated towns and cities never cease to delight me. However, it holds us to higher standards as global leaders than Civ ever did, and it does not give us the means to experience what it is like to be king in real life. Fundamentally, Ara’s perspective on history is not all that dissimilar from that of its…
Writing this review has been difficult. Not because I’m at a loss for words, but rather because each time I go back into Satisfactory to verify a detail or look up an item name, I find myself taking a glance at how my workshop is doing, and before I know it, many hours have passed. That is the allure of this seemingly harmless but strangely seductive manufacturing simulator. Whether I’m escaping from extremely impolite aliens that spit fireballs or straining my hair out trying to fix an issue on the factory floor, every minute I’ve spent in this exquisitely complicated…
I’ve been a Zelda fan my entire life, so I always hesitate when other creators decide to create a game that draws inspiration from Nintendo’s well-received action-adventure series. The puzzle design never quite rises to Zelda’s extraordinarily high standards, and I’m typically left wishing I was playing A Link Between Worlds or Ocarina of Time instead. However, The Plucky Squire bucks that pattern with a blend of cunning riddles, straightforward but potent swordplay, and a brave, quiet protagonist who would fit right in Hyrule. Though a bit wordy at times and with some preeminent pacing problems in the last part…
Ghost Games, the former developer of Need for Speed, received criticism almost ten years ago for making the 2015 franchise relaunch exclusive to the internet, even for single players. In response, a continuous internet connection was not necessary for its 2019 follow-up Need for Speed Heat. Owners will no longer be able to play The Crew, even alone, after Ubisoft decommissioned the game earlier this year. The change was not warmly accepted. Ubisoft has stated that The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest will now have offline options this very week. Unlike these changes in direction, Test Drive Unlimited Solar…
According to reports, the Activision Blizzard teams behind Warcraft Rumble and Call of Duty Warzone Mobile have been affected by Microsoft’s shocking cutbacks in the gaming industry. Gamexta has confirmed that Xbox CEO Phil Spencer delivered a note to employees yesterday outlining 650 further layoffs at Microsoft’s gaming division. With the 1,900 layoffs earlier in the year, the total number of layoffs since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $69 billion last year has reached an alarming 2,550. Activision Blizzard’s development teams for Warcraft Rumble and Call of Duty Warzone Mobile were reportedly impacted, according to Game File, despite Spencer’s insistence…
According to a report by Bloomberg, a leadership dispute at Annapurna Interactive resulted in the resignation of the entire gaming crew. According to the claim, which Gamexta can verify based on discussions with our sources, billionaire Megan Ellison, the founder of Annapurna, and president of Annapurna Interactive Nathan Gary have recently been in talks to split off the gaming division as a separate business. Nevertheless, Gary quit once Ellison finally withdrew from the negotiations. Joining him were around thirty other people, including division co-heads Deborah Mars and Nathan Vella and every last member of the Annapurna Interactive crew. “Everyone who…