Steam

It's no secret that Steam dwarfs the Epic Games Store when it comes to the amount of purchases and the number of active users. Epic's never been shy of that fact. The company's CEO, Tim Sweeney, has been equally unshy about criticizing some of Valve's practices. Now, in the process of acknowledging how making a game free on EGS for a week increases sales on other platforms, including Steam, Sweeney appears to have taken a rather fierce jab at Valve boss Gabe Newell. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Steam's gifting system expands to include one of the handiest features Valve ever added Valve's new Steam AI disclosure cares about what you actually see, stressing that behind-the-scenes dev tools are "not the focus" Steam just hit more concurrent players than there are people in Canada, as Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG push it to a new peak View the full article

The creative director and executive producer of Halo: Campaign Evolved have spoken more about the importance of bringing the series to PlayStation for the first time. In an interview with GamesRadar, creative director Max Szlagor and executive producer Damon Conn were asked about Master Chief making the jump to a ‘rival’ platform. The pair replied that the aim was to bring together long-time Halo fans who have always played on Xbox, lapsed fans who may have moved to PlayStation in recent years, and complete newcomers who may never have owned an Xbox console before. Read More... View the full article

Unreal Engine 5 remains one of the most controversial topics in PC gaming. While its cutting-edge toolset can certainly help to enhance realism, perceived performance issues and a general feeling that lots of UE5 games look distractingly similar hasn't endeared most gamers to the tech. It's reductive to say there's one homogenous UE5 look, but from Avowed to Oblivion Remastered to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, we're seeing a lot of similar tech deployed time and again, rekindling memories of the years where so many games had that UE3 look. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: As the Amazon series hits its stride, these excellent Fallout games are cheaper than ever While ****** Ops 7's Fallout crossover looks the part, it does nothing but hurt CoD's quest to become more "authentic" Fallout creator Tim Cain is back working full-time at Obsidian, but "don't bother guessing" what his new game is View the full article

A mix of strategic battles and roguelike progression. View the full article

Not the bonus people were hoping forView the full article

The founder, director, producer, and writer behind indie title Fallen has responded to claims its reveal trailer was built using generative AI, confirming that it was a "tone pitch" with AI "placeholders [that] briefly escaped the context [they were] meant to live in." After the Fallen reveal teaser debuted on IGN, commenters were quick to critique it, with one writing: "Woof. Any way to unreveal it?" and another saying: "can't wait to not touch this with a 10-foot pole." "Are game companies even aware of how controversial using AI art is?" asked someone else in the comments. "Why can't [they] just read the room." You can watch the trailer yourself below: Now, creator Brooke Burgess has clarified that while there are AI "placeholders" in the trailer, the gameplay, environments, cinematics, and combat is "real, in-engine UE5.4 work" and "all writing is mine (no LLMs), all audio is bespoke, VO is from my colleague Kasper Michaels, and all creative support [and] implementation was done in close collaboration with my lead." "I think most of the confusion boils down to context," Burgess told TheGamer. "What ended up being shared as an 'official trailer' was actually our early dev 'tone pitch,' i.e., a work-in-progress UE5 teaser designed for funding discussions. "There are [AI-generated] placeholders in there, specifically some 2D test assets used to explore mood and presentation (for example, how 'lost souls' and fallen angels in the game might react when spoken to and judged, along with [work-in-progress] HUD elements). That material was never intended as final content, nor as a statement on how the shipped game would be made." In a separate interview, Burgess told [Hidden Content] last week that he was not "waving the flag of AI by any stretch." "I'm not going to sell my soul and be like, 'Yeah, I'll do it by myself, let me prompt this whole game into existence'," Burgess said. "No, I want to work with really talented people and make something cool. But if integrating it in a way that doesn't affect creativity, but helps to save a little bit of money and gets the game out there to people, and gives us a chance to make something cool and memorable, and then make something else after that — it's something I have to factor in." He also revealed that "every" prospective publisher has asked how he intends to use AI to "save money." "Every publisher I've talked to has brought up: 'So, have you thought about how AI might be able to save money on this?'" he added. "Almost all of them. They want to know that you're thinking about it, that you understand the potential." Fallen is an "epic dark fantasy action adventure game" featuring an avenging angel sent to the depths of Hell for one purpose — "to judge every ******, lost soul, and fallen angel, and bring an end to the cycle of suffering once and for all!" We don't have a release date or even a release windows at this time, but it is expected to come to both PC and consoles. Opinion on the use of AI in games continues to divide studios and their fans, with some vehemently against its use, while others claim it's an inevitable part of the future. Rockstar co-founder and former Grand Theft Auto writer Dan Houser recently likened AI to mad cow disease, but the CEO of Genvid — the company behind choose-your-own-adventure interactive series like Silent Hill Ascension — has claimed "consumers generally do not care" about generative AI in games, and stated that: "Gen Z loves AI slop." EA CEO Andrew Wilson has said AI is "the very core of our business," and Square Enix recently implemented mass layoffs and reorganized, saying it needed to be "aggressive in applying AI." Dead Space creator Glen Schofield also recently detailed his plans to “fix” the industry in part via the use of generative AI in game development, and former God of War dev Meghan Morgan Juinio said: "... if we don’t embrace [AI], I think we’re selling ourselves short.” Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has now won more Game of the Year awards than any other game ever, according to a very organized member of the ResetEra forum. The turn-based strategy game has proved to be something beyond a smash hit, bringing what some may see as a niche genre well into the mainstream. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: After Expedition 33's success, Split Fiction's Josef Fares warns publishers not to "only do" double-A PC players hand Silksong their Game of the Year gong over Expedition 33 as the 2025 Steam Awards winners are announced Baldur's Gate 3's Devora Wilde is okay with being typecast, especially if she gets to be "badass females" View the full article

Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinksi has criticised the increasing use of Unreal Engine in film production, saying it makes movies look too much like video games. Unreal Engine is used frequently to create visual effects in today’s movies and TV shows, with notable examples including The Matrix Resurrections, The Mandalorian and the Fallout series. In an interview with But Why Tho, Verbinski – who directed The Ring, Rango, the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films and the upcoming Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die – was asked why the look of visual effects in films has changed over the past 15 years, and why people believe they don’t look as impressive as they used to. Read More... View the full article

1047 Games have revealed that SPLITGATE: Arena Reloaded is getting a big upgrade tomorrow (January 22nd), with a completely redesigned battle royale mode. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

We also share a character trailer for Partner character Zenon Gryfgote. View the full article

436 wins and countingView the full article

The first-person action RPG has hit a major milestone since launching in May 2025. View the full article

Fanatical have another chance here for you to build up your Steam game collection with a bunch of lovely indie games all at a great price. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios has said players who spawn late don’t realize they “economically profit way more” than players who don’t. In an interview with GamesRadar, design lead Virgil Watkins discussed the extraction shooter’s divisive late spawn system, which can see players join games with around 20 minutes left to go. The feeling from some is that this can be a frustrating experience because it gives late joiners less time to complete objectives, and there isn’t as much loot around. But Watkins suggested the data tells a different story. “We 100% acknowledge the whole thing of, 'Man, I came in to do that trial and now I clearly don't have enough time to do that, and that sucks, so I'm just going to leave,' or whatever. That aspect is definitely not great,” Watkins admitted. "But similar to the perception of free kits versus what they do, the perception around late joining and what it affords you has been quite interesting. Players are like, 'The loot's all gone,' or whatever else. But players who late join economically profit way more than people who aren't. The session, when they are fresh, does eventually get quieter, and very often they come across the remnants of fights or can maybe take out ******* drones or hit high-ticket areas more readily than other players. So that's been a very interesting thing to look at." So what is the goal behind the late join system? According to Watkins, it helps mitigate deserted raids. Indeed, Embark distributes loot in such a way so “there should be plenty of stuff for players to do” even if they join late. It will be interesting to see if Watkins’ explanation here turns sentiment on late spawns around. Since Arc Raiders’ explosive launch, its late spawn system has come under fire from some who feel it needs to be overhauled. There’s frustration on both sides, with those who have to face late spawns having been in a game from the start also expressing concern. “It's crazy that my team can clear a section of Stella Montis, place traps near the popular entrances, and start looting... only to have a full team of three, heavy shield, volcano running players spawn 50 FEET AWAY from us in a random room in the corner of the area... spawning basically on top of us, at 15 MINUTES REMAINING,” said one fan last month. “There is no counter, there is no chance of winning, they bypassed our traps as they spawned in the room next to me. “The ONLY players who should be spawning in five minutes into the raid or later are FREE LOADOUTS. Tarkov got that system down with the player Scavs, and it works very well. The initial spawn should be player loadouts only, then free loadouts come in at 25, 20, and 15 minutes remaining. Does that sound reasonable? “I'm not crazy right? I've spawned literally on top of players who were looting and have gotten extremely unfair free kills because of it. Even reworking the spawning mechanic wont fix it, as you shouldn't have to worry about a random full geared 3-man at 15 minutes remaining after 5 minutes of silence after your team wiped out 12 players. “Spawning in a 20 with gear sucks. Most of the PVP is gone, half the loot is already extracted. It sucks for everyone else too, they are low on meds, shields are nearly broken, and now 3-9 completely fresh, geared players have arrived at unexpected locations you just cleared.” This week, Embark released a new patch for Arc Raiders that stamped out some infamous out-of-bounds exploits – but players said "rats" still live in the walls of Stella Montis. If this has tempted you into giving Arc Raiders a try, check out our guide to the best settings, find out what skills we recommend unlocking first, and see how to earn loot by delivering field depot crates... or you can just wait for the inevitable TV show or movie adaptation, although the team says it hasn't been swayed just yet. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

"I don't want to tell you yet."View the full article

The director of Yakuza Kiwami 3 says he hopes players will fully play the extended orphanage section, as he feels it’s the most important part of the remake. At the start of the original 2009 release of Yakuza 3, protagonist Kazuma Kiryu is running an orphanage called Morning Glory (renamed the Sunshine Orphanage in Western versions). This section has been greatly overhauled in Yakuza Kiwami 3 – the remake of the game set for release next month – and now plays more like a life sim with mini-games. Read More... View the full article

Nvidia appears ready to make its long-anticipated move into consumer Arm PCs after years of speculation and sporadic leaks. A report from DigiTimes Taiwan indicates that the company's N1 and N1X processors are again featured on Nvidia's internal roadmap, with consumer models now slated to come out in the first... Read Entire Article View the full article

The demo will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S , Nintendo Switch 2, and Steam, including both Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties segments. View the full article

Life-sim adventure Heartopia offers you plenty of different things to do inside the game, and completing Events can be pretty rewarding. Events are Heartopia's mini-games that offer you rewards when you complete them. These can be coins, building materials, other resources, and more. Initially, Events are locked by default, and you'll need to complete specific requirements. This guide will provide you with all the information you might need to unlock and complete these events. Table of contentsHow to unlock all Events in HeartopiaAll Events in Heartopia and how to complete themBubble Machine Challenge EventSea Fishing EventYellow Duck Jump EventBait the Insects EventNest of Hundreds EventHow to unlock all Events in Heartopia The requirements for Events in Heartopia vary slightly based on what you want to complete. Some Events only require you to raise your Developer's Guild Level to a specific value. Others will require you to have applicable hobbies unlocked as well on the side. Screenshot via XD Sea Fishing: Developer's Guild Level 7Bubble Machine Challenge: Developer's Guild Level 7Yellow Duck Jump Puzzle: Developer's Guild Level 7Bait the Insects: Developer's Guild Level 8 and unlock Insect CatchingNest of Hundreds: Developer's Guild Level 8 and unlock Bird Watching Once you've unlocked an Event, you can then spend 2,000 gold to initiate it for the first time. However, repeating the process in the same well will raise the price by 1,000 gold. So the second attempt will cost 3,000, and the price keeps rising. Hence, I will advise that it's better to spread the Events, rather than spam a single one. You can also save your gold by joining events hosted by other players. You can also complete a free town Event that happens once daily. However, you'll need to have the Event unlocked first. The only difference is that you won't need to spend the gold, but you get to keep every reward you can get from completing it. All Events in Heartopia and how to complete themBubble Machine Challenge Event The Bubble Machine Challenge requires you to move around in an inflatable structure that has plenty of floating bubbles. The objective is to pop as many as you can before the timer ends. Red bubbles are the ones you should prioritize since they will disappear, followed by Orange and Green. Sea Fishing Event Image via XD This Event begins at Fishing Village Boats after you speak with Bill. The objective is to first board the correct boat. If you manage to do so, you'll get a timer to catch as many fish as you can. To qualify for the rewards, catch at least five, which will get your Gacha Pods. Yellow Duck Jump Event Image via XD Available at the Purple Light Beach, this mini-game begins after you speak with Harry. The objective is to reach the top without falling. There are two routes: green and pink. The green route is easier, while the pink one is harder. You'll also find four buttons in the center of the course; stand on one to make a platform appear. This will allow other players to proceed further on the obstacle course. If you fall, you can try again as long as the timer is active. Bait the Insects Event You can begin this Event by reaching Onsen Mountain, and you have to catch as many insects as possible in three minutes. Once the first timer ends, travel to Crater Lake in one minute to commence the second phase. You'll get three more minutes to catch more insects. On a personal level, you'll need to catch at least ten insects. Nest of Hundreds Event Image via XD To complete the Nest of Hundreds Event, you'll need to have Developer's Guild Level 8 and the Bird Watching hobby. Reach the Eastern Fishing Village, and then, the bird-calling device. When the Event begins, you'll find rare birds. The objective is to use your binoculars to spot and photograph these birds. The personal goal is to collect 30 stars. Instead of an ordinary count, your performance will be measured in star points. You can get star points by either clicking different birds or the same birds multiple times. The post All Events in Heartopia and how to complete them appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Despite the cartoon-style visuals, No Man's Sky and Sea of Thieves don't really share much DNA. One is a sci-fi survival game that's grown massively over the years, while the other is one of the best co-op games around, delivering an adventure across the Seven Seas, and both are great in their own right. Void Crew, however, is a somewhat chaotic blend of the two games, making it a space-faring bucket full of fun - it also happens to be cheaper than ever right now. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Nioh 3 looks like an excellent sequel to my favorite soulslike, and you can get a pre-order discount right now You could get one of our favorite RPGs of 2025 for just $15, with four other games on the side Forget Hades 2, this underloved punk roguelike I adore is less than $1 for a short time only View the full article

Ghostship was a recent announcement from the HarbourMasters team bringing a new Super Mario 64 PC port, and now there's a fresh release with a Linux version. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

A few more games are going to be lost to history, as the French indie studio Accidental Queens announced they're closing down. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Max and Chloe are returning in Life is Strange: Reunion in March for a finale, and it sounds like it's going to be an interesting adventure. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Heartopia developers have spoken up about the game's use of AI, and the community isn't thrilled. Heartopia just earlier in January, and though it's seen a good amount of success already, this discovery is leading to backlash from those who are otherwise fans. View the full article

System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster will be available physically on both PS5 and Switch with a limited edition and standard release planned. View the full article