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Разработчики из Firefly Studios сообщили о выходе крупного осеннего обновления и первого аддона для своей средневековой стратегии Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition — расширенного ремастера Stronghold Crusader образца 2002 года.View the full article

Our guide covers how to transfer your Pokemon Legends: Z-A save data from Switch to Switch 2 including the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrade. View the full article

Asus and Microsoft's ROG Xbox Ally X blends Xbox comfort with PC power, offering superb performance, ergonomics, and a slick full-screen Xbox interface. For $1,000, reviewers agree it's the best Windows handheld yet, though it feels more like a mini-PC than a true console. Meanwhile, the (non-X) ROG Xbox Ally has received mixed reviews, with critics noting weaker battery life and performance. Read Entire Article View the full article

Adventure game fans, our time is nowView the full article

Disney Dreamlight Valley has just revealed more than half a year's worth of content planned for the game, laying out its plans through summer 2026 in a streaming showcase. Disney Dreamlight Valley fans are already looking forward to the Wishblossom Ranch expansion in November, but now they've also got plenty more to be excited about, including the debut of a highly requested character in the spring. View the full article

2K has reaffirmed its support for 3rd-person action roguelike shooter Project Ethos, and has appointed the former executive producer for Apex Legends as the new studio head of developer 31st Union. This news was shared with employees today in a town hall followed by an internal memo, the latter of which was shared with IGN by 2K. The memo, written by 2K president David Ismailer, states that Ben Brinkman will take over as studio head of 31st Union beginning Monday, October 20. Brinkman will oversee Project Ethos development as the game is "reimagined" "with a renewed vision" after the game's 2024 playtests revealed a need for "a more distinct identity." Here's an excerpt from the memo: The community feedback from last fall’s Project ETHOS playtest was enlightening. It affirmed the promise of a roguelike shooter but told us we still had work to do. It uncovered the need for a more distinct identity. It’s been inspiring to see how far you’ve come. You took the feedback to heart and reimagined Project ETHOS with a renewed vision - one that’s poised to deliver on its promise to our players Our confidence in Project ETHOS grows every day. To further the incredible progress you’ve made, I’m excited to welcome Ben Brinkman as the new Studio Head of 31st Union. After several months of conversations, Ben officially joins us on Monday, October 20. Brinkman joins 31st Union directly from EA, where he had previously been working as executive producer on Apex Legends since 2020, following six years at Treyarch on Call of Duty. IGN has reached out to EA for comment on what this means for Apex Legends, and who will be taking over Brinkman's former role. Project Ethos was first announced in October of last year as a free-to-play, third-person, hero extraction shooter with some roguelike elements. It's being developed by 31st Union, a studio founded in 2019 by ex-Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey and originally referred to as 2K Silicon Valley. We previewed Project Ethos at the time, and liked it fine, but said it "fails at being a new experience that players will crave over and over again." Other outlets shared similar feedback, that the game was fun enough but didn't do anything significant to stand out in a crowded genre. 31st Union has been quiet on the Project Ethos front since then, but in February this year, Kotaku reported that Condrey was fired by 2K Games due to the lukewarm reception of the game. At the time, 2K reassured employees it would continue to support the project. This news indicates that 2K is indeed making good on its promise to continue to support Project Ethos, even amidst ongoing concerns that the audience for online, multiplayer shooters - especially extraction shooters - is worn out. But it may be a while before we get another update given the wording of the email. Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected]. View the full article

The 1.0 version of Voidtrain has received a release date, with HypeTrain Digital committing to launching it on November 7. The upcoming title will be a day-one Xbox Game Pass release. View the full article

Chucklefish posts a delay message for WItchbrook ahead of its new launch window of 2026. View the full article

ESO's lead encounter designer says he's "pulling for Xbox EU" as the "dark horse" of the race to take down the Writhing WallView the full article

Motorslice declares war on machines and delivers the parkour we needView the full article

The devs also "want you to have to deal with the fallout from your choices"View the full article

Nokko conquered Warframe fans before his release thanks to his unique theme, fun kit, and all-around goofy demeanor. The sporeslinger uses a shrapnel of fungi to take down his foes and even defy death, which is far more hardcore than you'd expect from a guy who throws mushrooms at enemies. It's not often you see the words "chaotic ballistic mushroom that seeks enemies" as an official description, and that alone may be enough to give Nokko a chance. The mushroomancer (to borrow a term from Tiny Tina's Wonderlands) boasts an impressive kit with a mix of damage and support, so it's worth adding him to your arsenal. The Vallis Undermind update introduced Nokko and brought a new NPC to Fortuna: Nightcap, the foraging fungiphile. His new syndicate advances by finding mushrooms in Deepmine bounties instead of the usual Standing system, which likely indicates no daily caps. Here's how to get this unique Warframe. How to get Nokko in Warframe Nokko and his Sprodlings will make short work of enemies. Image via Digital Extremes Nokko's parts are available as a reward for Nightcap's Deepmine bounties in Fortuna. The forager has three fixed, non-rotating missions, each with a chance to drop one of his parts and his Blueprint. Enemies are level 30-40, so don't expect heavy resistance. Nokko Chassis Blueprint: May drop from the Critter Liberation bounty.Nokko Systems Blueprint: Possible reward for the Corporate Restructuring bounty.Nokko Neuroptics Blueprint: Can be awarded after completing the Weed the Garden bounty.Nokko Blueprint: Potential drop from any Deepmine bounty. If you'd like a jump in difficulty, the Nightcap also has a Steel Path version of one of the three bounties, which changes every couple of hours. It has a similar loot pool with better rewards, and the mode's signature Acolytes will also drop by around every five minutes. Deepmine bounties have a different reward structure. Bonus objectives award more mushrooms at the end of a run, so players will get a Common, Uncommon, and Rare reward upon each completion. If you can't get lucky with Nokko's RNG, Nightcap offers all of Nokko's parts for Fergolyte, though you must reach rank four with the vendor before you can purchase them this way. Building Nokko uses regular materials from Fortuna, so don't worry about new resources. The post How to get Nokko in Warframe appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Evolution Stones have returned to Pokémon Legends Z-A, and there are plenty of types. The function of these stones remains the same as in any other game in the Pokémon series. You will require them to evolve certain Pokémon, and they can be of immense use. Let's find out how you can find them all. Disclaimer: We are still finding out more about the stones and which Pokémon each of them evolves. This guide will be updated accordingly. Table of contentsAll Evolution Stones in Legends Z-AHow to find a Fire Stone in Legends Z-AHow to find a Thunder Stone in Legends Z-AHow to find a Water Stone in Legends Z-AHow to find a Leaf Stone in Legends Z-AHow to find a Moon Stone in Legends Z-AHow to find a Shiny Stone in Legends Z-AHow to find a Sun Stone in Legends Z-AHow to find a Dusk Stone in Legends Z-AHow to find an Ice Stone in Legends Z-AHow to find a Dawn Stone in Legends Z-AAll Evolution Stones in Legends Z-A Screenshot by Destructoid Here's a brief list of all the Evolution Stones inside the game and where you can find them. Do note that while the location remains the same, you'll unlock more options as you progress through the game and clear more content. The Stone Emporium is what you are looking for, and it can be found around the south of the map, north of Zone one. From there you can get every stone you want. There are some Evolution Stones you can Screenshot by Destructoid StoneHow to GetDusk StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000Fire StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000Ice StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000Leaf StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000Moon StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000Shiny StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000Sun StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000Thunder StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000Water StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000Dawn StoneBuy it at the Stone Emporium for ₽3,000How to find a Fire Stone in Legends Z-A This Evolution Stone is sold at the Stone Emporium, located in the southern part of the map, and it costs 3,000 Poké Dollars. Pokémon that evolve with Fire StoneList to be updatedHow to find a Thunder Stone in Legends Z-A Head to the Stone Emporium in the south of the map to buy this evolution stone for 3000 Poké Dollars. Pokémon that evolve with Thunder StoneList to be updatedHow to find a Water Stone in Legends Z-A You’ll need to visit the Stone Emporium down south on the map to purchase this evolution stone for 3000 Poké Dollars. Pokémon that evolve with Water StoneList to be updatedHow to find a Leaf Stone in Legends Z-A The Evolution Stone can be bought for 3000 Poké Dollars at the Stone Emporium found in the southern area of the map. Pokémon that evolve with Leaf StoneList to be updatedHow to find a Moon Stone in Legends Z-A You can obtain this evolution stone by purchasing it at the Stone Emporium south of the map for 3000 Poké Dollars. This item will not be available from the start and will unlock over time as the story progresses. Pokémon that evolve with Moon StoneList to be updatedHow to find a Shiny Stone in Legends Z-A Visit the Stone Emporium in the southern section of the map; the Evolution Stone is available there for 3,000 Poké Dollars. You won’t have access to this item right away— it becomes available later as you progress through the story. Pokémon that evolve with Shiny StoneList to be updatedHow to find a Sun Stone in Legends Z-A This evolution stone is available at the Stone Emporium in the map’s southern region for a price of 3000 Poké Dollars. You don’t get this item from the start; it unlocks as you move forward in the storyline. Pokémon that evolve with Sun StoneList to be updatedHow to find a Dusk Stone in Legends Z-A To get this evolution stone, go to the Stone Emporium located south on the map—it costs 3000 Poké Dollars. This item becomes obtainable over time through story progression rather than being available immediately. Pokémon that evolve with Dusk StoneList to be updatedHow to find an Ice Stone in Legends Z-A The Stone Emporium in the southern map area sells this evolution stone for 3000 Poké Dollars. Initially, this item is unavailable, but it will become accessible as the story progresses. Pokémon that evolve with Ice StoneList to be updatedHow to find a Dawn Stone in Legends Z-A The Ice Stone can be found at the Stone Emporium, located in the southern part of the map. It can be found in the screenshot near the marked Wild Zone 1. This item is not available at the beginning and will only be unlocked by progressing through the story. Pokémon that evolve with Dawn StoneList to be updated Like our content? Set Destructoid as a Preferred Source on Google in just one step to ensure you see us more frequently in your Google searches! The post All Evolution Stone locations in Pokémon Legends Z-A appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Publisher PlaySide and developer Fumi Games showed up for IGN Fall Fan Fest 2025 to premiere a behind-the-scenes gameplay trailer for its ******-and-white boomer shooter, Mouse: P.I. For Hire. The minute-long video takes a peek behind the curtain to show fans how Fumi utilized hand-drawn visuals to create a stylized FPS that looks like a mix of Cuphead, Doom, and old-school Disney cartoons. It comes with an updated look at Mouse: P.I. For Hire’s many locations, characters, and weapons that call back to shows of the ‘20s and ‘30s ahead of its yet-to-be-announced 2025 release date for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S. “It’s hand-crafted entertainment full of love, made for real people, by real people,” the Mouse: P.I. For Hire team says in the trailer. Today’s IGN Fall Fan Fest 2025 sneak peek is also only a taste of what’s to come. Fans can expect to take a deep dive into the development of Mouse: P.I. For Hire when an in-depth making-of presentation premieres as part of the next ID@Xbox showcase Tuesday, October 28, at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET. That elusive release date, meanwhile, will also finally be revealed as part of the Galaxies Gaming Showcase come October 23, which you can watch via IGN. Fumi revealed its eye-catching shooter with a brief teaser trailer in 2023. Then, it was simply known as “Mouse,” with its full Mouse: P.I. For Hire title not arriving until its re-reveal in late 2024. Fumi and PlaySide have since added The Last of Us and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle star Troy Baker to their cast as rodent detective Jack Pepper, as players wait until next week for that PC and console release date. We’ll learn more about Mouse: P.I. For Hire when its deep dive presentation arrives in a few weeks. In the meantime, be sure to check out our preview to see why we feel the upcoming boomer shooter fully embraces its hand-drawn aesthetic. Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe). View the full article

Dovetail Games, perhaps best known as the developer and publisher of the Train Sim World series of video games, announced a brand-new title at IGN Fan Fest 2025: Fall Edition– and it’s unlike anything they’ve released before. Metro Rivals: New York is “an innovative and genre-defying subway simcade game” set to release in early 2026. In the game, “players step into a near-future New York City where the subway system has been carved into 10 fiercely contested districts.” In addition to its single-player campaign, Metro Rivals: New York includes a PvP mode where up to four players can compete online or with friends. Drivers can “race to stop at designated platforms,” and are “scored on their ability to handle their train with precision and control under pressure.” Metro Rivals: New York’s first trailer was revealed as part of IGN Fan Fest and, as you can see in the player at the top of the page, gives a brief glimpse into train racing mechanics. According to Dovetail, the game’s narrative sees “players begin their journey with nothing but a hand-me-down train and a determination to rise. To succeed, they must take on a variety of missions, earn cash fares, upgrade their train’s performance, build a loyal following, and earn respect.” While there will be in-game purchases, Dovetail says those are “entirely cosmetic” and that the game is not “pay-to-win.” Instead, players “can express themselves with extensive options to upgrade their train’s performance, apply unique skins and liveries in signature colours, and personalise their character’s appearance to stand out on the tracks.” And if neither the single player campaign nor the PvP mode is your cup of tea, you also have the option to partake in a “more relaxed experience” where “players can set their own paths, hop into their train, and enjoy the sights of the city.” Metro Rivals: New York marks Dovetail’s first use of Unreal Engine 5 in the development process. They also collaborated with the team at Reactional Music to utilize a procedural music engine, meaning that “music is fully native and cinematically integrated in the game, even when swapping tracks.’ Metro Rivals: New York is being developed for Steam, the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S and is available for wishlisting now. View the full article

Think The Invincibles meets The Office for superhero workplace comedy Dispatch, which dropped a new trailer at Fanfest today ahead of its impending release on PC and PS5. Created by some of the folks behind Telltale's Tales from the Borderlands and The Wolf Among Us, it's all about managing ex-supervillains turned superheroes, from behind a desk, navigating work relationships and quietly nursing plans for vengeance. The first two episodes of the anarchic adventure will be released on October 22, followed by two episodes a week until the final two on November 12. Until then, the latest trailer is a tantalizing blast of what's to come when the game releases a week from now, where your goal is to manage the logistics of which superheroes tackle which emergencies, matching their unique skills and quirks to the situation, all while managing the relationships around you through dialogue and critical decisions. There's a real streak of dark humor to it all too, which will hit home for anyone who has had an office job and difficult co-workers before. Whether or not one of them was a giant bat. And yes, that's the voice of Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad fame as main character Robert Robertson, stuck as a dispatcher while the suit that made him then superhero Mecha Man is rebuilt. Joining Paul are also a cast of voice actors that includes Jeffrey Wright (Westworld, The Last of Us), Laura Bailey (Uncharted, The Last of Us Part II) and Seán McLoughlin (jacksepticeye). You can wishlist the game for PC on Steam now. IGN Fan Fest: Fall Edition is a one day event featuring celebrity interviews, exclusive gameplay, trailers, and deep dives across movies, TV, games, and you can catch up with anything you missed with Everything Announced at IGN Fan Fest. Rachel Weber is the Senior Editorial Director of Games at IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the ***, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, and French Bulldogs. Those extra wrinkles on her face are thanks to going time blind and staying up too late finishing every sidequest in RPGs like Fallout and Witcher 3. View the full article

Koei Tecmo has begun digital pre-orders for the Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack and confirmed the individual game prices. View the full article

Grand Theft Auto Online's Halloween event is here for the year, and ghastly ghouls have taken over the streets of Los Santos yet again with new limited-time rewards. All the Halloween favorites from past years are returning, and there are new playlists and modes with boo-sted rewards in celebration of spooky season... Read more.View the full article

The 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart, a fictionalized retelling of the battles of Scottish knight William Wallace during the First War of Scottish Independence, was full of blatant historical inaccuracies: Its dates were wrong, its dress was anachronistic, and—worst of all—it didn't even cover the ******* in Wallace's life when a demonic meteor fell into the heart of Scotland, turning the occupying English forces into an army of corrupted mutants clad in molten, accursed iron... Read more.View the full article

The new Haunted Masquerade mode in Overwatch 2 Season 19 has a secret Lupa Mask that teases Hero 45. Players can find this hidden mask outside their spawn points in Overwatch 2 and wear it to get a sneak preview of the She-Wolf that stalks into the hero shooter in Season 20. View the full article

Battlefield 6doesn't have a record-breaking number of vehicles for the franchise by any means, but each one has seen a modern facelift to make them feel even more impactful than before. From anti-infantry vehicles, powerful tanks, and a handful of unique aircraft at your disposal, it can still be a little overwhelming to learn the ins and outs of all 9 vehicles in Battlefield 6. View the full article

Developer Soft Rains and support studio Blackbird Interactive made an appearance at IGN Fall Fan Fest 2025 to announce an Ambrosia Sky Act 1 release date of November 10, 2025, for PC via Steam. The launch update for the studio’s upcoming stylized, power wash-inspired action FPS arrives alongside a new two-minute trailer. It’s a fresh look at the creative cleaning adventure, promising to release its first chapter in just a few weeks, with Act 2 and Act 3 set to follow in 2026. Ambrosia Sky sees players step into the zero-gravity shoes of a field scientist named Dalia. Her search for the key to human immortality takes her to Saturn’s outer rings, where she must face (and clean) hostile fungi and discover what happened to the people who once lived there. “In this gripping first act, Ambrosia Sky thrusts you into a mind-bending world of death, decay, and what comes after,” Soft Rains’ description for Ambrosia Sky Act 1 says. “Armed with nothing but a chemical sprayer and grappling hook, you must survive varieties of unpredictable alien fungi.” Although it takes some clear inspiration from meditative experiences like PowerWash Simulator, Ambrosia Sky spices up its *******-cleaning activities in a few ways. Dalia can harvest fruit and upgrade her gear, for example, with players also able to craft ammunition and enhance traversal tools like the tether. Soft Rains encourages players to explore while piecing together mysteries and dodging an alien ******* that can electrify, explode, and more. Soft Rains is a Toronto-based indie studio formed with talent behind games like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Fallout 3 and 4, Valorant, and Watch Dogs: Legion. Ambrosia Sky was announced in June of this year. If you’d like to see more than what was shown in today’s IGN Fall Fest 2025 trailer, you should know an updated Ambrosia Sky demo is available to check out as part of Steam Next Fest until October 20. For more, you can check out our Summer Game Fest Ambrosia Sky preview, where Will Borger went hands-on with a slice from Dalia’s journey. At the time, he said, “I am excited to see what else Soft Rains has in store for us on the Cluster, but one thing is clear: their ambition is great.” Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe). View the full article

The Outer Worlds 2 has a lot of guns, so developer Obsidian Entertainment stopped by IGN Fall Fan Fest 2025 to give fans a sneak peek at the arsenal they’ll have at their disposal when launch arrives later this month. Today’s new look at the studio’s sci-fi RPG follow-up arrives in the form of a minute-and-a-half-long trailer set to a catchy tune and new gameplay footage. The video’s tone rides a line between Borderlands and Fallout, as the player’s chosen Earth Directorate agent can be seen wielding everything from explosive rocket launchers and melee tools to Spacer’s Choice-branded rifles featuring their lunar mascot, Moon Man. Each of The Outer Worlds 2’s colorful guns has unique properties that will no doubt aid players on their journey through the space colony of Arcadia. We probably don’t need to explain why a buzzsaw mounted on the end of a staff or wrist-mounted gun might come in handy, but the trailer does a good job of showing off how different weapons can be used. Other highlights from the footage include a lime-green acid gun that melts bodies, alien pistols, and even environmental hazards like a ceiling-mounted turret. Another star of the new The Outer Worlds 2 trailer is the different factions, which can be found across a variety of locations that look like they were ripped straight out of the all-time great sci-fi stories. It’s a jam-packed teaser ahead of launch, and it’s undeniably Obsidian. The Outer Worlds 2 has a release date of October 29, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. We went hands-on with a demo for its first hour last month and came away excited to see how the rest of the sequel builds upon the 2019 original’s foundation. At the time, IGN’s Matt Purslow said, “While I appreciated Obsidian’s prior attempt at this universe, I never totally fell for it, but what the studio has achieved here in this prologue is exactly what I’d hoped for the first time around.” For more, you can read our interview with Obsidian VP of operations Marcus Morgan. You can also learn about why you won’t have to worry about Microsoft games costing $80 this holiday season. Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe). View the full article

It's impossible to think about wrestling without thinking about John Cena, so it makes total sense that WWE 2K25 is marking his retirement later this year with a special tribute expansion pack, available today. As part of IGN Fall Fan Fest 2025, we got a look at some new gameplay featuring the fan favorite. The WWE 2K25 Farewell Tour Edition and Farewell Tour Edition Pack has new playable wrestlers and cosmetic items as part of its new content. WrestleMania 41 John CenaDr. of Thuganomics John CenaBrock LesnarRon Cena Cena made his video game debut in 2003 with WWE WrestleMania XIX, and since then has made appearances in a further 38 of them both in WWE titles and games like Fortnite, as Peacemaker. Despite his retirement plans, Cena has said he intends to work with his "WWE family in some capacity for an extended time to come." "I've always said to the audience that the WWE is my home and I love it," Cena added. "Just because I physically feel I am at my end, it doesn't mean I need to distance myself from something I love." IGN Fan Fest: Fall Edition is a one day event featuring celebrity interviews, exclusive gameplay, trailers, and deep dives across movies, TV, games, and you can catch up with anything you missed with Everything Announced at IGN Fan Fest. Rachel Weber is the Senior Editorial Director of Games at IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the ***, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, and French Bulldogs. Those extra wrinkles on her face are thanks to going time blind and staying up too late finishing every sidequest in RPGs like Fallout and Witcher 3. View the full article

David Jaumandreu and I are supposed to be having our interview about his upcoming game, Denshattack, in a studio built out to look like a train. And we will, eventually, as you’ll see from the video above. But before we shoot the video version, we chat for my written piece in a very different setting: a dungeon. Jaumandreu is sitting on an inexplicable throne, like you’d find in a king’s palace, while I sit atop a different sort of throne: an actual toilet. There are fake shackles against the stone walls around us, and bars on the window. Behind us, through a sliding door, is the train studio we’ll be using in 30 minutes. I don’t have a clever way to transition Jaumandreu and my dungeon adventure into something about Denshattack!, or even trains. But Jaumandreu is effusive about the silly setting we’re in. He has every reason to be happy right now: he’s in his favorite place in the world, after all. No, I don’t mean the dungeon. I’m talking about Japan. Jaumandreu has traveled halfway around the world to promote his upcoming game: Denshattack!, which he describes as “Tony Hawk with Japanese trains.” He’s leading its development as the studio director of Undercoders, which was founded in 2005 in Barcelona. It began as a mobile development studio and eventually transitioned to DSi development and later to console with games like Conga Master and Treasures of the Aegean. The core team is just 12 people, even a whopping 20 years after its founding, though Jaumandreu says they do work with external developers on things such as music and animation when support is needed. So what’s a Barcelonan studio doing making a game that’s hyperspecifically focused on Japanese trains? Put simply, Jaumandreu loves Japan, and he loves the train system there. That’s the long and short of it. “I came [to Japan] in '98 for the first time,” he tells me, speaking from the throne. “I came just for tourism. My father used to travel a lot for work, so I had the opportunity to follow him on one of his trips here, and it captivated me so much that I just wanted to come back again and again and again.” Jaumandreu was 16 on that first trip - he’s a few decades older now, and has been back to Japan almost yearly since that first trip. “There's so much to like,” he continues. “When I came here, it was obviously because I was a kid. I loved Dragon Ball, I loved video games, you know? And back then, Japan was the biggest force in making video games. Nintendo, PlayStation, whatever. But I came through this fascination, and then got fascinated by the country itself. Its history, it's super interesting, its culture. Whenever you get to know it more, there are more layers of interesting stuff to get. The cinema is fantastic, the food is incredible. Pop culture. No, it's a mix of a lot of things, and whenever you get deeper into the country, you find more interesting stuff. So of course the first time I got here was Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Then you start exploring more the rural side, and that's what it started to get to me.” Of course, Jaumandreu especially loves Japan’s train system. He rode the subway on his first visit, the Yamanote line that runs in a circle through Tokyo’s biggest areas. At the time, trains in Japan didn’t have any English voices on the intercom or English words on the signs, so all he had to go on was his guidebook for navigation. “It felt like a big adventure.” Especially, he says, compared to trains in Barcelona, which were good but not nearly as advanced technologically. “To put it in perspective, back when I came here, the difference was it was like looking 20 years in the future, and now we've kind of reached that point, I guess.” Then, Jaumandreu got to ride the Shinkansen, the bullet train, and he was blown away. “It's incredibly fast and silent at the same time, so it feels super calm, and you're going so fast. It feels, I don't know, discontextualized. The incredible speed that you're going, and it doesn't move or shake or whatever. It's a super smooth ride. It's super comfortable.” It was out of this love that Denshattack! Was born. One day, Jaumandreu says, he was playing with a little toy train he had, and the ideas began to flow. “I was, you know, finger skating with a train. Like you're bored. And I was doing this and that. I was like, ‘Whoa, this is cool. We could make a game out of this.’ I started thinking about it and giving a lot of thought to how that would translate into gameplay. And I used to skate, and I’m big fan of the Tony Hawk games especially, and it was like, ‘How would you do this? How would you control this?’ So yeah, I brought a train piece to work, started showing the team some moves, and then I presented to the rest of the team and they told me, ‘They're *****.’ ‘Are you crazy?’ And then [my coworker] who is super fast in Unreal, I think he spent couple of days with that and he came out and said, ‘There's definitely a game here. It's super fun.’” Denshattack! has been in development now for three years. It’s visually inspired by Jet Set Radio, Hi-Fi Rush, and Persona, and set to music by Sonic Mania’s Tee Lopes. In it, you control a train as if you were controlling a skateboard, where the landscape, cities, and other landmarks become a skate park. Jaumandreu describes gameplay in two parts: there’s a “flow state” gameplay where you’re focused on getting from point A to B, doing tricks and avoiding derailing as you go. And then there are missions where you’ll race rivals, try to get a high score from doing tricks, or even fight bosses like giant mechs. And Denshattack! combines all this with a Shonen anime story about found family, rebellion, and making friends with your rivals. As we wrap up our interview and prepare to move out of the dungeon and into the train studio to record, I ask Jaumandreu one last, critical question. What’s his favorite ekiben, or train bento box? He starts to say his favorite is the ones that self-heat when you pull a little tab out. But then he brings up an even more apropos answer: he likes the kid’s meals, because they come in a box shaped like a train. Denshattack! is planned for release in spring 2026 for PC, Xbox Series (including on Game Pass), and PlayStation. Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected]. View the full article