Astro Bot is not just for kids. Team Asobi clearly designed it for players of all skill levels, and that includes children and newbies, but at its core Astro Bot feels purpose-built for video game fans. It’s a skill-driven celebration of everything that makes the format so memorable and joyful, and at the same time, it’s an excellent introduction to the language of games. With precise and responsive controls, adorable characters, and an exciting variety of mechanics and environments, Astro Bot is easily one of the best games that Sony has ever produced.
Razer is trying something new — actually, two things. The Wolverine V3 Pro introduces Hall effect joysticks for the first time in a Razer gamepad, and it’s also the company’s first fully wireless controller for Xbox consoles.
This is a story about serendipity and probability.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set in 1937, in the space between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, and it’s being developed by MachineGames, the studio behind the most recent Wolfenstein installments. So, of course the game’s main enemies are Nazis, and obviously it has a robust range of Nazi-punching mechanics.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to Xbox Series X/S and PC on December 9. It'll be available on Game Pass Ultimate day-one. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is also coming to PlayStation 5, but it's taking the scenic route to Sony's console: It'll hit PS5 in spring 2025.
The Sleep Room in The Outlast Trials is named after a real-life space at McGill University’s Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, where from 1957 to 1964, doctors conducted mind-control experiments on patients as part of the CIA’s MK-Ultra initiative. Led by Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, these tests included electroshock therapy, sensory deprivation and heavy doses of psychedelic drugs.
When I attended the first hands-off briefing for Star Wars Outlaws at Summer Game Fest 2023, I left Ubisoft’s demo room on a high, thinking this could be the piece of media that finally pulls me into the Star Wars universe. I loved the focus on a solo protagonist, Kay Vess, and her cute merqaal pet, Nix. I adored the fact that developers said the game would tell a cohesive, linear story, rather than throwing players into an unfocused open world and calling it AAA. I was eager to get my hands on it.
Rhythm is everything in Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. On a micro scale, the maiden Yoshiro dances through the game with graceful, measured movements, her steps cleansing the black defilement that has consumed her mountain and its people. In combat, Yoshiro’s protector, Soh, directs their sword in nimble arcs, landing attacks and parries based on timing and flow. On a grand scale, Kunitsu-Gami employs a soothing cadence of frenzied combat and peaceful base building.
Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t look down.
Waves the size of skyscrapers explode beneath me as I creep across a busted metal beam in the middle of the North Sea, suspended at the base of an oil rig that’s in the process of collapsing. I’m crawling swiftly but carefully, knees sliding on the wet metal and eyes locked on the platform in front of me. Don’t look down.
Summer Game Fest 2024 officially wrapped up on June 10, after a long weekend of game previews, developer interviews and unlimited cold brew — but we just published our final stories from the show this week (held under embargo, of course).