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Game Updates

Hitman Maker Breaks Silence On Publishing One Of 2025’s Worst Games

by admin September 4, 2025

MindsEye is one of the worst-reviewed games of the year, and IO Interactive published it. In fact, it was the Hitman maker’s first outside publishing deal ever. How did things go so wrong? The studio’s CEO was finally asked to weigh in on the topic and he makes it sound like he doesn’t know either.

“The initial talks we had with those guys were to support them,” Hakan Abrak, who’s been in charge of IO for nearly a decade, told IGN recently. “We thought they had some great ideas and a great world in the background that they were building, and hopefully they’ll get the opportunity to show more of that in the future. And we just wanted to help them distribute the game.”

MindsEye had a sound pitch. Developer Build A Rocket Boy, led by ex-Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies, was making a user-generated-content-based metaverse called Everything, but pivoted to getting a smaller, single-player shooter out the door first. Following an ex-black ops guy with a brain implant that’s turning his world upside down, MindsEye sounded like an old-school action-adventure campaign with some modern AAA gloss.

What it ended up being instead was a confusing and boring mess. It’s one of the lowest-rated games of 2025 on Metacritic and has only 2,000 user reviews on Steam, around 70 percent of which are negative. As far as first-time publishing experiences go, it probably couldn’t have been any worse.

“Well, that was definitely tough, right?” Abrak told IGN. “It was a tough reception. It wasn’t what they hoped for, and also what we didn’t hope for at IOI Partners. They’re working hard on turning that around to regain the trust of the gamers out there, and they have tons of potential and content they’re working on. So hopefully they’ll succeed with that in the future.”

While Build A Rocket Boy has made promises, it’s also been undergoing post-launch layoffs and playing weird blame games. IGN reported that Benzies took the opportunity on a rare video call with staff in July to accuse internal and outside actors of trying to sabotage MindsEye. The studio announced an updated roadmap later that month that includes more fixes to the game and its upcoming Hitman crossover mission.

Worth noting is that at no point does Abrak talk about the partnership like it’s still ongoing. He talks about “we” at IO Interactive and “those guys” and “them” at Build A Rocket Boy. Even with the upcoming content you get the distinct feeling the Hitman team is ready to wash its hands of the entire thing and focus exclusively on its upcoming 007 James Bond game moving forward.

Does IO plan to publish any other outside games after this? Abrak said, “That remains to be seen.”

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

All Marvel Rivals Codes August 2025 For Free Skins And Rewards in Season 3

by admin September 4, 2025

Marvel Rivals exploded into existence in late 2024 and hasn’t relented in pace since. While 2025 codes for freebies in NetEase’s hero shooter are scarce, the developer has been known to dish out rewards, including free skins, in the past.

We’ve got a full list of the current active Marvel Rivals codes, as well as any that were once active and have now expired. We’ll be regularly updating this guide as soon as new Rivals codes drop, so make sure to bookmark it.

New Marvel Rivals codes

There is a new Marvel Rivals code! See it below:

prt4qpdnxht – Doctor Strange Master of Black Magic skin

Expired codes

nwarh4k3xqy – Iron Man Model 42 Skin
HEREISTHETHING – The Thing skin awarded for singing up to Marvel Rivals Unlimited

Marvel Rivals code redeem page

How to redeem Marvel Rivals codes

Follow these instructions to redeem your Rivals codes:

Open the Settings menu
Click ‘Bundle Code’
Copy and paste your code from the list above
Click ‘Redeem’
Enjoy your rewards!

Free Marvel Rivals skins

Alongside codes, there are other ways to snag free Rivals skins. In the past, there have been giveaways, Twitch drops, and platform-exclusive freebies. The current Twitch drops event is giving away the following items between August 8 and September 5:

Mantis Will of Galacta Spray – Watch 30 minutes
Mantis Will of Galacta Nameplate – Watch one hour
Mantis Celestial Radiance Emote – Watch two hours
Mantis Will of Galacta Costume – Watch four hours

To claim Twitch drops, first ensure that your Twitch account is linked to your Marvel Rivals account by visiting the official website. Then, once you’ve met the criteria above, login to your Twitch inventory and claim your freebies. The next time you log in to Marvel Rivals, your rewards will be in your inbox. Any streamer who has enabled drops playing Marvel Rivals in the correct category will count towards your progress, and you do not need to watch the same streamer for the entire duration in order to qualify for the free items. If you’re unsure how long you’ve been watching for, you can also check your Twitch inventory for your progression percentage.

Peni Parker’s Blue Tarantula skin

Another way to get free skins is by just playing the game. If you’ve reached far enough on the free version of the battle pass you’ll be collecting the in-game currency, Chrono Tokens. 400 Chrono Tokens can currently get you the Symbiote Flora Groot or Symbiote Rocket Raccoon skin from the battle pass pages, and these change each season. If you’re playing the game’s ranked mode, reaching gold by the end of the season will also get you the Emerald Blade skin. There are more skins to be redeemed if you’ve purchased the Luxury Battle Pass, too.

Finally, Marvel Rivals events come and go, and sometimes these provide free skins too. The current Milano Repair Logs event is offering the Symbiote Storm skin for clearing its missions. A Costume Coin can be earned by playing the Galacta’s Gift event. This Costume Coin can be used to grab a free skin from a small selection. You can also grab the The Thing Symbiote-Thing skin for completing the free reward path in the Codex event.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Roblox to roll out “facial age estimation technology” for everyone, after US prosecutor dubbed it “the perfect place for pedophiles”

by admin September 4, 2025

Roblox will roll out selfie-based “facial age estimation technology” as a mandatory requirement for all of its players, as part of efforts to “limit communications” between minors and adults they don’t know.

The corporation behind the massive game filled with smaller games, many of which are made by young people, say they aim to bring in this measure by the end of 2025. The news is part of a “long-term” vision for child safety in the wake of the US state of Louisiana’s lawsuit against Roblox Corporation over child safety concerns, with Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill accusing the game of being a “overrun with harmful content and child predators”.

Roblox chief safety officer Matt Kaufman wrote in an announcement spotted by PC Gamer that this age estimation tech will be deployed to everyone who uses the game’s built-in communications systems, and will work alongside the likes of ID age verification and parental consent to “provide a more accurate measure of a user’s age than simply relying on what someone types in when they create an account.” On top of that, they promise “new systems” to limit minors’ interactions with adult strangers.

“We’re taking this step as part of our long-term vision as a platform for all ages,” Kaufman added. “We expect that our approach to communication safety will become best practice for other online platforms, whether lawmakers pass laws requiring age verification for all platforms in the future or not.”

Roblox’s facial age estimation works by “analysing a selfie of your face and examining your facial features”, at which point the user’s assigned to one of three groups, under 13, over 13, and over 18. The experience the game offers changes based on which bucket folks land in, and “certain personal data, including your email and phone number, will be removed from Roblox” for those flagged as under 13 years old.

So, it’s a slightly more in-depth iteration of the photo-based age checks you may well have had to do as part of the measures many sites and services have launched in response to the UK’s Online Safety Act, with the likes of credit card and ID checks often being the alternatives. These checks haven’t proven to be totally bulletproof (hello, Norman Reedus’ Death Stranding mug).

In addition to the legal action from Louisiana, Roblox has also faced child safety criticism from politicians like Democrat Ro Khanna. This isn’t the first time the game has made headlines for mistreatment of children, with accusations of exploiting game creators who’re often just kids or teenagers also having been lobbied at it.

Those behind Roblox have annoucned other steps recently to protect kids who are hopping in for a bit of Grow a Garden. That’s included cracking down on “vigilantes” who were impersonating minors in an alleged effort to catch adults behaving inappropriately, something the game’s overseers argued was only confusing matters.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Is Hollow Knight Silksong’s ‘cheap’ price a problem for other indie games? Devs and publishers weigh up its impact

by admin September 4, 2025

Here’s a complaint I never thought I’d hear: Hollow Knight Silksong is too cheap.

Team Cherry announced the $19.99/€19.99/¥2300 price alongside Silksong’s 4th September release date (that’s today!) only a couple of weeks ago. No other regional pricing was announced, such as how much it’ll cost in the UK, but I expect we’re looking at £19.99 because that’s how these things usually settle here. That price makes Silksong more expensive than Hollow Knight, which cost around £11-13 across various platforms, but not much more expensive, and it’s nowhere near the £50-70 price associated with triple-A games. So, what’s the problem?

Apparently it’s too little – too cheap. Scores of comments on Bluesky and X, in reaction to Silksong’s date and price announcement, say as much. “Actually underpriced,” said one user on Bluesky. “You guys are nuts for this at $20,” said another. And, “You’re going to spawn a week of discourse with that price announcement, you know that?” said another. Oops, ignore that last one.

Broadly it’s lighthearted – most people are pleased Silksong is €20 and not more. Some people are threatening to buy multiple copies, even, which probably defeats the point. But underneath the giddy excitement there is a more serious discussion happening. Comments from worried indie developers show there is concern about the knock-on effects a price like this could have.

“Silksong honestly should cost 40 bucks and I’m not even joking,” posted developer RJ Lake, who worked as a composer on I Am Your Beast and is directing rhythm adventure Unbeatable. “I won’t go as far as to say it’s bad but it will have effects, and not all of those effects are good.”

Who will play Silksong first – Zoe or you? Watch on YouTube

RJ believes Silksong’s price will distort players’ views about what a €20/$20 indie game can and perhaps should offer. Which other indie teams can afford to take several years to make a game, after all? Similarly, if they did take that long, which teams could afford to ask only $20/€20 upon release? Would it cover all that work? Not everyone has the diamond-encrusted safety net that Hollow Knight provides.

Theoretical concerns turned into real concerns not long after, when an indie developer who had been planning to charge $20 for their game took to X to ask people what they should charge now – now that Silksong was doing the same. “I can’t afford to give it away for free,” they – BastiArtGames, developer of Lone Fungus – said. Hearteningly, most of the replies I read – there are more than 1000 – encouraged BastiArtGames to stick to their original price. But as with the games hurriedly moving their releases away from Silksong, Lone Fungus seemed to be far from the only indie game affected.

Toukana, the developer of successful and wonderful tile-laying puzzle game Dorfromantik, delayed the release of new game Star Birds because of Silksong, moving from 4th September to 10th September. And co-founder Zwi Zausch now tells me the game’s as yet unannounced price has been affected too.

“Yes, Silksong’s price has influenced our decision,” Zausch says. “We’re trying not to compete too directly with Silksong, both in terms of release date and pricing. Of course, these are two very different games with potentially different player bases, but there’s definitely some overlap. That makes things tricky, especially since Star Birds is a joint project between two studios, together employing more people than Team Cherry.”

Team Cherry has four core team members, incidentally, which includes the two co-founders, and it uses some contracted help.

But even companies as robust as Devolver have felt the presence of Silksong. The publisher was one of the first to move the release of its game Baby Steps out of the way (from 8th September to 23rd September). “We felt that the same media and influencers who would be drawn to Baby Steps would inevitably (and understandably) prioritise Silksong, and we felt that would overshadow the glory of Nate falling down the side of a mountain,” Devolver CEO and co-founder Graeme Struthers explains to me.

Tellingly, perhaps, the price of Baby Steps hasn’t been announced yet. Struthers didn’t say this was because of Silksong, but he did suggest Silksong was causing questions to be asked. “My general take is that indie games tend to err on the side of value for the gamer,” he says. “I think the triple-A world has had much more to say about price-points and value, but maybe Team Cherry has brought that conversation over this way.”

Mike Rose, founder of indie publisher No More Robots, says pricing is a fascinating and tricky thing to manage. He’d long been an advocate for higher prices, he tells me, because it leaves room for discounts and down-pricing as a game ages. “But recently,” he adds, “I think the economy of games has been shifting, and people who aren’t actually releasing games don’t see it [or] realise.

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“People have less money now and are buying fewer games,” Rose says, “so you have to set yourself up to hopefully be that one game they buy when they do have money. And if you are a higher price, it’s now actually a bit offputting.” Budget co-op climbing sensation Peak is a great example of things going the other way, he says. “Part of the reason that game did so well was the crazy low price. It’s definitely making us rethink the pricing for our upcoming games.”

One game which shares a lot of similarities with Silksong is Citizen Sleeper 2. It’s not because of the game’s content – Citizen Sleeper 2 is a sci-fi role-playing game – but because both games were built on the extraordinary success of a predecessor, both are made by very small teams (Citizen Sleeper is just Gareth Damian Martin, with contracted art and soundtrack help), and both have very similar prices. In fact, the jump from the original game to the sequel is also almost identical.

Damian Martin tells me there were “extensive” discussions about Citizen Sleeper 2’s price, and it jumped from around £16.50 to £21 to reflect it being a bigger game, to account for inflation, and because of how other games were currently priced. All things I’m sure Team Cherry has taken into account when pricing Silksong 2. But there wasn’t any negativity around Citizen Sleeper 2’s price when it launched earlier this year – not that Damian Martin noticed.

“I don’t think most people notice the price unless it is really out of step with the market,” Damian Martin tells me. “That doesn’t mean people don’t make buying decisions based on price, they obviously do, but I think they do that without judgment or comment. They just decide to buy or not, they don’t complain unless there’s a big disparity.

“No matter how big Silksong is,” they added, “I don’t think it can really affect the going rate for indies. It’s just one data point, you’d need hundreds of indies to offer massive amounts of content for a low price to shift the market. It especially feels like conjecture when we don’t even know how big the game is anyway!”

Unprecedented. So much about Silksong feels unprecedented to me. Has there ever been an indie game this anticipated? Has an indie game ever disrupted release schedules in this way, or upended pricing plans? Here’s a game being treated like the biggest of triple-A blockbusters, except it’s not, and I think that’s where some of the pricing confusion arises from. “That’s why people think the price is low compared to the triple-A games that sell for 80 bucks,” says Bram van Lith, co-founder of Game Drive.nl, a company which helps indie devs price and sell their games. Hype has warped perceptions of what Silksong actually is.

But the question remains: is Silksong too cheap? Perhaps a keener question to ask is how much the people I speak to would charge for it, were it their game. Van Lith’s colleague Alisa Jefimova, a market analyst and expert in pricing, would charge €25, she tells me, to give room for a launch discount. Not that they need the attention of a discount, she adds. “It’s gonna be popular no matter what,” she says.

“They definitely could have gone $25,” No More Robots’ Mike Rose agrees, “but this way they are essentially cementing Silksong as being a gigantic success before it even launches, by making it a steal. So I don’t think Team Cherry is wrong to go $20. If I had been pricing it personally, I would have been on the fence between $20 and $25. But given the state of the industry right now, it’s very possible I would have also fallen on $20.”

“The more interesting question,” Bram van Lith chimes in, “is would the game be more successful asking $20 or $30?” What he means is would Silksong make more money if it sold at a higher price-point, or will the extra quantity it sells at a lower price-point more than make up for it? It’s an interesting question, but it’s not something I think Team Cherry is primarily concerned about.

Again, Team Cherry doesn’t depend solely, wholly and entirely upon Silksong’s success. Far from it. Hollow Knight has sold an astronomical 15 million copies already, and the overwhelming majority since Silksong was announced in 2019, curiously enough. Financially, Team Cherry is fine even without Silksong. Financially, Team Cherry is made.

A far more important consideration for Team Cherry is audience reaction. To wheel out an old cliché, this is the Australian studio’s difficult second album, the game that follows the phenomenal success of Hollow Knight. The intense spotlight beam of expectation and hype can be withering. And the elongated wait for Silksong hasn’t helped. Dipping the price slightly below expectations is a powerful way to prime people towards positivity.

Will it work? As Damian Martin noted: so much remains conjecture until the game itself arrives, which it is now agonisingly close to doing – Silksong unlocks at 3pm UK time today. How big will it be? How historic a gaming moment are we about to witness? And will it be worth the wait? Time will tell. We’ll have to wait and see.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Dell Inspiron 15 3535 Touchscreen Laptop Computer For Business Student

Game Updates

Dell’s 15.6″ Laptop (32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) Is $2,200 Off With Accessories, Making It an Almost Free Bundle

by admin September 4, 2025

Nothing grabs consumer eyeballs like a bundle deal. But who could possibly avert their eyes when Amazon takes an elite-level touchscreen laptop like the Dell Inspiron 15 3535 and bundles it with Windows 11 Pro and a box of goodies including a stylus pen, camera privacy cover, and USB flash drive, and offers that $3,000 package for just $800?

The Dell Inspiron 15 3535 alone at that price is a steal, especially when you see how loaded this model is. It’s packed with 32GB of RAM and a fat 1TB solid-state drive, with the AMD Ryzen 7 processor at the heart of the machine to make everything run fast and smoothly. The bundle add-ons of usually sold-separately necessities like pre-installed Windows 11 Pro with Copilot, a protective sleeve, and 128GB USB flash drive are the clincher that make this deal truly amazing.

See at Amazon

No Shortcuts Taken

We know, bundle deals are often just the sweetener to sell an iffy product that doesn’t move units on its own. This is most definitely not that. The Dell Inspiron 15 3535 is a total beast, with a 15.6-inch touchscreen that’s also LED-backlit and full-HD (1920×1080 resolution) with a refresh rate of 60Hz. The screen takes up nearly all of the inside lid thanks to the slender borders. The AMD Ryzen 7 processor can really cook, with speeds of up to 4.5GHz at the ready.

The Dell Inspiron 15 3535 isn’t one of those thick, heavy old-school laptops that are a chiropractor’s nightmare when carried in a shoulder bag. It’s sleek and trim at just three-quarters of an inch thick with the lid closed, and the 3.6 pound weight isn’t going to drag you down. The anti-glare screen, HD webcam, and generous array of ports and connection options complete the package.

Meet Your Copilot

This bundle deal also does not skimp on the operating system, as Windows 11 Pro is preloaded and just a press of the power button away from launch. Pro is designed for business professionals and power users, packed with advanced security network management features. It also comes with Copilot, one of the very best of the huge recent wave of AI assistants. Copilot is a great source for quick, accurate research, and if you’re ever stuck on writing the perfect email or any other creative effort, Copilot is one of the best assistants around.

This incredible bundle is topped off with an accessories kit that includes a stylus pen (remember, the Inspiron is a touchscreen), privacy cover for the webcam, 128GB USB flash drive, laptop dust plug, protective sleeve, and microfiber cleaning cloth. These are all of the little incidentals that can run up a shockingly big bill as add-ons, and they’re free. Amazon’s $800 deal on this massively packed bundle is a killer 73%-off deal that brings you an elite-level laptop, OS, and accessory package at a savings of $2,200.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

The Toxic Avenger 4K Steelbook Restocked With Huge Price Cut At Amazon

by admin September 4, 2025

The Toxic Avenger remake was considered to be an unreleasable movie for several years, but in 2025, the impossible has become reality. With the unrated cut of the film now out in theaters–and garnering positive reviews for its over-the-top violence and general weirdness–the home media release has been set for October 28. Three different Blu-ray editions of The Toxic Avenger are up for preorder now.

Amazon is offering a steep preorder discount on The Toxic Avenger Collector’s Edition Steelbook that drops the price to only $31 (was $50). There’s also a 4K edition with a lenticular sleeve, but it’s still selling for full price. The Toxic Avenger’s standard Blu-ray edition is discounted to $25.85 (was $38), but keep in mind the Steelbook Edition includes 4K and 1080p Blu-ray discs.

$31.13 (was $50) | Releases October 28

The Collector’s Edition Steelbook of The Toxic Avenger Unrated features the mutated face of Toxie–played by Peter Dinklage–while the back has a cool full-body image of the mop-wielding vigilante as he strikes an action pose. Inside, you’ll find promo images of the movie’s two villains, Bob and Fritz Garbinger, played by Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood, respectively.

It comes with 4K and standard Blu-ray copies of the movie, and bonus features include a behind-the-scenes documentary, director Macon Blair’s audio commentary track, a video on why the world needs Toxie, a 40th anniversary tribute to the original movie, and the film trailer.

The Toxic Avenger Bonus Features

A Toxic Environment: Best of behind the scenes
Director’s commentary with Macon Blair
Toxic Shock with Tiffany Shepsis
40th Anniversary of the Toxic Avenger retrospective
Trailer

$47 | Releases October 28

The Toxic Avenger’s non-steelbook Collector’s Edition comes with a limited-edition lenticular O-card sleeve featuring Dinklage’s character in human and mutated forms. When you remove the sleeve, you’ll see the cover art pictured above. Toxie is once again preparing for battle and is armed with his trusty mop.

Outside of the different packaging, this 4K edition is the same. It also includes a standard 1080p Blu-ray and the handful of special features found in the Steelbook Edition.

But unlike the Steelbook Edition, this hasn’t received a discount yet, making it significantly more expensive at the moment.

$25.85 (was $38) | Releases October 28

The standard 1080p Blu-ray edition is also billed as a Collector’s Edition, but the “collectible” component here appears to be reversible cover art. The unique cover displayed above shows Toxie doing his best Uncle Sam recruitment pose. The alternate cover art matches the 4K edition. The standard Blu-ray edition comes with the same bonus features.

The Toxic Avenger is also releasing on DVD and is available to preorder for $30.

A remake of Troma Entertainment’s 1984 Toxic Avenger movie, the new version spent several years in limbo. Outside of a few premieres in 2023 at film festivals, the future of the movie looked uncertain as finding a distributor to help release it to a wider audience proved to be especially challenging. As one anonymous producer remarked at the time, The Toxic Avenger was deemed an “unreleasable” movie due to its gory nature and a prediction that it would only attract a niche audience to theaters.

Fortunately, various other companies stepped up to the plate and The Toxic Avenger is now out in theaters. If you haven’t seen any of the trailers yet, The Toxic Avenger reimagines the 1984 original movie and stars Dinklage as Winston Gooze, a health club janitor stricken with a terminal illness thanks to his employer. After he approaches his boss for help and finds himself dumped into a vat of toxic waste instead, Gooze is mutated into a revenge-fueled vigilante hellbent on cleaning up his town using any and all violent means possible.

In addition to Dinklage, Bacon, and Wood, the movie also stars JJ Doherty, Jacob Tremblay, Sarah Niles, and Johnny Coyne. Like the original, this new take on the character is designed to be incredibly gory and silly, plus it has a punk-rock attitude. Basically, if you’re in the mood for some brutal violence and laughs, then this might be just the movie that you’re looking for.

The original Toxic Crusder still holds up well

The Toxic Avenger Collection

Even though it’s over 40 years old, the original Toxic Avenger is still worth checking out. You can grab the first film and all of its sequels in a 4K collection for $94.89 at Walmart. While the sequels showed signs of diminishing quality, the first movie is still a work of splatterpunk art thanks to its low-budget charm and low-brow humor. Make no mistake, this is a bad movie, but like several other pieces of media that reach this level, it’s so bad that it’s actually good, and it quickly became a cult-classic after it was first released. The “Toxset” features restored 4K scans of the four movies, as well as standard Blu-ray copies.

The standard Blu-ray version of The Toxic Avenger Collection is available for only $28.57 (was $50) at Amazon and Walmart.

For the bonus materials, there’s a very healthy selection on offer here. The first movie includes behind-the-scenes featurettes, an intro from Troma Entertainment president Lloyd Kaufman, and a few archival materials from the DVD release. The first sequel gives viewers more documentaries, commentary tracks, and interviews, the threequel offers a similar arrangement of extras, and Citizen Toxie, the fourth movie, has one of the best features here in the form of a documentary that runs for over two hours. The fourth Toxic Avenger movie is still divisive amongst the fandom, but this is an uncompromising look at how the movie was made with seemingly no part of the production being off limits for the camera crew.

Yes, there was even a Toxic Avenger animated series

Toxic Crusaders: The SERIES

Finally, you can also complete the collection with the animated spin-off, Toxic Crusaders: The Series for under $20 (was $35). Originally designed to be a not-so-subtle way to sell action figures in the ’90s–all the cool animated shows were doing it–this Blu-ray offers the original 13-episode run, a new introduction by Lloyd Kaufman, the original Toxic Crusaders toy commercials and TV spots, archival footage thought to be lost media, and extra cartoons. As an added bonus, there’s a documentary about the making of the Toxic Crusaders video game from Retroware.

Toxic Crusaders released on Blu-ray last December, and the current $19.84 price is one of the lowest yet.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Cowboy soulslike Tombwater gets a release date, and its cursed town ain’t big enough for both you and some horrific hombres

by admin September 4, 2025

Yee-haw. Excuse me, I meant to say that wild west soulslike metroidvania Tombwater has walked into the saloon and ordered a release date. ‘I’ll have November 12th, 2025’, it growled, while flashing its big iron at everyone in the watering hole to show it meant business.

Originally roaming the plains of Itch.io, this funky-looking game comes from Max Mraz, developer of Ocean’s Heart and Bloodborne tribute Yarntown, and Jake Wagner. The duo have trained their six-shooters on Steam, where you can already find a demo to check out.

Watch on YouTube

You’ve got a bit of time to do so as well, with that November 12th release still being a little while away. It’s not like there are any other big metroidvaniascoming out in the interim to scratch that itch for you. As far as what you’re in for goes, here’s Tombwater’s story blurb:

Enter Tombwater, where shadows lurk and whispers echo from the deep of abandoned silver mines. This is no longer a town where people live, but a town where people die. A once-thriving community, its people have now been gripped by the tendrils of madness. Step into the well-worn boots of a lone gunslinger, drawn to the eerie, decaying streets by the disappearance of Sheriff Elliott Flintwood — a long-lost friend who’s fought to save the town. Uncover the truth by facing unforgettable terrors and fighting through the madness.

There you go, not-Clint-Eastwood’s nowhere to be found, get your bum in some chaps and go fight some eldrich horrors. Those horrors, glimpsed from the game’s top-down 2D perspective look pretty freaky too. The deputy’s covered in red stuff and bones, and over 20 other boss battles are promised as you explore the likes of canyons and mines with some secrets tucked away.

I’m a bit bemused at a western being as proud to boast melee weapons, spells and tonic brewing as it is a bunch of pistols, shotguns and repeaters you can use to duel demonic dudes to death, but variety is the spice of life. Well, having someone spit chewing tobacco into your lunch was probably the spice of wild west life, but you know what I mean.

If you’re so inclined, you can check out Tombwater’s demo here.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Upcoming Resident Evil film “lives” in the world of RE2 and RE3, but with the tone of 4

by admin September 4, 2025

Director Zach Cregger – known for Barbarian and more recently modern horror fairytale Weapons – has shed more light on his upcoming Resident Evil film, which will begin shooting later this year. Most notably, the director has said the film will be “true to the experience of the games”, and “lives” in the world of Resident Evil 2 and 3. That being said, Cregger said his adaptation “adheres more to the tone of 4”.

Cregger was a guest on the Double Toasted YouTube channel, when the conversation turned towards Resident Evil. “It takes place in the world of the games, but most importantly the journey you’ll have as a viewer of watching this movie is going to be similar to the journey you have as a player when you play these games,” the director said of the adaptation.

“And what that means is it follows one protagonist from point A to point B as they just descend deeper and deeper and deeper into hell.”

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Cregger continued: “And as someone who’s played I don’t know how many thousands and thousands of hours of Resident Evil, I just feel like I know how that pacing can go, and it’s inherently cinematic, and I feel like there’s a great movie that can live inside of this world and inside of that sort of pacing. And I’m just really, really pumped about the story that we get to tell here.

“So, I feel like I’m champing at the bit to make this thing.”

As he has said before, the director reiterated he has not seen any of the previous Resident Evil films, saying there are fans of the movies that are “probably not really prepared” for what he has planned. “But, I think that people that are fans of the games are probably going to be stoked,” he said.

Cregger said the “thing about the games is that the game franchise itself is incredibly malleable”, noting that both 2 and 3 take place in Raccoon City, while in Resident Evil 4 we all head overseas with Leon (“and it feels like it’s in the past even though it’s not”). Resident Evil 7 he likens to “a Texas Chainsaw kind of a thing”, before then saying “8 is like some ancient European village and definitely in the past”.

“So, the games don’t even have some sort of a set lore. It’s not rigid. And so I don’t think I’m taking any more liberties with this than the game franchise does at all,” Cregger concluded. “So, I’m colouring within the lines.”

Cregger’s Resident Evil film is expected to be released on 18th September, 2026.

Image credit: Sony Pictures

As for Resident Evil games, our Alex recently sat down with K&omacr;shi Nakanishi to chat about how Resident Evil 9: Requiem is the “most extreme” title in the series yet.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Marvel Rivals Is Coming To Your Old, Dying PS4 Later This Month

by admin September 4, 2025

Marvel Rivals is launching soon on a new platform. No, the popular superhero online PVP shooter isn’t coming to Nintendo Switch 2. Instead, NetEase has quietly announced that Rivals is getting a PS4 port. I can already imagine how loud an old PS4 will sound when Doctor Strange creates a portal.

On September 3, NetEase released a new trailer for the upcoming fourth season of Marvel Rivals, “Heart of the Dragon.” The new season arrives on September 12 and brings Daredevil to the game’s already large roster. However, at the very end of this slick, action-packed story trailer, NetEase included a bit of news. Seen briefly in the final moments of the trailer is the logo for the PlayStation 4. It seems the online superhero game is getting a last-gen port.

Word of this PS4 port first appeared earlier this week, with dataminers finding evidence on the PlayStation Store’s back end of a new PS4 version of Marvel Rivals. Today’s new teaser seems to confirm that, yes, NetEase is porting its blockbuster superhero game to the aging PS4. Sony’s old home console launched back in November 2013, nearly 12 years ago. And yet, Marvel Rivals will soon be playable on the old hardware. Some fans are confused as to why Rivals is making the backward leap to PS4 while it still lacks a Switch 2 port. It would seem logical that if Rivals can run on PS4, it can likely run on a Switch 2. Perhaps a lack of dev kits is to blame?

Regardless of all that, it is extremely wild to me that Marvel Rivals is launching on PS4 in 2025. This is a console that launched during the tail end of the first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is a machine that arrived when Barack Obama was still president of the United States. And soon you’ll be able to play Marvel Rivals on it. Sure, it’s not the first time we’ve seen a current-gen game go backwards with a PS4 port. But it is still odd.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Creepshow Complete Series Collector’s Edition Comes With CRT TV Display Box

by admin September 4, 2025

Fans of the horror-comedy anthology franchise Creepshow now have two cool Blu-ray releases to look forward to this fall. Arrow Video’s upcoming 4K restoration of Creepshow 2 has been available to preorder since July, but now you can also reserve a unique Blu-ray box set collecting all four seasons of Shudder’s recent anthology series. Creepshow: Complete Series Collector’s Edition is available to preorder for $100 at Walmart and Amazon ahead of its November 11 release.

Just like Creepshow 2’s Limited Edition, the TV series collection leans into the franchise’s roots and inspirations with a CRT TV display box containing comic book-inspired disc cases. It looks like an awesome collectible for Creepshow fans.

Creepshow: Complete Series (Blu-ray)

Neither retailer has a full product description for the box set, so we’re not entirely sure what’s going on with the miniature CRT TV in the image above. But with the TV display showing The Creep and the Creepshow logo with a red background, it seems like you can flip between screens. Perhaps with the dial on the front? That said, we wouldn’t be surprised if those are removable cards that you slide into place. Turning the dial to change channels might be wishful thinking. Each of the four seasons has its own case modeled after the in-universe Creepshow comics and Stephen King’s original graphic novel.

The box set also comes with a comic book based on “Skeletons in the Closet,” which is one of the vignettes in Season 3, Episode 2. Creepshow 2’s Limited Edition 4K Blu-ray also includes a physical comic book, but only if you snag a copy from the first printing before it sells out. The comic is an adaptation of an unpublished Stephen King story that was cut from the 1987 film. Creepshow 2 Limited Edition releases September 30 for $50. While you wait for both Creepshow releases, check out the original 1982 anthology’s 4K Steelbook Edition for only $27.79 (was $40) at Amazon.

If you love Creepshow, you’ve come to the right place. Along with details on the two upcoming releases, we put together lists of Creepshow Blu-rays, making-of books, and the ongoing comic book anthology series. So make sure to creep farther down for some great Creepshow deals–unless you’d rather look for yourself, in which case you can check out these Amazon hubs we created: Creepshow Blu-rays | Creepshow books and comics.

$100 | Releases November 11

Creepshow debuted on Shudder in 2019 and quickly became one of the horror streamer’s marquee original series. It was undoubtedly a huge subscription seller for Shudder, especially Season 1 was the best take on the franchise since the original movie.

The anthology series ran for four seasons and 25 episodes, including two TV specials, before ending in 2023. Episodes of Creepshow include a pair of distinct vignettes, roughly 20-25 minutes each.

Franchise creators Stephen King and George A. Romero weren’t involved with the production, but a few episodes are based on King’s short stories, including the show’s very first vignette “Gray Matter,” adapted from a story in King’s excellent collection Night Shift. The 2020 Halloween special adapted “Survivor Type” from Skeleton Crew. The back half of the special was based on “Twittering from the Circus of the Dead” from the story collection Full Throttle by Joe Hill, who also happens to be King’s eldest son.

The 9-disc box set has a total runtime of roughly 18 hours. All 23 episodes and the two specials are displayed in 1080p resolution and support DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Bonus features include cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and photo galleries.

If you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes content, you should also check out Shudder’s Creepshow: From Script to Scream, a 240-page coffee-table book with a foreword by Stephen King.

$50 | Releases September 30

Creepshow 2’s Limited Edition is a native 4K restoration from the original camera negative with HDR (Dolby Vision and HDR10) and three audio formats: 5.1 DTS-HD, stereo, and lossless monaural.

Arrow Video originally created a 2K restoration that released as Creepshow 2: Special Edition back in 2016 on 1080p Blu-ray. The on-disc special features for the 4K release largely mirror the Special Edition. The reversible sleeve and cover art by Mike Saputo matches the 2016 release, too.

Just like the first printing of the 1080p Blu-ray, the 4K release includes two limited-edition booklets. These are no longer included with the standard Blu-ray and were limited to 3,000 units, but now you have another chance. For reference, the first printing has a red sleeve, but after it sells out, it’ll likely switch to a blue sleeve like the Blu-ray edition.

Most notably, you’ll get a booklet with the comic adaptation of “Pinfall,” one of the two stories that were cut from the film. The story was written by Stephen King and adapted into a script by George Romero. Jason Mayoh adapted the story into a comic for the Blu-ray release in 2016. Along with the comic booklet, you’ll get an illustrated booklet with commentary from Michael Blyth.

“Pinfall” has never been published as a short story or filmed, so this is the only way to experience one of Stephen King’s unpublished stories.

Creepshow 2 4K Limited Edition Bonuses

“Pinfall” comic booklet (adaptation of unpublished King story)
Illustrated booklet with commentary on the film
Collector’s sleeve with original artwork and reversible cover art
Featurettes, audio commentaries, and interviews

A full list of on-disc special features can be found at the end of this article. For a deep dive on the sequel, check out The Making of Creepshow 2, a 320-page account of the film’s production based on production documents and author Lee Karr’s conversations with cast and crew.

$28 (was $40)

Though you can watch Creepshow 2 without watching the original, the 1982 anthology is a more well-rounded collection of horror-comedy stories, so it doesn’t really make sense to skip it. Plus, it’s already available on 4K Blu-ray. A Collector’s Edition released in 2023, and the awesome Steelbook Edition shown above arrived just in time for Halloween last year. The Limited Edition Steelbook is on sale for $27.89 (was $40), only two bucks more than the Collector’s Edition.

Both editions include 4K Blu-ray and standard 1080p Blu-rays and the same special features. The film was remastered in 4K using the original camera negatives and supports HDR (Dolby Vision and HDR10), Dolby Atmos audio, and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0. Special features include audio commentary with George Romero, a roundtable on the making of the anthology, and a whole bunch more. You can check out the full list at the bottom of this article.

Creepshow 2 Limited Edition (Arrow Video)

Creepshow and its numerous follow-ups blend horror and comedy while paying homage to classic comics like Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear. Directed by George Romero, the 1982 original is an anthology film with five distinct vignettes. Stories include a murdered man rising from the dead, a mysterious meteor that lands on a remote farm, and a cockroach army that’s hunting a man with Entomophobia.

Stephen King made his screenwriting debut with Creepshow, and two of the five tales were adapted from his short fiction. Creepshow wears its comic book influences on its sleeve, and King adapted the film into a graphic novel the same year the film premiered.

Creepshow 2’s screenplay was written by Romero and directed by the original film’s cinematographer Michael Gornick. Though originally planned to mirror its predecessor with five vignettes, only three made it into the movie: “Old Chief Wood’nhead,” “The Raft,” and “The Hitch-hiker.” All three are based on King’s short stories, but “The Raft” is the only one that has been published and collected in the author’s heralded collection Skeleton Crew.

“Cat from Hell,” the other King story that was cut from Creepshow 2, was included in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie in 1990. The spin-off film was based on a TV series created by Romero in 1983. Given the timing, it should come as no surprise that Tales from the Darkside–also a horror-comedy anthology–existed because of Creepshow’s unexpected box office success. Tales from the Darkside: The Complete Series is available on DVD for $28.

Creepshow franchise 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases

Beyond the collectible editions, the first two Creepshow anthologies are available for around 10 bucks on standard Blu-ray. The Creepshow franchise technically has three film anthologies, but the 2006 straight-to-home-video Creepshow 3 is one that many fans want to forget exists at all (it’s quite bad). If you want to be reminded of it, a region-free Blu-ray edition of Creepshow 3 is $22 at Walmart. All three films are collected in a DVD box set for $25.

Another box set option is the King of Horror 8-Film Collection on Blu-ray or DVD. This one only includes the first Creepshow movie, but you’ll also get The Shining, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, the 1990 It miniseries, and more.

Creepshow Movies

All four seasons of Shudder’s anthology series are already available on Blu-ray and DVD. The first season is currently quite pricey on Blu-ray, but Seasons 2-4 are around $15 each.

Tales from the Darkside / Tales from the Crypt

If you like the horror-comedy anthology structure, you should definitely check out Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Crypt.

Creepshow by Stephen King (1982) | Creepshow Deluxe Edition Book One (2024)

Shudder’s series also led to the revival of Creepshow in print. Skybound and Image Comics have published 19 Creepshow comics since 2022, and 15 of them have been collected in paperback volumes. Each volume has five stories written and illustrated by a rotating group of big names in the industry, including Garth Ennis and Joe Hill. As a child, Hill appeared in the prologue and epilogue of the original Creepshow film, and over 40 years later he wrote an official Creepshow comic called Joe Hill’s Wolverton Station.

The first issue in Volume 4 will be published September 17. If you want to catch up on the anthology series, the first three volumes are available in trade paperback for $15 (or less) each. Volume 3 was published in April, and Volume 4’s paperback edition is expected to release next March. Last holiday season, Image Comics published a hardcover Deluxe Edition compiling the first two volumes. Amazon has Creepshow Deluxe Edition for $21 (was $40), which is almost exactly the same price as the two paperback editions combined.

Joe Hill’s Creepshow comic and three others are one-shots that aren’t included in the collected volumes, but you can buy digital editions for Kindle for a couple bucks each. All 19 Creepshow comics released so far can be purchased as a digital bundle for $40. But Before reading the new series, we’d highly recommend Stephen King’s original graphic novel, which is available in paperback for only $15 (was $20) at Amazon.

Creepshow Graphic Novel & Comic Collections

Creepshow Digital Comics

More Creepshow Books

Creepshow 2 reversible cover art

Creepshow 2 Limited Edition Special Features

“Pinfall” comic booklet (adaptation of unpublished King story)
Illustrated booklet with commentary on the film
Collector’s sleeve with original artwork and reversible cover art
Native 4K (2160p) restoration from original camera negative
HDR: Dolby Vision and HDR10
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD surround sound, stereo, and lossless mono (original)
Optional English subtitles
Audio Commentary: Director Michael Gornick
Screeplay for a Sequel – Interview with screenwriter George A. Romero
Tales from the Creep – Interview with actor and makeup artist Tom Savini
Poncho’s Last Ride – Interview with actor Daniel Beer
The Road to Dover – Interview with actor Tom Wright
Nightmares in Foam Rubber – Archive featurette and interviews on Creepshow 2 special effects
My Friend Rick – Howard Berger talks about special effects mentor Rick Baker
Behind-the-scenes footage
Image gallery
Trailers and Commercials
Original screenplay galleries

Creepshow Steelbook + Collector’s Edition Special Features

Disc 1: 4K Blu-ray

Audio commentary with director George A. Romero and makeup effects creator Tom Savini
Audio commentary with photography director Michael Gornick
Audio commentary with composer/first assistant director John Harrison and construction coordinator Ed Fountain
Interviews: Michael Gornick, John Amplas, Bruce Alan Miller, Darryl Ferucci
Mondo Macabre – A look at Creepshow posters with Mondo co-founder Rob Jones and events planner Josh Curry
Collecting Creepshow – Creepshow prop collector Dave Burian shows off his collection
The Colors Of Creepshow – How Creepshow was restored in 4K
Into The Mix – Sound re-recordist Chris Jenkins talks about remastering the audio
Still Galleries – Behind-the-scenes pictures, movie posters, special effects makeup, color stills, and poster and lobby cards

Disc 2: 1080p Blu-ray

Terror and the Three Rivers – Roundtable discussion on the making of Creepshow
The Comic Book Look – Interview with costume designer Barbara Anderson
Ripped From the Pages – Interview with animator Rick Catizone
Horror’s Hallowed Grounds – Sean Clark tours original filming locations
Tom Savini’s Behind-the-scenes footage
Deleted scenes
Theatrical trailers in English and Spanish
TV and radio commercials
Audio commentary with photography director Michael Gornick
Audio commentary with composer/first assistant director John Harrison and construction coordinator Ed Fountain
Audio interviews with original crew
Mondo Macabre – A look at Creepshow posters with Mondo co-founder Rob Jones and events planner Josh Curry
Collecting Creepshow – Creepshow prop collector Dave Burian shows off his collection
The Colors Of Creepshow – How Creepshow was restored in 4K
Into The Mix – Sound re-recordist Chris Jenkins talks about remastering the audio
Still Galleries – Behind-the-scenes pictures, movie posters, special effects makeup, color stills, and poster and lobby cards

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September 4, 2025 0 comments