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Opening

Instagram tests opening right onto Reels

by admin October 2, 2025

Instagram is testing a potentially major change to the app: making Reels the home tab of the app. As part of an opt-in test in India, Meta is making Reels and DMs the first two tabs on the app, according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri. Mosseri says that Reels and DMs have been a key driver of growth for Instagram over the past few years, which is why it’s “exploring” the change.

In a video in his post, you can see how the new home tab would work. Part of the tab will look familiar, like the horizontal list of Stories to check out at the top, but when you start to scroll up, the layout shifts into what you might recognize from the current Reels tab, where pretty much the entire screen is filled with video. Photos from accounts you follow will still be included in this revised version of the home tab, Mosseri says, but the video doesn’t show how.

Instagram has already been dabbling with this shift with its recently-launched iPad app, which opens into Reels from its home tab. In its post announcing the app, Meta said that it designed the experience that way “to reflect how people use bigger screens today – for lean back entertainment.” But this new test indicates that Instagram is thinking about making Reels an even more prominent part of its main mobile app, too.

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October 2, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

SEC No-Action Letter Creates Opening for More Firms to Serve as Crypto Custodians

by admin October 1, 2025

In brief

The SEC will not take enforcement actions against advisors and other entities for using state-chartered as crypto custodians.
This letter could lead to a potential opening for a greater number of organizations to serve as custodians for digital assets.
In July, Chair Paul Adkins unveiled “Project Crypto, an SEC initiative to dramatically lower regulatory burdens.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a letter on Tuesday that it did not plan to take action against registered investment advisors, issuers of crypto funds, and other entities for using state-chartered trusts to hold digital assets.

The updated guidance, a response from the SEC’s Division of Investment Management to a query filed by lawyers representing financial advisors, creates a potential opening for a greater number of organizations to serve as custodians for these assets, including affiliates of prominent crypto-focused firms such as Coinbase and Ripple.

“Based upon….your letter, the Division of Investment Management would not recommend enforcement action….against a Registered Adviser or Regulated Fund for treating a State Trust Company as a ‘bank’ related to placement and maintenance of Crypto Assets and Related Cash and/or Cash Equivalents,” the SEC letter said, as long as certain criteria are met both by the advisor and the trust.

The SEC letter offers the latest shift from the SEC’s less forgiving approach to crypto under former Chair Gary Gensler, who sought to limit the types of organizations that could custody digital assets.

In July, current Chair Paul Adkins unveiled “Project Crypto, an SEC initiative to dramatically lower regulatory burdens for the crypto industry and to accelerate the integration of digital assets within the traditional U.S. economy.

The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 requires that advisors maintain client assets with a bank, trust or other qualified custodian holding national fiduciary duties. Crypto supporters have used this legislation to enable a wider range of crypto initiatives.

The letter is not a formal rule or regulation and therefore has “no legal force or effect” or “alter or amend applicable law,” the SEC noted.

But the agency made advisors responsible for ensuring that a registered trust is authorized by relevant banking authorities to provide crypto custody services and has written policies and procedures to protect those assets, addressing such issues as private key management.

Custodial agreements that advisors sign should also ensure that the trust will not lend or otherwise use funds without a client’s consent, and that crypto assets “will be segregated from the State Trust Company’s assets.”

Trusts may serve as custodians, provided “the Registered Adviser determines that the use of the State Trust Company’s custody services is in the best interest of the RIA Client or Regulated Fund and its shareholders,” the SEC letter said.

The letter drew praise from Bloomberg ETF Analyst James Seyffart, who in an X post wrote it was “a textbook example of more clarity for the digital asset space.”

“Exactly the sort of thing the industry was asking for over the last few years,” he wrote. “And it keeps coming.”

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

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GameFi Guides

Binance Founder “CZ” Considers Opening YZi Labs to External Investors: FT

by admin September 23, 2025

YZi Labs, the family office founded by Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, may open up to external investors, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The $10 billion investment company, which was rebranded from Binance Labs, is open to the possibility of converting into an investment fund, head of YZi Labs Ella Zhang said in an interview, according to the report.

“There’s always a lot of external investors interested and we will eventually consider turning it into an external-facing fund,” Zhang said.

While YZi naturally has considerable nous in Web3 investments, it is “still early” in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and biotech, Zhang said.

“We’re forming our team, when we have that expertise…we’ll be open to external investors,” she said.

YZi Labs rebranded from being Binance’s venture capital arm to Zhao’s family office shortly after his release from prison following a four-month prison sentence for failing to set up an adequate know-your-customer program at Binance.

As part of his guilty plea, he stepped down as Binance CEO and has subsequently turned more of his attention to YZi Labs, which manages the money of Zhao and fellow Binance co-founder Yi He, also his longtime partner.

Family offices are not open to external investors as they manage the wealth of a single family, so do not raise money from outside sources.

YZi Labs did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.

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September 23, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Chapter 2′ Opening Is a Game of Hide and Seek

by admin September 13, 2025

You may not know it, but we’re a few weeks out from The Strangers: Chapter 2. To help drum up interest for the film, Lionsgate’s put out a clip from the first few minutes of the film, which picks up where 2024’s Chapter 1 concluded.

Last we left off, Maya (Madelaine Petsch) survived the attack from the titular Strangers that left her boyfriend Ryan dead, and she ended the film recuperating in the hospital. But before she can worry about her health bill, she realizes that she’s not as free of the masked murderers as she thought, leading to her scrambling to avoid them any way she can, including hiding out in the morgue.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Petsch teased this next chapter in the The Strangers saga would offer more insight into the town of Venus, Oregon. The events of the sequel will span “almost the entirety” of the town, the actor said, and zero in on about 15 townspeople to understand how Venus got like this. Two particular characters of interest are Gregory (Gabriel Basso), Maya’s fellow roommate in the hospital, and Danica (Brooke Lena Johnson), the hospital nurse tending to them both.

Petsch called the value in the Strangers franchise its lead killers being “just real people who want to kill you” and said they’d also get some fleshing out during Chapter 2. What that entails, Lionsgate is keeping close to the vest, but what Maya goes through will take a toll on her “mentally, emotionally, and physically. We help the audience see that by showing a lot of her point of view and her questioning reality because she’s so exhausted…she’s starting to lose her grip on reality.”

This is a “character-driven horror” film, said Petsch, who also teased the already-made Chapter 3 could “turn [Maya] into a killer. When all three come out and people watch them, they’ll get that satisfaction they’re looking for.” We’ll see how that turns out when The Strangers: Chapter 2 hits theaters on September 26.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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September 13, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

The Opening Still Hits So Hard

by admin September 1, 2025

Final Fantasy VII has one of the best openings of a video game ever. The remake cranks that up even further thanks to the the mash-up of modern graphics and

For the uninitiated, the opening mission has a former corporate solider teaming up with an anarcho-terrorist cell to blow up a power plant that is helping to kill the planet. Combined with the slick hybrid turn-based combat, it’s a perfect tutorial that also sets the big-picture stakes for the rest of the adventure.

I briefly tested Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade at PAX West this past weekend and was relieve to see it doesn’t seem to be suffering from some of the issues that appear to be hindering other Switch 2 ports. Square Enix recently promised the newest version of the RPG would run at a stable 30fps with “smooth performance and crisp visuals” and my roughly 20 minutes with the opening mission backs that up. Even in handheld mode it performed well with no obvious visual shortcomings. The game still controls great, and after dozens of hours with Rebirth last year, I’d forgotten just satisfying those early moments of the first game look and feel.

Square Enix

It’s worth noting that I didn’t have enough time to defeat the Scorpion Sentinel and make it out of the No. 1 reactor before it blows up, so I didn’t get to explore Remake Intergrade‘s more open and NPC-filled slums. It’s possible these portions of the game will strain it more on Switch 2. Based on that early section, though, it seems like there’s a decent chance the new hardware’s features will help it come out of the most demanding sections relatively unscathed. Remake Intergrade came out five years ago, but nothing about it looks “old” on Switch 2.

Will I go back and replay it once it’s out? Not without some sort of cross-save feature, which the Switch 2 version doesn’t support. But it’s neat that another excellent game will get a second lease on life with Nintendo’s new hardware, and it doesn’t appear to be cutting any performance corners in the process. There’s no exact release date yet but Remake Intergrade is expected to arrive sometime over the winter.

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September 1, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Drowning in the sea of Opening Night Live game announcements? Here are the under-the-radar gems we’re most excited about

by admin August 21, 2025

At this point, it’s almost tradition that Gamescom Opening Night Live draws to a close with a collective sigh. Again I send my prayers to the stars that the OmniGeoff may one day concede – and this goes for the equally interminable likes of Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards – that shorter, more focused is always better. Imagine the sustained enthusiasm you could generate without all that flaccid, glassy eyed filler! And so in that spirit of relative brevity, here’s a quick list of some of the slighty under-the-radar announcements from this year’s show (and pre-show) that managed to get us quite excited.

Denshattack!

Denshattack! reveal trailer.Watch on YouTube

One of a couple of Opening Night Live standouts relegated to the pre-show warm-up, Denshattack! is the work of developer Undercoders. And it’s easy to imagine the studio’s pitch for this one as ‘what if Jet Set Radio but runaway trains?’, given its cell-shaded aesthetic and tricking, grinding action would be pretty familiar if it wasn’t for the fact it switches out skateboards for graffiti-strewn, gravity defying locomotives.

Story wise, it sees players rail-riding across Japan, traversing vibrant countryside and urban city sprawls, all in a quest to defeat the sinister Miraid&omacr; corporation. You’ll ollie and kickflip in a bid to win over rivals and rack up points, with everything from magical mecha girls to moving castles making an appearance too. It looks an absolute blast and it’s coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC next year.

Valor Mortis

Valor Mortis trailer.Watch on YouTube

I’ve fond memories of developer One More Level’s cyberpunk action-parkour adventure Ghostrunner. Or at least, I’ve fond memories of its first couple of hours, after which everything is lost in a bright red haze of pure fury. The point, though, is it was Pretty Good (Eurogamer’s Bertie Purchese said it more eloquently in his review), so there’s every reason to be curious about what One More Level is doing next now the Less Good Ghostrunner 2 is behind it.

And that, it transpires, is Valor Mortis – a gory “first-person action Soulslike” that’s arriving next year. I appreciate there’s a general air of Soulslike fatigue about these days, but Valor Mortis does at least attempt to carve its own niche with, firstly, that shift in perspective, and also a pretty distinctive set-up. It’s the 19th century and the Napoleonic Wars are raging; you’re a soldier in Bonaparte’s Grande Armée and also, regrettably, dead. Until, that is, you awaken on a battlefield ravaged by a mysterious supernatural plague, former friends and foe now twisted into awful abominations. Expect a combat-focused adventure incorporating the likes of parries, dashes, and some pretty brutal finishers when Valor Mortis comes to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC next year.

Death by Scrolling

Death by Scrolling announcement trailer.Watch on YouTube

For readers of a certain age, Ron Gilbert needs no introduction: he’s the writer and designer best known for his point-and-click adventures, including Maniac Mansion, Thimbleweed Park, and, of course, the legendary Monkey Island series. Every now and then, though, Gilbert strays outside of those genre bounds; there’s 2013’s puzzle-platform adventure The Cave, for instance – made in conjunction with Double Fine – and now there’s Death by Scrolling.

Developed by Gilbert’s Terrible Toybox studio, Death by Scrolling has the air of a top-down 16-bit RPG, but there’s seemingly a lot more to it – it is, after all, described as a “rogue-like vertically scrolling RPG”. Your ultimate goal – playing as one of several characters, each with their own unique perks and abilities – is to race upward through endless levels in order amass enough money to pay the Ferryman and escape Purgatory. That involves battling enemies, swiping gems, grabbing power-ups, completing side quests, and a spot of shopping, all while outsmarting the ever-pursuing Grim Reaper. There’s no release date for Death by Scrolling yet, but it’s coming to PC.

Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster

Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster announcement trailer.Watch on YouTube

Sorry to keep calling you out, people of a certain age (and I include myself in this increasingly withered demographic), but here’s another name that’s likely to get old-timers a-flutter. Outlaws, developer LucasArts’ fondly remembered – if, perhaps, oft-overlooked – Wild West FPS is making a return, courtesy of remaster specialists Nightdive Studios.

First released in 1997 – around the time LucasArts was dipping its toes in new genres after dominating the point-and-click scene for so long – Outlaws aimed to build on the success of the studio’s beloved Star Wars: Dark Forces by taking the FPS to hitherto unseen frontiers. Namely, the cowboy ones. According to Wikipedia, it was perhaps the first shooter to introduce a sniper zoom and one of the first to feature a gun reloading mechanic, but my own memories – which don’t extend much further than a well-worn cover disc demo – remain positive but decidedly hazy. Nightdive’s remaster, which also includes 1998’s Handful of Missions expansion, promises the likes of high-resolution textures, redrawn art, crossplay multiplayer, and gamepad support, and it’s coming to PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch this year.

Unbeatable

Unbeatable final trailer.Watch on YouTube

If you had a vague sense of déjà vu when Unbeatable popped up during Opening Night Live, you’re not the only one. A quick trip down memory lane (Google) confirms Unbeatable was first announced back in 2021, when it got a whole bunch of people, including me, excited for the very first time. It had a fantastic demo, released to promote what would go on to be a successful Kickstarter, after which it was time for developer D-Cell to knuckle down.

Four years later, and the rhythm adventure where “music is illegal and you do crimes” is back. Unbeatable promises “big emotions” and “arcade-flawless rhythm gameplay” as the story of Beat and her band unfolds, charting their efforts to gig and stay one step ahead of the cops. “Half the game is walking around and taking things at your own pace,” D-Cell says of Unbeatable’s story mode. “The other half is trying to keep up with ours.” It’s also got an “unlimited” arcade mode featuring a “entire double album” of music, alongside acoustic versions, and remixes. Unbeatable looks and sounds like a winner, and it’s coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, on 6th November.

Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes

Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes trailer.Watch on YouTube

The only thing I can remember about Battlestar Galactica, apart from that cool swishy visor thing the robots did in the original series, is that woman in red spending bloody ages pretending she wasn’t real. Which is to say I’m not exactly an leading expert. And yet there’s something about Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes that’s caught my eye. For starters, it’s by Alt Shift, the team behind well-received tactical rogue-lite Crying Suns, and it’s promising an interesting mix of turn-based and real-time action too.

Officially a “story-rich tactical roguelite”, Scattered Hopes plays out in two distinct halves. On one side, you – a Gunstar Captain attempting to rendezvous with the Battlestar Galactica – have a galaxy to traverse, navigating planets and points of interest turn-by-turn, all while dealing with tough dilemmas. You’ll need to juggle the sometimes opposing interests of different factions, perhaps, or manage dwindling resources, or try and identify impostors onboard. With every decision, the Cylons draw nearer, your choices impacting your chances of success when battle inevitably comes. At which point, real-time space combat (with tactical pause available) takes over, players deploying squadrons, missiles, and more in an attempt to last long enough to engage their FTL and scarper. It all sounds pretty neat and Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes is aiming for a Q1 launch on PC next year.

Bubsy 4D

Bubsy 4D trailer.Watch on YouTube

Okay, look, Bubsy might not exactly – or even remotely – be a byword for quality as far as video game platform mascots go, but credit where credit’s due; his name has managed to linger far longer (like a bad smell perhaps), compared to the largely forgotten likes of Socket, Rocky Rodent, Awesome Possum, and Vexx. After two so-so 2D platformers in the 90s and the absolute nadir that was Bubsy 3D in 1996, most would assume the titular bobcat would have hung up his jumping boots for good (pedants, please note I am aware Bubsy doesn’t wear shoes). Instead, he inexplicably returned two decades later for two more middling side-scrolling platformers. The legacy of Bubsy, to reiterate, is not great.

And yet! I’m absolutely fascinated by the prospect of Bubsy 4D, and not just because of the bobcat’s almost admirable refusal to bow out gracefully. Rather, this latest entry in the mascot’s dubious back catalogue is the work of indie studio Fabraz, which, if you’re unfamiliar, has made some pretty enjoyable games – including Demon Turf and Slime-San. Plus, it’s upcoming Demon Tides looks good too. So it’s an enticing pairing. As for Bubsy 4D, it’s got rolling, jumping, gliding, a bunch of evil sheep, a bunch of evil robot sheep, vibrant 3D worlds with a sort of old-school air to their design, and I really like the music in the trailer. Bubsy 4D doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s coming “soon”, and I am cautiously optimistic.

And those are our Gamescom Opening Night Live picks that might have got a little lost. Do feel free to add your own favourites in the comments below.

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August 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Opening Night Live buried the lede with WoW’s Midnight expansion – the MMO has a load of new additions coming that are genuinely interesting

by admin August 20, 2025

Gamescom Opening Night Live was packed full of new game reveals as is tradition, one of the fancier looking ones surely being the new cinematic for World of Warcraft’s Midnight expansion. Blizzard cinematics are always fantastic, the team responsible for them having seemingly made a pact with eldritch forces to maintain a level of quality one would think insurmountable.

But aside from the glitz and glamour of this cinematic, and the community-wide sigh of relief from the World of Warcraft community that Lor’themar didn’t get murdered live in front of Geoff Keighley, loads of other dope World of Warcraft related information was dropped that you may have missed. Here’s the good stuff.

Watch the cinematic for World of Warcraft: Midnight here!Watch on YouTube

World of Warcraft has housing and it looks pretty cool

My house! | Image credit: Activison Blizzard

A few months back Blizzard announced its intention to eat Final Fantasy 14’s lunch and add player housing into the game, without virtual landlords and camps of destitute players camped outside of plots they’ve heard may be going up for sale soon.

There’s a housing virtual tour website you can use right now to get an idea of what these homes will look like, and a gameplay demonstration at Gamescom gave us a look at what customising a house would actually be like via the lens of various content creators. Seeing internet celebrities place down a dozen carpets has never been so exciting.

Housing will either be a new venture for collectors and social players that’ll add another layer of immersion and lovely personalisation, or it’ll be a barren building speed levelers will run into briefly once when the expansion comes out before racing to max level and wiping in Mythic zero dungeons. Either way, cool. Those who pre-order the expansion can gain access to play housing early, obviously.

New Demon Hunter specialisation and a new allied race

Perhaps the most Avenged Sevenfold spec of all time. | Image credit: Activison Blizzard

A new Demon Hunter specialisation – called the Devourer – has been revealed. This void-focused spin on the edgiest class in WoW allows players to gorge themselves on the power of darkness, using the void to deal loads of damage. Using spells like “Collapsing Star” and “Hungering Slash”, you can pretend you’re not 35 years old and balding.

The Haranir will also be playable as an allied race in Midnight. These subterranean elvish / trollish people were introduced in The War Within and are a pretty rad spiritual subrace of intriguing weirdos. You’ll be able to play them as a Druid, Mage, Monk, Shaman, Priest, Warlock, Rogue, Warrior, and Hunter. Those who level ’em up get a hairy bat mount.

We’re going back to Blood Elf territory

I mean check this out… Brilliant. | Image credit: Activison Blizzard

One of the best zones Blizzard ever made purely from a perspective of vibrancy and high-fantasy vibes was Quel’Thalas. It’s a gorgeous forest filled with beautiful people with one big scar running down the middle. Well it turns out we’re going back, and not only will that big horrible scar be fixed up, but Silvermoon City will also be totally repaired. As a Blood Elf player, it’s a big victory all on its own.

You’re there to make sure the Sunwell doesn’t fall to the forces of evil, a tough endeavor considering the Sunwell has fallen twice already throughout its history. Still, it’s an excuse to head back to Zul’Aman and murder a third generation of Troll, as well as explore two new zones called Harandar and the Voidstorm. Nice.

A Prey system that might just fix the open world difficulty

Now every quest could be a lot more than you bargained for. | Image credit: Activison Blizzard

For years players have been doing quests and roaming around the open world in World of Warcraft with War Mode on, which would open you up to world PvP. This was meant to make questing a little more challenging, but frankly has mainly been used for an XP boost and for some niche collections.

The new Prey system is similar, though doesn’t require any PvP. Instead, by marking yourself as prey, you can go out and hunt (or be hunted) by tough bosses. There are three difficulties too, so it should all be genuinely tricky for those looking for some extra excitement.

Mounts and house customisation pieces can be gained by signing up, so all in all it’ll likely offer a decent diversion for those looking to extend their time in the Midnight zones, rather than through themselves at raids with terrible friends.

So there’s actually a lot to be excited for with World of Warcraft: Midnight. I, someone who swore off the game a year or so ago, has once again reinstalled the MMO and have found myself roaming around the world. Such is the cycle of WoW. I may even pre-order the expansion, for a mount I will ride around only once and transmog I shall never use.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Resident Evil Requiem’s gamescom Opening Night Live trailer has a lot of drama, not enough action

by admin August 20, 2025

Resident Evil Requiem has reminded everyone why it’s one of 2026’s most-anticipated games, having just reemerged to deliver something new for us to admire. That, of course, was a new trailer, broadcast live on the Opening Night Live stage.

Requiem has always seemed like a bit of an unusual Resident Evil, and though today’s look doesn’t change any of that, it signaled that it may not be the standard sequel some of us thought we’d be getting.

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The new trailer really is full of family drama. The game’s protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, is seemingly stuck with her mother, Alyssa Ashcroft, in a house where something bad is about to happen.

There’s some gameplay in this, but most of it is spooky, slow-walky stuff with flashlights pointed at things in almost complete darkness. It still looks pretty good, but I wish there was more going on in the footage.

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Requiem was announced in early June, following what felt like years of leaks. Unlike what most of us expected, however, it is not the open-world, Far Cry-inspired game those leaks made us expect. Instead, it’s a linear horror title with some action elements that takes place in the future of the Resident Evil universe.

Requiem stars the – seemingly easily frightened – Grace Ashcroft, who will be revisiting a devastated Raccoon City. The game is playable entirely in first and third-person. Requiem is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S and is set for release February 27, 2026.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Highlights from Gamescom Opening Night Live: Black Myth: Zhong Kui steals the show

by admin August 20, 2025

Gamescom Opening Night Live was once again hosted by Geoff Keighley last night, and GamesIndustry.biz was there in the Confex hall in Cologne to see the whole thing unfold live.

In the build up to the entrance of the big man at 8pm, the 5,000-strong audience was treated to a pre-recorded ‘pre-show’, featuring various game trailers that didn’t quite get past the velvet rope into the main event.

Notably, the only one of these trailers to get an actual cheer from the steadily warming up audience was He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearls of Destruction, a retro 2D brawler from Bitmap Bureau and Limited Run Games.

Coming after the rapturous reception for Bitmap Bureau’s retro-styled Terminator 2D: No Fate, it just goes to show the nostalgia drug remains as potent as ever.

Although nothing like the whooping for He-Man, a few other pre-show trailers gained some smatterings of applause, including Long Gone (funded by Outersloth), Valor Mortis, PVKK, the Chinese single-player action RPG Swords of Legends, and Saber Interactive’s new truck simulator Road Kings, which will no doubt go down well with the Euro Truck Simulator crowd.

Then it was time for Keighley to glide onto the stage in his trademark comfortable brown shoes. “It turns out that E3 didn’t die,” he pronounced, “it just moved right here to Germany.”

Setting aside Keighley’s own role in the murder, it’s difficult to compare the atmosphere of this vast German hall to the fan fervour you might see in days gone by in LA. The German audience seems far more muted and less prone to spontaneous outbursts.

Then again, it does feel like Gamescom has been building some serious momentum over the past few years in the absence of its US rival.

Image credit: Team Cherry

Right off the bat, Keighley revealed new gameplay footage of Hollow Knight: Silksong and proclaimed a demo would be playable at Gamescom, to the elation of the crowd.

The long-awaited game now has nearly five million wish lists on Steam, and the anticipation for it is reaching fever pitch.

Then it was on to a new trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which focused on some freaky-deaky, hallucinatory levels, reminiscent of the Scarecrow sequences in Batman: Arkham Asylum. The big headline feature for CoD this year is a two-to-four-player co-op – and it all culminates in a new PvE end game that could be a big draw.

Lord of the Fallen 2 got a surprise unveiling, along with a new anime based on From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice called Sekiro: No Defeat.

But one of the biggest reveals at the show was Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, which focuses on Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

TT Games’ head of development Jonathan Smith was wheeled out on stage to enthuse about the new title. “We are so thrilled to be revealing this game,” he said. “This is the definitive, essential Batman story.”

And it certainly seemed to be thrilling the assembled crowd, receiving one of the warmest receptions of the entire night.

Smith explained that it would be the first of the studio’s Lego titles to have different difficulty levels (‘Caped Crusader’ and ‘Dark Knight’ mode), and it appears to be a lot more involved than Lego Batman games of the past, featuring combat styled similarly to the Arkham titles.

Image credit: TT Games

More announcements followed. Warhammer Dawn of War IV is on the way in 2026, although developed by King Art Games rather than Relic Entertainment.

Monster Hunter Wilds is getting a crossover with Final Fantasy XIV, Chocobos included. Perhaps it will help to buoy the slump in sales for Wilds over the past few months.

The Fallout cast were ushered on stage to talk about season 2 of the show, which is headed to New Vegas this time around. But perhaps the bigger news is that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is heading to Switch 2 next year, eliciting gasps from the crowd.

Later, in another example of Microsoft’s IP crossing boundaries, it was revealed that Age of Empires IV is coming to PS5. As Rob Fahey recently commented, it’s a confusing time to be a console warrior.

We received new trailers for a whole swathe of previously announced titles, including Cronos: The New Dawn, The Outer Worlds 2, and Ghost of Yotei, which it was revealed will be receiving a Legends multiplayer mode in 2026, just like Ghost of Tsushima before it.

But the crowd was most roused by new footage from Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, which after years in development by various different studios is finally being released on October 21st this year.

Keighley took some time to enthuse about Death By Scrolling, the new game from Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert, which offers a departure from Gilbert’s point and click adventure roots by tasking the player with avoiding Death by fleeing upwards through a forced-scrolling playfield.

Image credit: Capcom

Eventually, nearly two hours in, and long after the show had begun to lose momentum, it was the turn of Resident Evil Requiem, a game that is clearly hotly anticipated by the audience. There were actual German whoops.

The new footage focused on terrified protagonist Grace Ashcroft fleeing violent monk-ish intruders alongside her handgun-wielding mother, but otherwise offered frustratingly few details about the new title, which is due on February 27th, 2026.

As Keighley entered into his thank yous following the trailer, it was notable that many audience members chose to get up and leave while he was speaking. But there was one more thing, he said, prompting the biggest reveal of the night.

A short CGI trailer for Black Myth: Zhong Kui ended the show, a sequel to Game Science’s multi-million selling Black Myth: Wukong.

Few details were provided apart from the name, but the fact that this one was saved until last just goes to show how Chinese studios are currently in the soaring ascendent.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Ghost of Yotei’s gamescom Opening Night Live trailer is good, but it’s made better by that Legends teaser

by admin August 20, 2025

We were promised a new look at Ghost of Yotei at this year’s gamescom, and Opening Night Live indeed kept that promise. The Geoff Keighley-hosted show was full of updated looks at previously-announced games, as well as some fresh game reveals.

Sucker Punch was among the developers in attendance, and the team brought something special for fans of the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima sequel.

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Today’s trailer was actually one of Yotei’s best so far, blending quick cuts of the game’s action combat with a couple of menacing moments with the game’s villains. Nothing too unexpected here – except, of course, for that tease at the end.

Legends, the online co-op mode that came to Tsushima in a free update, will return in Yotei. It won’t be available at launch, however, and will instead arrive in a free update in 2026. Legends will feature new story missions for two players, alongside four-player survival matches.

There’s going to be four playable character classes, and some of the bosses you’ll come up against will be fantastical, demonic versions of the game’s Yotei Six gang of outlaws. We didn’t get to see much from Legends in today’s reveal, but the news will definitely make a lot of people happy.

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For a game coming out in about six weeks, we actually haven’t seen all that much of Ghost of Yotei. Gameplay was kept under wraps practically since the moment Yotei was initially announced. It wasn’t until July that the game got its own, dedicated State of Play presentation from Sony.

Today’s showcase certainly helped keep that hype train chugging, even if we still like to see more of the open-world action RPG. That said, it continues to appear as a fairly straightforward sequel, so there may – understandably – be not much more to show.

Ghost of Yotei arrives October 2 on PS5.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments