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As Chrono Trigger celebrates 30th anniversary, spiritual successor Threads of Time gets fresh gameplay trailer
Game Updates

As Chrono Trigger celebrates 30th anniversary, spiritual successor Threads of Time gets fresh gameplay trailer

by admin September 29, 2025


The Chrono Trigger-inspired retro RPG Threads of Time has received a new gameplay trailer, showing off more of its time-travelling narrative.

From Canadian developer Riyo Games, Threads of Time was first revealed at last year’s Tokyo Game Show. Now, a year later, this new trailer was shown at the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct and it looks to be progressing nicely.

As with Square Enix’s iconic classic, Threads of Time will take place across a number of time periods, from prehistory to a cyberpunk future, and is presented similarly to the Octopath Traveller HD-2D aesthetic.

Threads of Time gameplay trailer – PC Gaming Show Tokyo DirectWatch on YouTube

One minute the adventurers are strolling through a bustling medieval town and battling the sort of fluffy or botanical creatures you’d typically expect in an RPG; the next they’re exploring sci-fi facilities and a rain-soaked futuristic metropolis with flying cars overhead.

There are some beautiful animated scenes chopped in too, though I hope the character designs don’t lean too heavily on Chrono Trigger nostalgia – I’m looking at you, robot.

What’s really struck me, though, is the look of the battles. These are turn-based, but have a strong sense of depth with a perspective sitting between Octopath and Dragon Quest as characters fight across the foreground and background with some evocative environments.

Image credit: Riyo Games

There’s no release date yet, though presumably it’s set for release on PC.

It’s also well-timed, following the critically acclaimed Sea of Stars from fellow Canadian studio Sabotage as another Chrono Trigger-inspired retro RPG. That game’s DLC Throes of the Watchmaker was recently released, if you need an excuse to return.

What’s more, Square Enix is this year celebrating the 30th anniversary of Chrono Trigger and promised various projects would be released, sparking hope for some form of remake or remaster.

It’s still unclear what’s happening there, even as fans cry out for a re-release on current hardware. Until then, Threads of Time could well fill the gap.



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September 29, 2025 0 comments
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Would-be Disco Elysium successor XXX Nightshift morphs from an isometric RPG into a third-person ski resort murder mystery
Game Updates

Would-be Disco Elysium successor XXX Nightshift morphs from an isometric RPG into a third-person ski resort murder mystery

by admin September 18, 2025


Dark Math Games, one of the multiple studios staffed by former Disco Elysium developers to pop up and announce a very Disco Elysiumy RPG last year, have given their game a revamp. XXX Nightshift is now called Tangerine Antarctic, with the switch also bringing a shift from isometric perspective to third-person.

If you missed the recent flourishing of Disco spiritual successors created by ex-ZA/UMers, the others include Longdue’s RPG Hopetown and Summer Eternal’s mystery project. Meanwhile, Disco writer Robert Kurvitz and artist Aleksander Rostov are making something for a studio called Red Info, and ZA/UM themselves are working on a new CRPG called Zero Parades. It’s all very easy to keep track of.

Watch on YouTube

According to Dark Math Games founder Timo Albert, the pitch for Tangerine Antarctic is as follows: “Set at the World’s End ski village at Mount Hope, British Antartica, Tangerine Antarctic is the name of the in-game hotel, designed by renown Estonian architect Kaur Stőőr, where most of the games’ action takes place. This is where you are stuck because of the blizzard and must solve the mysterious murders. And Tangerine Antarctic is one of the important characters of this true detective’s RPG.”

The switch from isometric to third person could be construed as an effort to distance the game from the ‘Disco Elysium successor’ label that’s been applied with various degrees of cynicism to all of the projects I mentioned earlier. However, as you can see from the freshly posted peek at a bit of Tangerine Antarctic’s dialogue above, it still very much looks like someone’s reinterpreted Disco’s homework.

Dark Math’s revamped Steam page for the game promises “deep single-player role-playing with seismic choices” and a “unique companion dynamic” that helps you solve those murders. The devs write that your “choices, substances, and experiences” will all “affect how you hear and feel the world”. It also boasts a “Dopamine Buffet”, which is described thusly: “Rehearse your moves. Dance through crime scenes. Drift through parties. Or find pleasure in completing the simplest chores. Get better with every action you take.”

So, you’re like Hercule Poirot with the ability to do the macarena whenever someone snuffs it, and also the power to do some “Marafet calculations to alter your time and space”. Sounds like it could be fun, but who knows with any of these games at this point.

Tangerine Antarctic doesn’t have a release date, but you can wishlist it on Steam.



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September 18, 2025 0 comments
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Sony's PSP lives on via Patapon spiritual successor Ratatan, out in PC early access this week - roadmap revealed
Game Updates

Sony’s PSP lives on via Patapon spiritual successor Ratatan, out in PC early access this week – roadmap revealed

by admin September 15, 2025



Ratatan, the spiritual successor to PSP rhythm platformer Patapon, releases this week in early access on PC.


The game has been developed by veterans of Sony Japan Studio, known for both Patapon and LocoRoco among other games.


In a livestream over the weekend, the developers revealed the launch timing as well as a look at the roadmap for the game over the next few months.

Ratatan livestreamWatch on YouTube


Ratatan will launch at midnight on 19th September in Japan – that’s 4pm on 18th September UK time. Check out the infographic below for more times.

Image credit: TVT


It’ll cost $24.99 / €24.50 / ¥2800 (UK price TBC), and receive a 10 percent discount for 10 days following launch.


As for the roadmap, three major updates are planned for the end of October, December, and spring 2026.


The first of these will introduce Super Fever skills and additional Ratatan upgrades, as well as headwear for Cobun characters and random events. The second update will add Dark Ratatan Battles as new scenarios among other additions.


Next year a new world is promised, as well as console compatibility. For now, the game will only be available on PC, with console releases next year.

Image credit: TVT

Ratatan was first revealed at BitSummit in July 2023 – the following month its Kickstarter was funded within an hour.

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.

Love Eurogamer? Make us a Preferred Source on Google and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.



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September 15, 2025 0 comments
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I called the MSI Claw an embarrassment, so imagine my surprise: its successor is the best Windows handheld yet
Product Reviews

I called the MSI Claw an embarrassment, so imagine my surprise: its successor is the best Windows handheld yet

by admin September 5, 2025


I wrote that no one should buy MSI and Intel’s original handheld gaming PC. I literally called it an embarrassment, and the company blacklisted me after that. MSI stopped pitching me news, and stopped answering my emails, even after the company began to write off its dud of a handheld.

So you can imagine my surprise to find: MSI and Intel have gone from worst to nearly first. In many games, it’s twice as fast as the original Claw. And with new drivers that bump its performance up to 30 percent higher since launch — I tested — the newer $1,000 MSI Claw 8 AI Plus might just be the best Windows handheld you can buy.

The Claw 8 has become a fixture in my life as I carve and puzzle through the hauntingly beautiful painted worlds of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Blue Prince, respectively. I have a lot of other handheld review units floating around, but I rarely want to reach for a different one.

Let’s get this out of the way: it’s called the “AI Plus” because this “AI Engine” is supposed to automatically configure performance using Intel’s NPU. But it’s very dumb in practice and not a reason to buy.

Yes, it runs Windows, and if you’ve read any of my handheld reviews you’ll know how I feel about that. Windows 11 has become a bloated mess filled with annoying upsells and unwanted AI cruft, is annoying to navigate by controller alone, and often wakes up poorly from sleep. I can’t count the number of times I’ve sworn at Windows handhelds for popping awake in the middle of the night, or spontaneously deciding it was time to turn their remaining battery life into hot exhaust in the middle of my sealed backpack.

But the MSI Claw 8, with Intel’s Lunar Lake, isn’t as bad as the Windows norm. When you combine that with the newly improved performance, the longest battery life of any handheld in all but the most lightweight games, and an excellent 8-inch 120Hz VRR screen, it’s enough to knock the Asus ROG Ally X off its high perch — at least until the Xbox version arrives this October.

$999

The Good

  • Best battery life in a handheld
  • Excellent performance after updates
  • Great variable refresh rate screen
  • Fewer Windows annoyances than usual

The Bad

  • $1,000
  • Windows is bloated and can’t be trusted to sleep
  • Iffy rumble for games
  • AI tuning feature doesn’t work well

The MSI Claw 8 AI Plus is the biggest mainstream handheld, at nearly a foot long, 5 inches tall, and an inch thick, and it’s the only current-gen handheld with an Intel chip. Last year, both size and Intel pedigree were liabilities — but thankfully every handheld maker is paying more attention to ergonomics this year, and Intel’s Lunar Lake is a big improvement.

Scalloped grips and balanced weight distribution make the Claw comfortable for me to hold, it no longer looks like a ROG Ally knockoff, and while it isn’t light at 1.75 pounds (795g), that’s only a quarter-pound heavier than the Ally X. That’s despite the Claw having an extra inch of diagonal screen real estate and the same 80 watt-hour battery capacity as Asus.

The MSI Claw is wider, taller, and roughly as grippy as the Asus ROG Ally X…

And it’s bigger and grippier than the Lenovo Legion Go S, which also has an 8-inch screen.

I honestly found it tough to go back to playing Expedition 33 on the Asus ROG Ally X after using the Claw 8, partially because its 8-inch 120Hz 1920 x 1200 VRR IPS screen is more colorful and more spacious (with a far smaller bezel), and partially because the game ran smoother. (I beat the game, including the entire Endless Tower and four of the game’s toughest boss fights, on the Claw 8.)

But before all that, I had to tangle with Windows 11 — and was surprised how little detangling was needed.

The first time I fired up the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus, I couldn’t believe how fast Windows setup had become. Instead of the typical 45 minutes of annoying upsells and mandatory updates, I was able to get to the Windows desktop just seven minutes after I pressed the power button.

MSI’s “Quick Settings” are now part of the Xbox Game Bar in Windows.

That’s still slower than setting up a SteamOS handheld, but fast enough I thought there must be some mistake! (Did this really get past Microsoft certification?) Another curiosity: When I hit the button that pulls up the Claw’s quick settings menu to adjust brightness, volume, and my processor’s TDP (giving it more wattage/gas), it launched a new widget in the Xbox Game Bar with those handy controls instead of a dedicated MSI process! Did somebody accidentally slip me a preview of Microsoft’s “best of Xbox and Windows together” that’ll ship on the Xbox Ally later this year?

But I won’t lie and say the Windows experience was flawless after that. MSI’s Game Bar widget turned out to be incredibly sluggish and unreliable out of the box. It got better after I changed the Windows power mode from “Balanced” to “Best Performance,” but it still isn’t nearly as fast as Asus’ Armory Crate, which has gotten extremely responsive since the Ally first launched, or as reliable as SteamOS, which doesn’t require a separate utility at all.

Here’s how much MSI has improved:

Game and power mode

MSI Claw 8 AI Plus (Aug ’25)

MSI Claw 8 AI Plus (Jun ’25)

Claw 8 3-mo improvement

Claw battery drain (August)

Claw battery drain (June)

Claw 7 (Meteor Lake, Jun ’24)

Claw 8 Lunar Lake vs. Claw 7 Meteor Lake

AC Valhalla, 15-watt TDP664934.69%20.5W (~3.9h)23W (~3.5h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP785932.20%25.5W (~3.1h)29W (~2.8h)33136.36%25-watt TDP846921.74%32W (~2.5h)36W (~2.2h)5358.49%30-watt TDP85797.59%38W (~2.1h)39.5W (~2h)5457.41%Plugged in86833.61%N/AN/A5459.26%Cyberpunk 2077, 15-watt TDP51486.25%20W (~4h)20.5W (~3.9h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP60575.26%25W (~3.2h)26W (~3.1h)3287.50%25-watt TDP71659.23%31.5W (~2.5h)31.5W (~2.5h)4944.90%30-watt TDP76725.56%37.5W (~2.1h)37W (~2.2h)4185.37%Plugged in7779-2.53%N/AN/A4957.14%DX: Mankind Divided, 15-watt TDP796619.70%22.5W (~3.6h)21.5W (~3.6h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP938114.81%29.5W (~2.7h)27W (~3h)45106.67%25-watt TDP1059115.38%31W (~2.6h)32W (~2.5h)49114.29%30-watt TDP11410014.00%37W (~2.2h)37W (~2.2h)48137.50%Plugged in11910711.21%N/AN/A58105.17%Returnal, 15-watt TDP403033.33%20W (~4h)22W (~3.6h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP483633.33%26.5W (~3h)27W (~3h)2965.52%25-watt TDP524126.83%36W (~2.2h)32W (~2.5h)3836.84%30-watt TDP544325.58%42.5W (~1.9h)37.5W (~2.1h)3938.46%Plugged in564427.27%N/AN/A3751.35%Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 15-watt TDP55517.84%21W (~3.8h)23W (~3.5h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP666010.00%27W (~3h)30W (~2.6h)32106.25%25-watt TDP73687.35%35W (~2.3h)35.5W (~2.2h)3892.11%30-watt TDP81749.46%42W (~1.9h)41W (~2h)39107.69%Plugged in81758.00%N/AN/A4292.86%HZD Remastered, 15-watt TDP31310.00%21.5W (~3.6h)24.5W (~3.3h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP37370.00%28W (~2.9h)30W (~2.6h)Did not testN/A25-watt TDP42412.44%34.5W (~2.3h)36W (~2.2h)Did not testN/A30-watt TDP44424.76%40W (~2h)39W (~2.1h)Did not testN/APlugged in46452.22%N/AN/ADid not testN/A

Average frame rates at 720p and low settings, save Cyberpunk at “Steam Deck” setting.

And no, I can never, ever trust the Claw 8’s power button to keep it asleep. I always have to explicitly put the system into hibernation mode instead, which is thankfully the first option in that Game Bar widget. (Microsoft really needs to get out of its own way and let manufacturers set the power button to hibernate instead of Modern Standby.)

It’s also a little frustrating to go back to a world where I have to manually download the latest Intel graphics drivers because they never showed up in MSI Center’s updates tab. But once I installed those new graphics drivers and learned to avoid the power button, I was rewarded with some of the highest performance and the best battery life I’ve seen from a handheld yet. It’s just better at the whole turbo mode thing, with higher frame rates and higher TDP options than the Ally X with Windows, and it’s more power-efficient than the SteamOS Lenovo Legion Go S, even if Lenovo’s Steam handheld got higher frame rates in half my benchmarks.

Claw 8 vs. Ally X vs. Legion Go S vs. Steam Deck performance

Game and power mode

Claw 8 fps

ROG Ally X (Windows, Z1E) fps

Legion Go S (SteamOS, Z1E) fps

Steam Deck OLED fps

Claw 8 vs. Ally X

Claw 8 vs. Legion Go S

Claw 8 vs. Deck

AC Valhalla, 15-watt TDP6652665726.92%0.00%15.79%20-watt TDP787184N/A9.86%-7.14%N/A25-watt TDP848092N/A5.00%-8.70%N/A30-watt TDP858996N/A-4.49%-11.46%N/APlugged in86899257-3.37%-6.52%50.88%Cyberpunk 2077, 15-watt TDP5141575024.39%-10.53%2.00%20-watt TDP605973N/A1.69%-17.81%N/A25-watt TDP716579N/A9.23%-10.13%N/A30-watt TDP767182N/A7.04%-7.32%N/APlugged in777186508.45%-10.47%54.00%DX: Mankind Divided, 15-watt TDP7959746133.90%6.76%29.51%20-watt TDP938492N/A10.71%1.09%N/A25-watt TDP1059199N/A15.38%6.06%N/A30-watt TDP11493100N/A22.58%14.00%N/APlugged in119931026127.96%16.67%95.08%Returnal, 15-watt TDP4031242529.03%66.67%60.00%20-watt TDP484030N/A20.00%60.00%N/A25-watt TDP524332N/A20.93%62.50%N/A30-watt TDP544633N/A17.39%63.64%N/APlugged in5646342521.74%64.71%124.00%Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 15-watt TDP555262575.77%-11.29%-3.51%20-watt TDP666583N/A1.54%-20.48%N/A25-watt TDP737089N/A4.29%-17.98%N/A30-watt TDP817693N/A6.58%-12.90%N/APlugged in817696576.58%-15.63%42.11%HZD Remastered, 15-watt TDP3128373310.71%-16.22%-6.06%20-watt TDP373047N/A23.33%-21.28%N/A25-watt TDP422850N/A50.00%-16.00%N/A30-watt TDP443452N/A29.41%-15.38%N/APlugged in4634553335.29%-16.36%39.39%

Average frame rates at 720p and low settings, save Cyberpunk at “Steam Deck” setting.

We’re not talking about a step change in performance here: this pricy $1,000 handheld still doesn’t have near the frame rate of a similarly priced gaming laptop. It’s just enough extra power to make games feel smooth on this handheld that were borderline choppy on its peers, like Expedition 33 (even then, these handhelds need AI upscaling to get there).

But I didn’t have to sacrifice battery life to get that extra power. I often even push the Claw 8’s chip to 30 watts, a power mode that the Asus ROG Ally X doesn’t offer unless plugged in, for an extra frame rate advantage — while getting roughly the same battery life as the Ally X gets at its 25W unplugged maximum.

MSI Claw 8 vs. Asus ROG Ally X ports and width. The Claw still has handy raised dots on each port to find them by feel.

And though the Steam Deck has long reigned as the efficiency champ, I found the Claw 8 can even beat the Steam Deck on both performance and power use when set to the same 15-watt TDP, often draining its battery 2 or even 3 watts slower. When you combine that with its big 80-watt-hour pack, it handily beat competitors in my Dirt Rally drain test, lasting nearly 19 minutes longer than the Asus ROG Ally X with Bazzite, 28 minutes longer than the Steam Deck OLED, and 80 minutes longer than the Legion Go S with SteamOS and AMD’s Z1 Extreme chip.

Below, you can see how battery life might compare at each performance tier. For example: the Claw 8 and Legion Go S with SteamOS both offer the same 66 frames per second when you offer their chips 15 watts of electricity, but you’ll probably get 3.9 hours of battery from the Claw versus 2.3 hours from the Legion. That’s because MSI’s Intel chip is drawing less power from a larger battery.

Battery life vs. performance

Game and power mode

Claw 8 fps

Claw battery drain

ROG Ally X (Windows, Z1E) fps

Ally X battery drain

Legion Go S (SteamOS, Z1E) fps

Legion Go S battery drain

Steam Deck OLED fps

Deck battery drain

AC Valhalla, 15-watt TDP6620.5W (~3.9h)5224W (~3.3h)6624W (~2.3h)5723.5W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP7825.5W (~3.1h)7130W (~2.6h)8430.5W (~1.8h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP8432W (~2.5h)8036W (~2.2h)9236W (~1.5h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP8538W (~2.1h)89N/A9643.5W (~1.3h)N/AN/ACyberpunk 2077, 15-watt TDP5120W (~4h)4122W (~3.6h)5725W (~2.2h)5023.5W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP6025W (~3.2h)5929W (~2.7h)7332W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP7131.5W (~2.5h)6535W (~2.2h)7938W (~1.4h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP7637.5W (~2.1h)71N/A8244.5W (~1.2h)N/AN/ADX: Mankind Divided, 15-watt TDP7922.5W (~3.6h)5922W (~3.6h)7425.5W (~2.2h)6122W (~2.2h)20-watt TDP9329.5W (~2.7h)8430W (~2.6h)9232W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP10531W (~2.6h)9136W (~2.2h)9938.5W (~1.4h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP11437W (~2.2h)93N/A10045W (~1.2h)N/AN/AReturnal, 15-watt TDP4020W (~4h)3123W (~3.5h)2425.5W (~2.2h)2523W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP4826.5W (~3h)4030W (~2.6h)3032W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP5236W (~2.2h)4336W (~2.2h)3238.5W (~1.4h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP5442.5W (~1.9h)46N/A3345.5W (~1.2h)N/AN/AShadow of the Tomb Raider, 15-watt TDP5521W (~3.8h)5223W (~3.5h)6225W (~2.2h)5723.5W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP6627W (~3h)6530W (~2.6h)8331.5W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP7335W (~2.3h)7036W (~2.2h)8937.5W (~1.5h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP8142W (~1.9h)76N/A9343.5W (~1.3h)N/AN/AHZD Remastered, 15-watt TDP3121.5W (~3.6h)2823W (~3.5h)3725W (~2.2h)3323W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP3728W (~2.9h)3030W (~2.6h)4732W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP4234.5W (~2.3h)2836W (~2.2h)5037.5W (~1.5h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP4440W (~2h)34N/A5244W (~1.3h)N/AN/A

Average frame rates at 720p and low settings, save Cyberpunk at “Steam Deck” setting.

All this said, you still can’t ease off the gas quite like with AMD chips, at least not out of the box. Officially, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V is a 17W–37W chip, and while MSI lets you set the chip’s TDP as low as 8 watts, I still saw the Claw empty my battery at a rate of at least 11W in Balatro, the magic poker game I use as my best-case-scenario test. That means at minimum screen brightness, with wireless off, I’m getting around seven hours max — whereas the Steam Deck OLED can get nine hours and the Asus ROG Ally X can manage 10 in such lightweight games.

I have some quibbles with the Claw’s hardware. Though the speakers are above average, the rumble is annoying and weak. Hall effect joysticks and dedicated gyro modes are nice, but aiming felt sloppy out of the box, like MSI didn’t bother tuning either to a console controller standard, and I still haven’t quite nailed it with tweaks in either individual game settings or MSI Center. It’s also not the fastest handheld to charge or download games, despite its two Thunderbolt 4 ports and Wi-Fi 7, though not slow either.

But the real hurdles for the Claw 8 are that $1,000 price — and that MSI might only have one more whole month atop the Windows heap. Microsoft and Asus’ Xbox Ally is coming October 16th, with a revamped OS, and it could reshape the whole handheld market.

Handheld power, explained

You might have noticed I write about two different kind of wattage measurements (W) in my handheld reviews: 1) the TDP of each handheld’s chip, which basically translates to how much power you’re letting it use, and 2) the handheld’s total battery drain.

That’s because of a sea change in how portable gaming works. Unlike traditional laptops, today’s handhelds let you configure their processor’s TDP at a moment’s notice, even while you’re in the middle of a game, to give you more oomph. But when you do that — or when a manufacturer sets a higher default TDP so their handheld seems faster out of the box — it’ll drain your battery faster.

How much faster? You can find the answers in my charts, along with estimates of how quickly your battery will go from 100 percent to zero if you choose that TDP in a given game. And make no mistake, some games won’t run well on a handheld unless you choose a high TDP.

But the battery drain wattage is not the same as TDP, because it doesn’t account for all the rest of the handheld’s systems, including its storage and screen, that each game might push differently. Frame rate per watt drained is what to look for if you care about battery.

Photography by Sean Hollister / The Verge

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September 5, 2025 0 comments
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Ken Levine’s BioShock successor Judas still in development, with a new gameplay system that decides who the villain is based on your actions
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Ken Levine’s BioShock successor Judas still in development, with a new gameplay system that decides who the villain is based on your actions

by admin August 27, 2025


Image via Ghost Story Games

I almost forgot about this one, but it sounds very promising

|

Published: Aug 27, 2025 03:32 pm

Remember Judas, the first-person shooter and next game from BioShock creator Ken Levine? Yeah, it’s hard to blame you if you forgot.

Similarly to BioShock 4, Judas has not been heard or seen in over a year, but Levine just dropped a new blog post out of the blue detailing what’s been going on with the game’s development. Don’t get too excited, because it’s likely still far off from releasing, but it’s not all bad news.

Along with new, gorgeous key art for the game seen at the top of this article, Levine detailed Judas’s Villainy system, which he says some takes inspiration from Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis system, but functions quite differently.

“We’ve just finished a major milestone: Villainy,” he said in the post on PlayStation Blog, which also includes a minor glimpse at gameplay. “Villainy is a central feature of Judas. When you play BioShock or BioShock Infinite, the villain is always going to be the villain. Fontaine, Comstock — they’re always going to be the bad guys. In Judas, your actions will attract members of the Big 3 to you as friends. But ignore one of them enough, and they become the villain. From there, they will get access to a new suite of powers to subvert your actions and goals.”

These Big 3 characters (Tom, Hope, and Nefi) will be central to the game, according to Levine, and players will “get to know these characters intimately.” Much of Judas is still being kept secret, but Levine and his new studio Ghost Story Games want “losing one of them to feel like losing a friend,” and they will all be “competing for your favor and attention.”

“In BioShock Infinite, there was a lot of energy invested into developing your relationship with Elizabeth,” said Levine. “By the end of the game, you knew everything about her, her abilities, her hopes and dreams. But the truth is she knew almost nothing about you, the gamer playing Booker. In Judas, the Big 3 observe you as you play, and they have feelings not only about how you approach combat, hacking, and crafting, but most importantly your interactions with the other two characters.”

This sounds pretty awesome in theory, but it must be said that it’s now been over 12 years since BioShock Infinite, which is the last game Levine released at Irrational Games, along with its Burial at Sea DLC. The industry has changed entirely since then, and expectations for this title will be high.

With still no release date in sight, I’m choosing to be cautiously optimistic that Judas will end up being a title that may surprise us all whenever it finally comes out.

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August 27, 2025 0 comments
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Esports

Deadpool VR feels like a spiritual successor to one of the most underrated shooters ever

by admin August 25, 2025



Deadpool VR is going all-in on the explosive, R-rated humor of the films and comic books and giving the player control to creatively take down everyone in front of them.

From shoving people’s faces into fan rotors to juggling your pistols and landing trickshots, the ability to interact with the world is the main selling point here, aside from Wade himself.

And, though this playground approach to gunplay is a refreshing one, the overall vibe of Deadpool VR harkens back to one of the most underrated shooters of all time.

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Deadpool VR has that same sense of whimsical violence that I haven’t experienced since Bulletstorm, a 2011 cult classic fondly remembered by those with whom it really struck a chord.

Deadpool VR brings back the spirit of an underrated gem

When you think of the term “sandbox” in a video game, you may often think of an explorable open world with tons of things to discover. However, Deadpool VR condenses the concept of a sandbox into the moment-to-moment gameplay.

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It gives players enough tools to fix a car and sets you free as an indiscriminate death dealer, but with just enough whimsy and flair to make it still feel light-hearted. And, with the Gamescom trailer showing off all the heroes and villains you’ll be fighting, it seems there’s some substance here, even if the story isn’t taking itself too seriously.

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This captures the spirit of the films in a way only video games could, giving the player a genuine combat sandbox that lets them be creative and express themselves in VR. It’s a perfect fit.

Someone slice your arm off? Don’t fret, just smack them with it! It’s a weapon now. You can hotswap from kunai to swords to guns to a gravity tether gun that lets you toss people right off a cliff. It’s a very video game-y video game in the best way.

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So often it feels like games nowadays take themselves very seriously. They’re often afraid to let loose a little, try new things, and have a blast. At least when it comes to the AAA space.

However, there’s one game that comes to mind that tried that before: Bulletstorm. Originally released in 2011, it felt like someone played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and went, “What if we made a game that gave you bonus points for shooting a guy in the nuts instead of doing a kickflip?”

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And, despite Bulletstorm getting middling reception when it launched, being a fairly short 5-6 hour game, and selling pretty poorly at first, it’s been re-released several times and even has its own VR version. There’s a certain itch this game scratches that no one can seem to replicate. It’s lightning in a bottle in many ways, repetitive and disappointing if you aren’t creative, but infinitely replayable if you are.

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Bulletstorm

For the first time in years, Deadpool VR scratches that itch. Despite other VR games like Boneworks exploring the idea of a combat sandbox, no other game has the level of whimsy and sheer chaos present in Deadpool VR.

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It’s shaping up to be a massive step forward in the incredibly niche genre I’d call a “stunt shooter”, something that feels like a mix of a character action a la Devil May Cry and an arcade skateboarding game.

VR is still a hard sell. But, if Deadpool VR manages to take the chaotic bliss of the demo and turn it into a lengthy and fleshed-out experience, it could end up being the sort of game worth buying a headset for.

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August 25, 2025 0 comments
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