video games

When Dead Cells released into early access back in 2017, the action-heavy roguelike immediately began garnering praise for its depth of combat and gameplay. But what even the most glowing reviews couldn’t have predicted was that as the game enters its fifth year in the public eye, its player base is not only remaining rock solid, but occasionally expanding alongside the game itself. At a time when “games-as-a-service” is practically an expletive, French developer Motion Twin figured out the magic formula for successful DLC releases, adding regular content drops both big and small, paid and unpaid, to satisfy existing players and bring in new ones ever since the game’s release. The 20-year-old studio actually became so serious about Dead Cells’ downloadable content that they formed a separa...

Halo is back. For fans of Xbox’s signature series, it’s been nearly a half-decade since the release of underwhelming spinoff, Halo Wars 2, and over 6 years since the last title in the main series (the divisive Halo 5). But with Halo Infinite, Master Chief is finally back to blast and smash his way back into everyone’s consoles, PCs and hearts. While the monetization system for the multiplayer has been predictably criticized, Halo Infinite is generally a return to form for the series, with the gameplay, narrative, and environment that fans have come to expect from one of the most recognizable video game franchises in history. Halo Infinite also marks a pair of significant anniversaries for the franchise, with the original launch of the first game coming 20 years ago last month and the remas...

As is the case with many video games published by Annapurna Interactive, there’s nothing quite like A Memoir Blue on the market. The upcoming title developed by Cloisters Interactive will undoubtedly be labeled as “games as art,” “interactive story” and a whole lot of other relatively meaningless subgenres to say that it boasts a unique narrative rather than action-heavy gameplay, but Shelley Chen’s first project as creative director and driving force is still going to catch plenty of people by surprise. For starters, there’s no text or spoken dialog. The entire tale — which happens to be about the ups and downs of a championship-winning swimmer named Miriam — is told entirely through the player’s interactions and song, leaving plenty of space for interpretation and imagination to fill in ...