Latest articles by Austin Wood
One of the oldest ongoing JRPG series adds its divisive gacha spinoff to the live service graveyard after barely a year
News Atelier Resleriana will shut down in March, but a full-fat follow-up still seems planned
"I am so mad at the overlords I cannot even find the words": Dauntless dev lays off "majority of the studio" 2 years after a blockchain company bought it out
News Ex-dev impacted by a previous wave of layoffs lamented the studio's fate
Gears of War: E-day will be co-developed by the 20-year shooter powerhouse that helped bring Gears, Fortnite, and one of the OG boomer shooters to life
News People Can Fly helped with the Gears of War trilogy and co-developed Judgment
Tragedy in Marvel Rivals as the calmest healer almost hits Celestial rank without dealing damage, but accidentally loses their pacifist cred: "I guess I'm 22DmgRocketNow"
News "A Cloak passed through" at the worst time for Rocket
Zenless Zone Zero is still aggressively horny, but basically everything else has changed and now it's a much better action RPG with some legit roguelike sauce
Feature Update 1.4 was a turning point for Zenless Zone Zero
Dishonored 2 cost more to make than Skyrim and sold worse, but ex-dev says it was so good that it gave Arkane "seal-of-quality protection" within Bethesda
News Hard to argue with that
Gorgeous folklore action game South of Midnight reveals the best animal boss names since Elden Ring's Golden Hippopotamus and gets a spring release date
News With up to five days of early access if you pay up
Monster Hunter Wilds lead was also crushed by Monster Hunter World's brutal decoration RNG: "I ended up finishing the game without having completed my build"
News Monster Hunter Wilds uses a different system to guarantee key skills
Genshin Impact announces a huge change for update 5.5: your custom-made artifacts can't be absolute trash anymore, so hold onto your Sanctifying Elixirs
News Crafting an artifact will now guarantee a few relevant rolls
Monster Hunter Wilds is already shaping up to be a multiplayer powerhouse that defines 2025
Big in 2025 Big in 2025 | Why a new Monster Hunter is always exciting, and what Monster Hunter Wilds does differently
"One in 10" game developers were laid off in the past year, GDC survey of 3,000+ devs finds: "We set impossible goals and then fire everyone if they prove to be impossible"
News 58% of surveyed devs were in some way worried about future layoffs
Buy more indie games, says Balatro developer, as the roguelike card game sails past 5 million copies sold: "There's some amazing stuff out there!"
News "The last few weeks have been pretty wild."
Marvel Rivals player hits Grandmaster rank without dealing a single point of damage, all while role-playing Rocket Raccoon: "It honestly just kinda happened"
News "Rocket's got yer back"
Original Final Fantasy programmer reappears after years of silence, casually says writing his legendary code "was pretty simple" and it could even be better
News Nasir Gebelli remains a programming icon and a pillar of JRPG history
Old School RuneScape gets one of 2025's first Steam review bombs after survey gauges in-game ads and price hikes: "To read this review, please upgrade to the Deluxe package"
News The wave of RuneScape player outrage has reached Steam
Two of the most loyal MMO communities grab pitchforks and cancel subscriptions after RuneScape survey mentions paying $350 a year, in-game ads, and paid player support
News RuneScape and Old School RuneScape players agree this ain't good
After handheld PCs like the Steam Deck cribbed from Nintendo Switch, the Switch 2's new Joy-Cons could harness PC gaming's most powerful weapon: the mouse
Feature Nintendo turning the Joy-Con into a makeshift gaming mouse could be a big deal
First Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on opportunity coming at global events starting in April – registration opens January 17, but tickets will be a random lottery
News A Nintendo Online account will be required to participate
The latest Metaphor: ReFantazio patch added a feature that I really wanted in my 100-hour playthrough of this massive JRPG
News All that menu time adds up, people
"We screwed up on this one," Riot admits, promising League of Legends updates for Blue Essence and Account XP amid player backlash
News Blue Essence and XP figures will be changed in upcoming updates, with a bonus paid out soon
The folks behind some of the best anime-style games of the past 5 years have a cyberpunk game out this week, and it's my first must-try Metroidvania of 2025
News Blade Chimera is the latest from Team Ladybug, Playism, and WSS Playground
The Sims 4 is getting "huge" base game updates for the series' 25th anniversary, including a new main menu and over 70 items
News Base game homes just got updated, too
The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2077 devs praise and support vampire RPG from former CDPR staff: "These games have shared lineage and shared values"
News As The Blood of Dawnwalker reveals a few early snippets of gameplay
