As reported by Automaton and ThisIsGame, the civil case between publisher Nexon and developer Ironmace has been settled, with the South Korean Supreme Court ordering Ironmace to pay Nexon 5.7 billion won ($3.84 million) in damages. The decision doesn't appear to be a clear victory for either party, and the criminal case related to Nexon's accusations remains ongoing.

Dark and Darker, a fantasy dungeon crawler extraction game, took the 2023 Steam Next Fest by storm before the game itself was overshadowed by its legal troubles. The founding members of Ironmace were all former Nexon employees, and the publisher alleges that they violated copyright and took Nexon trade secrets with them to make Dark and Darker. The center of the controversy is Project P3, a game allegedly similar to Dark and Darker that Nexon canceled, precipitating the Ironmace founders' departure.

The Supreme Court ruling shifted things slightly in Ironmace's favor vs. the last time we checked in on this case. In a lower court ruling last year, it was found that Ironmace had not violated Nexon's copyright, but did infringe on the company's trade secrets⁠—look, man, I don't get it either.

I guess that's why I'm writing articles and not making decisions on the South Korean Supreme Court. Ironmace was ordered to pay out 8.5 billion won ($5.9 million). The Supreme Court appears to have knocked the price down while keeping the gist of the ruling.

And this is still not the end of it: There's an ongoing criminal case over Ironmace's alleged use of material the developers took with from Nexon⁠—remember how it's offices were raided by police all the way back in 2023? Near as I can tell, this ending to the civil case is like if King Solomon went through with splitting that baby in half: Nexon would have preferred to nail Ironmace with copyright infringement, maybe even get D&D DandD taken offline, while Ironmace is obviously chafing at the payout.

We live in the era of the ambiguous, unending, devs vs. publishers legal drama. The disputes over Disco Elysium loom large in my mind, and the knife fight over Ashes of Creation appears to just be getting started, even as the Kickstarted MMO dies a final death. One of the most recently-initiated battles may be on track for the most clear-cut resolution: Subnautica's leadership team has been reinstated following a ruling against Krafton.

Nexon has confirmed that it has "reorganized" the teams at The First Berserker: Khazan developer Neople, but says the changes were made not because of issues with the game's performance, but simply "to allocate resources more effectively" across ongoing projects.

The reshuffling at Neople was first reported by Korean agency Yonhap (via GamesRadar), which said (Google translated) a large number of staff on The First Berserker: Khazan had been reassigned "due to poor performance." The game had a strong launch, and currently holds a "very positive" rating on Steam across nearly 20,000 user reviews, but the report claims that sales subsequently tailed off and failed to meet expectations.

In a statement provided to PC Gamer, however, a Nexon representative said the change was made simply because, as a standalone singleplayer game, The First Berserker: Khazan is pretty much finished, and so they're wrapping things up.

"The First Berserker: Khazan is the first of three games designed to introduce our Dungeon & Fighter to a global audience," the rep said. "The game got off to a solid launch with good critical scores in Western Markets on both PC and console.

"As the development roadmap for The First Berserker: Khazan enters its final stage, Neople has reorganized its teams to allocate resources more effectively across current and upcoming projects, including Dungeon & Fighter franchise games for global markets. This adjustment is a strategic reallocation of talent, not a workforce reduction or team dissolution, supporting live service operations and future initiatives across Neople and Nexon affiliates."

The rep confirmed that employees have not been laid off as a result of the change, just moved to new things.

Dungeon & Fighter, known outside of South Korea as Dungeon Fighter Online and abbreviated as DNF, debuted in 2005 and has spawned several sequels, including The First Berserker: Khazan, which takes place 800 years before the events of DNF. It's a big thing for Nexon, and it clearly has big plans for it.

So it's not great news for The First Berserker: Khazan fans holding out hope for future DLC or expansions, but frankly I'm happy enough that developers were put onto new work instead of just being laid off. And despite missing sales targets, with two more DNF games in the works. I think there's also a real possibility of a Khazan sequel: If Nexon is determined to make it a global franchise, a follow-up to a recognizable and well-reviewed game would certainly not be the worst way to go about it.

The First Descendant's launch hype went over like a bag of candy smuggled into a movie theater—exciting at first, but regrettably short-lived. While last July it was celebrating a screaming high of 10 million players in its first week alone, SteamDB shows the game has simmered to around 5,000 concurrent players as I write this. Steam user reviews add up to a "mixed" user rating, and even Nexon's CEO has weighed in on the game's dubious trajectory.

The company discussed the game in a recent capital markets briefing to investors (thanks, GamesRadar), with CEO Junghun Lee giving clear examples of games that did well for Nexon and games that fell off. Where Arc Raiders and MapleStory got kudos, The First Descendant showed up alongside Dungeon & Fighter Mobile on a slide bluntly labeled "What Did Not Work."

Lee said Dungeon & Fighter Mobile "lost its way" after an impressive launch: "The retention mechanics weren't strong enough to hold players long-term." He noted this was the "same issue with The First Descendant: Strong launch, no staying power."

"These are design issues that are not fixed with a patch," he said. "They require structural changes to game mechanics."

The stinger is that while the presentation names a range of plans to keep the Dungeon & Fighter train moving through various upcoming games and updates, Lee doesn't mention The First Descendant again. It's not clear what the company's long-term plans for the looter shooter are, but it sounds like it'll need a more robust resuscitation than jiggle physics or the bizarre AI ads that showed up on TikTok can offer it.

Despite the big numbers it enjoyed when it first landed, The First Descendant was never universally beloved. That "Mixed" user rating goes all the way back to launch week, and PC Gamer staff writer Morgan Park called it a "dollar store Destiny" in his impressions back in 2024.

In a new capital markets briefing from Nexon, Patrick Söderlund, the newly appointed Nexon executive chairman and CEO of Arc Raiders and The Finals developer Embark Studios, spoke extensively about everyone's favourite subject in games right now: AI. More specifically, he talked about how Embark's approach to game development and AI can be deployed across Nexon's teams in some form.

Under a slide titled "Redesigning game development," Söderlund explains that "every company has a plan" when it comes to AI, but "most will get it wrong."

"AI may be a race, but the winners won’t be the first movers—the winners will be the ones who understood the challenge," by which he means fully grasping how and why certain AI tools are used. Nexon, Söderlund remarks, understands this challenge from decades in the industry. All of this history is "context—tens of billions of data points," he says, and "AI makes it usable at speed, and at scale."

But, as Söderlund points out, Embark Studios didn't have that history back when it formed to make The Finals and Arc Raiders. The studio paid close attention to one question: "What needs to be done by hand versus what a machine can do more efficiently?"

"Yes, some of that involves AI," Söderlund explains. "But it’s really about encouraging people to use smarter processes, better tools, and to let go of habits that no longer serve them."

"The initial outcome of that process is two games: The Finals and then Arc Raiders. Two games, built with significantly fewer people, at a fraction of the cost you’d expect for a AAA game."

Both games took advantage of AI tools during development, such as controversial, cost-saving AI voices, which are now being replaced (at least partially) in Arc Raiders. Söderlund commented that "a real professional actor is better than AI," which isn't something I ever doubted, but it does raise questions about the value of AI-generated assets and in-game content—and, if Embark recognises that real voice actors are better, why it used AI in its games in the first place.

Nexon president and CEO Junghun Lee, who spoke about the company's Mono Lake AI initiative, called Arc Raiders a "Trojan Horse", a proof of concept that AI-powered game development can lead to huge successes. It's "a gift that contains a shift in the mindset about how technology frees developers and live service teams to spend more time thinking and less time typing," he explains.

Söderlund's comments and overall approach to AI and efficient game development are no doubt a big part of the reason for his promotion at Nexon in the face of rising costs. "Every leader, team and individual in this company has to start asking how they can get more done with better tools, smarter workflows, and less time on things that don’t move the needle," he said. "Nexon developers are meeting Embark colleagues to understand our process. They are taking a step back and look at how they work – not just what they’re building, but how."

Patrick Söderlund is the founder and CEO of Embark Studios, the maker of Arc Raiders. And Arc Raiders, you may have heard, is something of a hit—well, no, it's a huge hit, one of the biggest releases of 2025 and enough to give Bungie some serious flop sweat about Marathon. It did so well, in fact, that Nexon, Embark's parent company, has decided to put Söderlund in charge of all its creative endeavors.

Söderlund has been appointed Nexon's executive chairman, a new role that gives him "broad authority over the company’s long-term strategy, creative direction, and how Nexon develops games globally." Simply put, Söderlund will call the shots on the creative side of things, while Nexon CEO Junghun Lee handles the biz. Söderlund will also continue on as CEO of Embark.

"Nexon has all the assets to unleash dramatic growth—incredibly talented people, iconic franchises, large and committed player communities, and best-in-class live service capabilities," Söderlund said. "This is an enormous opportunity, but one that will require deep focus and discipline. Junghun and I are aligned on what needs to happen and I’m ready to get to work."

It's quite a get for Nexon. Söderlund may not be the most famous 'celebrity' game developer ever (although I'd probably include him in my top 20 list) but he's had a hell of a run over the years in executive positions at DICE and Electronic Arts, where he served in roles including chief design officer and executive vice president of EA's worldwide studios before stepping down in 2018.

And he's been down this road before: He became CEO of DICE after its 2000 acquisition of Refraction Games, a studio Söderlund co-founded in 1997, and then he became a vice president at EA after it acquired DICE in 2006. Söderlund founded Embark in 2018, not long after parting ways with EA; Nexon acquired it in 2021. So you might even say this was inevitable.

"Patrick and I are fully aligned on transforming Nexon," Lee said. "He’s built studios, attracted the industry’s best people to work with him, and shipped massive global hits. That’s exactly what Nexon needs right now."

That promised transformation sounds potentially interesting too—Nexon said it'll have more to share on that at its Capital Markets Briefing on March 31.

Arc Raiders has, by all accounts, done rather quite well for itself. Shooting past 12 million players worldwide back in January, a recent investor presentation reveals that 2026 got off to a bang for the hottest extraction shooter on the block (thanks, Eurogamer).

A slide relating to the game itself claims the following—firstly, that Arc Raiders hit a concurrent player peak of 960,000 players in January, and "approximately six million

weekly active users sustained to date". The exact minutiae of what "sustained" means isn't clear, but that nigh-on 1 million isn't too far from reality.

On Steam alone, Arc Raiders hit an all-time peak of 481,966 players. Factor in consoles and other digital platforms, and you could certainly hit 1 million concurrents across the board.

Data from Newzoo also looks to more-or-less verify the count, claiming January peaks of daily active users of around 1.6 million on Steam, 1.5 million on PlayStation, and just under 1 million on Xbox.

Which is a mighty number for an extraction shooter, competing with the highest playercounts of a completely different genre known for having long-time player counts in the millions: The MMORPG.

For reference, back in June last year, it was estimated that Final Fantasy 14 had around 950,000 active subscribers by a (long-running, but fan-made) player census. And that 6 million "weekly active users" number puts it on par with World of Warcraft's highest subscriber peaks, like the 5.5 million reported subs it boasted during Legion back in 2015.

Granted, these are subscription MMOs, and Arc Raiders is a buy-oncer with some microtransactions stuffed in it, but that's still impressive for an extraction shooter. Well, kinda. Live service games, be they extraction shooters or some other brand of co-op, seem to have slotted comfortably into the same position that MMORPGs occupied back in the genre's heyday.

Per the report itself, Arc Raiders is most popular in North America and Europe, partially responsible for a stonking 364% revenue increase year-on-year in those regions alongside Maplestory and The First Descendant. Not too shabby, especially for a game that's committed the cardinal sin of imperfect road signage.

Amid the news of an added duos mode and a new Helldivers 2-style community event, Arc Raiders has been dealing with some backlash. Embark Studios now has a track record of using generative AI for voice work in its games, first for The Finals and now for Arc Raiders, and it's causing no small amount of controversy.

The studio has been a tad flighty around the subject when it comes to Arc Raiders; the story seems to change every time someone asks. But recently the CEO of Embark's parent company Nexon, Junghun Lee, strongly defended the use of machine learning in game development, saying that "It's important to assume every game company is now using AI."

I've already given a list of all the reasons why I don't agree with the above and why I feel its framing is disingenuous. But now other developers are wading into the discourse and saying it straight: not all studios use generative AI.

"Not only do we not use AI, we would rather cut off our own arms than do so," Demonschool developer Necrosoft Games says in an official social media post. "Demonschool is 100% human-made."

Demonschool is a new-style tactics RPG with a sick retro neon art style. You can certainly tell it's 100% human-made: AI can't make visuals this full of personality: "Enjoy our artisanal handmade videogames."

The idea of 'human-made' having to become a label tagged onto games going forward is migraine-inducing. I love art for its human touches, what it says about those who make it, those who play it, how you can connect with endless people through it and so on. We should expect human craftsmanship as the default.

This isn't to say that Arc Raiders loses all of its credibility or enjoyment thanks to the use of generative AI in its voice lines. But it's a frustrating, avoidable stain on what is otherwise a fantastic achievement, and Embark should have seen it coming after The Finals. Not only was the cheap and dirty option taken again for a studio that was bought for $96 million, but the studio doesn't even seem to have figured out its messaging for when it inevitably kicked off a second controversy.

Frankly, I would've preferred no voice lines at all if it came to it. So I'm glad that Demonschool's developers have set the record straight, because using generative AI instead of genuine creativity shouldn't become the new standard.

Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has waded into the furor over the use of generative AI for videogame voices, saying the technology presents an "opportunity for in-game voice and voice actors," with games that could potentially have "infinite, context-sensitive, personality-reflecting dialog based on and tuned by human voice actors."

The exchange began with a comment on Eurogamer's Arc Raiders review, written by freelancer Rick Lane—also a contributor at PC Gamer—who took issue with the game's "inexcusable" use of AI-generated voices. "Political opinions should go into op eds folks," Sweeney wrote, seemingly overlooking the fact that reviews very much are opinion pieces.

In a follow-up post, Sweeney doubled down: "This technology increases human productivity in some areas by integer multiples, and views on whether this is a net good and should be rewarded, or bad and should be fought against, are speculative and generally distributed along political lines."

I'm not sure that's accurate—my perception is that the divide isn't along political lines so much as it is between billionaires (like Sweeney) who tend to view generative AI as a way to crank out more content with less expense, and pretty much everyone else. But he went on to share some other thoughts on the matter, explaining why he thinks criticism of generative AI is misplaced.

"Since the author [of the review] states the pessimistic case, I’ll put the optimistic one here," Sweeney wrote. "Game developers compete to build the best games in order to attract gamers. When tech increases productivity, competition leads to building better games rather than employing fewer people."

When another user pointed out that the rise of generative AI is in fact depriving voice actors of work, Sweeney said there's "an even bigger opportunity for in-game voice and voice actors" in the future of AI than there is in simply acting.

"Instead of games having a few dozen or hundred lines of pre-recorded dialog, how about infinite, context-sensitive, personality-reflecting dialog based on and tuned by human voice actors?" he wrote.

"I've always found pre-written lines of fixed dialog super limiting. It was painful to write text dialog in ZZT in 1991 after writing more dynamically-composed text adventure games in the 80's! AI dialog generation + human personality and tuning could totally transform gaming."

I suppose it could, but Sweeney's argument strikes me as, well, flimsy. What is "tuning," as opposed to training, something voice actors have furiously opposed because of the threat it poses to their livelihoods? What happens when that "human personality" is no longer viewed as an essential part of the formula? And of course there's the fact that all of this is entirely hypothetical, what-if stuff that doesn't address the actual criticism but merely brushes it off.

It's fair to say that generative AI isn't ready for prime time just yet, but it's definitely moving in that direction, and that movement has provoked a range of responses: Pocketpair Publishing boss John Buckley, for instance, stated flat-out in October that Pocketpair won't publish games built using generative AI, while Junghun Lee, CEO of Embark Studios parent Nexon, seems to be embracing AI just because everyone else is.

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson, by comparison, has effusively high hopes for AI-powered game development, saying in 2024—after the bong rip hit—that EA is "AI-native" and he envisions a future in which "3 billion players around the world" are set to "creating personal content and expanding and enhancing the universes that we create," using—of course—EA's own AI technology. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has a somewhat more measured take, saying that AI can be a powerful tool for business but is inherently "backward looking," which means it's fundamentally unable to actually create anything.

Sweeney's remarks, to my reading, aren't too far off Zelnick's: Humans create, AI manipulates. But the cavalier dismissal of criticism of generative AI as it actually exists right now, and not how it might be in some imaginary future, isn't great. Ironically, Sweeney seemed to acknowledge those concerns in another reply tweet: When X user doubttom, whose post began the exchange, wrote, "Progress marches on but haven't we seen it enough times in the past where we can do better for the people being affected now?" Sweeney replied simply, "Yep." On that point, at least, I have to agree.

You've probably already heard, what with all the glowing coverage and the 700,000 concurrent players it racked up last weekend, but Arc Raiders is a hit. And not just a hit: Nexon, the parent company of Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios, says it's the most successful launch in the company's history.

Confirmation of Arc's big hitness comes from Nexon's Q3 2025 earnings report, in which Nexon president and CEO Junghun Lee said the game "is the most successful global launch in Nexon's history—an extraordinary achievement for an all-new IP."

"Backed by a pipeline of fresh content that extends through 2026, we believe Arc Raiders could become an enduring contributor to Nexon's portfolio of blockbuster global franchises," Lee added.

The raves continued in a separate earnings letter, which came complete with the Arc Raiders logo plastered across the top, in case anyone missed the point.

"Nexon's Embark Studios executed a powerful launch, sustaining the #1 ranking on Steam's Global Top Sellers list," the letter states. "To date, the game has sold 4 million copies and reached more than 700,000 concurrent players across all platforms. The game received widespread acclaim from both players and critics, earning a 'Very Positive' rating on Steam and ranking among the highest-rated titles of the year on various sites.

"Sustaining engagement and attracting new players in the months ahead is a top priority. Later this month we will introduce additional content including a new map, new Arc machines, new quests, [and] new gameplay items. Embark's roadmap for content and promotions designed to engage the core and attract new players extends through 2026."

Arc Raiders isn't the only good news for Nexon. The company also cited the ongoing success of the well-established MapleStory series, which "is tracking to a formidable 40% year-over-year increase in annual revenue," as well as a partnership with Tencent to bring its games to China. All told, Nexon said its management team looks upon 2025 "with a humble sense of accomplishment."

Having a huge launch is not necessarily a guarantee of long-term success. Funcom trumpeted Dune: Awakening as "the biggest release" in its history, for instance, and that game's player count has since sunk below that of the company's 2018 release Conan Exiles—not ideal for an MMO.

But four million copies sold is a hell of a start, and Arc's less-demanding approach to its players may help it maintain those impressive player counts over the long run—as will the fact that it's a really good game. Well over a week after launch Arc remains in the number-one spot on Steam's top-selling games chart, and among the top-five most played, behind only perennial chart-toppers Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2—and, notably, well ahead of Battlefield 6.

Arc Raiders has taken the gamers by storm, achieving more than 700,000 concurrent players over the weekend, beating Helldivers 2's player record, and just generally proving that extraction shooters can indeed be fun. But all of these successes have unfortunately been mired by Embark Studio's use of generative AI for its voice acting.

To this end, Nexon's CEO Junghun Lee recently addressed Nexon's projects (which include Embark's The Finals and Arc Raiders) and his stance on using AI in making videogames in an interview with Game*Spark (via Automaton): "First of all, I think it’s important to assume that every game company is now using AI. But if everyone is working with the same or similar technologies, the real question becomes: how do you survive? I believe it’s important to choose a strategy that increases your competitiveness."

The truth about Arc Raiders' use of generative AI has proved hard to pin down, shifting from claims that there's no AI-generated content in the game to defenses of the use of "machine learning" as an efficient way to get work done: "AI has definitely improved efficiency in both game production and live service operations," Lee adds.

I do feel as if I can't go anywhere on the internet anymore without stumbling across weird AI-generated videos or getting jumpscared by images of my new sleep paralysis demon, Peter Thiel. But even still, I never just assume that studios are all utilising generative AI.

If anything, I assume that studios are avoiding generative AI like the plague. Last year, Nintendo became the biggest gaming company to swear off AI during an investor call. CD Projekt has since said it will not use generative AI on The Witcher 4, and Pocketpair has been quite clear that its new publishing division will not handle games that use generative AI.

This isn't to say that Embark and Nexon are the only ones using AI in their work. World of Warcraft devs have admitted to using machine learning to cut out busy work, and AI-accelerated frame generation has certainly proved itself as the way of the future. But using AI to make burdensome tasks easier is entirely different from using it to cut out the need for voice actors, as Arc Raiders has done.

The idea that a studio that was acquired by Nexon for $96 million needs to cut corners by not paying voice actors to record lines is laughable. Using the excuse that voice actors wouldn't even want to come back to the booth to record short lines, as it's not seen "as valuable work," is also unconvincing. Richard Charles Lintern spent five hours recording just one speech for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.

But I don't have to argue how important it is for companies to hold onto human-led creativity in an era where so many are taking shortcuts, because Lee does it for me. At the end of his short interview on the uses of generative AI, he settles on how "human creativity" is the answer to rising above the competition. It's a truth that makes Arc Raiders' use of generative AI all the more frustrating: It really is a stain on what is otherwise one of the best multiplayer shooters I've played in a very long time.

I always enjoy it when someone with great power decides to use it for great mischief, rather than great responsibility. As is the case of the hacker that wreaked havoc in Nexon's online RTS, Blue Archive, late last week.

As spotted by Automaton, said hacker tapped into the game's systems to, and I am being fully serious, copy-paste the same anime girl over and over. Kurosaki Koyuki is a student players can obtain—a hacker prodigy with a mischievous streak. This event has been dubbed the "Koyuki apocalypse".

As shared by Jambo971 on X above, the hacker replaced recruitment banners with Koyuki, spawned a bunch of Koyukis in the game's cafes, and did this to the game's information page, replacing its title with "Nihahaha" (her laugh) and, you guessed it, more Koyukis.

This prompted Nexon to pull Blue Archive offline for six entire hours, per this official notice, which reads: "We sincerely apologize for the concern caused by the abnormal display of certain content on August 31 (Sun). The investigation into the situation has reached its final stage, and we would like to share the details of the incident along with the measures taken, prevention plans, and compensation."

The post goes on to explain that "The Blue Archive client checks environment settings from the CDN (Content Delivery Network) when launched. These settings are created and managed separately from the game, but records of external access were confirmed … Some settings were altered, redirecting to 45.94.31.77 (Netherlands), which caused the issue.

"Symptoms included abnormal banners, the appearance of Koyuki/Miku"—oh, yeah, Hatsune Miku also showed up later—"in Cafe content, and specific YouTube content being displayed. A thorough internal investigation confirmed no other irregularities beyond these."

In fact, Nexon's keen to emphasise that the hacker didn't do anything nefarious, and couldn't even if they wanted to: "We confirm that players’ accounts, game data, and payment information were not affected, as they are operated in a separate database and always revalidated by the game server."

Nexon will be compensating players for the six-hour maintenance with the following live-service doohickeys: A 10-Recruitment Ticket, 500 AP, 150 Tactical Challenge coins, 3,000 Expert Permits, 300,000 Credit Points, and seven Lesson, Bounty, and Scrimmage Tickets.

I mean, listen—in a professional capacity, I do not think you should hack (online) videogames. It's against the law. It can get you in trouble. However, a quiet little part of my mischievous soul finds this whole debacle, and ones like it, extremely funny; no serious data was lost, which helps. There is a tiny little Koyuki in all our hearts, and she is saying nihaha.

Nexon says it has discovered "certain irregularities" in a recent ad campaign for its gooner-looter-shooter The First Descendant, and is now "we are conducting a thorough joint investigation with TikTok to determine the facts."

A quick refresher course: It came to light over the weekend that a recent series of ads for The First Descendant, in which anonymous streamers blabbered about the game's new season above clips of gameplay, did not feature real streamers at all but rather AI-generated people. At a quick glance the videos aren't obviously off, but the more you watch, the worse they become.

The AI ads are worse than you think from r/TheFirstDescendant

The first video in the clip above is pretty obviously based on a real streamer, DanieltheDemon—who, for the record, said in a TikTok comment that he had nothing to do with it—while the remainders are apparently fully AI generated. And to my eye, each is worse than the last: The dead-eyed digital dude that concludes the collage looks like the last thing you see after waking up at 4 am to discover that the government's Assassibot 6000 has made it past your home security system.

Anyway, Nexon has now released a statement on the whole mess, and while facts are still being figured out and all that, it seems pretty eager to point the finger of blame at TikTok.

"We would like to inform you of certain irregularities identified in the operation of our TikTok Creative Challenge for creators," Nexon wrote on X. "As a part of our marketing campaign for Season 3: Breakthrough, we recently ran a Creative Challenge program for TikTok creators, which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials.

"All submitted videos are verified through TikTok's system to check copyright violations before they are approved as advertising content. However, we have become aware of cases where the circumstances surrounding the production of certain submitted videos appear inappropriate. Thus, we are conducting a thorough joint investigation with TikTok to determine the facts."

The Creative Challenge "is an official creator monetization program that turns your creativity into cash by creating UGC-style ads for your favorite brands.You can earn commission from the revenue generated by your videos and you'll never be asked to post anything to your own account," according to the page linked in the post. How exactly it works isn't clear—I've reached out to Nexon to ask—but it sounds like a TikTok-administered program: Certified creators "select and join challenges published by popular brands," make and upload videos "following brand requirements," and then $$$.

The immediate question about this seems to be whether Nexon signed off on these clips before they started to run, or if it was entirely hands-off and trusted TikTok to ensure that nothing embarrassing or stupid would happen. Neither scenario is great, really, but the truth is I expect we'll see more of this sort of thing in the future, especially as AI-generated content continues to improve and becomes increasingly hard to detect.

This particular situation may also be an even bigger mess than it initially appeared: Nexon apologized for the delay in releasing its statement but said "the review is taking longer than expected." That's rarely good news.

If you've scrolled past an ad on TikTok for Nexon's gooner-looter-shooter The First Descendant you might not have noticed it was made by AI. But if you watch one of them for more than a second, you'll probably figure it out. Each one features an AI streamer rambling about the new boss Wall Crasher and maybe the Nier: Automata crossover while doing an odd headbob that I assume is supposed to make their rubber faces look more excited and emphatic. (The way one of them pronounces "Automata" sounds ridiculous, but has probably been trained on real people struggling to say it.)

Instead of hiring proper influencers, these ads have AI imitations of actual streamers like DanieltheDemon pretending to be as excited about The First Descendant as he is about Warframe. It's not a subtle similarity either, but clearly an AI that's been trained on an actual person.

Because ads on TikTok are unlisted, you won't see these on Nexon's official channel, but they have continued being shown to users even after a backlash began on the official subreddit.

We've seen high-end fashion magazines resort to using an AI-generated model because apparently it's too much hassle to find an attractive blonde woman somewhere in the world of modeling, but this feels like a real low. There are plenty of regular streamers out there you could hire to cut a promo for your mid-tier shlooter. This seems more like the thing you create because management has paid for a bunch of AI tools after reading how essential they are on LinkedIn and keeps insisting you find a use for them.

I wasn't sure what to make of Woochi the Wayfarer when I first saw the title, but I reflexively assumed it would be cozy, and probably star a large anthropomorphic animal—an overweight bear, perhaps—with a bindle. I could not have been further off the mark if I had put conscious effort into it. It is in fact inspired by the "classic Korean novel" The Tale of Jeon Woochi, about a Dosa—a Mage of the Way— named Jeon Woochi, who battles injustice and corruption in Joseon-era Korea.

The announcement is short on specifics: Woochi the Wayfarer "will deliver players a deeply immersive and thrilling action gameplay experience featuring magical settings along with Korean traditional monsters and music," Nexon said, which, sure, makes for a solid basis for a videogame—in the most vague way possible.

There's not much more to be seen in the announcement teaser, which showcases a "fierce standoff" between Woochi and Myoan, "a mysterious shaman." It looks probably soulslike—oh boy, another boss fight—but there's the possibility of something more Witcher-like as well. Call me an optimist if you will, but the video isn't all that terribly dissimilar from The Witcher 3 launch cinematic "A Night to Remember," although not nearly as grim and sad. I wouldn't say it's likely—in fact, I'd say it's very unlikely—but a Witcher-like set in 1500s Korea? I would definitely be interested in that.

"Woochi the Wayfarer will provide a fresh and unique play experience that is based on traditional Korean materials while also having an emotional resonance that anyone around the world can relate to," Nexon CEO Park Yong-hyun said. "We plan to present a game that will appeal to gamers of all cultures, telling an amazing story that fully showcases Nexon Games' development capabilities and accumulated experience."

Well, not much help to be found there either, but he's not kidding about Woochi embracing "traditional Korean materials." Developer LoreVault Studio is working with experts in Korean literature and traditional music "to effectively represent Korea's unique history and culture within the game," and the studio is also "visiting cultural sites across Korea to recreate the Joseon era in high-quality 3D." Composer Jung Jae-il, whose previous work includes the soundtracks from the film Parasite and the Netflix series Squid Game, has also been signed up to create Woochi the Wayfarer's soundtrack.

There's no hint of a release date yet, and given that the developers are still scouting locations, I would imagine Woochi the Wayfarer is a good way off. But I also suspect it'll be one to keep an eye on as it gets closer.

Claiming Blue Archive codes is a great way to get extra items and sometimes even Pyroxenes you can use when recruiting new characters in the angel and demon-battling tactics game. After all, Pyroxenes are the premium currency for Blue Archive, so you'll need them to purchase recruitment tickets and just generally pull for new characters to add to your squad.

Since Blue Archive recently launched on Steam, there were quite a few rewards on offer. Though things are a little more sparse now, there's still the occasional code you can redeem, and Nexon continues to drop these occasionally, despite the fact that the original game came out in 2021.

Either way, here are all of the currently redeemable Blue Archive codes I've been able to scrounge up, plus details on how to redeem them below. I'll be sure to update this list with any new codes I find as they become available.

All Blue Archive codes

• MILLENNIUMDJSTAGE - 600 Pyroxenes
• FULLKOREANDUB - 50 Artifact Choice Box 1, 30 Artifact Choice Box 2, 15 Artifact Choice Box 3, and 10 Artifact Choice Box 4

Expired codes

• MIDNIGHTSNACKYUUKA - 5 Gift Choice Boxes and 10 Large Whole Cakes
• HIDENSEEKKOYUKI - 5 Superior Activity Reports and 50 Advanced Activity Reports
• PILLOWFIGHTNOA - 200 Total Assault Coins and 200 Grand Assault Coins
• TWINKLEMAGIC - 200 Pyroxenes

How to redeem Blue Archive codes

To redeem your Blue Archive codes, you'll first need to complete the prologue and tutorial, which consists of some cutscenes and a few battles. Once it's done, you'll find yourself in the main menu. You'll get forced to make some pulls and fight another battle, but after that you're free to redeem any codes in-game.

All you need to do is:

1. Open the menu tab in the top right
2. Select Account
3. Scroll down to Coupon and click continue
4. Enter your code into the box
5. Click redeem
6. Select OK
7. Collect your rewards from the mailbox

A lotta stuff happened in videogames in 2023: Baldur's Gate 3 released, a staggering number of layoffs occurred, and Dave the Diver was controversially nominated for Best Indie at The Game Awards.

It's got all the cosy, pixellated vibes that you'd associate with the Stardew Valleys and Celestes of the world, worked on by a relatively small team at Mintrocket. Which just happens to be a subsidiary of juggernaut publisher Nexon, with the game presumably having all the right kind of financial backing to support that.

It stirred up quite the discussion at the time: our own Tyler Wilde penned some thoughts on whether facts or vibes should lead categorisation, CEO of indie publisher New Blood Dave Oshry called the labelling "straight up bullshit", and Geoff Keighley played Switzerland by proclaiming "independent can mean different things to different people." Even Dave the Diver's director Jaeho Hwang told PC Gamer months later that he wouldn't consider his own game to be an indie.

Now, the game would go on to lose out to the excellent (and actually independently developed) RPG Sea of Stars, and the controversy quickly died down thereafter. The situation was dredged back up in a recent interview between Hwang and 4Gamer, though, with the director reiterating that Mintrocket had nothing to do with the category it was nominated for.

"I wonder if people mistook us for an indie studio just because we're developing games as a small team, or just because our art styles and game systems tend to be unique," Hwang said via translations courtesy of Automaton Media. "For some reason, we also ended up getting nominated for the Best Indie Game award, which caused some people to go, 'Hey, isn't that a Nexon game?', but it's not like we applied for the award ourselves."

In fact, the finger of blame should have been pointed at, well, er, us. That's awkward. The Game Awards jury is made up of a smorgasbord of over 100 different gaming outlets—including Polygon, Eurogamer, GamesRadar, PC Gamer (hey, that's us!), and Giant Bomb—who ultimately determine the nominees and which categories they're competing in.

Now I certainly can't be a spokesperson for every videogame website ever—and PC Gamer itself didn't nominate Dave the Diver for Best Indie, so please have mercy on us—so how we ended up where we did is ultimately a mystery to me. It's kind of wild to me that Hwang is still having to plead innocence almost two years after the nominations happened, but let us hope it serves as a reminder to not make the same mistake when the 2025 Game Awards roll around later this year.

There are a lot of games where you play as a woman with a gigantic sword. Nier: Automata and Stellar Blade were breakouts in the genre, and now here's another hopeful: Vindictus: Defying Fate, which leans a little harder into soulslike territory than those games. Its big sword hits hard and slamming it down on enemies reminded me of playing Elden Ring, minus the part where my character looks like she's from a different universe.

The Steam demo for Vindictus: Defying Fate is at its best when you don't have to think about that part very hard, when you're facing off against beasts in one-on-one combat. It's got the soulslike pacing down: Big swing into a dodge roll into a counterattack into another dodge roll. My favorite move requires holding down the heavy attack and charging up the gigantic sword for a gigantic hit. Pulling it off without getting knocked out of it was as rewarding as landing a headshot in a shooter, chunking the enemy's health down faster than the rest of my attacks.

Don't ask why you're fighting these beasts though. Vindictus is frontloaded with quite a bit of dialogue, but is rather thin on plot. It's a fantasy world where people wear berets for some reason and there's a war between humans and beasts. Characters command you to go from objective marker to objective marker until you're let loose into its first level. Nobody explains why your character looks like you'd roll for her in a gacha game and, honestly, it's probably better that way.

You don't have to play as the big sword girl if you don't want to. There are four playable classes in the demo. One of them has a sword and shield, which might be the choice for parry fiends. Each one has special abilities you can unlock as you level up and gain points to spend. They don't seem to come online very often, however, so most of your time will be filled with different combinations of heavy and light attacks.

Whenever you rest at a campfire (ie, Dark Souls bonfires) you can spend your in-game currency on a bunch of outfits and makeup for your character. Some of them cover her in armor and others, well, don't. I can't see myself running around in a pink hoodie or tights and a baseball cap like a K-pop star on her day off, but it's there if you want to.

Vindictus doesn't have a release date, but the demo feels pretty well put together. I would bet it will be out relatively soon. You can check out the demo and wishlist it on Steam right now.

Grab your snacks, fill up your Stanley cup and get ready: The games are here. Summer Game Fest 2025 kicked off Friday with the official SGF livestream hosted by Geoff Keighley, followed by the annual (and wonderful) indie-focused Day of the Devs stream.

Here's a full schedule of Summer Game Fest events and related livestreams. Don't miss the PC Gaming Show on Sunday!

You can watch the archived Summer Game Fest livestream above, but if you just want to skim the announcements, I live blogged the whole thing as it happened. The live blog is archived below, with my posts presented in chronological order from the start of the show to the end. (Spoiler: Geoff and Capcom pull a mean trick on us part way through.)

Anyone know what's up with that chicken?

As you can see from the photo above, there is at least one chicken in attendance at Summer Game Fest. Here's what Geoff Keighley had to say about it earlier today:

"Here's a rooster looking forward to #SummerGameFest"

... yeah, that doesn't really clear anything up at all. Except perhaps that Geoff Keighley so passionately believes in the power of videogames that he thinks this rooster knows what's going on and is excited for some trailers.

The Summer Game Fest theater is filling up

PC Gamer's Evan Lahti is live on the scene, and the audience is filtering in ahead of showtime, which kicks off in about 20 minutes.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks the Summer Game Fest lozenge on the screen there looks really tasty? That's cherry candy right? I'd eat it.

When the Summer Game Fest announcements start flowing in, I'll be concentrating on summing up each bit of news rather than blasting out a second-by-second play-by-play.

Here we go!

Summer Game Fest begins!

"This show has a little bit of everything," says host Geoff Keighley.

But you know what it has the most of? Goo. As previously established, I love and would eat the goo.

Keighley is highlighting some of the biggest games of the year using the top games on Steam, from indie hit Schedule I to RPG his Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. PC gaming really is the leader now, eh?

Mortal Shell 2 is metal af, coming to Steam in 2026

The first game announced at SGF 2025 from Swedish studio Cold Symmetry looks absolutely grisly. The trailer went hard with a metal track that I bet got a few folks in the crowd pumped the hell up.

And lookie here: Mortal Shell 2's already got a Steam page.

Death Stranding 2's exclusive SGF clip

Nothing too shocking here, as we know Death Stranding 2 is right around the corner. But let me treat you to the PC Gamer team's guesses at the star of this clip's name, before they found out it's Neil:

• Bob Tiredman
• Wrong Chairman
• Denied Smokeman
• Tom Mumbleman
• Steve Hugwoman

Now back to Geoff Keighleyman and Hideo Kojiman...

Chronicles: Medieval hits early access in 2026

"I sought no war, but war found me." Actor Tom Hardy narrated this trailer for Chronicles: Medieval from Raw Power Games, which is seemingly all about old school knights and horsies warfare. There's only a tiny snippet of gameplay at the very end; the rest is shiny CG. More on the game here.

Sonic CrossWorlds Racing gets a Minecraft collab, fits in a little Mario Kart diss

Sega's longtime Sonic developer Takashi Iizuka got on stage to talk about the upcoming Sonic racer, which is out on September. "Unlike another kart racing game, this game will have online crossplatform matchmaking," he quipped. "So you can race against all your friends across all the platforms."

Then he showed a surprise crossover witth Minecraft. CrossWorlds, indeed.

Bandai Namco announces Code Vein 2, out 2026

The anime soulsike combat game is getting a follow-up! Neat.

End of Abyss is coming next year from former Little Nightmares devs

Published by Epic, End of Abyss is the next game from former developers who worked at Tarsier Studios, makers of Little Nightmares.

You know nothing, Jon Snow (except War)

There's a new Game of Thrones-based strategy game on the way, and the trailer reinforces how you'll be the one deciding how things play out. It did so by showing Jon Snow getting totally stabbed. But not in the way he gets stabbed in the show. Different stabbing!

War For Westeros will hit PC next year.

Atomic Heart 2 is in development!

Quite a surprising trailer for a somewhat unexpected sequel. The alternate history Soviet BioShock-like is clearly jumping into the future here, with more cyberpunk flair to it. I can't hate any trailer set to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now. Also, props for this trailer being chock full of gameplay despite no release date. It's in "active development" says Keighley. "This time there's a greater emphasis on RPG elements and player freedom."

Developer Mundfish also announced The Cube, "an MMORPG shooter set in the Atomic universe on a massive levitating cube, where the edges are constnatly rotating to create unique gameplay combinations that are ever-evolving" says Keighley.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword looks killer

I still think it's kinda awesome that Capcom is using the face of late, legendary actor Toshiro Mifune for the new character in this rebooted Onimusha. Here's a new trailer for the game, out next year.

Felt That: Boxing is foul, despite its innocent-looking puppets

"All right you little sack of fuzzy shit, show me what you got," says the grizzled coach in the trailer for this puppet... boxing game? This may be a bit more Dodgeball than Rocky, but with puppets.

Everything's better with puppets, tbh.

Killer Inn is a 24-player social deduction game from Square Enix

This ain't no Final Fantasy. Here's a pretty different game from publisher Square Enix: a multiplayer social deduction game (think Mafia or the popular d TV series) but as a multiplayer game.

Arc Raiders has a release date: October 30

Sorry folks, no surprise release for Arc Raiders during Summer Game Fest today. There were some rumors it would be shadow dropped, but you've got a few months to wait.

After PC Gamer's Morgan Park got hands-on with Arc Raiders in April, it shot up to one of our most-anticipated games of the year.

Chrono Odyssey has a Steam playtest starting June 20

This "next-generation action MMORPG" has already been announced, but the news here is you'll be able to play it real soon. Check out the Steam page to join its upcoming playtest.

Wuthering Waves update 2.4 launches June 12

Another small update here: gacha game Wuthering Waves has a trailer-worthy update landing on June 12. That's just six days!

Metroidvania Mio: Memories in Orbit has a demo out now

Man, this one's really pretty. The 2D platformer is out in 2025, and has a Steam demo live now ahead of the next Steam Next Fest bonanza.

Puzzle platformer Out of Words is coming in 2026

A two-player co-op platformer with beautiful stop-motion-esque art? Josef Fares, eat your heart out.

Lego continue to look very nice with ray tracing

Like the last game, this one's also a co-op platformer. Lego Voyagers from publisher Annapurna is "a new 2-player co-op adventure that’s all about building spaceships, excitement and friendships."

Spongebob plays D&D?

Nickelodeon's making a game called Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny which looks like a sort of crossover beat 'em up. The official YouTube description gives us more:

"Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny is a vibrant, universe-spanning mashup that brings iconic Nickelodeon heroes into a world of fantasy-style tropes and real-time RPG action. Roll the dice and dive into a wild, action-packed adventure with SpongeBob and more Nickelodeon characters!"

It's out in fall 2025.

Shadow drop: Lies of P's DLC is available right now

The Overture DLC for Lies of P is out right now. It's live on the Steam page!

Here's what to expect from the DLC, as we wrote earlier this week.

"Doki Doki Literature Club meets Silent Hill"

Well that's a hell of a pitch for a farming slash horror game, just announced at SGF. Fractured Blooms definitely looks like a weird one, and publisher Serenty Forge has a strong track record of unique projects.

Anyone else have trouble keeping up with the SGF anime block?

Summer Game Fest just ran a bunch of anime game trailers back-to-back, making it tough to tell all of htem apart. Here's what we just saw:

• Blade & Soul Neo - New Warlock class "coming soon"
• Blade & Soul Heroes - Out in September
• Crystal of Atlan - One Punch Man crossover from June 26 - July 26
• The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin - An open world action RPG, coming in 2025

Jurassic World Evolution 3 is out October 21

The next Jurassic World management game now has a date! Maybe the new Jurassic World movie will have people hyped to build some dino parks. What could go wrong, right?

The next game from Shovel Knight's dev team has a demo now, out October 31

I've been waiting for Mina the Hollower for what feels like ages: the Kickstarter for this Game Boy Zelda-like adventure was successfully funded in 2022, with an anticipated 2023 release. That's about right for game development, eh? But hey, it looks great. And you can play the demo now!

Let's just pretend Deadpooll VR isn't happening

Do you really wanna play a Deadpool game on Meta Quest? Listen to those quips in your ear all day? I really don't. Let's just move on.

Dying Light: The Beast is out in August

Announced last year, this Dying Light installment that started as DLC but grew into a bigger game has a date, and it's just a couple months out.

A classic coming of age movie in game form?

"On their last night together, three friends embark on one final adventure. Play through a mixtape of memories, set to the soundtrack of a generation," describes the Steam page for Mixtape. This one was announced almost a year ago during a PlayStation showcase. The art's gorgeous, but it feels like we kinda just did this with Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.

Props for the developer's name Beethoven and Dinosaur, though. Real fun.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is a roguelike from the developer behind the Mana games

You may not have heard of Japanese developer Brownies, but the studio behind this roguelike was founded by Kameoka Shinichi, best known as one of the chief creatives behind Secret of Mana and many more games in that series. More recently they worked on Doraemon Story of Seasons for Bandai Namco, which is also publishing Towa.

It's coming out on September 18 and already has a Steam page.

Acts of Blood looks pretty amazing for a solo developed game

Okay, so not really solo: developer Fajrul Fn has contracted out work on music, animation and more for this Indonedian-set beat 'em up. But if you loved Sifu or The Raid, this might be your jam. It looks quite technical in how it controls, but with some exquisitely punchy animations. It's due in summer 2026.

Holy crap, a new (or at least updated!) Scott Pilgrim beat 'em up

Never thought I'd see the day. Tribute Games is back, with pixel art god Paul Robertson and input from Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley.

"Join Scott Pilgrim & Ramona Flowers in a brand-new brawling adventure through space, time, and the streets of Toronto!" says Tribute.

It includes 4-player drop-in, drop-out co-op and seven playable characters. After the smoke clears from SGF we're going to have to figure out if this is some kind of expansion on the original game that Tribute made in partnership with Ubisoft, or if it's wholly separate.

It's coming in 2026.

The First Descendant: Breakthrough is coming in August

A "mega update" for The First Descendant including "hoverbikes, 8-player field colossus raids, and a brand-new Descendant" is coming in August.

I have to admit I'm not completely sold on the quality of this expansion given the developer's pitch: "experience the content you’ve only dreamed of!"

Mmmm, I love dreaming of content.

You can't just use Mad World in a game trailer in the year 2025

I'm sorry, MindsEye. That song belongs to Donnie Darko and Gears of War. Also, the 2000s. I judge you TASTELESS for this choice.

MindsEye is out next week, but more exciting is publisher IO Interactive's news that it's putting Mads Mikkelsen in Hitman, returning to his Casino Royale role as Le Chiffre as the next Hitman Elusive Target.

20-player "Sea of Thieves in space" game Wildgate is out on July 24

This "space shenanigans" extraction game from Blizzard founder Mike Morhaime's new studio seems quite promising. Lovely art, silly, lots of potential for hijinks. And the news: it's out soon!

WORLD PREMIERE: Blighted, from Guacamelee studio Drinkbox

I haven't typed "World Premiere" in a couple hours, so I got excited, sorry.

Looks like an action roguelike? Hades-esque? Here's the description from the Steam page, which is live now:

"Battle your way through a psychedelic western nightmare to reclaim the memories of your people in this action RPG from the creators of Guacamelee! Harness the power of the deadly, reality-altering Blight and unravel the mysteries of a twisted world."

It's not out till 2026.

Ill made me feel ill

That's ILL, to be clear.

You don't need me to tell you this one's a horror game, on account of the horrifically messed up babies, severed fingers, and naked bodies being blown in half by shotguns. When the guy comes crawling out of the muddy hole... I did not care for it.

No release date, but it's nice to see someone following up on RE7's claustrophobic first-person survival horror. Well, not "nice" but you know.

Mecha Break launches July 1

We thought Mecha Break was pretty rad when we played it in February, though it already had clear problems with its monetization. Last we heard, beta feedback had the developers considering unlocking more stuff in the game to make people happier.

Honey, I Shrunk the Aliens

Infintesimals, coming in 2026, is the latest in the proud tradition of "everything's cooler when you're a tiny guy in the normal-sized world." See also: Grounded, Pikmin, etc. This one was just revealed at SGF and stars some extraterrestrials looking for their friends on Earth, where they happen to be a bit teensy tiny.

Capcom confirms a new Resident Evil is coming...

... but that's all we get for now. Next year will be Resident Evil's 30th anniversary, and series producer Jun Takeuchi asks us be patient.

"Now, about the latest Resident Evil game you've all been waiting for, bear with us a little longer, just a blink of an eye more, and it'll be ready."

Street Fighter 6: Year 3 brings Sagat and C. Viper to the fight

And Alex and Ingrid!

Here's the roster for Street Fighter's next season:

• Sagat - Summer 2025
• C. Viper - Autumn 2025
• Alex - Early Spring 2026
• Ingrid - Late Spring 2026

Any shooter with a flag immediately captures (😎) my interest

This third-person 5v5 shooter definitely feels like it took a bit of cartoony inspiration from TF2, but it's all about CTF, my one true love. Pretty cool gimmick, too: "Hide your flag. Find the enemy flag. Run it back, then defend for a minute to win it."

It'll have an alpha, coming later this year.

Am I hallucinating, or did they just announce a Wu-Tang anime game?

"Where is the Wu-Tang clan?"

Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver is apparently a "co-op action RPG with anime-style fighting." Okay, yeah, that's what I thought just happened. I'm not losing my mind, right?

"Ghostface Killah is calling on you to rescue his Wu brothers" is a wild pitch for a game. Check out more on Steam.

Film noir Yakuza is officially titled Stranger Than Heaven

This was called "Project Century" last year, and was going to be set in the early 20th century. But it's now set in 1943, and yeah, it looks awesome. Just watch the trailer.

Faked out! Capcom reveals Resident Evil 9: Requiem

The new Resident Evil is titled Requiem, and it's out in February 2026.

Requiem "marks a bold shift for the franchise, both in tone and gameplay," says Keighley. "Today's reveal isn't just about survival horror. Expect high-stakes cinematic action too."

Here's what we know about Resident Evil 9

• It's out February 27 on both PC and consoles
• "A new era of survival horror" implies a departure from both RE2-style and first-person RE7/8 style gameplay
• It's still connected to existing RE stories, with Raccoon City seen in the trailer

Time to start picking through the trailer above and analyzing

Here's a few SGF announcements I missed...

Phew, that was a packed show! I skipped over just a few trailers while trying to keep up, so let's hit 'em now.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers got a new trailer, which shows off its deluxe edition bonuses at the end. But nothing really new here. It's out on July 24.

Splitgate 2's CEO showed up on stage to surprise launch a battle royale mode in the new FPS

Guild Wars 2 has a double XP weekend this weekend

Mongil Star Dive will start a beta test on June 20. The official website bears an ominous button daring you to "Become a Mongiler"

Into the Unwell casts you as a "down-on-his-luck outcast who has to battle his inner demons, literally, in this action roguelike." Some great animation on display here (Otto Messmer fans rise up), which is being published by Coffee Stain.

SGF rolled right into Day of the Devs, and as usual it's a delight

While Summer Game Fest's main event does tend to highlight a bunch of promising indie games, Day of the Devs is where the real quirky stuff lives. These games tend to be wildly inventive and funny. Here's the first few games that have been announced so far:

Snap & Grab

"Picture this: It's the '80s, and you're nestled between high fashion glamour and high ticket crime... you'll be tasked with visiting a variety of rich and lavish settings, in which you'll have one question on your mind: what will you be stealing tonight?"

Big Walk

A new multipalyer game from the folks behind Untitled Goose Game: "Set out with your friends through a wide-open world full of challenges, puzzles, and discoveries. You’ll need to work together to find your way around, stay in contact using an assortment of tools and toys, and figure out new ways to communicate when you suddenly find yourself speechless."

Escape Academy 2

This escape room adventure (which has a Steam page already) follow-up "really leans into the roleplay of embodying a student at the academy. You can talk to your fellow escapists to unlock quests, discover lore, and naturally get hit with a deluge of groan-worthy puns."

Dosa Divas

Dosa Divas from the developers of Thirsty Suitors has mechs, so I'm instantly into it. It's "a spicy narrative-based RPG" where you'll "platform thorugh vibrant villages, battle corporate goons, reconcile with loved ones and eat one last meal together before saying goodbye. Double-jump, drill, and grapple your way through the world to discover local ingredients, hidden paths, memories, and new friends."

It's coming in early 2026.

And more Day of the Devs debuts

The only problem with Day of the Devs is that it's maybe too good. Who's got time to play all these? Here are some more first looks:

Possessors

"Surreal interdimensional demon horror" from developer Heart Machine (Hyper Light Drifter) and publisher Devolver, in the form of a "fast-paced action side scroller with combat inspired by platform fighters." It's already got a demo on Steam!

Moonlighter 2

We announced Moonlighter 2 at the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted in late 2024! But how about some new info?

"This entry begins in Dresna, a blood-brimming town. Will finds himself stranded after one of his adventures. ... Each bio-morph has new mechanics, enemies, and rewards. Combat has been vastly improved. Once you clear a room, several things can happen: you might find a perk, in-run effects that can increase Will's power and unlock new abilities. You can also stumble upon a check and find tons of prizes and relics. Depending on where you place them, the relics will unleash all kinds of effects. Backpack management will influence the outcome of your expeditions.

"Just like the perks in the dungeons, you can unlock special effects each time you open your shop. They can potentially skyrocket your profits and release powerful synergies and selling streaks."

Moonlighter 2 is out this summer.

Please, Watch the Artwork

This "psychological spot the difference game" puts you in the shoes of a night watcher at the Museum of Animated Modern Art where you have to scrutinize the paintings for mysterious anomalies. "You're going to need a good memory, focus, and lots and lots of coffee," says dev Thomas Waterzooi. It's specifically inspired by artist Edward Hopper, whose work you've certainly seen, even if you don't know him by name. Check it out on Steam.

Neverway

This "horror RPG and life sim" was announced about a month ago, but got a bit of time to stretch its legs during Day of the Devs. There's some great pixel art on display here.

"You play the game as Fiona. After quitting your dead-end job, you try to start over on a farm, a place where you can escape all your problems and finally start fresh. But it gets darker. Fiona will find herself indebted as the mortal herald of a dead god. With her sword you can fight in fast-paced combat, and you can choose your secondary gear to change how you fight. But remember, you still need to keep your new life on track."

Relooted

Hey, we've got a whole article about this one!

Relooted is a heist game about reclaiming African artifacts from Western collections, which are said to hold '90% of sub-Saharan African cultural heritage

Ratatan

Former Sony Japan devs who made the beloved Patapon series are back with its spiritual successor, which we confirmed is coming to PC back in November.

"We wanted to take Ratatan in a new direction, with more color and modern modes that gamers have grown accustomed to, including online multiplayer," they said during Day of the Devs.

The news: it's entering early access on July 25.

Pocket Boss

"A short game about the small joys of manipulating data," where you play a series of minigames based on... the mundane horrors of white collar office life?

Tire Boy

This "playful action adventure platformer about a tire person" stars a boy, who is also a tire. What more do you need explained? Okay, how about a little more:

"Tire Boy may be the last of his kind. He was lost as a child. At the start of the game, we learn how he was raised by a large owl named Nestwick, and doesn't know much about his family or ancestors. It's a story about connection and curiosity, as Tire Boy journeys through a vast unfamiliar world searching for purpose and traces of his forgotten origins."

The Devs.... they're still Daying

More! Mooooore!

Here's the last set of games announced during Day of the Devs.

Toem 2

A follow-up to the photography adventure from 2021 that we quite liked; it got a tease a few months ago, but this is our first proper look. It's on Steam, with a release set for 2026.

Thick as Thieves

We've got an article for this one, the multiplayer imsim from Warren Spector's studio Otherside:

To be a master heister in Thick as Thieves, Warren Spector's 'player-powered' multiplayer Thief successor, the devs say you'll have to 'play with your ears'

Unbeatable

Closing out Day of the Devs, a track from the rad-looking upcoming game Unbeatable, in which "music is illegal and you do crimes."

Devolver goes deep on Ball X Pit: The Kenny Sun Story

Instead of a presentation covering a range of games, Devolver devoted 10 minutes to this "brick-breaking, ball-fusing, base-building survival roguelite." It's got a demo live now on Steam, and we've got a whole write-up on it right here:

I can see why Devolver dedicated its whole show to Ball X Pit: It's like Atari's Breakout meets Vampire Survivors and the demo is curing my roguelike fatigue

And that's a wrap!

We've reached the end of Friday's SGF livestream, and wow were there a lot of games.

Check out our full Summer Game Fest schedule to plan your weekend watching; there's a whole lot more to come, including Xbox and the PC Gaming Show on Sunday.

In late March the news broke that four Korean companies were competing to pitch for the StarCraft license from Blizzard. NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble, and Krafton are all absolute giants and, attracted by StarCraft's long and storied history in South Korea, were pitching everything from an MMO to a mobile game as a continuation of the iconic RTS series.

South Korean financial news outlet MTN is now reporting that the process has ended with Nexon winning the license. Nexon's pitch was previously described as a "unique" take on the StarCraft universe, and the MTN report adds that the deal includes the Korean and Japanese distribution rights for "Overwatch mobile."

This Overwatch game is being developed by Blizzard and, per a machine translation, "is known to be a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game on a mobile platform. It was also called 'Overwatch 3' by domestic game companies that participated in the bidding."

Wait, come back! I suppose with Overwatch Mobile the surprise is that it's taken Blizzard this long, and regardless of how it's being referred to internally I very much doubt it will release as Overwatch 3. As for StarCraft, there are no details on Nexon's intentions, but the fact that something might actually get made again in the StarCraft series has to be a good thing: the big question is whether it'll be an RTS, or even reflect those roots in a meaningful way.

Either way, it will be many years before we see what comes of this, but StarCraft is more well-known and beloved in South Korea than anywhere else in the world, and Nexon will see this as a massive opportunity in its home market.

It's not the only StarCraft project in the offing either. Last year we learned that Blizzard does have at least one more StarCraft project under development in-house that's—drum roll please—the studio's third attempt at making a shooter (following the cancelled projects Ghost and Ares).

"If it's not cancelled," said author Jason Schreier at the time. "I mean, this is Blizzard after all. Yes, that is a project that, as far as I knew, was in development. At least, as of the time that I wrote this book [...] this felt like such an interesting and useful nugget to include because it really just shows you that Blizzard cannot quit StarCraft shooters."

Things like StarCraft: Remastered and Hearthstone crossovers are nice, but it's been 15 years since Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty and 10 since the final installment in the trilogy, StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void. A series as big as StarCraft can certainly survive a long period of absence, but the bigger worry for fans will be whether its future involves a strategy title of some description. Shooters and spinoffs are all well and good, but they're not StarCraft: let's hope that, somewhere in Nexon, the decision-makers agree.

There's something about taking long-running MMOs back to their roots that fans really seem to like. Old School Runescape, a version of the venerable Jagex MMO that recreates the game as it was in 2007, is enduringly popular, and when Blizzard announced World of Warcraft Classic in 2018, that was a big deal. Now MapleStory is set to join the ranks with the upcoming Classic World, "a nostalgic experience crafted just for Global MapleStory players."

MapleStory hasn't got a lot of attention around these parts, but it's a remarkably successful game that's been running for more than 20 years. We recently cited it alongside EverQuest and Ultima Online as one of the few live service games "that have passed the test of time"—putting it mildly, I think—and it continues to be regularly updated on Steam, where it draws several thousand concurrent players at any given moment.

Those years gone by are definitely visible in MapleStory's gameplay, but despite its aged look MapleStory has inevitably changed and evolved over the past two decades, and what it is now is not what it was then. Which is where Classic World comes in: Nexon America chief product officer Hanbyeol Oh, known to fans as Inkwell, says it will be "a faithful recreation of the old school MapleStory experience, built by a team that understands what made early MapleStory so special."

That team includes Miyoung "Nemi" Oh, lead game designer on MapleStory at original developer Wizet in the years leading up to and immediately after its launch, who's taking on the same role for MapleStory Classic Worlds.

"We've been planning this for a long time and we want to create a meaningful connection between the past and present," Miyoung Oh says. "Classic World will be a special milestone for the 20th anniversary. Just like the Heroic and Interactive Worlds in Global MapleStory, Classic World will be a full part of GMS. Players will be able to create brand new characters and experience a faithful recreation of early MapleStory while also enjoying quality of life additions from GMS to even further enhance the player experience.

"We hope to recreate all the features and qualities that made early MapleStory special, while also looking toward the future and collaborating with fellow maplers to create the best classic world together."

I'm inclined to think that a lot of the desire for throwback MMOs is driven by nostalgia: Not necessarily a yearning for the way the game was 20 years ago, but for the way we were, and the emotions and experiences we enjoyed when all this stuff was exciting and new. Alas, we can't go back, but it turns out that in at least some instances, taking the games back to those long-gone days is not a terrible compromise—there's some refreshing challenge to be found in the sharp points and rough edges of the early oughts.

A release date for MapleStory Classic World hasn't been announced at this point, but more details will be revealed in the second half of 2025.

A new report in Asia Today (spotted by IGN) says that four different Korean publishers are pitching StarCraft games to Blizzard, in the latest attempt to bring back the iconic RTS franchise.

Ah yes, the good old RTS. StarCraft rumours come around fairly regularly but rarely do they centre on anything as absurd as a Starcraft 3 following up two of the greatest RTS games ever made: nope, what seems to get Blizzard excited these days is anything but.

The four Korean companies competing to pitch for the StarCraft license are NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble, and Krafton. NCSoft, known for Lineage and Guild Wars among other MMOs, is claimed to have been pitching a StarCraft RPG, which presumably would be an MMO.

Nexon has pitched a "unique" take on the universe. Krafton, which owns PUBG as well as more recently being in the headlines for Inzoi, is going for something "based on its own development capabilities," according to a machine translation of Asia Today's report. And Netmarble? It's going for a mobile game, so Blizzard's probably going to go with that pitch (I jest of course).

Pitches are pitches and, even if anything comes of these, it will be many years before we see any kind of actual game out of this. But I'd say there are two notable aspects to this development.

The first is that StarCraft originally became a phenomenon in South Korea, with the much-improved Brood War turbocharging one of the most exciting esports scenes in history, and Starcraft 2 keeping that legacy alive. The game is arguably better-known and more beloved in South Korea than anywhere else in the world, and I don't think it's a coincidence that this pitching process involves four giant Korean companies.

The second point is simply that Blizzard's listening, and may even have invited such pitches. The Asia Today report says it has confirmed that "some of these game companies have gone all the way to Blizzard’s headquarters in California to hold presentations in order to secure a competitive edge."

Well. Last year brought the news that, while Blizzard has at least one StarCraft project under development in-house, it's the studio's third attempt at making a shooter in that universe (following the cancelled projects Ghost and Ares). "If it's not cancelled," said author Jason Schreier at the time. "I mean, this is Blizzard after all. Yes, that is a project that, as far as I knew, was in development. At least, as of the time that I wrote this book [...] this felt like such an interesting and useful nugget to include because it really just shows you that Blizzard cannot quit StarCraft shooters."

If you sense that the wind might be changing for StarCraft, you're not alone, but let's not get our hopes up. Recent years have brought nice things like StarCraft: Remastered and a crossover with Hearthstone, as well as a new tabletop miniatures game announced last week, though nary a hint of the number three (feels familiar). All new StarCraft stuff is welcome, and perhaps one of Blizzard's suitors will make a great game. But make no mistake: I love StarCraft because it's an amazing real-time strategy game and, if that isn't in some way part of its future DNA, I'm not sure that love will last.

There are a surprising number of Atomfall endings for what is a relatively small game, but as you explore the Windscale quarantine zone, you'll find plenty of characters who are willing to help you escape. That is, if you complete a series of tasks for them, or in some cases, even sell your soul. After all, the secrets of Oberon are valuable and many hope to salvage them before shit goes sideways.

There are certain steps you'll have to complete to access any ending, which I'll explain below, but besides that, I'll walk you through the steps to get each of Atomfall's five endings. There are also a few minor ending variations, such as how bloody you got exploring the quarantine zone, but considering how often you have to kill folks, it'd be surprising if you managed to achieve anything but the worst there.

Thankfully, these minor variations are just a sentence in the epilogue. This guide will, of course, contain spoilers for Atomfall, so leave now if you want to discover all the endings yourself.

How to reach Atomfall's endings

Besides each character's specific leads and setup, there are a few things you'll need to do to actually access the end of Atomfall. These are:

1. Unlock all doors to the Interchange in Slatten Dale, Wyndham Village, Casterfell Woods, and Skethermoor
2. Turn on the central processor of the Interchange using the battery you find there
3. Find four atomic batteries and power up Data Stores Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta
4. Use a signal redirector to redirect power to the central processor via the four junction boxes in that room
5. Pull the lever in the central processor

If you complete all these steps, you'll get access to Oberon and the potential to decide its fate and finish the game. All of the endings below require you to complete the above steps to actually reach Windscale.

Escape with the voice on the telephone

Though the voice on the telephone is a constant companion in Atomfall, ringing up at random phone boxes to kindly remind you that "Oberon must die" every ten seconds, this ending is the simplest to accomplish and requires no extra work. Assuming you've powered up the Interchange, simply:

1. Travel through Windscale to the Oberon dig site
2. Rearm the four explosives planted near Oberon
3. Pull the self-destruct console lever in the control room
4. Head back to Bunker L8, where you started the game

After you pull the lever, you'll have to escape back into the Interchange, though you'll be attacked on the way by druids and an angry Mother Jago who you'll have to kill. The voice on the telephone will call on the phone just before you enter the Interchange and tell you to return to Bunker L8 in Slatten Dale, where you woke up at the start of the game. As you travel to Slatten Dale, you'll find the rest of the zone has fallen into chaos as protocol soldiers, druids, and outlaws all fight each other.

Answer the phone there, and the telephone will say good job before putting you to sleep with gas and saying that everything will be clear when you wake up. As you expect, this is the most mysterious ending to Atomfall, as the caller doesn't reveal their identity or your purpose and even speculates that they might have just been a voice in your head. Meanwhile, Oberon is destroyed and so the interference gradually lowers, letting people into the zone so they can find out what happened.

My personal theory is that you were a sleeper agent planted in the quarantine zone to resolve the Oberon crisis, and so that's why they put you to sleep at the end once your job in the zone is complete, but honestly, who even knows?

Escape with Captain Sims

Helping Captain Sims and his protocol forces is another of your escape options, but this requires you to complete a few quest steps for the commander first. You'll need to:

1. Speak to Captain Sims in the Wyndham Village hall and earn his trust by reporting a villager—or lie about reporting a villager, as with the baker
2. Agree to Sims' request to visit Skethermoor Prison and speak to Dr. Garrow. It's unclear if you have to free Garrow here, but doing so has no consequences provided you lie to Sims when you return to him
3. Retrieve Sims' Protocol Radio Part from the speaking cave in the Casterfell Woods. The part is located in the room behind the statue at the area's centre
4. Head to the Oberon dig site and rearm the four explosives before pulling the self-destruct console lever in the control room
5. Collect Sims' audio diary from the Wyndham village hall giving you instructions for escape
6. Travel to Skethermoor Protocol Camp to find Sims waiting with a helicopter

As with any ending in which you destroy Oberon, you'll have to fight through druids as you leave the dig site and kill Mother Jago. The voice in the soil will also tell you that it's disappointed and the quarantine zone will descend into its usual infighting as all the factions battle each other.

After you grab Sims' note from the village hall, you'll find him with a helicopter at Skethermoor Protocol Camp outside the prison, where he lauds you as a hero and lets you climb aboard. In this ending, the Atomfall plan goes ahead and the quarantine zone gets nuked, wiping out all of its inhabitants apart from the protocol who were evacuated.

Escape with Dr. Garrow

Dr. Garrow is a robotics scientist who was involved in the original Oberon project, and if you complete some tasks for her, she's also a viable option for an early escape:

1. Free Garrow from Skethermoor Prison and then find her in the Interchange central processor—this is easier if you complete the first step of Sims' quest to get prison access
2. Retrieve Garrow's research notes from her office in the robotics section of the Interchange and return them to her
3. Power up Casterfell Dam Data Storage and input the "GEN ERA" command and then return to her
4. Head to the Oberon dig site and use two atomic batteries to power up the extraction drill near the control room—if you don't have any, defeat two of the robots wandering around Oberon and grab theirs
5. Pull the sample extractor console lever in the control room and then collect the sample where it drops just next to Oberon
6. Travel to Garrow's office in robotics and give her the sample to escape—if you refuse to hand it over, she'll turn hostile

One important note here is that you shouldn't tell Dr. Holder where to find Garrow if you're also pursuing his lead, as he will kill her. Garrow's ending is unique in that you don't actually do anything to Oberon or trigger the ending sequence in which the factions of the quarantine zone fight each other. The zone remains, and Oberon with it. It's implied that Dr. Garrow continues her research into Oberon using the sample, with you as her partner, and that this likely bodes poorly for the outside world considering her extremely shady past with the original project.

Escape with Joyce Tanner

This is one of the more elaborate endings as you help the mysterious communications specialist achieve her goals in the quarantine zone. To do this, you need to:

1. Speak to Joyce Tanner in Data Store Charlie after you power up the Interchange—you can also find her earlier in the remote bunker in northeast Casterfell Woods, though either way you'll have to power up the Interchange to properly start her lead
2. Power up the three radio towers located in Slatten Dale, Casterfell Woods, and Skethermoor then return to her
3. This step is optional, but if you're pursuing Garrow's lead as well and head to Casterfell Dam Data Storage, enter the "GEN MOVE" command for Joyce instead and bring her the tape—this will turn Garrow hostile
4. Head to the Oberon dig site and use two atomic batteries to power up the extraction drill near the control room—if you don't have any, defeat two of the robots wandering around Oberon and grab theirs
5. Pull the sample extractor console lever in the control room and then collect the sample where it drops just next to Oberon
6. Rearm the four explosives around Oberon before pulling the self-destruct console lever in the control room. You can also poison Oberon here for Dr. Holder instead if you choose
7. Grab Joyce Tanner's audio log in Data Store Charlie and then head to the extraction point she marks in the Casterfell Woods
8. Hand over the sample and escape—Joyce will turn hostile if you refuse

If you're also pursuing the Infiltrators lead, that'll add another dimension and a bit more context to what's happening with this ending. As usual, you'll have to fight Mother Jago and the druids as you leave, but then you can go find Joyce at the extraction point. Here, you can quiz her about who she really works for and ask if she's Aggravaine—you might have to complete the Infiltrators' lead in order to ask her this.

She admits that she is the mysterious Russian operative and that—with the Cold War heating up in the outside world—everyone needs to have access to Oberon so they can use it as a deterrent, making sure it'll never actually be used again.

If you hand over the sample, Joyce clubs you over the head with a truncheon and you're dragged into the escape helicopter with her insinuating that you're about to be interrogated thoroughly by her friends. As you probably realised all along, Joyce is pretty sus, and even though you escape, things likely don't end well for you here.

Escape with Mother Jago

This ending sees you side with the druids of the Casterfell Woods and their mysterious leader, Mother Jago. Here's what you need to do:

1. Meet Mother Jago in the Casterfell Woods, agree to recover her book from the Castle Ruins, and return it to her
2. Head to the speaking cave and talk to the idol at its centre, agreeing to help it, then speak to Mother Jago outside
3. Travel into the medical tunnels below the Interchange—you reach here through medical—and retrieve the Growth Stimulant canister
4. Turn on both fire safety system valves next to Oberon at the dig site
5. Insert the Growth Stimulant into the fire safety fluid input on the walkways just outside the control room
6. Pull the fire safety system lever in the control room to feed Oberon the stimulant
7. Find Mother Jago in the underground section of the Castle Ruins above the pit filled with blue fungi
8. Throw yourself into the pit

In this ending, you become one with the voice in the soil and Oberon becomes more powerful, potentially even spreading from the quarantine zone to the outside world. The key difference with this ending is that you'll have to fight protocol soldiers as you flee back through the dig site into the Interchange, but the druids fighting everywhere else will be friendly. It's somewhat unclear whether you actually become one with Oberon or if Mother Jago duped you into helping and then killing yourself.

Escape with Dr. Holder

The most secret of Atomfall's endings sees you help Dr. Holder poison Oberon and kill it for good. Here's what you need to do:

1. Retrieve the church cellar key from the medical section of the Interchange
2. Meet Dr. Holder in the basement of St. Katherine's church and agree to help him
3. Retrieve Sample One from the medical section of the Interchange—this canister is located by the body in the operating theatre—and return to him
4. If you freed Dr. Garrow, tell Dr. Holder she's in the Interchange—Holder will shoot Garrow in revenge for her abandoning him and the other scientists. Speak to him after this to get Poisoned Sample One.
5. Turn on both fire safety system valves next to Oberon at the dig site
6. Insert the Poisoned Sample One canister into the fire safety fluid input, on the walkways just outside the control room
7. Pull the fire safety system lever in the control room to poison Oberon
8. Find Dr. Holder in the medical tunnels—since entrances will have collapsed, you'll need to enter here via the Slatten Dale Interchange entrance. After you crawl under the shutters, look for signs pointing the way to your left in the construction site

In this ending, you poison Oberon and escape into the secret tunnels with Dr. Holder. As he reveals, the voice in his head is starting to fade, implying you've properly killed Oberon. However, he mentions that since you both have blue eyes—a side effect of the inoculation he gave you earlier, presumably—you'll be treated as specimens, so you have to go on the run for a while.

If you destroy Oberon instead, Dr. Holder leaves an audio log in the central processor revealing some vital information—blowing up Oberon only seals it and doesn't actually destroy it, meaning someone else is likely to stumble on it in the future. This heavily implies that poisoning Oberon for him is the only way it's truly destroyed, making this the true "good" ending.

It's understandable you'd be searching for The First Berserker: Khazan tips; it's a tough game. While I don't think it's quite as hard as Sekiro or some of Elden Ring's tougher sections, because of its tanky bosses and limited healing, it requires you to focus on each boss and really perfect your strategy when fighting them

There isn't all that much margin for error in Khazan, but if you do engage, you'll quickly appreciate the depth of its bosses and how great it feels when you experiment with an idea and use it to triumph over a tricky foe. Here I'll provide some pointers that'll help smooth your way through the game, especially at the start when you're still puzzling out how everything works.

Keep an eye on stamina and don't neglect skills

Stamina is your key resource in Khazan; you use it to attack, guard, and dodge, but even a brink guard—what this game calls a perfect parry—will cost you a little stamina. If you run out, you'll get stunned for a while, meaning the boss you're fighting can go to town. Some bosses even have attacks that will drain your entire stamina bar in one if you try to block them, so these are better avoided entirely. Remember you can also consume Vitality Spheres to temporarily buff your stamina.

So, how do you defeat tanky bosses when your stamina is so restrictive? This is where skills come in. Since skills don't use stamina, they are the perfect little cheat you can use to increase your damage output, or even in place of a brink dodge or brink guard, enhancing their effectiveness. All you need to do is attack and defend to accumulate spirit to spend on skills during a fight.

Take a look at your skill tree once you decide on a weapon and determine how you can best combo your attacks into skills and vice versa—Khazan is almost like a fighting game in the way it lets you combine attacks, and doing this effectively will really unleash your damage potential against hardy bosses.

Grab Netherworld Energy to buff your healing

Another tricky aspect of Khazan is limited healing. At the start of the game, you only have three Netherworld Energy to consume each time you rest at a Blade Nexus, but you can find more while exploring each mission. The first is in the Embars Ruins (third mission) right after you enter the hall with the big hanging creature.

On the level above to your right, you'll spot a character playing a lute, and you can hear their music if you get close. Climb up the stairs, take a right, drop down to their level, and then grab the golden glowing item to get the Netherworld Energy.

There's another in Skoffa Cave in the Strange Stench mission. When climbing the wooden beams to the top of the cave near the start—while also being attacked by bats—you can find this one at the highest point of the scaffolding structure. As with the previous, this is a golden glowing item as well.

Don't neglect your javelin ability

Javelin is really strong in Khazan, especially as an ability against ranged enemies. You can use it to take down annoying archers so you don't get peppered while trying to fight other foes. You can also use it to knock down hanging structures on top of monsters, smash unreachable soulstones at range, and even during moments in certain bosses. I recommend grabbing the Rest in Peace upgrade which stops any skeletal enemies killed with javelin from reviving—this is absurdly useful against those frost-firing skeletal archers you can't reach, who'll revive even if you do manage to kill them.

Experiment with your build

There's a reason that Khazan offers free skill respecs at all times—if something isn't working for a boss, simply change things up and experiment. You could even switch weapons, though Khazan's arsenal is pretty versatile with the right skills. Most bosses in Khazan feel like difficulty spikes because they're trying to teach you to engage with and overcome systems you might not have really used much. That's why smart experimentation is key. You've actually got to think about each boss and how to defeat them vs. just brute forcing things with some powerful build.

Guard regular attacks but dodge elemental ones

One lesson you'll learn from bosses pretty quickly is to avoid guarding against elemental attacks. Similar to other games like Elden Ring, elemental damage can penetrate your guard and start to build a status, like fire, poison, or plague. You can take a consumable to cleanse these or increase your resistance, but honestly, it's easier to just recognise which boss attacks are elemental and dodge them instead.

It's pretty easy to tell which since these are always consistent with bosses. Volbaino, for instance, only deals fire damage when he hits you with his flaming nail, and Shacktuka only builds plague when it bites you, or licks its paw and swipes. Recognising which attacks to dodge and which to block is pretty key in Khazan, especially if you're not some kind of deflection and counterattack master who can rinse bosses before they do anything.

Use the resistance accessories you find in each area

Besides munching on some elemental resistance consumables, you can also equip accessories to buff your resistances, and this is important. As you progress through each mission area, you'll generally find a set of accessories that buffs resistance for the boss you're about to face at the end. Take Aratra the spider, for instance—while exploring Skoffa Cave in the Strange Smell mission, you can find the Necklace of Sealed Venom and the Ringed of Sealed Venom, both of which grant poison resistance.

Craft consumables at the blacksmith to give you a buff in bosses

Once you unlock the blacksmith, you'll be able to start using all those Transmutation Shards and Spirit Orbs you've been collecting from enemies to craft consumables. Select craft with the blacksmith and cycle to the far right where the consumables tab is shown with a little potion bottle.

You can craft cleanses to remove statuses, elemental resistance consumables, and even enhancers that imbue your own weapon with an element. In a game with such tanky bosses, using enhancers to up your damage and experiment to find the boss's weakness is all but mandatory, and will speed up each boss fight. To unlock more consumable recipes, you'll need to complete bonus training objectives in Daphrona's Codex.

Don't forget about Daphrona

This netherworld character you meet in the Embars Ruins has a number of handy functions. She can unleash any soulstones you find to provide permanent buffs, upgrade the Spirit of Advocacy (essentially your boss summon if you want one), and she also offers an extremely good Training Grounds where you can practice against most enemy types.

Daphrona's Codex, in-particular, is worth paying attention to. Rather than simply an encyclopedia of enemies, it provides rewards for completing little bonus training objectives when fighting foes, granting you consumables, gear, and even consumable recipes that'll unlock the ability to craft them with the blacksmith.

Try using deflection on the most predictable boss attacks

Both counterattack—timing a parry against a red unblockable attack—and deflection—timing a parry against a regular attack—are hard to pull off, but if you can, they do massive stamina damage to a boss or enemy. Rather than trying to parry every single attack like you're playing Dark Souls, remember that not every attack can be parried.

While fighting each boss and experimenting, look for opportunities where a parry might be possible, and weave it into your strategy. Generally, boss attacks that are very slow, or where the timing is predictable, can be parried with deflection. If you nail down that timing, it'll give you a consistent advantage when trying to beat that boss.

Grab the Coward's Lantern from Danjin

Invisible enemies suck, we can all agree. Khazan has its own variant of sneaky foe in the form of an assassin-like skeleton who appears in certain areas from the midgame onwards. While you can see their footprints as they move, you can acquire a hard counter to them in the form of the Coward's Lantern. You can purchase this from Danjin—a jar-headed character—in the Cradle of Jars bonus mission. This is also worth completing since it unlocks Danjin as a vendor in The Crevice and he'll give you pot-based cosmetics in exchange for finding his pots throughout the game.

You're likely looking to claim your pre-order bonus in The First Berserker: Khazan if you're just about to start your journey into the game. This bonus includes a unique set of armour that you can't get anywhere else, so it's well worth collecting if you put down your cash in advance. If you really splurged and picked up the deluxe edition, then you'll have even more stuff to claim, including a particularly powerful armour and weapon set.

Sadly, you'll have to progress through the game a little way first before you'll be able to claim these bonuses. Once you do, however, they'll provide a significant benefit in beating bosses and battling through the game.

How to claim the Khazan pre-order bonus and deluxe edition DLC

To claim your pre-order DLC or the bonuses from the deluxe edition, you'll have to complete the second mission, culminating in the Blade Phantom boss, to gain access to The Crevice—essentially your hub area in the game. The Blade Phantom is reasonably tough—significantly more than Yetuga, anyway—but it shouldn't take too long to defeat him.

When you arrive in The Crevice, you'll see a ruined stone pillar straight ahead with the Blade Phantom standing just to its left. Look behind the ruined pillar, against the back wall, and you'll spy a slightly open barrel emitting a golden glow. Interact with this container to claim your pre-order bonus:

• Fallen Star Armor Set
• Fallen Star's Resolve
• Fallen Star's Mark
• Fallen Star's Scar
• Fallen Star's Tattered Clothing
• Fallen Star's Shackles

As mentioned, this armour set is exclusive and won't be available after release, so you'll want to grab it. If you bought the deluxe edition of the game, you'll also get the following gear when you claim your goodies:

• Hero's Weapon Set (Hero's Dual Wield, Hero's Spear, Hero's Greatsword)
• Hero's Armor Set (Hero's Helm, Hero's Wristguards, Hero's Pauldrons, Hero's Leggings, Hero's Combat Boots)

Both these armour and weapon sets are really strong and will give you a big bonus if you equip them early in the game. If you did buy the deluxe edition, though, you also got 72 hours of early access, so chances are you've already played plenty unless you bought this edition later.

Smashing your first Soulstone in The First Berserker: Khazan is a bit confusing—a little message pops up saying "You've destroyed a mysterious energy-emitting ore" but nothing else happens. You can find these red glowing crystals scattered throughout each of Khazan's missions, and while you might have assumed they impact the ending as mysterious objects often do, they actually provide bonuses.

Destroying enough Soulstones and then talking to the right character lets you gain some buffs that'll help you out in combat. So, here's how to use your collected Soulstones in The First Berserker: Khazan, plus some tips for finding and smashing them more easily.

Where to find Soulstones

You'll encounter a red-glowing Soulstone in your very first mission after Khazan escapes imprisonment—it's just in the cave with the wounded soldiers and the tough armoured miniboss enemy. You'll have to continue along the path up into the cave and through a side passage to access its platform. All you need to do to claim a Soulstone is destroy it with your weapon, which will prompt the message "You've destroyed a mysterious energy-emitting ore".

Later on, once you unlock the ability to select missions via The Crevice—essentially your Netherworld HQ—you can see above each mission icon how many Soulstones there are and how many you've found. It's also worth noting that once you unlock it via the main story, you can use the javelin to smash Soulstones, or even ranged projectile items such as throwing a stone.

How to unleash Soulstones

You'll need to progress the main story to the point where you meet Daphrona in the depths of the Embars Ruins. This Netherworld being gives you the option to "Unleash Soulstones" which lets you spend them to acquire one of two buffs:

• Lacrima gain +2%
• Health recovery +2%

After you've reached a certain threshold of unleashed Soulstones, you'll also gain Max Spirit +1, giving you more spirit slots to consume to use skills. Once you've completed the Embars Ruins mission and defeated Scale, you can find Daphrona in the Netherworld side of The Crevice and continue to unleash any Soulstones you find with her there.

Not sure how to unlock the blacksmith in The First Berserker: Khazan? If you're exploring each mission map thoroughly, you'll have already acquired some scrolls that let you craft new armour sets at the blacksmith. The only problem: he's nowhere to be found. If you've had a little look around The Crevice hub area, you'll have spotted a forge downstairs where this character is clearly supposed to reside.

If you're used to playing soulslikes, then you'll also be used to occasionally having to unlock the blacksmith by finding them out in the world, most often as a prisoner locked away in some cell or guarded by a vicious monster—this game is no different. Here's how to unlock the blacksmith in The First Berserker: Khazan and where to find scrolls to unlock new armour sets.

The First Berserker: Khazan blacksmith location

You'll find the blacksmith, Qazumaka, after you complete The Strange Smell mission that sees you venture into Skoffa Cave and the spider's lair. Defeating the Aratra boss lets you rescue the blacksmith, who follows you back to the real-world version of The Crevice where he sets up shop in the forge just downstairs in the room below the main courtyard.

Sadly, you'll still need to complete another mission to actually unlock his blacksmithing services. Speak to Qazumaka to acquire the Blacksmith's Heirloom mission and then complete that, defeating the Bearius boss to acquire the Blacksmith's Heirloom Hammer. Return to Qazumaka and you can now use him to break down equipment and craft new gear using scrolls you've found.

Where to find scrolls

You'll most often get new armour set scrolls by defeating elite enemies, special versions of regular tough enemies you'll get introduced to via the main story. You'll know when you're close to one since the screen will start to turn grey and foggy. Beat the elite enemy to acquire the scroll or search nearby to loot the chest or item they were guarding.

You can also get scrolls by defeating bosses in optional missions. Bearius, who you beat for the blacksmith, is the perfect example, and gives you the Slayer Scroll that lets you craft that set. To make new armour and weapons you'll need resources that you can either find in the occasional chest during missions, or by dismantling equipment of the corresponding rarity you want to craft. These are:

Weapons

• Battered Blade (All rarities)
• Treated Blade (Purple and pink rarities)
• Keen Blade (Pink rarity)

Armour

• Battered Shard (All rarities)
• Treated Shard (Purple and pink rarities)
• Keen Shard (Pink rarity)

Accessories

• Battered Gem (All rarities)
• Treated Gem (Purple and pink rarities)
• Keen Gem (Pink rarity)

Do you remember the moment that Sekiro forced you to start playing by its rules? For me, I was trundling through the game like I was playing Dark Souls when I hit the Lady Butterfly boss, and suddenly there was no room for doubt: if I didn't properly learn these new combat mechanics, I wasn't going any further. It's something I've always admired about Sekiro—how it pits you against bosses that force you to engage with its systems.

It's also what I love most about The First Berserker: Khazan. Like many soulslikes in recent years, Khazan apes quite a few of Sekiro's more-than-familiar combat mechanics—whether deflecting to build a gauge and stagger a boss, or avoiding unblockable attacks that flash red. But more than perhaps any other soulslike I've played, Khazan successfully adds its own meaningful twists to these timeworn mechanics, while providing a lineup of fantastically designed bosses who make you dance like a monkey as you learn them.

Out for revenge

The First Berserker: Khazan is a cel-shaded soulslike set in the long-running Dungeon Fighter Online universe. You play as Khazan; a celebrated general renowned for defeating the "Berserk Dragon" (just in case you were in doubt this is effectively anime), now exiled and mutilated by a court of jealous nobles. Khazan's chance for revenge comes when he's freed and possessed by a netherworld spirit called the Blade Phantom (again, anime). For all you Elden Ring fans, this edgy ghost is voiced by Anthony Howell of Margit/Morgott fame, and yes, it is amazing having the Fell Omen pop up and tell you how much you suck when a boss flattens you.

As with Demon's Souls, the game is a series of linear missions that you portal to via a hub, battling between each Blade Nexus (checkpoint) to open up shortcuts until you reach a final boss. Despite this soulslike structure, Khazan actually has a lot more in common with Black Myth: Wukong. Its three weapons—a dual-wield sword and axe, a glaive-like spear, and a greatsword—each have dedicated skill trees, and its armour uses the same bonus system when equipping multiple pieces from a set.

Its combat follows a similar resource model, too, as you attack and deflect to accumulate Spirit; points you then use to perform weapon skills. Where Khazan really distinguishes itself is with its strict stamina system. Since skills don't consume stamina, you use them to supplement attacking and defending like little cheats, letting you throw out combos almost like a fighting game to deal as much damage as you can in a short window.

Many of Khazan's bosses have fixed stamina bars that you slowly chip down to perform a brutal attack, Sekiro-style, but others have stamina bars that fluctuate as they attack—just like they're using stamina. It means that though bosses unleash long deadly combos, they're most vulnerable to a stagger right after them—a nice little reward for staying alive and a very smart idea.

Deadly experiments

Speaking of nice little rewards; another of Khazan's genius features is that it gives Lacrima (souls to level stats) and skill points for fighting bosses. That's right, not beating bosses; simply fighting them. "How is that not entirely broken?" you ask. Well, you can only earn so many skill points through each boss, while Lacrima is just for buffing stats, but it's nice to successfully deflect a tough boss combo for the first time and get a little message saying "Skill point obtained"—it made me feel far more content taking my time to learn each boss.

After all, Khazan has some real difficulty spikes. Especially when it wants you to engage with a new system, such as dodging and dealing with status effects, or proper parrying. Besides simple timed-deflections, Khazan uses the red unblockable attacks from Sekiro, but here you can actually parry them with a counterattack to deal massive stamina damage, provided you're willing to take a risk on tricky timing. Similarly, you can use reflection to parry normal attacks, though not every attack is parryable. It's up to you to work out which and weave that into your strategy.

And if you don't like parrying or deflection? Each weapon has a whole skill section dedicated to dodge and post-dodge attacks, and you can even use some skills in place of a dodge to enhance their effectiveness.

Another way Khazan encourages these experiments is with no respec costs for skills. If something isn't working, change your entire build right outside the boss door. Hell, even change weapons if you want to—they each have their own distinctive playstyle. Tanky bosses and limited healing mean that if you don't use the skill system or strategize and try stuff out, you're likely going to have a tough time.

Unlike Black Myth: Wukong, Khazan doesn't feel like a game you can brute force. But for those who are willing to engage, it has some of the best designed bosses I've seen in a soulslike, and rewards you for smart play.

Guts and grind

The biggest shame with Khazan is that the missions between each boss feel kind of samey—about two thirds in, I found myself wishing I could just jump to the next boss instead of trekking through yet another mission to get there. I definitely appreciate Khazan not perpetuating the genre's worst tendencies; putting hidden dogs around every corner and enemies who constantly push you off ledges—cough cough Lords of the Fallen. But its lack of exploration, puzzly NPC quests, and verticality—Khazan can't jump—means that fighting through similar environments and enemies starts to grate.

Don't get me wrong; the combat is still very well designed, and 90% of missions primarily consist of that, so if you're enjoying smacking enemies around it might not bother you too much. It's more that having been spoiled by all the accoutrements of the modern soulslike—elaborate NPC quests, secrets, exploration—Khazan and its no frills linear structure can feel basic at times.

Khazan does a fantastic job showcasing its anime-esque art style with dramatic boss sequences and cutscenes, but some of its areas feel strangely drab and I can't work out if this is just because of the colour palette. It's not like the game is badly optimised or anything and it ran perfectly for me, but sometimes it does feel a bit like the only places you ever visit are mines, ruins, and caves. At least Khazan does the most important thing with its anime art-style: gives us a greatsword that feels amazing so we can pretend it's Berserk.

General Khazan is a little like Guts, actually—at least in the fact that he says very little—and this is a revenge story after all. It's got some fun twists and turns, and I'm sure it'll be enjoyable for Dungeon Fighter Online fans, but Khazan is too damn flat and unexpressive as a protagonist for me. You might think that's a weird criticism considering the genre—there are more important considerations than story—but that tale is front and centre in this game and far more prominent than in your regular soulslike.

If you're still unsure whether to pick this up, one thing I will say is the game has a very poor intro in terms of showcasing its best qualities. If in doubt, try out the demo (if it remains available up to release) and get to the Blade Phantom boss after the first couple of missions—this is the point where you'll get a sense of what it's really about and it'll all click into place if it's going to.

The Dark and Darker saga has taken yet another strange twist, as the game has once again been removed from sale—this time from the Epic Games Store. Making the situation even stranger, while the base game has been taken down, the Legendary Status upgrade, which adds a range of paid options and bonuses to free game accounts, is still available for purchase—and developer Ironmace doesn't seem entirely clear on what's going on.

"Epic Games has decided to delist Dark and Darker from the Epic Games Store," Ironmace wrote in the Dark and Darker Discord (via PCGamesN). "The decision appears to be based on claims made by opposing parties in an ongoing legal dispute. We are currently working to understand the exact reasoning behind this removal.

"It seems that the removal process is not yet fully complete, as Dark and Darker is no longer listed, but Dark and Darker: Legendary Status is still available for purchase. Please be aware of this potential confusion."

Ironmace didn't specify who the "opposing parties" might be, but there's one easy guess. The studio has been embroiled in a legal dispute with Nexon over Dark and Darker pretty much since the game first appeared: Simply put, Nexon alleges that Ironmace developed the game using "stolen" code and assets from a project it cancelled in 2021.

A South Korean court recently ruled that Ironmace did not commit copyright infringement with Dark and Darker, but that it did infringe upon Nexon's trade secrets, a distinction that's going to cost Ironmace nearly $6 million.

Despite the win, it's not necessarily the end of the beef. Nexon said the award was "meaningful, as it addresses illegal infringement actions that disrupt fair market competition," but added that it plans to "seek further legal judgment through a higher court." It's possible that the Epic Games Store takedown is related to that, in the same way the legal dispute forced Dark and Darker off of Steam in 2023—although for now, Dark and Darker remains available on Steam.

That, at least, is good news for Ironmace. With all due respect to Epic, the difference between being delisted from the EGS and Steam is like the difference between running over a speed bump and crashing full-speed into the side of a dill pickle factory: One might startle you a bit if you're not paying attention, the other will change your life and quite possibly ruin your clothes.

Which isn't to suggest that Ironmace is going to just let it slide: The studio said on Discord that it's "working on alternative solutions" in case Dark and Darker becomes unplayable on the Epic Store, and will announce more information on that front as soon as it can. In the meantime, I've reached out to Epic to ask why Dark and Darker was delisted in the first place, and will update if I receive a reply.

A South Korean court has ruled that Dark and Darker developer Ironmace did not commit copyright infringement against Nexon, according to a Korea Times report. But Ironmace is going to have to fork over some bucks anyway, because the court also ruled that it did infringe on Nexon's trade secrets.

Dark and Darker, a fantasy PvPvE extraction game, made a big splash when it first appeared in early 2023, even though it was in a pretty rough alpha state at the time. Before long, though, Nexon started making noise about it, accusing Ironmace of using "stolen" code and assets to build the game. Nexon was reportedly working on a similar project, codenamed P3, but pulled the plug on it in 2021; Ironmace was founded shortly thereafter by former Nexon employees.

Long story short, Nexon filed a complaint, Ironmace issued denials, investigations were conducted, and in March 2023 Dark and Darker was removed from Steam. The studio managed to turn the delisting into a bit of a PR coup by continuing to distribute its game through BitTorrent—"going old school," as the studio put it—which an awful lot of players loved. Still, it's better to be on Steam than not, and after a court dismissed Nexon's preliminary injunction against Dark and Darker in January 2024, it returned to the storefront in June of that year.

Legal wrangling continued, however, and now the courts have come down with something of a split decision: Ironmace did not commit copyright infringement but did infringe on Nexon's trade secrets. What's the difference, you wonder? The Copyright Alliance says copyrights are specific, individual rights applied to "an original work that is fixed in a tangible medium like a photograph, a book, or an mp3 file." Trade secrets, on the other hand, are less specific: "Information that has an economic benefit due to its secret nature, has value to others who cannot legitimately obtain it, and is subject to reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy."

So, I guess, because Nexon's P3 was never actually a thing, copyright infringement is out, but because Ironmace seemingly built Dark and Darker on a foundation originally laid by Nexon—which had more or less kept a lid on the whole thing—trade secret infringement is in. And that's going to cost Ironmace 8.5 billion won (roughly $5.9 million) in damages.

The good news for Ironmace is that Dark and Darker continues: The early access version on Steam holds a "mostly positive" user rating and continues to put up decent player numbers—currently there are nearly 14,000 people playing on Steam.

The bad news is that this may not be the end of the matter. Nexon said in a statement that the award is "meaningful, as it addresses illegal infringement actions that disrupt fair market competition." But, it added, "After carefully reviewing the ruling, we plan to seek further legal judgment through a higher court." I've reached out to Ironmace for comment and will update if I receive a reply.

Remember when we were all going to the movies wearing Michael Caine's glasses? The promise of 3D cinema never really materialised in the way many had hoped (with some noticeable exceptions), but glasses-free 3D gaming? There's a tantalising concept that's been toyed with by various manufacturers for a while.

Now Samsung has announced a partnership with game developers Nexon Korea and Neople to "deliver unparalleled 3D experiences" in the upcoming game The First Berserker: Khazan. The plan is to utilise the as-yet-unreleased Samsung Odyssey 3D monitor to create an "immersive 3D gaming experience without the need for 3D glasses."

"By fine-tuning the focal distance for 3D effects on a case-by-case basis, Nexon and Neople aim to develop specific scenarios that determine when and how elements become 3D. These efforts reduce crosstalk—a common issue causing visual overlap—while enhancing the clarity of epic boss battles and cinematic cutscenes" says Samsung.

Well, there's something I'd like to see for myself. Glasses-free 3D has never really worked for me, probably for the same reason I never quite mastered those magic eye puzzles. Focus, unfocus, cross your eyes, look at the ceiling—I must have a defective set of peepers, because the effect is never more than a blur.

The Samsung Odyssey 3D gaming monitor made its debut at CES 2024, and makes use of a front-mounted lenticular lens, stereo camera, and eye-tracking in combination with a light field display to create a 3D effect. It beams light at your eyeballs at differing angles, thereby tricking your brain into thinking the image you see in front of you has artificial depth.

It cropped up again at CES 2025—apparently much improved—but while it can convert 2D to 3D content, the feature is currently limited to full-screen videos in a web browser. Custom-tweaked content seems to be the next step, although it'll take a while to build up to the portfolio created by competing manufacturers, like Acer's partnership with SpatialLabs.

Still, put me down as curious and mildly excited. I'd certainly like to see 3D get its time in the sun without the need for bulky head gear, and if reports of how good The First Berserker: Khazan looks on this particular display are accurate, it may be Samsung that finally brings this concept into the mainstream.

Or it could all just be a flash-in-the-pan fad, as has often been the case with 3D implementation in the past. Still, VR headsets appear to be trucking along at a steady rate, so perhaps proper 3D monitors and proper 3D games to go with them are the next logical step. And perhaps I'll finally win the lottery this year. One can dream, can't they?

Somehow, it turns out that The First Descendant, the game PC Gamer's Morgan Park called "dollar store Destiny starring exclusively hot people," does not have jiggle physics. I know this because, as noticed by GamesRadar, a developer has announced on Discord the "important news" that The First Descendant is getting jiggle physics.

"I wanted to share some important news, so I decided to come online late tonight," TFD_PD_Lee said in a translated message. "After a lengthy discussion with the AD today, a decision has been made to add the much-requested 'Jiggle Physics.' This was decided only a short while ago, so the details of when and how it will be implemented in the game are yet to be finalized and will be shared in future updates."

For those not in the know, jiggle physics is a catch-all term for systems that adds unmissably exaggerated oscillations to certain specific body parts. Wikipedia, which has a whole section dedicated to it, says jiggle physics (which it describes more prosaically as "breast physics") dates back to 1992, in the fighting game Fatal Fury 2.

It's grown into near-ubiquity in the decades since, although it's not everyone's cup of tea. In 2018, for instance, Epic added and then quickly removed jiggle physics to Fortnite, calling it "embarrassing and unintended." How does a game studio unintentionally add jiggle physics to its characters? This I do not know.

Larian, on the other hand, seemingly opted to expand that particular field of technology by adding "schlong physics" to Baldur's Gate 3 in 2023.

The most surprising thing about all of this, as I alluded to earlier, is that The First Descendant didn't have jiggle physics in the first place. It's a perfectly serviceable Destiny 2 knockoff, but what it's probably most notable first is, as Morgan put it, "its cast of exclusively and comically beautiful supermodels." The aesthetic is really not subtle.

Based on the entirely celebratory reaction on Reddit, TFD_PD_Lee definitely wasn't wrong about this being "important news."

But then, this isn't the first jiggle-related update Nexon has brought to The First Descendant: In October it removed the "tails" from the game's Twisted Worship skin so players could see more, uh, tail.

One of last year's best surprises was Mintrocket and Nexon's Dave the Diver, a deeply charming and funny adventure that oscillates between deep sea exploration and being a sushi chef. The game proved a hit with critics and players alike: It scored a whopping 91% in our review, with Chris Livingston saying "I'm routinely up playing until 2 am, even after 30 hours it's still throwing fun and creative new systems at me, and every time I play I'm delighted, surprised, and utterly charmed."

One of the main forces behind the game is creator and director Jaeho Hwang, who following the game's commercial success was made CEO of Mintrocket by Nexon (which also decided to spin-off the studio into an independent division). Hwang said Mintrocket’s new independence would allow it to focus more on game development—specifically the Dave the Diver IP—rather than pitching ideas and business plans to its parent.

"I want to expand Dave the Diver IP itself," Hwang told VGC at Gamescom Asia. "I think that’s every director’s dream, since we have a relatable character. But actually, we didn’t go really deep into the personal stories in Dave the Diver, because we wanted to keep the game very casual.

"So as a director, besides the story DLC that we’re working on right now, I also want to make separate games about each character to show how they met, what they did before coming to the Blue Hole."

Hwang jokes about a "Dave cinematic universe". See, one of the game's charms is the rich ensemble cast that assembles around Dave's business, providing the game's grab-bag of genres. Hwang reckons that, if they do start exploring the wider world around Dave, this means "the games’ genres can be different."

And it turns out that Dave the Diver itself is part of an extended universe anyway. "Cobra, one of our main characters, he’s from my previous project, Evil Factory," says Hwang. "He was an arms dealer who had his license revoked, and after that, he retired and enjoyed his life, and something happened, and he decided to come into the Blue Hole. So I really want to tell this kind of story in other games."

Hwang says even if Mintrocket expands into publishing or other projects, the size of the teams working on each thing will stay relatively small: "I think the 20 to 30 people team is the idea." 

Dave the Diver recently received a Godzilla DLC, as well as tie-ins with other titles like Dredge and Balatro—even Geralt's turned up in it now. With that said the DLCs released thus far have tended towards minigames and one-offs, so the news of a story-focused DLC is more than welcome. And as for the spinoffs, Mintrocket should make a little game about finding cat food for Momo and Mochi, and then they can take all my money.

Earlier this week players of Nexon's new looter-shooter The First Descendant made a wonderful discovery: The game has its own Destiny-style loot cave. Soon christened "the Valby Run", this area features mobs that respawn infinitely and at a high rate, which can be farmed endlessly for oodles of the game's currencies and gear. And the big surprise was that the developers didn't seem all that bothered, and indeed said they were going to lean-in and basically make other areas more like the Valby Run.

This all sounded very exciting, and certainly got the attention of the playerbase. But sadly Nexon has now walked back this statement, apologising and saying that the announcement from the game's director had been "mistranslated". See, when he said they were going to make all farming spots as good as the Valby Run, what he meant was they were going to make the Valby Run less good. Got it?

"We apologize for the confusion caused by the misinterpretation during the translation process of the original Korean text," says a statement posted to the game's X account. "There have been no reversals of decisions, and our initial statement remains that we do not intend to restrict the Valby-run playstyle. However, as we mentioned, we aim to adjust the rewards efficiency at the Fortress Outpost to balance it with other regions."

It goes on to quote its original statement saying the opposite, which it rather brazenly labels as "misinterpreted", before saying that it "should" be read as:

"We would like to inform you that we’re preparing a patch without completely blocking The Fortress Outpost issue and to keep allowing the players to enjoy playing like before. However, at the same time, we will update the Vulgus Strategic Outpost to match the efficiency of other farming locations."

So: It's nerfed the Valby Run, with a recent patch increasing the outpost spawn timer (the infinite spawns do not happen in other game locations, which is why the farm worked). The drop rates don't seem to have been reduced, but you'll just get less of them in the same amount of time. 

However, this does come alongside outpost timers generally being reduced to one minute, down from five at launch: meaning other locations will now have much more action going on, and there'll be less need to focus on oddities like the Valby Run.

"To ensure that 'Valby run' remains a popular hunting ground like Ambush Point and Refined Run, we have set the reward efficiency significantly higher than originally intended," says director Joo Min-Seok. "We hope to provide numerous farming spots in The First Descendant, each with unique characteristics and usefulness to different Descendants. Instead of reverting Valby run to its original design intent, we have adjusted it to offer similar efficiency to other high-reward hunting grounds."

The notes go on to list various buffs to cooldowns and specific drops, and ends on a rather amusing note about how much players like grinding: 

"Through issues like the Fortress Outskirts and Valby run, we are learning what kind of play style our players enjoy. The experience of sweeping through and farming monsters is of significant value in our game."

No more loot caves for First Descendant players, but it turns out that lot just like farming the baddies anyway. This may have been a slightly faltering start to this live service wannabe's community management, but a mistranslation's hardly the end of the world, and more interesting is the approach the developer has taken to the issue.

The idea of making everywhere in The First Descendant a loot cave might have been a lovely pipe dream, but what the developer has done is acknowledged what was attracting players to the Valby run in the first place—the constant combat and drops—and dialled up other parts of the game to move closer to that experience. It may not have been what players were first led to expect, but it's an interesting approach to dealing with the inevitable exploits that are found in any live service title. 

Update 24/07/24: Nexon has issued a new statement saying the director's comments were "mistranslated", and updated The First Descendant with changes to farming generally and the Valby Run specifically. Full story here.

Original story: In the early stages of Destiny, the original game and not the sequel, players made a wonderful discovery. There was a cave in the Old Russia area of the open world where some sort of glitch made enemies respawn constantly, with higher drop rates than usual. Destiny being Destiny, word soon spread, and the cave would be constantly encamped by multiple player groups, annihilating anything that poked its head out, and watching the colourful little loot globs scatter everywhere. You'd sit there shooting for minutes on end, then gleefully go on a little rat-run through the firing zone, engrams endlessly flowing into your guardian.

If you ask me, Destiny never got better. The loot cave persisted for a short while before Bungie inevitably nerfed it, though it was so beloved that the developer also inserted an Easter egg where once it stood.

Nexon's new looter-shooter The First Descendant launched earlier this month and, you guessed it, has arrived complete with a loot cave. In this case it's more of a loot outpost, I suppose, with the exploit called the Valby Run and located within The Fortress area. Mobs at this location have been respawning infinitely and at high speed, whereas most other outposts will eventually run out of enemies, and slaughtering them en masse will drop a boatload of the game's resources: gold, kuiper and the all-important gear loot.

So all hail the Valby Run. The development team have now addressed this issue, and perhaps not in the manner expected.

It rather goes without saying, but the Valby Run exploit "was certainly not intended," said Minseok Joo, director of The First Descendant. "Due to our systematic mistake, Mobs at the Fortress Outpost have been respawning infinitely. And as a result, the amount of item drop has increased 2-3 times higher than that of other popular locations."

Joo says that "to be adored by our players for a long time, we believe that it is wrong to just look on and leave the unbalanced content, which is providing biased rewards." However, he acknowledges that the Valby Run has become very popular, very quickly, and "we assume many players have researched Valby to enjoy the newly discovered content."

Thus, even though the Valby Run is "our own mistake" the developers "do not wish to suddenly remove it". The popularity means they're preparing a fix that will avoid "completely blocking" the issue and will "keep allowing the players to enjoy playing like before. However, at the same time, we will update other farming locations to match the efficiency, equivalent to The Fortress Outpost."

Reading between the lines here, what Joo seems to be saying is that the developers will make other outposts locations have this capacity for infinitely spawning enemies, with similar drop rates (though I could be wrong about that). There is some confusion over this, because the English translation of Joo's statement isn't great, and appeared to be contradicted by other statements on the game's Discord: but I'm going with the official statement on the Nexon website, which does seem unambiguous in its language:

"As we continue our live service for TFD, we have no plan to respond by simply nerfing certain content, for any game play which collides with our intentions. We respect every content created by our players and will do our best to create a game that all players can enjoy together for a long time."

And with a note of thanks, Joo is off. The top post on the game's subreddit about this has the fairly simple title "W devs", with players generally reacting with extreme positivity to the news that they're soon going to be diving into pools of loot like Scrooge McDuck. "Bungie would have disabled that outpost so they could properly nerf it," said player KO in response to the statement. "Thanks for being fun."

Whether that is how this actually plays out remains to be seen. I loved Destiny's loot cave, and the few days I spent farming it remain a treasured gaming memory, but it feels like part of what made it special was that it was a moment in time: a mistake, an exploit, a chance to fill your boots before Big Bad Bungie cracked down. If The First Descendant is going to lean into its own exploits, and encourage players in this way, it's certainly a new approach to live service: and things are going to get very interesting.

Last month saw the announcement of one of the most bizarre gaming mash-ups since Cheech & Chong in Call of Duty: Cosy 2D pixel adventure Dave the Diver, and sultry anime waifu shooter Nikke: Goddess of Victory.

Nikke, from the developers who made Stellar Blade, originated on mobile before making its way over to PC last year. It's sort of got the Nier: Automata affect going on, with some rather eye-catching character designs (think more 2B fanart than in-game 2B, though) set against a surprisingly gripping post-apocalyptic narrative. Considering Nikke has previously collaborated with Nier: Automata alongside Chainsaw Man and Re:Zero, Dave the Diver wasn't even on my list for potential crossover candidates.

Nikke's been getting into the habit of knocking together some pretty robust minigames over the last few months. Last year saw a surprisingly good Vampire Survivors-like release during its one year anniversary event, before returning a couple of months ago as a permanent game mode. This time developer ShiftUp has essentially managed to squeeze a diet version of Dave the Diver into Nikke as its own playable thing, and you know what? It's actually kinda good.

I played a handful of hours of Dave the Diver earlier this year but ended up falling off it. The diving sections were struggling to hold my attention—especially since you usually have to do 'em twice a day—and the sushi bar wasn't quite hands-on enough for my liking. I know, I'm sorry! I really wanted to be hooked, but the line snapped for me after about six hours.

I am even more ashamed to admit that I've now spent significantly more time with the pared-down version of our 2023 Best Design award winner in Nikke, which swaps out lovable chubby bloke Dave for the Aegis squad, a trio who essentially act as the Nikke navy. They'd be super useful if it weren't for the fact that the story's war takes place almost entirely on land. Poor girls.

Fish out of water

But how the hell are Dave and sushi chef Bancho even alive when the world of Nikke is a wartorn hellscape where humans have fled underground? Conveniently, an enemy Rapture (basically a big ol' robot) who has the ability to manipulate reality and transport people to different worlds is currently slumbering in the ocean. It ends up whisking the Aegis squad away into whatever world Dave and co. hail from, and somehow the whole damn thing just makes sense.

Bizarre lore aside, it really has surprised me just how much of Dave the Diver ShiftUp managed to squeeze into this minigame. Both the diving and sushi bar segments are present though stripped down compared to the real thing. There are two maps to dive in, both of which are pretty small but still good enough for a minigame. There are still plenty of sushi dishes to find and upgrade to sell to hungry patrons too, along with four big angry sharks to tackle and make yummy treats out of. 

I played a handful of the mode on both mobile and PC. The latter plays identically to the original. I'll admit I was expecting it to feel a little clunkier, but no! A pleasant surprise. 

It was a little unruly to navigate on mobile at times, especially when trying to snag those teeny-tiny fishes, but aside from that DavexNikke actually played pretty darn great. I reckon a mobile Dave the Diver could pop off in a similar manner to mobile Stardew Valley. It's got those same laid-back vibes and the controls were intuitive enough that I found it easy to navigate my clashes with the hostile sea life. Despite being a Steam Deck owner, I'm a real lover of games that I can easily pick up on the go on my mobile phone—it's probably one of the reasons I steer towards gacha games these days. Doing something similar for Dave the Diver is a net win in my opinion, and something I really hope Mintrocket takes advantage of after experimenting with it in this minigame.

The Nikke minigame is completable in a handful of hours, and I gotta say it has encouraged me to go back and try the real thing very soon. Eyeing up my fellow Nikke friends, guildmates and the game's Discord I noticed how many people ended up picking up Dave the Diver as a result of the collaboration. A neat victory for such a left-field crossover.

If you fancy trying it for yourself—even as a way to demo Dave the Diver for free—there's still a few days left of the event to try it out. I would love if ShiftUp brought it back in a more permanent capacity similar to the Vampire Survivors mode, but since this is an official collaboration rather than an inspired interpretation of a genre, my hopes aren't high. At the very least, they gotta put the Aegis Squad in Dave the Diver so that I can continue to experience one of the strangest colliding of worlds I've seen in videogames.

Nexon has now replaced at least some of the icons in The First Descendant that were too-close-for-comfort to icons in Destiny 2, but it's still not saying anything about how those icons ended up in the game in the first place.

A quick catchup: Earlier this month, players of The First Descendant noted that some of the game's icons are very similar to those used in Destiny 2—way too many, and way too alike, to be coincidence. Some fans speculated the problem arose from Nexon's unconfirmed use of a free icons repository, which appeared to be offering icons for commercial use that it didn't actually have the rights to.

Several days later, Nexon acknowledged the issue, saying in a statement that "we have taken the concerns raised seriously and decided to make adjustments to ensure that the imagery that may appear similar clearly reflects the unique identity of our game."

"May appear similar" is certainly one way to describe a situation where icons absolutely do appear to be virtually identical, but at least the issue was being addressed. And now it has been, to some extent, as part of the 1.0.3 hotfix released today, which among other things, "updated some icon images."

"The First Descendant has been developed with deep affection and respect for various looter shooters, and we take feedback regarding other similar games very seriously," an attached director's comment explains. "Through this hotfix, we are trying to reflect the unique identity of ‘The First Descendant’. We will continue to improve the game for the fans of the genre."

Ironically, that comment is very close to the statement Nexon offered up when it first committed to changing the icons, and it tells us nothing more than we knew then. Players will surely figure out which icons have been changed in short order, but how they got into the game in the first place—which is what I really want to know—remains a mystery. Nexon declined to comment beyond the patch notes.

Despite the kerfuffle over the swiped icons, The First Descendant is continuing to do quite well for itself. It's still rocking a very "mixed" reception on Steam—only 54% of the user reviews are positive—but the concurrent player counts are continuing to hold at well over 100,000.

Aside from the icon replacement, the hotfix also makes a number of UI changes, gameplay adjustments, and optimizations and bug fixes; separately, a "mass Caliber purchase error" (Caliber being an in-game currency) has also been corrected. The full patch notes are up at tfd.nexon.com.

Several days after players noticed that numerous icons in The First Descendant are very similar to ones found in Destiny 2—and in some cases, virtually identical—Nexon says it will make changes to ensure the imagery "clearly reflects the unique identity of our game."

The similarities came to light earlier this month, and as Forbes noted at the time, there are far too many (and in some cases, they're far too alike) to be a coincidence. 

One theory, floated shortly after the resemblances were discovered, was that Bungie and Nexon sourced their in-game icons from the same place, but that didn't seem to hold water: Why would a major studio like Bungie make use of third-party icon sets?

Bungie artist Lyndon Willoughby indirectly but unmistakably shot down that idea, writing on Twitter that "Bungie icon artists are a super-crew of talented folks with original ideas and sharp instincts."

The situation got even stranger when the presumed source of the icons, a "free open source icons and illustrations" repository called Iconduck, was found to be offering icons from Destiny and numerous other games for use in both personal and commercial projects. The site contains 204 Destiny icons, for instance, and specifically states that "these icons and illustrations can be used for commercial purposes"—like in a videogame, for instance.

Tom Chapman, the maker of the Bray.tech Destiny 2 fan site and artist credited by Iconduck for making the icons, disavowed his role in the whole thing. "Most of the icons are ripped from the font files created by Bungie and its designers," Chapman tweeted. "Most of the remainder are designed by Bungie and recreated by me or whoever contributed them to that repo. I don't want @iamiconduck to use my work like this."

Bungie's terms of service allows the use of its data and content for non-commercial projects like Chapman's website, but explicitly forbids using it to make money: "You don't own our stuff, so you can't sell it, use it to sell other things, or give other people permission to use it."

After several days of silence, Nexon has now acknowledged the similarities and says the icons will be changed.

"The First Descendant, as a looter shooter game, was developed with a deep affection and respect for other games in the genre," Nexon said in a statement provided to PC Gamer. "Destiny 2, being a globally renowned looter shooter game, is also personally admired and respected by the team, and it has served as an inspiration during the development process.

"We have taken the concerns raised seriously and decided to make adjustments to ensure that the imagery that may appear similar clearly reflects the unique identity of our game. We will continue to improve the game for fans of the looter shooter genre."

Nexon did not say when the icons will be changed, nor did it comment on how this happened in the first place. My best guess for the moment is that Iconduck is offering Destiny icons for free commercial use without authorization, and Nexon decided to take advantage without properly vetting them. How that happened is a whole other question—Nexon is a big outfit in its own right, presumably with the resources and experience necessary to ensure that "free stuff" is actually free—but at the very least, as we noted when all this first blew up, it is a reminder that not everything on the internet is as it appears to be.

Despite these foibles, which come on top of very mixed user reviews on Steam and our own assessment that it's the Destiny we have at home, The First Descendant has been very popular so far, with concurrent player counts on Steam consistently over 100,000 since its launch on July 2.

It's a joy of PC gaming that you never know what breakout hit will dominate the Steam charts in a given month. This week it's not an unknown indie making waves, but a South Korean publishing giant whose games rarely catch fire in the west: Nexon. Its new looter shooter The First Descendant peaked at 203,244 players today despite only 51% of its Steam reviews being positive.

It's not entirely clear to me why The First Descendant is so huge—I've been extremely bored by it so far—but I have some guesses. It's pretty, high-budget, and as far as I know, there are no paywalled missions. It's a big game you can squeeze a lot out of for free.

Nexon would love it if you paid up to unlock more characters, the battle pass, and expensive cosmetics, but after a few hours working through the campaign, it's nice that I'm not getting nagged to open my wallet. It's also a great time for a free-to-play, low brain activity grindfest to hit. We're in a summer drought for big games, the kiddos are home, and my fellow desert dwellers are holed up during a streak of 100+ degree days. The First Descendant is something to do.

I wager The First Descendant's biggest appeal (beyond its cast of exclusively and comically beautiful supermodels) is how hard it's ripping from Destiny 2's playbook. The creative borrowing goes beyond The Divisions or Warframes of the world—everything from the makeup of The First Descendant's loadouts and gun types, to its premise, social hub, MMO lexicon, iconography, and even its overworlds work exactly the same or very similarly to Destiny's. The parallels are so consistent that a longtime Destiny player could make the switch to The First Descendant without missing a beat.

Unless, of course, gunplay matters to you as much as it matters to me. I'm no Destiny faithful, but the handful of times I've lost a week to exotic grinding and raid attempts, it was Bungie's innate talent for excellent first-person shooting and eye for the little things—the kickback of a hand cannon, feedback on weak spot kills, bullet impact sounds, the confident priming of a scout rifle bolt—that kept me around.

On that front, The First Descendant simply doesn't have the juice.

Nexon's gunplay is good enough for a third-person shooter, but the camera makes it tough to feel the same connection to my cool loot that I get in an FPS. Most of the guns I've used so far sound tinny and weak, a major red flag for an MMO that's all about collecting weapons. Big baddies have little or zero reactions to getting shot in the face 80 times and I estimate I've spent half of my game time so far watching a circle fill in the center of the screen while my Abercrombie mannequin reloads.

I can be hard on third-person shooters sometimes, but man, I hate feeling like I'm shooting with UI instead of with a gun, as if my character doesn't even need to be visible on screen. It takes a Helldivers 2-level of care, with important considerations like reactive recoil management, a hybrid first-person aiming option, and distinctive reloads and sounds for me to form a bond fit for a looter shooter. The First Descendant doesn't seem overly concerned with that stuff, perhaps because it's too busy with quantity to bother with quality.

The First Descendant"

I tried to care about The First Descendant's story, but eventually I started hammering the skip button.

Good enough

Every mission I've played is a minor variation on killing everything that spawns in a room or defending a position while shooting everything in the room (another thing it has in common with Destiny). I've fought a handful of bosses now and most of them have weirdly relied on the same gimmick of floating balls that you have to shoot to make them vulnerable to your guns. I guess these "immunity spheres" are so common that they're already becoming an inside joke in the community.

Quantity does have its perks: There's so much going on in The First Descendant between its campaign missions, big-budget cutscenes, Strike-like repeatable missions, and endlessly customizable weapon traits. I even like the hero shooter approach with the Descendants themselves.

I've only unlocked my one starter guy who throws grenades and has a gun arm, but I got to test drive a few others in a demo at Summer Game Fest last month. None of the abilities knocked my socks off, but I appreciate they all have their own thing going on, like laying down shields, healing, or speeding around the map. There are 14 Descendants at launch and I'm sure Nexon plans to add to that. That's more than I can say for Destiny's modest class variety.

With better missions, I could see getting the itch to collect 'em all in The First Descendants. Unfortunately, new characters take a long time to unlock for free and otherwise cost $10 a pop. No thanks. It's easy to imagine where Nexon might be hiding progression roadblocks meant to get dedicated players to start paying down the road, but even if that's the case, you could duck out of The First Descendant before that and have still played a decent amount of game for free.

That said, I've had my fill of generic looter shooter for the year. I'd rather play more Suicide Squad. 

The First Descendant (TFD), Nexon's take on Warframe-slash-Destiny, has been doing pretty well in terms of raw numbers. Hitting a mightily-impressive all time peak of around 260,000 players, the game does look a little derivative of Bungie's live-service giant—to the point where both games went to the same pool of free-to-use icons, an entire wasp's nest fellow PC Gamer writer Andy Chalk appears to have stubbed his toe on yesterday.

Although, despite the fact that everyone and their mum appears to be playing it right now, TFD isn't exactly beloved by its playerbase. It's sitting on "Mixed" reviews at Steam to the tune of only 51% positive reviews at the time of writing.

The consensus appears to be that it's "Nexon makes Warframe", which has all of the baggage and boons you might expect out of that summary. Annoying free-to-play practices abound, with players alleging that the game's also got quite a few bugs under the hood.

The funniest one, at present? The tutorial is also a reading speed test—at least, in the English translation. As displayed by user Yellowexz on the game's subreddit, the "Descendant Instructor", a robot meant to convey vital info about TFD and its mechanics, seems entirely unwilling to actually let you learn anything:

I can’t for the life of me read anything this mf is saying from r/TheFirstDescendant

The tutorial in question is about Reactor Enhancement—a core cog in the machine of the game's loot treadmill and upgrade system. There's no option to slow this dialogue down, and no option to pause it at present, which sounds like a bad time when your game lives in a genre rife with obscure numbers and enough proper nouns to fill a glossary. 

Doing a little digging in the game's Discord, I found a handful of threads complaining about this issue—which appears to have been in the game for a while: "The Defendant Instructor speaking too fast has been an issue through all 3 betas," writes one player, with some debate proceeding as to whether Nexon even tried to slow it down before the game's full release.

A quick search of the server's community support channel confirms this, with similar complaints going back past the 30 day mark, the earliest being made in September last year.

The only workaround right now is to either record the tutorial, or take screenshots of every individual piece of dialogue to pore over later. This, as you might have guessed, is not ideal. Still, considering we gave Destiny 2's latest expansion a 92 in our Destiny 2: The Final Shape review, as well as the fact that Warframe isn't going anywhere anytime soon, the competition's still stiff—so TFD needs to up its game, and soon.

It came to light recently that an awful lot of icons in The First Descendant look an awful lot like icons in Destiny 2—far more than anyone could reasonably attribute to coincidence. Some have been adjusted to a small degree, others are just about straight-up copies, and it all seemed very strange: Would Nexon, a major player in the games business, really just steal assets from genre competitor Bungie, as if nobody would notice?

Shortly after the similarities were noticed, an explanation was put forward: Destiny 2 and The First Descendant both appear to make use of free-to-use icons sourced from a site called Iconduck. That seemed to make sense at first blush, but it raised an obvious follow-up question: Why the hell would Bungie use free artwork? We're not talking about a one-person indie working on their first project, after all: Destiny 2 is one of the biggest shooters on the planet.

That question led me down the real rabbit hole. Iconduck does indeed host a pile of "free open source icons and illustrations"—nearly 274,000 of them, according to its website—which can be used "for personal and commercial purposes," but many of them appear to be stolen from other companies or games.

The Destiny icons collection, for instance, includes 204 icons which are offered as open source under a Creative Commons license. The set includes everything from the Destiny logo and class icons to faction logos, weapon icons, and even the Xbox and Microsoft Windows logos. It also carries a completely baffling set description calling Destiny icons "a bit obscure," which is not a word I would use to describe the game Sony paid $3.6 billion to get.

Other offerings on Iconduck include various Pokémon icons, which the site says "can be used on your website, branding and designs," for "both personal and commercial purposes and projects."

I'm not a copyright lawyer, but I'm pretty sure Pikachu cannot be used for commercial purposes not approved by The Pokémon Company. It's also very clearly in violation of Bungie's terms: Bungie does allow the use of Destiny data and game content for non-commercial use—things like interactive Destiny 2 maps or item managers—but "you don't own our stuff, so you can't sell it, use it to sell other things, or give other people permission to use it."

Yet that's what Iconduck is doing. Like the Pokemon collection, the Destiny icon repository states that "all icons can be used for personal and commercial purposes."

Tom Chapman, the maker of the Bray.tech websites for Destiny 2, is credited as the designer of the Destiny icon set. But he said on Twitter that he doesn't want his work used in this way, because the actual designs aren't his at all.

"Most of the icons are ripped from the font files created by Bungie and its designers," Chapman tweeted. "Most of the remainder are designed by Bungie and recreated by me or whoever contributed them to that repo. I don't want @iamiconduck to use my work like this."

The question now is whether Nexon snagged some of these Destiny icons from Iconduck with the belief that it had permission to use them, since the site claims they are free for commercial use, or if they wound up in The First Descendant some other way.

Whatever the answer, it only leads to more questions. How did absolutely no one at Nexon not recognize a single one of these icons? How did Nexon's legal team not vet these icons thoroughly the moment someone in the art department said, "Hey, it's cool, they're free?" And getting back to what started all of this: Why would Nexon use free artwork? It's not like it lacks the resources to make its own icons.

The particulars of this story remain unclear for now, but for developers who do rely on free and open source resources, it is perhaps a useful reminder that not everything on the internet is what it says it is.

I've reached out to Bungie, Nexon, and Iconduck for comment and will update if I receive a reply.

Amorphous Material is an item you might find in your inventory in The First Descendant, the free-to-play looter shooter from Nexon. Many different types are rewarded for completing specific activities, which I'll go into below, but knowing what to do with them is another matter entirely.

Once you know how they work, Amorphous Materials are pretty easy to navigate—think of them as in-game loot boxes with a couple of extra hoops to jump through. If you're having trouble figuring out where to get them, or indeed how to get them open when you do, here's how Amorphous Material works in The First Descendant.

How to get Amorphous Material 

You have a chance to get Amorphous Material from various open-world missions, though be aware that these only have a chance to drop and aren't guaranteed—you'll see the percentage chance next to them in the rewards list. The missions are: 

• Zone Recon missions
• Void Intercepts
• Special Operations
• Mine Blocking

You'll notice that there are different types of Amorphous Material, denoted by their "pattern" number. Each one contains specific components that can then be used to make new weapons or descendants. 

Whenever you open an Amorphous Material, you'll receive one of the items that it contains though there's no way to guarantee which one you get—that's down to RNG. But an Amorphous Material Pattern 001, for example, will always contain the same four components, so if you're after a part for a specific weapon and you're unlucky the first time, you would need to farm the mission that drops that specific Amorphous Material to try again.

Handily, you can hover over the Amorphous Material in your inventory and press the F key to bring up the Acquisition info. This tells you where the item came from.

How to open Amorphous Material 

So, how do you actually open an Amorphous Material? Now this is where things might become a little more confusing. In order to open them, you need to kill the associated boss that is tied to that pattern number. To find which one, hover over the item in your inventory and press the L key. 

When you kill a boss linked to one of your currently held Amorphous Material patterns, interact with the floating green orb where the boss went down at the end of the fight and you'll be prompted to use the Reconstructed Device. You should see a list of the Amorphous Materials you have available so select the one you want to open to receive one of the components contained inside.

The Finals, Embark Studios' spectacular yet sweaty multiplayer FPS, is underperforming according to publisher Nexon, as it reports a broader drop in revenue and operating income.

In an earnings letter reporting its financial performance for its first quarter of 2024 (via TechRaptor), Nexon reports that its "stronger-than-expected" revenues, which derived mainly from games like EA Sports FC Online (which it publishes in China), were "partially offset primarily by lower-than-expected performance of the Finals".

Going further, the report explains that the launch of Season 2 in March resulted in "a short-lived increase in player metrics but delivered lower-than-expected retention and revenue." Consequently, Embark Studios is now working with Nexon's Live Operations team in Korea to "understand and address the key issues."

The Finals enjoyed a strong launch at the end of last year, with Nexon stating that it surpassed internal expectations. And it wasn't hard to see why: its destruction-focussed combat had huge potential, combined with deeply satisfying gunplay and fantastic movement.

But even before the game's launch, there were obvious issues. As Morgan pointed out, the heavy emphasis on teamwork didn't really gel with how differently all its character builds moved through the world, and made the chaotic combat harder to enjoy. It also felt light on content and, aside from a vague virtual tournament framing, lacked the personality of other shooters like Apex Legends and Overwatch.

Embark has tried to spice things up since launch, adding a solo mode shortly after launch (which sadly wasn't great)  and 5v5 mode inspired by TF2's Payload with Season 2 (which was great). "Man, it's really nice to have more people watching your back in The Finals—or, maybe it's just nice to have fewer people trying to kill you," wrote Morgan when he tested it back in March. Sadly, this doesn't seem to have been sufficient to stop the game from losing players. Nexon notes in its report that Season 3 is coming in June, which is supposedly bringing a new map among other things.

As for the Nexon's broader financial results, while they may have been better than anticipated, overall revenue was still down 13% over the previous year, while net operating income was down 48% over the same period. Alongside the weaker performance of the Finals, Nexon blames "lower consumer spending, rising costs, and an anticipated one-time-loss" for the year-on-year fall". The publisher says one way it hopes to address this is via major updates to several flagship games over the next quarter, including the 21 year-old MapleStory as well as the Finals.

Released in 2017, Lawbreakers was the first game from the now-defunct Boss Key Productions, a studio founded by Cliff Bleszinski following his departure from Epic Games. It was a high-speed, high-skill FPS that slotted neatly into the Unreal Tournament lineage but, despite being really rather good, lasted barely a year before going offline forever.

Or so it seemed. Bleszinski is an outspoken sort and, ever since Boss Key went down, has at various points teased the possibility of a Lawbreakers comeback: even saying last year that his "LA lawyer" was on the case. Sadly even LA lawyers find it difficult to get around the fact that Nexon owns the rights to the game, and there's been no official revival of the title.

But unofficially, a group of devoted fans have been working to bring the game back. The effort began in February 2021 (on Discord, at least), and was kept underground by project leader Red, lest Nexon take an interest, before breaking cover this past week for a public playtest. Set expectations appropriately: The goal is to bring back Lawbreakers as it was, but this is not a remaster and the game won't be changed or added-to in any way (Red says there's a possibility of some balancing tweaks, but they'll cross that bridge once the thing's up-and-running).

"Somehow LawBreakers is coming back," wrote an excited Bleszinski, before sharing a link to his wife streaming the game and joining the Discord. He then went on to make possibly the worst game-related joke I've ever seen: "Funny how Lawbreakers is rising from the ashes. Kinda like...a Fenix."

Quite. Back on planet Earth the playtest (now closed) seemed to go well and prove that the fan project's servers are up to the task ("it's held up beautifully"). While enthused about the chance to "battle in Zero G like in the good old days" Red does emphasise that some stuff is "either broken or does not work as intended", before encouraging their fellow Lawbreakers to "just have fun with other people living the hype!"

The project does not yet have a public release date, though does have a website. Red emphasises they're "a small team and this is insanely complex to properly do" and, while there are plans for another playtest soon, they're still looking for additional bodies on the development side to "help us make this the best possible preservation of LawBreakers."

One fan said to Bleszinski that this should show Nexon that players want the game to come back. "That's what I'm hoping for," replied Bleszinski.

Why not, I suppose. To celebrate the occasion Bleszinski did have a treat for fans, releasing two previously unseen cinematics from the game's world.

Outside of trying to revive Lawbreakers, Bleszinski's been keeping busy with a comic about dogs fighting for justice in a dystopian future, as well as penning a memoir about his time in the industry.

Every year—and sometimes multiple times per year—the same gaming debates pop up all over again. Review scores: are they good or bad? Are esports players real athletes? Should difficult games always have easy modes? And don't forget the interminable yellow paint debate. 

The definition of "indie game" is one of those recurring discussions, and it came up once around last year's Game Awards, when Dave the Diver was nominated for 'Best Independent Game' alongside games like Dredge and Cocoon. Not everyone was thrilled about that: while Dave The Diver definitely has "indie vibes" like 2D pixel art, and the development team at Mintrocket is a relatively small one, Mintrocket itself is a sub-brand of Nexon—a large South Korean game publisher.

At the Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco, I sat down with Dave the Diver's game director, Jaeho Hwang, to ask for his take on the debate, whether he considers Dave the Diver an indie game or not, and what exactly is an indie game, anyway?

"If you ask 'Is Dave The Diver an indie game?' I would say no," Hwang told me. He was still pleased to receive the nomination in recognition of the hard work his team did. "I really appreciate all the media and critics for nominating us for the best indie game," he said. "That's a big honor for us."

At the same time, Hwang had some reservations about the nomination. "There were some Twitter comments saying 'Hey, because Dave The Diver [is nominated], our beloved game Pizza Tower couldn't be nominated. So that was kind of a sad moment for me, maybe we are taking a spot from this indie game and indie developers," Hwang said.

"I don't want them to think that we are invading their territory. I have a huge respect for them."

Though Hwang doesn't consider his game indie, he understands why others might. "We never had a large budget or abundant resources as some people may think," he said. "We started with five people and [had] 26 at the peak. But I know the real indie developers work under much harsher conditions. Whether they get invested in or not, they need to do a lot of things by themselves."

He also recognizes the extreme financial struggle that indie studios face when they're not backed by a large publisher like Mintrocket. "We get paid every month, regularly," he said. "We have a lot of internal team [members], they support us anytime we need."

So, what does the term "indie game" mean to Hwang? "It's a tough word to define," he said. "If you started development under a certain organization, maybe you're not an indie because there might be some business strategy involved already." According to Hwang, Nexon was mostly hands-off and didn't give Mintrocket much direction on Dave the Diver's development, but he still recognizes his studio is part of a much larger operation. "So I don't think we are indie in that perspective."

"Maybe it's time to reconsider the word indie," he said. "Larian Studios, Dave the Diver, these are all different from this indie category, but nowadays there's tons of different types of games." He brings up the case of Dredge, developed by Black Salt Games, which Dave the Diver collaborated with last year for a free content pack. "They are completely indie, only four guys, a very small team. But they get some direction and guidance from Team 17, a big publisher. In this case, should we define it as indie?"

It's possible we simply need more words to describe games, Hwang says. "Triple-indie?" he suggested, along with "single-A," laughing a little. "Everyone says triple-A or indie, but there's so many games in between."

First reported by TheGamer, a member of Dark and Darker developer Ironmace has stated on the game's Discord that they have achieved an early victory in staving off Maplestory publisher Nexon's copyright lawsuit, with a South Korean court dismissing the publisher's preliminary injunction.

I've put a full timeline of the Dark and Darker saga below this article, but for a quick refresher: the indie hack n' slash extraction shooter was a breakout hit in the 2023 Steam Next Fest, but this victory was quickly followed by a massive legal challenge from Nexon. 

Nexon sued developer Ironmace and got the game taken off Steam via a DMCA notice to Valve. Nexon claims that Ironmace (which largely consists of former Nexon devs) poached talent from the publisher and illegally used assets from a canceled dungeon crawler project begun at Nexon. Ironmace, naturally, denies these accusations, claiming that no project P3 assets directly made their way into Dark and Darker.

I have reached out to Nexon for a statement, but this sounds like a substantial victory for Ironmace. According to the Ironmace developer sdf, who shared the Korean-language statement to Discord, the court ruled that "Iron Mace's game cannot be considered an infringement of Nexon's copyright or trade secret."

Notably, sdf also makes reference to a "disappointing" ruling by the court regarding unfair competition, but it's not immediately clear what the nature of that ruling is. Sdf claims that Nexon has yet to submit evidence from the canceled project at the heart of the lawsuit.

The story seems far from over, assuming Nexon choses to continue pursuing this lawsuit, but in theory the dismissal of the preliminary injunction could pave the way for Dark and Darker's return to Steam: sdf stated that "the court ruled that Dark and Darker's service should not be suspended based on Nexon's claims and evidence alone." Until then, you can still play Dark and Darker in early access via Ironmace's own launcher.

 Dark and Darker timeline

• July, 2021: Nexon project P3 lead developer Ju-Hyun Choi is fired from the company. Choi would later be project lead on Dark and Darker.
• August 5, 2021: Nexon reveals name of project P3 to the public as part of an initiative of games "developed at a faster pace and brought to market where they can be fine-tuned based on valuable input from players." P3 is set to be a first person, medieval fantasy, dungeon crawling PvPvE game, similar to Dark and Darker
• August 9, 2021: Terence Park, director of game development at Nexon and "head of the sub-team for P3 project" leaves Nexon. He is currently CEO at Ironmace
• September 2021: Nexon hires for a project "P7" that is later revealed (in March 2022) to have replaced or evolved out of P3, supposedly becoming a more contemporary, firearms-focused survival game
• Development begins on Dark and Darker, according to the git log released by Ironmace "The [Ironmace developers] worked for more than a month in a shabby jiu jitsu gym without pay using our own personal PCs as a test of our resolve and teamwork."
• October 2021: Ironmace officially founded
• February 6, 2023: A playable online demo of Dark and Darker is a hit at the Steam Next Fest. We loved it, and it quickly became one of the most played games on Steam while its demo was live.
• February 16, 2023: Allegation that Dark and Darker uses assets and/or code taken from project P3 first appears on Korean gaming site, This Is Game.
• March 8, 2023: Police raid Ironmace based on Nexon allegations of stolen code.
• March 25, 2023: Dark and Darker is delisted from Steam entirely following DMCA request by Nexon to Valve. 
• Nexon alleges that concept art, code, and in-engine assets from P3 were all used in Dark and Darker, additionally that P3 and Dark and Darker project leader Ju-Hyun Choi illegally transferred a significant amount of development materials to a private server before being terminated from Nexon. Nexon also alleges that Park and Choi encouraged P3 team members to leave Nexon for Ironmace.
• August 17, 2023: Nexon's US lawsuit against Ironmace dismissed on the grounds that Korean courts are better-positioned to adjudicate the issue.
•  January 28, 2024: Ironmace states that Nexon's preliminary injunction has been dismissed by a Korean court, with the judge ruling that "Iron Mace’s game cannot be considered an infringement of Nexon’s copyright or trade secret." 

The team-based swords-and-sorcery brawler Warhaven launched into early access on Steam on September 20, 2023. Today, just four months later, Nexon has announced that it will be closing down for good in April.

"Today, we are here to announce with a heavy heart that we will be concluding the live services of Warhaven," Nexon wrote on Steam.

"To create a game that could be cherished and enjoyed over an extended period, we invested much consideration and effort. However, regrettably, we must bid our sincere farewell as of April 5, 2024. We apologize that we could not come to you with better news."

Warhaven came off like a cross of Chivalry and For Honor when we first looked at it in 2022. It pits teams of 16 players against each other in brawls using blades, bows, and magic, with six different characters bringing unique weapons and abilities to the fight. Players also had the ability to transform into god-like Immortals, granting them devastating powers that, with a little luck, could quickly turn the tide of a losing battle.

It looked like a potentially promising take on medieval melee brawlers, but even as a free-to-play game Warhaven struggled to find an audience. From a peak concurrent player count of 8,850 at launch, the numbers quickly slid down to just a few hundred at a time, while user reviews on Steam are mixed: Players complained about balance issues, server instability, and XP caps that artificially slowed battle pass progress.

Several negative reviewers also complained about changes made to Warhaven between the beta test sessions and the early access release. "I loved this game in the betas," one Steam user wrote. "With the release though, they've reduced squad size to three people, and even worse you can only incarnate into an Immortal once per game now, which was the most enjoyable part. Incredibly disappointing, was really excited to play this again."

"Bring back the beta," another said, describing the early access release as "a stripped-down version" of the beta build. "Although even in beta there was chaos with Immortals, it was fun back then. There is no 'fun' now."

Nexon said sales of the World Pass, Warhaven't battle pass, will be halted today, while "exact details of the schedule," possibly suggesting some in-game farewell events may be on the way, will be revealed later.

A report from the Korean Economic Daily says Nexon has been slapped with a fine of ₩11.6 billion ($8.85 million) by Korea's Fair Trade Commission for changing the drop rates of items in MapleStory and Bubble Fighter "multiple times" between the years 2010 and 2021, without telling anyone that the changes had been made.

Cubes, as they're known in MapleStory, are randomized items costing roughly ₩2,000 ($1.50) each that are used to change or upgrade the power of in-game equipment. They were added to the game in May 2010, according to the report, shortly after which Nexon began messing with the drop rates so more powerful Cubes would appear less often.

It continued changing the odds until March 2021, in some cases ensuring that particularly high-demand Cubes didn't drop at all, but did not notify players of the changes—in fact, in August 2011 Nexon released a statement saying that no changes had been made.

Loot box drop rates was a major hot topic several years ago: In 2017, China imposed a law requiring all game makers to reveal their loot box drop rates, and a couple years later major publishers in North America, facing growing pressure from the US government, followed suit. Knowing the drop rates is the only way players can have any idea how likely it is that they're going to get something good for their money (and thus, at least in theory, how aggressively they should keep throwing money at it), which is what makes it such a big deal—but of course that usefulness is dependent upon the information being accurate, which according to the KFTC was not the case here.

This isn't the first time Nexon has been fined by the KFTC for messing around with drop rates: In 2018 it ate a ₩939 million fine ($875,000 at the time) for misleading Sudden Attack 2 players about loot box drop rates. That's partly why this new fine is the largest ever imposed by the commission for a violation of South Korea's Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce Act.

"We imposed the largest fine because the Cube is a core product of [MapleStory], the violation period is long, and this is the second violation [by Nexon] following Sudden Attack," Korea Fair Trade Commission market surveillance department director Kim Jung-ki said.

Nexon said it accepted the KFTC's decision but may challenge it, according to the report. I've reached out to Nexon for more information and will update if I receive a reply.

I've been playing and writing about videogames for an awfully long time now, and I've seen my share of controversies come and go. Hot Coffee, anyone? At some point long ago, I may have thought that such things would become increasingly rare as our medium matures.

But it seems that the opposite has happened. As gaming has become bigger and more influential, it's intersected with a wider set of issues.

2023 was no exception, and so here we are to round up some of the biggest controversies of the year. There were so many, I was morally required to split the list into two articles to reduce the risk of scrolling-related injuries—if you missed it earlier this week, here's the first half of our rundown of the year's biggest kerfuffles.

And now, on with the show!

Unity makes everyone mad

Our eyebrows: 🤬

What happened: Engine maker Unity rolled out surprise changes to its pricing model in September that Heat Signature creator Tom Francis described as "an astonishing scumbag move." That accurately summed up the feeling of, well, pretty much everyone. The issue revolved around Unity's plan to impose a flat per-install fee to games using its engine after specific thresholds were met: Developers worried that piracy, "install bombing," and deals with charity bundles and Game Pass, all of which bring games to potentially large audiences without generating any actual revenue, could end up costing them significant amounts of money. Rubbing salt in the wound, Unity made the changes retroactive—existing deals were effectively scrapped—and applicable even to games that were released before the new pricing scheme was revealed.

The outcome: The blowback was so strong and widespread that Unity eventually walked back most of it, but that wasn't enough to save the job of CEO John Riccitiello—yes, that guy—who was forced to step down over his mishandling of the change less than a month later. 

Embracer Group implodes

Our eyebrows: 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

What happened: 2023 was an absolute brutal year for game industry layoffs, but even amidst that the story of Embracer Group stands out. After years of explosive growth that saw it become a behemoth in the business, the surprise collapse of a mysterious $2 billion investment deal saw a complete reversal of the company's fortunes. Hundreds of employees across Embracer's studios were laid off, adding up to roughly 5% of its total workforce as of November 16, and Volition, Free Radical Design, and Campfire Cabal were closed outright. Gearbox, which Embracer acquired in 2021 for $1.3 billion, was also rumored to be up for sale, although there's been no confirmation of that at this point.

It's as big a mess as I've seen on the business side of the videogame industry, yet somehow Embracer managed to make it uglier: In a November 2023 interview, interim chief strategy officer Phil Rogers said the layoffs were "agonizing" but described the process as "how we win," an incredibly tone-deaf description of a process that's left literally hundreds of people out of work.

The outcome: There was a bit of shuffling in the company's C-suite in the immediate aftermath of the failed investment deal, but CEO Lars Wingefors and the company's board of directors were formally "discharged from liability for the financial year 2022/2023" during the company's annual general meeting in September. For the near future, it sounds like Embracer could be facing more bloodletting: Wingefors said during a recent investors presentation that the company delivered "stable performance and improved cashflow" in its most recent quarter, but the financial benefits of its restructuring program are still "mainly ahead of us." 

Dave the Diver sparks an indie debate

Our eyebrows: 🤨

What happened: Dave the Diver's tale about going fishing, running a sushi joint, and getting swept up in unexpected adventures was one of the best games of 2023—so good that it was nominated for Best Independent Game at the 2023 Game Awards. Just one problem: It was developed by a subsidiary of big-time game publisher Nexon. And thus began the debate: What is an indie game, anyway? Is it a style? A vibe? Is it determined solely by whether or not a developer has the backing of, or is perhaps even owned by, a big money company? Or is there a sort of 'indie spectrum' where individual games are judged on a variety of factors. Is Baldur's Gate 3, developed by a private game studio that's still owned and run by the guy who founded it 30 years ago, an indie game? What about Half-Life, or Cyberpunk 2077? It'd be silly to call those indie games, yet by most measures they're closer to the mark than Dave the Diver. And who gets to make the final call on all of this, anyway?

The outcome: This controversy didn't run as hot as that of, say, The Day Before fiasco, probably in large part because it was primarily an academic debate that most people weren't terribly interested in. And in the end, it didn't matter: Dave the Diver is a great game but the Best Independent Game of the Year award went to Sabotage Studio's Sea of Stars. 

Bungie cuts staff, angers Destiny 2 fans, and alienates employees

Our eyebrows: 😬

What happened: There were a lot of layoffs in 2023, but none landed more heavily among gamers than the October cuts at Bungie. Destiny 2 fans, already unhappy with the game's seasonal model, excessive monetization, and unimpressive Lightfall expansion, were outraged at the loss of well-known veteran employees, and a ham-fisted statement from CEO Pete Parsons—"Today is a sad day at Bungie as we say goodbye to colleagues who have all made a significant impact on our studio," as if they'd taken better jobs at other companies or something—just pissed them off even more. Bungie followed that up with another statement to the Destiny community acknowledging that "we have lost a lot of your trust" and committing to doing better, but less than a month later it released a crappy $15 "starter pack" for Destiny 2 that sparked such a brutal backlash from players and content creators it was removed from sale just a day later.

Amidst all that came a long delay to The Final Shape expansion, and reports that staff morale at Bungie is in the toilet thanks to management indifference and worries that if The Final Shape fails to meet sales expectations—a growing concern, given reports of Destiny 2's sliding player numbers—Sony might step in and take full control of Bungie's board of directors, bringing an end to the studio's internal independence.

The outcome: What this all adds up to likely won't be known until The Final Shape goes live in June 2024, but even now it's very strange to see Bungie struggling like this. Destiny fans are nothing if not loyal, and while grumbling—sometimes loud grumbling—is hardly a rare thing, they've stood by the studio through thick and thin for nearly a decade now. But the discontent now feels different: It really feels like The Final Shape is going to be a make-or-break moment for Bungie and Destiny both, and if it fails, Bungie as we've known it will be done. 

The Game Awards keeps it too short

Our eyebrows: 😕

What happened: At its core, The Game Awards is a three-hour hype reel, but it does punctuate all the teasers, trailers, and announcements with actual awards. In a presumed attempt to keep everything on schedule—perhaps inspired by the rambling of Al Pacino and Christopher Judge the previous year—producers imposed a strict time limit on acceptance speeches for 2023. That led to some unfortunate results: In one particularly egregious incident, Larian boss Swen Vincke was hit with a "Please wrap it up" prompt while in the midst of paying tribute to a team member who had died during the development of Baldur's Gate 3. Many found the limit particularly galling in light of the time allotted to a painfully unfunny on-stage chat with Gonzo—yes, the muppet—and an appearance by Hideo Kojima, who spent more than six minutes talking about his next game, OD.

Obsidian studio design director Josh Sawyer summed up the sentiment with a super-heated tweet: "This year’s The Game Awards is an embarrassing indictment of a segment of the industry desperate for validation via star power with little respect for the devs it’s supposedly honoring." Outspoken indie developer Rami Ismail shared similar thoughts, saying he had "a hard time reconciling playing Sam Lake off the stage after 30 seconds, or the publisher representing Cocoon's devs after the same, but having a many minutes-long Kojima bit for a game that has literally nothing to show yet."

The outcome: In response to the upset, Game Awards host Geoff Keighley insisted that "no one was actually cut off," but acknowledged that "the music was played too fast for award winners this year," and said the issue of time limits is "something to address going forward."

The Day Before launches, flops, and disappears

Our eyebrows: 😨🤔😵

What happened: After more than two years of hype punctuated by a major delay, revelations of unpaid labor, a surprise Steam delisting amidst a trademark dispute, and a genuinely bizarre gameplay reveal, The Day Before finally debuted on Steam. As we noted at the time, it did not go great. Server problems kept large number of people from playing, and many of those who were able to get in complained that it wasn't an open-world survival MMO as promised, but something more akin to an extraction shooter—and not a very good one at that. A leaked email purportedly sent by Fntastic CEO Eduard Gotovtsev indicated that The Day Before sold more than 200,000 copies on Steam during its brief life—not bad!—but that nearly half of those copies were almost immediately refunded—not good.

But that was just the beginning of the mess. Just four days after launch, The Day Before developer Fntastic announced it was closing, saying the game had "failed financially" and that it didn't have any money to keep working on it. A few hours after that announcement, sales of The Day Before were halted, although it remains listed on Steam.

The outcome: Publisher Mytona stepped in to offer across-the-board refunds, which helped smooth the waters, but Fntastic was unable to stop itself from stirring things up again: In a response to one unhappy player the studio justified itself with two simple, ill-chosen words: "Shit happens." 

Ready or Not is finally ready

Our eyebrows: 😕

What happened: You may recall Ready or Not as the tactical police shooter that said it would include a "school shooting mission," an idiotic idea that some believed led to a split between developer Void Interactive and then-publisher Team17 in 2020. Void Interactive denied that was the reason and even defended the idea for the level, calling it "a look at an uncomfortable reality that has become all too common." It embraced a similar controversy by releasing a nightclub level on the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting that left 49 people dead. Ready or Not was removed from Steam shortly after that, although Void Interactive said the takedown was the result of a trademark dispute; it removed the required content, and the game was returned.

Ready or Not is experienced entirely from the perspective of the police, and unlike Six Days in Fallujah, Void Interactive clearly isn't interested in even hand-waving at nuance: "At its core, the game honors the work of dedicated law enforcement officers across the world and in no way intends on glorifying cowardly criminal acts," the Steam page says, happily overlooking all-too-common reports of corruption and criminality among the police. With the militarization of police and police-involved violence and killings continuing to rise, I suppose we can at least be thankful that Void Interactive left no doubt about where it stands on the matter.

The outcome: Players don't seem to care. Ready or Not has a "very positive" user rating across more than 103,000 user reviews on Steam, and attracted more than 50,000 concurrent players when it went into full release on December 13. 

Dave the Diver is one of PC Gamer's favourite games of 2023, no small feat in a year as crammed with great releases as this one has been. In his review from July, Chris called it "easily the best game of 2023" saying "When I finished the final boss at 35 hours in, I felt like I'd been on a real adventure, and the ending gently, but genuinely, tugged on my heartstrings." Granted, this was before Baldur's Gate 3 blew everyone away, but still a score of 91 is nothing to sniff at.

Naturally, we were hugely excited by what colourful, charming adventure developer Mintrocket might conjure up next. The good news is that its next game is coming much sooner than you'd expect, with a planned release in 2024. The…interesting news is that it’s a PvPvE Zombie Survival game called Nakwon: Last Paradise.

Nakwon is basically Escape from Tarkov, but with zombies. It sees players venturing out from a safe zone into zombie-strewn Seoul, scavenging resources to help them survive while avoiding AI zombies and other players keen to prise your loot out of your cold, dead hands. Mintrocket recently released 22 minutes of footage of the game in action which you can view below. Alongside this, Mintrocket also shared details on its upcoming pre-alpha playtest, which will commence on the 28th of November at 5pm PST.

Now, I'm not sniffy about zombie survival games. I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Island 2's sunsoaked zombie slapping earlier this year. But with the best will in the world, Nakwon looks painfully generic. Visually the game is incredibly dingy and grey, and neither the survivors nor the zombies have much in the way of personality. It all looks about ten years out of date.

If you're a fan of Dave the Diver, Nakwon might seem like a bizarre swerve. But if anything, it's Dave the Diver that's the outlier here. Mintrocket is a sub-brand of Nexon, one of South Korea's oldest and biggest video game publishers, responsible for titles like MapleStory and Dungeon & Fighter. It isn't the offbeat indie developer that Dave the Diver made it look like. Indeed, this caused a bit of consternation during this year' Game Award nominations, which saw Dave the Diver nominated for best indie game when, strictly speaking, Mintrocket is about as independent as a newborn baby.

Whether or not that definition should or does apply anymore is a larger question I'm not going to delve into here, nor the fact that what counts as an indie game has been running mainly on vibes for years now. That said, when sub-brand of a huge publisher is getting nominated for indie game awards, it does seem like we need to think harder about what exactly that award is supposed to celebrate.

Either way, you can sign up for Nakwon's closed alpha playtest here . Spaces are unlimited and the test will run through to 11:59pm PST on Sunday 3rd of December.

In what's proven to be a monster month for the multiplayer FPS, another challenger has entered the scene. The Finals, the highly destructible competitive FPS led by ex-DICE developers at Embark Studios, is running its first open beta, and the people are interested.

In its first 24 hours, The Finals beta has shot to the top 10 of Steam's most-played games, reaching a peak of 143,000 concurrent players. That number has stuck around 90,000 into the quieter workday hours in the US—pretty impressive considering every big FPS just got a new season or limited time mode.

It helps that The Finals is genuinely its own beast. At the core of its objective-based modes is a destruction engine that allows entire buildings to crumble under the weight of RPG rockets and physics. Usually destruction on this scale is impossible in a multiplayer setting because it's simply too much information to sync across every player's client, but developer Embark Studios says it's got fancy backend server tech that makes the impossible possible. 

For those who participated in one of The Finals' previous playtests, there's new stuff to check out in the open beta, most notably a casual mode called "Bank It." It's similar to the marquee Cashout mode, but instead of every team fighting over the same cash vaults, players collect coins that can be banked at various points on the map to score. 

I prefer Bank It over the sweatier Cashout mode so far, but my biggest hurdle in The Finals right now is server stability. The open beta's explosive popularity took Embark Studios by surprise, so much that the studio had to issue a temporary login queue to handle the demand. I'm finding matches relatively quickly, but it's been shaky. The game crashed on me this morning and following that crash, servers were inaccessible for around 30 minutes. Embark has been clear that the purpose of the beta is to stress its systems, not to promote the game as a "marketing beat," so I guess the last 48 hours have been a great test.

You can give open beta a try by opting into the playtest on The Finals Steam page, as well as on console with full crossplay. If you've previously had access to a playtest, the open beta should already be in your Steam library ready to download.