Mike Kasprzak, longtime caretaker of the Ludum Dare game jam, has announced that LD 64 in October 2028 will be the final scheduled event, capping 26 years of one of indie gaming’s most formative institutions. Kasprzak is planning an unofficial April 2029 encore before the lights properly go out, and has openly challenged the community to build a better successor rather than inherit the name. LD 59 is live for theme suggestions in the meantime. Few jams have shaped indie development like Ludum Dare has - 26 years of weekend experiments that seeded careers, studios, and whole corners of the scene. Enormous legacy, and enormous props to Kasprzak for keeping the lights on this long.

Sony Pictures has confirmed an R-rated animated adaptation of FromSoftware’s Bloodborne, with studio exec Sanford Panitch promising it’ll stay “very true” to the game’s gothic brutality. It’s co-produced by PlayStation Productions, Lyrical Animation, and YouTuber Seán “JackSepticEye” McLoughlin. Amazing we’re getting a film before 60fps, but we’ll take it!

Pearl Abyss’s MMO roots are all over this - the progression systems, the menu clunk, the forgettable story - but what that DNA also buys is a staggering amount of content with genuine variety. The world is massive and beautiful, clearly built on a love of BOTW and RDR2, though the “immersive” interactions don’t always land and the movement, even post-patch, still isn’t where it needs to be. I also wish they’d just given us a character creator. There’s a lot to improve, but somehow it doesn’t matter a whole lot: the world has that rare, old-fashioned wanderlust that keeps you riding toward the next horizon just to see what’s there.

[Early Access] It’s more Slay the Spire, and that’s entirely a compliment. New systems and mechanics add variety and depth to each run, and the two new characters both feel meaningfully distinct rather than just reskins. Already deeper than the original at launch - balance may be all over the shop, but it’s a tonne of fun. If you’re at all into these kinds of games you’re probably already playing it, but if not, just get it.

Where ARC Raiders carved out a comparative safe space for wholesome emergent moments, Marathon is relentlessly deadly - everything and everyone wants to kill you. It’s far from perfect, but the presentation is staggering; the art direction, typography, music, sound design and overall visual identity have an unbelievable amount of sauce, and I truly respect that Bungie swung for something genuinely different (stolen assets aside). A lot of people seem determined to see this fail (many of whom I suspect haven’t played it, or were never going to) and that’s a shame, because underneath the discourse is a game with real identity and real teeth. It won’t be for everyone, but I’m having a lot of fun.

Everything is a horse. Beneath the deliberately crude and memey aesthetic is a surprisingly legit breeding, racing and genetics sim with DNA mechanics far more intricate than they have any right to be. The whole thing rewards experimentation in ways that keep surprising you, and the physics-based racing is consistently hilarious. You will create abominations. You will race them. You will gamble until you’re broke and need to shovel shit for fifty bucks behind the track. Loved it.

Phil Spencer has officially retired from Microsoft, ending a 38-year career that included 12 years leading Xbox through an incredibly transformative period; overseeing the acquisitions of Mojang, ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard. Asha Sharma has been appointed CEO of Microsoft Gaming, with Matt Booty elevated to Chief Content Officer. Xbox President Sarah Bond, long considered Spencer’s heir apparent, has also resigned - her departure buried several paragraphs into Spencer’s own statement and notably unmentioned by anyone else at Microsoft. End of an era.

Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel’s long-awaited tactics roguelite is here and it may very well prove to be their best work. It looks like a silly little cat game - and it is - but underneath is a staggeringly deep mix of Final Fantasy Tactics-style combat, roguelite progression, cat breeding genetics, life sim management and draft-based build crafting that just keeps opening up the further you go. Every run surfaces new synergies, new absurdity, new reasons to keep breeding nightmare cats. Wildly impressive, insanely moreish. It really feels like the culmination of what a couple of gamedesign nutters have been building towards.

Slay the Spire 2 has locked in a March 5 early access launch on Steam after a short delay out of 2025. The new trailer revealed four-player co-op with its own dedicated cards and team synergies. Mega Crit expects a similar timeline to the original, roughly one to two years before a full 1.0 release. Hard to overstate the impact of the original, so this is absolutely a day one situation.

PlayStation has closed Bluepoint Games, the studio behind acclaimed remakes including Shadow of the Colossus and Demon’s Souls. Around 70 staff have been laid off. The closure follows the cancellation of a God of War live service project - one of several live service bets PlayStation has quietly walked back in recent years. Bluepoint was one of the best in the business at what they did - a brutal loss. Without taking focus away from the people affected… I guess we’re never getting that Bloodborne remake.