[Early Access] What’s not to like? Isometric soulslike combat, an incredibly dense world packed with verticality and hidden areas, combined with randomised loot to reward exploration. Impactful sound, great music, well-written characters, lore and… some of the best art I’ve seen in a game - every frame a painting. So far, the devs are showing what good looks like for an early access title, responding to feedback and frequent patches. Love.

I was hooked on Children of the Sun after about two minutes into the demo, and the full release didn’t let go. A puzzler disguised as a shooter which seems straightforward initially, but its clever and versatile puzzle design proves remarkably addictive - especially with leaderboards. Combined with the art, sound and music, the vibes here absolutely rule. Play it.

Red Hook Studios has unveiled a new gamemode for Darkest Dungeon II, ‘Kingdoms’. Defend a kingdom, battle three new enemy factions, bolster a network of inns. Creative Director Chris Bourassa aims to merge the original’s permanence and roster management with the sequel’s traversal and combat. ‘Kingdoms’ will arrive as a free update in late 2024.

This is not a drill! The Triple-I Initiative kickstarted with a major reveal from Mega Crit - Slay the Spire 2. STS is an alltimer and genre definer, so I cannot wait. Early access starts 2025, so got a while to go yet, but wooo!

I love that Team NINJA are always trying stuff out - since Nioh through Wo Long and now Ronin, they’re obviously keen to experiment. Unfortunately, while their previous ones have been hits, this one is a bit of a miss. Any real sense of a soulslike is gone, making way for aggressively mid Ubisoft type openworld checklist activities. The bloated scope reveals a lack of polish. Exploration is a chore and unrewarding. Combat is fun at first, but quickly becomes pretty mindless (and amazingly, from these guys, super easy). I hope they try the openworld stuff again, but for me this aint it.

Massive and Ubisoft have dropped a Star Wars Outlaws story trailer, including a release date of August 30th. Personally, you get a lot of enjoyment for free just by virtue of being in the Star Wars universe, but yet another story going to Tatooine is getting kinda old… as are these AAA prices! $189AUD for the Ultimate Edition - oof, that’s like 20 Balatros!

Dragon’s Dogma 2 continues the legacy of its predecessor with expansive open-world exploration and super dynamic combat. I would’ve liked a bit more enemy variety, and the overall narrative is slightly underwhelming, but neither materially impacted my enjoyment. It certainly has its quirks, but after giving myself over to it, I experienced a sense of adventure not felt since BOTW or Elden Ring.

Windblown, the new one from Motion Twin (of Dead Cells fame) finally has a gameplay trailer. Windblown promises a co-op (or solo) action roguelite experience. Playing as a ‘Leaper’, you’ll protect the Ark against a raging Vortex across ever-changing sky-islands. Looks cool!

The newly announced Triple-i Initiative seems to be carving out space as an independent response to AAA games, which otherwise would have been considered “lesser” AA titles.

The Triple-i Initiative is a new collaborative effort to highlight fan-favourite games and hype up established indie classics as well as new IPs. The Initiative is backed by strong independent studios such as Evil Empire, Red Hook, Mega Crit Games, Poncle, Stunlock Studios, Thunder Lotus, Re- Logic, Ghostship Games, Extremely OK Games, Heart Machine and more.

Their first showcase is on April 10th. Major announcements and reveals are promised from studios like Mega Crit, Red Hook Studios, and Evil Empire. Catch it on YouTube, Twitch, bilibili, IGN or Steam.

Embracer Group has sold Gearbox to Take-Two for $460M USD. Randy Pitchford, Founder of Gearbox, says:

Joining forces with Take-Two Interactive/2K will help Gearbox ascend to our next level. Take-Two and 2K have demonstrated repeatedly their commitment to our engine of generating creativity, happiness, and profit. We set the bar for interactive entertainment and achieved remarkable results with groundbreaking, record-setting games when we worked together at arm’s length as partners. I’m incredibly excited about what we can accomplish now that we’re fully aligned as one.

The deal includes Borderlands and Homeworld franchises, and is expected to close by Q1 FY24/25.