What I thought would be a quick, relatively low-effort brand collaboration turns out to be a remarkably fleshed out exploration/building/survival game with an incredible level of polish. A bit of Minecraft, a tiny bit of Animal Crossing, and even rolling in combat - sooo, we’re a soulslike now? Fun game, and the fact that Epic remade over 1,200 skins to suit the LEGO-verse is crazy in itself.

I’m generally not a massive competitive shooter fan, but I really like THE FINALS. Embark’s use of UE5, the visual design and aesthetic drew me in - the addictive, easy to pick up, hard to master movement and combat kept me going. The environmental destruction stuff is nuts. Classes are interesting and interplay well, but this coupled with being objective-based also means playing with randos can be… rough.

TGA 2023 has come and gone, with mostly expected results. Baldur’s Gate 3 deservedly cleaned up, securing Game of the Year, Best Community Support, Best RPG, Best Multiplayer, and the Player’s Voice Award. Alan Wake 2 closely followed with wins in Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction categories. Check all the categories and winners here.

Set for a 2025 release, Capcom have announced the next in their mega franchise, Monster Hunter Wilds. Not heaps of info yet, but I’ve always really wanted to sink hundreds of hours into this genre and just never found one that really jived with me. Here’s hoping this is the one!

After seven years of free No Man’s Sky patches and overwhelmingly redeeming their reputation, Sean Murray and Hello Games are ready to show off their next big venture: Light No Fire. “A game about adventure, building, survival and exploration together. Set on a fantasy planet the size of Earth, it brings the depth of a role playing game to the freedom of a survival sandbox.”

Ex-The Division devs reveal a new open-world extraction shooter, Exoborne. A press release provides more info, emphasizing gear over RPG mechanics, with the focus being on the Exo-Rig’s weapons, upgrades and traversal with built-in tools like grappling hooks and gliders.

Den of Wolves is a four-player co-op game from 10 Chambers, the studio behind Payday 1 & 2, and designer Ulf Andersson. Really dig the setting and aesthetic. “In this techno-thriller, you and your friends operate as criminals for hire in the conflicts between rival corporations in Midway City. Gather your crew, design the plan, gear up, and execute the heist.”

“Set decades from now in a reconstructed Tokyo, you play as Hiromi Shoda in Last Sentinel, a narrative-focused, open-world action game from Lightspeed Studios.” Gripping trailer but don’t know heaps about it. One to watch.

From Moon Studios, the developers of Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps comes No Rest for the Wicked, a “visceral, precision ARPG”. Art style, characters and gameplay all look great here - super keen.

Arkane are making a Blade game. Cool I guess? Not sure I love the idea of them working with existing IPs (especially Marvel) when their original ideas are so cool - but it’s undeniably a good fit. We’ll see!