Coliseum

It’s been a few months since Bungie ceased active development of Destiny 2, bringing the game’s nine-year lifecycle to an abrupt end and angering many players in the process. Bungie has heard and responded to this outcry by obliging one of the biggest fan requests for Destiny 2. The studio is also sharing plans to evolve its well-received but tepidly performing extraction shooter, Marathon. 

In a developer video and studio blog post, Bungie studio heads Poria Torkan and Josh Deane acknowledge the fanbase’s resentment and plans to earn back player trust. 

Bungie has been creating games for over 30 years and we have welcomed the communities that have formed around them. Over the last few years, we lost sight of that, and there have been real consequences. We lost trust, we lost incredible colleagues, and we lost sight of what we should be prioritizing most, our players.

As a new leadership team, we must own that.

We aren’t just listening to feedback, we understand your disappointment. We are not asking you to trust what we say today. We know that trust must be earned through the quality of our games, the decisions we make, and how consistently we show up for our players.

To this end, Bungie plans to restore Destiny 2 content archived in the game’s digital Vault. This means vaulted campaigns, destinations, and raids will become available for all players again. “We understand that removing these experiences had a lasting impact on player trust and enjoyment of Destiny,” reads Bungie’s blog post. “Destiny 2 is more than just the content itself. It is a place where players have built memories together, formed lasting friendships, and shared experiences that have stayed with them for years. We cannot change the decision we made, but we can acknowledge its impact and do the work to make it right by restoring these important parts of Destiny’s history.”

However, Bungie notes that years of updates to Destiny 2 have fundamentally changed the game, so bringing back vaulted content will require work to make them compatible with the current version of Destiny 2. For example, vaulted content will require updated lighting, combat encounters, combatants, and other renovations, which Bungie explains will take time. The studio promises to keep players updated on its progress in the coming months.

Bungie states unvaulting content is “the first step to lay the foundation for how we reforge into new stories and games that you all deserve.” Whether this takes the form of Destiny 3 or other projects remains to be seen, but the studio is not walking away from this universe just yet. 

As for Marathon,  Bungie reiterates that while the game is an important part of its future, it was never meant to replace Destiny 2. The studio acknowledges Marathon “did not reach as many players as we had hoped” and that it needs to evolve. To this end, it has announced plans to expand it to “a deeper survival experience.” 

“Through the remainder of Marathon’s first year, we will continue strengthening its combat, world, and competitive tension while giving players more agency in how they engage with the game,” Bungie says. “That means creating meaningful experiences whether you prefer cooperative PvE, competitive PvP, or the unpredictable tension of Marathon PvPvE.”

Bungie states it wants to work with the community to improve and expand Marathon to fit several playstyles. It also states it still has many things planned for the October Nightfall Refresh and December Symbiosis updates. More updates regarding Marathon will be shared later this week. 

2026 has been a challenging year for Bungie. Marathon arrived in March to a generally positive critical reception (here’s our review), but as Bungie acknowledges, it has not retained the player numbers the studio hoped for. This has only intensified following the end of Destiny 2, as some fans blamed Marathon’s existence for the studio moving on from Destiny 2. To make matters worse, with Destiny 2 coming to an end, Bungie laid off most of that game’s development team. With Bungie addressing these realities head-on, it will be interesting to see if these proposed updates bring back lapsed fans of both games. 

Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Publisher:
Lyrical Games, One More Level

Developer:
One More Level

Release:
October 13, 2026

Rating:
Mature

Valor Mortis is the next game from One More Level, the studio behind the Ghostrunner series. As a massive fan of those two cyberpunk parkour-action games, I’ve had my eye on Valor Mortis, the team’s first-person take on the Soulslike formula, since its reveal last August. When I played it last year, I was shocked by how well OML’s trademark first-person action translates into a slower, more deliberate Soulslike, given that the best action games in this sub-genre are typically played from a third-person perspective. Now, I’ve put more than 15 hours into a preview build of Valor Mortis, playing through its first four chapters, dying a lot, defeating bosses, meeting new characters, and learning more about why the deceased Napoleon Bonaparte is in my head talking to me while I acquire more and more supernatural powers. 

I’ve enjoyed most of what I’ve played, but – and this is unfortunately a big but – the difficulty balance in Valor Mortis is incredibly uneven, and key moments, like chapter-ending boss fights, are spoiling what should otherwise be fun climactic bouts. There’s no rhyme or reason to the balance of Valor Mortis, and it made for an often-frustrating experience in a game I can tell has the Soulslike juice.

This boss killed me probably 30 times

After dying in the game’s opening, protagonist William wakes up, unsure of what’s going on or why Napoleon is talking to him, seemingly telepathically. He marches forward, looking for answers amongst the decrepit trenches, battlefields, abandoned buildings, and torched villages as to what’s going on, and along the way, he sucks up mysterious powers that imbue him with flames, time-freeze abilities, and more in his right hand. These powers are especially helpful because many enemies are weak to fire, and you can easily stun them by filling up their burn gauge; the same can be said for William’s time-freezing power, which allows him to hit an enemy for massive damage when all their freeze gauges are filled. It’s an enjoyable BioShock-esque set of powers that complements his ranged guns and various swords. I like that the saber is great for general damage and blocking, while the rapier uses stabs to target weak points with heightened parry stagger (at the cost of not being able to block), and I’m excited to see what other weapons will fill the weapon wheel that teases me with multiple unused spots. 

The environmental design is smart and beautiful, with just enough explorable side passages to keep moving through these large spaces enjoyable – quick puzzles along the way keep my brain engaged outside of Valor Mortis extra-difficult combat. While the French countryside and post-battle battlefields aren’t anything unique in video games, One More Level has painted these otherwise unremarkable settings with otherworldly growths, formations, and more. The result is a Remedy Entertainment-esque spin on 18th-Century France that remained a delight throughout this demo’s 15-hour runtime. And, given the preview demo ran me roughly 15 hours, I suspect there’s a lot more game left in the final build of Valor Mortis. 

Despite loving what I was playing, the spectre of uneven balance hung heavy over everything, perhaps a testament to the bones of Valor Mortis. I recognize this is a Soulslike, but the difficulty seems way off. I’m no Soulslike scrub, either; I quite enjoy the genre (and if we’re talking credentials, I have the Platinum trophy in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and trophy hunters know that is no easy feat). But when a boss can wipe out basically 60 percent of my HP, even after upgrading my health as much as possible at this point in the game, what should be fun tests of combat prowess become a demand for perfection, and that’s a problem. Soulslike fights are about learning the enemy, recognizing patterns, and countering with your own moves – but these bosses often hit so hard that actually surviving long enough to learn how they move, react, and counter felt impossible. I probably died more than 100 times to bosses in this 15-hour demo alone.  

That difficulty imbalance extends to some mob enemies in the game, too, and I dreaded seeing certain enemies in my path because, despite being a nameless regular ol’ enemy, I knew I had what was basically a mini-boss ahead of me. I like mini-bosses, but I don’t like seven of them in one chapter. 

Still, though, even when getting absolutely walloped by enemies, I kept pressing continue at the You Have Died screen. Valor Mortis is shaping up to be a great game thanks to its strong foundation and mechanical bones, One More Level’s unique visual design, and an interesting narrative-forward adventure atypical for the Soulslike genre. However, I worry that without some last-minute touch-ups to the game’s difficulty balance, Valor Mortis could prove to be more annoying and frustrating to play than anything else, marring what might be a genuinely great action game. Valor Mortis launches October 13, so there’s still time for tuning, and I hope it happens. 

Reviewed on:
PlayStation 5

Platform:
PlayStation 5, PC

Publisher:
Konami, Annapurna Interactive

Developer:
Screen Burn

Release:
September 24, 2026

Rating:
Mature

Much like the franchise itself, for years Silent Hill existed as an opaque figure embedded in fog, with only crackling radio static confirming its existence. Konami wasn’t sure what to do with it beyond Pyramid Head cameos in kart racers and Bomberman party games. But, like a repressed memory that suddenly manifests as a monster compelling you to address your unresolved trauma, Silent Hill is back, and Townfall, the third Silent Hill game in as many years, continues the impressive return-to-form streak. Simon Ordell’s journey through the Scottish town of St. Amelia in 1996 is not without its shortcomings, but the experience is an affecting one buoyed by the first-person perspective.

Silent Hill has dabbled in first-person before with Silent Hill 4: The Room, 2024’s experimental The Short Message, and the whole P.T. debacle. We also, of course, all definitely played and remember the on-rails shooter, Silent Hill: The Arcade. Townfall, however, is the first time the franchise has fully embraced the perspective. The view makes the game unique within the Silent Hill oeuvre. Through Simon’s eyes, St. Amelia is overbearing and imposing in all the intended ways. That the game looks great also helps. The claustrophobic interiors are full of details that reward inspection, and you can practically taste the fog while exploring outdoors. The peeking mechanic is also expertly integrated and makes it feel like you truly are cowering and exposing as little of yourself as possible while staying quiet and keeping an eye on monsters.

The broad story, at least structurally, will be familiar to Silent Hill players, which I offer as a compliment. Townfall may take place in St. Amelia, but there is no question that this is a Silent Hill game. Simon and others are confronting their inner demons in a foggy town, and what exactly is happening or why the streets are littered with monsters is never truly clear. You do know, however, that something is off and the only way out is through.

Uncharacteristically, compared to past Silent Hills, the individual plots that have led to the emotional distress of Townfall’s cast are more transparent. There are fewer questions about why characters feel what they’re feeling. It eliminates some of the dreamlike qualities that make these games ethereal and mysterious, but I am not opposed to more clarity, as sometimes information is withheld unnecessarily. I like the narrative balance Townfall strikes.

Simon has an era-appropriate portable television that lets him track monsters through the screen’s static, and it does a good job of letting you monitor creatures’ whereabouts while maintaining intensity. Combat is heavily discouraged, with perhaps the fewest number of bullets in any Silent Hill game (that feature guns, anyway) and melee weapons that expire quickly. As a result, Townfall is a stealth game, but I struggled with understanding what alerted enemies to my presence. Sometimes crouching and moving slowly behind cover was enough. Sometimes enemies saw me anyway. The inconsistency made me reload saves often, which diminished the mood of the encounters. I got particularly frustrated with one invincible, instantly-kill-you-if-caught monster who never seemed to walk away no matter how long I tracked him on my TV while hiding in a closet. In these moments, I was bored and annoyed instead of scared.

What I have enjoyed so much about Konami’s renewed efforts with Silent Hill is how it is finding developers like Screen Burn Interactive that understand what makes Silent Hill so intriguing and are managing to produce unique experiences within an admittedly undefined structure. The franchise is about loneliness and trauma and how that affects your emotional state of mind. Townfall presents these emotions well, and my only frustrations arose when I was forced to grapple with some of its unbalanced video game mechanics.

Score:
8.25

About Game Informer’s review system

A lot of hours went into this week’s episode of The Game Informer Show, as Eric joins up with Alex, Kyle, and Charles to talk about the literal full days he spent working his way through Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. Intelligent Systems’ latest strategy-RPG is a big one, but thankfully, it’s also a good one.

After the break, we briefly touch on some early impressions of Control Resonant, ahead of our review impressions arriving another time. And Alex reports back from Blizzcon 2026, where he got to see the all the big news and reveals, as well as go hands-on with the new World of Warcraft: Forever beta. It’s a big new episode of The Game Informer Show, so grab a cold beverage and settle in for some pod.

The Game Informer Show is a weekly podcast covering the video game industry. Join us every Friday for chats about video game reviews, news, and exclusive reveals alongside Game Informer staff and special guests from around the industry. Support the show by subscribing to our physical video game magazine! Submit a question or topic you’d like to hear us discuss: Podcast@GameInformer.com.

Watch or listen here:

Listen to “Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave Review, Plus Control Resonant” on Spreaker.

Follow our hosts on social media:

• Alex Van Aken (@itsvanaken.games)
• Kyle Hilliard (@kylehilliard)
• Charles Harte (@chuckduck365)
• Eric Van Allen (@seamoosi)

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Intro
• 09:03 – Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
• 53:13 – Control Resonant
• 1:16:56 – Blizzcon 2026

We are hard at work this week on putting the finishing touches on our next issue, which we will be revealing soon. Did you know we put out a printed magazine and you can actually have it sent to your home by going to gameinformer.com/subscribe? That is a service we happily provide. But that’s not all that is happening this week. Blizzcon happened. Big video games like Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave and Marvel’s Wolverine came out, and I went and saw the new Resident Evil movie. It’s very good! But you’re here to learn about what new video games you should play this weekend. Before that, though, here are some of the biggest stories of the week.

• Blizzard Announces World Of Warcraft: Forever, Expanding Vanilla WoW With New Zones, Raids, 1,000 New Quests
• More Than Anything, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Movie Understands How It Feels To Play A Resident Evil Game
• Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave Review – Let The Games Begin
• Control Resonant – Review In Progress
• Bill Skarsgård Cast As The Lead In Physint, Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid Spiritual Successor
• Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter Review – A Superb Sequel

Some other new games that released this week worth checking out that we don’t have full entries for below? Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, RuneScape: Dragonwilds, and Aniimo are all now available, and the Crazy Taxi-inspired Truck-kun is Supporting Me From Another World?! is now on Switch 2. But check out our more thorough list below.

Marvel’s Wolverine

Matt Miller

Insomniac’s latest superhero adventure is a very different beast from the studio’s earlier work on the Spider-Man games. Like the character named in the title, this new game is a fast-moving, furious, intense ride, virtually from start to finish. Insomniac has focused on a rollercoaster ride of an action experience, and some other things, like story and exploration, take a back seat to ensuring that intense focus on battle always remains front and center. But if you’re in the mood for crazy, bloody fights, memorable bosses, and big set-piece encounters, Wolverine delivers. Check out our full review for more.

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave

Eric Van Allen

The latest Fire Emblem hits Switch 2 this week, and if anyone closes out the titanic hour count of Fortune’s Weave by Monday morning, please consider grass and the benefits of touching it. Seriously, though, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is a mammoth of a strategy RPG, filled with narrative yarns to unravel, charming units to recruit, dungeons to delve into, and Heroic Games to conquer. No matter how many RPGs are available at any given time on a Nintendo console, Fire Emblem hits certain parts of the palate that few other series can; it’s a special blend of strategy and role-playing, a strong blend of in-unit relationships and army building, a dash of humor and a heavy helping of deeper lore. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is a smorgasbord of all that and more, and you certainly won’t hurt for ways to fill your weekend hours with it. My pro-tips for players picking it up: Kalla’s Blessing is incredibly powerful; get an Archer and a Pegasus Knight as soon as you can; do all the sidequests you can manage. You can read my full review here.

Resident Evil (2026)

Kyle Hilliard

Resident Evil from Zach Cregger, the director/writer behind the critically acclaimed horror movies Barbarian (2022) and Weapons (2025), released last night and I liked it a whole lot. If you’re looking for a film adaptation featuring characters and story from the universe of the Resident Evil video games, you might be disappointed. The references to Resident Evil lore are few and instead the movie focuses on a normal guy who basically gets stuck in a Resident Evil video game. Sure, we know how Leon, Claire, and others respond to Umbrella’s shenanigans, but what about the guy who was just trying to deliver an organ to a hospital when everything went to hell?

The result is a movie that expertly captures the feeling of playing a Resident Evil game. Cregger is clearly a fan of the games and the result is a shocking and shockingly funny movie that I am already considering trying to see again before it leaves theatres. I recommend going to see it with a crowd if you can.

SoulQuest

Matt Miller

After an earlier release on PC, SoulQuest has now made its way over to Switch 2/Switch. The pixel-art action game is relatively straightforward on its surface, but as the game ramps up in intensity, there’s a lot of fun in maintaining your combo with your various skills and juggling whole squads of enemies to increase your score for each encounter. The story seems to draw equally from Celtic mythology and anime narrative and visual cues. For players looking for a button-mashy good time that gradually translates as you play into something a bit more sophisticated, it could be just the ticket.

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight on Switch 2

Charles Harte

I’m a Lego fan, a Batman fan, and a Lego Batman fan, so it’s not surprising I’m a big fan of Legacy of the Dark Knight, and I’m happy it met my high expectations. While the game launched in May, there are three new reasons to check it out today. First, its paid DLC just dropped, giving players a new level and Mayhem Mode to experience as The Joker and Harley Quinn. Legacy of the Dark Knight has far fewer characters than most of TT Games’ previous work, so new options are a big deal. There’s also a free update dropping today that adds the Absolute difficulty, making a very easy game one step more difficult. The lack of challenge was one of my main let-downs, so this is encouraging. Finally, Legacy of the Dark Knight also drops on the Switch 2. While I haven’t played that specific version, I’m glad it’s appearing on another platform, giving more people (kids especially) an avenue to check out the rain-slick streets of Lego Gotham. For my full thoughts, you can check out my review.

Absolum on Switch 2

Matt Miller

The celebrated roguelite brawler (one of my personal favorites from 2025) has just been released on Switch 2. If you’ve yet to dig in and enjoy the unique characters and many potential upgrades, now is a great time to give it a shot. The art style is gorgeous, and the many paths players can take through a given run gradually pull back the curtain on some lovely fantasy world-building. There’s also crossplay support in case you want to enjoy the included 2-player mayhem with a buddy on a different platform.

Tabletop Pick – Pop Art

Matt Miller

Published by Road to Infamy Games, and themed around the classic pop art movement (think Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Can series), this fascinating drafting and tableau-building game uses a mix of colored background cards and transparent cards you can lay on top.

When stacked together, a new visual emerges, which is then scored around particular objectives, such as using more objects than your opponent or having more portraits or particular colors in one of your rows. The dynamic that emerges is one of a light puzzle game, as you seek to display your cards in a way that maximizes your score; doing this creates a display that mimics the feel of an art gallery you’ve curated. Pop Art is distinct and clever, and a good pick if you’ve been looking for something a bit different.

In 2006, I eagerly attended the first showing of Christophe Gans’ Silent Hill. I loved Silent Hill 2, but was ready to mock the film, as video game adaptations to that point had been underwhelming, to say the least. In one scene, protagonist Rose checked her map, and I leaned over to my friend and said, “Now she just needs to check the map every few seconds to make it really feel like Silent Hill.” To my surprise, Rose proceeded to check the map on every block as she made it to her destination.

The movie leading up to that scene and the rest following it is generally forgettable, but that moment made me pause and realize that Gans had in fact played Silent Hill, and was probably even a fan.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil made me recall that moment from Silent Hill. A moment that expressed the feeling of playing Silent Hill more than just being a direct adaptation of the property.

As promised by Cregger in multiple interviews promoting the film, Resident Evil contains very few overt references to the larger Resident Evil franchise. It primarily takes place in Raccoon City, the Umbrella Corporation is acknowledged, there is a typewriter, and protagonist Bryan uses Heavy Field brand shotgun shells. That’s about it. But the whole film expertly expresses the feeling of playing a Resident Evil game. The intense, terrifying highs, the cathartic moments of catching your breath, the frantic pace, the moments of failure as a player, the reward of simply figuring things out, and even building your skill over the course of the game finally paying off in the end.

The movie follows Bryan on the worst night of his life. He is a normal guy (who doesn’t know how to use a gun) trying to make some money on a delivery job while managing his feelings during an emotionally tense event currently affecting his girlfriend and himself.

And then he gets stuck in a Resident Evil game – and there is no Leon to whisk him away on a jet ski.

From that point forward, Bryan reacts to everything not as a Resident Evil protagonist, but as a player of the games. He stares wide-eyed at unbelievable biological horrors; cannot stop comically swearing as he sprints full speed away from danger; screams at embarrassing pitches when monsters leap from the shadows; makes myriad mistakes; searches rooms for anything that could help him; knows he shouldn’t open that scary door even though he has to; is constantly wasting ammo; and during one of my favorite moments, accidentally gets rid of an item he absolutely needed. The whole debacle (which lasts a sublime 90 minutes) is intense, scary, fun, and most surprisingly, often hilarious.

Director Zach Creggor and Austin Abrams, who plays Bryan, nail a very important element of Resident Evil that I believe no other Resident Evil movie has been able to figure out: you can’t take this too seriously. Resident Evil is absurd. The Resident Evil characters are the Leslie Nielsons of this Naked Gun horror universe, and we as the players are the ones that get to scream and laugh and have a good time. Bryan is our stand-in in Creggor’s adaptation, and I love it for that.

I don’t need all video game adaptations to be like this. There is undeniable joy in seeing specific elements of a property you love getting the Hollywood investment and being projected on a big screen. I have no idea if it will be good or bad, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited for the Zelda movie next year. But I love that the emotional experience of playing a Resident Evil game has been so expertly translated into a film here. It officially unseats my previous favorite video game film adaptation, which was, of course, Josh Ruben’s 2021 take on everyone’s favorite Ubisoft game, Werewolves Within.

Control Resonant’s review embargoes have lifted, but I’m still working through Dylan Faden’s sizable paranatural adventure. We’ll publish our scored review sometime next week, before the game’s launch on September 24, but in the meantime, here’s a quick summary of my thoughts so far.

As a fan of Control, I’m having a lot of fun with Resonant. Despite its many differences in combat and world design, it feels the same in several ways. The game’s world and lore are as weird and fascinating as ever; if anything, moving the setting beyond the Oldest House has allowed Remedy to concoct even stranger scenarios now that the general populace is exposed to the full force of the paranatural. While I’m enjoying the main quest, some of my favorite moments in Control Resonant have occurred in the side stories. Many of these optional excursions tell fascinating tales that vary in humor, surrealism, and disturbance, and they sometimes flip the gameplay in unexpected ways, making me excited to experience each one I stumble upon. The game’s myriad recordings and other heavily redacted documents remain as much of a highlight to absorb as in the first Control. 

The melee action, which resembles games like Devil May Cry, feels good. Not quite to the level of a DMC or Bayonetta, as points of comparison, but good, even if it feels repetitive during the early hours due to your initially limited options. This improves dramatically as you unlock new forms for your transforming weapon, the Aberrant, and new supernatural powers. Mixing and matching main and side weapons, combo finishers, and superpowers becomes a deeper, more strategic treat that caters to multiple playstyles. The game is more difficult than I expected; enemies’ levels often keep pace with you and swarm in large, sometimes wave-based mobs. But I appreciate how the difficulty pushes me to rely on my ever-growing arsenal of powers, whether it’s igniting foes by unleashing explosion-inducing punches or force-pushing them off ledges and into hazards. I suspect, however, that the difficulty will catch many off guard, as some main missions will seem like wars of attrition if you don’t invest some time into completing other primary objectives and the different tiers of sidequests. Thankfully, those are worth checking out anyway.

The distorted Manhattan is a surreal visual treat. Beyond the predominantly kaleidoscopic sights that make the city resemble the Mirror Dimension from Doctor Strange, other, even wilder locations keep the game aesthetically interesting. Combined with the fun side quests, this makes Manhattan fun to explore over a dozen hours into the adventure. If you miss the Metroid-esque process of unlocking areas of the Oldest House, take some solace in the fact that Manhattan, despite being a large hub, also feels like a bigger version of Control’s main setting (which you do visit in Resonant). Numerous areas are gated by abilities or keys, and other, typically optional locations require careful searching to find their entrances. Though it can be frustrating when the path forward isn’t as obvious as it seems, entertaining traversal powers gradually make getting around easier and more quickly.

At the time of writing, I seemingly have a substantial chunk left before rolling credits on Control Resonant, but I’m largely positive on the sequel at this juncture. I always look forward to jumping back into it; the combat and world continue to become weirder and more interesting to engage with; I have to regularly curb the desire to uncover every hidden mission, area, or secret to get the review done in a timely manner (so much for that, obviously). I’m also enjoying the fun banter and dynamic of the genuinely likable Dylan and his sassy FBC agent partner/handler Zoe (not to mention hanging with returning faces like Pope and Langston). If the remainder of the adventure continues this positive momentum, Dylan’s quest to save the world will rank right up there with his sister Jesse’s. 

Heart Machine, an indie developer known for games like Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash, has laid off most of its staff, according to studio head Alx Preston. Preston took to LinkedIn to share the news that the studio was working on a game that was funded by an unnamed publisher, but after that publisher dropped out this week, Heart Machine didn’t have the resources to keep its staff onboard.

Preston doesn’t indicate that the studio will shut down, however, simply stating “I’m not sure yet what’s next for Heart Machine to survive. However, we’ll keep pushing to build a path while we are still here.”

Here’s Preston’s full statement.

I have very difficult news today.

We had been working on an unannounced title, funded by a publisher. This week, they decided to no longer move forward with it. Without this key income for the studio, any other immediate prospects or other funds, nearly everyone at the studio had to be laid off. It’s devastating.

Everyone will be provided with as much support as possible, including assisting with placement. If you know of any roles for extraordinarily talented, kind people, please reach out and we will coordinate.

Thank you so so much to all of the incredible people who contributed their efforts and talents to making amazing things at the studio. Thank you to our amazing community and fans.

Navigating an increasingly challenging industry has been extremely difficult, and I’m not sure yet what’s next for Heart Machine to survive. However, we’ll keep pushing to build a path while we are still here.

Heart Machine came onto the scene in 2016 with Hyper Light Drifter, which was self-published and funded by a Kickstarter that raised over $600,000. We loved it, scoring it a 9.5 in our review. Its following game, Solar Ash did well, but made less of a splash. Hyper Light Breaker, Heart Machine’s 3D multiplayer roguelike follow-up to Hyper Light Drifter, launched in early access in 2025 to relatively negative reviews. After layoffs in October 2025, that game’s development ended, and it never got a proper 1.0 release. Most recently, it put out a Metroidvania called Possessor(s), which currently has a 71 on Metacritic, but that launch was preceded by a second wave of layoffs, also in October of 2025. You can read Game Informer‘s Possessor(s) review at the link. Taking place just under a year later, today’s layoffs feel like one more nail in Heart Machine’s proverbial coffin.

Being an indie studio is hard right now. Just this year, Oxenfree developer Night School Studio, Wanderstop developer Ivy Road, and Moss developer Polyarc all shut down.

Physint, an upcoming game from Kojima Productions, just found its star. The game is set to be a spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid, a game series Hideo Kojima famously led for many years before parting ways with Konami, which holds the rights to the IP to this day. In 2015, Kojima founded Kojima Productions to make games on his own terms, and Physint is one of those projects. It’s still in the early stages, so we don’t know much, but today the studio revealed it’s got a big name attached to the project; Bill Skarsgård will play the game’s lead. You can take a look at the actor being photographed for a teaser photoshoot below.

Bill Skarsgård is best known for his role as Pennywise the clown in the most recent duology of It movies, but also appeared as Count Orlok in 2024’s Nosferatu and the scheming Marquis Vincent de Gramont in John Wick 4. 

Kojima is quoted in a press release published alongside the news. “I’m delighted to confirm the lead role for PHYSINT will be Bill Skarsgård,” said Hideo Kojima. “We are both long-time fans of each other’s work, and we’ve decided to embark on this new adventure together. The costume fittings, scans, and camera tests we conducted with Bill and Charlee earlier this year gave me tremendous confidence in the direction of the project.”

The “Charlee” that Kojima references is Charlee Fraser (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Anyone But You),  who was confirmed for the game alongside actors Ma Dong-seok AKA Don Lee (Train to Busan, Eternals), and Minami Hamabe (Godzilla Minus One) last September.

Physint was originally revealed as a PlayStation-published game, but in a dramatic turn of events, PlayStation recently dropped out of the project.  A report from Bloomberg claims that Kojima Productions had missed key deadlines and was on track to be “well over budget,” and that sales for the Death Stranding series hadn’t met PlayStation’s revenue expectations. That same day, Xbox was revealed as the game’s new publisher, hence Kojima’s appearance in the video above, which closed out Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show presentation.

Xbox and Kojima Productions were already partnered to release OD – Knock, a game starring Sophia Lillis and Hunter Shafer. Kojima’s Physint update above is preceded by some new behind-the-scenes footage of recent OD – Knock performance capture sessions.

We interviewed the World of Warcraft: Forever team at BlizzCon about the return of Blizzard’s classic MMO and where Azeroth’s heroes are headed next. Lead game designer Tim Jones and lead software engineer Nora Mills discuss designing new zones like Mount Hyjal and Riverglades, seeing Azeroth’s new lighting and particle system for the first time, and how they’re planning to improve the leveling experience for all players in Forever. 

We also dive into specifics like add-on support, pricing for the new Skyborne elf race, and how Blizzard plans to implement future content like new classes (we asked about the long-requested Tinkerer class). 

World Of Warcraft: Forever – BlizzCon Interview:

Interview Topics + Timestamps:

00:00 – What is World of Warcraft: Forever?02:11 – Making New Content for Azeroth04:00 – New Lighting and Visual Effects05:40 – Designing New Gear, Items, and Rewards08:15 – Why A Level 60 Cap Is Great for Players09:31 – New Dungeon Details (Hall of Thanes)10:00 – Improving on the Leveling Experience11:45 – Camping System Buffs13:05 – Designing Social Interactions14:30 – Multiple Factions & PvP Realms15:47 – Add-On Support in WoW: Forever17:05 – Skyborne Elves Cost + Future Pricing Expectations18:59 – Where is World of Warcraft: Forever Headed?