Rockstar Games has announced today that it will be sharing an “Extended Look” at Grand Theft Auto VI on Netflix on August 27 in the afternoon. It will also be available on Rockstar’s YouTube channel later that day.
A press release for the announcement contains the image seen above and reads simply, “Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look will premiere on Netflix Thursday, August 27 at 3 p.m. ET and will also launch on the official Rockstar Games YouTube channel and the Grand Theft Auto VI site at 9 p.m. ET on August 27.”
How long this extended look will be and what exactly it will detail is unclear, but it sounds like it will be more than just a trailer and potentially share information about the game’s mechanics. Maybe we will even see proper gameplay with on-screen UI.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the latest game to grace the cover of Game Informer, and I traveled all the way to Osaka, Japan, to play the game for hours in Capcom’s HQ, interview the developers making it, and learn how the team was returning to this samurai action franchise that hasn’t had a new release in 20 years.
I spoke to director Satoru Nihei and animation team lead Hiroshi Yugen about the studio’s approach to reinventing and updating combat, and learned the biggest goal at Capcom was to take the action of the cutscenes in previous games and make that the gameplay of Way of the Sword. If my three hours of hands-on time with the game, including never-before-seen content I’ll be diving into in future features, is any indication, Capcom is on the right path.
Yugen says when Nihei asked him to join the project, one of the first things he did was look at past Onimusha games. He decided then that he wanted to take the larger-than-life moments from the cutscenes of those older titles and imbue Way of the Sword’s gameplay with those feelings. The next step after that was to look at all kinds of research materials to learn more about how samurai used swords in Edo-period Japan, the fundamentals of sword duels, and more. Then, he got into contact with sword fight choreographers to see swordplay in action, learn the reasoning behind different actions, swings, and poses, and more to “really get to the core” of it all.
Considering Toshirō Mifune is the face of protagonist Miyamoto Musashi, I wasn’t surprised to learn Yugen looked to Mifune movies to see how he moved both as a samurai (in Akira Kurosawa films, for example) and as Musashi in the 1950s Samurai Trilogy of films. “There was definitely some inspiration taken from [Mifune’s] movies, but not just his movies,” Yugen says. “We watched a lot of different movies in the samurai genre to really get a feel for what goes into those, what makes the samurai; and we didn’t just focus on the action in those movies but also the more human side of things. You know, like the defeated samurai escaping from battle – those elements as well are something we looked at really closely when reviewing a lot of these movies.”
Nihei tells me selecting Yugen to lead up the game’s animation and combat design was an obvious choice, calling him a “legend within Capcom.”
“I was very familiar with his name and really wanted a chance to work with him on this project, so that’s why I approached him,” Nihei says. “Getting to work with him and watching these movies and seeing how he picked apart the cool elements from them and figuring out what they wanted to achieve with this game, I feel it was a good choice. We have this legendary veteran on the project so we are definitely confident that we’ve created a really solid swordplay experience.”
Yugen has been at Capcom for 30 years, but this is his first time working on the Onimusha series, and he said yes immediately to Nihei when asked to join the project.
Yugen says Way of the Sword improves upon previous Onimusha games by making adjusting the Issen, which is a move pulled off by attacking an enemy at the exact same time that they attack you. It results in an insta-kill on smaller mob enemies and heavy damage on larger enemies, and remains the hardest move to pull off in combat in Way of the Sword, just as it was the hardest to pull off in previous games.
“Obviously, in the previous titles, Issen does feel great to use and pull off, but it happened so fast […] it’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on in that moment and so one of the things that Nihei-san approached me about with this title was trying to make the Issen a little more realistic and a little more grounded – like what would that look like, what would it feel like?” Yugen tells me. He adds that there are around 10 different variations that Musashi can pull off depending on attacks coming from different angles and more.
One thing Yugen says Nihei threw at him that was challenging to implement was Musashi’s ability to black from dozens of angles. Not wanting Musashi to block unrealistically or look like he’s simply pivoting in place, Nihei tasked Yugen with creating an animation system that allowed Musashi to block from, for example, high-behind, mid-behind, low-behind, high-left side, mid-high side, and so on. “It was a difficult and time-consuming process, but now that it’s in the game and seeing it in the game and how it works and how it’s been received, I’m glad we put it in there,” Yugen says.
Speaking to the 20-year gap between Way of the Sword and the previous mainline Onimusha release, Yugen says it was important that the team pay attention to how the action space has evolved in those two decades, but only just so – Way of the Sword still needed to play like an Onimusha game. That’s why mechanics like the Issen and Chain Issen return alongside new moves like the Blade Barrage.
One of the more obvious additions to the game’s combat is the two control types: Aggressive and Defensive. The former puts Musashi’s main attacks on the face buttons, with blocks and the like assigned to Square – it’s the default control scheme and is designed for players familiar with action games that feel confident in their offense. The latter puts the block button on L1, amongst other changes, to make moves like parry easier for those less familiar with action games – it’s for players who want to play more defensively, as the name implies. Yugen says the team went back and forth on which one to include, but that ultimately, it decided on including both approaches.
You can actually test out both the Aggressive and Defensive control types in the Way of the Sword demo that’s available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Though the game will also launch on Nintendo Switch 2, a demo for that platform is not available.
I’ll be diving deeper into Capcom’s return to Onimusha as part of Game Informer’s month of Way of the Sword coverage. We’ll be publishing exclusive gameplay and behind-the-scenes videos (including a Rapid-Fire Interview) on the Game Informer YouTube channel as well. Keep an eye on the Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub so you don’t miss any of it.
In the meantime, here’s some additional Onimusha: Way of the Sword reading for you:
Beast of Reincarnation, the action-RPG from Pokémon developer Game Freak, hit PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC yesterday, on August 4, and players are running into various issues from performance to story pacing to subtitle text size being too small (and unadjustable), and more. Game Freak posted on its X account that it is planning a “series of continuous updates” for Beast of Reincarnation based on player feedback, and the first patch is coming soon.
“Thank you for playing Beast of Reincarnation,” the Game Freak post reads. “We take your feedback to heart and are currently planning a series of continuous updates.” Here are the updates expected to arrive in the next patch, which Game Freak says will hit within a week:
Camera adjustments
Increased text size
Story pacing improvements (ongoing adjustments planned)
Changing the default setting from Cinematic to Performance mode
Other bug fixes
Game Freak says the contents of this patch are subject to change, and asks players to continue sharing feedback at the form here.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault has been coming together in PC Early Access since November of last year, and the dungeon-crawling action RPG/shopkeeper simulator is ready for its full launch. Developer Digital Sun has announced the game’s 1.0 launch date: September 2.
The sequel trades the top-down pixel art style of its 2018 predecessor for a fully 3D isometric aesthetic. What remains the same is the core gameplay loop: as adventurer Will, you’ll explore dungeons at night to slay monsters and find treasures, then sell your loot in your shop during the day.
The 1.0 launch will introduce new weapons, armor, and a new combat ability called Bomb Path that causes enemies to explode after taking enough hits. Additionally, the shop will reach its final level, unlocking additional Bloblet slots, new cosmetic options, and more space. Moonlighter 2’s story will also receive its conclusion.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (launching day one on Game Pass), Switch 2, and PC. Digital Sun has also made the first Moonlighter free to own on Steam starting today and until August 9.
Last September, Electronic Arts announced plans to be acquired by a trio of investor groups, taking the once-publicly traded company private. That acquisition is now complete in a move EA claims will position it to “accelerate creativity and innovation to shape the future of entertainment.”
In a press release, EA shares that its acquisition by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, collectively known as the “Consortium,” has successfully closed. PIF is the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (which already had a minor stake in EA for years); Silver Lake is a multi-billion-dollar technology investment firm; Affinity Partners is a Miami-based investment firm founded and run by CEO and former White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump. The Consortium acquired EA for $55 billion, which is the largest all-cash sponsor take-private investment in history.
“This moment recognizes the extraordinary people whose creativity, ambition and passion have made EA one of the world’s leading interactive entertainment companies,” said Andrew Wilson, Chairman & CEO of Electronic Arts, in the press release. “We’re entering this next chapter from a position of strength with partners who share our vision and ambition. Together, we’ll invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences for the hundreds of millions of players and fans who inspire us every day.”
Madden NFL 27
As previously reported, the completion of this transaction means EA stockholders, who approved the acquisition last December, receive $210 cash for each share of EA common stock they owned as of the closing. EA’s stock has been delisted from NASDAQ.
The future of Electronic Arts is unclear. While its annual sports franchises, such as Madden and FC, will undoubtedly continue as planned, the futures of other studios and projects remain in question. For example, it’s unknown how this acquisition affects BioWare and its upcoming fifth Mass Effect game or Motive Studio’s long-awaited Iron Man. A third Star Wars Jedi title is also reportedly in the works at Respawn Entertainment. In 2026, EA’s slate of upcoming releases includes Madden NFL 27, FC 27, NHL 27, and Star Wars Zero Company.
For more recent EA news, back in June, the company launched an advertising platform promising “non-disruptive” brand integration in its games
I published an in-depth retrospective about Onimusha’s success, its “Sengoku Biohazard” origins, and more based on my interview with Eshiro, and you can read that right here, but I also spoke to him about watching this series return after a 20-year hiatus. Though he’s not officially working on Way of the Sword, he works at Capcom in a producer role, supporting up-and-coming producers working on various projects at the publisher-developer.
Game Informer
Motohide Eshiro
Sitting beside Way of the Sword director Satoru Nihei, Eshiro tells me he’s been “very surprised and impressed” with the way video game graphics, particularly across the Onimusha series, have evolved alongside the action genre over the past two decades since Onimusha’s start. He also believes Nihei and the rest of the Way of the Sword team have nailed the swordplay action.
“I feel that one of the strengths of it is the swordplay,” Eshiro says. “In particular, I found it was quite an interesting evolution from the base game, but also, maintaining elements like the Issen, that satisfying feel of pulling it off, and the back and forth of Japanese swordplay – I feel they’ve done a really good job of capturing that feeling and creating a bit more of a realistic start of the swordplay action.”
There is a clear but polite embarrassment in the room from Nihei, as he listens to Eshiro discuss Way of the Sword’s strengths, and it’s endearing to see. Nihei refers to Eshiro as a legend and is happy to hear he thinks Way of the Sword is satisfying in its action. “When we have legends like [Eshiro] check out the game, I definitely feel nervous,” he says. “Are they going to be like, ‘What are you doing here?’ There’s definitely a bit of pressure, but obviously I look forward to hearing what they have to say about the game.”
Delving further into his impressions, Eshiro says he is very impressed by what the Way of the Sword team has accomplished with today’s technology. “Coming from someone involved with the past titles, I am very impressed with that and am really happy to see the project in good hands,” he adds. “I’m very excited for people to get their hands on the game.”
Ever the studio man, Eshiro closes out his thoughts by saying if someone is excited about Way of the Sword and wants to learn more about the series, “I would love for people to check out the Onimusha 1 and 2 remasters to see how the series has changed over these 20 years.”
I actually played through both remasters in the lead-up to this cover story trip for Way of the Sword, and though I loved the games as a child, I was surprised to see how well they hold up. Onimusha: Warlords, in particular, remains a fascinating game; it really is “Sengoku Biohazard,” the first game’s codename, à la a Resident Evil game (even set in a singular location like Spencer Mansion) but with samurai instead of agents and swords instead of guns. Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny ups the ante, expanding the game’s scale, complete with a wide-spanning friendship system and multiple branching paths that are still intriguing pieces of game design history today. All of this is to say, I echo Eshiro’s thoughts: Give Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny a go if you’re waiting for Way of the Sword and in need of more swordplay action.
I’ll be diving deeper into Capcom’s return to Onimusha as part of Game Informer’s month of Way of the Sword coverage. We’ll be publishing exclusive gameplay and behind-the-scenes videos (including a Rapid-Fire Interview) on the Game Informer YouTube channel as well. Keep an eye on the Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub so you don’t miss any of it.
In the meantime, here’s some additional Onimusha: Way of the Sword reading for you:
The September release calendar already looks overwhelming, but if you’re a fan of action RPGs, there’s now one more to consider. Crimson Moon, the next game from ProbablyMonsters, is set to release on September 1 at the $20 price point.
Crimson Moon looks to take many of the core tenets of the Soulslike genre and apply it to a run-based action RPG more focused on replayable missions. Stepping into the role of a half-human, half-angel protagonist, you battle through Gildenarch, a city under siege, using the kind of precise combat and character progression players have come to expect from the genre. Missions can be played solo or with two-player cooperative play. The game scales, meaning whether you play solo or with a co-op partner, Gildenarch’s three districts should feel appropriately challenging. If players can finish all three districts in a row, they will face a world boss, which is designed to test players’ masteries of the game. In total, there are three world bosses, which are punctuated by an extremely difficult final boss.
Despite the focus on precision-based combat, ProbablyMonsters wants the game to be an approachable entry for players, both in gameplay and price, leading to it costing just $20. “We’ve made Crimson Moon an intense action-adventure RPG that’s approachable to players,” general manager and game director David Lesperance said in a press release. “With our gothic-inspired art design, co-op support, and epic metal soundtrack, we’ve made something truly unique for gamers to experience this September.”
If you’d like to get the most out of the experience, Crimson Moon’s Deluxe Edition brings the price from $20 to $30. This upgraded version includes the Ceremonial Armor Set and the Axe of the Gods weapon cosmetic, as well as an upcoming expansion that will arrive at some point following launch.
We liked what we saw at Game Developers Conference 2026, but Crimson Moon is up against an onslaught of massive game releases, including another highly anticipated action/RPG in The Blood of Dawnwalker just two days later. Hopefully for ProbablyMonsters, the unique structure, $20 base price tag, and the fact that it’s coming out at the start of the month will be enough to entice players to dive in when it arrives on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on September 1.
This morning’s Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave Nintendo Direct featured a 20-minute gameplay deep dive into the upcoming strategy RPG. The presentation broke down classes and non-combat activities and revealed the game’s true structure.
As previously detailed, Fortune’s Weave centers on four playable protagonists who enter the Heroic Games, a gladiator-style arena tournament, to have their wish granted: Cai, Dietrich, Theodora, and Leda. You can switch between playing each one at any time, with progress for each one saved, allowing you to experience each character’s narrative in parallel. This plays into the game’s main theme of multiple fortunes intertwining.
However, the twist is that this era is actually set in the past. Fortune’s Weave’s true plot is set five years in the future, where the world has been destroyed by the returning demon god Balor. The progenitor god Sothis has summoned the one soul capable of stopping him, a nameless hero clad in white who is the game’s true protagonist. To avoid facing Balor alone, this hero travels to the past to influence the fates of the four champions in order to assemble them in the future to save the world.
Arena combat involves choosing a team of units and placing them on the field in traditional Fire Emblem fashion. Units can wield swords, gauntlets, spears, axes, bows, and magic, each with different properties and even forms (such as a gun(!)). Unleash Combat Arts deal greater damage at the expense of weapon durability, while Blaze Arts unleash bespoke special moves at the expense of HP. For example, Kai can blast a fireball that deals burn damage, Dietrich can instantly teleport to new squares, and Leda can buff surrounding allies and summon a monster to the field. After each move, you can rewind to any previous point in battle to redo any mistakes.
The game’s classes are divided between Beginner, Specialty, and Advanced. Here’s a breakdown of each one, as detailed by Nintendo.
Beginner – There are five Beginner Classes, each dedicated to playing a foundational role in combat. They include gladiators who excel in handling weapons, diviners who wield magic, ornius riders with increased movement range and more.
Specialty – There are over 10 Specialty Classes, each with specific abilities. Armored knights offer ironclad defense, wing soldiers can leap obstacles and cover long distances, charioteers can strike multiple enemies in a straight line, and more.
Advanced – These classes are masters of their skills. Cataphracts have the mobility of horses and are heavily armored; guardians are skilled with white magic and spears; and elephant riders fight astride their giant mounts, to name a few.
Between matches, Free Time occurs. You can prepare for future battles by training in the arena or by watching rivals battle to gather intel on them. The shopping arcade offers new weapons and enhancements. At Temple Row, you can volunteer at certain temples to temporarily gain stat buffs in battle, such as reduced damage. Taking certification exams lets units learn a new class, provided they have prerequisite skills. You can also take on quests from townsfolk, which must be finished within a deadline. Certain citizens can be recruited to your cause, though some require gifts or a meal to convince them to join. Inns let you lodge, eat, and pass time to gain resources automatically. Bonded characters converse in cinematics, raising their bonds.
Outside of Dagsion, you can explore a world map to visit towns, gather information to find treasures, and battle in random encounters. You can also find dungeons to get materials for weapons and other rewards. Interestingly, dungeon battles unfold as traditional turn-based battles instead of taking place on a grid.
The presentation concluded with smaller updates. Nintendo Music will be updated to feature a selection of tracks from Fortune’s Weave, such as the main theme. The Nintendo Today app also has new Fire Emblem themes coming tomorrow, along with new information leading up to launch. A new Ask the Developer article will be published on September 15.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is coming to Switch 2 on September 17.
The protagonist of Beast of Reincarnation is a synthetic human being named Emma. She does not have a soul, but she thinks she wants one. It’s lamentably fitting, then, that Beast of Reincarnation feels soulless. Emma, perhaps appropriately, is stiff and lifeless, but so are her companions and just about every other character in this post-post-apocalyptic Japan. Even the world around them – a network of wide corridors made up of concrete reminders of what was, blanketed in familiar vines, shrubs, and greenery – is stiff. The explorable setting is unchanging and placed within gameplay uninterested in the mystery the setting otherwise evokes. Everything funnels you forward to the next fight, rushing you to advance in an effort to obscure the literal and metaphorical cracks in each zone. Fortunately, that next fight is the best part of Beast of Reincarnation, courtesy of a satisfying combat system filled with experimentation and tense fun. If only the rest of Game Freak’s venture into the action space matched it.
Emma, a mysterious old man named Brad, a young girl named Kagura, and your trusty wolf companion Koo travel throughout Japanese colonies in a Cleanse Walker mech. Emma, a purifier, is tasked with, well, purifying beasts overtaken by a blight en route to the Capitol, where she must defeat the Beast of Reincarnation to save mankind.
These characters talk directly to Beast of Reincarnation’s transparent themes, taking a blunt approach and leaving little for the player to dissect or work through. The importance of friendship, family, having a soul, fighting to save people, and more are discussed ad nauseum in overly long cutscenes void of life. These characters are paper-thin, and the story, which features predictable arcs, lackluster villains, and plot beats about Koo you’ve seen in dozens of other dog-related stories, does little to inspire me as the controller of Emma. But her blade picks up the slack.
Game Freak blends Emma’s Sekiro- and Stellar Blade-style swordplay, which relies on parrying, dodging, and stagger bars, with Koo’s QTE elemental abilities that are reminiscent of last year’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to create an excellent combat system. So excellent, in fact, that sitting through 10-plus-minute cutscenes after each milestone of progression is doubly excruciating. For a game that demonstrates such confidence in its combat, Game Freak is determined to pull you away from it with yet another exposition dump.
While clearly pulling from the aforementioned inspirations, Beast of Reincarnation’s combat is easier. Bosses and more elite enemies still pose a great challenge, but generous HP recovery, powerful attacks that are easy to pull off, and large parry and dodge windows will help the less experienced feel capable and seasoned players feel untouchable.
Initially, boss fights are tense arenas for learning and mastering the combat. However, they, too, become repetitive, with recurring bosses appearing far too much, especially for what are meant to be Beast of Reincarnation’s end-of-stage setpiece moments. Pay attention too closely, and you’ll find that enemies share many animations, removing the enigma of duels and bouts. It doesn’t help that Beast of Reincarnation takes a formulaic approach to each stage, either: The big boss of the area appears for a quick fight at the start, runs off when you’ve hurt it enough, and then waits in its lair while you fight through the stage until you reach it for a proper fight. But still, fighting a boss, whether a repeat or not, means engaging in the game’s combat, and doing so is congenial throughout.
Challenge aside, which comes in three difficulty settings, the combat is rewarding and highly reflexive to one’s strengths. I stuck to an elemental build where I’d begin each fight with Koo’s lightning Javelin equipped with a 2x status build-up mod, allowing my lightning-imbued katana to inflict the “Shock” effect in just seconds. That creates a window of paralysis that lets Emma’s various combo moves and finishers inflict heavy damage and stagger, if not outright kill.
And that’s just one of the many builds I experimented with in Beast of Reincarnation. There’s room for ranged, stealth, fire, poison builds, and more. Through an expansive skill tree that continues to grow, even after the game’s final (and anticlimactic) fight, there’s no world where two players’ Emmas work the same. Generous attribute points used for raising attack, defense, and the usual standard RPG stats make the act of doing so feel inconsequential, and I rarely paid attention to my progression here. But the subsequent skill points I’d unlock, which let me power up specific abilities and moves in Emma and Koo’s kit, came in the dozens, and working through the associated skill tree was a gluttonous climb of power.
There’s a unique double jump in the form of a vine that Emma can use to push herself higher, and she can use those vines to whip to high-up perches and locations, but Game Freak is uninterested in how this might affect locomotion outside of battle. Utilizing these vines to get some air and slam down into enemies below with my Helm-Splitter ability is a treat – whipping up to a boring hallway littered with boring enemies to open a boring chest with boring rewards inside is not.
You will open the same type of chest to receive the same types of resources countless times, and the “take all” button is your best friend because what these items do matters little. There are crops to grow from seedlings collected for Kagura to cook up stat-boosting meals, but these bonuses are negligible. There are skulls to collect to power up your Cleanse Walker, but I had maxed out this mech before the game’s halfway point. There are books (you can’t read) to collect, rations for a hunger system that matters little, and currency you will never struggle to accumulate. Seeking out these resources is as rote as the resources themselves.
The final act of Beast of Reincarnation, with its telegraphed revelations and color-by-numbers moments, left me feeling… nothing. But the ensuing New Game+ notification stopped me from uninstalling the game after the credits rolled. I don’t know if I’ll return to play more, but if I do, it won’t be because of Emma, but rather, what Emma’s sword can do.
Production of Amazon Prime’s live-action God of War TV series halted last month after Kratos actor Ryan Hurst suffered a bicep tear while filming. Since Hurst will require months of rehab following his surgery, Amazon is recasting his role. Varietyreports that Dave Bautista may be filling those shoes.
According to Variety’s sources, Bautista is in talks with Amazon to portray Kratos in the upcoming series. Bautista, a former WWE star, is best known for portraying Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, but has notable roles in the Dune series, Blade Runner 2049, Glass Onion, Knock at the Cabin, Army of the Dead, The Killer’s Game, and is set to appear in Road House 2 and Highlander. Bautista is no stranger to the world of video games, as he appeared in Gears 5 as a model swap for Marcus Fenix (after the actor campaigned to portray the character in a movie).
Ryan Hurst as Kratos in a God of War on-set photo
Deadline had previously reported that four episodes of God of War had been filmed at the time of Hurst’s injury; it’s unknown if those episodes will ever see the light of day.
The rest of God of War’s cast so far remains the same, which includes Callum Vinson as Atreus, Ed Skrein as Baldur, Max Parker as Heimdall, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Danny Woodburn as Brok, and Jeff Gulka as Sindri. The series will adapt the 2018 God of War and has received a two-season order.
