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Electronic Arts plans to eliminate roughly 400 positions in an upcoming round of job cuts, per a new report from Bloomberg, and will also be closing the doors on its long-time role-playing game maker BioWare.

Per Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, these cuts represent about three percent of EA’s total staff, and roughly 50 at BioWare. A letter sent to staff today from EA’s COO David Tinson and Chief Studios Officer Cam Weber said that they’ve taken a “hard look at our business” and will cut projects, including the next Mass Effect.

“As we focus on these larger opportunities, we’ve had a small team at BioWare working on early-development for Mass Effect,” the letter reads. “We’ve made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace. BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly.”

2020 trailer screenshot for the now-canceled 5th Mass Effect

Sports, shooters (like Apex Legends), and Star Wars (including the next Jedi title) will continue apace at Electronic Arts. The publisher also has a new Iron Man game in the works, and plans are in the works for more Battlefield, as well as a new collaboration between Respawn and DICE. The staff letter also suggests a planned Sims game will be put on ice in favor of another venture, and that while Skate development will continue, EA will downsize the team working on it.

EA was fully acquired earlier this year by a number of investor groups, including Silver Lake, Affinity Partners, and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, taking the publicly traded company private. In its announcement at the time, EA chairman and CEO Andrew Wilson said, “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.”

A statement from BioWare posted to social media shared the closure as well, highlighting the list of games it has brought to life: Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Anthem. The team’s focus now, per the statement, is on supporting one another through this transition.

“What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember,” the statement reads. “These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with the characters, and made these worlds your own. From all of us at BioWare, thank you for being the most meaningful part of our story.”

BioWare has been known throughout its history for exactly that: an undoubtedly legendary run of role-playing games where choice, characters, and moments matter. From the early era of D&D-driven adventures to leading the pack in console RPG development with KOTOR, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age, few Western RPG studios boast the legacy BioWare had.

Still, BioWare often sailed on troubled waters. The underwhelming releases of Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem tarnished the studio’s pristine image in the eyes of some fans. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the studio’s most recent—and final—game was generally better received by critics, but spent a decade in development turmoil. Internal strife over the making of these massive RPGs was the subject of frequent reporting. The term “BioWare magic,” referring to how the studio’s games would finally come together in the twilight hours of development, became a sticking point as the years went on.

There is no denying, though, how BioWare has played an active hand in molding the role-playing genre over the years. Even a recitation of past works doesn’t feel accurate to the impact; the influence of Mass Effect and Dragon Age alone is something we still see ripples of today. Even as other studios have taken up the torch and put their own spin on companion-driven, choices-matter stories, there is still an innate sense of “BioWare” that’s hard to remove from those interactions and moments.

Layoffs have become distressingly commonplace, as cuts to legendary teams are announced at a never-ending pace. But to break news writing decorum, I had always hoped, throughout years of working in this industry, that I wouldn’t ever have to eulogize a studio like BioWare. A place that shaped my own dive into video games, and I’m sure did the same for many, many others. A roof under which developers worked long hours to craft stories we’d carry with us for years. I’m thankful for that, and hope those affected find somewhere new that’s rewarding of their talents.

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

Publisher:
Sega

Developer:
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios

Release:
January 15, 2027

Stranger Than Heaven is one of the early 2027 releases we’re most looking forward to, thanks in large part to it being an ambitious title that tells a prequel story following the same man over the course of 50 years. Players control Makoto Daito, a half-American half-Japanese man stuck between two cultures, struggling to fully fit in with either. In 1915, he stows away on a San Francisco ship bound for Japan in an attempt to escape the prejudice he experienced in the United States as an Asian man. However, once he arrives in Japan, he doesn’t quite find the culture of acceptance he expected. As he wanders the streets, pulling off jobs for Orpheus (portrayed by rapper Snoop Dogg), I hear the folks Kokura, where Makoto landed in Japan, jeering him behind his back. 

It’s only one local, Tae Matsumoto, who seems to see Makoto for who he is. Makoto goes to the bar where Tae works, in an attempt to undermine a rival gang, but once he spends an evening with her, he confesses the entire thing before asking Tae out on a real date. Unfortunately for Makoto, Tae is the mistress of the Oki Clan, and when Oki finds out that Makoto is spending time with his mistress, he puts a hit on Makoto and steals Tae away. Makoto leads a siege against the ironworks mill where Oki has stolen Tae, resulting in the most climactic clash of my three hours with Stranger Than Heaven: a battle against the hulking Shimura. There, I really put my mastery of the unique combat system, which corresponds the shoulder buttons to your arms and the triggers to your legs for a more direct control of the combos you throw. Since Shimura uses a huge melee weapon in his second phase, I also used my weapon of choice: a knife. Using the nimbleness afforded by a lightweight weapon, I dodged his advances and finished him off to save Tae.

But Kokura in 1915 is hardly the only setting of the game, as players will follow Makoto’s exploits across five decades, visiting Kure in 1919, Osaka in 1943, Atami in 1951, and, finally, Shinjuku in 1965. I had a chance to free-roam explore both Kure and Osaka. I experienced the fighting arena of Kure, where you challenge increasingly difficult opponents (and can re-challenge defeated foes with special win conditions), and stumbled upon a masked serial killer who gave me the toughest fight of my life. I also found a composer, who can help craft songs based on sounds from which Makoto pulls inspiration; during my playthrough, Makoto found inspiration in everything from a crying baby in a house he walked by to the clang of his metallic melee weapon cracking against a thug’s skull. 

In the Osaka sequence, the attitude toward Makoto has shifted dramatically; men and women alike run up to and greet him with bright smiles due to his work in organized crime and music showbiz. To that end, I use this gameplay section to live in that world. After negotiating with local business owners to buy ad space on their billboards, I have Makoto put on a show at a local theater. Here, I can choose the program, performers, and then take part in an interactive performance.

I left my hands-on session extremely impressed by the many layers present in Stranger Than Heaven. Following my play sessions, I sat down with Stranger Than Heaven director Mikinobu Abe and lead actor Yu Shirota to discuss the themes and inspiration behind RGG Studio’s new entry in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon universe.

When you’re getting to the point where you’re conceptualizing your next game, what are the conversations like that led you to creating a prequel title to the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series with a unique premise like we see in Stranger Than Heaven?
Mikinobu Abe, Director: In the beginning, there wasn’t about, “Okay, let’s make this game as something that’s gonna connect to the Yakuza or Like a Dragon franchise.” It was something more of we always wondered while making Yakuza and Like a Dragon games how would someone create such an organization, like a yakuza organization, and that could be an interesting narrative to focus on. In the Yakuza franchise, we have the Tojo Clan or the Omi Alliance, but we never actually told why or who would create such a thing. So, the starting point was from there, and then, as we were developing the narrative, we added all sorts of elements.

One of the greatest ideas for the game is making the main character of mixed heritage of Japanese and American. I think that decision really opened up a whole new narrative to tell for the studio. So, from there, we did want to tell the beginning of such an organization, but it wasn’t like we wanted to tell a prologue of the Yakuza or Like a Dragon series. We already had the mind of, like, “Okay, we want to make this as something brand new and like nothing that we have made before.”

And with the theme of biculturalism relating to Makoto Daito, why was telling the story of existing in that “in between” space where maybe you don’t feel like you belong in either culture such an important story to tell with this game?
MA: At the beginning, it wasn’t a story about mixed heritage; it was just one Japanese guy who’s trying to create an organization. But we wanted to make sure that the character has a strong motivation for creating such an organization, and we felt like it would be a great narrative to tell if we made the main character as a mixed heritage of both Japanese and American. That really gave us the creative freedom to add an American character and do a multilingual setting where American characters speak in English and Japanese characters speak in Japanese, which is such an interesting thing. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a video game, so it really opened up a lot of creative ideas from there. We felt doing that theme really strong makes the narrative stronger in the way that we wanted to depict this whole story and gameplay experience.

Yu Shirota, Actor Portraying Makoto Daito: For Makoto Daito and myself, there are struggles that come from being in between two cultures or two countries, and the story does see how he grows through those struggles. Just as a disclaimer: These are my personal thoughts, and not necessarily Sega’s thoughts or [Abe]’s thoughts. But, in the current world, not just with race, but many people struggle with finding their identity and who they are. For Daito, the main struggle is, again, two countries, and it’s a story of finding himself through that. But the people who may play this game, when you go around, you might get labeled, you might get told things, and for those people that are really struggling with that, Makoto Daito’s story is something that can give them the courage to find their true selves. I think that Makoto Daito’s identity of the two countries plays an important role in doing that.

In the early stages of the game, we see Makoto leave the United States for Japan, hoping he’ll be more accepted, but then, when he arrives, he faces more prejudice. Can you talk about what Makoto is going through at that point, and how his attitude towards his new home, Japan, evolves over the course of those early years?
YS: I have definitely gone through the same thing he does at first. When I was younger, I felt like an outsider in Spain, and then I came to Japan, thinking I’m coming back home, but I faced sort of the same thing as I was facing in Spain. This is exactly the same as what Daito goes through when he comes from America to Japan, so it was very easy to put myself in his shoes. It didn’t really take a lot to imagine how he’s feeling, but in terms of being in between, I do think these struggles are something that only people like us can truly understand. 

In the beginning of the story, after Daito comes to Japan, he gets called “ketō,” which is sort of a slur for Westerners in that age in Japan, and he doesn’t know what that word means. So, he’s like, “What are they calling me?” He starts off talking to people around town, but his Japanese is not proficient yet, and so they just brush him off as a foreigner. And, of course, seeing this myself, it feels sad, but also, it feels very nostalgic, too, because I know exactly how that feels.

MA: When it comes to gameplay, when we were doing motion capture and the voice acting in general – not just Makoto, but other characters who join the journey throughout the eras – one of the things we really focused on was how Japanese Daito is at the time. When you start the game, Daito’s body language and his first language is in more English. The way the character has this personal space between the person and the way he moves and everything is more Westernized. Once you progress the game, you start to notice that Daito is becoming a little bit more Japanese in a way that he knows how to communicate like a Japanese person, or even someone who’s really higher up.

We pay close attention on how the transition from Makoto living in Japan and the way he would act in both motion acting and facial animation, as well. Like, how fluent he is in Japanese would really affect the lip animations, so we really put a focus on those and crafted this character. This experience might feel like it’s really just for Makoto, but I truly believe that we all have something close in our life that we can resonate with Makoto, like going to a new school or working in a new workplace. You’re always going to start as a stranger. It might not be as harsh as Makoto[‘s experience], but I really believe that this story and that attention to detail would resonate with people across the globe.

So, as we play through the eras, we’ll be able to notice Makoto’s improved Japanese as he lives in the country for longer?
MA: I have to give huge credit to [Shirota]. He did an amazing job! Getting those small, small details! The bigger ones, for example, with the battle voices, when you beat someone up, initially, like a “Take this!” or “You bastard!” Then, once time progresses, it slowly becomes Japanese.

YS: It was really difficult, especially the age and the thoughts. When he came to Japan, he was thinking in English, so the thoughts or things he said to himself were in English. But in 5 or 10 years, it changed to Japanese, and that was easier for me, of course, because English is my third language, so the balance was really interesting for me, and of course I had the same thing in my life: Spanish to Japanese. That was really fun for me, and then of course [progressing Makoto’s] age. That was really interesting! The teenager Makoto and ’60s Makoto are totally different. You can tell with the voice.

MA: It’s also worth mentioning that within Japan, we do have a lot of accents, and because we go to Hiroshima and Osaka, that alone has a different Japanese accent, and it’s a huge difference. And he nailed all the Japanese accents as well. I can’t wait for people to see this amazing work.

YS: It was a hard job!

But it does seem like one you were particularly well-suited for, given your personal experience.
YS: Yes, I think my experience that I’ve had in my life – every single experience – I could put that into Makoto Daito, and that was really helpful to create this character. I’m really happy to play this role.

When we see Daito first arrive in Kokura in 1915, it seemed like he’s really not trying to stick out. He’s just trying to fit in as best he can, and he’s really worried about being a foreigner. Then, in the next era, he has bleached hair, and he seems like maybe he’s not so concerned about sticking out, and maybe leaning into the fact that he is different.
MA: I would say that’s a great read, but however, I’m trying not to spoil anything, but the blonde Daito… there is a cutscene that we revealed during Tokyo Game Show where Daito and a character called Hama is speaking, and a few hints might be in that cutscene. I can’t tell you any further than this, so let me expand the question just a little bit. Daito is going to start finding his own identity throughout life and throughout the eras, and the character visualization alone really represents what Daito is going through within each city in those eras. We have a lot of small hints here and there, so some of them might be too small that even the game releases and no one notices! [laughs] 

But, we really tried our best to keep those details in the game. I truly hope that people pick up on those small details about how much he fits into this Japanese country. There might be situations where he chooses not to fit in, as well, so I hope people will pick up on those small details.

One of the big selling points for Stranger Than Heaven is that we get to know Makoto Daito over a 50-year span of his life. What challenges did that bring with getting that level of familiarity with a character?
MA: You’re going to get to know everything about him! [laughs] You’re gonna witness his whole life! It was a really hard challenge depicting a man’s life, because there are certain characters – and not just Makoto, but his friend Yu Shinjo, who’s played by Dean Fujioka. It was really hard because there are certain characters that we don’t even know how they’re gonna age as an actual actor, because Dean-san’s in his 40s, and when we were doing the character modeling, we had to make, like, an older version of him, and we have no idea how he will look, so those are some things that were really hard about developing the game. 

For a character like Bunta Sugawara’s Iwaki, we have all the reference pictures throughout his ages, so I wouldn’t say it was easy – the character team will kill me if I say it was easy! [laughs] – but we had the references. Aging a character was a huge challenge for us tackling this project. For me personally, I’m still in my 20s; I’m 29! So, from Makoto Daito’s life, there’s this certain point where I have no idea how he would feel at that age and time.

YS: I personally only have 40 years on this Earth so far, so the experiences and challenges that someone might face within those 40 years, I could imagine more easily because I have the experience with that. But the last era in Shinjuku, Daito goes over this age, so I can only try to imagine what it would be like. That was a really fun experience, and I can’t really talk about it right now due to spoilers, but the challenges that shape Daito over the course of the 50 years to make him the Shinjuku Daito that he ends up as, thinking about that was very interesting.

I noticed over the course of different eras, people react differently to Makoto. They go from calling him names and telling him to get out of Kokura to running up to you while you’re walking around Osaka and complimenting you. It seems like a complete 180 from when he arrived in 1915. How does that reaction evolve and how does that impact him as he carries himself through the ages?
MA: He will go through a lot of identities throughout his life. When he gets to Japan, he’s a no one. Then, he’s going to join the Yashima Trading Company, which is led by Yashima, and from there, he’s treated as a member of the Yashima Company. Then, once he’s in Kure, he’s gonna join the Iwaki Clan, which is a big part of the narrative, as well. And in Osaka, he’s going to start a promoting company with Yu Shinjo. I feel like those changes of identity really affects how people react to his title, and we carefully created how that affects Makoto as gameplay. 

But not just gameplay, but with all the cutscenes, we try to make sure the player has the sense of how the people are looking at Makoto. So, when we have all the people walking by, you can tell Makoto is seen as someone who’s unwanted there, or maybe in another scene, you can see that no one’s really given too much care to him, so all the background acting for the cutscenes was really crafted based on how Makoto’s identities are at the time. I really feel like the player can experience the environment of Makoto through both the gameplay and the narrative.

YS: Again, I see that it overlaps with my personal experiences. Daito, at first, he’s very young. He’s scared. He doesn’t know what to do exactly, but he’s sort of forced to assimilate. Then, as time goes on, he finds his worth and grows as a person, and with that, how people look at him starts changing, too. He starts off softer, more easily affected, but as he grows older, he grows a harder shell. He goes into the world of the yakuza. He becomes a member of a clan, and the process of him becoming this harder-shell person is depicted very well throughout the narrative. And the final product, after all of that process of him being called “Boss” by everyone, I also have some similar experiences, because I’m an actor and sort of a celebrity. People come around me and say good things about me, so imagining how it feels as Daito to be in that position was something that I was really able to do without a lot of issues.

As you progress through the story, each era takes place in a different Japanese city. Why were these specific eras tied to these particular cities?
MA: Those cities were chosen based purely on the narrative that we wanted to depict. Again, the beginning was that we want to depict why someone would create such an organization, and from there, we started to realize that we’ll need a lot of time to tell this narrative. In our previous games, like Yakuza or Like a Dragon, the narrative only revolves around a week, maybe, or somewhere around there. But you wouldn’t be able to tell a narrative of someone creating such a huge organization within a week or a day. Then, we settled with, “Okay, it would be cool if we could depict a man’s life journey on creating this place that he wants to call home.” That was the starting point of how we decided we want to depict a man’s life, and we already had in mind that we could start the narrative from 1915 Kokura, because back in the day, Kokura was a huge industrial city, and it was really natural for someone to end up in Kokura [after] smuggling onto a ship. 

The starting point of the narrative was already fixed and, for spoiler reasons, I can’t talk too much, but the ending point was 1965 Shinjuku from the very beginning. From there, we had two dots, and now we selected the era and the city based off of how interesting it would be to put Makoto in a situation that those eras and cities could offer. For example, 1929 Kure; Kure is a famous city within Japan for being the city that was used in the famous yakuza movie called Battle Without Honor and Humanity, and it was a great fit for if we wanted to tell a story about the yakuza. We thought it would be really interesting if we could put Makoto in that situation in Kure because, again, he has this identity crisis of whether he wants to be Japanese or American. Yakuza is such a Japanese organization, so we thought it would be really interesting to put Makoto in that city. Also, because it’s 1929 Kure, back in the day, there were a lot of foreign people within the city because it was such a big military port. That already makes it have this build up of telling a great narrative of someone who thinks they’re Japanese and they’re in the yakuza organization, and yet he still has this foreigner side of himself, and he has a lot of foreigners within the city to connect with.

How much work did it add to the team’s plates to depict not only different cities, but different eras?
MA: You can’t imagine how hard it was! [laughs] It was hard! We did five cities in the past with Yakuza 5, but this time, because we weren’t able to reuse any assets between the cities, and also because no one knows what it was like back in 1915… We had to do a lot of research, and there was some stuff that I, as a Japanese, didn’t even know existed! There were times when we were just running around old bookshops and looking for a magazine that was popular in those days. We did a lot of research based off of those, but the goal was never to recreate Japanese history, so we didn’t have this historical accuracy concept from the very beginning. So, we took a lot of inspiration from what we have researched, and we wanted to convert that into what we wanted to depict as a game and [gamify] it, so it’s in this range of entertaining people. That research took a lot of time, and we did go to all the cities and looked up really old photos and took that research, and had this creative freedom on changing it into something that we wanted to depict in the game.

As you go through these eras between 1915 and 1965, you’re landing in some eras that were not only quite dramatically different from one another, but some were also quite tumultuous for Japan. How do you go about addressing those global and national events within the story?
MA: So, we do touch some of those historical events that are happened. For example, 1943 Osaka. The setting itself is during wartimes. However, the narrative really leans toward Makoto Daito’s life, and so there’s not this crucial depiction of those historical events, and that gave us a lot of creative freedom to focus on Daito’s life. The events are happening, right? We can’t ignore that. But the big events – for example, having a war – it does affect the live of who is living in that city, but they have their own lives, and I think it’s worth telling that life more than what history was actually like. And so, the main goal was the really focus on Makoto Daito’s life in that situation.

Music plays a huge role in Stranger Than Heaven, but what other pieces of art inspired you and your team that pushed the direction of the game?
MA: I studied a lot of film, and I had a lot of interest in movies. Growing up, I always wanted to make movies, and I even went to film school. The knowledge I acquired there was, I did watch a lot of classic movies, and I also studied a lot of film media and camera lenses. And because I had this background, I took a lot of inspiration from how it was created back then. We did a lot of research on these vintage lenses that were used back then, or this film media that was used back then. It wasn’t particularly this movie, but it was more the technique they used back then,  for something that was really hard. Let’s say for example, putting text on a video; these days, where you just put it in the editing software, but back in the day, they had this, like, glass, and then you wrote on it, and then you had to print it on a film. That alone – that analog technique – really was something that we could make a use of and create this vibe that we’ve never seen in a computer-generated graphic image.

Our amazing art director, [Daishi] Kanaya-san, has a strong background in oil painting, as well. He did a lot of research on Japanese painting from those eras, and we noticed how the use of lighting was really different from the drawings that would be drawn these days. This aspect of painting from Kanaya-san and the aspect of film from me connected and we created something I personally have never seen before, and Kanaya-san has never seen before. I hope the player finds it intriguing! 

That said, I personally love classic Hollywood and gangster movies. I took a lot of inspiration from them, as well as ninkyo movies, which is a Japanese term for a yakuza-themed entertainment, and of course, Bunta Sugawara, who is in our game, is a legendary actor from back in those eras, so we took some inspiration from there, as well.

Did your expertise in film influence how you implemented a camera where you need to wind it before you snap, then take it to the pawn shop to get it developed?
MA: Yeah, I really wanted that film camera in there! [laughs] It really is hard, isn’t it? I think those small details of using a gadget, especially with my generation in general, we never got to use those analog cameras. I already had a smartphone when I was in junior high school, so I had this dream of, “Oh I wish I could use those analog gadgets back in the days.” So, we wanted to make sure that the game has that analog feeling to it. 

Also, speaking of the camera, a little bit of a different angle is that I directed most of the cutscenes in the game, and when we were doing the motion capture as well as the camera-angle structuring, we wanted to make the audience feel like they are watching something that would have been recreate-able back in those days, and yet new. The art term was “vintage,” so it’s not old. It does feel old, but it doesn’t feel old in a way that’s not cool, in a sense, these days. We really wanted to make sure we nail that sense of vintage, so we carefully crafted, like, “Okay, we don’t want to make the camera movement too flashy. Let’s stick to how it would have been in the past. Make the lighting really modern, just so it doesn’t feel old, but something that does feel vintage.” We did a lot of experimenting on that, as well, and I hope the players have this sense of they’re watching something vintage, but not something they have seen in a video game before.

Speaking of vintage and retro things, the Yakuza and Like a Dragon franchise have been around for a long time now, but still going strong. How do you pull from that series and its long lineage in a way that still lets Stranger Than Heaven feel like something new while still making sure it feels like a part of the broader universe and story?
MA: Stranger Than Heaven’s dev team is led by a lot of the younger generation that the studio has, including myself. There was never a conversation of, “Hey, Yakuza looked like this, so let’s make this like this.” Instead, we were just so focused on creating a game called Stranger Than Heaven. Period. It wasn’t like it never came across our mind – this is an RGG game that we created. In a sense, we never actually thought of the Yakuza series while developing this game in a good way, and I think that already makes it so a game can feel new. 

Especially with the combat, every single game mechanic that we have in the game usually revolves around the narrative that we want to tell. For example, Kazuma Kiryu, he’s a legendary fighter, so we want to make sure the player feels they’re strong. That’s why we chose that brawling action type of game. And for Ichiban, because his character and narrative revolves around friendship, that’s why we chose the turn-based game genre. So, when we were depicting a new character, Makoto Daito, the narrative is going to change.

We knew that we have to create something new for this character, and one of the biggest things is that Makoto starts off not knowing how to hit people. We wanted to make sure that is represented in the control scheme, as well as the experience as a whole. One of the biggest things was that we wanted to create the experience to be really intuitive and have this synchronization-ness between the player and Makoto. We wanted to make sure that they can immerse themselves in Makoto’s life, and I think combat immersion is something really special that would represent this gameplay as Makoto. Progressing through the eras, of course, Makoto is going to change, and I hope the player’s skills change in a way. Of course, you’re gonna get better at the game, and that immersion and synchronization alone, I think, is something really special with this game.

The combat is unique, because it takes you a moment to wrap your brain around it, but once you do, a lightbulb kind of goes off in your head and it becomes pretty intuitive. How did the team land on this combat system?
MA: The basic idea was we wanted to make combat intuitive, and we had this one theme of actually going back to the roots of what made yakuza-themed content special in those ninkyo movies. We were looking at a lot of them, and one thing we noticed is how raw the action is. No one’s a master at anything, and they’re just pulling clothes to fight, and it’s not just punching and kicking people; we noticed that if you’re not exactly familiar with fighting, punching doesn’t happen too much. That rawness alone, we felt that was something really special, something that lies in the ninkyo movies. We took a lot of inspiration from that, and we wanted to make sure Makoto feels like a raw person who’s not exactly good at fighting, and we wanted to make sure the player feels that. Going back to the roots of ninkyo movies, the huge concept is that it’s either kill or get killed, and we wanted to make sure that the player feels that tension while in a fight. Again, that synchronization that we needed to tell the player that, ‘Hey you’re in a situation of it’s either you kill or your die situation,” and that immersion was the core concept of how we wanted to land the combat. 

Something else I noticed while exploring was the abundance of minigames. How did you go about making sure that you were not only including era-appropriate games, but also ones that translated well to a video game?
MA: Usually within an RGG Studio title, we choose those minigames purely on how we want to depict the city. So, in the Yakuza franchise, it’s mostly modern cities, and we have a lot of variations on minigames, such as karaoke or pachinko. They’re there to depict the city’s vibe as gameplay, and it was no different for us. The minigames within this game represent the cities’ and eras’ vibes and people’s lives back then. Again, we did a lot of research on what was popular back then, and we chose minigames to represent the city’s atmosphere. Also, because the eras progress, the minigames will also change. Some of them will be playable the entire game, and some of them are going to only be in one city and one era. And as technology evolves, of course, a lot of other games are going to come in. A lot of them we haven’t announced yet, so I hope people enjoy the minigames and get a sense of the atmosphere that the city has to offer.

And we’ve talked a lot about Daito, but some other characters garnered a lot of attention back during Summer Game Fest’s reveal. Why was Snoop Dogg the right choice for the role of Orpheus, and did his casting lead to the casting of Tupac?
MA: Every single casting that we made, it was always narrative first for us. When we started writing the narrative, we had this character called Orpheus, who is going to be someone who teaches the ropes to Daito on basically everything. Orpheus is going to teach him how to survive in Japan and how to make money off of music and show business, but Orpheus needs to be a smuggler, who’s going to carry [Daito] from America to Japan. He basically needed to be a badass, and also, he has to act because he has a lot of emotional scenes during the game. That already makes it a really hard character to play, and we always had this casting idea of, “It would be so cool if Snoop Dogg would play this role,” and we kind of heard that Snoop Dogg and his son had played the previous Yakuza games before, so we reached out and we explained every single story and the character that we wanted to depict using Snoop’s likeness, and we created the character together, building up how he should look or how he should talk. It was a great experience creating Orpheus, and that goes for other characters as well.

It’s basically the same with not just Tupac, but Bunta Sugawara, who’s already passed away. We talked with every single individual who was important to their lives – the estate, the families as well – and we explained everything about the story and why we want them to be in the game. They loved the idea of having them in the game, and we crafted those characters as carefully as possible with the highest respect of not breaking how they would have played if they were alive, in a sense.

For more on the inclusion of Snoop Dogg and Tupac in the cast, read our interview with RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama here. Stranger Than Heaven arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on January 15. 

Note: This conversation took part across two back-to-back interviews: one with Mikinobu Abe and one with both Abe and Yu Shirota together. For the purposes of this article, the questions and answers were combined into a singular conversation.

If you’re an Xbox owner looking for new indie games to play, today’s ID@Xbox showcase provided 30 minutes of new, upcoming, and existing indie games coming to Microsoft’s platforms. We’ve rounded up every announcement here for a quick recap of the event. 

Magenta Down (World Premiere) – 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC

2 Ton Studios, creators of 2020’s Unto the End, announced this atmospheric sci-fi title about surviving a harsh exoplanet. For you and your crew to survive, you must scavenge resources while enduring injury and radiation. You’ll also have to battle what appear to be giant alien sea urchins. 

Croak – March 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC (Game Pass Day 1)

Frogs are the de facto mascot of the indie scene, and Croak, a hand-drawn 2D platformer, keeps this unofficial tradition alive. As the Frog Prince, you’ll use your lengthy and sticky tongue to grapple up platforms and propel yourself forward, then roll into a ball to bounce onto and between objects like an amphibian Sonic the Hedgehog. 

Mr. Records – Spring 2027

PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC

Developer Glee-Cheese Studio treated viewers to a full look at one of the game’s many music-based platforming levels. 

Chronoscript: The Endless End – Summer 2027

PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

This hand-drawn search action game about an editor trapped inside an unfinished manuscript is coming to Xbox after previously being announced for PS5 and PC. 

Love is a Roguelike – Fall 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC

Developer Titan1Studios describes Love is a Roguelike as “50 First Dates meets Edge of Tomorrow“, which is quite an intriguing combination of story premises. This deck-building strategy sci-fi western stars a Rex, a rogue space marshal, and his partner, Lakshmi, who must recover the shattered memories of the latter while trapped in a time loop on an asteroid. 

Drill Keeper – Summer 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC (Game Pass Day 1) 

This blend of roguelike deckbuilding and tower defense tasks players with stripping fully destructible worlds of their riches while protecting your Planetary Drill by erecting fortresses and other defenses. 

Mr. Magpie’s Harmless Card Game – Early 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC (Game Pass Day 1)

This sinister deckbuilder sees you gamble your life for cash in the deadly corporate office of Mr. Magpie, a deranged puppet voiced by Matt Mercer. You’re trapped, so to climb the corporate ladder, you must strategically flip cards, stack your deck, take advantage of synergies, and, whatever you do, avoid Jerry cards. 

Waveling Island (World Premiere) – 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC

There’s no shortage of indie creature collecting games, but Waveling Island aims to win fans over with its hand-drawn pixel art, cozy vibes, and tropical island backdrop. After washing ashore, you’ll capture, train, and battle various strange creatures (e.g., a sentient pencil) while befriending the island’s residents and unraveling a big mystery. You can also rebuild the island by gathering resources to construct and decorate buildings.

A Game About Digging A Hole Together – December 4

PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC

The multiplayer sequel to the minimalist viral hit A Game About Digging a Hole is, like its 2025 predecessor, exactly what it sounds like. Up to four friends can now work together to dig a big hole, only this time it’s on a beach. You can unlock new digging equipment, find treasure, and collect and sell resources to keep your dig going as deep as possible. 
 

Scramble Knights Online – October 26

Xbox Series X/S, PC (Game Pass Day 1)

Formerly known as Scramble Knights Royale, the game’s focus has shifted to focus on co-op exploration in a shared world with other players. This MMO-lite features dungeons to crawl, monsters to slay, and loot to find for those looking for a multiplayer take on classic Zelda. 
 

Paper Shredder – Winter 2026

Xbox Series X/S, PC

Another game that’s exactly what it sounds like: you must shred confidential company documents to earn a $1 million payout. Destroying towering paper stacks becomes an easier task thanks to the moral support of the constantly-watching, toxically positive “Happiness Manager”.

Vanran – Early 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC

This dark fantasy RPG centers on a human slaving away in the Demon Realm who rebels against his captors. The third-person Souls-like action looks bloody and brutal, though genre fans probably wouldn’t want it any other way.

Rustown – June 30, 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC

Set in a post-apocalyptic world wiped out by the “idiot virus”, the protagonist receives a letter from their long-missing father to kick off a search for answers. The story-driven action games challenge players to survive slums filled with infected citizens in a narrative centered on finding life and kindness in a broken world. 

Red Kiss – 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC (Game Pass Day 1)

The team behind Herald: The Interactive Period Drama tell a decidely more fantastical tale about dispatching a team of vampires in Cold War-era Berlin. To succeed in this tactical narrative RPG, you must navigate choice-driven scenarios to earn the trust of your undead teammates and use their powers to determine the destiny of your house. 

Graytail – November 2027

Xbox Series X/S, PC

After the greatest female pilot goes missing, players control a headache-suffering detective searching for her whereabouts. The top-down adventure sees players gather clues, solve puzzles, and regularly take medication to remedy their persistent headache. You’ll also battle enemies with over eight weapons, including a cane, umbrella, and crossbow. 

Zero Parades: For Dead Spies – Director’s Cut – November 3

PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, the spiritual follow-up to Disco Elysium, only launched in May, but it already has a much-improved Director’s Cut coming next month. This version features new scenes adding over 40,000 words), a backstage mode, a new dramatic encounter, voice-over improvements, new clothing items, a new death screen, inventory filtering, and more. While the update has been available for the existing versions of the game on PS5 and PC, it will be the default version when it comes to Xbox. 

The Wolf Among Us Remastered – October 29

PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, PC

Check out a new story trailer for the upcoming remaster of one of Telltale Games’ most celebrated adventures ahead of its launch in a couple of weeks. 

Shrek 2 Remastered  (World Premiere) – November 10

PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, PC

The cult-favorite movie tie-in to Shrek 2 is being remastered courtesy of Aspyr. If you missed the 2004 game, it features Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, and other familiar faces battling evil in solo or co-op play for up to four players (local and online). The remaster boasts improved visuals, new features such as a photo mode, and the ability to swap characters instantly.

Reviewed on:
Switch 2

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

Publisher:
Square Enix

Developer:
Square Enix

Release:
October 22, 2026

Rating:
Everyone 10+

RPG publisher Square Enix has been doing the Lord’s work lately by rescuing their discontinued mobile games and rehydrating them into full-fat RPG experiences. Last year’s Octopath Traveler 0 is one such triumph, and it’s safe to say Final Fantasy Resonance is another victory for reusing assets instead of throwing them in the garbage. More importantly, it’s a great RPG experience with a fun cast and character customization options that will make fans of the Final Fantasy V job system rabid with delight. 

Resonance is based on the first season of the now-defunct Final Fantasy Brave Exvius mobile game, which ran four chapters in total from 2016 to 2025, but Resonance is no mere port. For starters, it received an HD-2D injection that gussied up Exvius’s already-impressive sprites. Resonance wears the HD-2D aesthetic confidently; Square Enix has obviously listened to past criticisms of its beloved graphical style, and it paid off. Resonance is an HD-2D game, but its highly detailed character sprites and occasional jaw-dropping pixel-based “cinema” scene differentiate it from the Octopath Traveler series and the Dragon Quest HD-2D remakes. 

Resonance’s distinctions are its greatest strength, in fact. It’s easy to assume at first blush that its story about a boy and his best friend is nothing but a table to prop retro Final Fantasy references upon. It’s true that a key part of Resonance’s gameplay involves summoning “Visions” into battle, said visions being projections of characters from other Final Fantasy games. But that’s all they are: Projections. They teach transferable skills, a la Final Fantasy V’s job system. They can offer characters permanent stat boosts as they level up, like Final Fantasy VI’s espers. And when conditions are met, they can be summoned to perform a super attack via a CGI spectacle that will remind you Square Enix have been masters of game cinema direction since day one.

Each Resonance character can equip a Vision that lends them their powers in a fight, and also grants passive upgrades and skills. Rain, for example, is a heavy hitter with innate fire attacks, but if he wears Cecil Harvey as a backpack, he also gets access to light and dark magic. Cecil gets stronger as they fight together, and bestows skills that can be equipped as wanted. If you’re a Final Fantasy V job-head, you’ve come home.

But Final Fantasy Resonance is Rain’s story despite its many callbacks to past games. Yes, Rain is an amalgamation of past Final Fantasy heroes, from Cloud’s spiky yellow hair to Tidus’s daddy issues, to Zidane’s sunny attitude (with a hint of shadow), but that just makes him easier to root for. Rain’s roommate, Lasswell, contains notes of my beloved Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV, but there’s a troubled nobility to him that’s purely his own. They’re gradually joined by a cast of characters who click with each other (and thus, with me) thanks in part to comedic side-discussions delivered with quality voice acting. References to past Final Fantasy games are doled with clever subtlety. As a Final Fantasy XIV fan, I had to peel myself off the ceiling more than once when I encountered some choice shoutouts.

 

Resonance’s battle system grants it another distinction. It’s a classic turn-based system that shows off who’s next in line to attack, like Final Fantasy X. Every character brings a fighting style and elemental flavor to the party. Lasswell is a samurai who favors ice, Jake is a gunner attuned to the wind, and Lid will rain the fattest of steel chocobos upon your head in an earth-based attack.

Resonance is a snappy game, which might be its most welcome trait. Fast travel is generous, and dungeons are conquered in just the right amount of time. You’re looking at a 40-hour experience, give or take, which is downright digestible for an RPG in this day and age. On the flipside, Rain’s world lacks depth. Its towns are beautiful, unique, and filled with characters and quest-givers who are worth talking to, but the overworld connective tissue is thin and its dungeons lack pizzazz. An auto-battle option would lessen the frustration of random encounters, but said encounters don’t pop up nearly as often as they do in ancestral Final Fantasy games. Plus, the random battles are spaced in a way that makes grinding unnecessary unless you’re maxing out a Vision, which I appreciate, but sometimes you’re just trying to get to a place.

I went into Resonance expecting to like it for its salute to Final Fantasy characters across the decades, but I wound up loving the game for showing me a whole new canon. In a time when mainline Final Fantasy is still figuring itself out, Final Fantasy Resonance is easy to recommend. It has one foot planted on the solid foundation of Final Fantasy’s history, but with its rich graphics and likeable cast of characters it builds up from that history instead of merely pillaging it. 

Score:
9

About Game Informer’s review system

Reviewed on:
Switch 2

Platform:

Publisher:
Nintendo

Developer:
Nintendo

Release:
October 22, 2026

Rating:
Everyone 10+

Originating as a tech demo for the Wii’s motion controls, Nintendo’s Sports series has always found novel and intuitive ways to emulate various athletic endeavors with motion-based video game controllers. Like its predecessors, Switch Sports Resort is a compilation of sports-based minigames built around approachability. Though rightfully known for its enticing multiplayer options, Switch Sports Resort adds new single-player objectives and modes to offer a well-rounded experience for all player counts, making it perhaps the strongest entry in the series to date.

Switch Sports Resort delivers 12 main events to choose from, each with distinct controls, strategies, and rules. Mainstays like bowling, archery, boxing, and golf were my initial destinations to attempt to relive old glories, but newcomers like thumb wrestling, skateboarding, power cruising, and prop plane made me glad for their inclusion. 

Skateboarding, power cruising, and prop plane form a new category called leisure sports, which allow for timed exploration of the newly renovated Wuhu Island by land, sea, and sky, respectively. I spent several sessions seeking out landmarks and collecting Spocco Points, the in-game currency used for character customization. And since all the sports’ controls are so intuitive and newcomer-friendly, it was a breeze to jump between activities.

 

Though they all boil down to moving your arms in something approximating motions you’d make playing the real sport, Nintendo has smartly implemented more variety in its control schemes, all while keeping them easy to pick up. Before the tutorial even explains how to hold the Joy-Con, you can likely accurately guess what the grip and motion will be; even more involved control schemes like basketball and volleyball are easy to remember. 

Skateboarding is particularly innovative, as it uses Switch 2’s Joy-Con’s mouse mode to emulate the kick-push of a skater. Meanwhile, prop plane has you holding your Joy-Con like a paper airplane as you fly around blasting balloons and visiting landmarks. However, holding the Joy-Con that way for several minutes inevitably cramped my hand. And though boxing remains one of my favorite sports in the bundle, I needed to retrain my brain, as throwing a punch the correct way doesn’t work with how the game wants you to do it; if I turn my wrist when punching, my character sways instead of attacking.

Playing with friends, both online and in-person, remains the highlight of Switch Sports Resort. The online friend lobby system receives a boost in the form of allowing different sports to take place simultaneously within the same lobby, and when you add in special variants like simultaneous archery, 100-pin bowling, skateboard racing, and prop plane balloon battles, you have a lot of fun options with which to jump in.

Whenever I play solo, the Island Crown is where I spend most of my time. Here, you climb the ranks across nine sports, sometimes with special rulesets, vanquishing NPC opponents until you are the champion. Whether it was taking to increasingly outlandish bowling lanes, windier archery ranges, or simply facing off against more strategic table tennis players, I relished in improving my skills en route to the championship. 

Because these minigames are relatively surface level, they have diminishing returns once you reach a certain skill level. While I loved it when my tennis opponents started challenging me to use better angles and my fellow golfers stopped air-mailing their tee shots straight into the trees, higher-skill opponents rarely energized me; instead, sports like bowling that include fun, off-the-wall variants were my favorite ladders to ascend, as they truly put my skills to the test as I was forced to adapt to moving obstacles and ramps. I just wish Nintendo injected more fun twists to keep the experiences fresh.

After completing each activity, you’re awarded Spocco Points, which you use to unlock themed customization elements for your characters. Cartoon-like Sportsmates replace the iconic Mii characters introduced in Wii Sports, but you can still use your Mii if you choose. Though I have fondness for Mii characters, after two entries featuring the more expressive, customizable Sportsmates, I now prefer those character models.

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort delivers a capable compilation of quick-hit sports minigames that can be easily enjoyed regardless of how many people are holding Joy-Cons. Though I certainly have my destination sports, there’s not a loser in the bunch. Island Crown mode does a great job expanding the single-player options, but this package’s legs are in its multiplayer experience. And since Switch Sports Resort is chock-full of easily approachable minigames, I can see it becoming a cherished inclusion in the rotation of party mainstays.

Score:
8

About Game Informer’s review system

It’s a new week on The Game Informer Show, and we’ve got a ton of games to get into! First, Brian is here to report back on his hands-on impressions of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake.

After the break, Charles and Wes hop on to discuss their reviews of Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse and Valor Mortis, and we also briefly get into Dressmaker and the new Lego Batman DLC before answering some listener questions.

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!

Watch or listen here:

Listen to “The Ocarina of Time Remake Is Stunning” on Spreaker.

Follow our hosts on social media:

• Alex Van Aken (@itsvanaken)
• Brian Shea (@brianpshea)
• Kyle Hilliard (@kylehilliard)
• Charles Harte (@chuckduck365)
• Wesley LeBlanc (@wesleyleblanc)
• Eric Van Allen (@seamoosi)

Use these timestamps to jump around:

• 00:00- Intro 
• 3:03 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (2026) 
• 31:20 – Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse 
• 56:19 – Valor Mortis 
• 1:08:15 – Dressmaker 
• 1:18:25 – Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight 
• 1:30:24 – Listener Questions

Welcome to spooky month where lawns suddenly grow giant skeletons, it’s cold enough for a hoodie, the remakes of Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 released on Switch 2, and we’re all prepping to hunker down for Winter. And Grand Theft Auto VI.

We’re still in the thick of new release season which, fun fact, used to just be the month of November. But now it starts in August and ends in March, give or take a few weeks.

Before we get to our regularly scheduled weekend recommendations, though, here are some of the biggest Game Informer stories of the week.

• Grand Theft Auto VI Gets A Final, Salacious Trailer
• Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse Review – Worthy Of The Whip
• The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (2026) Preview – A Beautiful Step Back In Time
• Eternal Anima Preview – Strive How I Want To
• House House Chose Not To Put Big Walk On Xbox In Accordance With Palestinian-Led BDS Boycott Against Microsoft Games
• Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Review – Soaring Higher Than Ever

Yakuza/Like a Dragon developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios is releasing its quasi-prequel game, Stranger Than Heaven, in January, and ahead of its release, the team has been pulling back the curtain on protagonist Makoto Daito’s decades-spanning adventure through Japan. A new story trailer RGG released today shows Makoto arriving in Japan and seemingly learning to rap, courtesy of Snoop Dogg’s Orpheus. 

Titled “Act 1: Kokura Story Trailer,” this new Stranger Than Heaven teases how Makoto traveled to Japan to learn English and work before deciding he wants to go to Japan. He ends up on a large ship and begs Orpheus to take him to Japan. And so, Makoto’s first stop in the country is Kokura, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 1915. Stranger Than Heaven spans multiple decades across its 50-year story, taking Makoto to Kure, Minami, Atami, and finally Shinjuku. 

Check out the latest Stranger Than Heaven story for yourself below: 

Stranger Than Heaven launches January 15 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. 

In the meantime, read our interview with RGG studio head about hip-hop artist Tupac’s controversial inclusion in Stranger Than Heaven, then read our hands-on preview of the game. 

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

Publisher:
XSEED Games, Marvelous Games

Developer:
Marvelous Inc.

Release:
March 4, 2027

Eternal Anima is the time-twisting RPG revealed during the big September Nintendo Direct that looked like a Square Enix HD-2D game but isn’t. It is also the game with the “Never Strive For A Better Tomorrow” splash screen. After playing the game for roughly an hour within developer Marvelous Inc.’s Tokyo office, I eschew that line – I will, in fact, strive for a better tomorrow, if only so I can play more Eternal Anima one day. 

The world has essentially come to its final act in Eternal Anima. Urvis Ael is the last remaining bastion of civilization in a flooded world. That said, living in Urvis Ael isn’t all that bad; just don’t strive for a better tomorrow or really any kind of change. Protagonist Wade breaks those rules and sets out on an adventure, feeling deep down that a better life is possible. 

Wade is bestowed with the power of Psychometry, which lets him look into the past, view memories, and inherit abilities and classes for use in combat. My hands-on time with Eternal Anima is mostly focused on combat, and for good reason: it rules. It is turn-based combat, but with a time-turning twist. Wade also has the power of Future Sight, which means he already knows exactly what every enemy will do each turn, reflected in the UI. Every ability has an action speed shown on the timeline at the bottom of the screen. You can always see an enemy’s upcoming action, who they will target, and even the outcome. 

Combat in Eternal Anima is less about hitting enemies harder and more about hitting them smarter. When you attack an enemy’s weaknesses with Wade or other party members, you knock them back on the battle timeline, pushing their predecided actions back in the move queue. Your goal is to push them back enough that you kill them before they can attack, or, for bigger enemies, knock them off the timeline in what’s known as a Break. This cancels their action, opening up your party for another round of attacks. 

The battle system doesn’t feel as active as a standard turn-based RPG; instead, it makes you feel more like a god playing with action figures. You decide what happens, then sit back and watch it all unfold. 

Everything is depicted in a beautiful, bokeh-enhanced art style that’s unique to Eternal Anima, despite the initial HD-2D impression. I love how the world and enemies look, which makes it even more disappointing that the characters are rendered as chibi. It doesn’t gel with the game’s painterly visuals and clashes with its heavier thematic tones. 

 

As I explore Eternal Anima’s miniature settings, which resemble closed-off dioramas placed carefully on a larger world map, I take part in fishing minigames, collect items, defeat enemies, and encounter NPCs from the past, like Fletcher. After I interact with a glowing sword on the ground, an animated flashback plays, detailing Fletcher’s story and ending with a notification that I received a bow from his past. 

As I continue through this world, some two centuries before my time, I encounter a man from this period who’s trying to save his forest hometown from flooding. Of course, I already know this will happen in my timeline because the entire world is flooded, but Wade suspects that if he can convince this person of the looming threat, he can change the present by altering the past. My demo ends shortly after, but now, a month removed from the preview, I’m still thinking about Eternal Anima, specifically its combat. 

A lot of turn-based combat makes you feel powerful. But Eternal Anima’s makes you feel like a genius, and that’s smart and novel. I’m left striving for March now.    

I’ve been tracking Nekome: Nazi Hunter here at Game Informer since its reveal earlier this year. I finally went hands-on with it during Gamescom 2026 and relished just how disrespectfully brutal it is to Nazis. You will soon get the chance to experience that brutality yourself because developer ProbablyMonsters is releasing a demo on Steam soon on October 19, and it will be available through October 26. 

Ahead of that demo launch, ProbablyMonsters also released a new trailer highlighting the game’s narrative and villainous Hyena troupe of Nazi leaders as part of today’s Galaxies Autumn Showcase. These Hyenas are at the center of protagonist Vano’s Nazi hunting, and they are a notorious squad of Nazi agents whose extreme brand of cruelty made them feared across occupied Europe and the world, according to a press release. Players will control Vano as he kills countless Nazis in violent and bloody ways while tracking down each of the Hyenas (who he will presumably also kill violently and bloodily). 

Check it out in the latest Nekome: Nazi Hunter trailer for yourself below: 

Game Informer also spoke to Nekome: Nazi Hunter game director Jeronimo Barrera about the game in the lead-up to this trailer and the incoming Steam Next Fest demo. In the interview, which took place over email, Barrera talks about the game’s politics (or lack thereof), the Hyenas, visual inspiration, and more: 

Game Informer’s Wesley LeBlanc: How did the team decide on the Hyenas as the antagonists/villains of the game, rather than say, the obvious choice of Hitler? 

Barrera: As we developed the narrative, we had already committed to pursuing the grindhouse aesthetic that would drive the presentation. We needed a disgusting set of villains that would be fun to hunt down and murder. Although we are rooted in real-world events, the player fantasy we are after is to hunt down and murder as many Nazis, both big and small, and that needs to deliver over-the-top fun. 

Can you tell me about the Hyenas? What are their differences from a narrative perspective, and what are their differences from a gameplay perspective? Does each Hyena approach the hunt for Vano in different ways? 

We introduce the Hyenas almost immediately in the narrative. After that, the player won’t be confused as to why they need to hunt them down, not the other way around! Vano hunts them down, and each Hyena boss fight is a unique challenge that pushes the players’ abilities. 

It sounds like Vano will be hunted across occupied Europe and beyond? What can you tell me about that beyond?

Our research into how we can tell a new story and give a new experience has given us a lot of surprising locations to explore. For example, we were shocked when we realized that we could have our first encounters with Nazis on U.S. soil! Vano’s adopted home is New York City. It’s hard to believe, but there were Nazi Party rallies in New York. This is where Vano starts his hunt through a tragic coincidence, which then takes Vano to Europe. But he’s not being hunted; he is the hunter.

Is there anything larger than life or supernatural or demonic happening narratively, or is it Vano versus some Nazis that are led by the Hyenas? I ask because scenes in this new trailer almost imply some monstrous transformation, or maybe even something vampiric, as blood drips from the Hyenas’ faces (though I recognize that could just be a style choice).

The Nazis were hideous monsters. We play on those themes for our abilities and how we present them to the player. There are themes we explore that could be considered metaphysical. But with that said, it’s up for people to interpret the narrative on their own.

How would you describe the art style/visual design of the game? 

Our biggest inspiration came from the grindhouse film genre. Turning the stylized pulpiness and violence of movies like Inglourious Basterds into a video game was a challenge that the team was excited to tackle, and we believe this grindhouse spirit gives our game a distinct visual style.

Graphic novels were another major influence. Our goal with the art style was to create something over the top and entertaining, while respecting the serious subject matter. The game would lose its sense of fun if it looked too real, and graphic novels helped us find a look that is visually interesting yet able to handle the story’s darkness and violence.

 How long has the team been working on the game? 

The team began working on the game in 2024. The genesis of the game was a meeting inside ProbablyMonsters where we started quoting Inglourious Basterds, and we all became set on the idea of making a game about hunting down and killing Nazis through an untold Second World War story.

How big is the team? 

Nekome: Nazi Hunter’s development is led internally at ProbablyMonsters by Brett Bourbin, Brand Inman, Sergei Kuprejanov, Kay Willis and me, with assistance from co-development partners.

What has it been like working on a smaller title like this and what does your AAA experience bring to the project? 

Going from concept to the player’s hands in 18 months is an epic lift that’s only possible with amazing devs that bring extraordinary experience and expertise. The AAA sensibilities run deep at ProbablyMonsters; there are some legends in our house. What makes us different is that our independent approach allows us to tell unique stories and make experiences like Nekome that would have a hard time getting to market. 

After Gamescom, ButWhyTho? published a story about how Willis said the game isn’t political, and it caused a lot of discussion/backlash about the game. I wanted to see if the team had any follow-up on the idea that Nekome isn’t political now that some time has passed. At least from my perspective, all art is political; not to mention, making a game where you’re very much visibly and graphically killing and mutilating Nazis is sending a very clear message, especially in 2026 when we have people proudly stating they are a Nazi today. But that’s just my line of thinking – I’m curious where the team lands on this discussion now that some additional time has passed.  

I think we’re overcomplicating this. Nazis are bad. That shouldn’t be a political statement, just common sense. Nekome is a revenge story about people who suffered horrific atrocities at the hands of Nazis. We’re not making a statement about modern politics. We’re telling a story with villains who are unquestionably evil. 

If someone feels politically attacked by a game where you kill Nazis, maybe they should take a long, hard look in the mirror.

Anything I missed you’d like to touch on? 

We created Nekome because we saw an opportunity to tell a Second World War story through a perspective that games have rarely depicted. World War II is one of the most common settings in media. And yet, there are almost no games that explore the persecution of the Roma and Sinti during that period.

That is a real, deeply horrible part of history, so our story also comes with responsibility. The team has worked with historians and cultural consultants to help us approach Vano’s identity, his community and the historical context thoughtfully and credibly. We promise to tell Vano’s story honestly and approach that history with care.