For how well-received The Wolf Among Us was by both critics and audiences, it’s shocking that it has taken so long for the series to be revisited. But despite years of development hurdles and roadblocks, The Wolf Among Us 2 is finally coming next year, and to re-familiarize players with the universe, The Wolf Among Us Remastered was announced for later this year during Summer Game Fest. That said, it wasn’t until Gamescom (which is going on right now!) that we got an official date for the remaster: October 29.
A new trailer also revealed the choice-driven adventure remaster will launch with a Noir Mode, shifting the game’s cel-shaded visuals to a monochrome color palette. It’s a fitting choice for a story so heavily inspired by the Noir genre, though I admit I’m a fan of the original game’s colors and will likely keep them unaltered. Still, it’s a fun option to have.
The Wolf Among Us stars Bigby Wolf as he investigates a dark mystery in Fabletown, a city full of fairy tale creatures. The original game was released episodically in five parts, spanning 2013 and 2014, but the remastered version will be released as a single product.
The Wolf Among Us Remastered drops on October 29 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC. If you want to revisit our thoughts on the original adventure, you can read our reviews of each episode: episode one, episode two, episode three, episode four, and episode five.
For how well-received The Wolf Among Us was by both critics and audiences, it’s shocking that it has taken so long for the series to be revisited. But despite years of development hurdles and roadblocks, The Wolf Among Us 2 is finally coming next year, and to re-familiarize players with the universe, The Wolf Among Us Remastered was announced for later this year during Summer Game Fest. That said, it wasn’t until Gamescom (which is going on right now!) that we got an official date for the remaster: October 29.
A new trailer also revealed the choice-driven adventure remaster will launch with a Noir Mode, shifting the game’s cel-shaded visuals to a monochrome color palette. It’s a fitting choice for a story so heavily inspired by the Noir genre, though I admit I’m a fan of the original game’s colors and will likely keep them unaltered. Still, it’s a fun option to have.
The Wolf Among Us stars Bigby Wolf as he investigates a dark mystery in Fabletown, a city full of fairy tale creatures. The original game was released episodically in five parts, spanning 2013 and 2014, but the remastered version will be released as a single product.
The Wolf Among Us Remastered drops on October 29 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC. If you want to revisit our thoughts on the original adventure, you can read our reviews of each episode: episode one, episode two, episode three, episode four, and episode five.
This month’s Game Informer cover story is all about Exodus, a sci-fi RPG from Archetype Entertainment, a studio founded by former BioWare developers. While visiting the studio in Austin, Texas, my coworker Eric and I played about four hours of the game, and while I enjoyed shooting robots, bonding with companions, and exploring the world, my absolute favorite element of the game was a society of giant, chill talking frogs.
In the second half of our demo, we went to a space station called Khonsu. It generates a shield to deflect space debris from crashing into Lidon, our homeworld. The only ones capable of maintaining the station are the Kay, a community of giant frogs who traverse the facility in massive tubes of water. They’re Awakened animals, a staple of the Exodus universe, which makes them larger, smarter, and longer-living than normal frogs. They also all have translation devices on their bodies, so humans hear them speak English, even though the Kay’s mouths don’t move.
“Most of the Awakened communication is through technology,” Exodus narrative director Drew Karpyshyn told me. “They have […] little translators. So it is sort of a translation on the fly. You know, they’re not actually speaking in human words as such.”
Most of the Awakened I encounter speak with a simplified cadence (Salt, Jun’s Octo companion, is a good example), and the Kay are the same. That said, it does very little to keep their huge personalities from shining through. The first one we meet, 42C, is enthusiastic to the core. When we show up and fight off some Ghosts, a sick electronic soundtrack starts playing, but once the enemies are dead, the music doesn’t stop. It turns out, 42C was the one playing the soundtrack.
We ask him to turn the music down, and he says, “Hey, the what? You know, you don’t look like the other humans, either. Way nicer outfits. Wearing clothes must be weird. What did you want again?” He “speaks” with a breathless cadence, barely pausing between sentences like a young child with a lot to say.
42C, the Awakened frog looks through the glass at Suliman and Jun.
He’s downright thrilled to meet Jun, whom he knows “from the radio,” because he can get news broadcasts from Jun’s homeworld that often report on Jun’s exploits. 42C agrees to help us repel Gideon’s forces (the reason for our mission to Khonsu), though he’s not all that stressed about the invaders – he says they’ve basically been there “forever.” It’s an odd statement, because we know for a fact the soldiers have only been here for a few years. We ask 42C how old he is.
“Me? I’m two,” he replies. “I’m basically already an adult.”
42C accompanies you on and off through most of the level, giving you updates on enemy forces (and even accidentally giving your location away at one point). But he’s only one of the Kay I met on this mission.
While 42C is more similar to a tree frog, 13A looks decidedly more toad-like, resembling a Surinam horned frog. He is larger, has an older-sounding voice actor, and isn’t submerged in water; he just sits in a pond that comes up to his ankles (or whatever the amphibian equivalent of ankles are). 13A also has a job title: senior engineer.
Later in this mission, Jun comes face to face with another Awakened: a war bear named Irina Bruin.
“Big Boots trapped me in here. Wants me to show them how Khonsu works. Fat chance,” 13A laughs. “Your tiny human brains aren’t wired to understand Celestial tech,” he boasts. To his credit, the Kay do seem pretty smart, and Gideon’s men probably wouldn’t understand how Khonsu works, but it’s still very funny to see such condescension from a giant frog. 13A doesn’t get as attached to “Jun Two-Legs” as 42C, but I enjoy his chunky vibes all the same.
In hidden areas, I encounter two more Kay. 62D is a devout believer of a frankly indecipherable religion, speaking with an off-putting passion that sort of reminds me of the Luma from The Super Mario Bros. Movie. She calls me a heretic until I free her from her tank, at which point she decides that I must actually be devout and thanks me for my help.
Meanwhile, 13C says being trapped is “such a drag.” Once I free her, she calls the whole experience “an exhausting ordeal,” despite the fact that she didn’t move an inch the whole time. “I really want a nap, but I guess the least I can do is open shop,” she says, and then allows me to buy mods and upgrades for my weapon. It feels accurate, in that every person I’ve ever met who works retail would usually rather be napping.
Most of the Awakened animals on Jun’s homeworld, like this elephant shopkeeper, aren’t aquatic.
Khonsu is the only time I go offworld in my hands-on time, but I appreciate how efficiently Archetype makes the station feel like a foreign culture. It gives me hope that when I eventually go on an Exodus to a far-off planet in my playthrough, it will evoke a similar “alien” feeling.
This month’s Game Informer cover story is all about Exodus, a sci-fi RPG from Archetype Entertainment, a studio founded by former BioWare developers. While visiting the studio in Austin, Texas, my coworker Eric and I played about four hours of the game, and while I enjoyed shooting robots, bonding with companions, and exploring the world, my absolute favorite element of the game was a society of giant, chill talking frogs.
In the second half of our demo, we went to a space station called Khonsu. It generates a shield to deflect space debris from crashing into Lidon, our homeworld. The only ones capable of maintaining the station are the Kay, a community of giant frogs who traverse the facility in massive tubes of water. They’re Awakened animals, a staple of the Exodus universe, which makes them larger, smarter, and longer-living than normal frogs. They also all have translation devices on their bodies, so humans hear them speak English, even though the Kay’s mouths don’t move.
“Most of the Awakened communication is through technology,” Exodus narrative director Drew Karpyshyn told me. “They have […] little translators. So it is sort of a translation on the fly. You know, they’re not actually speaking in human words as such.”
Most of the Awakened I encounter speak with a simplified cadence (Salt, Jun’s Octo companion, is a good example), and the Kay are the same. That said, it does very little to keep their huge personalities from shining through. The first one we meet, 42C, is enthusiastic to the core. When we show up and fight off some Ghosts, a sick electronic soundtrack starts playing, but once the enemies are dead, the music doesn’t stop. It turns out, 42C was the one playing the soundtrack.
We ask him to turn the music down, and he says, “Hey, the what? You know, you don’t look like the other humans, either. Way nicer outfits. Wearing clothes must be weird. What did you want again?” He “speaks” with a breathless cadence, barely pausing between sentences like a young child with a lot to say.
42C, the Awakened frog looks through the glass at Suliman and Jun.
He’s downright thrilled to meet Jun, whom he knows “from the radio,” because he can get news broadcasts from Jun’s homeworld that often report on Jun’s exploits. 42C agrees to help us repel Gideon’s forces (the reason for our mission to Khonsu), though he’s not all that stressed about the invaders – he says they’ve basically been there “forever.” It’s an odd statement, because we know for a fact the soldiers have only been here for a few years. We ask 42C how old he is.
“Me? I’m two,” he replies. “I’m basically already an adult.”
42C accompanies you on and off through most of the level, giving you updates on enemy forces (and even accidentally giving your location away at one point). But he’s only one of the Kay I met on this mission.
While 42C is more similar to a tree frog, 13A looks decidedly more toad-like, resembling a Surinam horned frog. He is larger, has an older-sounding voice actor, and isn’t submerged in water; he just sits in a pond that comes up to his ankles (or whatever the amphibian equivalent of ankles are). 13A also has a job title: senior engineer.
Later in this mission, Jun comes face to face with another Awakened: a war bear named Irina Bruin.
“Big Boots trapped me in here. Wants me to show them how Khonsu works. Fat chance,” 13A laughs. “Your tiny human brains aren’t wired to understand Celestial tech,” he boasts. To his credit, the Kay do seem pretty smart, and Gideon’s men probably wouldn’t understand how Khonsu works, but it’s still very funny to see such condescension from a giant frog. 13A doesn’t get as attached to “Jun Two-Legs” as 42C, but I enjoy his chunky vibes all the same.
In hidden areas, I encounter two more Kay. 62D is a devout believer of a frankly indecipherable religion, speaking with an off-putting passion that sort of reminds me of the Luma from The Super Mario Bros. Movie. She calls me a heretic until I free her from her tank, at which point she decides that I must actually be devout and thanks me for my help.
Meanwhile, 13C says being trapped is “such a drag.” Once I free her, she calls the whole experience “an exhausting ordeal,” despite the fact that she didn’t move an inch the whole time. “I really want a nap, but I guess the least I can do is open shop,” she says, and then allows me to buy mods and upgrades for my weapon. It feels accurate, in that every person I’ve ever met who works retail would usually rather be napping.
Most of the Awakened animals on Jun’s homeworld, like this elephant shopkeeper, aren’t aquatic.
Khonsu is the only time I go offworld in my hands-on time, but I appreciate how efficiently Archetype makes the station feel like a foreign culture. It gives me hope that when I eventually go on an Exodus to a far-off planet in my playthrough, it will evoke a similar “alien” feeling.
Dungeons & Dragons: Long Rest Tavern eschews the role-playing game’s tradition of controlling adventurers on epic quests. Instead, it puts players in the shoes of an innkeeper, a role usually reserved for NPCs in a D&D campaign, running their very own tavern.
Operating your tavern involves building it from scratch, hiring employees such as servers and bartenders, and running shifts to serve the many adventurers roaming Faerûn. You can cook dishes, brew drinks, and earn money during night shifts, which helps you purchase resources during the day, a period you can also spend exploring areas outside the tavern. When you can’t obtain a necessary resource yourself, you can also send adventurers on quests for certain items on your behalf, as well as other challenges.
Check out the reveal trailer below.
Dungeons & Dragons: Long Rest Tavern is coming to PC in 2027.
Dungeons & Dragons: Long Rest Tavern eschews the role-playing game’s tradition of controlling adventurers on epic quests. Instead, it puts players in the shoes of an innkeeper, a role usually reserved for NPCs in a D&D campaign, running their very own tavern.
Operating your tavern involves building it from scratch, hiring employees such as servers and bartenders, and running shifts to serve the many adventurers roaming Faerûn. You can cook dishes, brew drinks, and earn money during night shifts, which helps you purchase resources during the day, a period you can also spend exploring areas outside the tavern. When you can’t obtain a necessary resource yourself, you can also send adventurers on quests for certain items on your behalf, as well as other challenges.
Check out the reveal trailer below.
Dungeons & Dragons: Long Rest Tavern is coming to PC in 2027.
Firstly, I admit my headline is hyperbolic. Best and worst are subjective and neither word is fully applicable when it comes to Elden Ring on Switch 2. The wordier, more accurate headline that would not inspire the precious clicks that we need to survive in this media hellscape landscape is, “Elden Ring is Okay on Switch 2, so if you can play it somewhere else I would recommend that, but if this is your only option and you haven’t already played it, then this version will get the job done.”
I played about two hours of Elden Ring on Switch 2 in docked mode. Moving through the tutorial in the caves feels pretty good. It does not hit 60 FPS, unfortunately, but it is consistent, which is important. Leaving the caves and entering the open world is where the game stumbles, but not dangerously so.
Swinging the camera around quickly in the open world is uncomfortable and jumping on your horse, Torrent, is where I felt the game struggle the most. But it’s not a disaster. And to be fair, wildly swinging the camera around in the open world is not how anyone plays Elden Ring. Jumping into the little pockets of combat strewn across the open world was more than manageable, as you are focusing the camera on your enemy, not the insane looking castle in the distance.
When I encountered monsters like the lovely fella seen above, the game also did not struggle as I feared it would.
Playing Elden Ring on Switch 2 made me think of Resident Evil 2 on Nintendo 64, which was personally my first experience with the franchise. The N64 version of that game had some improvements compared to its PlayStation counterpart, but its cutscenes and backgrounds were highly compressed to fit on a cartridge instead of discs. It is generally considered the inferior version of the game, but is a perfectly reasonable way to play and when I was young, it was my only option. I did not feel as though I had missed on an important element of the Resident Evil 2 experience.
If you’re in that boat, maybe a young or new player who only has a Switch 2 and no other available platforms, and you’re excited to play what some have called the best game ever made (again… subjective), then Elden Ring on Switch 2 will get the job done. I believe you will get the Elden Ring experience here, but with some asterisks. This is not a Switch 1 port of a PlayStation 5 game where the framerate is merely a suggestion and everything looks out of focus. Elden Ring on Switch 2 is a much better port than say, The Outer Worlds on Switch 1.
However, if you’re like me and you put hundreds of hours into the game on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, or a solid PC, then you will see those asterisks the moment you load the game on Switch 2. You have a point of comparison and you won’t be able to get all those beautiful additional frames those platforms afforded you.
Grand Theft Auto VI launches on November 19, and developer Rockstar Games has been very secretive about what’s included in the upcoming game. In fact, it comes out in less than three months and nobody has even seen gameplay yet. Well, official gameplay, that is. Last week, anonymous leakers started sharing videos of Grand Theft Auto VI online. At first, people questioned whether the footage was legitimate, but Rockstar’s statement erases any room for doubt. Needless to say, the company isn’t happy about the situation.
Here’s the statement in full:
Dear all,
We know that many of you have been waiting to hear from us regarding the events of the past week. It would be an understatement to say that having videos of Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay leak in this way has been heartbreaking for our team, and this is obviously not how we intended for you to see the game after all this time. We are very sorry that everything has taken as long as it has — from getting the game finished (nearly there!) to sharing more details and official gameplay, and providing the community with everything you want to know.
We are very excited for everyone to see the extended look tomorrow. It has taken longer than we wanted to get it ready, but as with everything we do know, we know we need to exceed your expectations, and we are determined to deliver at the level you expect and deserve. While it is unfortunate that the intended game experience may now be impacted by some spoilers, we hope that everyone will wait a bit longer to experience the game for themselves on November 19.
We want to thank everyone in the community who has reached out with messages of support this past week — your words have meant more to this team than you can imagine. Ultimately, we are making this game for you, and without you, we would not have the privilege of making games.
We look forward to sharing more with you soon.
Sincerely,
Rockstar Games
As referenced in the statement, this wave of leaks comes in the days preceding Rockstar’s “Extended Look” Grand Theft Auto VI presentation on Netflix, which airs tomorrow, August 27. Leaks of any kind would take the wind out of a developer’s sails, but when it happens so close to this event, it’s no wonder Rockstar’s statement describes the situation as “heartbreaking.”
Grand Theft Auto VI launches on November 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The Extended Look stream airs tomorrow at 12 p.m. PT and 3 p.m. ET exclusively on Netflix, but it will be uploaded to YouTube later that day.
Grand Theft Auto VI launches on November 19, and developer Rockstar Games has been very secretive about what’s included in the upcoming game. In fact, it comes out in less than three months and nobody has even seen gameplay yet. Well, official gameplay, that is. Last week, anonymous leakers started sharing videos of Grand Theft Auto VI online. At first, people questioned whether the footage was legitimate, but Rockstar’s statement erases any room for doubt. Needless to say, the company isn’t happy about the situation.
Here’s the statement in full:
Dear all,
We know that many of you have been waiting to hear from us regarding the events of the past week. It would be an understatement to say that having videos of Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay leak in this way has been heartbreaking for our team, and this is obviously not how we intended for you to see the game after all this time. We are very sorry that everything has taken as long as it has — from getting the game finished (nearly there!) to sharing more details and official gameplay, and providing the community with everything you want to know.
We are very excited for everyone to see the extended look tomorrow. It has taken longer than we wanted to get it ready, but as with everything we do know, we know we need to exceed your expectations, and we are determined to deliver at the level you expect and deserve. While it is unfortunate that the intended game experience may now be impacted by some spoilers, we hope that everyone will wait a bit longer to experience the game for themselves on November 19.
We want to thank everyone in the community who has reached out with messages of support this past week — your words have meant more to this team than you can imagine. Ultimately, we are making this game for you, and without you, we would not have the privilege of making games.
We look forward to sharing more with you soon.
Sincerely,
Rockstar Games
As referenced in the statement, this wave of leaks comes in the days preceding Rockstar’s “Extended Look” Grand Theft Auto VI presentation on Netflix, which airs tomorrow, August 27. Leaks of any kind would take the wind out of a developer’s sails, but when it happens so close to this event, it’s no wonder Rockstar’s statement describes the situation as “heartbreaking.”
Grand Theft Auto VI launches on November 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The Extended Look stream airs tomorrow at 12 p.m. PT and 3 p.m. ET exclusively on Netflix, but it will be uploaded to YouTube later that day.
Xbox has officially announced its rumored program that will allow owners of physical Xbox games to use them to claim entitlement to their digital counterparts. This disc-to-digital initiative will become available next week for Xbox Insider members to test out before rolling out to the general public.
“Today we are introducing a feature that brings the benefits of digital to physical discs, giving players more flexibility in how they access and play supported games across the XBOX ecosystem,” reads an Xbox Wire post. “This is part of our broader commitment to game preservation. As technology, devices, and distribution continue to evolve, preserving access to the games people own matters more than ever.”
By inserting a supported Xbox Series X or Xbox One disc game into a console and launching the game, users will automatically claim the digital version. Once claimed, users can experience the perks of the digital version, such as accessing it on multiple platforms using Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Cloud Gaming; the physical disc will still work as it always has. This essentially eliminates the need to purchase the same game twice, as has been the case for players who want to own physical and digital copies of the same title. Xbox Insiders will begin testing this feature on August 31.
Xbox states that “thousands” of Xbox Series X and Xbox One titles will initially support this feature, with more games added over time. “While not every title will be available at launch, this is an important step toward a future where players can have greater confidence that the games they buy remain with them for years to come,” says Xbox. It’s unclear when Xbox plans to launch this program to the general public following the Insider testing period.
This disc-to-digital strategy comes as Xbox’s competitor PlayStation has been embroiled in a firestorm of controversy and fan resentment after announcing plans to cease production of physical game discs in 2028. It also potentially serves as a bit of a PR remedy after Xbox initiated massive layoffs (many of which are still incoming) across its studios as part of a restructuring that saw it cut five of its internal development studios loose, the institution of another console price increase this month, among other recent setbacks.
