It’s another week of The Game Informer Show, and we’ve got a spectacular guest to help us break down some releases, new and old!
Jesse Vitelli joins Alex and Eric as the trio that walked through Big Walk together, and really enjoyed it. Then Wesley and Marcus discuss Game Freak’s new original IP, Beast of Reincarnation. Finally, Alex has been checking out Esoteric Ebb and wants to share a bit about it.
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!
The weekend is upon us and it’s full of quality video games. Cooperative games, versus games, farming games, and one Pokopia game. But before we share those, however, here are some of the biggest stories of the week.
Got some friends? Are they far apart? Do you not mind turning off your Discord, putting on proximity chat, and adventuring around an island to solve some puzzles and get into some antics? Big Walk is getting some big buzz, and for good reason: it’s hard to think of any co-op game that’s captured this specific kind of experience before now. Its puzzles are lighthearted and interactive, encouraging physicality and inventive thinking, without being Myst-level head-scratchers. The foley and sound are spectacular, and each new experience is a new excuse to do something silly with your pals. If you’ve got a group looking for their next co-op run, Big Walk should be it.
Pokémon Pokopia’s Bubbly Basin expansion, the first of three parts, hit this week, and it’s exactly what I wanted: more Pokopia. When it launched earlier this year, Pokopia went from a game I was interested in primarily due to its connection to Pokémon to a game I still consider my favorite of 2026. The free update that hit alongside Bubbly Basin adds the ability to dive underwater and other quality-of-life updates, but the paid DLC gives you an entire new underwater biome to explore using the new Dive ability. The new area is chockful of new underwater caves to explore, Pokémon to befriend, tasks to complete, and Easter eggs that link it to an iconic area of the Kanto region. I thought I was done with Pokopia after pouring so many hours into it earlier this year, but now I’m sucked back in, thanks to the Bubbly Basin DLC.
It’s launch weekend for Tōkon, so players are finally digging into the full roster of Arc System Works’ new 4v4 fighter. Though the Steam reviews have been a bit troubling so far – much of the negativity stemming from Linux and anti-cheat issues – it’s been a pretty entertaining fighting game thus far. These are the best days to play a fighting game, after all, as everyone is logging on, running matches, and figuring the systems out. I’ve been getting a firmer handle on the tag mechanics and ways of sprinkling in assists and mix-ups, and think my team of Blade/Doom/Danger/Black Panther is solidifying. I’ll be interested to see how it fits in with the current crop of visible, high-level fighting games, but for a weekend of running sets with your pals, Tōkon is pretty solid. It’s fast, visually gorgeous, easy to pick up but with some solid depth, and the roster is fantastic; I love some of the dips into both fighting game history, with Deadpool’s arsenal of fighting game references, and the unique slice of Marvel’s broader gallery. Any game where I can play as a walking, talking version of the Danger Room is pretty sick.
Fields Of Mistria
Charles Harte
Fields of Mistria finally exited early access this week, so if you, like me, have been waiting for a chance to check out this cozy life sim inspired by games like Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, now’s your chance. It’s a crowded genre, especially in the indie space, so it’s a big deal that the game amassed over 20,000 positive reviews on steam in early access and proceeded to sell a million copies just hours after launch. With farming, fishing, combat, decorating, magic abilities, and a village full of neighbors to meet (or marry), there’s no shortage of things to. It’s even got a 10% launch discount. It’s still a PC exclusive, though – here’s hoping they’ve got a Switch 2 version in the works.
Lies Of P On Switch 2
Kyle Hilliard
Games inspired by Dark Souls, colloquially referred as Soulslikes, are plentiful, but only a few have risen to the heights of From Software’s landmark design acumen. Lies of P, the gothic retelling of the 1883 novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, is among that group. It’s a great game with an arguably bad name, and as of yesterday, it is available on Switch 2. I didn’t dive super deep into my replay of Lies of P on Switch 2, but as has been the case with many Switch 2 ports… it’s solid! It looks good and plays well. I originally played the game on Steam Deck, but it looks and feels better on Nintendo’s handheld. In the future if I have a hankering to beat up some robots as a young Victorian boy in a gothic setting, this is the version I will be reaching for.
Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, with a free trial up through the award-winning Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers expansions? Sign-up memes aside, Final Fantasy XIV is one of the biggest MMOs in the world, and for good reason. With XIV arriving on Switch 2 this week, that’s a good excuse for anyone still holding out to finally jump in. In my personal opinion, you should; some loading issues aside, reports are in that the Switch 2 version seems to be handling the computing load well. Plus, the trial running up through Shadowbringers means you can experience some of the best RPG storytelling in the last decade. My personal sprint from A Realm Reborn through to Endwalker is still among my favorite gaming experiences, ever, and I’m almost tempted to roll a new character on the Switch 2.
It’s worth noting that for existing players that want to have a portable version of Final Fantasy XIV, you will annoyingly need to pay for a second subscription to play on Switch 2. If you’re a Switch 2 owner looking for a long game to play, though, and no shortage of things to do in it, Final Fantasy XIV is waiting for you.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Kyle Hilliard
Insomniac’s Marvels’ Spider-Man 2 released in 2023, but it remains a good game. You can read our review right here where we gave it a 9.5/10. Since its release it has been getting tweaked and improved and new suits have been added, but the game has been fairly quiet over the last year. Recently, however, two new suits have been added to the game. The Spider-Man: Brand New Day suit from the what is inexplicably, apparently the most successful movie ever is now in the game.
Another fun nod to recent Spider-Man media, the wall crawler’s suit from Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls has also been added. As an added bonus alongside the suits, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 now also supports Enhanced PSSR on PS5 Pro and a Power Saver mode. It’s all basically a bunch of solid excuses to boot up a great game after watching the new movie.
Visit a distant and mysterious jungle, send out workers to find gems and other valuables, and discover the secrets of an ancient civilization – all with the help of anthropomorphic animal friends. Since the 2018 release of Everdell, we’ve seen several new installments that expand the excellent board game franchise in new directions. The newest installment, Emerland, sees the worker placement and tableau-building experience shift over into a jungle setting (including some fascinating ruins to explore), but it maintains much of what has made the series so attractive over the years.
Chief among those great traits is the vibrant and beautiful art, as well as the gorgeous table presence, which includes 3D elements on the board that elevate things both figuratively and literally. Several new mechanics make Emerland slightly more complex than earlier installments, but nothing that should scare off players with even a modest understanding of core board game concepts. And lest the word “series” scare you off: Be assured, Emerland is entirely standalone, and serves as a perfectly acceptable first game in the franchise to explore. Emerland is hitting wide release right now; if you’re lucky, copies should start showing up at your favorite hobby store already.
When Pokémon Pokopia came out earlier this year, it surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. To this day, it’s my favorite game of 2026, thanks in large part to its loving treatment of the Pokémon world and its characters, as well as the compelling gameplay loop that draws on games like Dragon Quest Builders and Animal Crossing. I poured tens of hours into the game when I reviewed it, and kept playing for several more hours even after it was over. I thought I was out, but the new Bubbly Basin DLC brought me right back in.
It all starts with a free update, available to all Pokopia players. Now, Ditto can Surf to a new island in Bleak Beach to learn Dive. This new move lets Ditto explore underwater areas, which comes in handy across the entire game, but particularly in Bleak Beach. Though that is the most impactful component of the free update, all players now have access to new emotes, hair colors, and quality-of-life improvements, including being able to move items in bulk, turning off the annoying confirmation message when canceling certain abilities, and a new Portal Pod that lets you access stored items across all locations. Those all improve the overall experience, but that’s just the starting point if you grab the Expansion Pass for Pokopia.
Those who pick up the Expansion Pass can expect three parts of the premium DLC experience. In this first part, Expansion Pass owners get access to a completely new biome, Bubbly Basin. This new area feels in line with the towns in the base game, giving you a ton of caves to explore, Pokémon to befriend, tasks to take on, builds to complete, and, of course, an environment level to raise. The catch with Bubbly Basin is that it’s almost completely underwater, putting excellent use to Ditto’s new Dive ability. Because of this, it lets you swim in any direction in addition to running around, making the deep underwater caves easier to spelunk.
It may be an underrated aspect of the overall Pokopia package, but Bubbly Basin is aesthetically pleasing. The blue hue doesn’t feel overbearing, and being underwater doesn’t make you feel like you’re moving in slow motion as I had feared. Additionally, I love the juxtaposition between the bright areas bathed in sun and the deep darkness that fills the underwater caves. Lighting some of those caves up with new underwater power rods can also lead to fun discoveries, and I loved exploring these areas on repeat to find new offshoots full of loot and diary entries that further hint at what happened to this iconic city from the Kanto region.
It also seems like the new biome cuts down on the wait times for construction projects, which was a criticism of mine in my original review, as something that felt like it would have been a “ready next day” project only took an hour from the time I kicked off the construction. This is good, as I ran out of meaningful tasks and exploration beyond the main story. Maybe this is because I’m very explorative in Pokopia, and I prioritize that over the story tasks, but I had moments when I was just waiting around for construction projects and tasks to finish during some of my gameplay time.
I haven’t yet completed Bubbly Basin, but the handful of hours I’ve already put into it reminded me just how much I like Pokémon Pokopia, and why it’s still my favorite game of the year going into the extremely busy fall months. With Part 2 introducing more gameplay mechanics (including equippable accessories for Pokémon) and Part 3 adding another biome, I can’t see myself removing Pokopia from my Switch 2 anytime soon. But for now, Bubbly Basin is a great excuse to jump back into Pokopia.
I traveled to Osaka, Japan, back in June to visit Capcom’s HQ and learn more about Onimusha: Way of the Sword, which is the latest game to grace the cover of Game Informer. You can read that cover story right here if you’re a subscriber, but alongside that feature, I’m posting exclusive stories for the next couple of weeks based on my various interviews with the leads behind Capcom’s return to the Onimusha series after a 20-year hiatus.
One of those interviews was with Way of the Sword animation team lead Hiroshi Yugen, who explained how the studio created its own version of Miyamoto Musashi, a legendary samurai in Japanese history and the game’s protagonist. He says the fables, legends, and real stories about Musashi influenced a lot of the game’s take on the swordsman.
“There’s definitely a lot of influence from those real stories that went into creating the action [Musashi] uses in the game, both in terms of his reputation as a sword master and him being very skilled with multiple weapons,” Yugen says. Musashi won’t be utilizing his famous dual-wielding style as he’s still early in his journey – in his 20s – and hasn’t yet discovered/created it at this point of his life in Way of the Sword. “Where Musashi is set in this game is before he’s really mastered that, so there’s more focus on that one-sword action, but we did want to include elements of his familiarity with other weapons, which is why we have the Oni Armament skills that come into play.”
During my time playing Way of the Sword, I used two different Oni Armaments. The Two Celestials are small blades that deal straight damage, while the Earth-Shaker hammers I later unlock in my playtime inflict heavy stagger damage. Equipping different Oni Armaments based on the enemies before you is a crucial part of Musashi’s combat kit. During a fight with the Nue, which consisted of two Chimera, mythical beasts inspired by various animals, using the Earth-Shaker hammers was key to my (eventual) victory against them.
Yugen says stories about Musashi tell of how he used whatever means necessary to achieve victory, which is why his kit includes more than just a sword. You can parry enemies into torches, setting them on fire as a result, or flip tables to use as large shields – after you’re done using it as a shield, you can throw it into enemies, too, knocking them off balance. “These are all elements that were kind of inspired by the real stories of Musashi,” Yugen says.
Some stories of Musashi, who is famous for an undefeated record of 62 sword duels and traveling around Japan specifically to reach that number, tell of an attitude somewhere between confident and cocky. That’s apparent in Way of the Sword’s Musashi, who is also searching for the next duel – in fact, he wants to get rid of the Oni Gauntlet on his arm because he feels like using it is cheating in these duels, a far cry from the likes of Samanosuke or Jubei, who want to use their Oni powers to save the world in Onimusha: Warlords and Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny, respectively.
Yugen says he and the team stressed this confidence/cockiness to the motion capture artists Capcom hired to perform the actions of Musashi and his enemies. But, given how early in Musashi’s journey Way of the Sword takes place, they also took great care to make his action “a little rough around the edges” and “not quite as defined,” according to Yugen.
One thing that helped was to imagine each fight in the various scenarios Musashi finds himself in as a Street Fighter bout. Leaning on one of Capcom’s other franchises, Yugen says the Street Fighter angle helped them define what Musashi would be thinking about as each fight begins, how he would walk up to enemies and approach them with sword in hand, and more. “It was towards the end of the project that we really started introducing those elements to flesh out the uniqueness of him, even down to the way he walks,” Yugen adds. “We didn’t want him to walk with this tension; he has a bit of swagger to him, and that’s something we really paid attention to in design.”
Continuing, Yugen says, “Musashi doesn’t really hide his feelings. He’s very blunt, he’s very direct, and when something is a pain in the ass, he’ll say, ‘God, this is a pain in the ass.’”
Some of that is apparent in the Way of the Sword demo that you can play right now, and a lot of that was apparent in my extended hands-on time with the game. I look forward to seeing how Musashi grows as a swordsman and a man in the game when it launches next month.
I’ll continue diving deeper into Capcom’s return to Onimusha as part of Game Informer’s month of Way of the Sword coverage. We’ll be publishing exclusive gameplay and behind-the-scenes videos (including a Rapid-Fire Interview) on the Game Informer YouTube channel as well. Keep an eye on the Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub so you don’t miss any of it.
In the meantime, here’s some additional Onimusha: Way of the Sword reading for you:
According to a new report from Deadline, however, we do know who will play Ganondorf: Uli Latukefu, who has appeared in Young Rock (as a younger version of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), Black Adam, MaXXXine, and more.
Bo Bragason as Zelda (top) and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link
Deadlinealso reports, in a separate write-up, that the late Sam Neill (Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise) filmed a role in the movie prior to his death last month, and that Dichen Lachman (Severance, Altered Carbon, Jurassic World: Dominion) and Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid’s Tale, Dexter, and Miranda Lawson in Mass Effect) are set to film for the movie, too. Deadline reports that Strahovski’s role is a queen, with Lachman set to play Impa. None of this is officially confirmed by Nintendo or Sony, both of which are producing the movie, but Deadline gets its information from sources close to the project. The New York Times‘ Kyle Buchanan originally broke the news about Latukefu’s casting before Deadline further confirmed it.
Given this casting news, it’s still unclear what game the movie could be adapting, but we should learn more soon, considering the movie is due out in roughly seven months.
Nintendo has released its latest financial earnings report, covering the first quarter of the fiscal year, which encompasses April through June 2026. In it, the company has revealed that digital sales revenue is up 90% year-over-year, that the Switch 2 sold nearly 4 million units in those three months, and that, unsurprisingly, Mario Kart World continues to be the best-selling game on the console.
According to Nintendo, digital sales totaled 132.7 billion yen (or roughly $837 million), up 90% year-on-year, “mainly due to an increase in sales of downloadable versions of packaged software.” This figure arrives just weeks after Sony announced it will stop manufacturing discs for PlayStation games in 2028, sparking an uproar among players who want to purchase physical copies. With rumors swirling that Xbox may follow suit, Nintendo could be the last of the Big Three console makers to release its games in a physical format (though players argue whether Nintendo’s current go-to solution for physical releases, Game-Key Cards, is any different from a digital download key).
Elsewhere in the company’s earnings report, it states the “Nintendo Switch 2 hardware maintained strong sales momentum, with sales totaling 3.82 million units,” bringing the total up to 23.68 million. Software units total 58.17 million. Looking at Switch 2 software, the company says Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Star Fox, and Pokemon Pokopia “sold well” but stops short of giving exact numbers for this fiscal quarter. Nintendo did reveal that Switch 2 software sales totaled 9.46 million during this latest fiscal quarter, adding that Switch software in the form of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream reached 7.94 million units.
As a result of these earnings, Nintendo says it is not making changes to its original financial forecast for the fiscal year. “Nintendo Switch 2 is now in its second year since launch in June 2025 and sales continue to be strong,” the report reads. “We aim to maintain momentum for the hardware and see it delivered together with software into the hands of a wide range of consumers.” The company highlights recent releases and upcoming launches, including Splatoon Raiders (launched in July) and Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (the remake) coming throughout the rest of the year.
To close out this look at Nintendo’s latest fiscal report, here are the sales numbers for various Switch 2 and Switch games released so far (in total):
Mario Kart World: 15.39 million units – Our Review
Donkey Kong Bananza: 4.78 million units – Our Review
Pokemon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition: 3.99 million units – Our Review
Onimusha: Way of the Sword launches next month on September 4 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via the Epic Games Store and Steam. It will mark the first game in Capcom’s samurai action series in 20 years, and brings players to real-life locations in Kyoto, albeit through the lens of Japan’s early Edo period. A new trailer released by Capcom today features some of that Kyoto, as well as new gameplay footage highlighting a boss fight against the treacherous Rasho-gan.
If you’re looking for more Onimusha: Way of the Sword content, look no further than Game Informer’s exclusive hub for the game, where you’ll find behind-the-scenes features, interviews, videos, and more.
What do you think of this new gameplay trailer? Let us know in the comments below!
Ubisoft held a special livestream dedicated to Ghost Recon to mark the franchise’s 25th anniversary. The bulk of the presentation centered on a substantial free update coming to Ghost Recon: Wildlands today, but the publisher announced plenty of other goodies for fans, including confirmation of the next Ghost Recon title.
Ghost Recon Wildlands, released in 2017, is getting a free story update today called Last Rites. The narrative centers on a mysterious masked antagonist named La Llorona, who seeks revenge against Bolivia’s cartels, the CIA, and Unidad for wrongs committed against her. Players will battle La Llorona’s cultists, Los Penitentes, to reach her in missions that feature challenging terrain, low visibility, and limited support.
The update also introduces the much-requested 4K resolution and 60 fps gameplay on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. This also comes alongside graphical improvements and new customization options. For example, players can now customize time of day and weather for missions, and adjust specific difficulty parameters without changing the template difficulty. That means you can play the game on an easy setting, but adjust enemy damage output and durability to make combat specifically tougher.
Last Rites has new features previously exclusive to Ghost Mode and other PvE modes, such as authentic reloading, the choice of having 1 or 2 primary weapons, and optional friendly fire. You can now deactivate highlight glow for interactable objects and the preview sightline of throwable items. Sounds to hidden UI elements are also muted for immersion. Wildlands is also receiving tons of free items, including unreleased camos, items previously exclusive to Mercenaries mode, new 25th anniversary items, and more. Lastly, the popular Predator mission, in which players battle the legendary sci-fi hunter, is making a return.
Ubisoft has also announced extended free weekends for Ghost Recon Wildlands and 2019’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Both titles will be free to play in full beginning today and running until August 10. Breakpoint is also getting a 25th anniversary bundle filled with special rewards. Ubisoft is also giving away 2012’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier for free; you can claim it by visiting Ubisoft Connect (you’ll need an account) and adding it to your library. You have until August 13 to do so. There’s also a 95 percent off franchise sale across PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and Ubisoft Connect.
Lastly, Ubisoft briefly confirmed that the next Ghost Recon game is in development. “For the past few years, we’ve been building the next chapter of Ghost Recon,” says Ghost Recon live producer Irina-Gabriela Popa. “I’m really excited to share with you that now we’re ready to put it to the test, because we want to deliver a fun, fresh experience that stays true to everything that defines Ghost Recon: tactical action, large-scale operations, credible military storytelling, and of course, the Ghost Unit.” To help shape the game, Ubisoft is launching an Insider Program that grants early access to the game’s closed test and allows users to provide feedback and receive development updates.
As part of that trip, we got to see a new section of Capcom’s samurai action game and meet one of its creepier villains: the mad scientist Dokyo.
Here’s how that underground lab level, and Dokyo herself, came to be:
We’ll be diving deeper into Capcom’s return to Onimusha as part of Game Informer’s month of Way of the Sword coverage. We’ll be publishing exclusive gameplay and behind-the-scenes videos (including a Rapid-Fire Interview) on the Game Informer YouTube channel as well. Keep an eye on the Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub so you don’t miss any of it.
In the meantime, here’s some additional Onimusha: Way of the Sword reading for you:
Rockstar Games has announced today that it will be sharing an “Extended Look” at Grand Theft Auto VI on Netflix on August 27 in the afternoon. It will also be available on Rockstar’s YouTube channel later that day.
A press release for the announcement contains the image seen above and reads simply, “Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look will premiere on Netflix Thursday, August 27 at 3 p.m. ET and will also launch on the official Rockstar Games YouTube channel and the Grand Theft Auto VI site at 9 p.m. ET on August 27.”
How long this extended look will be and what exactly it will detail is unclear, but it sounds like it will be more than just a trailer and potentially share information about the game’s mechanics. Maybe we will even see proper gameplay with on-screen UI.
