Coliseum

Happy Star Wars day! It’s May the 4th [be with you], which is very clever and a great excuse to talk about Star Wars and really hit that search engine optimization juice to have the words “Star” and “Wars” in an article as much as possible. But the fact of the matter is, we do genuinely love Star Wars here at Game Informer and have eagerly covered its video game adaptations for years. Six Star Wars games have appeared on Game Informer covers, and it’s fair to assume we will have more in the future (this is not a tease – just an admission that I’m sure there are cool Star Wars games on the way).

• Star Wars Outlaws – Issue 365
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – Issue 315
• Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Issue 275
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – Issue 167
• Star Wars: Episode I – Racer – Issue 73
• Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire – Issue 45

But we have covered Star Wars in other ways, as well, beyond featuring it on the cover. Below you will find some of our favorite features covering the franchise over the years.

Fall Of The Empire: How Inner Turmoil Brought Down LucasArts

Andrew Reiner

Former Game Informer editor-in-chief Andrew Reiner dove deep into the fall of LucasArts back in 2013, interviewing various developers about what happened and why it collapsed.

You can read the full feature here.

The Story Of The Darth Maul Game That Never Came To Be

Andrew Reiner

Another piece by Andrew Reiner (potentially the world’s biggest Star Wars fan), followed up his wider LucasArts piece with a more focused look at a Darth Maul video game that made significant progress in development, but was cut in half and dropped down an endless chasm before it could officially exist. Unlike the character, however, the game was never revived.

You can read the full feature here.

Shadows Of The Empire – Remembering Star Wars’ Most Audacious Video Game Adaptation

Kyle Hilliard

I am a huge fan of the Star Wars game Shadows of the Empire. I can’t argue it is the best, but I can argue that it is my personal favorite. Back in 2018, I tracked down one of the game’s directors, Jon Knoles, and spoke in depth about the creation of the game, Shigeru Miyamoto’s feedback, and a lot more.

You can read the full feature here.

Jedi: Survivor Composers Explain What Makes A Score ‘Sound’ Like Star Wars

Charles Harte

Following the release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Charles Harte spoke with composers Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab about arguably one of the most difficult musical jobs in any entertainment medium: composing a soundtrack that pays homage to and emulates (without being the same) arguably the most iconic musical score of all time 

You can read the full feature here.

117 Rapid-Fire Questions About Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Leo Vader

During our cover story trip to check out Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Leo Vader (inarguably the funniest man on YouTube) asked the game’s director (who also directed God of War III), Stig Asmussen 117 equally hilarious questions about the game and Star Wars in general.

You can watch the interview here.

Super Replay | Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Marcus Stewart

Back in 2021 Andrew Reiner, former PC editor Dan Tack, and Marcus Stewart played through Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in its entirety.

You can watch our full playthrough here.

We have plenty more Star Wars features all over gameinformer.com. These are just a few of our favorites.

Star Wars.

Star Wars.

Star Wars. 

Star Wars.

Star Wars.

Star Wars.

Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars. Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars. Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars.

Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars.

Star Wars.

Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————Star Wars————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

STAR

WARS

STARWARS.

starwars

Sraw Rats

Star Wars.

STAR WARS STAR WARS STAR WARS STAR WARS STAR WARS STAR WARS STAR WARS 

STAR WARS

starwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwarsstarwars

Star Wars? Star Wars.

Star Wars.

~~Star Wars~~

• Star Wars
• Star Wars
• Star Wars
• Star Wars
• Star Wars

Today is the first day of May, which means in Minnesota (where Game Informer is technically based and about half of us live) there is a a freeze warning in place that will expire tonight at 1 a.m. in the morning. Which is to say, we’re not quite ready to spend the day outside (but we’ll probably try anyway), so thankfully there are some good new video games to play.

But before we get to those suggestions, here are some of our biggest stories of the week.

• The First Trailer For The Resident Evil Movie Made By Weapons Director Zach Cregger Has Arrived
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Oaths And Ashes Is A Visual Novel Set In Contemporary Berlin Launching This Year
• Saros’ Creators Say The Returnal Successor Is About Obsession, Greed, Power, And Corruption
• Spoiler-Free Tips And Tricks To Know Before Starting Saros
• Invincible VS Review – Punching Above Its Weight
• Vampire Crawlers Review – Dazzling Dungeons

Saros

Kyle Hilliard

I have about 76 hours logged in Saros and am two Trophies away from the Platinum. I saw credits and wrote Game Informer‘s Saros review at about the 40 hour mark. I share those stats to emphasize how much I enjoyed and continue to enjoy Housemarque’s new rogue shooter. Usually, when it comes to reviewing a game with a definable conclusion, we move on when we’re done. Even if we like a game, we often simply don’t have time to continue to play it. We’ve got to get to the next big game, after all.

But I can’t seem to stop playing Saros.

I suspect even if I am able to get the Platinum trophy (I don’t know that I will be able to get Untouchable – we’ll see), I will probably keep playing just to fill out all the various progress bars and max out the skill tree. I don’t want to stop. Even if you’re intimidated by the genre, or if Returnal seemed too hard, I insist you give Saros a try. It is undeniably a challenging game, but Saros is much more manageable that Returnal (which I also love, to be clear). Its ending is attainable, even if your first few attempts on the initial boss feel hopeless. Stick with it! In fact here are some tips to help you along. Here’s an interview with the development team, too. They offer some tips at the end of that, so that will also help you be successful. It’s the current front-runner for my game of the year, and it may be yours, too.

Invincible VS

Matt Miller

Like great comic-based fighters that have come before, like Marvel vs. Capcom or Injustice, Invincible VS comes out swinging and wonderfully captures the characters and tone of the universe it’s playing in. In this case, that’s an especially bloody set of throwdowns between rival superheroes Under the hood, Quarter Up has crafted a deep and rewarding tag-team fighting game system that feels intense, challenging, and nuanced. But if you’re mostly here to see Mark punch his mean dad, you can bump down the difficulty and have a grand old time seeing the action play out. It’s rare that we get a brand-new entry in the fighting game genre that isn’t a sequel to something that has come before, and rarer still that the result is something this impressive. But Invincible VS is one of those times, and our early matches have been a blast.

Head here to read Game Informer‘s Invincible VS review.

Far Far West

Matt Miller

Players looking for their next cooperative robot-cowboy undead-killing shooter have much to celebrate with the early access release of Far Far West. Yes, the thematic backdrop is quirky, but the action and style of play here recalls great titles like Deep Rock Galactic and Helldivers. While playable solo, the real fun is meeting up with some buddies, picking a mission, and taking a flying train out into the desert to shoot some swarms of skeletons and spectral crows while galloping about on a mechanical horse. Customizing your robot, trying out build tweaks, and experimenting with spell combinations are all part of the package here. Evil Raptor are still early on with this title, but the whole thing is giving off fun vibes, and buzz is already building over on Steam.

Vampire Crawlers

Wesley LeBlanc

I rolled credits on Vampire Crawlers just in time to get my review for it posted this morning, but trust that I still have lots of dungeon crawling in my future. Yes, it offers plenty to do after seeing credits, with lots of unlocks still to go, but even if it didn’t, I’d still be playing. That’s because the core gameplay – building a card deck on the fly while engaging in fast, frenetic, casino-like combat remains a simple but effective blast. With so many crawlers to select, cards to utilize, and other run modifiers, no two dungeon crawls feel the same, ensuring every go feels brand new. Plus, because of its more laid-back nature, requiring less strategy than a contemporaries like Slay The Spire 2, for example, Vampire Crawlers is the perfect game to play on the couch with the latest episode of The Boys on, or while watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End the umpteenth time. I’m considering picking it up on Switch for this very reason. 

Read more of my thoughts in the Game Informer Vampire Crawlers review. 

In this week’s episode of The Game Informer Show, returning guest Brenden Groom (Pass The Controller) joins us to discuss why Poncle’s Vampire Crawlers and Double Fine’s new sculpture battle game, Kiln, are both great. Additionally, we dive into Charles’ review of Tides of Tomorrow, a story-focused adventure game with asynchronous multiplayer elements. It’s a neat concept, but how’s the execution?

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 to The Game Informer Show:

Listen to “Vampire Crawlers & Double Fine’s New Game Kiln Are Great” on Spreaker.

Follow our hosts online:

• Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken)
• Charles Harte (@chuckduck365)
• Brenden Groom (@begroom / PlayMoreIndies.com)

Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction
08:30 – Charles Visits the Lego Batman Preview Event
17:04 – Kiln
36:06 – Tides of Tomorrow Review
50:51 – Vampire Crawlers

Reviewed on:
Switch

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

Publisher:
Poncle

Developer:
Poncle

Release:
April 21, 2026
(PlayStation 5,
Xbox Series X/S,
Switch,
PC), 2026 (iOS,
Android)

Rating:
Everyone 10+

History has shown that we humans like the movement of light – babies, children, teenagers, adults, and even the elderly are drawn to flashing colors with matching rhythmic sounds. It’s why slot machines, televisions, phones, and yes, video games, keep us glued to their presentation. Poncle’s latest game, a first-person dungeon crawler aptly titled Vampire Crawlers, uses these sensations to bring to life its simple but effective deckbuilding roguelite in a way as idiosyncratic as its parallel predecessor, Vampire Survivors. And though I find my enjoyment crossing back and forth between a TikTok-like compulsion (derogatory) and a genuine craving for its one-more-run gameplay (complimentary), there’s no denying the mechanical fun. Selecting cards, routing through dungeons, and killing hundreds of skeletons, zombies, witches, and more from stage to stage is a consistent indulgence. 

Booting up Vampire Crawlers is not dissimilar to taking a step into a casino. A barrage of lights, sounds, and tactical buttons and triggers to press and pull demands your attention. Every card, enemy, step (even the bumps into surrounding walls), every thing you do is harmonized into the congratulatory orchestra of sensation that is Vampire Crawlers. And as it ramps up, distinct shimmers of the experience gems you earn and the rhythmic bouncing of the runetracer card attack grow into a cacophony. It’s a discordance I relished in as the notes of destruction I bring to the rows of enemies before me, but it’s an annoying one without the context of my on-screen actions (just ask my wife, who endured a lot of it next to me on the couch). After 20 hours, though, I’ve had enough of these retro tingles, and I prefer Vampire Crawlers with its volume down while watching TV or listening to a podcast. 

Perhaps to the dismay of Poncle, playing on mute is a perfectly fine way to enjoy Vampire Crawlers due to its laid-back, almost automechanical nature of engagement. There is strategy involved, especially in the latter stages that test your card combo prowess, but at its most difficult, I’m monitoring the game to ensure what I want to happen does happen, rather than feeling a need to actively participate. Of course, I do take part in every action, in that I must press the buttons to select cards and hit the d-pad to maneuver through libraries, forests, dairy plants, and magical castles, but the thought required to succeed is a far cry from the brain power I used while learning its rules. 

By design, Vampire Crawlers is incredibly easy to break. There are a lot of crawlers, which are the player-characters with unique perks and ability triggers, to collect, cards to find and enhance at the blacksmith, Arcana to discover that add new rules to how your on-the-fly deck works, and persistent power-ups to purchase to enhance your dungeon performance. All of these work in tandem to keep each run fresh, interesting, and varied. Sometimes, my crawler-card-arcana-power-up combination fails within minutes. Other times, I clear a stage after an hour of ruthless beatdowns, and in my favorite (but admittedly least engaging) runs, I steamroll through everything thanks to a near-infinite card build that doesn’t let enemy turns happen or another that ensures certain cards fire off dozens of projectiles at once instead of a few. Once you understand how the various pieces work in tandem, putting together a nigh-indestructible build takes very little, losing some engagement in the process. 

There’s no real narrative tying everything together beyond taking the fight to the bad guys in some medieval land, but the game doesn’t suffer because of it. If anything, it gets you back into the dungeons sooner, dropping any pretense that you’re here for something beyond making numbers go up so you can see the nice lights and hear the nice sounds again. 

Vampire Crawlers elevates an otherwise simple but highly entertaining card game with sensations more reminiscent of a casino (or Vampire Survivors) or the blinding blue light of doomscrolling late at night to create a retro-inspired diversion that’s hard to put down. Its pull is less powerful with its dozen or so stages complete and behind me, but it’s clear that desire to return will never quite let up, lingering, waiting in the gothic wings for one more run. 

Score:
8

About Game Informer’s review system

Extremely OK Games, the developer/publisher (formerly known as Maddy Makes Games) behind 2018’s Celeste, has revealed City of None, a new metroidvania platformer launching next year. Alongside Extremely OK Games, Celeste co-creator Noel Berry and his brother Liam Berry are developing City of None, which sees you control a wooden protagonist as they adventure through a strange city’s five sectors. 

You will venture by train to these five sectors while exploring their various pathways as you meet friendly metropolitan inhabitants and many a foe to defeat. While the movement looks reminiscent of Celeste, City of None is going for an even more retro aesthetic with muted colors and fewer bits. Nonetheless, it looks (and sounds) amazing, and it’s a game I’m looking forward to checking out next year. 

Check out the City of None reveal trailer for yourself below: 

“Adventure through a metropolis filled with strange spirits, wicked beasts, ferocious robots, and more than one friend as you wrest life – and the city’s future – back from the grip of ravenous Barons,” the game’s description on Steam reads. It also says players will discover unique items and power-ups that grant new platforming abilities. 

City of None will launch on PC via Steam sometime in 2027. 

In the meantime, read Game Informer’s Celeste review.

Are you interested in City of None? Let us know why in the comments below!

After last year’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, the universe is expanding with another new game later this year, this time a visual novel. Titled Vampire: The Masquerade – Oaths and Ashes, this visual novel is set in contemporary Berlin and follows the rules of the 5th Edition of the long-running tabletop RPG. It will launch on PC via Steam later this year. 

Players will take on the roles of two protagonists: Alice, a Venture operative dispatched by the Camarilla faction who must keep the city’s other factions destabilized, and Lenz, a Thinblood outsider trying to survive. The two form an alliance, and that relationship is the core of Oaths and Ashes, according to developer Revive The Spark, which has worked on previous Vampire: The Masquerade games before. 

Drawing from Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, Oaths and Ashes blends branching dialogue choices with character abilities. For example, Alice can wield Disciplines to manipulate those around her while Lenz relies on a hands-on alchemy system to brew formulas that unlock new conversational paths and abilities. Your choices affect the warring factions and the greater political map of Berlin. 

Revive The Spark says Oaths and Ashes is for both newcomers to Vampire: The Masquerade and veterans of the World of Darkness universe. 

Vampire: The Masquerade – Oaths and Ashes launches on PC sometime in 2026. 

In the meantime, read Game Informer’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 review, and then head to Game Informer’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 coverage hub for exclusive features, interviews, and videos about the making of the RPG. 

Are you going to check out Vampire: The Masquerade – Oaths and Ashes later this year? Let us know in the comments below!

Wizards of the Coast is publishing a new trading card game that’s been in the works for nearly three decades. Mark Rosewater’s Mood Swings is a new kind of card game for the Magic makers, but seems both easy to learn and easy to share with others.

Mood Swings is billed as a trading card game you won’t have to “build,” playable entirely out of the box. It’s a light strategy experience for two-to-four players, and the idea is that you buy a deck of Mood Swings and it will be playable right out of the box, even if the cards you get are pulled from a pool of commons, uncommons, rares, and mythics.

Rosewater, who’s also head designer for Magic: The Gathering, draws a comparison to a cube, a format in Magic where players curate a collection of cards that they can draft or play special modes within. Mood Swings will be packaged in 45-card decks, and they can be playable right away, or tradeable with friends to curate your own version of this game.

Mood Swings, in a two-player game, sees both players drawing from the same deck and holding five cards. Each player plays one card (though there are ways to play more than one) and then their point totals are scored, with the highest number taking the round. Three rounds won takes the game.

Simple, right? But seasoned Magic players will likely start to see some of the ways in which Mood Swings allows players to take those rules and bend them. Cards that allow you to discard from your hand to play an additional card, ceding future resources for immediate benefit. Or maybe you opt to be patient, slowly building up your points, as the cards (moods) laid down stay in play from round to round. As you may also notice, each card uses sketch versions of popular Magic: The Gathering cards too, as a little bonus for long-time fans.

The back-and-forth scoring is fairly straightforward; there are no resources to meter your play, for example. And while you don’t automatically refill your hand, the loser of each round does get to draw a card, allowing for some effective comeback mechanics.

Mood Swings seems like it could be a hit for card game players who have been trying to get their card-averse friends and family into the hobby. It’s got a lot of the hallmarks of interesting, back-and-forth card slinging and synergy maximizing, while paring back on the mental checklist required for other games.

Mood Swings will be a Secret Lair product, on sale on June 1 for $24.99. There are 133 total cards, with 45 cards in each deck you purchase, seeded from the pool of cards available. And yes, the idea is you could trade cards with friends or construct your own personal Mood Swings deck to play with, unique to their own playstyle or aims.

Magic: The Gathering will be hosting its own panels and events this weekend at Magic-Con Las Vegas, so stay tune for more in that realm soon.

There’s never really been a shortage of movies based on Capcom’s long-running survival horror franchise, Resident Evil, but how good (or bad) each one is varies from person to person. Nonetheless, Capcom and Sony Pictures Entertainment are set to bring yet another Resident Evil movie to silver screens this November, and it’s a picture directed by Barbarian and Weapons’ Zach Cregger. 

The first teaser trailer for the movie, which is aptly titled Resident Evil, dropped today and while it doesn’t really look like any of the games, it sure does look awesome. When I say it doesn’t look like the games, I mean there’s no real connective tissue between it and Capcom’s games, nor are there any major references to their events, characters, or settings. That said, the new main character in the trailer is certainly enduring some very Resident Evil-like events, from running from zombies to running through various locales, including farms and cities, to using shotguns and more. And on that front, this movie looks awesome, and considering how great Barbarian and Weapons are, I am officially stoked for Resident Evil. 

Check out the Resident Evil teaser trailer for yourself below: 

Resident Evil hits theaters on September 18. 

While waiting, read Game Informer’s Resident Evil Requiem review to find out why it’s one of our favorites of the year, and then read Game Informer’s reviews for Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake, and Resident Evil 2 Remake. 

Let us know what you think of this teaser trailer in the comments below!

Reviewed on:
PlayStation 5

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

Publisher:
Skybound Games

Developer:
Quarter Up

Release:
April 30, 2026

Rating:
Mature

The 2D fighting genre, once thought to be a dying category, now flourishes thanks to major franchises and underground hits. Invincible VS straddles the line of those two classifications, bringing a red-hot IP into the space by way of a new studio made up of fighting-game veterans. The result is a 3v3 tag fighter with rock-solid mechanics, strong production values, and a fun, if flawed, story mode, enabling Invincible VS to go blow-for-blow with many of its contemporaries right out of the gate.

Invincible VS Video Review:

True to its source material, Invincible VS includes fistfights that often result in multiple characters drenched in blood and a superpowered roster chock-full of larger-than-life personalities. This is further accentuated by some of the show’s star-studded voice cast, including J.K. Simmons, reprising their roles for the game, or soundalikes doing admirable impressions. And that goes a long way, as each character has specific verbal interactions with other fighters on the roster, lending to the overarching cinematic feel of the matches.

Though many of the characters – particularly the suite of Viltrumites – possess similar powers, developer Quarter Up excelled at making each fighter on the roster feel unique. Invincible and Dupli-Kate’s speedy, in-your-face rushdown style is great for dealing with big bodies like Conquest or Lucan. However, mid-range characters like Thula gave me fits until I swapped to a bully character like Battle Beast. As you build a team of three, this game of counters and contrasts ably encourages you to bring a well-rounded squad into every battle.

As a Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat player of three decades, I initially struggled to grasp Invincible VS’s brand of combo-focused, tag-based fighting. Thankfully, after spending time in the helpful tutorial mode, I was rattling off combos, landing Heroic Strikes, chaining through Active Tags, and sending characters across the world with Arena Shifts.

Thanks to a modern approach to its control scheme, which emphasizes strategy over input commands, improvising combos (or using the light attack’s auto-combo system) and landing devastating, cinematic ultimates foster an incredibly approachable fighting experience. And the ability to break combos through tags is a novel evolution of the stellar Killer Instinct-inspired formula. However, the Counter Tag system can feel inconsistent (unless you’re the AI), and certain characters sometimes miss during combos, creating small annoyances when locked into tense battles. 

Arcade-style ladders let you fight through multiple opponents across various difficulties, with the reward of brief, largely underwhelming endings for each character. Despite that, I enjoyed fighting through these towers with different teams to hone my skills and strategies for when I jumped online. I love the online lobby system, which lets several players join a room, jump in and out of matchups, and even spectate other fights. And during my online matches on pre-release servers, I only experienced minor hitches during play.

Though I love playing one-off matches, climbing the arcade ladders, and hanging out in a lobby, my favorite part of any modern fighter is its story mode. And with my love for the Invincible franchise, I was highly anticipating what Quarter Up was pitching as essentially a bonus episode of the show. Even after playing through the story mode twice, I’m still blown away by the production values of the awe-inspiring cutscenes. Large-scale action scenes consisting of the full 18-character roster are wildly entertaining. 

However, like many of the genre’s story modes, the narrative is simply a flimsily disguised mechanism to provide justification for why you’re mashing your various action figures into each other. The story falls short of being a compelling adventure, and I soon felt like I was simply going through the motions to see the next spectacle cutscene rather than caring about where the story was going. And without spoiling too much, the extremely short campaign ends in an unsatisfying fashion.

With plans for post-launch content already announced, Invincible VS is likely to only improve as its lifespan progresses, which could certainly address some of the current shortcomings. However, with an already solid foundation built upon approachability and personality, Invincible VS is easy to recommend to both seasoned fighting games fans and Invincible enthusiasts. 

Score:
8.5

About Game Informer’s review system