The NFL season will commence this September, but ahead of Week 1, all 32 teams in the league released their schedules today to let fans know the teams they’ll face. There are a lot of unique and funny ways the teams went about this, but nothing tops the Los Angeles Chargers spoofing Halo and the Cleveland Browns spoofing Street Fighter 2.
These aren’t just creative workarounds either – the Chargers worked directly with Halo Studios to create various in-game Halo matches, complete with custom armor and other creative touches to showcase each football team in the style of the long-running FPS. They even got Jeff Steitzer, the man behind the iconic Halo multiplayer voice, to provide new voice lines for the video, and it rules. You can check out the Chargers’ Halo-inspired schedule release video here (the Chargers have annoyingly blocked the videos from being embedded on websites).
The Cleveland Browns dug even deeper into the nostalgia bag, utilizing an old-school aspect ratio, grainy film, hiring MatPat as a corny host, and displaying plenty of arcade cabinets to spoof Street Fighter 2 for the team’s schedule release. Each NFL team is represented with a pretty good approximation of a Street Fighter 2 character in this fake version of the game, and you can see the Browns’ fighter face off against them. Check it out below (shout out to the Browns for letting this video be embedded, unlike another NFL team…):
We recently announced our latest cover story as The Blood of Dawnwalker, the debut title from Rebel Wolves, a studio co-founded by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who directed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077. We spent a full day in the Rebel Wolves’ studio in Warsaw, Poland, seeing an extended hands-off demo and speaking with key members of the development team. After watching a long demo consisting of the prologue (read our impressions of that here), we went into a small room with Tomaszkiewicz to get an exclusive look at an extra sequence that hints at how relationships will play out as you play through this extremely promising action/RPG built on player choice.
In the extra quest I see, protagonist Coen, a Dawnwalker who is a human by day and vampire by night, visits the town herbalist, Anca, to procure an elixir to strengthen the body and mind of his mother, Esme. Coen does this so that the primary antagonist, Brencis, and his clique of vampires don’t know Esme’s been starving herself. When Coen arrives at Anca’s house, he asks her about a concoction that can calm his mother’s mind and fortify her body. However, a surprise storm rolls in, trapping Coen and Anca in the house. Anca asks Coen if he’d like to use this opportunity to practice his Latin; it turns out she’s more than just an herbalist. Choosing to stay consumes a time segment, a finite resource that dictates the passage of time within the daily calendar.
They begin working through a poem that Anca originally indicates might be a bit much for Coen, but they dive into it anyway. The ode to the poet’s lover certainly sets the mood, and small facial expressions indicate there might be a bit more to this teacher/student relationship. The fact that I can read their facial expressions stands in stark contrast to how romance options used to feel even just a few years ago, where it felt like two mannequins talking, flirting, and getting physical, highlighting how far the technology has progressed in recent years.
“Now, you can believe that they are really characters or people,” game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz says. “Our goal is to allow you to believe that and to feel that, because then immersion is totally different, you know, and emotions are different because you believe that you are speaking almost with a real person.”
However, that mood is interrupted as the storm knocks over a tree, smashing through the roof of Anca’s herb shack. Since those herbs are her livelihood, it’s a “drop everything” kind of situation. Coen and Anca run outside, but in the pouring rain, Anca slips and cuts herself. Coen saves the herbs, but now he must address Anca’s injuries.
Though she’s resistant to the idea, Coen insists he helps patch her up. She agrees and removes her shirt so he can see the wound on her back. Now, the chemistry between the two feels even more intense. Through an interactive scene, Coen dresses the wound while the two make small talk. Nothing too risqué occurs in this sequence (aside from the shirt being removed), but Coen certainly gets in a few flirtatious lines on the way out.
Player choice is at the center of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and that includes not only what quests you take on and how you complete them, but how you interact with people in the world. “We have a number of systems around this; some of them are kind of exposed to you as a player,” creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz says. “The system we have in place for that, we call ‘infamy.’ And this system tracks your actions throughout the game and how known you become to the vampiric court and to the people of Vale Sangora in this negative way. This can be done in multiple ways: If you go on rampages, if you just kill people, if you steal things and people catch you, you, of course, get this bad rep. But also, like, quest choices and just choosing to go after Brencis, his retinue, and their organization will definitely bump you up on their ‘bad people’ list. There are consequences to this, negative and positive. On the negative side, Brencis will take notice, and he will enact these edicts that basically are meant to make your life harder. So, for example, he might send bounty hunters after you, or he might put the city on lockdown, in an extreme case, where it’s very difficult to get in and get out and get to those shopkeepers, or you have to find your way around it. [He might] put more military patrols on the street, and so on.”
But it’s not all negative, as infamy can aid Coen in his quest to take down Brencis and save his family. “On the positive side, there are people that hate Brencis and work against him, and raising your infamy will provide them with proof that you’re on their side, that you’re not just another vampire that is working against them,” Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz says. “It also might make it easier for you to intimidate people because now, suddenly, you have this reputation of this infamous guy that goes around and wrecks the [vampire] organization.”
But it goes beyond widespread infamy and Coen’s reputation, as Rebel Wolves also tracks your interactions with people on a micro level, building a database of Coen’s relationships, which can eventually lead to romance. “We track your choices individually on a more detailed level,” Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz says. “Because of that, we have a lot of reactivity to your choices in the quests. NPCs might remember certain things you do and react to it in other places.”
“You can build relations in our game, not only through normal dialogue, but also action,” Konrad Tomaszkiewicz says. “We have a lot of different activities and quests in the game. Some of them are flashy and you have combat or magic, and some are subtle or more calm, but you have people with whom you can speak or do some other thing to help them and build your relation. Sometimes, maybe romantic relations will come out of it.”
This demo, when combined with these systems, plants the seed for how romance can play out in Rebel Wolves’ debut game, but the studio isn’t quite ready to share much beyond what I saw. “We have a rule that we are not speaking about romances,” Konrad Tomaszkiewicz says. “You will see it after we release the game, but there will be some romance options that you can do. [Regarding this demo], we are taking a lot of care about the details to create those people to be really rich and interesting, and you’ll need to build your relations to achieve that.”
If you’re a subscriber, you can read more about this sequence, as well as get the most comprehensive look at The Blood of Dawnwalker yet in our cover story. It’s available online for both print and digital subscribers right now, with the print issues arriving in mid-June. The Blood of Dawnwalker launches for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on September 3.
Games Done Quick (GDQ) has announced that its flagship speedrunning marathon, Summer Games Done Quick, will return to Minneapolis this July to benefit Doctors Without Borders. The full schedule has been released and will feature a wide range of speedruns from July 5 to July 11, including a game-breaking Balatro run, a unique tool-assisted Super Mario 64 run, the NES Tetris Tournament Finals, and so much more.
The in-person event will be held at the Hilton Minneapolis Downtown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to benefit Doctors Without Borders, a private international humanitarian organization founded in 1971 to provide lifesaving medical care to those most in need around the world. The money raised helps Doctors Without Borders’ mission – last year’s Summer event raised more than $2.4 million.
Here’s a quick look at some of the speedruns GDQ is highlighting for this year’s Summer event:
Super Mario 64 – GDQ’s first-ever 120 Star TAS (tool-assisted) run.
Total Nuclear Annihilation – Runner Ryan McSquid will be doing a Total Nuclear Annihilation pinball run, all while explaining his advanced techniques.
NES Tetris Tournament Finals – The finals hit the mainstage! Online qualifiers will be live on GDQ Hotfix in June, with a last chance qualifier for attendees on-site.
Balatro – Runner adef will attempt to reach a score in Balatro so high it breaks the game.
Gordon & Daxter – A one-of-a-kind hybrid run where Half-Life 1 movement is imported into Jak & Daxter.
Summer Games Done Quick will be available to watch in person (with a pass) or live on the organization’s YouTube and Twitch accounts.
Bungie revealed earlier this week that Season 2 of Marathon will begin on June 2. Ahead of the new season’s start, the studio has released a massive blog post detailing plans for Season 2 and beyond, what went wrong with Season 1, what went well, and more. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the post is the news that Bungie will implement experimental PvE modes in Marathon during Season 2.
In a section of the blog post titled “More Options To Chill And New Survival Experiences,” Bungie says it is looking to evolve Marathon as a whole to be an experience where you can find more novel ways to play when “you’re stressed out from a nail-biting run and just need to cool off.” In steps experimental PvE modes.
“In Season 2, we will be experimenting with two modes, one at the beginning of the season and one towards the middle/latter half of the season,” the blog post reads. “The experimental mode at the beginning of the season will focus more on PvE, but with a light touch of PvP. The second experimental mode will be a PvE-only mode that’s focused on crews being tasked with completing objectives together and making some progress across matches.”
While I, personally, quite enjoy Maratho’s PvP stress, I can understand why the intense focus on it might be a turn-off for some would-be players, and PvE modes would likely draw them in (and maybe convince them to give the excellent PvP a go, too).
Bungie says it will continue to run experimental queues beyond these two offerings in Season 2 and beyond, testing the waters around other mechanics, like a more purely PvP-focused mode) with potential for these modes to become part of the core game loop.
In Season 3, Bungie says it plans to introduce many revisions to Marathon’s early experience, including major updates to Perimeter, a new Runner shell, and additional content. Season 4 will focus on building more depth into the existing extraction loop, and Season 5 will be about bringing the “whole ecosystem of (Pv(P)vE) play together and evolving our weird sci-fi world in new ways.”
Bungie
The upcoming Sentinel Runner shell
Elsewhere in the post, Bungie Duos will return in Season 2 alongside Vault size expansion and increased faction progression rates. It will dive deep into more Season 2 content, like Night Marsh, the new Cradle progression system, and the brand-new Sentinel Runner shell (pictured above), the week of May 25.
The blog post goes into extreme detail on plenty of other topics, so if you’re a more hardcore Marathon player, check it out here.
Professor Harry Everhart may have survived the cosmic horror that plagued him while he was trapped on that accursed Pacific island in Call of the Sea, but he still suffers from ominous visions decades later. Elsewhere, university student Evangeline Drayton has similarly bizarre dreams of a life and civilization beyond her understanding. When fate brings these two together, it leads to an intriguing and fun mystery centered on solving puzzles that bend the mind and reality itself.
Like its 2020 predecessor, Call of the Elder Gods challenges players to solve elaborate environmental puzzles using observational and deductive skills, with no small amount of out-of-the-box thinking. As a whole, the first-person adventure has much in common with Call of the Sea, but I like how the globetrotting premise allows for more varied visuals. Players solve riddles in a storm-battered mansion, an abandoned snow-covered facility, a sweltering Australian desert, plus surreal locations not of this world.
Puzzles sometimes require switching between controlling Evangeline, an engineer, and Harry, an archaeologist, though neither possesses distinct gameplay abilities. Instead, exercises require two heads to tackle, such as using Harry to carefully open a series of rooms for Evangeline to explore while evading and containing a supernatural threat. These exercises are fine subversions of the generally good and often challenging solo-character-designed puzzles, but I would have liked more tandem puzzles, given that they’re the biggest difference from the first game.
Still, I was both impressed and perplexed by multi-layered riddles, such as deciphering otherworldly musical notes to open doors using ancient instruments or uncovering information on members of a mysterious cult to access their inner chambers. Finding every clue strewn about an area and recording key information in a journal is key, as missing one piece of evidence can be the difference between a breakthrough and an hour spent staring at your notes. While I find the puzzles logical, journal notes are sometimes too vague. On a few occasions, I questioned the exact meaning of a phrase or instruction because a note stopped short of fully clarifying or contextualizing something, turning some problems into frustrating guessing games (a cable-to-socket-matching exercise being the most egregious). Thankfully, a penalty-free hint system offers gentle nudges that build to outright solutions, depending on how deeply you choose to delve into it.
Some puzzles lay out a buffet of notes, photographs, and other clues before you even have a grasp of the problem at hand. I would have liked some of these clues to be a bit more funneled, as sifting through so much out-of-context information at once is sometimes overwhelming. Furthermore, I was annoyed that certain clues I found useful would not be recorded in the journal for easy reference; revisiting these clues wherever they lay to cross-reference any hunches is a pain. Ultimately, these are small complaints, but they reared their heads often enough to be irksome.
Call of the Elder Gods’ roughly seven-hour story, narrated by Call of the Sea protagonist Norah Everhart, is a decently entertaining mystery that takes some unexpected but neat twists. Despite having a good emotional core, particularly in how each character’s motivation is rooted in the loss of a loved one, Evangeline and Harry still aren’t the most memorable leads. The game’s villains fall even further below that benchmark; you won’t see them often, and one major foe’s fate unfolds anticlimactically. While the modest character models and illustrated cinematics won’t wow anyone, strong voice performances give the adventure some gravitas.
Although it may not reach the heights of other narrative-puzzle contemporaries released since Call of the Sea, Call of the Elder Gods is still an entertaining test for your noggin, wrapped in an adequately engaging Lovecraft-inspired story. Harry and Evangeline would say otherwise, but it’s okay to embrace this game’s insanity-inducing madness with open arms.
Developer/publisher Unknown Worlds Entertainment launched Subnautica 2 into Early Access yesterday, May 14, and in just 12 hours, the game surpassed 2 million copies sold. Subnautica 2 also reached 651,000 peak concurrent players across Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Xbox yesterday, making it clear that this highly anticipated underwater survival game is an Early Access hit.
Subnautica 2 also has more than 12,500 reviews on Steam and maintains a “Very Positive” rating. Though Subnautica 2 still has a ways to go before matching its predecessor’s sales, which sits at 18.5 million copies sold worldwide, it’s off to a great start.
Unknown Worlds Entertainment is Subnautica 2’s publisher, but Krafton originally filled that role. However, a lengthy (and still ongoing) legal battle saw Krafton fire Unknown Worlds Entertainment’s then-CEO Ted Gill and other studio co-founders over allegations that they (and the team) had failed to get Subnautica 2 up to par for launch, arguing that Gill and others were even working on other games instead of the survival sequel. The legal battle led to Gill and others being reinstated and Unknown World Entertainment gaining publishing rights for Subnautica 2.
Gill and co-founders Max McGuire and Charlie Cleveland argued in court that Krafton did this to prevent Unknown Worlds Entertainment from earning a $250 million bonus payout (which activates upon Subnautica 2 achieving certain performance and sales milestones), but that the collection period was extended to September. And, given how well Subnautica 2 has performed in less than 24 hours, it seems very likely the studio will get that bonus.
Game Informer will be streaming Subnautica 2 later today, so if you’re interested in seeing the game in action, check it out on our Twitch channel later.
Are you playing Subnautica 2? Let us know in the comments below!
Some of the best games you can play in a VR headset are developer/publisher Polyarc’s Moss and Moss: Book II. The former launched in 2018 exclusively on PlayStation VR, and the latter launched on PlayStation VR and Meta Quest in 2022. Though both are playable on other VR headsets now, they still require, well, a VR headset. But players without a headset, or those who prefer their gaming escapades to be flatscreen, will get to enjoy both adventures in Moss: The Forgotten Relic, which combines both Moss games into a single “unified” experience for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC this Summer.
Polyarc announced The Forgotten Relic with an exclusive trailer over at IGN, and it highlights that Moss’ platformer-puzzle gameplay works just fine on a non-VR display. In it, players will traverse a fallen kingdom, solve environmental puzzles uniquely woven into the surrounding environment, and embark on a heartfelt tale as Quill, a very cute and very miniature mouse.
Check it out in the Moss: The Forgotten Relic reveal trailer for yourself below:
“Moss: The Forgotten Relic is an emotional and atmospheric adventure set in the pages of a living storybook, brimming with myth and ancient magic,” the game’s Steam description reads. “Guide a tiny but determined hero on a heartfelt journey of challenge, courage, and connection.”
Moss: The Forgotten Relic hits PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC sometime this Summer.
The Witness and Braid director Jonathan Blow revealed Order of the Sinking Star, a massive puzzle mash-up game, at The Game Awards back in December for PC. Now, Blow has announced that Order of the Sinking Star will also launch on Nintendo Switch 2 sometime this year alongside the PC release.
Unfortunately, despite the platform update, Blow and his team at developer Thekla haven’t revealed the game’s release date, sticking to the vague “2026” for now. Nonetheless, Order of the Sinking Star looks like a great game for Switch 2.
Check out the Switch 2 trailer for Order of the Sinking Star below for a look at how it runs:
Developer Expression Games and publisher Team17 have revealed that Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, the quasi-sequel to the hit WW2 shooter Hell Let Loose, will launch next month. More specifically, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store) digitally on Thursday, June 18.
Physical editions for PS5 and Xbox will be released on August 4, and you can preorder both digital and physical versions starting today. Plus, ahead of the game’s launch, Expression Games will hold a Hell Let Loose: Vietnam free-to-play open beta weekend later this month, starting May 29 and ending June 1, on PC. It will be set on the Thanh Hóa Bridge map, which I recently previewed for two hours for an in-depth behind-the-scenes feature on Hell Let Loose: Vietnam that subscribers can read here, and give players the opportunity to experience new additions to the shooter series like tunnels, helicopters, patrol boats, and more.
Get a taste of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam in the trailer below:
When Hell Let Loose: Vietnam launches in June, it will feature six large-scale maps for 50v50 battles, along with plenty of historically accurate weapons, vehicles, and tactical options.
Are you going to check out Hell Let Loose: Vietnam next month? Let us know in the comments below!
Kylie Jenner, the billionaire Kardashian sister behind Kylie Cosmetics, apparently has time for Nintendo Switch gaming when she’s not filming reality TV, running a makeup business, or attending awards shows and basketball games with boyfriend Timothée Chalamet (who is also a gamer). But when The Legend of Zelda gets its hooks in you, what are you to do?
In the latest episode of Therapuss, a mock-therapy talk show on Netflix hosted by influencer/media personality Jake Shane, Jenner says Zelda is “one of the best games ever.” Though she doesn’t specifically name The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which launched with the Switch back in 2017, the details she provides make clear that’s the adventure she’s playing through. You can watch a clip of this discussion here.
She describes to Shane, who is seemingly unfamiliar with the series, that you play as Link, 100 years after a war, and take on Divine Beast dungeons, fight Ganondorf, and explore Hyrule while attempting to save Princess Zelda. While explaining it, Jenner laughs and jokes she’s “going to sound like such a nerd” (you’re in good company, Kylie), but she also says she’s still kind of new to the game – she’s completed one Divine Beast dungeon and is en route to a second now, apparently.
“It’s the most intricate – [I’ve] played for days and hours,” Jenner tells Shane.
Excellent taste, Jenner. Make sure you play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom after you finish BOTW! She’s not alone in Hollywood, either – Sally Field loves BOTW too!
