EA Sports has fully lifted the curtain on its sixth entry in its long-running UFC franchise, UFC 6. Arriving on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S this June, UFC 6 advertises an increased emphasis on fighters’ movement and striking authenticity. In addition we also learned that the standard edition will feature former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira on the cover, while the Ultimate Edition features former featherweight and BMF champion Max Holloway.
Holloway, who is a huge gamer himself, views appearing on the cover as a huge honor. “It’s huge, man, it’s huge,” Holloway tells Game Informer. “I’ve been played video games forever. I was a big Madden player, even though I like playing first-person shooters, but the Madden cover having all these athletes, as a kid, you’d be like, ‘I wanna be on that video game!’ And that time is here now, and it’s just a blessing. It’s unreal. It’s unreal. What can you really say about it? I’m going to be on the [cover] of a video game, and a huge video game that does numbers, so I’m stoked, man. If you told 12-year-old me that he was gonna be on the cover of a video game, he probably would have given you a little attitude and said, “Yeah, I know!” [laughs] But to actually be here, it’s just amazing.”
Holloway’s cover art captures one of the most iconic moments in a career full of iconic moments: the immediate aftermath of his horn-beating knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in 2024. Moments like that – the iconic moves – are an emphasis of UFC 6, as fighters are differentiated from one another through their individual movement and Signature Strikes. This is accomplished through markerless motion capture, which allows for mo-cap without mo-cap suits, and the next generation of Sapien Technology. A new Real-Time Contact system featuring new rag-doll physics helps further the level of realism in the Octagon.
As for new modes, players can step into the shoes of legendary UFC fighters in Hall of Legends, or tell their own story with The Legacy. EA Sports touts immersive storytelling that makes fights feel personal. “EA Sports UFC 6 delivers a deeper, more dynamic fight experience,” lead producer Nate McDonald said in a press release. “Ever element is designed to reflect the individuality of real fighters. Our goal is to capture the sport as faithfully as possible and bring players closer to the Octagon than ever before.”
UFC 6 arrives on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on June 19. For our thoughts on UFC 5, which came out in 2023, head here.
(PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC), 2026 (Switch 2)
Rating:
Everyone 10+
Two weeks ago, WB Games flew me out to LA to play two hours of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. As a long-time fan of the series (and a diehard Lego fan in general), I’ve been nothing short of ravenous to get my hands on it. Now that I have, I’m eagerly looking forward to the final release, especially since I gained a much clearer view of what this game actually is.
First, a disclaimer: I played Legacy of the Dark Knight in a beautifully designed event space decorated with actual props from Batman films, and WB Games paid for flights and lodging for the trip. Add in my childhood nostalgia, and there will certainly be some unconscious bias in this report; still, I’ll aim to keep my impressions as objective as possible.
Batman and Robin pose on a rooftop in a shot reminiscent of the intro to Batman: The Animated Series.
My gameplay demo began in a relatively early level. The story, which follows Batman’s journey from orphan to full-fledged leader of the Bat Family, combines notable sequences from across the character’s storied history in film, TV, and games. We’re shown a brief cinematic explaining that, prior to the gameplay we’re about to experience, Batman trained with the League of Shadows, à la Batman Begins. Now that he’s home in Gotham, he’s hunting down Carmine Falcone, but since the notorious crime boss also appears in 2022’s The Batman, the visuals have shifted, and we’re entering a version of the Iceberg Lounge based on that movie. Oddly, The Penguin is notably absent from the club he’s typically associated with.
If this first slice of the game tells me anything, it’s that, despite modern tweaks, Legacy of the Dark Knight is a Lego game through and through. Twin bouncers at the lounge’s entrance insist that this is a fish market, slapping Wayne in the face with a flounder. Later on, Batman and Jim Gordon dive deeper into the club and find an elaborate ball pit/bouncy house area. And after stumbling onto a dance floor, Batman insists the duo has to “blend in,” triggering a QTE dance sequence. Batman literally says, “This is how Batman begins… to dance!” It’s absolutely ridiculous, and I absolutely love it.
Jim Gordon and Batman, who are about to bust a move.
At the same time, the gameplay is thankfully modernized. Taking cues from Arkham games, Batman can grapple up ledges, counter punches, and stealthily take down foes. Combat feels especially great, and while it’s definitely a pared-down version of Rocksteady’s formula, it’s just complex enough to stay engaging. When I saw the option to press triangle to counter an attack, my muscle memory kicked in, and I felt right at home.
To reach Falcone, I solve simple puzzles, smash Lego objects to build new contraptions, and take out dozens of henchmen. At one point, I’m faced with tilting poles I need to stabilize to walk on, and while Batman has his trusty batarang, it can’t stop the machine: I need Jim Gordon’s help.
I was just as surprised as Batman to discover a ball pit in the Iceberg Lounge.
Curiously, the police officer wields a pink goo-shooting gun that can clog gears and leaky pipes, and it solves the problem here in no time, allowing me to progress deeper into the club. Each character in the game has their own gadgets, Gordon included, though the team clearly had to get the most creative with him. Still, he’s fun to play as, and other than his gadgets, he can do the same things as Batman, including grappling to higher ground and performing stealth takedowns.
On that note, while I appreciate its inclusion, stealth was the weakest element in the parts I played of Legacy of the Dark Knight. There’s no crouch button – characters merely hunch over when near unsuspecting enemies – and unless enemies were lined up and facing away from me (which did happen a few times), I was caught very quickly. Being seen and exiting stealth isn’t much of a setback, so it’s not that my experience was frustrating; I just wish the level was better crafted around the mechanic. I suspect it would work better in stages with more vertical designs, where Batman could drop in, knock a guy out, and retreat to the rafters, but I didn’t get to experience any areas like that.
Batman lurks on a tightrope in the Iceberg Lounge.
Eventually, I reach Falcone, interrupting a meeting he’s having with the Red Hood. Unlike other scenes, this isn’t in any of the live-action movies; it instead combines several of them. Selina Kyle brings Falcone drinks, like in The Batman, but the Red Hood is a version of Jack Napier, from Batman (1989), speaking to Falcone as if he’s Napier’s movie boss, Carl Grissom. As Red Hood leaves, he declares, “This town deserves a better class of criminal,” which is a line from The Dark Knight. As relatively uneventful as the scene is, it’s a great example of how Legacy of the Dark Knight emulsifies its influences together into a new yet recognizable take on Batman’s lore.
Red Hood ultimately turns on Falcone, sending Red Hood-branded goons in to fight Falcone’s men, leaving Batman and Gordon to chase Falcone as he flees the building. At this point, I bump the difficulty up to Dark Knight, the game’s hardest mode, to see how tough it can get. It adds more enemies, increases the ratio of enemies armed with melee weapons and shields, and limits players to four hearts. I don’t die, but I play a little carelessly and do come close. I suspect it will be the go-to difficulty for most adults who choose to play the game, as I intend to do the same.
Batman and Gordon catch Falcone, and I’m switched over to a new save file, slightly later in the game. As chapter three begins, a montage shows how Gotham is changing: Batman is getting stronger and more seasoned, knocking out minor enemies like Condiment King and Kite Man; Jim Gordon is promoted; Harvey Dent wakes up bandaged in a hospital; and Dick Grayson flips on stage at the circus with his parents. Batman, now wearing his suit from Batman & Robin, meets Catwoman on a rooftop – they seem to already know each other, and he invites her to go to the circus with him.
Batman and Catwoman, mid-heist.
Catwoman convinces Bruce to make a pitstop (it’s a heist, which turns out to be a test from Sofia Falcone), and I get a minute to test her abilities. Catwoman’s gadgets are especially fun. Her iconic whip spins enemies around and is generally more useful in combat, but the real star is her ability “Call Kitty.” It summons a cat with a laser pointer, and the feline can crawl through small spaces, distract enemies, and even has a dedicated “meow” button. Adorable.
The duo makes their way to the circus to see the Flying Graysons, but bad news: Two-Face is there, and he’s holding the crowd hostage with a massive bomb. This scene is a clear reference to Batman Forever, with Catwoman taking over the role of Nicole Kidman’s Chase Meridian. She bows out just as the chaos starts, and Batman appears in the middle of the tent alongside a young Dick Grayson (who, spoiler alert, is about to become Robin). This level’s confined nature makes it feel more like a traditional Lego game, pulling me between pretty straightforward combat and puzzle-platforming segments.
Batman and Dick Grayson, probably watching as Two-Face says something unhinged.
Robin, whom I’m getting to try out for the first time, wields dual batons and feels mechanically distinct from Batman. His birdarangs have roughly the same effect as batarangs in their current form, but each has a distinct upgrade tree. Robin can (eventually) swing his staff at returning birdarangs to bat them back at enemies, and a later upgrade makes foes face the opposite direction, which is especially good if they’re armed.
Robin also has a cable launcher, which functions like a combination of Batman’s line launcher and Robin’s zip kick in the Arkham games. He can launch himself towards a foe, use it to create tightropes to solve puzzles, or tether enemies to nearby objects, the ground, or even other enemies to deal damage. The tightrope function comes in handy most often in this segment of gameplay, as Two-Face presents the soon-to-be dynamic duo with a series of platforming puzzles.
I defeat Two-Face, thanks to the help of Dick’s parents, and it seems like all is well in the world. That is, until Dick starts playing with a batarang – he tells Batman to reach out in case he ever needs a sidekick, but then Dick accidentally throws the batarang right at the cables holding his parents aloft. They plummet to the ground… but land on a hot dog cart, unscathed. In an odd moment, Dick says, “I think I’m probably fired,” and Batman agrees, deciding to take Dick under his wing. Dick then moves into Wayne Manor, leaving his parents behind. I’d be lying if I said I had any strong feelings over this change – in the context of a lighthearted game like this, it doesn’t really matter whether Dick’s parents are around – but it certainly stands out as the strangest alteration Legacy of the Dark Knight makes to Batman lore.
Dr. Pamela Isley, AKA Poison Ivy, is definitely about to beat Batman and Robin in the upcoming fight.
The final level I play is a battle against Poison Ivy, which takes place not long after the Two-Face encounter. The intro cutscene is inspired by Batman & Robin, but this Robin is seemingly younger than Chris O’Donnell’s live-action portrayal, so when Ivy puckers at the camera and mentions her lips are full of venom, Batman just says, “That’s really inappropriate, Dr. Isley.”
The following boss battle is the least interesting content of my playtime, but I do appreciate the efforts to keep the fight varied. There are two phases, a wide variety of attacks to dodge, and quick puzzles that call players to use one of Batman’s or Robin’s gadgets. The mission marks the conclusion of the game’s third chapter, and ends with a tease that The Dark Knight Rises-era Bane and Mr. Freeze are about to begin “Operation Deep Freeze.” Based on the context, I expect the story to combine elements from The Dark Knight Rises and Batman & Robin, and I am incredibly curious to see how they approach that crossover.
My last half hour with the game is spent exploring the Batcave and open-world Gotham, and both are highlights. The Batcave is huge and customizable. There are collectibles hidden throughout its several massive rooms. In addition to the option to alter the Bat symbol that hangs over the main area (I could alter the colors and pick one of five bat designs), you can swap out the furniture at a number of designated areas. Decorations range from simple options, like gadget displays and a bench press, to more extreme options like a hologram ring or a rock-climbing wall. It’s rare, even in movies and TV, for Batman to actually spend more than a minute or two in his iconic hideout, so I’m looking forward to familiarizing myself with every nook and cranny with this Lego version.
Finally, there’s Gotham City, where comparisons to the Batman: Arkham series have the most merit. Just the act of gliding through the city, hearing a nearby crime, and beating up some Two-Face goons made me nostalgic for my time in Rocksteady’s games. Even then, this version of Gotham feels more alive than most other video game depictions. The streets are full of pedestrians and civilians driving cars, buildings are plastered with references and humorous billboards, and the whole map is varied and interesting, with lots of distinct architecture and verticality.
With four islands to explore and a map chock-full of side content and collectibles (yes, that includes Riddler challenges), there’s no shortage of things to do. You can also summon a suite of vehicles at the touch of a button, and while they’re not quite as varied as the game’s 100 suits, there are cars, bikes, and Batmobiles from every era of the series’ history. I didn’t spend nearly as much time in Gotham as I wanted to, and when Legacy of the Dark Knight drops later this month, I see myself spending quite a long time prowling its rooftops and alleyways.
I’ve thought about playing Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight literally every day since coming home from my preview event. I’m excited to explore the world and chip away at the skill tree, but I’m mainly curious to see how they tie all the Batman stories together. Lego games work for me because they’re designed by genuine fans of the stories they adapt, and this is, so far, one of the best examples yet. As a fan myself, it’s nice to not only see one of my favorite characters lovingly adapted but to feel seen in the way the developers choose to depict him. When Legacy of the Dark Knight drops later this month, I plan to be first in line.
The Season 3 DLC character roster for Tekken 8 was first revealed in February, and we learned that Kunimitsu, Bob, and Roger Jr. are joining the roster this year. The first gameplay showcase for Kunimitsu premiered today, showing off the ninja in action while announcing an early June release date.
Kunimitsu is a Tekken OG, debuting in the original game and appearing in Tekken 2 before disappearing from mainline entries, and was instead relegated to the non-canon Tekken Tag Tournament series. However, her daughter took the mantle starting with Tekken 7 (unofficially referred to as Kunimitsu II) and she will return in Tekken 8. A gameplay trailer shows the fox-masked kunoichi in action, and if you enjoy ninjutsu-based combat, Kunimitsu is right up your alley.
Players can purchase Kunimitsu starting on June 1, likely for $7.99 as with every DLC fighter, though she’ll be playable in early access on May 27. Owners of the Season 3 Pass will have immediate access to Kunimitsu.
Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC, Mac
Publisher:
Nagai Industries Inc.
Developer:
Nagai Industries Inc.
Release:
Rating:
Everyone
There is something special about the Japanese convenience store, or konbini. Alongside the sushi, noodles, sights, and sounds of a trip to Japan, the konbini is an amazing part of any visit to the country. They are venues for trying new snacks and drinks, testing your “Arigatou gozaimasu” that you practiced over and over again on the plane, and witnessing a quality of convenience that’s rare back home; they’re special little pitstops you will make countless times there. Inkonbini: One Store Many Stories attempts to tap into this, putting you in the shoes of a konbini worker to play a role in the lives of the store’s customers. While it features many of the products I expect to be stocked in a game like this, it feels inauthentic, forcing heartfelt moments and delivering an employee simulation experience that, while barely serviceable, is ultimately forgettable.
Makoto is a college student filling her 1990s summer days in between semesters working at her Aunt Hina’s konbini, Honki Ponki, a bastion of food, drinks, and more in rural Japan. She’s doing it to help her aunt and kill time, and across six shifts, she slowly begins to see how someone like her aunt has remained working there for decades, questioning her own life’s future in the process. Makoto falls in love with the routine of stocking shelves, fixing the day shift’s mistakes during the midnight hours, and learning more about customers. Unfortunately, I did not.
She and I begin each shift by reading notes from the day crew, calling in additional deliveries, and restocking chips, sodas, beers, sweets, hygiene products, and more. It’s simple to do so: take items from the backroom shelves and bring them out front. There is technically a right place for each thing – the sweets go on the shelf marked for sweets, for example – but there are no real consequences for putting them elsewhere. The only repercussion for not fixing items facing the wrong way is the occasional bark from a customer who mentions it; there are no ways to fail, no ways to burn your customer base, and thus no tension on the management side of Inkonbini. That lack of tension or challenge or anything, really, leaves the main mechanical draw of Inkonbini’s gameplay stale and boring, requiring you to make your own fun if you want to find it any bit engaging.
To developer Nagai Industries’ credit, each product feels like something I’ve seen in a konbini, with some drinks, for example, being designed just different enough to be legally distinct (but I know a Pocari Sweat when I see one). And I found the most enjoyment in seeing what products I needed to stock each night, or which ones would arrive by delivery, but actually stocking them and managing the store’s inventory feels like little more than something to do while waiting for another customer to arrive.
When they do finally arrive, though, I am met with contrived speakers made even more annoying by an incredibly slow walking pace – I often questioned whether how slowly each customer moved through the store was a bug. There are only about four customers you encounter each day, and they’re the same ones, meant to provide daily updates to their bite-sized stories alongside the occasional task, like finding a specific sushi set or sweet snack. After their needs are addressed, the customers begin to spill life stories, as if they are performing in a play. None of the conversations feels natural or authentic as a result. While I appreciate the messages each customer’s story conveys, none felt earned. I wasn’t doing anything special as a konbini employee to build these relationships.
Inkonbini spent its five-hour runtime talking to me – not with me – and I never felt a part of this town’s culture or its inhabitants’ lives in the way the writing says I was. Customers would enter my store, hit their marks, share their golden lesson of the day, and the shift would end. I’d do the same thing the following day, and the following day, until Makoto’s final shift arrived and the game ended with a cheery but unearned celebration of my week at Honki Ponki. It’s a disappointing konbini experience for someone who genuinely cherishes them in Japan. It is neither narratively nor mechanically engaging, and though Makoto seemed to enjoy each shift, I rarely did.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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!
Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC, iOS, Android
Publisher:
Poncle
Developer:
Poncle
Release:
(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.
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.
