Gamereactor UK

Wyldheart Preview: A promising adventure for all TTRPG lovers

ben@gamereactor.eu (Ben Lyons) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 20:30:00 +0100

If you're a fan of shooters and particularly EA and DICE's recent effort to reboot Star Wars: Battlefront, you are probably somewhat familiar with the names Dennis Brännvall and Fia Tjernberg. These two were crucial to both Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II, with Brännvall serving as the creative director of the latter game and Tjernberg being the former studio director of technical design at DICE too. The reason I'm highlighting this is because following EA deciding to move on from all things Battlefront, at least for the foreseeable future, the pair left DICE to create their own studio known as Wayfinder Studios, a developer that has just properly lifted the curtain on its debut title.

Known as Wyldheart, this game is a far-cry from Battlefront as it trades large-scale multiplayer sci-fi warfare for that of a rustic RPG world with an inherent focus on cooperative gameplay. Essentially, imagine going from making Call of Duty to Baldur's Gate. That's the sort of leap we're talking about here. I would also know as recently I had the wonderful opportunity to try an early portion of Wyldheart, a brief demo that was led by Brännvall and Wayfinder's marketing director, Erin Bower. You can even see an interview that I conducted with this pair below that features snippets of our own gameplay from Wyldheart.

For those looking for a more comprehensive preview, we can get into that business now. It should be said that the part of Wyldheart I was able to test was only a snippet of the wider game, which promises a persistent multiplayer world and multiple campaigns that last around 10 hours each. So it's hardly a firm taste of what the end product could look like, even if I am eager to see more.

The long and short of Wyldheart is that this is a cooperative game heavily inspired by TTRPGs and Dungeons & Dragons. The premise is all about taking basic narrative anchors and then using this to make a story that is your own. For example, you create a character out of three race options (Freefolk, Mossling, Grimhorn) and then build them out further with defined jobs that sets the precedent for how a character plays and also by tweaking the model with a variety of customisation elements to give the character a personal touch. From here, you can then load into a world where you steadily complete tasks and missions that tie into a wider story. And again, the cooperative nature allows a play session to support up to four users at a time but the persistent world, without one player serving as the host, means far more players can partake by hopping in at differing times and helping advance the story and aid in progression in other ways. The press release mentions that this game intends to make the nature of scheduling a game night easier than ever and it's hard to dispute that claim from my experience so far.

Anyway, the actual gameplay, the portion I experienced included a dungeon and then a brief foray into the wider world. For the dungeon, it's much of what you would expect in that you wander around dark and tight corridors, defeating enemies, avoiding traps, and looting everything you can in a bid to amass helpful resources and also discover some of the secrets that are otherwise hidden. The gameplay functions from a third-person perspective and has a quite basic, MMO-like combat system, where you swing melee weapons, block attacks, manually dodge and avoid deadly strikes, and can even switch to magical or ranged options if you have the right tools or class types. With this in mind, you steadily walk through the dungeon while clobbering skeletons and gooey slimes with swords, hammers, and other weapons, earning experience and finding more powerful gear that makes combat easier and your hero much tougher.

Dungeons do have minor puzzles to solve, which will no doubt become more complex and demanding as the story advances. For the sake of this build, the idea was to find different coloured items, mostly in the piles of goo dripping from the walls, and then using these in the right place to open a door to a boss enemy with an enormous health bar. This is where teamwork and having a variety of weapons and skills comes into effect, as the boss I faced with Brännvall and Bowers was particularly weak to fire damage, meaning the explosive barrel that Bowers heaved at this threat proved to be insanely effective, eliminating the opponent in one swift action.

From here, we picked up the next stage of the quest and exited to the main world. After a brief stop at a camp fire to dine and rest until morning, we travelled to the nearest town, a quaint collection of buildings that features all of the amenities adventurers could possibly want. Whether it's an inn with a comfortable bed, a blacksmith to improve your gear, additional and lovely homes that have been decorated by hand, or even the next quest giver, there's enough here to fill your time. There are even rumours to eavesdrop upon that could take you on exciting adventures and lead you to powerful gear, assuming the rumours were accurate in the first place...

In a very TTRPG-like manner, Wyldheart also doesn't hold your hand in the traditional sense. It's not a complex game that will have you tearing your hair out, but the sense of adventure is preserved by eliminating a compass/mini-map that never fails to give you direction and by having quest steps that are open to interpretation instead of serving as an instruction manual. It may take a moment to adjust to for the uninitiated, but for those who have friends to play with, this design choice should work to simply enhance the thrill of adventure and retain a sense of agency and mystery.

As this is the first look at Wyldheart and since the game is still early in its development, with the search for Kickstarter backers now beginning, we'll skip over talking about performance and visuals, as these areas will undoubtedly change a lot in the months and years that follow. What likely will remain more solid is the game direction and intention behind Wyldheart and it's here that I find myself most confident in what's being cooked up. The developers are very passionate about all things TTRPGs and that can be seen very clearly throughout this game. There's character and charm, passion and pride, and often with debut indie games like this we can raise questions about the ultimate and ambitious multiplayer and technical goals. Considering the DICE heritage (plus other staff from Embark Studios and Mojang) at Wayfinder, this shouldn't be a problem for Wyldheart.

So a strong start for a promising video game. We'll be keeping a keen eye on Wyldheart as it continues to progress, but the key final thing to note today is that the game will be launching on PC sometime in the future.

Violent Beauty: We went to Helsinki to visit Housemarque and play loads of Saros

ketil@gamereactor.eu (Ketil Skotte) — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0100

{Returnal} was the sort of surprise I wish we had more of. On paper, it sounded audacious that Finnish studio Housemarque, known for incredibly tight arcade action with a story that was either poor or non-existent, had set out to tell a deep and compelling science-fiction story with thematic coherence. They even wanted to go fully 3D instead of the side-scrollers and top-down titles they'd made their name on. In fact, {Returnal} also started out as a top-down game in the style of {Dead Nation} and Alienation, founder and CEO Illari Kuittinen tells me over a beer the evening before the preview event to which Housemarque and PlayStation has invited the world's gaming press. It's {Saros}'s turn to bask in the limelight after five years of development and confidence is high. This is undoubtedly because that boldness paid off, as {Returnal} was one of 2021's best games and proof that Housemarque could easily step into its new role.

{Saros} does not break new ground in the same way. It is, to a greater extent, "Super {Returnal}", a spiritual sequel that builds on the ideas {Returnal} introduced, but in a new world. That much is clear after more than three hours with the game. However, this should not be seen as a criticism, as games take a long time to make, and {Returnal} laid such a strong foundation that it makes sense to build on it, and because Housemarque has once again succeeded in creating a universe and a story I'm incredibly curious to unravel, whilst refreshing the gameplay in exciting ways. {Saros} looks set to be another hit from the Finns.

Our protagonist, Arjun Devraj.

But let's rewind a little. One of the people who can rightly be credited with Housemarque's tremendous development as storytellers is the Brit Gregory Louden, who, like several others at Housemarque, joined the studio from Remedy, and who, as narrative director, laid the groundwork for {Returnal}'s unique take on intergalactic sci-fi meets cosmic horror. At the time, Harry Kruger was the director, but having been involved in {Saros}' early stages, he handed the reins to Louden, who opens the presentation that forms the basis of our time with {Saros}. "This is a dream project made by a dream team," says Louden. A phrase that has been used right from the announcement. However, it doesn't seem (just) like hot air. Over the two days I spend with Housemarque - both in the studio and in, shall we say, more informal surroundings - I speak to a good handful of different people from the team and the enthusiasm is unmistakable. Of course, they're also happy to finally be able to really talk about what they've spent the last five years working on, but they also seem genuinely excited about what they have to share with us. This is evident when my table companion at the welcome dinner, VFX Lead Sharman Jagadeesan, enthusiastically snaps a photo of the {Saros} menu lying beside our plates, or when Kuittinen regales a small group of journalists with anecdotes about the studio's convoluted history.

There is good reason for the enthusiasm. As mentioned, {Saros} builds on the formula introduced by {Returnal}. At its core, it's a challenging action game, a "Ball Brawl", as Housemarque cheekily calls it, where gameplay comes first, but the world and story aren't far behind. There are clear roguelike and Metroidvania elements, but the former are less pronounced than in {Returnal} (more on that later).

Housemarque has physically recreated parts of the Soltari colony in their studio.

Although Housemarque prioritises gameplay above all else, I'd like to switch things around and start by setting the scene narratively. You play as Arjun Devjrac; a soldier from the Soltari conglomerate, whose complete indifference to the value of human life brings to mind Weyland-Yutani. Arjun is part of a rescue mission tasked with finding out what has happened to the three waves of colonists that Soltari sent to the planet Carcosa to mine a valuable energy source. According to Louden, Arjun's role in - and relationship with - Soltari represents the classic science-fiction side of the narrative coin, whilst Carcosa and its former civilisations embody the cosmic horror.

Unlike {Returnal}, where you, as Selene, were completely alone, in {Saros} you have a handful of colleagues you can talk to in the starting area, which has been vastly expanded compared to {Returnal}. This makes sense structurally as a breather where you upgrade your abilities and chat with the others provides a much-needed break from the core gameplay, but I was worried that it would dilute the sense of helplessness that was so powerfully conveyed in {Returnal}. Fortunately, Housemarque pulls off a narrative masterstroke by having one of your colleagues attack you on your very first visit, thereby establishing that Carcosa has a terrible effect on people. The question quickly becomes who you can trust and who will be next, creating a paranoid atmosphere where you need each other but, at the same time, don't really trust one another. When, for example, the mission's gardener suddenly starts talking nonsense, alarm bells start ringing, but then he makes an excuse and makes you think that perhaps it's just you who is paranoid.

Arjun, however, is no angel himself, for he is harbouring a secret. He is searching for someone, and he prioritises that search above all else, yet fails to share a single word about it with any of his colleagues. Why he keeps this search hidden is not yet known, but one suspects his motives lie in a grey area of sorts.

Saros' take on the classic shotgun.

"I love writing science-fiction stories," Louden tells me enthusiastically, before I settle down to play. And it's clear to see, because although many of the narrative elements are familiar to anyone reasonably well-versed in science-fiction and horror, it is, so far, a compelling cocktail that I can't wait to drink every last drop of.

The same can be said of the incredibly tight core gameplay. For a third-person shooter, it's fast-paced and arcade-style, just like {Returnal}, but it feels even more precise and impactful. The big change is the shield. In {Returnal}, it was mainly about dodging using Selene's handy dash. That's still the case here, but Arjun also has a shield which, as well as protecting him, can absorb bullets, converting them into energy that can be used to fire a powerful special attack. You activate the shield with R1, meaning both R1 and L1 are in constant use, as the shield isn't effective against all projectiles. The standard blue ones are fine, but corrupted orange bullets will damage you. This brings to mind the developer's brilliant 2011 title Outland, which also played with colour-coding in a similar way.

In its marketing of {Saros}, Housemarque has made a point of explaining how, with its permanent progression, it's more accessible than {Returnal}, but the addition of the shield actually increases the complexity and requires you to approach the game differently by constantly assessing whether to seek out or avoid an attack.

All in all, {Saros} is a challenging game. The game's first boss, Prophet, thrashed me a handful of times before I got the hang of it, and whenever I let my concentration slip, I was punished severely.

Prophet is, incidentally, a wonderful culmination of the first biome, Shattered Rise, which introduces {Saros} in the most beautiful way. The neoclassical architecture and spectacular vistas are a far cry from the overgrown ruins that introduced {Returnal}. In fact, they bring to mind FromSoftware's decaying worlds, a comparison that becomes no less relevant when the game's art director, Simone Silvestri, tells me that the tower looming on the horizon is a place we'll be visiting.

"Violent beauty" is the mantra for the game's art direction, and when Silvestri explains his process, the phrase makes perfect sense. "I like to start with the basics. History, mysticism, folklore. You take something relatable; something you can understand, and tear it apart. I love contrast and clashes, so I take another idea that's very different, make them fight, and see what develops," he says. The result is striking. It's still dark and at times claustrophobic, but also opulent and grandiose.

Like Louden, Silvestri has also joined Housemarque from Remedy, Helsinki's other major non-mobile developer. There seems to be great respect for colleagues in Espoo, but that doesn't mean the approach to game development is the same in both places. "At Housemarque, there's a different approach to collaboration between departments," he explains, continuing with, "when you're at Housemarque, you need to understand the gameplay second by second, minute by minute and hour by hour at a truly fundamental level, because we're a gameplay-first developer."

Arjun's armour is inspired by action heroes from the 80s and 90s.

Silvestri is an interesting person to talk to because his department has to bow to the sacred cow of gameplay, yet is still held in high regard. "First priority: improve the gameplay. Second priority: world-building. The priorities are very clear," as he puts it. For example, when he started working on the art direction for the spheres that are so important in Housemarque's games, he added a lot of effects such as lightning, after which the gameplay designers had to ask him to tone it down a bit, because it was almost impossible to see what was happening on the screen. Similarly, there is also a system for the layout of the screen, he reveals. "At the top of the level design is where you find all the details. The middle is simpler, because you need to be able to read it easily."

It's impressive how seamlessly the tight gameplay works with the captivating world in practice. Especially when, after defeating the aforementioned Prophet, I venture down into the second biome, Ancient Depths. Here, breathtaking vistas have been replaced by a twisted, metallic underground that feels like something out of Scorn or perhaps Aliens.

The comparison with Aliens seems particularly apt, as Silvestri explains that 80s action films were one of the major visual inspirations. Ancient Depths is also the biome that introduces choice in {Saros}. Whereas Shattered Rise is entirely linear, Ancient Depths has two core objectives that can be completed in any order. Combined with the markedly different visual style and the more claustrophobic combat, it feels completely different whilst fitting in brilliantly. "We want each biome to be its own thing," says Silvestri, teasing even more striking changes later in the game. Housemarque won't say exactly how many biomes there are, but judging by the menus, six is a reasonable guess.

Depending on the order you choose to complete your objectives, you'll trigger a solar eclipse either early or late in the biome. The solar eclipse is another major difference from {Returnal}. Carcosa's former civilisations attempted to use it to reach a higher plane. They shed their skin and endured pain, madness, and greed. They would do anything to attain the power the eclipse had the potential to grant. These are grim matters, which we are fortunately allowed to peel back layer-by-layer. Mechanically speaking, it makes most sense to think of the solar eclipse as a corrupted state, where the surroundings change, enemies become more aggressive, and the power-ups that normally only make you stronger also come with drawbacks.

It's exciting stuff, partly because Silvestri explains that the eclipse varies from biome-to-biome, but also because the aforementioned drawbacks add a much-needed layer of risk/reward to the progression during each run. This aspect, in particular, is one of the few things I didn't love about {Saros}. Usually, you're simply handed an upgrade without having to make a choice, which diminishes the sense of building up your Arjun throughout that particular run. There are choices along the way and also a reward for being curious, but from what I've played, you don't have nearly the same control as in, say, Hades. This also applies to the permanent progression, which, despite the choices, is still just about as linear as it gets. Initially, you upgrade either your health, your ability to quickly collect upgrade materials, or your shield. There's nothing wrong with that, as it's useful, but it's not particularly exciting either. However, I did manage to unlock "Second Chance", which, as the name suggests, revives you when death strikes.

I can only hope that {Saros} comes up with more game-changers like this.

But even if the roguelike elements end up being less prominent, it won't spell the end for {Saros}, as it's significantly less rogue than {Returnal}. I've already touched on the permanent progression, but perhaps even more significant is the fact that you can teleport directly to a biome once you've unlocked it. This means shorter runs, and for all of us who played {Returnal} at launch, it's also welcome news that autosave during runs is included from the start.

Housemarque is based in central Helsinki.

I hope the above makes it clear that I'm pretty excited about what I've played so far. As someone who absolutely adored {Returnal}, {Saros} is perhaps my most anticipated game of the year, but I was also a tad sceptical about whether it could recapture the magic. Based on what I've played, however, I can slowly start to put my concerns aside, because {Saros} is exactly as captivatingly bleak as I could have hoped; it plays like a dream, and it doesn't really resemble any other AAA game on the market apart from, of course, {Returnal} and perhaps the three latest Doom games. This is primarily due to the fusion of dark science-fiction with narrative depth and arcade-inspired shooter gameplay, but also to Housemarque's "almost engine" Graphite, which visually sets it apart from the sea of UE5 games with its "hypnotic sphere patterns", as Silvestri likes to call them.

Before {Returnal}, Alienation, and funnily enough, Supreme Snowboarding were the biggest projects Housemarque had been working on. With {Returnal} and now {Saros}, they've moved up into a different league without losing that arcade spirit I've always admired them for. After the opening presentation, Kuittinen joked that Housemarque might combine snowboarding with bullet hell (sorry, ballet!), but then quipped that they'd probably be making third-person action games for the next 10 years. An innocent joke, were it not for the fact that, after a few beers the night before, he mentioned in a far more serious tone that ideally one should have a 10-year plan.

If the next decade is to be all about {Returnal}-style games, I'll be the first to welcome it, as long as the Finns can continue to approach the task with the passion and craftsmanship they've put into {Saros}. Hopefully, the rest of the game lives up to those opening hours, because in a vulnerable industry, we need people like Kuittinen, Louden, Silvestri, Jagadeesan, and the rest of Housemarque.

Starfinder: Afterlight Beta impressions - The potential to reach for the stars

alberto@gamereactor.eu (Alberto Garrido) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Role-playing is more alive and in vogue than ever. Although it has always been a niche hobby, there is no denying that its cultural impact has steadily permeated the wider entertainment culture for over 50 years now. And from the very beginning, video games have been a medium in which the concept has not only been developed and expanded, but has also been enriched, diversified, and broadened, before being brought back to the table with pen and paper. I also like the fact that we're in the midst of a huge simultaneous boom for TTRPGs and cRPGs, because that has meant we're on the verge of experiencing titles like Starfinder: Afterlight.

Over the last few days, I've had the chance to try out an early build of a beta version of the game—a 'vertical slice' offering just an hour of gameplay, but with the chance to try out three different approaches using three different characters. And my first impression is that it has all the ingredients to be a memorable experience within the genre.

Although it's controlled in a similar way to other recent cRPGs such as Baldur's Gate 3 or Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, Starfinder: Afterlight is closer to the experience of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, as they are based on an essentially similar game system. The key point here is that Starfinder: Afterlight takes fantasy into a futuristic setting where numerous human and alien species coexist in the Worlds of the Pact whilst exploring a galaxy in search of new worlds, unknown cultures, and endless riches.

It's in this setting of space explorers, warring empires, and pirates that we enter Starfinder: Afterlight, as one of Captain Khali's crew members. The demo allowed you to choose one of three characters from that crew as your main protagonist: Yunna, a tough-looking human Soldier with balanced combat and dialogue skills; Whinnik, a Vesk (a sort of space draconid) of the Envoy class (something of a cross between a Rogue and a Bard), and finally Ixo'tle, an Operative Shirren, an expert in technology and ranged combat. Three ways to engage with this universe, but with the same objective: to find out why we have been adrift in hibernation for five years, to find our captain, and to continue our adventures. In the Starfinder: Afterlight beta, we'll begin as soon as we emerge from the escape pod, and we'll have to explore the Hivemarket Entertainment District on the planet Akiton, where we've just crashed. There, we'll need to build relationships with some key characters and form a party with them. Finally, a short skirmish to put these characters' skills to the test.

The game is based on a point-and-click system similar to those seen in the examples mentioned earlier, with skill checks such as Technology or Persuasion in dialogue based on rolling a d20, but it adds some quality-of-life improvements that I've really appreciated. The first is that whenever a term relevant to the Starfinder universe appears in text-based dialogues, a pop-up comment appears to explain it. The second is that, in addition to objects, the interface also highlights NPCs with whom you can interact via dialogue, even if only to give you brief hints with little bearing on the story. These are two small details that help immerse you in the story.

Aside from the controls, the other aim of this beta is to showcase the Epictellers team's ambition to give substance to their story and their talent for taking it to the stars. And even though it's an early build, the work of the voice actors for the Narrator (Roger Clark), Preach (the unmistakable Neil Newbon, who also leads the VA team), the Solarian warrior Sterling (James Alexander), and even the few lines spoken by Captain Khali (Carolina Ravassa) show their affection for the project. The environments feature both foreground and background animations, showcasing a lively 'nightlife' in a bustling futuristic city, and we can explore alleys, basements, bars, and terraces, rummaging through bins, searching for gear and healing items, and preparing for the next encounter.

There are obvious limitations in such an early beta, particularly regarding access to and use of the inventory, but from what we've seen, it's clear that Starfinder: Afterlight will begin its Early Access in 2026 (on a date yet to be determined) as another promising title in the cRPG genre and one of those games that, if you enjoyed Baldur's Gate 3, Rogue Trader, or Pathfinder, could give you exactly what you're looking for: a new universe in which to embark on adventures, meet memorable characters and go where no one has gone before.

Pragmata Preview: Puzzles, platforming, action, and a highly accomplished setting

alfredo@gamereactor.eu (Alfredo Pavez) — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0100

Pragmata is Capcom's new IP which, after suffering a couple of delays and an advance, arrives to show us that new IPs can also be good and that Capcom has more than enough talent to keep its longest-running and most beloved series afloat, without neglecting innovation and the creation of new experiences. In the preview session I attended, I was able to try out approximately two hours of what Pragmata has to offer at a point in its story after the Sketchbook demo available on all platforms, where I was able to see more of what this new game has to offer and delve deeper into its mechanics, which go beyond what I expected. Although other colleagues have already tried the Nintendo Switch 2 version, you can read more about it here.

Platforming and puzzles

My adventure began in the game's central hub, a base where we can upgrade Hugh, the protagonist, his arsenal and skills, as well as the hacking skills of Diana, our friendly artificial companion. To unlock these upgrades, we need various resources, some of which are more common and can be obtained by eliminating enemies, while others are hidden throughout the levels and must be sought out. Upon leaving the base, we can choose our next destination or even return to previously discovered areas and continue exploring. Each area has a percentage that indicates how much of it we have completed, so it's always a good idea to take a look at what we've left behind before moving on. However, in my test session, I could only access the new area, a futuristic-looking city where our goal is to reach the communications tower to send a message. Obviously, the path is blocked by six beacons that must be found and activated, and our preview session consisted of finding those six beacons and facing the final boss of that area.

Although at first the game gives you a rough idea of where to look, in slightly more linear environments, exploration soon depends entirely on my platforming skills and curiosity because the map is quite large and very vertical; it's not quite an open world, but the areas are quite spacious. While exploring the buildings in search of those beacons, I encountered numerous enemy ambushes, closed areas that do not open until all enemies are defeated (as in Devil May Cry), and lots of objects to find. Another important aspect of exploration is that there are numerous teleportation points to return to the base, the central hub of the game, where, as I mentioned before, we can acquire weapon upgrades and character skills. It's advisable to return to base from time-to-time to obtain upgrades and make it easier to defeat the most powerful enemies and, above all, the bosses. However, as in the Dark Souls series, returning to base and then going back to the teleportation point revives all the enemies and even reactivates the ambushes and blocked areas until we have defeated them all. It's important to choose the best time to return to base because it can be frustrating to have cleared an area of enemies and then have to fight again when you go to upgrade your character.

A different but addictive combat system

Pragmata has a very peculiar combat system. We have a main weapon with infinite ammo and throughout the game we find various additional weapons that occupy the three available weapon slots. Each slot is a different colour, and we can only equip weapons of that colour. For example, a shotgun-like weapon is the same colour as another weapon that paralyses enemies, so we have to choose whether to carry one or the other, and we can even swap them if we find the weapon lying on the ground while exploring. Once we have found a weapon, we can unlock and upgrade it at the base so that we can start the area with that weapon equipped if we want. However, we must be careful because these weapons have limited ammo, and if we run out of bullets, it may be a long time before we find more ammo or another weapon of that colour to replace the one that has no bullets.

However, it's not all about weapons and shooting: hacking is key. The enemies are incredibly resistant to our weapons, and the only way to damage them effectively is by hacking them, which is Diana's job. To do this, when you point a weapon at an enemy, a puzzle appears on the screen in which you have to move a block across a grid to the goal (a green block) by pressing the face buttons on the controller (on Nintendo Switch 2, for example, these are the A, B, X, and Y buttons). This puzzle must be solved in real-time, while enemies are approaching me and without releasing the aim button. Although it may seem complex at first, I soon got used to dodging, running, and shooting while solving the puzzle on the screen, which breaks the enemy's defences and allows me to do critical damage. These puzzles become increasingly complicated, and sometimes blocks appear that prevent you from passing, or power-ups that force you to change the fastest route in order to do more damage or stun the enemy for longer. It's a combat system that adds depth and feels fresh, but after several trips back to base to improve my skills and after dying a couple of times (you also respawn at base when you die), I found the mechanics a bit repetitive when facing the basic enemies again, although I really enjoyed the more complex enemies and the area boss.

Another marvel of the RE Engine

Although I don't want to go on too long about my impressions of the game, I must say that the version I played was on PS5 Pro and the level of detail was impressive. The crystal-clear futuristic corridors, the reflections and lighting effects, Hugh and Diana's suits... everything was beautiful and had a shiny, glossy finish, like a freshly waxed car. I was also surprised by the sound, with futuristic elements mixed with well-chosen sound effects, and in my case, very good Spanish dubbing.

It's still too early to know if Pragmata will be one of the games of the year, but I do believe it will be one of Capcom's most unique titles and one that will surprise everyone. It has left me with a very good impression and wanting more, and I am glad to see that Capcom remains open to new ideas and experiences beyond its iconic franchises.

Pragmata will be released on 17th April on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. Have you tried the demo yet?

Sudden Strike 5 Gameplay Preview: A faster pace and more dynamic action

patrik@gamereactor.eu (Patrik Severin) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0100

Tanks, infantry, artillery - the combination never gets boring in games. In the fifth instalment of the Sudden Strike series, we are back in the role of leading the superpowers during the Second World War. First of all, I have to say that it looks great, with ricochet effects that I've never seen in a game of this type before. When tank shells bounce off vehicle armour, it looks really cool. These may be minor details, but they enhance the experience of watching the spectacle on screen. Despite the graphical improvements, winning requires strategy. You need to position your troops correctly and ensure that your troop types perform the tasks you want them to accomplish. Depending on when you came into contact with the series, this has been handled in slightly different ways.

One of the first missions I got to try out required me to capture a city and drive out the Germans. The city itself was surrounded by a river with blown-up bridges. I built a makeshift pontoon bridge and was able to send my troops across. It feels good and is exciting to have these elements at your disposal. The downside is that there is no dynamism in your computer-controlled opponent. This is perhaps my biggest criticism of what I have played. It is clear that the computer follows a script and has difficulty adapting to new situations. There are no counterattacks or direct surprises; you usually know what is happening and why.

Which general and which bonuses you should have are important decisions to make before each battle.

When you take the city, the computer opponent will never counterattack or try to hinder your attack by surprising you. They sit in their defensive positions and wait for you. This allows you to surround the city, eliminate all threats and slowly push out the enemy. Despite this, I still like what I've played. Your troop types feel real, they can't withstand unlimited damage, and positioning is important. You can easily call in air strikes and purchase more troop types via an economic system we've been familiar with since the fourth game. You generate this currency during the mission, which can then be used to purchase reinforcements or air support.

I liked that I could choose a general before each mission and upgrade different abilities. This meant that I could focus on something and give myself an advantage. This could be seeing further or certain troop types being able to throw smoke grenades. It won't win every battle, but you have the opportunity to specialise your troops before combat. I think this could be a way to entice you and me to replay certain missions, try new strategies and experiment. It also means you can tailor your forces. The missions themselves are quite entertaining, even though I've only tried a few on the Allied side. One mission was about attacking and the other about defending.

It is important to keep your troops alive, and you can do this through smart positioning.

Just like in Company of Heroes, there are points on the map that you can capture. However, they do not have the same significance, and it is rarely a requirement to control all areas. They can, however, give you the opportunity to call in troops, scout the enemy, or increase the amount of points you generate. It is a good way to make me, as a player, want to send troops to these locations. I am grateful that they are based on some form of realism. A radar tower can help you scout the enemy, or a guard post by the road can open up the possibility of calling in reinforcements. These bonuses can simplify the missions a bit, which I appreciate.

However, I do think it's a bit of a shame that Kite Games is moving away from the more tactical and realistic systems that formed the basis of the original games. It's a bit strange to spend money on reinforcements, as if I were buying health potions for gold in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. On the other hand, it's a proven system in modern strategy games such as European Escalation, Steel Division, Ruse, Warno, World in Conflict and Regiments. For that reason, I can forgive it, even if the currency systems feel strange. In that case, I think Graviteam Tactics: Mius-Front handles reinforcements better. Sudden Strike 5 also has a faster pace with more action than the older titles in the series. I don't have a major problem with this as I still like the setup. However, it looks a bit strange at times when tanks need to get closer to each other than before. At the same time, it becomes less of a tactical simulation and more like Company of Heroes, for better or worse.

You can also call in air strikes if you wish.

One of my biggest criticisms of the preview version was the performance. I'm not sure what's causing the problems. The game lags when tanks and soldiers are scattered around by explosions. My suspicion is that it has something to do with the physics engine. However, I am confident that Kite Games can fix this. The music, effects and graphics are flawless overall. This game both sounds and looks fantastic. It is a step up in terms of audiovisuals and visuals. I think this is positive for the series, which otherwise looks a bit dated. I still had quite a lot of fun with the gameplay, even though it is somewhat simplified.

If the variety of missions in the remaining 23 missions is as good as the ones we got to test, I think this will be a great addition to the series. Even if it doesn't quite deliver the most complex of experiences, it is entertaining. It is on this point that I think those who played the original may be a little disappointed, as it is not a return to the old but a development of the new features of the fourth instalment. However, I like several of the newer systems and the ability to upgrade troops. I like that certain areas can be conquered for bonuses. My opinion on this is that we are being offered a graphically impressive game that may fall a little short of the expectations of fans of the series. Due to technical issues and a limited number of missions to test, it is difficult to say whether this title will be a hit or a miss. However, I am hopeful and think you should keep an eye on this if you like strategy games.

Explosions, snow, troop types, vehicles and other elements look brilliant.

Darkhaven Preview: A new name carves a path in a beloved genre

patrik@gamereactor.eu (Patrik Severin) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0100

Some of the creators behind Diablo II are back with their own action role-playing game. And I've spent some time investigating whether it's something to look forward to. Although the game is in an extremely early stage, there is a lot to appreciate in the preview version. When you start the game, you are greeted by the hooded face we saw on the cover of Diablo II, but now with a purple aesthetic. It's clear that Moonbeast Productions is inspired by its previous creations. Several of the developers at this studio created the very first and second games in the series at Blizzard Entertainment. It's a little exciting that one of their biggest competitors today is a game they helped develop. Especially considering the renewed interest Diablo II has received thanks to its new expansion.

Darkhaven begins in a ruined fort, with desolate music. You stand in the middle of the ruins and take on the role of a seemingly human character. You don't have much equipment and your character is relatively weak. For those of you who have played action role-playing games before, this probably sounds familiar. I thought so too, and immediately set out into the world. I simply wanted to start beating up monsters. The first thing I noticed was the destruction of terrain. When I struck with my axe, both the ground and buildings disappeared. I'll be honest and say that I haven't played a game in this genre with this feature before. You can dig up treasures, open up holes with monsters and even caves. You can then enter these places to loot and defeat enemies. It's much more fun than it sounds and fits the genre well. It feels good to open a path and find a hidden chamber with treasures. This also helps to make the world in this genre even more interesting. Behind every wall, there may be things to find.

The user interface is reminiscent of Diablo.

Because of how early this is in its development, I can forgive things like the user interface, fonts, and other elements not looking like they belong in the same game. I can also forgive optimisation problems and technical shortcomings. Unfortunately, the demo suffers from these types of problems. From what I've played, this looks like a prototype, an attempt to show that Moonbeast Productions has something interesting in the works. Although the tone, aesthetics, and design are somewhat reminiscent of Diablo, I think the pace is similar to Titan Quest. Things are a little slower and it doesn't feel as snappy. On the other hand, you can jump and it feels more like a full-fledged 3D game than many of its competitors. I found that, just like in Donkey Kong Bananza for Switch 2, the camera can get stuck and become awkward when you're digging and fighting underground. This is probably a problem the developers will fix, but it's something that's clear in the preview version. Of course, much of this can be overlooked at this stage of development.

The reason I like destructible environments is how the entire title is built around this. You can drain water from lakes and open up flooded ancient ruins with monsters and treasures. The environments also remember where you have fought and what is happening in the world. Destroyed things remain destroyed. If you don't like this, you can also build things in this game, which really sets it apart from titles like Path of Exile or Titan Quest II. It's not your classic Torchlight or Diablo, but something different and exciting thanks to this functionality. It's not quite on par with something like The Forest or Rust, but rather a title similar to V-Rising. It's a little unclear how much building will be included in this title. The difference between this and V-Rising is that the latter is based more on the survival aspect than Darkhaven seems to be. Darkhaven is much closer to Titan Quest, Torchlight and Diablo than that title is. You can multi-class your character in this game, which I like. You can also combine up to three skill trees, which contributes to a setup that makes your character unique. It reminds me a bit of the system in Titan Quest and its sequels.

You can upgrade your character based on three classes simultaneously.

If you are like me and have tried many action role-playing games over the years, this may be of interest to you. However, how this title turns out depends somewhat on whether their Kickstarter campaign is fully funded. I am positive about this, even though the demo version is more of a prototype than a finished experience. I also think the developers are on the right track with their approach of allowing players to build their characters based on more than one class and incorporating elements such as gems, runes and similar items with bonuses. The developers also promise that there will be major world events that shape the path you fight on. In the limited version we were able to test, there was only one such event. It unlocks when you've been following the main quests for a while, and when it sweeps across the campaign world, you immediately notice that something is wrong. It's a wave of undead sweeping across the campaign world, which in practice means more undead enemies and a world that is slowly dying. I like it because you can stop it or let it happen. The choice of how to deal with these world events is yours, and it affects your campaign in more ways than one.

If you're hungry for something different, Darkhaven might be for you. With its destructible and dynamic world, it stands out from its competitors. Thanks to great music, game design and fantastic ambient sounds, it manages to create something unique. Although the experience itself is not difficult compared to its competitors, there is a lot of potential with this setup. It is rare to see something so different in this genre. Whether or not this will become a full-fledged game remains to be seen. However, I can say with a clear conscience that I want to try the finished game. Hopefully, Moonbeast Productions will manage to deliver a different, yet familiar, entertaining and rewarding action role-playing game. It is definitely something that those who appreciate the genre need to keep an eye on.

If you don't know where to go, there is a map you can use to find things.

The variety of biomes around the world differs significantly. They can be underground tunnels, grass-covered hills and lava-filled plateaus.

Ashes of the Singularity II Gameplay Preview: Lasers, robots, tanks, oh my!

patrik@gamereactor.eu (Patrik Severin) — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0100

Thousands of tanks, vehicles and attack aircraft are moving across a dry desert landscape. They are in the process of conquering areas and then defeating a really challenging player. However, he has giant robots and laser weapons. It gives me a feeling I haven't had since I played the original and most recently Supreme Commander. It's no secret that I like the concept behind this title. I can say right away that the performance is better than in the original and it feels better to play. Just like in its predecessor, you play as one of two factions and build up massive forces. These forces are then used to defeat the enemy on gigantic maps. The longer the matches go on, the larger and more dangerous the troop types you have access to. The same applies in the second instalment. This time, however, we have a number of new features and even a completely new faction, one of which is locked in the pre-release version.

One new feature is that the maps are divided into small areas that you need to conquer before you can extract their resources and construct buildings in that area. This is, of course, a bold choice, as the predecessor was not designed that way. In Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation, you fought for points on the map, and I can still understand the change. I think that in terms of gameplay, it will create a better flow in the skirmishes. I may also be wrong, and this will create more problems than it is worth. In the demo, I got the impression that each match starts with you building a base in your zone. However, you have limited building sites, which forces you to conquer surrounding zones to extract resources and construct more buildings. This means you cannot build everything in one place, which creates new strategic choices. It also forces you out onto the battlefield and reduces the risk of you staying in one place for the entire match.

Explosions and violent clashes await.

I believe there are advantages to this new system. This includes the need to plan more in advance and utilise more of the world. There are also disadvantages, namely that you lose freedom in how you play. Something I loved about Supreme Commander and its expansion Forged Alliance was that you didn't have to think about anything like that. You could send workers and build a base wherever you wanted. On the other hand, this resulted in a rather slow pace. I suspect that the developers are trying to find a good balance in this regard and keep you, the player, busy with something to do at all times. The fact that both factions feel at least as different from each other as in the first game is a plus in my opinion. They have different backstories, buildings, strategies and troop types. It's not quite at the same level as in Starcraft, but a little more different from each other than the factions in Supreme Commander.

The two warring factions are the United Earth Forces and the Post-Human Coalition. A third faction, Substrate, will appear at launch, including a single-player campaign. I only had the opportunity to test a limited skirmish mode. This sequel feels a bit like a Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander 2 situation. There are several major changes that alter how you play. Several of these are limitations you didn't have in the first game. They have also included a technology tree. I thought it was a bit quick to get through this tree before you encountered real opponents. However, this is easy to fix if the developers and players consider this to be a problem. Even aspects such as your defensive buildings being rather weak contribute to a feeling that aggression is the right way to go. It is built for faster, quicker and more intense gameplay. I think some will appreciate this, while others may prefer the predecessor because of it.

The visuals look good.

I liked that there was a day and night cycle and that the troops felt good to move around in the world. The graphics are relatively good and it's easy to zoom in and out depending on what you need. Just like in its predecessor, the idea is that you macro-manage large armies and build bases rather than micro-manage everything in detail. This works well in the second game too. I also like the prototype weapons I've seen this time around. They look more dangerous and seem to do more damage. This was a big problem with Supreme Commander 2, where the experimental troop types were designed to die quite quickly compared to the first game. The scale is also good between simpler troop types and stronger war machines. It's clearer what's what this time around, and the graphics overall have been given a boost. Large, monstrous war machines tower over the smaller ones. The sound is also good, and you can hear the difference between the troop types, which always helps in strategy games.

I understand what Oxide Games wants to do with this sequel, and I think it could be controversial. However, I am curious to see what the final product will be like. We don't get this type of game very often, even though I love these larger and less limited real-time strategy games. It's also quite fun to paint the map with your troops and conquered areas. It's a bit like a race to paint the world in your colours. I've always found that entertaining in 4X games. If you like large battlefields, building bases and destroying your opponents with ever larger troops, this might be something for you. The factions are sufficiently different from each other, and this time we will get three at launch.

The technology tree feels a bit out of place. I would have preferred to see a better implementation directly in buildings.

However, you need to understand that it is not the same game as the first one, but something different. Whether it will be the same situation as with Dawn of War 2, which found an audience, or with Supreme Commander 2, which was criticised, remains to be seen. Nevertheless, I think it seems well thought out and competent, even if it is different and offers a number of controversial changes. One problem they need to solve is how individual players should deal with spam of a troop type to knock out your headquarters, for example, bomber aircraft. Even with reconnaissance and other measures, it can be difficult to match such numbers if you build broadly with multiple troop types in your forces. However, it is a situation where time will tell whether innovation and changes to the basic concept will succeed or not. I am hopeful, though, and thought that it worked well to some extent. I also have a nagging concern that these are too big changes to the basic concept rather than a proper development and improvement of it.

The map is excellent, and you can zoom in or out directly to ground level using your computer mouse.
Conquering the regions of the track is a piece of cake and a new feature in this sequel.

Warhounds Gameplay Preview: XCOM meets Jagged Alliance in Africa

patrik@gamereactor.eu (Patrik Severin) — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0100

If you gave me money for every tactical turn-based strategy game I've played over the years, I'd be rich today. It's a fantastic genre and often so limited in scale that it retains both depth and delivers a great experience without becoming too drawn out. There are exceptions, of course, such as XCOM, where the length is considerably longer in terms of playing time. Warhounds is an exciting attempt to let you control a mercenary force fighting for the future of Africa. A mysterious group has begun dismantling country after country and is trying to conquer the entire continent. You are sent in to rescue one of the last surviving presidents in one of the countries and fight back against this threat.

In this preview version, the choices were quite limited. I got to spend time on three distinct missions in the game's opening moments. You are flown in to help a roaring president with a machine gun, and the first two missions serve as a training mode. My first thought was that it resembled XCOM and Jagged Alliance. Unfortunately, it doesn't feel quite as good as those, but in some respects it seems to be an entertaining alternative. If you can handle terrible dialogue with strange word choices and embarrassing macho stuff, you might appreciate the gameplay. I'm not kidding when I say the dialogue is embarrassing; there were moments when I wanted to hide my head under the computer desk. The questionable voice acting, recorded at different volume levels, contributes to dialogue that is rather difficult to appreciate. Unfortunately, only a few voice actors work in this game, and even they have questionable things to say. This means that the Jagged Alliance aspect cannot really carry the game.

The grey area is an area you cannot see. Usually, the enemy cannot see you either.

However, if you appreciate tactical turn-based combat, this is quite decent. The gameplay is in place with full and half cover. You can equip your soldiers with protective vests, different types of weapons, hand grenades and much more. It was only in the third mission that we were able to test a limited amount of this. I appreciate the ability to rotate the camera, the movement system and the shooting. Just like in the modern XCOM games, you can move and shoot, shoot twice or move further. There are also abilities that allow you to both sprint and shoot. In this regard, I think Warhounds works well. Unfortunately, I can't really say the same about the computer opposition in this test version. The opponents often made rather clumsy decisions, putting themselves in danger, and it wasn't difficult to defeat them.

I assume that they will be strengthened by more protective vests, better weapons, and abilities. At the same time, I can already warn that the computer opponents have difficulty playing the game properly. You often end up in a superior position and can quickly destroy the opposition. It's a little early to criticise this too harshly, as we've only tested the initial levels. It is also unclear what difference the difficulty levels will make to the experience. The battles themselves are only one aspect of the title. There is also a mode involving base building, recruitment and money management. It remains to be seen whether the whole package will be good, and I believe that this will make or break the title. From what I have tested so far, it is not a promising game. It feels old and like something that competitors have already done better. At the same time, it may result in an interesting title that is heavily inspired by what came before and does not do anything completely new. Sometimes more of the same can work excellently, and that is exactly what I am curious about with Warhounds.

The boat is your hub and your base. It is where you construct buildings, recruit soldiers, and prepare for your missions.

I am very curious about how the base on board the ship will interact with the rest of the game. How will you earn money and how will it all work together? We do not yet know how many of the missions are generic and how many are custom-made. The story itself builds solely on the premise of these three missions. However, it should be said that everything felt familiar. There was nothing that really stood out about the title except for its setting. Africa is a continent that is rarely used in computer games, which I think is a bit of a shame. My favourite in the Far Cry series is probably still the second one, thanks to the setting, the story and the cool gameplay elements that the series has not reused in the same way since then.

Although I had issues with the voice acting and the written dialogue, the music is fitting. The weapons also sound good, and from the little I've been able to use, the selection feels varied nonetheless. The graphics don't offer a game you'll praise for its visuals, but it looks perfectly acceptable despite some strange facial animations. Technically, it is somewhat dated in terms of effects and environmental destruction. However, I don't think it's unplayable, and at times it looks good. Unfortunately, beautiful images are replaced by hideous animations and low-resolution textures. However, I would like to point out that I have seen both worse and better examples in the genre. A typical example in this game is its cutscenes. These can look completely crazy due to the camera angle. In one of the buildings, I encountered a new type of enemy with a knife. This villain had his face covered with a low-resolution towel throughout the entire sequence. There are many things like this that detract from the overall experience.

Sometimes the angle is wrong. This villain is covered with a towel and is trying to look scary.

Warhounds is a game about money and mercenaries in an XCOM setting. The characters talk a bit like in Jagged Alliance, and more than once I wished they would just be quiet. On the other hand, I liked throwing hand grenades, hitting that hard-to-hit enemy, and flanking the right way. The environments also feature houses, rooftops, and much more, allowing for free movement and many strategies. Unfortunately, I felt that the computer opposition didn't really take advantage of this in the free missions. In the training levels, they follow certain instructions from the developers so that you can learn the basics. This means that it's difficult to say anything about them. I am cautiously optimistic about this title. However, even in the pre-release test, there are obvious problems that I am not sure Everplay DMCC can fix before the full launch. If you are interested in XCOM and Jagged Alliance, this title may be worth keeping an eye on. However, it does not seem to be a title that will surpass these classics, but rather offer more of the same. From what I have tested, I am afraid that it will be no more than a mediocre or borderline good experience. However, I would love to be proven wrong, as I like this type of game.

When you're on your way to a mission, you'll get a briefing on what to do, just like in Firaxis' modern XCOM.

Battleplan Gameplay Preview: A new player joins the theatre of war

patrik@gamereactor.eu (Patrik Severin) — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0100

Do you like the concept behind Hearts of Iron but find it a little too difficult? Then Battleplan might be the game for you. This week, I had the opportunity to test an extended version of this title, and just like many other titles in the genre, it is set during World War II. Gone is all the micro-management, diplomacy and industrial capacity building. You create and structure your forces as one of several warring factions. In the version I tested, I got to choose the Allies. Unfortunately, the other factions were not available this time. It was after I chose sides that I realised this was a different experience. What is unique about this title is that it further develops the concept of drawing battle lines and commanding your troops from Hearts of Iron IV. In Battleplan, you receive your mission from your superiors and, as a general, you must ensure that your troops are able to carry it out.

Your game world is a board with a map of an area you are to fight over. It could be in England, Europe or North Africa. You build your troops using troop types, headquarters and other elements. These are then placed in larger groups and linked together by drawing lines between their cards in a menu. It can be beneficial to link a headquarters with your troops so that they can more easily obtain supplies, bonuses, and other items. It is somewhat reminiscent of the hierarchy system in Hearts of Iron, but is considerably simpler here. The demo provided me with ready-made templates, and the training mode explains how to proceed if you are uncertain. Once this is done and you have not exceeded the weight limits for your force, these troop types are placed in the game world. You can then take control and start doing what the title is mainly about: winning wars.

Organising the troops and deciding who leads is simple and intuitive.

Since you are not an incompetent officer or sergeant, you do not need to bother meeting with your troops. You use a brush tool to intuitively draw where the front line should be. Choose which types of troops to send there, and then decide what the troops should do. Whether they should attack a city, fortify an important point or quickly occupy a city, it is easy to decide exactly that. Each individual mission you create places a marker on the clock. The marker tells you how much time this will take. It is perfectly possible to add several at a time, but you need to be aware that several of the troop types do not attack at night. For this reason, you must plan your operations based on the clock. For example, how long an artillery attack followed by a swift tank attack will take. This ensures that your attacks are synchronised and you get the best possible results.

I found Battleplans to be intuitively easy to learn and well suited for new players of the genre. This is because it is more of an arcade game than an in-depth simulator. There are also elements of simulation, statistics and other features that you can use to your advantage. I found Battplan to be a bit like Theme Hospital is to Project Hospital, or Simstad is to Simcity 4. It is not the deepest, most complex or most difficult, but it is well made, fun and entertaining. It stands on its own two feet and offers an interesting setup. You only need to focus on one thing, and that is your soldiers and troop types. In that respect, it is more reminiscent of Warno without offering the same tactical and strategic depth.

You draw directly on the game world and create orders for your troops.

I am quite hopeful that this could be a really good game. Foolish Mortals Games has a winning concept with this title. If they can just polish up the AI opponents a little, I think this could be one of Slitherine's better beginner-friendly titles. It quickly becomes apparent that they are not targeting veterans of the genre. The importance of generals and bonuses is easy to understand, and how to apply them is fairly straightforward. Regardless of which generals you buy or use to lead your forces (they are the ones who give bonuses via headquarters), there is a use for them. The game is good at explaining what the things you do mean. I'm eager to try out the larger battles so that I can really dive in. I've always liked the more macro-intensive and operational side of war strategy games, so if you're like me, this might be worth trying out.

If you're interested, there's a demo you can try via Steam. It's not quite as packed with content as my preview version, but you'll get a good idea of what this has to offer. It's not just the gameplay that's top notch. The voice acting is good, and both the music and graphics do their job without getting in the way. The user interface is clean, making it easy to build your troops. You are never overwhelmed with information and can wage war and give orders to your troops at your own pace. Although the tempo is relatively high as the game takes place in real time, you can pause, slow down and speed up the action. This leads me to conclude that I have very little criticisms for this title thus far.

All the troops at my disposal had a small, well-written encyclopaedia about themselves.

My main criticism right now is that the computer opposition is a bit flat. I think small adjustments to how it behaves could help make the game more of a challenge. At the same time, I have to point out that what I tested was early in the campaign. This means that the battles weren't particularly big and that the computer held back. In training mode, the computer opponent does not attack you at all. That said, it will be really exciting to test the full version of the game. I have not yet seen how the Axis powers play, and I have not tested all types of troops. It will also be exciting to see if the computer opponents can challenge me as a player on larger battlefields.

If you are interested in an easy-to-play war strategy game that borrows ideas from Hearts of Iron IV and stands on its own two feet, this is something you should check out. My time with this game has been positive throughout, and although I appreciate difficult titles in the genre, this is a fine example of something lighter that still manages to interest me. If the full version is equally impressive overall, it could be one of the better titles of the year in its genre. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this, and I think you should too. Especially if you don't mind a slightly simpler setup and difficulty level.

The assignments are presented with voice acting and information about what you are expected to do. At the end of the assignment, you will also receive a summary and a grade.

Diablo IV Preview: Lord of Hatred's Warlock might be our new favourite class

ben@gamereactor.eu (Ben Lyons) — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 21:00:00 +0100

It's been a really busy start to the year for Blizzard Entertainment, who in a space of just four months, will have essentially rebooted Overwatch, launched the first major content update for Diablo II in 25 years, debuted a sweeping expansion for Hearthstone, launched Housing and the Midnight expansion in World of Warcraft, and also, by the time April ends, delivered Diablo IV's second expansion known as Lord of Hatred. So yes, busy is perhaps underselling it.

If you have been following Gamereactor throughout February, you'll be aware that we've been keeping close ties on all things Blizzard, partly down to our recent visit to the massive developer's Irvine campus just outside of Los Angeles at the end of January. Through this, we've shared tons of impressions and thoughts on Overwatch, Diablo II: Resurrected, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and now the time has come for Diablo IV to join the fray. Albeit with a catch...

You see, I've played Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred in one manner of speaking but then also not had a chance to touch it in another. A tad confusing? Understandable. I've been hands-on with the Warlock class, which technically fully launches alongside the Paladin with the arrival of Lord of Hatred, even if you can access the latter class today by pre-ordering the expansion. The issue is that the hands-on experience with the Warlock didn't actually allow me to travel around the new area of Skovos at all, hence why this is a very peculiar preview as I can talk a fair bit about the Warlock but not really at all about Lord of Hatred. With limited talking points, let's keep this a tad briefer than usual.

As you can see in the gameplay that we captured above, with action happening in Vessel of Hatred's Nahantu region, the Warlock is an absolute power-fantasy class, a formidable option that will appease players of all kinds. It's described as Diablo's most "heavy metal" class to date and you can see that in the setup and structure of the class and how it's designed to dive head-first into combat and to leave nothing but blood and bones in its wake.

There are a handful of key class archetypes to follow with the Warlock that sees it massively play differently. I found myself trending towards the Legion option, a class-type that is all about summoning demonic legions and using your army of thralls to cut through anything that Hell throws at you. In a way, it's similar to the Necromancer but with an added caveat that you don't need corpses to reanimate to make Legion work, you can simply summon demons from beyond and force them to enact your will.

The other options include Vanguard, which is more of a fast-pace option, an archetype that is all about riding a hellhound into battle and then turning into a demon yourself to turn Hell's wrath against it. Is it perhaps a tad hypocritical to resort to the darkness to win this war? Perhaps. But that doesn't detract from its entertainment value. The same can somewhat be said about Ritualist, an archetype that revolves around using demonic energy to unleash hellfire and abyss on those that stand in your way. If Legion is Necromancer-like and Vanguard is more Barbarian, then Ritualist is the Sorcerer alternative that is all about using spells to unleash chaos on the battlefield. Finally, we have Mastermind, which is in a way similar to the Legion archetype and the Necromancer class, as it's all about binding demons to your will and then having them fight your battles while you oversee the destruction from the safety of the abyss.

As you can see, regardless of the gameplay style you choose, the Warlock is looking to offer immense variety and from what I've experienced at least, excellent potential that will make this class an absolute force of nature capable of going toe-to-toe with Mephisto in an effort of saving Sanctuary from complete and utter devastation.

Beyond this, while the Diablo IV Developer Update has shared more information about what to expect from Lord of Hatred and Skovos as a region, I can't comment on how it plays and functions as I didn't get to see any of this in action. What I can briefly touch upon are some of the wider updates and changes to Diablo IV as a whole, including the restructuring of the skill tree.

Essentially, the skill tree has been simplified and refined, so instead of popping multiple points into one perk to improve it time-and-time-again, you now only spend one skill point per perk option. There's still an element of improving a core perk by spending more points in its respective branch, but now there are more options to select, which should make buildcrafting all the more interesting in the long haul. Blizzard promises more than 40 reworked choices, over 80 additional options, and 20+ additional skills, meaning it could feel like an entire reboot of the feature and something for players to learn almost from scratch again.

The skill tree adjustment is also coming in-line with built-in loot filters to more easily find the gear you need, the Horadric Cube crafting tool to make unique items that better fit your style of play, and the Talisman to add further buildcrafting by re-introducing the Charms mechanic that adds extra bonuses to your build. These should all make Diablo IV buildcrafting less rigid and also perhaps a tad more intuitive to crack for newer and less experienced players, so a win-win in many respects.

Left: Skill tree changes. Right: New loot filter.
Left: Talisman. Centre: War Plans. Right: Horadric Cube

Beyond this, Lord of Hatred will add further streamlined endgame elements like the playlist feature known as War Plans and a very challenging, almost pinnacle endgame activity called Echoing Hatred. Matching this up with the rather stunning land of Skovos and the sprawling capital city of Temis, locations that are untouched by the darkness as of yet, even if this will change as the story expands, Lord of Hatred is looking to be a great next chapter of Diablo IV and a fine endpoint for this portion of the wider narrative that began with the base game's story. But is it actually any good? Again, I can't add anything on this topic as of yet, even if you can see a bunch of images of Skovos below.

What we do know is that Lord of Hatred launches on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox on April 28, so stay tuned for more.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire Preview: Much more than just your basic cheddar cheese

ben@gamereactor.eu (Ben Lyons) — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 18:00:00 +0100

I have been an admirer of Mouse: P.I. For Hire ever since I first laid eyes upon the game. An action-oriented shooter with noir visuals and a rubber hose animation style set in a world of smart-talking and well-dressed rodents. What isn't to love? It's been a bit of a turbulent adoration all the same as the game has been delayed on multiple occasions, including most recently pushing it out of March and into April, but the benefit to these launch changes is that each time we see more of Mouse: P.I. For Hire, it seems to look more and more impressive.

Cut to today and I can finally tell you about my experience actually playing this promising project. I've had the luxury to sit down and work my way through a portion of the gameplay as part of a preview build that included one full level of action and also a taste of the wider world, which might somewhat surprise you with how it's all stitched together. I'll get to the overworld, investigative case structuring, NPC interaction, and all that jazz in a moment, as first let me hone in on what started this preview build: a full playthrough of the Bandel's Laboratory level.

In the gameplay above, you can see much of what I experienced during this level, which ultimately came across exactly as I was expecting (and was hoping). It's an action title with boomer shooter-like elements, where you use a variety of quirky weapons to blast past a collection of enemies while using smooth omni-directional movement to get around. Essentially, imagine Doom if it traded gruesome demons and a hellish landscape for rodent cultists made to look like a 1930's cartoon.

As the protagonist of Jack Pepper, you move through the linear level, fending off enemies using a pistol, Tommy gun, shotgun, fisticuffs, throwable dynamite, and even eventually the Turpentine acid-spraying weapon that will literally melt the flesh right off the bones of those unlucky enough to be hit by it. Again, in a Doom-like manner, you cruise around the levels and pick up ammo crates dotted around to ensure you're chock-full with resources and then you get locked in combat encounters where you have to eliminate melee-wielding threats, ranged combatants, even mini-bosses to be able to advance further.

The combat and movement is also snappy and responsive and plays quickly, allowing you to zoom through a level as fast as you can manage, or instead to slow things down and hunt for secrets and other goodies that can be hidden, sometimes even behind an inconspicuously put together and structurally-suspicious wall. We're not talking huge secrets, but rather caches of money (one of the main currencies) or blueprints that can be used to unlock weapon upgrades, with some of these even securely stored in a locked safe that you have to unlock with a mini-game that's somewhat reminiscent of Snake.

This core gameplay portion is pretty much what I was expecting from Mouse: P.I. For Hire judging by previous trailers for the game. It works truly well and smoothly, with fulfilling combat brought to life with an art direction that is memorable and charismatic to say the least. In a similar vein to Cuphead, another rubber hose-animated game, the levels don't come across as particularly long either, with one perhaps requiring 15-30 minutes of your time, depending on how much you want to hunt for secrets and lore titbits dotted around. But what the levels are not is non-linear, at least from this one experience. There is a clear and core path to follow, a way to go from the start to the end, and while there are obstacles in the way on that route, including electrified gates that must be switched off at the source, you won't be faced with any headscratchers making you baffled as to what to do next.

Side note, before touching on the rest of the short preview, it's worth knowing that Mouse: P.I. For Hire has built-in visual and sound filters that allow you to enhance how authentically rubber hose the game feels. You can crank up the visual filters so it adds more of a grainy nature, have the audio sound like it's playing on vinyl, it's up to you and how much of a 1930s-like experience you want.

Anyone, back to the gameplay. After you come to the end of the level, you aren't just transported elsewhere to continue ploughing through action-packed levels. No, you must return to your P.I. office and go over the new evidence you've collated about this specific case. This means taking to a Cuphead-like overworld where you drive Jack Pepper's car around a lovely and lively top-down world until you make it back to the centre of town, where you are once again put into the Pepper's shoes in first-person. Here, you can wander around a more open-level where you can visit the local bar and ask NPCs for leads and information, can relay updates to the local press, upgrade your weapons at a workshop, and judging by what we could see during our traipsing around, visit a gunsmith to buy new weapons and pick up extra cases by interacting with flyers and such. This part of the wider Mouseburg is effectively the hub location where much of the narrative wheels are greased, if you will, and it's also the place where Pepper's office is located and his corkboard can be found.

In a manner a bit like Alan Wake 2's case board that helps Saga Anderson pull together the wider mystery, Pepper's corkboard is a place to stitch up any gathered evidence and start figuring out how it all comes together. The premise of Mouse: P.I. For Hire is to solve different missing persons cases and with lots of loose and overlapping ends, so having a place where you can collate the information into one cohesive whole is handy. What isn't clear from what I've seen is how much will be required from the player to solve each case. Will you need to piece evidence together to reach a conclusion and outline a suspect or will the game naturally do that once you stick the evidence on the corkboard? This is unclear, but there are voiced dialogue interactions with certain characters where you can ask questions in a branching dialogue-like manner to learn more about the situation at hand.

So long story short, Mouse: P.I. For Hire seems to be more than just some run of the mill cheddar cheese. There are layers and depth to this game that you may not have expected previously and ultimately it seems like developer Fumi Games is on track to delivering something special, fun, and very memorable when the game launches on PC and consoles on April 16.

Tides of Tomorrow Preview: A multiplayer/single-player game like you've never seen before

claus@gamereactor.eu (Claus Larsen) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0100

You should listen to the truth from children and drunk people - do you know that expression? Back then, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet actually broadcast documentaries, not reality TV that could rot your brain. I once saw a programme about the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and I was deeply fascinated. Not so much by the history itself, but by the idea that eras were defined by the material used to make tools.

So I turned to my mother and said that if it was the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, then we must be living in the Plastic Age. Brilliant.

It made perfect sense in my little head. Plastic was everywhere. In the kitchen. In toys. In packaging. In nature. And it still is. In fact, to such an extent that we are now talking about microplastics in fish, in the sea and in ourselves. It's not exactly uplifting when you think about it for more than a moment.

That's why Tides of Tomorrow struck a chord with me right away. The game takes the plastic age and asks what will happen if we don't stop. What if the oceans rise? What if plastic doesn't just float around, but becomes the very foundation of civilisation? What if we don't just live with the waste, but on top of it?

The result is a world where humanity clings to life on small islands built from rubbish, metal and the remains of the world we ourselves have destroyed. Old oil rigs rise up like monuments to our former lives, and the sea has become a plastic ocean that is both beautiful and repulsive at the same time. It's a cool premise, and it works because it doesn't feel completely unrealistic. Tides of Tomorrow was developed by DigixArt and published by THQ Nordic, and I got to play a good chunk of it. DigixArt is also behind Road 96, and you can clearly sense that they have a penchant for narrative experimentation and choices that actually matter. The game starts with you being fished out of the sea by a character named Eyla, and you have apparently been under the sea for decades. It's the kind of opening where you have to accept the premise before you fully understand the consequences. The world has changed, and plastic is not just waste, but something that has found its way into the human body, so everyone is slowly dying.

The only way to postpone your fate is to constantly inhale a substance called ozone, and if you don't get it, you gradually start to turn into plastic. It could easily have been a slightly too thick metaphor, but because it is treated seriously in the game's universe, it actually works, and I found myself thinking several times that it is a rather direct and rather courageous way to take the climate debate and make it physical. In terms of gameplay, Tides of Tomorrow is at its core a narrative adventure game. You talk to characters, collect scraps that serve as currency, constantly search for ozone to stay alive, and make choices that affect both your own survival and the people you meet along the way. It's not new in its structure, but it's solid and feels well thought out.

However, it all revolves around the Tidewalker system, and this is where the game really begins to stand out. When you start, you choose another player to follow, and it can be a random player, a friend or, in principle, a streamer, which the developers themselves encourage. At first, I thought it sounded like a smart idea on paper, but the longer I played, the more I began to feel that it actually changes your experience.

That player becomes your precursor, and their choices are already imprinted on your world. If they have ignored a character, you can sense it in the dialogue. If they have helped, it can open up other possibilities. And you inevitably start to wonder who the person you are following really is. Are they cynical? Are they empathetic? Are they just curious and trying things out? It's a strange feeling to have a kind of relationship with a player you've never met, but who nevertheless influences your world.

There are also moments when, through small cracks in reality, you can see traces of the precursor's future, such as a password or a solution you haven't yet figured out yourself. It could feel like a shortcut, but because it's part of the game's basic idea that we move in each other's tides, it becomes more a part of the logic of the universe than a trick.

When you sail out onto the plastic sea, it becomes even clearer. The tracks of four other players appear in the area, and if you find one of their routes, you can follow it to a new island, a treasure or a conflict. This creates a chain reaction where you are indirectly entangled in other people's stories without playing directly together. It's quite fascinating to think about, and I actually like the idea, even though it also has something slightly unsettling about it.
There are also ship battles, confrontations and a lot of exploration, and the world feels threatening, but at the same time alive. Amidst all the plastic and decay, there are still people trying to do the right thing, and that's perhaps what I like best about Tides of Tomorrow. That it's not just about doom, but also about relationships and responsibility.

I'm not usually the type to throw around big words about games that set new standards, and I can't stand how expressions like "souls-like" are used for everything. But Tides of Tomorrow has an originality that actually feels real, and not just like a marketing buzzword.

The game will be released on 22 April, and I am genuinely curious to see how far DigixArt dares to go with their idea in the full version. There is something here that feels different, and if it succeeds, it could be more than just another narrative adventure.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And yes. I'm going to go and sort my rubbish afterwards. Just to be on the safe side.

First impressions with Denshattack!: A crazy and demanding arcade game that refreshes the genre

alberto@gamereactor.eu (Alberto Garrido) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0100

There is little room at the forefront of video games for single-player experiences. Nowadays, with all the attention (and budgets) of large companies invested in increasingly generic and impersonal game-as-a-service offerings, the only way for players to find something more "classic" is to look among independent developers. Fortunately, we now have more small creative teams at work than ever before. And from there, of course, come such unlikely and wonderful things as Denshattck!

Undercoders is a small Spanish studio with a long history. Among its most recent and well-known works are Treasures of the Aegean and Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara. In the latter, there was already a certain tendency towards fast-paced platforms and accurate character control, which has somehow evolved, picked up speed and finally become a strange train arcade game with a lot of similarities to Tony Hawk's games and the legacy of the Olli Olli series, from the now defunct Roll7.

In a dystopian but near future, Japan is ravaged by a catastrophe that has forced the surviving population to take refuge in isolated sphere cities throughout the country. The only way to communicate with each other is through the bullet train or Shinkansen railway system, and even then it is not an easy journey: cut, destroyed or simply impassable tracks mean that the world is placing its hopes in the best train drivers, the Denshattakers. And that's where we come in, as a young delivery girl who suddenly finds herself competing to become the best train driver in the country.

With this premise worthy of an anime series, we take the controls and get on the tracks, and what we immediately notice, besides the fact that Denshattack! is very fast, is that it is very precise. The controls are very fine and respond with pinpoint accuracy, which is the first barrier to overcome. In addition to learning how to take corners (with a drift similar to Mario Kart), you'll also have to jump over tracks and perform stunts worthy of a professional skater, while changing surfaces, flying over forests and buildings, and praying that you don't crash into something at 500 km/h. But you're going to do it a lot. It may seem confusing at first, but even I, who have very little experience with this type of game, was able to get the hang of it and reach the finish line, although I'll leave the time trial for when the final version comes out on 17 June.

Because by then, I'll have to have mastered how to do ollies, kickflips and 720º turns with a 50-tonne train in the air while crossing a waterfall that runs between the ruins of two skyscrapers. In addition to the obvious driving skills required by Denshattack, the other main point on which the tracks of this spectacular game run is its wonderful artwork. In addition to the attention to detail in the customisable train itself and the backgrounds and settings of modern-day Japan, full of advertisements, neon lights and colourful posters, the aesthetics of Denshattack are reminiscent of an anime series. As such, you'll see words or onomatopoeic sounds written in kanji characters when you brake, skid or pick up speed as you pass through power-ups, which are as colourful as the background. And even though it all happens in a fraction of a second, the music, the colours, the speed and the sparks from the rails all come together to create something truly special.

As I said at the beginning, it's not easy to break into single-player experiences, and arcade titles are not as popular as they once were, but I hope and trust that everyone, even those who never got on a board with Tony Hawk Pro Skater or Olli Olli World, will give Denshattack! a try, in what may be one of the freshest and most appealing experiences this summer has to offer.

Rockbeasts Preview: Bojack Horseman meets Nirvana

joel@gamereactor.eu (Joel Pettersson) — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0100

Rockbeasts (or RÖCKBEASTS in capital letters with an umlaut over the O, as it's actually called) is a rock & roll management game with RPG elements that puts you in the role of a newly graduated manager of a garage band consisting of anthropomorphic animals. Think Bojack Horseman meets Nirvana in a hand-drawn, adult animated world. You take care of a group of ego-driven, rowdy band members who start from scratch in an alternative 90s USA characterised by grunge, MTV, and the ruthless realities of the music industry. Your tasks include booking gigs, negotiating venues, managing resources, repairing equipment, creating setlists, and making difficult choices that affect the band's career and internal relationships.

Don't miss: You can learn much more about Rockbeasts with our exclusive interview with the devs

The story is a dark comedy-drama written by Jakub Szamałek, who previously contributed to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, with voices from, among others, veteran Baldur's Gate 3 actors and rock icon Iggy Pop as a dog radio host. You lead the band from small bars and rehearsal rooms to larger arenas, while navigating venues and their often rowdy/colourful owners, record label executives, and the members' personal demons. Each member has unique traits that affect the dynamics; think of a bassist who is a lovely Canadian but in debt, a drummer who lives only for drums and alcohol, or a guitarist whose ego has its own gravity, all while your decisions shape relationships, reputation, and the final outcome. The game features over 100 voice-acted characters and 90 locations ranging from Nashville to Denver.

You can name the band yourself. I chose 'Conny-Martinz', of course.

The gameplay focuses on band management: balancing resources such as food and equipment, planning rehearsals for morale, setlists based on individual strengths, and rhythm-based concerts where you control performances in real-time to influence audience, revenue, and reputation. It mixes management, RPG choices, and mini-games, with 17 original tracks in an alternative rock style. The aesthetics are hand-drawn in a slightly gritty 90s vibe, including locations such as record shops, radio stations, and street scenes in a style inspired by animated series, with BoJack Horseman appearing to be the most obvious source of inspiration. The environments capture the chaos with posters, roadies, and backstage intrigue, while the soundtrack reinforces the classic Seattle sound.

I've played a couple of hours of the game and... I actually think this could turn out to be a very enjoyable game in the end. What I was lucky enough to experience is a fairly early build that is far from finished but shows the potential that is there. However, I did encounter some parts that didn't look particularly polished, and I also got "soft locked" towards the end of the version I played. Developer Lichthund has some work to do before the game is ready for release, but good things come to those who wait, and in this case, I hope we get to wait a little longer. Rockbeasts is currently a diamond in the rough, and it would be a shame if they didn't take the time needed to polish it properly.

It's a charming game, but it needs a little extra polish here and there.

This is an ambitious mix of gameplay elements and genres. I like the role-playing part where you get to know the band and upgrade both them and their equipment. It feels solid, and the way it's presented is the icing on the cake. It was also surprisingly fun to play the songs during the band's gigs, something that's done in a greatly simplified Guitar Hero mini-game, where I would have preferred to use a controller rather than the WASD and space bar. Hopefully, they'll fix that in the future. In addition to the rhythm concerts, there are quests based on moral dilemmas, such as negotiating with greedy record companies or dealing with internal conflicts, and everything is woven together into a narrative that feels promising despite the early and unfinished version I played.

We don't have an exact release date for Rockbeasts yet, but it's planned for 2026, and I hope it's not too close on the calendar. This game needs time and love, because - as I said - this could be something really special. Once it's released, it will be available on PC via Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.

Memorable characters and mini-games.

Marathon's Server Slam: First impressions of Bungie's latest FPS

magnus@gamereactor.eu (Magnus Groth-Andersen) — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0100

Let's start by stating that Marathon's overall appearance, auditory profile, and artistic direction clearly divide players quite directly. Indeed, it almost splits game consumers into two very distinct groups. If you don't like the way Marathon looks, there's so much of it that it's hard to ignore, regardless of how you feel about the game's other aspects.

But for me personally, subjectively speaking? I love it. My colleague Lasse and I have spent the last half day playing almost non-stop, and several times we've said to each other that we simply want to devour Marathon. Bold colours, intentional use of strong contrasting colours, pulsating electronic soundtrack by Son Lux, a decidedly elegant, seamless aesthetic profile that runs like a stream through the user interface, environment design and character models, this game is so BEAUTIFUL!

But of course, that's not all it is. It's also a hugely challenging, hardcore, and finely tuned extraction shooter that really takes no prisoners, and as a kind of run-up to our final review, which won't be out until after launch, we're bringing you some first impressions from the game's so-called "Server Slam".

Structurally, Marathon is pretty much what you'd expect, especially if you've recently played ARC Raiders. You choose a predefined character class, or "Shell", load into a larger map with two other players on your team, and then it's all about finding some useful loot, completing a contract, maybe poking a little at hostile robot NPCs, and then escaping before you die and lose everything you've collected. It sounds simplistic, and it undoubtedly is, but that's the immediate goal, just like in any other extraction shooter.

Beforehand, you can equip a bunch of gear from your personal Vault, gear that you also sacrifice if you die, which makes your Shell more resilient. Two weapons, a shield, grenades, various modifications, a little bit of everything that can differentiate you on the battlefield and, of course, to some extent, make it either easier or harder to face enemies once you land on Tau Ceti IV. The planet itself is divided into distinct maps, three of which are available now, with a final one intended as a much more hardcore end-game zone, arriving later in March.

But Marathon is already quite hardcore, to say the least, and this is reflected in a number of intended, and perhaps unintended, gameplay measures. First and foremost, the TTK is relatively low at the time of writing, which means that for the most part, it's the team with the element of surprise that has the biggest strategic advantage. It might be advantageous in the long run to increase the amount of HP a little, as you simply get hit so hard and fast in these firefights, but it may also be that this is simply the idea behind Bungie's PvP balancing.

As you fire these weapons, move around, and use the game's physics, it becomes clear how skilled Bungie is at this kind of close-quarters gameplay. Weight, responsiveness, sound when firing, semi-unique reload animations, vaulting and general movement, Marathon feels masterful to play, even though these fantastic moments are often followed by an insta-kill from a player you barely had time to see before they shot you down.

Server Slam has been live for less than a day, and already you can sense how this game is going to get "sweaty" as we move closer to launch. The combination of rather sophisticated AI enemies, a "shield"-centred HP image, and lots of character abilities means that encounters with other teams are over relatively quickly, as there are few elements left to chance or external circumstances. A lesser team can, for example, catch a better team in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds by positioning themselves advantageously in relation to the circle. Here, shootouts unfold quickly and brutally, and I found myself swallowing a good dose of frustration several times after losing all my gear for the 14th time.

In Marathon, every piece of loot, at least for me, is "hard fought", and every credit is "hard spent", because even though you have the option to load in with a free kit, you are clearly so far behind other, superior teams that direct confrontation becomes almost impossible. For me, at least. Maybe not for you. Because you're good, right?

There's a free kit, and you also get small benefits by completing these pretty cool contracts, which, incidentally, are sprinkled with a little narrative spice in the form of... well, maybe we shouldn't call them cutscenes, but exchanges with the AI characters who manage the commercial interests that use you and other Runners to explore Tau Ceti. That's why it's never impossible to play, and it's technically possible to load in solely for the purpose of grabbing some loot and then escaping, although this is a lot harder than in ARC Raiders.

Right now, my main complaint is actually this loot. These weapons are incredibly cool, and there aren't 19,000 different ridiculous loot categories like in ARC Raiders (although there are still a few too many types), but the positioning and telegraphing of this gear is simply too obscure. Many buildings are just full of junk, and loot can only be found in these rather boring, anonymous, and indistinct folders, boxes, and bags. It becomes a chore to actually look for a cool new weapon or a Shield upgrade because they are both drowned out by all the junk you fill your bag with far too quickly, while at the same time it's simply too cumbersome to decipher where all this stuff actually is.

Loot clarity is undoubtedly Bungie's biggest challenge right now, because it needs to be made clearer, it needs to be streamlined, because the promise of loot is the primary reason you feel tempted to go on "one more run", and this temptation is greatly weakened by the expectation that you won't find the cool stuff, even though you know it must be nearby, even though you've searched everywhere.

That said, I really want to get really good at Marathon, because through its mesmerising visuals, its fantastic music, its striking, hardcore gameplay loop, and its story, I'm really ready to love it. However, I'm unsure whether this strong sense of belonging can be established, because Marathon really seems to be for the few who remain when all the "filthy casuals" have moved on. It's brutal in a way that ARC Raiders, for example, is not, and it's still unclear whether this will be a strength or a weakness for me personally.

The Eternal Life of Goldman Preview: A platformer you really shouldn't miss out on

claus@gamereactor.eu (Claus Larsen) — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0100

I love cartoons. I remember when my uncle looked after me and I had free access to his VHS tapes, some of which were absolute gems. For example, he had recorded a lot of old cartoons, my favourite being the ever-selfish Tom's battle against Jerry. I loved the beautiful lines and personality of these old films. I still have that love, but mostly when I encounter games that possess the same qualities. I found that in The Eternal Life of Goldman, which is magical in its expression and also a quite capable platform game, developed by Weappy Studio and published by THQ Nordic. I got access to the demo, which can be played on Steam now, a little before the rest of you, and here are my experiences.

The Eternal Life of Goldman is about the elderly gentleman Goldman, whom I very quickly came to associate with Uncle Scrooge from Duck Tales, as he is an old man with a cane. This cane can be used for many things, the most important thing is probably that if you jump and press a button, you can use it as a weapon, Shovel Knight-style (and Duck Tales), as the way you damage enemies is by jumping on top of them with the cane. So, you just have to jump on many of the ordinary creatures and then do that kangaroo-like movement down on the heads of the creatures you meet along the way.

The cool thing is that the cane can be expanded with other functions. The cane is divided into three parts; The top part has a handle that can be used, among other things, to hang onto rings around the levels. For example, there are sections where you have to use it to get past sharp obstacles by hanging onto balloons that float back and forth. If you choose a different function, you can use the cane to cause damage, and the middle part can also be replaced, so you can choose between different variants that either don't jump as high but can be used for certain puzzles in the game, or a metal version that gets you higher up but can't be used for the same tasks. The last part of the stick can also be used in different ways but I think you're starting to understand what the gameplay loop is all about. It's quite reminiscent of the aforementioned Duck Tales experiences on the older Nintendo platforms back in the 80s and 90s, and also a bit like Shovel Knight, where it's a shovel and not a stick that you jump around with in this way. I'm sure there will be many more opportunities to expand the stick in the full version of The Eternal Life of Goldman, but I only had access to about an hour and a half of the game.

I died a lot in the beginning because I had to get used to it, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. When you chain several jumps together and combine it with the enemies' movements, and jump around like a happy flea, it actually feels perfect.

And the surroundings you jump around in are super cool. The story in The Eternal Life of Goldman is told by a mother to her child. I'm not entirely sure of the gender, but it doesn't really matter. She tells about the elderly gentleman Goldman, who in her eyes is a great hero. In addition, Goldman himself can talk to a lot of characters in the game as he moves through the extremely beautiful surroundings. The hand-drawn graphics are fabulous to look at and are made as classic frame-by-frame animation. The first thing you notice when you start the game is that the camera runs through a lot of trees where you see chameleons and monitor lizards crawling around, beautifully hand-drawn, while the camera zooms in on the group of islands where Goldman is located. I know the reference to Cuphead is pretty obvious, but that's the level of artistry and visual quality we're talking about here. It's incredibly beautiful.

When you jump around the many levels, there are so many details that it almost becomes distracting. There is something happening in the foreground, something in the background, and something in the middle ground where you are moving around. You see birds flying by, volcanoes spewing magma and lava, and in the foreground you can see a spider spinning its web, for example. It almost feels like playing a live cartoon. I enjoyed every minute of the game, and combined with the fact that the platform game design itself is really well done, it makes me really look forward to this small but great game.

The controls themselves are spot on. They are super precise and responsive, which is also necessary because the game is quite difficult at times. On the other hand, it's also quite forgiving in terms of checkpoints, so you don't get thrown too far back when you die. If you're a mediocre platformer like me, you're going to die. I can almost guarantee it. The game is divided into small areas, each of which functions as a little puzzle that you have to solve, either by using the cane creatively or by getting past some really difficult and dangerous sections with precise platform game design. I really like how The Eternal Life of Goldman lets you repeat the same small sequences until you crack the code. For example, there are strange creatures that shoot you into the air if you jump on them and push you down into the ground if you press down instead. At the same time, poisonous balloons and other strange creatures try to kill you, so you have to constantly come up with new little strategies. When you finally reach one of the many phoenixes that serve as checkpoints, it's both nerve-wracking and hugely satisfying.

If there's one thing I'd like to see changed in the full version of The Eternal Life of Goldman, it's the long text-based conversations. They're quite difficult to read on a 4K screen, and they're so long that I lost concentration several times and just clicked on to get back to the platform part. I don't think that's the intention. I really hope that Weappy Studio either adds voice acting or at least the option for larger text, as that would make the experience significantly better for me. But other than that, I don't have much to complain about. I'm extremely excited about the game, and now that everyone can try the demo for free on Steam, I would definitely recommend giving The Eternal Life of Goldman a chance if you have even the slightest fondness for hand-drawn graphics and classic platform game design.

Life is Strange: Reunion Preview: Very familiar but a welcome return all the same

ben@gamereactor.eu (Ben Lyons) — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0100

So here we are, the end of the road. After years of becoming increasingly acquainted with Max Caulfield and Chloe Price, it's time to wrap up the story of this charismatic pair in what is being described as the end of their saga in the Life is Strange series by Square Enix. Life is Strange: Reunion, despite only being announced a few weeks ago, is set to make its grand arrival in late March and with that day edging ever closer, I've had the luxury to go hands-on with the game and play just shy of two hours. While I'll get into the finer details in a moment, let me just begin by saying that while there are a lot of similarities between Reunion and 2024's Double Exposure, this does come across as a worthy evolution that will keep fans engaged throughout.

Anyway, let's talk about that blue-haired elephant in the room: Chloe Price. One of the most famous and beloved video game characters of the 2010s has returned and while it might seem like utter nonsense from an outside perspective, the nature of the return actually works rather well in Reunion. Essentially, after the events of Double Exposure, and Max's roles in tying together two splintered timelines, she also invertedly stitched together a timeline where Chloe survived the events of Arcadia Bay with the one where she perished. So, we have a Max that has spent the last decade mourning Chloe combining with a Chloe that comes from a timeline where nothing really went wrong, with Arcadia Bay and her mother remaining alive and well.

From what I can infer, the portion of the game that I played was the opening phase of the game, a period where we get to learn about the other key storyline at play in Reunion. You see, not only does Max have to understand and figure out how Chloe has returned, she's also racing against the clock to get to the bottom of a mystery that concludes with Caledon University going up in flames and claiming the lives of many of her close friends. As you would expect, Max has her hands full, which is perhaps why its lucky that the player can divide and conquer and progress through Reunion as not just Max but also Chloe, in a Life is Strange series first.

Yep, after waddling around the Snapping Turtle and using Max's Rewind ability to trick a particularly nasty heckler into thinking his Mercedes is rolling into the local lake all so that Amanda's stand-up comedy set went as planned, we soon get to slip into Chloe's shoes as she searches for Max. However, this proves to be harder than expected, as the two protagonists find themselves passing like ships in the night, as Max continues to unravel her fiery mystery and skips out of the local bar to visit the headquarters of the Abraxas fraternity for answers. If you witnessed the recent reveal livestream, you will be familiar with what comes next. Max finds herself trapped in a basement with demolition charges about to detonate and cut her investigation very short, a challenge she simply overcomes by using Rewind to cut the detonation wires in the correct way, before escaping the basement. This is all happening while Chloe cruises around the Snapping Turtle, asking around for Max and using her Backtalk ability to talk her way out of a sticky situation with the local campus security guard Noelle. Unlike Rewind, which simply allows you to go back a few seconds and retry a task or conversation as you require, Backtalk is more of a strategic game where you have to give smart and well-thought-out responses to questions to convince someone of your intentions. Hence, after a brief chat with Noelle, the security guard now believes Chloe to be a prospective law graduate from a distant university. That won't come back to bite her at all... It's right after the cusp of this conversation that Chloe finds out that Max is about to be blown to high-heaven, leaving her to race to the scene just as the familiar protagonist exits the basement leading to one heck of an overdue reunion.

I figured I'd walk you through this portion of the gameplay in depth as it serves as a comprehensive look at how developer Deck Nine is going about structuring Life is Strange: Reunion in a gameplay manner. There are two protagonists but it doesn't seem like you get to freely swap between them or even play through the story mainly as one instead of the other. This is still an intricately sculpted narrative where you are somewhat of a passenger that gets to lead the direction of travel a tad with each answer you provide. There are times where you have to play both sides, if you will, moments where you're locked in a conversation between Max and Chloe and have to answer on Max's behalf for one question and then as Chloe a little later, and while this could seem messy, in practice it feels very natural.

Otherwise, as I mentioned at the start of this preview, there is much of Reunion that feels familiar to that of Double Exposure because of it using the same setting of Caledon University. You can wander around the science building, through the halls where the Dean's office is located, around Max's luxurious log cabin home, and as referenced a moment ago, take a load off at the Snapping Turtle. You could argue that this makes for a game that lacks a little in originality but as each area now has a bit more depth and has new elements and features since we last traipsed around, it comes across as a bit of a welcome, well... reunion. The familiar locations are also inhabited by familiar faces, and if you have played Double Exposure, you'll be better equipped with how to navigate and communicate with these individuals, be that Lucas, Moses, Amanda, Vinh, Loretta, the list goes on. You do meet a few fresh faces, but much is as you'd expected for a game set in the same location a few months later.

One thing I did notice is that the gameplay itself seems to flow better than Double Exposure, spending less time setting the scene and delivering exposition. Again, it's all very familiar so it doesn't need to. It's because of this that within the opening portions of the story we find ourselves following more impactful and engaging narrative threads and less time admiring the surroundings and delicately talking to characters we have literally never met before. It feels as though Reunion is more respectful of your time, giving you better reasons to stick around by spending less time on rather menial and meaningless dialogue interactions. Plus, this stretches into the 'abilities' of Max and Chloe, which come across as better integrated into the gameplay and less like an afterthought as they were in Double Exposure. You can now use Max's Rewind when you like (within reasonable amounts, of course), while Chloe's Backtalk is used more like Rewind was in Double Exposure, at key moments in the wider narrative.

To me, the whole end product of Reunion just feels better realised than Double Exposure, but that's not a knock against its predecessor as it wouldn't reach where it is today without what the 2024 game realised. It's simply that Deck Nine seems to have a clearer vision of what they wanted to achieve with this chapter, making for a game that in the two-hours or so that I played, felt more gripping, better paced, and less slow and sluggish. That said, it's still Life is Strange, so don't expect the narrative to move along like a bullet train, but it does progress quicker than the gentle walk that was Double Exposure a lot of the time.

So, if that all piques your interest, you'll likely be quite happy when Life is Strange: Reunion makes its arrival on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on March 26.

First contact with Aphelion: Something between Interstellar, Uncharted, and Alien: Isolation

alberto@gamereactor.eu (Alberto Garrido) — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:30:00 +0100

When you try a Don't Nod title, you never know for sure what you're going to find: first as a developer and then as a publisher, it has been rapidly expanding its portfolio of game styles, which in turn have grown in scale and ambition. What you do know when you play one of its games is that the story and narrative, at the very least, are promising. Aphelion is no different in that respect, but it is different in how it develops that story compared to the studio's previous works.

Aphelion is a space science-fiction story centred on ESA astronaut Ariane, who, along with her partner Thomas, is sent as an advance party to decide whether the unexplored planet Persephone is habitable or not, and thus establish a first colony there. However, the ship they were travelling in crashes on its descent to the frozen surface, and Ariane wakes up alone and completely lost amid the wreckage. Although the main motivations for the journey are not revealed, the first impression is that this is a more or less "hard" science-fiction story, with scientific explorers coming to check the viability of a planet as a possible future home for humanity. I'm not lying when I say that images of the failed world in which Matt Damon is stranded in Interstellar came to mind, and I don't think it would be a bad description to say that the general atmosphere of these first moments with Aphelion is aimed at seeking that feeling of loneliness and struggle for survival.

The press preview I was offered to try out the game allowed me to test it at two different points in the adventure, but always with the character of Ariane, although from what we can gather from the previous trailers, Thomas will also have his playable part. The first of the two save files showed the beginning of the game, where we learn the basic movement and platforming controls that Ariane can use to move through the wrecked sections of the ship that brought them to the planet. The first thing that caught my attention was how carefully crafted the artistic presentation is, not only of the ship, but also of the character. Ariane's facial modelling is very well done, and the setting, being a crashed ship full of debris, fires, and the planet's snow and ice seeping through the broken fuselage, creates a wonderful atmosphere that you immediately enter. The immersion, even in those early moments, is perfect.

Then there's the issue of movement. Aphelion (at least from what I've tried) is a narrative game focused on movement and stealth, but in this first section, it's all about learning how to move and nail your jumps and dodges around debris. It feels like something that could be taken from Tomb Raider or Uncharted, although not at the speed Nathan Drake moves. Ariane is a scientist, not an action hero, so when the handhold breaks or she loses her footing on a ledge, we have to help her or she'll fall into the void and we'll reload at the last checkpoint. I like how they've solved the movement system, it really feels satisfying, and it follows the pace that the story wants to set.

The second part of the test takes us a little further into the adventure, to the first encounter with the strange creature/entity we know as Nemesis. This second section maintains the platforming of the previous one, but focuses more on the atmosphere of fear and, above all, on stealth. The lighting in a large underground ice cave, which is only partially visible through the torch, is reason enough for your hands to start sweating as you grip the controller tightly (you can play with a keyboard and mouse, but it seems less precise). Then, the encounter with the creature forces us to move slowly, dodging its movement paths. We have no weapons, nor is it clear if anything can affect this thing, so it all depends on not attracting its attention with the noise we make. Nemesis' AI is not perfect, and on one occasion I forced the situation until I was a few centimetres away from it without being detected, although in the end, you have to take the risk of moving to another area, and that also leads to some pretty tense chase scenes, which is what they were going for here.

First impression of Aphelion? Certainly positive. Except that it's not a multi-million-dollar blockbuster and you have to take certain liberties with the finish of the version (the launch feels close), that there are still textures that render poorly and perhaps some fine-tuning needed in terms of the jump animations, the truth is that the game shows promise, at least in terms of gameplay. We still know very little about the story. The only "but" I would dare to put in writing based on what I've played so far is that the sound and music haven't quite convinced me, but for now, I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and eagerly awaiting the announcement of the release of the new Don't Nod game, this time beyond the stars.

People of Note Gameplay Preview: Not quite my tempo

alex@gamereactor.eu (Alex Hopley) — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0100

When music and games go together perfectly, I feel like Remy's brother in Ratatouille trying strawberry and cheese for the first time. A magnificent combo, and whether it's the orchestra swelling as you step into a boss arena about to get clapped by a dragon in Elden Ring, or the simple ambience as you're going through the latest restyling of your Animal Crossing island, games aren't half as great without good music. So bound are the two, that in recent years we've seen games solely dedicated to music pop up. Ones that aren't just rhythm or dancing titles, too.

Stray Gods, No Straight Roads, and now People of Note. Iridium Studios and Annapurna Interactive's rhythmic RPG seeks to be a video game musical, with much more of a Final Fantasy style approach to its gameplay than the interactive storytelling Stray Gods has. We take on the role of Cadence (the first of many musically named people, items, places, and more), a young pop star with big dreams of winning a music competition back in her home city. After being told she doesn't have the chops, Cadence seeks to form a group to give her more musical range. In the demo we played, we were on the hunt for our first bandmate, who turned out to be a legendary rock star named Fret.

Our happening upon Fret came by chance, as he joined up with Cadence to fight some Wild West-inspired faction called the Homestead. After walking through the split, desert city of Durandis and exploring a little bit, we got our first taste of People of Note's combat. Much like its turn-based RPG inspirations, People of Note's battles revolve around a turn order known as a stanza, allowing you to attack, use abilities, and rest in a given turn, as well as use mash-ups alongside your fellow band mates when you take damage. When attacking or using an ability on your turn, you'll get a couple of quick-time events to deal extra damage or heal a partymate by an additional amount. Similar to Clair Obscur, in a way but admittedly much less dynamic. There's no defensive actions, so you'll just have to grit your teeth and hope for the best as an enemy chooses to whack you over the head with their guitar.

The run of the mill fights against regular opponents feel rather formulaic, and a bit slow at times. Quite obvious padding, rather than a chance to try out your latest skills and see how strong you can get. In other turn-based RPGs, these encounters shouldn't take long at all, and yet People of Note at times has extra health added to enemies, barriers in place, and other ways to drag out these jobber fights. It doesn't help that we only have two bandmates, meaning that even if you're playing perfectly, you're not getting the full extent of how exciting this combat could be, as shown in the trailers.

Where it did shine, though, was in the boss fights. We played two in the demo, with the latter offering interesting mechanical changes to the usual formula, and giving us a chance for a proper nail-biter where we had to use healing, defensive buffs, and perfectly timed attacks to win the day. There's a lot going on, at least at first in People of Note's battles, but peel back the surface and you'll find them to be very simple. Make the most of when your bandmate's style is in action, and otherwise just do what you can to stay alive and end the enemy. That changes slightly in the boss fights. Bosses also get stronger as the fight goes on, meaning you're incentivised not to see them at their strongest form. It's a little weird in a way, as it's like you're robbing yourself of the most epic battle, but probably for the sake of a win.

Combat aside, I felt a little thrown at times by People of Note. It's a world-spanning adventure, with an alternate reality quite literally shaped by music. It's a bit tonally diluted at times, never quite sticking to a tongue-in-cheek musical or a more serious tale about standing up against power to ... well, I don't know ... play music better, I guess? I feel like something like No Straight Roads does this better, where it's immediately clear on who our protagonists are and what they want to do. The demo of People of Note exists in a period where it seems Cadence is starting to learn the world isn't just about music competitions, but because we don't have the full picture, it's impossible to tell where this story is going to go. It's a bit like listening to the bit of Hamilton right before the war kicks off and then leaving. You can guess where it's all going, but in People of Note I'm not quite sure it's hooked me enough to make me plough on.

Exploration and traversal is minimal, and while the puzzles were decent, they're clearly not a priority as you can literally turn them off in the game's menu. Iridium has a strong story and strategic combat focus here, but as the demo ended and we got a trailer featuring the game's release date (the 7th of April), it seemed to do a better job of hyping me up than what I'd just played. Perhaps it's just an awkward part of the game to showcase, but if People of Note is going to stand up as a great example of a gaming musical, I hope the rest of the game rushes a little more than it can drag.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss Gameplay Preview: Wading Into the Black Seas of Infinity

alex@gamereactor.eu (Alex Hopley) — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0100

It's quite daunting to admit considering his racist leniencies, but I am quite fond of the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. His conjuration of beings beyond our imagination and how they reflect the concepts of what it is to be human and our role among the stars consistently fascinates. Yet, I've always found myself drawn more to Lovecraft's lesser-known stories and monsters. Big bad octopus demon Cthulhu, well, he's almost too well-known and overly depicted by media, to the point where he lacks any sense of the mystery that lets your mind conjure anything remotely spooky from Lovecraft's admittedly outdated sense of horror otherness.

So, I was fairly cautious stepping into Big Bad Wolf and Nacon's Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss. A AA horror investigation with the massive flying squid in its title seemed like it could go in all the obvious directions, drumming up all the overplayed stereotypes of Lovecraftian fiction while failing to make it anything beyond tentacles and people screaming that they're going insane from reading a few squiggly letters on a wall. There is some of that, as it is a game based on Lovecraft's work we're talking about here, but in the few hours I played I found myself largely enjoying the beginning of this fresh mystery.

We play as Noah, an investigator into the Occult who finds himself drawn into the literal depths of the ocean and the metaphorical depths of a case far beyond his understanding after a colleague goes missing. After an eerie opening set in a cabin in the woods (or swamp might be the more accurate term), we're thrust into an investigation following an abandoned deep-ocean mining facility in the early 2050s, joined by an AI companion who helps us scan environments, connect clues, and can be asked for solutions to problems if you've got the setting turned on.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss comes across as an investigation game, first and foremost, which is probably wise considering as mentioned Lovecraftian horror fails to scare as much as say Resident Evil or Silent Hill. There's an unsettling undertone throughout, especially when you get past the introduction and into the meat of solo exploration of the abandoned facility. Something is down there with you, along with the trail of corpses it's left behind, but not knowing what it is, even as I wrapped the demo, left a much stronger impression than having a fish monster trying to chase me down throughout. That methodical approach to the gameplay gives you the time to immerse yourself in the world and get lost in the mystery, piecing together the clues bit by bit to uncover the dark narrative underneath.

There's a lot of depth to the investigation mechanics, which do take a minute to get used to. As you go around an environment, you'll keep your eyes pinned to the floor, walls, desktops, and even ceilings to collect clues. You get a bit of information from them once you first spot them, but if you spend a precious energy resource, you can then analyse them for more information, while storing them in the vault, a menu which allows you to pick a certain substance or element, and then use your radar to ping out for more things that share its properties. There's also a Sherlock-style mind map that allows you to connect the dots on various people, locations, artefacts, and more. I didn't tend to use it too heavily, as I would have rather focused on the next bit of the puzzle rather than trying to piece it all together in those early stages. You've got access to a pin tool, too, for certain clues and images you might want to keep handy. Again, full focus seems to have been put on the investigation here, which certainly suits a Lovecraftian atmosphere more than an action/survival romp through underwater temples.

Larger mysteries are not always straightforward, and while in the introduction you could get by from just looking at everything there was to look at, I did need to use my noggin for a maze puzzle in the second portion of the demo. Some assists from the AI companion Key came in handy, I'm not ashamed to admit, and in the end while I tried to get the "good" ending to the mystery, I had to use a tainted artefact to guide me through the maze. Each mystery offers you two solutions, with one playing into the all-important corruption mechanic. Being around all the fish folk and squiggly writing is quite detrimental to one's mental health, as you'd expect, and if you want a good ending, you'll have to stop Noah from going insane. To save time for the demo, though, I put that poor man's brain through the blender. It's an interesting enough mechanic, although I hope in the full game it isn't just a case of corruption is brought through the most straightforward path, while the no corruption solution makes you do more work, as that feels a bit too simplistic for the potential of the mechanic.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is certainly in the realm of a AA experience. While it looks great at times, has solid gameplay mechanics and an intriguing story, it does have its issues here and there. I noticed some visual bugs and what appeared like genuine mistakes in the map design (a label for Transfer Module called it Transfert Module). There were also some performance jitters each time I entered a new area, and while these didn't lead to any crashes, it did make me drop my immersion a bit, which is a shame considering the visuals and story do a very nice job of drawing you into the world Big Bad Wolf has created.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss might suffer from a lack of scariness, but like reading a Lovecraftian story in an age where fish people are some of the least horrifying monsters out there, there's still a grand sense of intrigue in Big Bad Wolf's mystery game. I'm drawn in to see the next steps of Noah's pursuit of this cosmic god, and whether we'll end up meeting old tentacle beard after all, or go far too insane way before we get the chance. Keep an eye out for this if you're looking for something to give you a bit of brain training as well as a neat story.

Battlefield 6 Season 2 Preview: Contaminated shines but you'll either love or hate the gas

ben@gamereactor.eu (Ben Lyons) — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0100

Later than expected, this week it's finally time to welcome the second season of Battlefield 6. You could argue that for the second batch of post-launch support - following a first season that basically started right after launch - to face such a delay is not exactly a great indictment of what the future could hold for Battlefield 6. But the season is ready all the same, so we'll let this slide under the assumption that Battlefield Studios will get their house in-order so future seasons and support will be on time.

This next round of content will be looking to reflect what we saw added to the multiplayer game in its first season, with a perceptibly medium amount of new elements offset by their actual size. By that I mean we're getting a couple of new maps across the season, maps that are enormous and that will entertain players across the variety of game modes and that bring new vehicles to master too.

While some of this is saved for later portions of Season 2, namely the second phase dubbed Nightfall that arrives on March 17, I've had the chance to go hands-on with the part of the seasonal content that debuts later this week in the first phase known as Extreme Measures. This means that I've been in Little Bird helicopters in a Battlefield game once again, I've tested out some of the new weapons, and most importantly, I've had a good taste of the German map Contaminated.

Immediately, the premium design and appearance of Contaminated shines through. It's a biome that we haven't really had much time to explore in Battlefield 6 yet, meaning we can expect mountainous terrain, lush forests, and sprawling underground bases all merged into one coherent whole. Considering the often beige and drab colour palette of the other Battlefield 6 maps, designed to reflect the rather grim state of warfare, Contaminated actually comes across as a bit of a breath of fresh air, albeit with the caveat that the rural and wilderness focus can make it challenging to keep tabs on flanking enemies with the right kind of camouflage.

So from an appearance standpoint, Battlefield Studios has nailed the job with this map. I tested it on both Conquest and Escalation (with gameplay for each mode littered throughout this text), and Contaminated proved to be an effective vessel for both kinds of experiences. However, I did ponder how the structure would apply to more focussed objective modes like Breakthrough or Rush, something I have yet to reach an answer about. There's definitely hope all the same, especially in the areas with deep and sprawling tunnels or even savage trench warfare that reminds of Battlefield 1. And speaking about that game, Contaminated brings a key feature that fans will either appreciate or simply despise.

I'm referring to the VL-7 Psy Smoke. This is effectively a large scale smoke effect that can occur around key points on Contaminated. It's an orange smoke, so it's less visually-obscuring than traditional smoke, but it does still obscure all the same even if its intended purpose is to mess with your mind. The premise is to use a new Protective Mask item to filter out the smoke and prevent its disorienting effects, which could include seeing enemies and threats that aren't actually real... I get the idea behind this feature, but the last thing you really need at times in an intense Battlefield match is to have to put on and remove a gas mark every 10 seconds or so. And yes, it's that frequent as the mask has a timed effect where your filters steadily block your oxygen and force your character to sputter and choke. Again, I understand the idea but in the short time I encountered the feature it came across as very Marmite-like. You will either like it or hate it, there's no in between.

Beyond this, the AH-6 Little Bird brings an attack helicopter option that is more mobile and agile than the other Apache options, while the new troop carrier MH-350 provides a more team-focussed option in the skies. You might be thinking that surely this means too many aerial threats at once. I'd understand that and fortunately Battlefield Studios does too, hence the inclusion of the 9K38 Igla, a new anti-aircraft launcher that should make completing those pesky Engineer class-specific challenges less of a headache.

And on the topic of weapons, I had brief encounters with the M121 A2 LMG and the VCR-2 assault rifle, with the latter particularly standing out as a slightly overtuned tool of warfare as of the moment. Will that be the same in the live public build coming this week? It's hard to know, but perhaps just be cautious of what could be coming to Battlefield 6.

As I mentioned earlier, there are plans for additional content to come later in Season 2 as well, but I didn't get a chance to experience these for myself at this current time. So stay tuned as no doubt we'll be back in a few weeks to discuss how Hagental Base, the dirt bikes, and the other new weapons will look to expand and evolve this otherwise well-structured shooter.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection Preview: A big graphical update for the RPG spin-off

javier@gamereactor.eu (Javier Escribano) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0100

Monster Hunter Stories was originally born as a 3DS spin-off, a clever way to keep squeezing the popular brand for Nintendo users during the time when the series was preparing the jump onto HD consoles with Monster Hunter World. Its sequel, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, released in 2021 for Nintendo Switch and PC, reaffirmed the {Stories} brand as a parallel subseries, and it was later released for PS4 in 2024 and Xbox in 2025.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection will release everywhere for the first time on March 13 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2, ditching the original Switch altogether, and the reason is made clear when you start the game: the graphics have seen a huge upgrade, with character designs looking more realistic and with human-like proportions, while maintaining the cel-shaded feel, bringing them closer to games like Dragon Quest XI or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The monsters have also grown in size to more closely match those seen in the mainline games like Monster Hunter Wilds. While still not as big as in the "canon" games, the more realistic scale of human characters and monsters makes traversing through the world of Azuria more fun, especially when you mount your Monsties and fly around on a Rathalos or climb mountains on top of a Tobi-Kadachi. Don't forget: these are not action games, and use the same turn-based combat system from previous entries, but throwing fireballs or headbutting Bnahabras or Izuchis and instantly killing them gives you a feeling of powerfulness rarely seen in traditional RPGs...

How does Monster Hunter Stories 3 runs on Nintendo Switch 2?

We have played the first hours of Monster Hunter Stories 3 on Nintendo Switch 2. Sadly, this version doesn't offer different graphical options, like PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series, where you can choose between Performance, Visual fidelity, or a Balanced mode. On Switch 2, the game seems to be locked to running at no more than 30 fps except in very rare occasions, and sometimes will go down.

The recently released demo that you can still download has divided the community: some see it as a "Pokémon-killer", showing how the modern Pokémon games should look, and it certainly is much more impressive graphically and with much more detail than Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the most recent Pokémon not set in a boring French city. However, for a Switch 2 exclusive game, we expected it to run a bit better and at least offer the possibility of a smoother framerate in exchange for some visual fidelity that, given the watercolour feel of the game, wouldn't be so dramatic.

After a few hours, Monster Hunter Stories 3's artistic virtues surpass its technical caveats (on Switch 2, at least), and you will love exploring the vast forests of Azuria, filled with life (some of which, the smaller creatures, we oddly cannot interact with in any way), and seeing how the monsters you encounter in your first hours, like Rathalos, Rathian, Gypceros, Yian Kut-Ku, or Royal Ludroths retain all the features that make them fearsome in the mainline games.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: first impressions after the first chapters

As you may already know if you've played the previous entries in the series, Monster Hunter Stories' characters don't act as hunters, but rather as riders or rangers. Their task is to tame monsters that later become "Monsties", which you can then ride and use in battle. It's Capcom's take on the monster-collecting formula, although in Stories you don't capture wild monsters... and instead steal their eggs from the monsters' lairs.

The game features very strong environmental morals, and there's even the option of releasing monsters in order to increase the population of the species in nature. You release monsters that you had previously stolen as eggs, and with the in-game benefit that future eggs you snatch in those regions will give you monsters with better stats: as an animalistic message, it's a bit flawed, but it's a nice idea in a series that constantly needs to justify itself for its monster-killing premise...

The overarching story, about an impending war between two kingdoms, is told in numerous cutscenes and a lot of voice-acted dialogue, filled witch clichés from the JRPG genre. The script won't win any awards for originality, but fulfils its premise, and some side characters show promise as their relationship is explored in non-mandatory, but highly advisable side quests, that unlock rewards, like food recipes and certain objects that sound like they will be absolutely necessary later in the game.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection has a new story and world, so you don't need to play any of the previous games to understand it. It also has a lot of tutorials to explain the very chaotic battle system, which can feel overwhelming at first. However, if you are up to date with the substories for the secondary characters and give yourself some time to explore and try new monsters (which level up incredibly fast when you put them in your party, even if they don't fight), you will have no trouble going through the story, leaving the real challenge to the stronger monsters that feature in every location.

The graphical improvements compared to the previous entries have given us a good first impression, but now the question is whether the plot points and new characters can win us over as we continue our trip into Monster Hunter Stories 3.

Pokémon Pokopia Preview: Animal Crossing-like with less downtime

johan@gamereactor.eu (Johan Mackegård Hansson) — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0100

When Nintendo starts stepping out of its comfort zone, you know that anything can happen. Pokémon has long been a series that, despite some interesting spin-offs, has struggled to break out of its boxed-in patterns and find new ways to convey gaming joy. Lately, however, it seems that Nintendo has realised what a treasure they have and that they can use their world-famous pocket monsters to create gaming experiences that are not just about "Gotta catch 'em all," but can be so much more. Pokémon Pokopia is the latest example of this turning trend, where Nintendo has chosen to draw inspiration from the cosy, creative setup of Animal Crossing to deliver a game that focuses on creating pleasant environments for you and your Pokémon friends to live in.

The first thing that happens when my two hours in Pokopia begin is that I wake up in a cave. I immediately discover that I am not alone, but am accompanied by an individual named Professor Tangrowth, a Pokémon who tells me that all living creatures, both humans and Pokémon, have disappeared from the world and that he is the only one left. My sudden presence, I am told, is therefore something completely unique. What is even stranger is that, despite my human appearance, I am also a Pokémon, more specifically a shape-shifting Ditto that has taken the form of my old trainer. The relatively simple character creator that determines my appearance is perhaps not the most advanced, and my character therefore does not feel quite as personal as in Animal Crossing, for example, but that may change when Pokopia is released in a few weeks.

After our introduction, I am shown the open game world that will be the setting for my stay in Pokopia, which is a gloomy place, filled with weeds and dreary environments. Suddenly, however, I encounter a new individual, a Bulbasaur lurking in the tall grass. Another Pokémon! Now there are three of us! In addition to showing me that the world may not be as devoid of life as we first thought, my new friend also teaches me how to grow new grass in an instant, one of many important abilities that will be crucial in making the desolate environment a better place. With my newfound skill, I can create more homely grassy areas that will soon attract new friends to our growing group of pocket monsters.

Since I am a Ditto, my shape-shifting ability makes me very receptive to learning new skills, and as I meet more Pokémon of different types, I accumulate more and more powers. For example, a Squirtle teaches me how to spray water, while a Hitmonchan shows me how to crush rocks, and a Scyther instructs me on how to chop wood. Planting new plants and removing unsightly piles of rocks not only makes the world much more pleasant to look at, but in the process I also gather a lot of information about which environments attract new types of Pokémon. For example, a group of four grass tufts by a tree is enough to attract a Pidgey, while a quick reworking of the beachfront brings a Slowpoke along after a short while.

As new Pokémon join our growing oasis, the existing inhabitants begin to ask me for various services in exchange for new abilities or building materials. Designing interiors and various objects is also an important part of Pokopia in a way that is reminiscent of how it works in Animal Crossing. This means that I am constantly sent off on various side quests to build more gadgets or collect new items, which makes exploration a natural part of the experience. One task leads me to a new part of the world where I find new Pokémon, which activates a new mission, and so it goes on. During my time with the game, I never experienced a lack of things to do; it always felt like I had two or three projects going on at the same time.

After a little over 90 minutes of playing, it's time to try out the multiplayer mode. Together with a Danish journalists and two Norwegian influencers, I am transported to a new island where our joint mission is to rebuild a ruined old Pokémon centre. We are informed that a lot of materials and two specific types of pocket monsters are required to make this possible. Someone with good muscle strength and someone else with fire-breathing abilities, and it's my understanding that the construction of larger structures works just like that. As a player, I present a plan and need to coordinate the work among my recruited residents. Before long, we manage to track down a Charmander and a Machop, who put our collected materials to good use, and in no time at all, we have erected our first building. It's a fun way to experience Pokopia together, as it feels like we have a good opportunity to coordinate the construction of our growing community in a way that is somewhat reminiscent of how it might work in Minecraft, for example. We also learn that Pokopia enables cloud gaming to such an extent that the person who is the "owner" of the current world does not need to be online for other players to be able to jump in and play. This brings to mind how it works with a shared Minecraft server, where the project belongs to everyone and not just one host player.

Visually, what I saw of Pokopia was really cosy, and Nintendo is once again taking advantage of its habit of creating beautiful and colourful gaming experiences with limited hardware. Playing as a human is also a fun creative choice, especially when it comes to using the game's many available powers. Seeing how my arms transform into Scyther claws to split a tree or how I can completely transform into an ultra-cute version of a Dragonite and glide over to the neighbouring island helps to create a playful aesthetic that feeds my curiosity about what my Ditto will learn next. The music is also really pleasant.

What I take away from Pokopia is an experience very reminiscent of Animal Crossing, but at a slightly faster pace and with less downtime. There always seems to be something to do, and the game has a huge cosiness factor that I think will lead to long sessions under a warm blanket in the winter darkness, while travelling, or really anytime you feel like experiencing Pokémon in a new and creative way. I look forward to finding out more when Pokémon Pokopia is released on March 5.

Sea of Remnants Preview: Plenty of potential that could be overshadowed by GaaS elements

ben@gamereactor.eu (Ben Lyons) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 09:00:00 +0100

In a world where Sea of Thieves still acts as the preeminent way to experience multiplayer swashbuckling gameplay, despite Skull and Bones and such recently attempting to challenge Rare's titan, you have to say that a developer is bold to take a stab at the king, if you will. But with the backing of the Chinese behemoth NetEase, Joker Studio is coming for the throne by serving up the challenger Sea of Remnants, a multiplayer RPG that is frankly dripping with charisma and potential. I first noticed this months ago during my first chance to preview the game, and over the past few days, I've returned to the project as part of the recent Wanderer Alpha Test to see how things have changed and evolved.

For one, that potential and personality I mentioned hasn't gone anywhere. It only takes a few moments to feel the charm of this game and see that Joker Studio has something promising on its hands, albeit with the caveat that there's familiarity to established alternatives. Then again, in the gaming world today, when isn't that case?

After a short and atmospheric opening sequence, we're let loose into a bustling city known as Orbtopia, a pirate haven that serves as a hub location and a main base of operations for doting buccaneers, a city that is colourful, memorable, and loaded with life. Already Sea of Remnants has its biggest challenger beat by offering a hub area that feels more lively than anything in Sea of Thieves, and this is without even mentioning the fact that Sea of Remnants isn't a regular pirate world... it's a land of swashbuckling puppetfolk.

This setup gives it an appearance and style that isn't offered elsewhere, and when you take this and the liveliness and colour of the world, match it up with voiced characters, animated cutscenes, tactile and more interactive menus, and even quite versatile gameplay depth that spans real-time ship combat and turn-based character action, it's quickly clear that Sea of Remnants has enough flair to make a big splash.

But here's the thing; unlike Sea of Thieves as an example, Sea of Remnants is overwhelmed by the typical pitfalls of the games-as-a-service model. In fact, it's so suffocating at times that it reminds me of a mobile game MMORPG, the sort of project where there are too many individual menus, currencies, tiered loot options, resources, the list goes on. There's only so many games like this one person can stomach at a time, and this to me was the biggest weakness and issue that Sea of Remnants is set to face. Battle passes, seasons, endless resources and items to gather, hundreds of individual characters to level up, it all comes together for a bit of a logistical nightmare that might push away more casual fans interested by the piracy promise and the appealing aesthetic.

This disappoints me a tad because there's a lot that Sea of Remnants seems to do right. The turn-based action, unlike the previous version I tested of the game, now feels much more balanced and fair, the character selection options make more sense, the flow of the story and narrative is more seamless and fluid. In general, this comes across as a good slate of improvements on where Sea of Remnants was eight months ago. And yet, if the game launched as it is today, I'm not sure how much time I could ultimately give it due to the tiring amount of live-service-like elements that are just sooooo exhausting today.

I'll let the odd localisation issue and graphical slip-up slide due to this being another pre-launch test, and likewise after seeing how Joker has simply improved the game over the last eight months, I'll remain optimistic that more enhancements are on the way. But I'd remiss not to say that I have concerns about the aggressive games-as-a-service nature of the game, which might see it falter and fail to challenge Sea of Thieves over the simple reason that it's not as fundamentally easy and fun to pick up and play every now and then. So yes, cautious optimism. That's where I'll remain with Sea of Remnants for the time being.

Super Alloy Crush Gameplay Preview: Classic Pixel Action for a New Generation

marcus@gamereactor.eu (Marcus Persson) — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0100

There is a special kind of magic in games that dare to be uncompromising. Games that don't apologise for being loud, fast and excessively over-the-top. Super Alloy Crush is exactly that, and even in this early version, the vision is clear - an explosion of colour, speed and retrofuturism - a game that shamelessly borrows heavily from Mega Man X but still dares to stand on its own two feet.

Super Alloy Crush takes place in a universe moulded in high-tech decadence - where the legend of the mythical planet AE-38 attracts adventurers from across the galaxy. It is said that the planet is the ultimate prize - a cosmic paradise filled with resources, power and machines that can fulfil the wildest dreams. Two of these hopefuls are the robot Muu and the soldier Kelly, who both share the dream of AE-86, but have very different approaches to trying to get there.

Right from the start, it's clear that the developers really want to build a world, not just a flashy framework cast in pixel nostalgia. No, here they are striving for something bigger, and a lot of background information is dumped on you early on, for better or worse. The ambitions are wonderful, but if you expect to be able to quickly throw yourself into the action of the game, it may feel a bit like an unexpected bump in the road.

But, as mentioned, you can't complain about the level of ambition here - the world is well thought out and the characters feel far more real and well thought out than in many other similar titles. And when Super Alloy Crush finally lets you loose, it's impossible not to get carried away.

The battles are the game's real strength. The pace is fast, the movements are precise, and each attack feels satisfyingly heavy. Muu is the faster of the two, built for close combat, aerial combos, and quick evasive manoeuvres. Linking attacks, keeping enemies in the air, and then finishing with a digital coup de grace is just as addictive as it sounds. Kelly, on the other hand, is more methodical, focusing on traditional puffers and remote control. The two play styles are simply very different, and this contributes to each playthrough having a distinct personality.

But if there's one place where Super Alloy Crush really flourishes and shows its true colours, it's in the game's bosses - or rather, the battles against them. These massive, mechanical colossi are not just obstacles - they are outright showstoppers - both in terms of design and gameplay. Here, super-stylish design is mixed with a legitimately challenging intensity, and each battle becomes a deadly dance, chaotic and pulse-raising, but also hugely satisfying.

The balance is already really good at this early stage, and that feeling of failing, learning, and ultimately defeating something that initially felt impossible is something that the Super Alloy Crush team has truly succeeded in capturing.

Then, of course, I have to comment on the visuals. Because wow. Holy cow. We're talking about a pure declaration of love for pixel art here. The colours are strong, the environments detailed, and the animations full of life. Every explosion, every movement, and every enemy feels like it was crafted with love, with a uniquely distinctive and accurate style. As if that weren't enough, the music is also top-notch, with pulsating electronic compositions that really make you want to sit and sway along happily.

For those who can't get enough after completing the game's story mode, there is also a survival mode with waves of enemies to fend off, and between rounds you get the opportunity to upgrade your character. Incredibly entertaining as well as addictive, and with a little more polish, this could be really, damn good.

Super Alloy Crush is a game that already exudes soul, ambition and a genuine love for classic action. It's not finished, it's not perfect - but it's full of energy and promise. For those who love fast-paced 2D games with a clear identity and uncompromising attitude, this is something you should definitely try out. Because if the team continues in the same vein as they have done so far, this could very well become a true cult classic.

The game is scheduled to be released as Early Access shortly, and a demo is available to try out on Steam.

Mario Tennis Fever Preview: Intense, chaotic, and very much in the spirit of Nintendo

johan@gamereactor.eu (Johan Mackegård Hansson) — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Ahead of Nintendo's presentations in the German capital, it was {Mario Tennis Fever} that I was most sceptical about. Not because I expected it to be a bad game in any way, but because the idea of turning a sport as regimented as tennis into an engaging party game seemed far-fetched to me. However, Nintendo is Nintendo, and it quickly became clear that I had once again underestimated the company's creative abilities.

To begin with, {Mario Tennis Fever} is a very beautiful game. Nintendo is, as we know, a world champion at using its cosy, familiar, and colourful design to create gaming experiences that impress on a visual level. It may not come as a surprise to anyone that {Mario Tennis Fever} is just the latest example of Nintendo's long tradition of treating us gamers to colourful eye candy, but it's still the first impression that strikes me during the presentation.

The next step was to head out onto the tennis court for a quick introduction to the Nintendo-fied core elements of the sport, but before that, it was time to choose a character, and here I was greeted by a solid gallery of classic icons. The usual crew, consisting of Mario, Luigi, {Peach}, and Yoshi, were there, but many other characters such as {Dry Bowser}, {Wiggler}, and {Petey Piranha} were also included in the line-up, which consisted of a total of 38 cheerful tennis players. Also making his debut in Mario's universe is {Baby Waluigi}, whose design fits in well with Nintendo's other young characters. I was particularly pleased to see {Paratroopa} return as a playable character, as he was always my first choice in {Mario Kart Double Dash} for Gamecube, but sadly he had been sitting on the bench ever since. All characters, like cars in {Mario Kart}, are good at slightly different things, with some relying on powerful shots, others on their speed, and some being a little more technically inclined. So it's important to choose a player that suits your own style, both visually and mechanically.

The sport itself is played on fairly simple terms, with a couple of different strokes to remember. The basic manoeuvre is an uncomplicated procedure that allows me to control the direction of the ball over the net, while holding down a button sacrifices mobility for a more powerful swing with the racket. Double-clicking the controller performs a third type of shot, and under special circumstances, it's also possible to shine with an elegant smash. With a well-aimed tennis ball, it's also possible to knock out your opponent and simply win the round by force.

It's not just pure tennis on offer, as Nintendo has naturally found a way to bake a bunch of superpowers into the mix as well. Before each match, I get to choose from a plethora of different rackets, all of which have a built-in special ability. During the hour or so I spent with {Mario Tennis Fever}, I only had the opportunity to test a few of these, but the basic concept is that during the matches, I filled a special meter that allowed me to perform my racket's signature shot between rounds. There were many different variations, including a fire attack that set the opponent's side of the court ablaze, a ghost manoeuvre that made me invisible for a short while, a cloning ability that created a copy of my character, and a mud power that flooded parts of the court with mud that was difficult for a tennis ball to bounce on.

Once the basics were covered, I was paired up with a writer from Greece for a couple of rounds of honest Nintendo tennis. Initially, I gave my opponent a pretty good match, and at times I even felt a little proud of how skilled I had become in such a short time, but it soon became apparent that my opponent's learning curve was superior to my own, and in the end, it was I who had to congratulate him on his victory. Even though I was only scratching the surface, I sensed a more technical depth than {Mario Tennis Fever}'s accessible exterior would suggest. It will be exciting to learn more about it in the future. After our initial battle, we were paired with two Norwegian influencers and played a doubles match where my former opponent became an invaluable ally. It was both fun and chaotic to run around the court, with a total of four possible superpowers in play at the same time, trying to coordinate attacks and counterattacks in a way that worked. But in the end, my new Greek friend and I emerged victorious.

At the end of the presentation, Nintendo threw in one last twist and introduced us four to another mode where the tennis ball was replaced by a bunch of balloons that had to be smashed against each other in order to wear down the opposing team's health meter. Intense, chaotic, and very much in the spirit of Nintendo. Then we were done with {Mario Tennis Fever}, and the impression I take away with me is that it's a party game with great potential for many frantic clashes on the sofa. We'll find out what the complete experience has to offer on February 12.

Pragmata Switch 2 Version Preview: Dead Space, Bloodborne, and Bioshock Without the Creepiness?

johan@gamereactor.eu (Johan Mackegård Hansson) — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0100

We have seen third-person action countless times over the years, and it seems that this genre has not undergone any major changes, at least not for a very long time. However, Pragmata aims to challenge that image and adds a new layer that activates a completely different part of the brain in a setup that challenges my view of the genre. Because why does an action game have to be limited to aiming and shooting? The answer is, of course, simple: it doesn't have to be at all.

The premise is that I am stranded on an abandoned moon base filled with violent androids and other mechanical nasties that need to be mowed down with various futuristic versions of classic automatic weapons. However, it quickly becomes apparent that the machines' built-in defence systems render my weapons virtually useless against anything that comes my way, which means I need to think one step ahead to survive. This is where a mysterious cyborg girl enters the picture and proves to be an invaluable companion along the way. With her help, I can hack all my opponents' firewalls and thus make them fully susceptible to good old-fashioned space lead.

It is precisely this ability that adds an extra layer to Pragmata's action sequences. While I deal with my mechanical opponents through classic weaponry, I must also perform simple mini-games to hack the robots' defences. At first, I thought it wouldn't change much, but in the heat of battle, it turned out that the extra mental effort messed with my muscle memory and resulted in an unexpected challenge that became really entertaining once I got into the rhythm. Dodge attacks {Bloodborne}-style, while some enemies need to be hacked and others shot, offered surprisingly entertaining gameplay that impressed me greatly during the hour or so I spent with Pragmata.

According to Capcom, both images in this preview are from the Switch 2 version.

During my time with the game, I managed to test three different shotguns, the main weapon being a semi-automatic variant that dealt just the right amount of damage. Occasionally, I found a shotgun that was very effective at close range, but its use was limited to the small amount of ammunition it was already loaded with. It was therefore important to conserve cartridges, as ammunition was not collected in piles as in other action games. If I wanted to shoot more, I had to find a new one. The third weapon was more strategic in nature and proved useful for balancing battles with many evil robots at the same time. With an extended force field, it allowed me to paralyse affected enemies for a short time, which opened up opportunities for both hacking and sniping in a slightly calmer environment.

When, at the end of the session, it was time for a boss fight against a larger metal man, I got to apply everything I had learned so far in a slightly longer battle which, despite its size, did not offer much resistance. Here, however, I became acquainted with a new type of powerful attack that works in much the same way as in From Software's latest titles. After I had dealt enough damage, my burly opponent went down on his knees and I was able to hit him a little extra hard, which wiped out a large part of his health meter. Shortly afterwards, I emerged victorious from the battle and the demo was over.

It is important to conserve ammunition.

The demo was played on a docked Switch 2, and although I can't say how Pragmata will fare on other formats, I'm afraid I have to say that the graphical experience I was offered wasn't particularly impressive. The environments were a little pale and generally I found the level of detail to be rather weak compared to other games. In terms of performance, however, I have no complaints, as the battles ran smoothly without any technical glitches, which I assume has been Capcom's intentional priority since Pragmata is such an action-based game.

What I take away from my hour or so with Pragmata is an experience whose sci-fi-based environments bring to mind a horror-free version of Dead Space, whose third-person action draws some inspiration from the dodge mechanics in Bloodborne combined with an integrated and simplified version of the hacking mini-game from Bioshock. The result is entertaining, but for Pragmata to continue to entertain beyond the hour or so I spent on the abandoned moon base, it will need to incorporate more variety than what I saw. There is a good foundation here that needs to be built upon as the game progresses. Hopefully, that is exactly what Capcom has done, and we will know for sure on 24 April.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Nintendo Switch 2 Version Preview: Minigame Mayhem in Bellabel Park

johan@gamereactor.eu (Johan Mackegård Hansson) — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0100

With Switch 2 on store shelves, it was only a matter of time before Super Mario Wonder got an upgrade to the new format, and it comes with a whole new set of mini-games that all take place in the colourful amusement park Bellabel Park. Together with a group of four players, I got to spend over an hour in the park trying out some of the mini-games on offer.

Because Bellabel Park essentially is a collection of new mini-games for up to four players. There are both cooperative and versus mini-games, and the overall feeling is that Nintendo has really chosen to focus on the kind of gaming fun that makes Mario Party the success it is, at least in my book. Since the mini-games take place within the framework of {Super Mario Bros Wonder}, it goes without saying that they are all based on the two-dimensional side-scrolling foundation of the main game. However, there is no lack of creativity in the new game modes.

Super Mario Bros Wonder will be reborn on Switch 2 on 26 March.

To begin with, before each mini-game, I get to choose from a range of different "perks" that I take with me into the matches. These can be advantages such as the ability to glide for a short time, as well as other similar features. What caught my attention, however, is what the game calls Expert Mode, where I instead take a challenging circumstance with me into the mini-games. For example, my ability to jump with precision was significantly more challenging due to the fact that my character couldn't stand still, but always sprinted at top speed to the right or left. This is fun for those looking for an extra challenge, even in party games.

The mini-games themselves also offered us fun variety, which I think will be a contributing factor in keeping Super Mario Bros Wonder alive for a long time to come. Since I had limited time with the game, I unfortunately didn't have time to try out all the modes, but the ones I did get to try were all varied and fun to play. For example, we got to try two different mini-games where racing was the focus, but in completely different ways. In one, we had to fly on flower stems and avoid various enemies, while in the other, we were transformed into bouncing balls and had to think strategically and use the level's surfaces in the best way possible to achieve maximum bounce speed. These were interspersed with a kind of hide-and-seek game where two players had to turn into flowers in order to hide from the other two, and another mini-game where the group had to pass a bomb between themselves while trying to get through a level before it exploded. In another mini-game, the Switch 2's computer mouse function was used to draw platforms to help other players get past various obstacles.

Entertainment for multiple players is provided.

Although what I got to try out at Bellabel Park was limited, we ran past other mini-games that I assume had the same charm as the ones I played. As I said, it's great that Nintendo continues to focus on multiplayer entertainment, even in existing titles such as Super Mario Bros Wonder, and even though Bellabel Park should be seen as a minor expansion of the base game, I think it will contribute its fair share of hours of boisterous party gaming at home on the sofa. We'll know what the full experience looks like when Mario Bros Wonder is released for Switch 2 on 26 March.

Resident Evil Requiem Preview: Capcom's horror titan looks promising on Switch 2

johan@gamereactor.eu (Johan Mackegård Hansson) — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0100

It all begins in a ruined medical clinic. My instructions are simple; I must escape. Somewhere in the darkened corridors lurks a monster, the same beast that the world was introduced to in the very first trailer for {Resident Evil Requiem}. Now we're sneaking around the same premises, and before I've even caught a glimpse of my forced roommate, its sinister presence hangs in the air like a palpable sensation.

The demonstration I was given lasted just over an hour and focused on the horror elements of {Requiem}. Grace, the character I played, had no way to defend herself, so my best hope for survival was to run for my life and hope that a good hiding place would appear further ahead. Here and there, I found empty glass bottles that could be used in desperate attempts to distract the monster, but as a rule, vigilant caution was a much better tool for staying alive. This was done from either a first or third-person perspective, which I was free to switch between during the hour. The demo's horror theme made it obvious to me that it was through Grace's own eyes that the experience should be enjoyed for maximum immersion, but I have no complaints when it comes to playing with the camera over my shoulder. Perhaps it wasn't as scary, which probably suits some people better.

The layout itself was familiar to me, having played quite a few previous instalments of the {Resident Evil} series, and in the demo, {Requiem} appears to be a mixture of the second and seventh parts. It's scary and vulnerable, with a murderous pursuer hot on your heels, while at the same time there's a lot of backtracking where key items open up new paths in places I've already progressed through. This means I constantly have to keep track of where I've been and what items I need to look out for in order to open new areas in a previous room.

Although these are not gameplay images, Capcom claims that they are from the Switch 2 version.

I tend to be quite slow when I take on this type of gaming experience. I want to soak up the atmosphere, contemplate the details of the surroundings and tackle the task with as much immersion as possible. That's why I was slightly behind the other previewers as we sat side-by-side in the darkened room, but as time went by, I began to hear terrified cries in the darkness as the monster sank its claws into my poor colleagues.

Finally, it was my turn to come face-to-face with the beast, and I must admit that I too joined in the terrified chorus a number of times before the hour was up. Beforehand, {Capcom} representatives urged me to study the monster's patterns and exploit its weaknesses to my advantage, and when I quickly figured out that the creature was noticeably sensitive to light, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. My sense of security lasted for about ten minutes before it became clear that my pursuer did not like being outsmarted and therefore found a way to pull the plug on the few ceiling lights that were still in use. So the balance was restored once again.

Resident Evil Requiem for Switch 2 looks promising.

Since the presentation took place at Nintendo, it was naturally a docked {Switch 2} that was parked in front of me, and on a technical level, I have to praise Capcom for their work on {Requiem}. The demo was mainly played in dark areas of the game, but graphically it's not far off the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, at least from what I've seen without having actually played those versions myself. The frame rate was also consistently stable, which helped keep the immersion intact and free from unnecessary technical distractions.

Beforehand, I hardly thought I could be any more excited about the launch of {Resident Evil Requiem}, but the brief moment I got to spend with the monster in the ruined clinic was enough to raise my personal hype meter another notch. I may be a little biased, because this is the kind of gaming experience I'm really passionate about, but from what I saw of {Capcom}'s ninth instalment, there's no doubt that this is going to be good, even on {Switch 2}. Probably really good, in fact. We'll know for sure on February 27. But if you're still hungry for more, we remind you that you can check out our impressions of the title on PS5 Pro here.

Aniimo Hands-On Preview: A Pocket Monster Mash-Up of Everything That's Come Before

alex@gamereactor.eu (Alex Hopley) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 15:00:00 +0100

There's more chance of hell being confirmed as being real, and then freezing over, than there is for Pokémon to be taken down as the king of creature collectors. It would be wrong to say, however, that every gamer is perfectly pleased with how the king of cute critters is handling the genre. Palworld, Cassette Beasts and Digimon Story: Time Strangers have proven there's space for alternatives out there, and recently we've been spending some time in Aniimo, a shiny new creature collector that seeks to carve its own space among this fast-growing subgenre.

Aniimo is... Aniimo is... Well, to be honest, it's really hard to pin it down to one sentence or even paragraph that sums up all the things you can do. My notebook is scrawled with random notes that make me feel like the maddened protagonist of a Lovecraft story as I look back through them. In essence, the game is what you'd expect from a creature collecting adventure. You make your own character, who of course is an absolute natural at catching the adorable beasties that fill out the tutorial zone, then find yourself joining a research expedition with the hopes of exploring the wild region known as the Idyll. All of this serves as a grand excuse for you to catch more Aniimo, train them, and do battle as them.

Yeah that's right. You battle as the Aniimo in the game, not with them. It takes the turn-based formula you'd expect from something like Pokemon and does away with it for real-time battles in which you can twine with your Aniimo to essentially play as it. From our few hours with the game, this appears to be Aniimo's strongest USP, as it essentially turns the game from a rather passive experience, with you just deciding the cool stuff your creatures do, to a much more active one, where you're thrown into third-person combat against other creatures and big raid bosses. Each Aniimo comes with its own moves and type, and as you can expect, these types play against each other in classic rock-paper-scissors style. Fire beats grass, water beats fire, and so on.

The obvious comparison for any game of this time is Pokémon, although I have to say I got much more of a Digimon vibe from Aniimo. From the story to the design of the creatures and the way they evolve or reach their Nova Stage, yes it looks familiar if you've played a Pokémon game, but takes what it can from other big franchises in the subgenre, too. Where you'll likely feel like you're playing an alternate dimension version of Pokémon is in the catching, as this is very similar, especially to the free-roaming, real-time battling of Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Weaken an Aniimo to increase your chance of catching it, try and sneak up when you can to catch it unawares, you know the drill. There's also a breaking mechanic, where if you batter an Aniimo enough you can stun it for a time, making it the prime moment to catch.

If you've played a game like this before, you'll get to grips with most of Aniimo well enough, with the only exception being the aforementioned twining mechanic. This isn't just used for battling, as it also lets you access multiple traversal options on the map, such as swimming, gliding, climbing, and more. The Aniimo you catch and keep in your squad are therefore quite important, as they act as constant HM users, able to take you where you need to go quicker. Considering the map is absolutely massive in Aniimo, too, you'll need these features when you want to get somewhere in a jiffy.

While the creature designs are nice enough, the twining feels unique and fun, and the world is pleasing to the eye, Aniimo throws so much at you so quickly that it can be hard to appreciate and understand any one thing. Information overload feels like a bit of an understatement, as from one look at the game's menu and all the things to choose from on it you'll see what I mean. If you compare to the subdued introduction of Pokemon, for example, where you start in the quietest town and given the simplest overview of what the world is about, Aniimo is a whirlwind of exposition, ideas, and mechanics that sends you spinning before you're even out of the tutorial zone. It's a bit TikTokified, in a way, as it doesn't give you the chance to get bored as you've always got some new number popping up on screen with a flashy effect to match.

There were a few performance issues, alongside visual bugs in the game's cinematics, but as we're looking at an early stage of Aniimo here, we can hope those will be fixed in time for its full release. At this early stage, though, I'm not sure where I stand with Aniimo. It certainly feels like the developers are throwing anything and everything at the wall to see what sticks. That might be enough to attract players initially, but it might not work in the long-term. Only time will tell, but for now at least I can say the twining mechanic is a stand-out, if only for how seamless it is in game.

GeniGods: Nezha Preview: A mythical new action game of epic proportions

alex@gamereactor.eu (Alex Hopley) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 04:00:00 +0100

As it seems we're trending away from Soulslikes these days, gamers still need some great third-person action games to feast their eyes upon, and so Genigods Lab is bringing the goods with its new mythic action role-playing game GeniGods: Nezha. Inspired by the likes of Black Myth: Wukong, God of War III, and even super recent games like Phantom Blade: Zero, Nezha concocts a mix of awesome visuals with combat that looks like it takes the best of traditional third-person action alongside the reactiveness of a fighting game. We were lucky enough to check out the game earlier this week, and here give our thoughts on our hands-off experience with what could be a game to watch as we search for a title that truly lets us clash with titans.

You may be familiar with the name Nezha, as the hit animated film Ne Zha 2 managed to rake in billions at the box office last year. This version is very, very different, however. Genigods Lab, the developer behind the game, has decades of experience working in games, and developing hits for big franchises like My Hero Academia. With its take on Chinese myth in GeniGods: Nezha, we'll see the story of the first human, and her fight to stop the world being devoured by Pangu - the giant who died in the creation of the world.

In the game, Pangu isn't too happy about the old dying business, and wants to return. Our mission is to stop him, and to do that we'll have to travel through vast, open regions and defeat other deities in order to make use of their elemental powers. Think of it almost like a good version of Thanos' journey in Infinity War, as Nezha collects the stones with these powers in her heart of stone. You can apparently collect these stones in any order you'd like, a bit like the freedom offered in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and once you've got one, as you can expect it'll unlock some serious combat potential.

It's difficult to say how good the combat will feel in GeniGods: Nezha, as we didn't get any hands-on with the game. However, it looks fantastic. It essentially works like a mix of Sekiro and a fighting game. Parries, dodges, and blocks are all available defensively, and then once you break an enemy you can launch them into the air for some combo juggling. The effects are eye-popping and the potential of Unreal Engine 5.7 feels like it has been unlocked here. However, of course what we've seen is a pre-recorded trailer/demo, meaning that we don't yet know whether the full game can look and play as well throughout.

GeniGods: Nezha's combat progresses as the main character does. Nezha starts her life as a clay doll, slowly becoming more human over time. She's also a fluid mystic, meaning she can transform into water, allowing her to close gaps and move with incredible speed. These innate abilities not only make her the Chinese Kratos when it comes to god killing, but also give her some cool-looking traversal options you'll come to use in the regions of the game. With the central hub already being 10km squared, we'll be needing some assistance in making the world quick to travel across.

Genigods Lab is clearly very ambitious with this game. It's unlikely to see a full release before 2028, and it'll offer 50 hours of gameplay to get the Platinum trophy, 25 hours just to beat it. There are multiple endings, a central story theme revolving around the concepts of what it is to be human, and where our humanity stems from, as well as smart enemies that will automatically adapt to how well you're doing at the game. This isn't a Soulslike, as we established, but it can be as difficult as your skill allows, by the way the developers spoke about the combat. Difficulty options will be included, and if you lose or win too much, the enemies will begin to adapt, making their fights easier or tougher over time. It's easy to look at something like a Black Myth: Wukong and draw comparisons here, but Genigods Lab is aiming for something truly unique that hasn't been done before. There's the potential for a series, with a lot riding on this first outing.

From what we've seen, though, it appears the developers are experienced and passionate enough to bring their vision to life here. There's much more to be seen from GeniGods: Nezha, but the game is certainly one to watch if titles like Phantom Blade: Zero, Crimson Desert, and Black Myth: Wukong have caught your eye. Perhaps in a few years' time, when GeniGods: Nezha is ready to launch, we'll have completely swapped out Souslikes for what the introduction refers to as "Wukonglikes." Games that trade murky fantasy settings for beautiful, mythic ones, with combat that doesn't make you want to slam your head into a wall. That sounds like a wonderful new age, one I'm hoping GeniGods: Nezha plays a big part in ushering in.

Here are our first impressions of Highguard

magnus@gamereactor.eu (Magnus Groth-Andersen) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:45:58 +0100

It was rather curious to see Geoff Keighley reserve the finale of The Game Awards, a triumphant moment for any studio allowed to reveal a game there, for a brand new IP from an untested studio. And now that the mood surrounding multiplayer-based live service shooters also seems to have soured in recent years as the market has slowly become saturated, one can only bow one's head slightly in admiration.

But it was probably not quite the right way for Highguard to be revealed to the outside world, and although it was apparently not developer Wildlight Entertainment's decision, but Keighley's, the reveal was met with anger and apathy - probably because at the time, it simply didn't stand out enough to warrant such a significant strategic position.

Now Highguard is out, even though many believed that the studio's subsequent silence was a sign of a potential delay or even closure. I have played 15 Raids and am now delivering my tentative first impressions as we work our way towards a proper review. Fortunately, Highguard is more than it appears to be, and thanks to the clear expertise of the former Respawn employees who shaped the basic framework around the game's structure and central gameplay loop, it is also better than one might think. However, that does not mean we can give the game a free pass, as there are also major issues to address.

But let's start on a positive note. Highguard, as it stands, is a slightly polished and content-rich experience. There is no Early Access feeling here, or the sense that Wildlight has launched before the game is actually ready for the spotlight. There are eight distinct heroes, each with recognisable move sets and distinct tactical options. There are five maps with interchangeable bases, making them easier to remix, and with a good handful of weapon types, there are also plenty of opportunities to express yourself creatively on the battlefield through the two weapons, your Siege Tool and at least two abilities per hero. There is also meta progression, a free Battle Pass, skins to buy - it's all here.

But perhaps most importantly, the game is only launching with one basic mode: Raid. The entire game is built around Raid, a 3v3 mode where you fortify your own fortress, ride out onto a large map to collect loot, and fight for a sword that will be used to activate a raid on the enemy base. Tactically, there are free respawns until a raid starts, where your team must try to place bombs on generators, or the heart of the base, until you either win or are thrown out, at which point the aforementioned sword respawns again.

It's a mode that borrows a little from a sea of different genres, from the MOBA's base-oriented structure to the Battle Royale genre's loot focus, spiced up with Apex Legends' mobility and light-heartedness. It's pretty clear that Highguard hasn't let itself be limited, either in its setting, which freely mixes high fantasy and sci-fi, firearms and knight armour in a big mess. It's not exactly thrilling, and it's a bit of a shame that Wildlight doesn't even try to put this together in a way that makes sense, but then again, it might seem a bit jarring to have these heroes shooting each other to bits.

In the moment-based gameplay loop, Highguard works surprisingly well. The physics are solid, the weapons are functional, if not a little "floaty," and being able to summon a horse so easily makes the slightly oversized maps more tangible and tactically rounded. I have already found myself in a number of firefights that felt on par with Apex Legends, which is quite high praise for a debut studio, whether they consist of Respawn veterans or not, and I have not encountered a hero who had directly useless abilities or felt misplaced in the now burgeoning meta. No, Highguard is balanced and well-functioning when viewed through the lens of pure mechanics.

But it's a huge problem that Wildlight has chosen 3v3 as the only team structure, because it just makes these maps boring most of the time. I'm sure they've tested with more, and that they have their reasons, but the fact is that these maps simply aren't eventful enough when there's no raid in progress. During a raid, all six players are in the same base, so the open spaces are replaced with more tight corridor and position-based shooting. This works fine, but while you're collecting loot and fighting for the sword, these maps are too big and too empty to accommodate only six players in total. Maybe if there had been enemy NPCs to keep you on your toes? Maybe 5v5 would have been better?

And speaking of boredom, Wildlight has been forced to remove respawns while a match is in progress. This means that if you die during a match, you basically have to wait until your teammates either win or get kicked out. This can take... five minutes? It can actually take 10 if your teammates consistently revive each other or are just more interested in kills than playing by the rules of the game. And in the meantime, you just sit there - and wait - and you can't, as in a Battle Royale, just drop out, because your team might need you a moment later.

No, Raid has a lot of good ideas, but these are undermined by a structure that is a little too broad to ensure solid action around every corner, and which does not consistently work during these raids, which are so central to the flow of the game. Overall, I'm not entirely sure about these raids, as having to "fortify" the base seems rather arbitrary - there should be more mechanics associated with defending your fortress when under attack, or else the bases could easily be torn out and replaced with a simpler Capture the Flag structure.

Highguard feels good to play. It looks good. It sounds good. It launches with enough content to satisfy curious shooter fans and doesn't launch with eight unfocused modes. Wildlight is onto something here, but they need to act quickly if Raid is to carry the game in the long run, and whether that happens by making the different maps smaller, introducing NPC enemies or just increasing the number of active players, I don't know. But I hope they can work their magic quickly, because the game is better than you might think.

Preview: Resident Evil: Requiem - One of the best Resident Evil games yet?

alfredo@gamereactor.eu (Alfredo Pavez) — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 16:07:52 +0100

{Resident Evil Requiem} is one of the most anticipated games of 2026. Whether it's because it's a new instalment in an increasingly popular series, the return of fan-favourite Leon S. Kennedy as the protagonist or because it's one of those games that generates endless curiosity about how it will perform on {Nintendo Switch 2}, what is undeniable is that Capcom's title is attracting a lot of attention. With all that pressure, added to my eagerness to play the full game, I faced countless zombies (well, infected) in a preview session where, for three hours, I was able to explore the secrets hidden in the ninth instalment of the main {Resident Evil} series.

Two protagonists, two play styles

Although I can't talk directly about elements of the story in this title, I can say that during the part of the game I was able to try out, I played some sections where you control Leon and others where Grace Ashcroft, the other protagonist of this title, takes the lead. As mentioned during the last Resident Evil Showcase, the moments where Leon is the protagonist are action-packed; right from the start I had to defeat a doctor equipped with a chainsaw, which also helped me see the numerous and explicit death screens in this title. It was a battle in a fairly confined space with numerous infected constantly appearing, but far from being a tense situation, thanks to Leon's skills in hand-to-hand combat, defending himself with his {Knife Hatchet} and even using the chainsaw that the aforementioned doctor "lends" us, this section of the game was very satisfying and action-packed. Later on, I was also able to try out a boss fight with Leon taking care of a large infected with a clean shotgun blast.

However, everything changes when we get to play as Grace. Showing her inexperience in these types of situations, we start with a weapon with a single bullet and have to dodge numerous infected around every corner. When we find more weapons and ammo, things don't get any better, as Grace does less damage with firearms and must find knives with limited durability to defend herself. For at least 45 minutes of the approximately two hours that the section I tried with Grace lasted, I was almost out of ammo and had to dodge infected who kept attacking in the most unexpected ways. For example, an infected connected to a blood bag used the IV stand to attack as if it were a bat, a cook used a dangerous butcher's knife that was practically an "instakill", a singer stunned you with her screams while draining your health, not to mention the classic "zombie bite".

Later on, the situation continued to worsen, but I learned to craft items by combining resources hidden in different rooms on the stage. This helped me to get some more ammo and healing items, but it's not as easy as it sounds, because to craft these items, we need to use blood. Grace has a blood extractor that she can use to obtain various samples from defeated enemies or at certain points, such as a bucket full of blood in a room, for example. In a way, it's similar to the scanner in {Resident Evil Revelations}, but instead of giving us an item when we reach 100% of the scan, we accumulate blood that we use to a greater or lesser extent in the combination of items. The list of items that can be crafted increases thanks to a mini-game/puzzle that requires certain key items to work and helps us obtain useful items such as a permanent health upgrade for Grace or make her atacks more effective.

Speaking of puzzles, during our adventure with Grace we see numerous doors that require certain keys to open, as well as classic logic puzzles to open a secret compartment and obtain an item or key. It should be noted that inventory management for carrying ammo, weapons, keys, and healing items is very important, because our protagonist has a very limited inventory (8 items limit in contrast to the "infinite" slots in Leon's briefcase, which returns in this instalment), although similar to what happened in {Resident Evil 2 Remake}, we will find various hip pouches that will help us have a little more space. The similarities with {RE 2 Remake} do not end there, because there are certain enemies that play the role of {Mr. X} and will chase us and block our path at certain moments. In fact, at this point in my impressions, I can say without fear: The part I played with Grace gives the same feeling as the first visit to the {Raccoon City Police Department} in {RE 2 Remake}, where every encounter was a life-or-death fight and you constantly found closed doors with a horrible feeling of uncertainty, while the parts where I controlled Leon felt more like the final stages of {Resident Evil 4 Remake}, where you can face everything without fear.

The RE Engine at its finest

In terms of performance, everything ran perfectly, whether you played in first-person or preferred the third-person over-the-shoulder camera. It's worth mentioning that I tested the game on the {PS5 Pro} version, where the reflections, clothing details, and faces of both living and "undead" characters were of incredible quality. This is the game that best exploits the {RE Engine} in terms of graphic quality, whether for the settings, lighting, or characters. This version featured ray-tracing and for those moments where darkness and our infallible flashlight take centre stage, the use of this technology was very noticeable. I was also able to enjoy my entire gaming session with headphones, so I could appreciate the game's excellent voice acting, as well as the various nuances and good use of sound effects and other audio elements that helped me become totally immersed in the gaming experience.

To conclude these impressions, I must add that what I have played of {Resident Evil Requiem} seems to me to be the perfect balance between tension and action, revisiting ideas from older titles but giving them a twist, such as the appearance of enemies that revive after being defeated, like the "Crimson Heads" from the remake of the first {Resident Evil}. Capcom seems to have done its homework to find out what fans of the 30-year-old {Resident Evil} franchise like best, and if the final product continues along the lines of what we saw in our preview session, it will be one of the most beloved {Resident Evil} games among players and quite possibly one of the strong contenders for game of the year.

Final impression - Crisol: Theater of Idols finds its strength in the lore of Tormentosa

david@gamereactor.eu (David Caballero) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:00:00 +0100

For us at Gamereactor, the development story of {Crisol: Theater of Idols} and its upcoming release has a special significance, as we first took notice of its "rollercoaster of tension" back in 2023. The project, which is now being completed by some 25 people in Madrid, had just broken free from the clutches of the declining Embracer Group to seek a new publisher, and shortly afterwards it would be showcased in style as part of Blumhouse Games' horror catalogue. Fast forward to today, a few days after we visited the offices to try out a preview version around the first third of the game, and with little more than two weeks to go before its final release. It's now official: {Crisol: Theater of Idols} is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series on February 10, 2026.

Between the presentation by the Davids (co-founders Tornero and Carrasco) and the portion of the game I played afterwards, I was able to get a better idea of what to expect from the full adventure in a few days.

First of all, although the game has always been compared to Bioshock, I think it's important to point out that, while the atmosphere and environmental narrative are immediately reminiscent of {Irrational}'s masterpiece, expectations should be kept in check and it would be a grave mistake to expect its scale or superpowers. {Crisol}'s elaborate lore, mainly created by Tornero, is conveyed in a similar way, with dialogue scenes and a multitude of posters and references in the setting. But otherwise, this is a much more contained project, clearly indie in nature and scale, which, instead of endowing the player with special abilities, invents a very peculiar mechanic to reflect the scarcity typical of a survival horror.

And that is precisely what is most attractive about {Crisol} in terms of gameplay at the moment. Every time Gabriel Escudero, the protagonist, gets hold of a firearm, it automatically becomes a blood weapon. In our demo, which is unreleased and considerably more advanced than the one available to the public, I was able to try out the pistol, the shotgun, and get a sniper rifle, and they all transform in Gabriel's hands. From then on, the ammunition is directly linked to the health bar, so not only shooting, but also reloading, can have dire consequences. The latter caught me completely off guard and I died a couple of times against low-level enemies because I was vulnerably dry: I had to learn that I shouldn't reload frequently like in any other FPS.

"And they called it a mine!" Welcome to Industrias Hierro.

To reload both health and weapons, therefore, you have to find blood in the form of {Plasmarine} syringes. As enemies give you essence to improve your character or coins (silver bulls) to spend at the {Fair}, the only alternative for feeding, which is also quite fresh, is to absorb the blood of corpses, whether they are other humans or one of the animals that are a mixture of farm and mutant sea creatures created by the artists.

Don't expect action galore either, as movement is deliberately slow and heavy. Perhaps too much so when aiming with the controller, and even though I increased the sensitivity several notches, I still felt that my mates playing with a keyboard and mouse had it easier. But that's part of the experience: it's not an action shooter. This is also reflected in the fact that there is a button dedicated to quick turning, as popularised by {Resident Evil 4}. If you encounter a danger head-on (e.g. a mine or a very ugly monster), you'll also have to internalise that it's better to turn quickly and run straight ahead, rather than trying to back away. Another ingredient to increase the tension.

Finally, the melee knife can be used to block or parry incoming attacks if you time it right, but in my game I mainly used it to finish off enemies and save bullets/blood. If you think they will keep stalking and hitting you even when they're decapitated or dismembered, it makes perfect sense.

Absorb the blood in corpses, human or animal.

The setting for this demo was a kind of haunted mine, {Industrias Hierro}. Honestly, after the studio's fascinating presentation and the juicy details they gave us about the game world of {Crisol: Theater of Idols}, this cold place of rain, brick, and metal may not have been the most suitable for showing off the fiction. Perhaps they chose it more for its level design, so that we could easily understand it.

The progress in the mine is quite linear, although you have to take a long detour to solve a series of simple puzzles involving valves that block access (and collect relics or vials of holy blood). Meanwhile, you are harassed by various types of enemies, from cherubs fluttering around you to a kind of recurring boss, as well as the most basic zombie-like 'dolls'.

The enemies in {Crisol} are called astilleros, old polychrome wooden statues. "They are neither mannequins nor animatronics," Tornero specified, and they are based on collections of figures found among the ruins of the Spanish Civil War. The truth is that they contribute a great deal to the personality of the project. The most terrifying one so far, the boss that haunted us in the demo, is the nowinfamous Dolores, "a virgin with a grotesque twist," a terrifying combination of bone, metal, and porcelain that will have a more concrete background in the game. Yes, that lady with the porcelain face who stars in the main artwork, and who chased us until she lifted us into the air and kissed us in a hide-and-seek section during the demo.

On my deadly walk through the Hermanos Hierro's mine, I discovered a little more about what is happening on the island of Tormentosa thanks to the memories of the workers who appeared before me as blurry figures. In terms of gameplay, I found this particular scenario to be not very interactive and its background music to be tiresome. I would also have liked a little more impact and recoil in the blood weapons, which, on the other hand, offer delightful reloading animations (basically, Gabriel must 'poke' the weapon to perform a transfusion of his blood).

Dolores means "pains" in Spanish. It seems like she'll give you some while chasing you around several sections.

What I mean is that, without having played the entire adventure, and as much as I am drawn to the main weapon mechanics of gold and blood (which is also a red and yellow reference to the Spanish flag), what stands out most to me and hooks me for now is the lore of {Crisol: Theater of Idols}. Its twisted and satirical way of representing'Hispania' and its Holy Week (here called Semana de Madera, or 'Wooden Week'), different from the acclaimed vision of {Blasphemous}. Its antagonistic Catholic interpretations with two opposing religions (the sun and the sea). Its stoic protagonist who brands others as heretics and finds his own Quixote/Virgil in Mediodía, a sort of female bullfighter who has been on the island for a long time.

I am eager to see and read more, to learn about the figure of the Plañidera (women who were hired to cry at wakes), to go to the Fair as a place of rest, recreation, and upgrades, or to discover how they have designed other fantastic animal fusions such as the ophio-taurus or the sea horse (literally a horse) and built the settings inspired by everyday streets and cathedrals in the Spanish geography.

Luckily, I will find out all about this in the coming days with the final version for the review of {Crisol: Theater of Idols}, and I will see how far both its narrative and its gameplay go.

You better upgrade Gabriel's knife to perfect his parries.

Frosthaven - Legacy of the Algox Impressions: More of Everything

alex@gamereactor.eu (Alex Hopley) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:00:00 +0100

Sometimes, Early Access games can seem wholly unrecognisable after a short period of time. Perhaps unrecognisable isn't the right word for Snapshot Games' Frosthaven, but with the new Legacy of the Algox update, it feels as if the game has leapt from a project that clearly felt as if it was in Early Access to a game that you can see beginning to take shape.

I won't go over the main gist of the game nor its combat mechanics, as if you want more of a general Frosthaven impression you can find it here. Granted, there have been some big changes to the UI and such since, alongside a lot of improvements to stability, but overall we're still using cards for combat, dealing with a harsh, wintery landscape alongside the many beasties and evils dwelling within it, and building up a small town we can call home for the time we spend in Frosthaven.

The Legacy of the Algox update focuses - as you might guess if you've played the game before - on the Algox. They're a race of yeti-like creatures, with white fur, large horns, and a reputation for raiding. We'll see more of their shamanistic side in this second major story arc, and in the demo we witnessed there was a scenario in which we sent some of our party to the spirit realm in order to protect two shamans while the rest of our heroes remained by their physical bodies. Like the storyline with the Unfettered in the game's first major update, the Legacy of the Algox arc will give us a large story campaign in which we'll help out our furry friends in order to get their assistance in turn during the final arc, which is set to release with Frosthaven's 1.0 launch.

In the short time we had with Frosthaven's new update - which was hands-off, we should add - the story only got a short amount of focus. But, it's worth noting that now there's around 90 scenarios to be played, which are what Frosthaven calls its main missions. This is up from 37 at launch, showing just how much more fleshed-out the game is these days. Something else that's seen a lot of additions is the roster of playable heroes, which is now up to 14 from the 8 the game launched in Early Access with. Legacy of the Algox brings us three new characters, each seeming rather distinct, with at least a couple being a little complex, too.

The Infuser (as you might be able to tell from the name) places the power of the elements in her weapons and attacks. You depend on the elements available to you, but can nerf your own attacks in order to make them. She might require a turn or two to set up all the elements you need, but once you've got them you can trigger multiple cards in a turn, meaning she snowballs greatly throughout a fight. The second character, who the developers referred to as Shackles, seems to enjoy getting debuffed and nerfed. His gameplay allows him to transfer negative effects to deal more damage, and he can even become immune to them. Think of him like a tank for all the debuffs you can muster, and then a huge damage dealer once he's taken them all up.

Finally, there's the Metal Mosaic, an Unfettered character that relies on a mechanic of pressure. His pressure gauge fills or drains with different moves, and you'll be playing the numbers game with him in order to maximise his potential throughout a scenario. When characters have gauges, the new UI system implements them on the right of their swanky new portraits, making them easy to see. Colour-blind users might find these gauges slightly problematic (I raise this as someone who recently find out I struggle to see greens and blues properly), but there are plans to add that accessibility in at a later date.

Snapshot also hopes to one day at a tutorial mission for each of Frosthaven's playable characters, so that you can test them out before deciding who you'll take on your adventure. However, resources are a bit limited for that right now. It would certainly help to give players a taste of certain characters, but considering that the Infuser and Metal Mosaic especially aren't unlocked until you've spent a lot of time in Frosthaven, you should be equipped to adapt to their mechanics by the time you've got them. It all seems well thought-out, and Snapshot has a great handle on what it wants Frosthaven to be, as well as how it can be a great compliment to the boardgame while differing from it enough to be its own experience. Add in some lovely new home screens for the game, and Legacy of the Algox looks like a great peak for the Frosthaven experience so far.

Life is Strange: Reunion Preview: Five key takeaways from the emotional reveal

ben@gamereactor.eu (Ben Lyons) — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 19:30:00 +0100

It has been a whirlwind of a January for {Life is Strange} fans. It all started when a listing for a game that no one had heard of was spotted on the PEGI website before it was soon taken down from the public eye. The bits and pieces of information related to the game that was present in that listing claimed that this project would reunite Max Caulfield and Chloe Price, meaning this must be a brand-new project in the storied narrative-heavy series. Then a short while later, {Square Enix} issued an announcement that it would be showing off a new Life is Strange game this month, and cut to today, we've just had our first look at this project in the form of a detailed announcement stream wherein the Max and Chloe voice actors take us through the game step-by-step.

Yep, {Life is Strange: Reunion} is real and it's coming very soon. Reuniting Hannah Telle as Max and Rhianna DeVries as Chloe, this game will have a lot of familiar traits and elements too it, as unlike the jump from the original title to the more recent {Double Exposure}, {Reunion} continues to explore the stunning campus of {Caledon University} in the effort of stopping a great catastrophe.

While you can see the reveal trailer for {Life is Strange: Reunion} below, if you want to save yourself some time and skip over the lengthy reveal stream, we've got you covered by spotlighting five key takeaways worth knowing about the game.

The world seems to revolve around Caledon University again

We've been here before and spent plenty of time wandering the academic halls, but this isn't changing in the upcoming {Reunion}. {Double Exposure}'s key location is the main focal point once more, meaning you should expect to return to familiar locations and venues, be that the {Snapping Turtle} bar, Moses' lab, Max's stunning home, the list goes on. Likewise, a familiar location means familiar people and that means spending time with allies and friends from {Double Exposure}, teachers and students you may have upset in the former chapter, and as Telle and DeVries explain in the broadcast, you'll have to deal with "violent protests, resentful staff, a secret society..."

What we do know and can see evidently is that the art direction and visual aesthetic of {Double Exposure} returns, with a slightly more refined and detailed edge to it. Like the setting, this is familiar through and through, meaning if you like the {Sims}-like character design and the more cartoonish style, you'll have a lot to appreciate in {Reunion} too.

A much darker and more serious story

{Double Exposure} had its own moments but there's no denying that the last chapter in the series felt a tad more safer in premise. {Reunion} won't at all be following suit. In its most rudimentary form, the idea behind this chapter is to use Max's {Rewind} ability to explore the {Caledon} campus and to determine who is behind an imminent fire that will burn the university to ashes and claim the lives of many in the process. It's a darker and more serious affair, one where the typical challenges of life feel trivial when considering the threat that Max is attempting to extinguish.

Choices matter more than ever

And building on that last point, choices in {Reunion} seem to matter much, much more. It's not that they were never important, rather we're going from upsetting someone's feelings to preventing them from being caught in a blazing inferno. Again, it's serious and the tone is much darker this time around. But speaking of choices, your past choices do also matter in {Reunion}, and this is also how Chloe returns to the fray.

Spoiler alert for those who haven't played either of the past chapters in Max's story, but you may remember that in {Double Exposure}, Max toiled to recombine two split timelines that revolved around the death of her close friend Safi. These timelines are also inexplicably linked with the formerly split timelines that revolved around Chloe, as the events of the last game have also managed to weave the split stories of {Life is Strange} together, meaning Chloe is both alive and well, but also burdened by the occasional memories of the timeline where she died. It's perhaps a bit confusing (as is anything that fiddles around with the flow of time), but the point is that Chloe is back, she has memories of a full and short-lived life, and depending on your choices in former games, Max either is stunned that Chloe is alive or that {Arcadia Bay} and Chloe's mother is alive and well. The narrative thread being pulled depends on your personal past with the series.

It takes two to tango

Unlike former chapters in the {Life is Strange} series, {Reunion} actually sees players taking control of both Max and Chloe at the same time. Max is the character you know and love and can use {Rewind} to change events and essentially be in two places at once. This is helpful when it comes to saving friends from an unfortunate fate or even for retconning mistakenly inputted dialogue options. Unlike {Double Exposure}, Max can even use {Rewind} from the get-go, meaning you can abuse its power as and when you see fit.

As for Chloe, she brings her witty {Backtalk} mechanic that allows her to talk her way out of sticky situations. It requires a level head and careful planning, but this can be used to get a nosy security guard off Chloe's back or to get under the skin of a suspect the pair believe is involved in the future cataclysmic fire at {Caledon University}.

The end of the road

It's been 11 years in the making but {Reunion} is regarded as the last chapter in the saga of Max and Chloe, the "emotional conclusion" of the pair's adventures. It's unclear what this means for the future of {Life is Strange} as a whole, but it does seem as though we should appreciate one last story with the charismatic duo, especially since past chapters tend to conclude with a key and core character meeting an unfortunate end. Although maybe not a permanent one...?

So, when will we get to play {Life is Strange: Reunion}, you ask? The good news is that developer {Deck Nine} is actually mostly ready to put the game into the hands of fans. The launch is set for March 26, 2026, so in around two month's time, with the game set to debut on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. There is no word on a Nintendo Switch 1 or 2 launch as of yet, but {Double Exposure} did eventually come to Switch 1 so a reasonable guess is that it'll come to the more powerful {Switch 2} at least down the line.

When {Reunion} does debut, there will be multiple editions to choose from, including the base game, a twin pack that bundles the game with {Double Exposure}, a {Deluxe Edition} that adds a heap of digital goodies, and also a {Collector's Edition} that features a bunch of physical items like a 12" vinyl soundtrack, a double-sided poster, custom guitar plectrums, and more. And as a final note, those looking to snag simply the base copy of the game will be glad to hear that it comes in at quite a reasonable price tag, with {Life is Strange: Reunion} set to retail for £44.99/€49.99.

So, are you excited to return to {Caledon University}?

Styx: Blades of Greed Demo Preview: Snitches get Styxes

alex@gamereactor.eu (Alex Hopley) — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0100

It feels like it has been a while since we've had some proper stealth games. Hitman hits us with the odd celebrity special level every so often, but where once we had stealth games coming out of our ears with the likes of Dishonored, Thief, Metal Gear Solid V, and more. I think we also need more games where we play as a goblin, which is an even more sparse subgenre, so it's safe to say I'm very glad Cyanide Studio is back with Styx: Blades of Greed.

Actually, I have a confession to make. I never got round to playing the first two Styx games. They're free on Epic right now, and I have picked them up, but to me Blades of Greed was entirely new. There's some story context I'm missing, but the demo offered on Steam for the game is a great way to get stuck in. A tutorial sees us take down a massive golem from the inside, and from there we see the mix of fantasy action and parkour stealth that made Styx a goblin icon in his own right. The demo includes a couple of hours of content, and while at first I was just going to stream it (as you can see below), I found even after wrapping up the latest edition of GR Live I couldn't really put Styx down.

Styx: Blades of Greed might kick things off like an action movie, but it is a stealth game first and foremost. Styx can survive a combat encounter with perhaps one or two guards, but two hits are often enough to make you load into the last checkpoint. We're encouraged to be stealthy not because it'll give us bonus points at the end of a level, but because it makes sense to the game's narrative and the world. That already wins some bonus points in my book, where often stealth games feel like they let you go guns blazing far too easily.

What sticks lacks in health he more than makes up for in mobility, and it feels like Styx: Blades of Greed really bumps up a sense of verticality in the level design. Larger, more open spaces in the levels we played give a Batman: Arkham sense to some areas, giving you the chance to pick off enemies at your leisure, rather than commit to a pre-determined solution to the stealth puzzle of a narrow corridor.

Clambering up rooftops and shimmying around window ledges to get better angles is a lot of fun, and there's a good responsiveness to Styx's movements. Leaping from foe to foe, silently killing them to then take out their friend next door gives a satisfying gratification when you manage to wipe out an entire area without once being spotted. The tools you get do help out some, like bolts used to snipe targets from afar or sand that can put out a nearby torch and help you traverse the level unseen, but I found that Styx doesn't need them to be a master of stealth. After all, so long as he has some of his amber bar, he can turn invisible and sneak past any obstacle you may otherwise have to get a bit creative with.

We didn't get to glimpse too much of the story, but from what we played it seems an intriguing enough tale around Styx essentially becoming a fiend for the magical stones known as Quartz. Our protagonist being a magic addict rather than a goblin with a heart of gold is a nice touch, and one that should be interesting to explore further in the full release next month. Sadly, I'm not sure we'll be seeing Styx's return as soon as February.

In the demo, we did encounter some bugs. After one cutscene where Styx proved his stealth capabilities by being entirely invisible, we were launched mid-air to our death and had to restart from the latest checkpoint. Visual popping in environments was all over during cutscenes, and enemy death animations seemed particularly lifeless. These weren't major problems, and they didn't ruin the overall experience of the Styx demo, but they are issues that you'd expect to see in a game at least a few months away from release. If they persist throughout the full launch, it might be to the chagrin of many players, who don't want their latest Styx adventure to appear like it's from a decade prior.

From our early impressions, Styx: Blades of Greed appears a simple but effective stealth game. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel, but the new elements that it adds provide a bunch of additional tools for your living Swiss army knife of a goblin. Traversing around the massive world, made up of linear areas stitched together to make an impressive whole, is a lot of fun, and while it doesn't look like this goblin is up for carrying the weight of the stealth genre on his back, his latest adventure is a grand example of why these games need more love.

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Demo Impressions

alfredo@gamereactor.eu (Alfredo Pavez) — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 20:32:26 +0100

Like a belated Christmas present, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined arrived the day before yesterday in the form of a demo on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC, to whet our appetites ahead of its release on February 5.

This demo allows us to play the first few stages of this great adventure, covering approximately the first three hours of the story, with the possibility of transferring our progress to the final version of the game. It differs from the demo that Square Enix let us try last November, so you can check out those first impressions with DQVIIR to discover even more details if you didn't do so at the time.

This is thus a demo for all audiences, and I certainly enjoyed it. Thanks to this first taste of everything this "reimagining" of Dragon Quest VII has to offer, we can familiarise ourselves with the combat system, the story and mission progression, as well as the puzzles and challenges we can expect to find in the final product. My impressions of this demo have been very positive; it's a very good first taste of everything the final game has to offer.

What stands out most is the game's artistic style and visual finish. Graphically, it's simply beautiful, with scenes that look like they've been taken straight out of a diorama and realistic elements, masterfully blended with the signature character design by the beloved Akira Toriyama. This leaves behind the pixel art style of the original game from the first PlayStation back in 2001, and stands out from the cel-shaded remake that was released on Nintendo 3DS in 2013 in Japan and in 2016 in Europe and America, Fragments of the Forgotten Past. It also sets a new precedent for remakes of the Dragon Quest series, as Dragon Quest I-II-III were recently released as HD-2D remakes, in the style of the Octopath Traveler series. On a personal level, I must admit that after the announcement of this game, I found the character models outright ugly, but after trying this demo, I realise I was wrong; they work very well and look great in motion, especially in Handheld Mode on Nintendo Switch 2, as if you were carrying them around with you in a little box with a window.

In terms of the progression structure, it has various quality-of-life elements to prevent players from getting lost, such as access to a map that indicates points of interest to advance the story or a difficulty selector, with an "Easy Mode", as well as the ability to customise different elements to suit any play style. The combat system is turn-based, as we are accustomed to in traditional titles in the series. We can see enemies and allies at all times, and great care has been taken with the attack animations and monster reactions. It also features a job system that determines each character's abilities, using classic archetypes: balanced character, physical attack-focused character, magic attack-focused character...

The Dragon Quest VII Reimagined demo reminds us that this is a title that exudes care and attention to detail from the outset. The key lies in the small details that are revealed as soon as you start playing: from interacting with all the dogs and cats you encounter, to being able to destroy barrels and vases to find hidden objects. Another detail that this version retains and that reminds us how special the first JRPGs were is the ability to talk to any NPC, who will always offer some dialogue or advice, and to enter practically any building we come across, which almost always hides an object to be found. Less significant elements also stand out, but they equally add something extra to the experience, such as rotating the camera to see the beautiful scenery of the title from almost any angle and thus find secret entrances to buildings. One detail I didn't like is that the tutorial screens use a smaller text font than the menus and dialogue, making them difficult to read compared to the rest of the text in the game. However, based on what I've seen in this trial version, I think that whether you're new to JRPGs or the Dragon Quest series in general, or whether you're already a veteran slimeslayer, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined will win you over. We'll confirm whether or not this is the case in our review in just a few weeks.

Early Access Impressions: Prologue: Go Wayback! is so far a good idea trapped in its own challenge

sergio@gamereactor.eu (Sergio Benet) — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0100

Today's video game world is a kind of catch-all, like a sort of infinite simulation in which any experience deserves to be emulated, even those that don't seem so to us at first glance. We are in a panorama saturated with roguelikes, Soulslikes, and Early Access experiments, and {Prologue: Go Wayback!}, by {PlayerUnknown Productions}, presents itself as a proposal in this sense with its own personality, although to go into evaluating that in itself is not much to say.

Its mix of demanding action, minimalist design, and a strong focus on player skill is clearly aimed at an audience that is looking for more than light entertainment and wants new things. However, that ambition, riding on groundbreaking technology, is also its greatest enemy. {Prologue: Go Wayback!} has some good ideas, but it's true that, between its current premature state and sometimes questionable design, we may find ourselves hitting the "go to desktop" button sooner rather than later. Let's take a look.

Learn more: Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene gives "super excited" update on game players describe as "crack"

A passive-aggressive difficulty

As it already hinted in the spring and from the very beginning, {Prologue: Go Wayback!} makes one thing clear: we're not here to relax. The game doesn't bother to hide its harshness behind a gentle tutorial, nor does it bother to introduce mechanics in a progressive manner. The player is thrown into a hostile environment where every mistake is costly and where survival depends on near-perfect execution. And if you die, then ciao, bye bye, au revoir, auf wiedersehen. You have to start again from scratch on a new map, losing all your progress. Although the first few times this can be a spur that appeals to our spirit of self-improvement, this feeling is short-lived and leads sooner rather than later to frustration and boredom.

The problem is not so much that the game is difficult (there is a loyal audience that enjoys precisely that challenge), but how it is difficult. The general feeling is not of a fair challenge that pushes you to improve, but of an artificial barrier that punishes more than necessary and, moreover, without a quantifiable or direct objective. Too often, death comes from a minimal chain of errors, with no real room for reaction or improvisation. This leads to weariness, especially in the early hours when the player has not yet mastered the basic systems.

In addition, there is another tricky element: location in the game is based on the use of a compass and one's own sense of direction. A compass is somewhat difficult to use in this kind of terrain and orientation is profoundly limited because what we see is through a screen. Thus, going 200 metres away from the hut may mean that we will never find it again, something that in the real world would never happen.

But what do I have to do in Prologue?

Good question, because as the game stands at the moment, what we are offered is a forest setting where we start in a ramshackle log cabin, with some survival basics. Bad weather, in the form of rain or snow, is starting to set in and we need to get to a weather tower to save ourselves.

Here we have a choice: we can try to fix the hut to survive and wait for a "window" of good weather to try to get somewhere, or we can go straight to the adventure with the few supplies we have and trust in divine providence. Spoiler: you're going to die. Many things kill us in {Prologue: Go Wayback!}: cold, hunger, thirst, sickness, falls... Just about everything. But we count on what we learn to improve our results in each attempt. Have I told you that you're going to die? Ok.

Steep learning curve... and poorly signposted.

Directly linked to its difficulty is its learning curve, which is excessively steep even by the standards of demanding games. {Prologue: Go Wayback!} assumes that the player is going to experiment, fail, and learn by trial and error, but it doesn't always provide the necessary information for that learning to be satisfactory, as we will often feel like we don't know where we've gone wrong.

Key mechanics are not well explained or are discovered by accident. Some interactions seem inconsistent until the player understands (through repetition and repetition) what the internal logic of the system is, if there is one. The result is a sense of disorientation that can lead to premature abandonment, especially among players who, while not casual, are also not looking for a deliberately opaque experience.

A more pedagogical design is probably lacking here: small adjustments in the introduction of mechanics, clearer visual cues, or even better structured early challenges could make a huge difference without lowering the overall difficulty of the game. Having said all this, let's remember that this is an Early Access game and there is room for improvement.

Glitches: understandable, but annoying

Being an Early Access game, it's inevitable to talk about the numerous glitches that populate the experience. From inaccurate collisions to animations that don't trigger correctly to physics simulations that fail at the worst possible moment. This is particularly annoying because one of the strengths of {Prologue: Go Wayback!} is the immersion in the situation it presents, and there's nothing like these glitches to completely take us out and ruin the experience.

It's important to stress that many of these errors are understandable at an early stage of development. However, the context does not always excuse them. In such a demanding game, where precision is key and every failure is paid for with death, any glitch is perceived as a glaring injustice. It's not the same for an animation to fail in a narrative game as it is to lose a game because a jump does not register correctly or because the rock we are walking on disappears (both are real cases that have happened to us).

The accumulation of these small glitches eventually erodes the player's confidence in the system. When you no longer feel that the control responds reliably, the difficulty ceases to be a challenge and becomes an arbitrary obstacle.

A solid foundation under the problems

Despite all of the above, it would be unfair to say that {Prologue: Go Wayback!} has no virtues. Its gameplay approach is interesting, its visual identity is coherent, and its pacing, when it works, is absorbing. There are moments when the game clicks, when the player enters that state of absolute concentration where every action flows and every obstacle overcome generates genuine satisfaction.

That's where the real potential of the project is glimpsed. {Prologue: Go Wayback!} could become a cult title within its niche if it manages to better balance its proposal. It doesn't need to become easier, but it does need to become fairer, clearer, and more stable.

Conclusion: raw promise

{Prologue: Go Wayback!} is, in its current state, a game that demands a lot and gives little back to the most impatient player. Its high difficulty, steep learning curve, and multiple glitches make for an experience that can be exhausting for even the most seasoned player. Early Access accounts for many of these problems, but does not remove them from the equation.

This is a work with a powerful idea and a still immature execution. If the development team can iron out the technical bugs, smooth out the introduction of mechanics, and adjust some of the difficulty spikes, {Prologue: Go Wayback!} could go from being a frustrating experience to a memorable challenge. For now, it's a journey only recommended for those willing to stumble many times before they start enjoying the journey.

Nioh 3 Hands-On Gameplay Preview: A Nioh-death experience

alex@gamereactor.eu (Alex Hopley) — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 13:00:00 +0100

While I can't claim to be a fan of the Nioh series, nor have I ever played one of the other games in the franchise, I did enjoy Team Ninja's Rise of the Ronin more than most. I liked the open world even if it was a bit lacking compared to some of the genre's best. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and devotion to Japanese history even if it played fast and loose with some events for the sake of gameplay. There was a certain charm to it, an element that's hard to describe but made the game difficult to put down.

It shouldn't surprise you when you know Nioh 3 was developed alongside Rise of the Ronin that both of the games share this intangible factor that makes them so difficult to step away from. In a stuffy basement in a lovely hotel in Paris, I was battling right up until the last minute in order to get the most out of Nioh 3. Even if there were some elements that didn't impress, as we'll get into later, the overall feeling I took away from my time with the game was that it really keeps you hooked, despite a difficulty that if implemented in other games could easily cause you to rage quit.

If you're not yet clued in, Nioh 3 takes us on the journey of Tokugawa Takechiyo, the grandson (or daughter depending on your appearance) of Tokugawa Ieyasu as they ascend to the role of Shogun. You'll meet historical figures and face off against varied and demonic yokai throughout the game, accompanied by guardian spirits you can use to unleash some devastating powers. Apart from the protagonist change, this likely sounds a lot like past Nioh experiences, but Team Ninja changes things up a bit elsewhere.

The biggest change comes from the new stances. Switching between samurai and ninja stance not only grants you a new look, but also comes with vastly different gameplay options. Samurai is a heavy hitter, designed to work with the game's parry system to meet enemies head on, while ninja darts around foes, dodging for extra i-frames and getting in quick hits before getting out of danger. You can rely mostly on one stance for the time you spend in Nioh 3, but certain bosses require you to switch stances to block some of their attacks, meaning it's probably best to balance a mix of both. I at first found the ninja a bit tricky to use, but by the end of my time that was my way to play, with a steady mix of samurai used when I was facing some bosses that couldn't really be dodged. It might take a couple of hours to really get a handle on the system, as there's a bit of overload, but once you've got it down the gameplay shines.

Nioh 3's other major selling point when it comes to gameplay is the inclusion of open fields. Allegedly, the map is made up of explorable zones which take place in different eras of Japanese history. I say allegedly because we only really got to see one zone, and it didn't feel open or explorable in the way you may have hoped. There are different paths leading to some side objectives and loot, yes, but otherwise it's pretty clear what you have to do to progress and there's only one way to do it. From what I've seen so far, I can't really call that open, which might be music to some Nioh fans' ears, but the jury is still out as I've not yet seen the full game. It's not wrong to go for a more linear approach, but I didn't get the sense I could explore properly when playing, which didn't make me think of open fields.

The meat of Nioh 3, that being the combat, is as difficult and as punchy as you'd expect. The aforementioned stance switching can really help you understand the rhythmic flow of a sword fight and once your blade is singing to the tune of your opponent, you'll feel like a warrior fit for history. Some enemies are way more annoying compared to others, but that's just the way things are in soulslike games. I will say we were apparently overlevelled for our time in Nioh 3, and even then bosses still proved a major challenge. Team Ninja has tuned up the difficulty here, and unlike in Rise of the Ronin you can't rely on AI allies to keep pressure off you while you heal. As I don't know when certain bosses appear in the game, I can't say whether the enemies I faced were unfair or not, but you can expect a good deal of death to come your way even if you're a seasoned Nioh veteran.

Unfortunately, it seems a few of my major problems with Rise of the Ronin remain in Nioh 3. Largely, I'll bundle these problems into one big complaint about overload. There are so many systems in Nioh 3 it simply was impossible to understand everything in the hours I had with it. Spirit powers, spirit summons, skills, armour, weapons, stats, character builds, appearances, they all matter in incremental ways that add up to give you a tougher or easier time with the game, and so I hope that in the final release there's enough onboarding to prevent you feeling like you're not playing right if you don't spend four hours reading menus.

The other big sin of Nioh 3's overload is in the loot. Meaningless slop of different colours is thrown your way whenever you defeat a batch of enemies, and most of it is worse than what you've already got on. It's a nightmare to sort and it makes items and weapons feel meaningless, which is a shame considering the weapon variety is very solid. This makes it all the more frustrating when you're barely picking up any healing items from enemies, as you've got to sift through another stack of terrible boots in order to figure out you've gained nothing exciting from yet another loot pile.

Besides those worries, I'd say that Nioh 3 feels a strong action game. If you can withstand information and item overload, you'll have a great time with its new stance-based combat and detailed levels. Difficulty has been tuned up for diehards, and while that might sound like it'll put some players off, each death felt like a lesson in Nioh 3, and I'll not soon forget them.