Latest articles by Ali Jones
Dying Light: The Beast director says great open-world games aren't about how big the map is, but about how good it feels to move around
News "If it's hand-crafted, if it feels real, the player's satisfaction of being in that world is much bigger"
Desperate to avoid saying 'we want that $10 billion', League of Legends dev Riot Games tries to justify legalizing esports gambling sponsors, but players aren't buying it
News "Riot hasn't handled gambling responsibly for nearly a decade"
"Chasing safe bets is a death sentence": Rematch devs had no desire to simply chase FIFA or Rocket League, but they spent years planning out their hit football game
News "It was not a question of 'oh, Sifu did very well – what are we doing next?"
The Outer Worlds 2 was obviously inspired by Fallout: New Vegas, but if you're "tired" of hearing that, its director says it's got plenty of Deus Ex DNA too
News Obsidian seems to have a confusing relationship with some of its RPG legacy
Dying Light: The Beast director says no-one expected Dying Light 1 to be "such a kickass game," but admits "we made some missteps" on Dying Light 2
News Techland wants to prove it's still got its parkour zombie mojo
It's still "too early to talk about what will be in The Witcher 4," let alone The Witcher 5 and 6, but CDPR's new tech will "benefit all of the industry"
News CDPR's work on Unreal Engine will be felt far beyond The Continent
Dying Light: The Beast director says he's "a little bit surprised" that more studios haven't followed Techland's "go anywhere" approach to open-world game design
News Techland has pioneered some ideas that few studios have tried to replicate
Rematch devs "never considered free-to-play," even if it risked being "dead on arrival," because "the best way to make a commercial success is to just make a very good game"
News "I think that if it's original and solid, plus very reasonably priced, players will get it"
Max Payne's iconic mug came about because of its creator's university TTRPG club, but he got so "self-conscious" after the game's release that he had to change his hairstyle to remain incognito
News Sam Lake seems less worried about getting recognized these days
Ironeye is Elden Ring Nightreign's most useful character, but their anti-soulslike style bores me to tears
Opinion Now Playing | I got my (iron)eye on literally any other class
Rematch dev says FIFA is "so disconnected from how it actually feels to play football," but his game "feels more dead-on"
News If FIFA is a "football simulation," Rematch is a "football player simulation"
Cyberpunk 2077 update 2.3 delayed so CD Projekt can "make sure we're happy with it" as it aims for a similar patch to 2.2
News One last Cyberpunk 2077 delay for old times' sake
Forget FIFA, Rematch is the most authentic football game I've ever played – right down to the very worst bits about playing IRL
Now Playing Now Playing | An instant reminder of real 5-a-side, right down to the goal-hanging ball-hogs
Veteran Sonic producer says Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds team completely removed items from the game if they were too "stressful" or let players "win all the time"
Maybe Nintendo could learn a lesson or two
The Witcher 4 dev says "it's very clear" that Ciri is the right choice of protagonist, but that players shouldn't "make opinions" until the game is out
News "This is how it's gonna be, and you will see in the game how it will play out"
Borderlands 4 isn't a "cynical" sequel that's only being made "to meet the market," but because Gearbox wants to improve movement like it improved Borderlands 3's gunplay
News "We want to make it feel like we're breaking fresh ground again"
"Our fans would kill us": Dying Light: The Beast director outlines Techland's "areas of perfection" that "we cannot mess up to any extent"
News Dying Light devs know what to focus on
Hideo Kojima's cult vampire RPG Boktai only exists because Konami made a UV teddy bear that completely flopped
News Konami's loss was vampire hunters' gain
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is getting Minecraft characters and Hatsune Miku to make sure people are "not just playing it when it comes out, having fun, and that being it"
News "We need to support [it] and make sure people are having fun and getting a fresh experience for as long as possible"
Even Death Stranding 2's Solid Snake doppelganger thought he was playing a Metal Gear Solid character, but Hideo Kojima had to tell him "you're not Snake"
News "You just have a bandana on your head"
The Witcher 4 devs are preparing for "a generational shift" after The Witcher 3, and they're studying the RPG's biggest city to help
News "We're not stepping into this blindly"
A late contender for my favorite roguelike of Steam Next Fest combines Vampire Survivors with an arcade classic, and it's sticking around for a few more days
News Ball x Pit is a real buzzer-beater
This Steam Next Fest demo is exactly like Escape from Tarkov, except you're a duck and it only gets weirder from there
News Escape from Duckov is a gritty, dog-eat-dog world - except you're an adorable duck
