features games

The best new game I've played all year is a 30-minute demo where I just climbed rocks and ate chocolate bars – and I still care about it more than Borderlands 4 and GTA 6 combined

This insomnia simulator has Outlast enemies, Alan Wake dream sequences, and "evil" music by a Nine Inch Nails guitarist, and I already need to watch about 50 lore videos on it

Until Dawn studio's first sci-fi game is a body horror fest inspired by John Carpenter with tons of Lethal Company tension, and I've never been so excited to turn into a pile of sludge

Hyper Light Drifter studio's new 2D side-scroller is a chimera of my favorite things: the mythology of Neon White, Metroidvania tension from Animal Well, and perfect Smash Bros. combat

Capcom's android apocalypse Pragmata is such a genius mix of shooters and puzzle games, both of which I normally hate, and I'm starting to rethink my entire existence

With Haunted Chocolatier still miles away, farming sim with serial killers Grave Seasons is here to scratch that cozy horror itch until it bleeds

An Oblivion horror story scared me off The Elder Scrolls 4 for nearly 20 years, but Oblivion Remastered finally proved there's nothing to be afraid of

I became Oblivion Remastered's greatest gladiator by playing dirty - and bringing every single opponent down to my level

The $10,000 Hello Kitty Xbox Crystal is one of the rarest consoles in the world, and my search to find it 20 years later ended in complete disaster for video game preservation

Nintendo Switch 2's kickflipping cow, 50-ft woman, and steampunk t-rex showed there's still great power in absurdity

Mario Kart World might be the Switch 2's big launch game, but The Duskbloods is Nintendo's real system-seller

With no remaster in sight because Sony hates money and also me, I'm spending Bloodborne's 10-year anniversary thinking about its hardest, perfect boss battle

The Dark Souls games might be my all-time favorites, but Monster Hunter Wilds beats them in one crucial way: fashion

Final Fantasy 7 concept artist Yoshitaka Amano's new gallery exhibit summarizes everything I love about the Square Enix games, even though he might have stood me up

"If we can do it… This will be something groundbreaking": PUBG creator Brendan Greene is five years into making a 10,000km "realistic Minecraft" – but there's still a decade to go

I swore I'd never even look at a Call of Duty game, but then I started falling asleep to the sound of Black Ops 6

Final Fantasy 14's lead battle content designer on returning to the series' first MMO for a new raid, difficulty, and his dream League of Legends collaboration