Gaming

Layoffs Hit Staff at Crossfire Developer That’s No Moon

• That's No Moon laid off staff, confirmed via employee LinkedIn posts
• Technical and environmental artists reportedly among those affected
• Follows recent Double Fine layoffs amid broader Xbox restructuring

Crossfire developer That's No Moon has laid off an unspecified number of staff, according to former employees who began posting about the cuts on LinkedIn on 6 August. The roles affected appear to include technical and environmental artists, adding the Los Angeles-based studio to a growing list of…

Resident Evil Meets Papers Please in a Wild New Xbox Game Pass Offering

• Quarantine Zone: The Last Check inverts the zombie apocalypse by casting players as checkpoint inspectors assessing survivors for infection rather than action heroes
• The inspection-based loop uses escalating diagnostic tools to categorise symptoms and route people to quarantine, research, or elimination based on severity
• Recently arrived on Xbox Game Pass; praised for genre mash-up novelty, though the laboratory organ-extraction minigame feels underdeveloped

Quarantine Zone combines the zombie-apocalypse vibes of The Last of Us with bureaucratic drudgery

Quake Adds Free 30th Anniversary Campaign for All PS5 Players, Developed by MachineGames

• Quake receives a free 19-level campaign for PS5/PS4 players as part of its 30th anniversary celebration
• MachineGames-developed 'Dawn of the Machine' includes new music and multiplayer deathmatch map
• Campaign follows protagonist Ranger escaping a time-distorted dimension controlled by The Nightmare Machine

Dawn of the Machine is out now. Ahead of this weekend’s Quakecon, it’s time to frag like it’s 1996! If you happen to own the PS5 or PS4 version of id Software’s iconic Quake, then good news: it’s just been updated with an all-new 19-level campaign, designed by…

8 Essential Fantasy Video Games

This Collider feature ranks eight video games considered essential to the fantasy genre, arguing that "essential" differs from simply "best" — these titles are picked for their outsized influence on fantasy gaming's subgenres rather than pure quality alone, though the author notes most are excellent regardless. The piece…

Call of Duty: World at War Multiplayer Nearly Had a Much Larger Focus on Vehicles

• Leaked data reveals World at War planned much deeper vehicle-focused multiplayer.
• Killstreak tanks with customisable weapons and perks were cut before launch.
• Extra tank-focused maps were scrapped, likely due to rushed development.

Dataminers have uncovered cut content showing that Call of Duty: World at War was originally planned to give vehicles a far larger role in its multiplayer than the game ultimately shipped with. Developer Treyarch had been experimenting with expanded vehicle mechanics since the earlier Call of Duty 3,…

Giorgia Whigham Joins Kevin Bacon in Amazon MGM Horror Thriller ‘Summoner’ (Exclusive)

• Giorgia Whigham joins Kevin Bacon in Amazon MGM's "Summoner"
• Horror thriller directed by Jeremy Slater, filming in Ireland this autumn
• Andy Muschietti produces; film gets planned theatrical release

Amazon MGM's horror thriller "Summoner" has added Giorgia Whigham to star alongside Kevin Bacon, with production set to begin filming in Ireland this autumn. The project is directed by Jeremy Slater, known for his genre writing on "Mortal Kombat II" and "The Umbrella Academy", and produced by horror…

Rust August Force Wipe Brings New DLC and Major Update

• Rust's August wipe launches 'Power Trip' update, centralizing gameplay around power generation at the Power Plant monument.
• New DLC adds Bar Games (mini-games, jukebox) and Stone Sculpture tools for creative building.
• Community split: organised clans gain structural advantage, but solo players may exploit electrical gap management.

Rust's August force wipe is looking promising with the launch of the Bar Games and Stone Sculpture DLC and new monument changes.

I played Elden Ring wrong for two years

• Polygon writer recounts playing Elden Ring from 2022 launch for 200+ hours whilst misunderstanding game mechanics and design
• Personal anxieties and flawed assumptions prevented optimal gameplay despite extensive time investment

I started Elden Ring on launch day in 2022. It was my first FromSoft game and turns out, I didn't know what I was getting into. Here's how I let a bunch of assumptions and anxieties drive me to play Elden Ring wrong and bad for two years…

Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls Review-in-Progress: Beautiful But Busted

• Visually impressive Marvel tag fighter with narrative campaign from renowned comic author Kieron Gillen
• Critical PC performance issues including stuttering and frame rate instability even on high-end hardware
• Slower gameplay pacing raises questions about competitive viability versus predecessor Marvel versus Capcom series

Between its mixed central gameplay and massive PC port problems, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls needs some work.

Diablo 4’s newest class barely made a splash with Lord of Hatred, but it’s shaping up to be king of the next season

• Diablo 4's Warlock class launched underpowered with the Lord of Hatred expansion despite being a marquee feature
• Warlocks suffered from both low damage output and awkward mechanics requiring standing still to cast, whilst other classes received skill tree improvements
• Blizzard plans to rebalance Warlocks for the upcoming season with balance adjustments

Warlocks finally get their time in the spotlight.