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Tombwater Showcases Its Classes
Publisher Midwest Games and developer Moth Atlas revealed a new trailer for eldritch Wild West action RPG Tombwater . The four-minute-long video showcases the seven starting classes available to choose in the game: soldier, gunslinger, occultist, tinkerer, spellblade, drifter, and nameless.
Tombwater is set in the eponymous town, previously a thriving community that is now a cursed shell as its populace is haunted by the madness and creatures emerging from its abandoned silver mines. Players control a lone gunslinger drawn to investigate the disappearance of Sheriff Elliott Flintwood. The game features top-down gameplay with pixel art graphics. Players can use a variety of firearms, blades, spells, apothecary items, and charms to take on various enemies and over twenty bosses around its canyons, scrublands, forests, mines, and more. Tombwater is in development for PC, with no release date as of yet. A demo is currently available on Steam.
The post Tombwater Showcases Its Classes appeared first on RPGamer .
Jan 26
Superforest Codes (January 2026): Get Free Coins and More!
Devs have finally released the Superforest codes after teasing it for the past couple of weeks. The most recent update introduced it, and now, this game joins the list with thousands of other titles on Roblox. So what’s the latest code, and how do we redeem it? Here’s a guide that explains it all. Note: […]
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
Jan 24
Hytale Early Access Video ReviewHytale's Early Access launch reviewed by Leana Hafer on PC."Overall, I'm quite enjoying my time with Hytale so far. Even if it is just Minecraft again, it's an enjoyable rendition with some thoughtful tweaks and additions. It's almost like someone's wishlist of things Mojang will never do, or can't do with its legacy tech. It took me around 40 hours to feel like I had exhausted its progression paths, and it's the type of game I could play almost indefinitely if I get a big construction project stuck in my head. For my band of multiplayer comrades, though, the question is really whether we would choose this over Minecraft or Valheim or Sons of the Forest at the moment. And the answer is… not quite yet. But it already has some neat stuff those other games don't, and I look forward to seeing how it grows from here."
Jan 23
Beast of Reincarnation Releasing in Summer
Publisher Fictions and developer Game Freak revealed that action RPG Beast of Reincarnation will release worldwide this summer for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The reveal comes alongside a new showcase of the game.
Beast of Reincarnation is set in a post-apocalyptic Japan in the year 4026. It follows Emma the Sealer and her canine companion Koo. Emma is born with the blight, which lets her manipulate plants, but lacks memory and emotion, causing others to shun and fear her. Meanwhile, Koo is a malefact, a creature possessing a threat to the world. As a Sealer, Emma is meant to hunt malefacts and absorb the blight into her own body. Their journey ends up taking them to the far west, where they must confront the eponymous Beast of Reincarnation said to be the source of all blight, through blighted forests created by giant malefacts called Nushi.
Gameplay sees Emma fighting using her katana in action combat, with Koo able to supports her with powerful skills using a command-based system. By parrying, Emma earns points that can be used for Koo's actions, which can be activated at any time, with the game slowing while players are access Koo's command menu. The game will feature three difficulties: Normal Mode, Hard Mode, and Story Mode. Players can equip Spirit Stones to obtain effects in battle, as well as find new katanas for Emma and charms for Koo.
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The post Beast of Reincarnation Releasing in Summer appeared first on RPGamer .
Jan 22
The New Fable Is Finally Arriving In Autumn Of This Year
Developer Playground Games, which is primarily known for the Forza Horizon series, finally lifted the curtain today in a big way for its upcoming Fable – a game that was originally officially teased back in 2017. Playground Games has been working on the game for a long time, but we will finally be able to play it this Fall. The game's director, Ralph Fulton, was on hand during today's Xbox Developer Direct to share details for the game and finally show extensive gameplay. Fulton paid his respects to the work of the original Fable trilogy's creators, Lionhead Games, saying the team is eager to carry on its legacy, and referred to the game as an open-world action RPG and that it represents a new beginning for the franchise. We, of course, assumed the game would be an open-world action RPG, especially considering Playground Games' history and the genre of the original trilogy, but it was nice to get proper confirmation. As was the case with the other Fable games, you start the adventure as a child before learning you are a rare hero, the first in a long time. A calamity affects your home village of Briar Hill, turning everyone into stone, including the protagonist's grandmother. And then you're off on your adventure of being a hero. Apparently, the open world will be available to the player pretty early in the game, and you will find yourself stuck between two rival gangs fighting for power. Footage for the game showed off imposing castles, inviting fields, gardens of oversized vegetables, and magical mushroom forests. The protagonist was also seen riding on horseback as they explored, but I didn't see a pet dog, however, which was a big element of Fable II and III. Fulton says the ethos of the game is "What does it mean, to you, to be a hero?" You will be able to create your hero, dictating their look and clothing. Combat seems familiar to the first three games, with a split between melee action, long-range action, and magic. The player can use light and heavy combos, execute finishers, use magic like electricity, as well as attacks like the one that turned enemies into chickens. The player character got into plenty of battles in the gameplay footage against familiar Fable enemies like Hobs, but we also saw them fighting a giant fire-breathing chicken.
The bigger question mark for Fable, however, came later in the presentation, where Fulton and other members of the team talked about how the population will react to the player and what the player can do outside of combat. You can buy property and business, get married and have kids, and there are more than 1,000 named NPCs who will have individual reactions to you as well as their own lives. You can apparently follow any of the denizens of Albion and watch them wake up, go to work, relax, and go to bed.
Among the examples Playground mentioned in terms of how NPCs will react to you is that you can own property that NPCs will live in. They will react to you as their landlord, or you can kick them out of your house, effectively making them homeless. Expectedly, they will not be your biggest fans if you do this. Characters will praise or insult you depending on your reputation as you walk around and explore. This was an element in the original games, but it seems much more in-depth and specific to your choices here.
And speaking of choices, Playground highlighted the idea of "Your choices change the world," where some of the decisions you make will make radical changes to the environment of the game. An early example offered is related to the giant seen in previous trailers played by British comedian Richard Ayoade. You can choose to spare or kill Ayoade's character, and if you choose the latter, his massive corpse will remain in the environment for the rest of the game, serving as an undeniable landmark that will affect property prices nearby. The big element missing from Playground's presentation, which is admittedly hard to get across in a developer diary like this, is Fable's humor. It remains to be seen if the new Fable will effectively borrow the tone of the original trilogy. The inclusion of comedians like Richard Ayoade certainly inspires comedic confidence, but we will have to wait and see in the Autumn of 2026.
Jan 22
Pokémon Developer's Beast Of Reincarnation, A Post-Apocalyptic Action RPG, Launches This Summer
While Game Freak is best known for its work on the Pokémon games (the series is so large that it's hard to see how it wouldn't be), it does develop other games from time to time. That said, Beast of Reincarnation, the studio's upcoming post-apocalyptic action role-playing game , is a big swing even by the studio's standards. After seeing the game in action during today's Xbox Developer Direct, we got a much clearer vision of what to expect when it launches this summer. Set in Japan in the year 4026, Game Freak describes the game as a "one-person one-dog action RPG." The person and dog in question are named Emma and Koo, respectively, and they live in a time where the human population has been decimated by a parasitic plant called "blight." Somehow, Emma is able to seal that blight within her body, so she's known as a Sealer. Unfortunately, this is an ability people fear, causing her to live in isolation from the remains of society.
After forming a bond with Koo, a magical white dog with a tail made of vines and branches, Emma is told (by the a hologram of perhaps the most cyberpunk-looking guy of all time) to defeat the titular beast of reincarnation to save the Capital. To do so, she'll have to defeat "malefacts," corrupt fusions of animals and blight. I assume "malefact" is pronounced less like "male fact" more like "artifact," but given that the word was only provided in the Japanese speakers' subtitles, this is just a guess. Extremely powerful malefacts, known as Nushi, are the bosses of this world. They can create blighted forests full of enemies and obstacles players will have to overcome before facing off against the deadly beasts. Emma is particularly suited to this task thanks to her ability to absorb and dispel blight, but also because of her trusty sword, magic abilities, and vinelike hair. Her sword is her main weapon in combat, and can be upgraded with spirit stones to get special effects when she parries. She and Koo can also use Blooming Arts, powerful magic moves that slow time and allow them to harm or hinder foes. Each character also has a skill tree, and the abilities from one character impacts the other's; the developers also hint that the two will unlock more powers as their bond deepens. Finally, Emma's hair can be used in various ways for platforming, like as a bridge that extends forward over gaps or as a long stilt-like extension of Emma's leg. The duo will also have to face golems – robots with corrupted human souls – and meet other human characters, like Brad, Kagura, and the mysterious swordswoman Kunai. The dystopian elements are a bit on the nose, but game looks beautiful, especially for a studio that's been criticized for the poor technical performance of recent Pokémon games. It helps that this game, at the time of writing, is not coming to Switch or Switch 2, and is instead launching on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. We're excited to check it out when it hits shelves this summer.
Jan 22
Free League’s Nordic Fantasy RPG Dragonbane: TrudvangKickstarter Launches on February 17The iconic world of deep forests and endless mystery returns to its roots as a stand-alone RPG based on the award-winning Dragonbane Stockholm, Sweden (January 20, 2025) | Today, Free League Publishing announced that the Kickstarter campaign for Dragonbane: Trudvang, a stand-alone tabletop role-playing game based on the multiple award-winning Dragonbane RPG, will launch on […]
The post Free League’s Nordic Fantasy RPG Dragonbane: TrudvangKickstarter Launches on February 17 appeared first on Capsule Computers .
Jan 21
The NOexistenceN of Morphean Paradox: The Forest of Silver Shallots Released on Steam Early Access
Nino Games and 0x0Real Studio have released adventure RPG The NOexistenceN of Morphean Paradox: The Forest of Silver Shallots on Steam Early Access . The game is a follow-up to visual novel The NOexistenceN of you AND me , with the Early Access version available for $6.99 with a 10% launch discount. The current version includes the first chapter of the main storyline, the first chapter of five of its character's personal storylines, and various sidequests. A full release is expected in six months to a year.
The NOexistenceN of Morphean Paradox: The Forest of Silver Shallots sees players taking on the role of a guild leader taking their allies on journeys into the eponymous Forest of Silver Shallots . Players choose how to spend their time, such as training, going on adventures, accepting clandestine requests, and more. Each character has six main attributes, plus their own skill set and upgrade paths.
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The post The NOexistenceN of Morphean Paradox: The Forest of Silver Shallots Released on Steam Early Access appeared first on RPGamer .
Jan 19
All Black Truffle Mushroom Locations in Heartopia
Black Truffle is a premium mushroom variant in Heartopia, specifically found in Forest Island, located in the northeastern part of the map. There are 14 Black Truffle Mushrooms scattered on this little island, and once you’ve plucked one, it will respawn in 10-20 minutes. With that being said, let’s take a look at all Black […]
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
Jan 19
FFXIV Starlight Mug Based on Gridanian Starlight Kinderpunsch
Square Enix started taking pre-orders in its official storefront for a Final Fantasy XIV Starlight mug based on the Gridanian Starlight Celebration Kinderpunsch that was a reward during the FFXIV Christmas holiday events . It costs $42.99 and will ship in August 2026. There is also a matching $39.99 cushion cover that will appear at the same time.
We’ve seen the Gridanian Starlight Kinderpunsch mug appear multiple times in FFXIV . It first appeared as a furnishing reward during the 2024 installment of the event, both as a single mug and tower . In 2025 , it showed up in the Gridanian Gulp and Gridanian Sup emotes. It features a forested Gridania backdrop with Moogles flying around, and the cup resembles the sorts of ones we see at Christkindlmarkets in the real world.
Here’s how the cup looks in the real world, and I included some official screenshots of the reward from the in-game holiday events.
Images via Square Enix
The cushion features a similar design. It is almost 18 inches long and 18 inches wide. You only get the cover and not an actual cushion inside of it. The front features the Gridanian design, and the back has the full Final Fantasy XIV logo.
Images via Square Enix
The Final Fantasy XIV Starlight mug and cushion will launch in August 2026, and FFXIV is available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
The post FFXIV Starlight Mug Based on Gridanian Starlight Kinderpunsch appeared first on Siliconera .
Jan 15
Heartopia Insect Catching Guide and Insect LocationsInsect Catching is another charming and addictive hobby to do in Heartopia. While decorating homes, fishing, and farming often take center stage, insect catching is another hobby that encourages players to slow down, observe their surroundings, and explore the island with fresh eyes. Every field, forest, shoreline, and village hides fluttering wings or rustling leaves, …
The post Heartopia Insect Catching Guide and Insect Locations appeared first on GamingonPhone .
Jan 14
Wudwud Headgear Available in Monster Hunter Wilds Event Quest
Capcom announced Eager Wudwud α headgear is the latest cosmetic in Monster Hunter Wilds , and it is available via an Event Quest called “Playing the Long Game.” It is available to earn in-game until January 27, 2026. As with other missions of this type, you need to have unlocked Wounded Hollow and progressed far enough in the campaign to take these tasks to take part.
“Playing the Long Game” isn’t too difficult of an Event Quest. It has an eight star rank. You must be at minimum HR 41 to take part. The fight involves facing both Balahara and Mizutsune. If you do, you’ll get the materials and ability get the Eager Wudwud α headgear in Monster Hunter Wilds .
This makes it look like that species of Lynian is riding on your head, getting a piggyback ride from your hunter. To craft it, you need one Mizutsune Water Orb, two Balahara Black Pearls, three Hunter Symbol IIIs, and three Wudwud Likey-Likes. There are two variants to craft, with one featuring a plain Wudwud and another with a pair of glasses, scarf, and wig on.
Here are the two screenshots Capcom shared of the cosmetic we can get in the Monster Hunter Wilds "Playing the Long Game" Event Quest:
Images via Capcom
The Wudwuds are Lynians first introduced in this installment. They look a bit like otters and have a village in the Scarlet Forest area.
Monster Hunter Wilds is available for the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC .
The post Wudwud Headgear Available in Monster Hunter Wilds Event Quest appeared first on Siliconera .
Jan 14
No Rest for the Wicked Receives Multiplayer Update Trailer
Moon Studios released a new trailer for its upcoming co-op multiplayer Steam Early Access update for action RPG No Rest for the Wicked . The " No Rest for the Wicked Together" update releases next week on January 22, 2026, with the new trailer showcasing its content. In addition to the co-op combat, it includes weapon updates, shared resources and homesteads, and more, with up to four players able to join together in shared persistent Realms. Those who wish to try the update early can access a public beta test build.
The latest title from the studio behind Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps , No Rest for the Wicked is billed as a visceral, precision action RPG set in an original world. The game takes place on an island called Isola Sacra, which is in turmoil following the passing of King Harol and the emergence of a plague known as the Pestilence. Players control a Cerim, a member of a group of mystical holy warriors sworn to defeat the Pestilence. A full release window has not been announced, with the game also planned to release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
The post No Rest for the Wicked Receives Multiplayer Update Trailer appeared first on RPGamer .
Jan 14
Assetto Corsa EVO’s Eifel Free Roam Goes Live in 2026, Promises “Most Accurate Representation”Players can explore the mountain range in Germany, including "flowing country roads, dense forests, elevation changes," and more.
Jan 11
Review: Cassette Boy Experiments With Perspectives Like Fez
When Polytron Corporation released Fez, we’d never really seen anything like it. A game that uses perspective to solve puzzles and make progress and shifting between 2D and 3D? Later, we’d see Superliminal and Viewfinder play with how we see things changing how the world works. Cassette Boy is a game in that same vein, only blinding The Legend of Zelda style action-RPG elements as we rotate our viewpoint to change the rules of the world. It’s also just as clever as many of these other games I’ve mentioned, and I hope this indie gets the attention it deserves.
Cassette Boy begins with our avatar being addressed by a sparkling entity. It cryptically explains that the moon is gone because our character wasn’t looking at it. This being explains that perspective is everything, and illustrates examples showing that objects, entities, and buttons can disappear if you can’t see them. As such, it’s now up to you to recover the Moon Fragments to restore them to the sky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic71W0L8SMo
While Cassette Boy is a The Legend of Zelda- like in some ways, it really prioritizes puzzles and experimenting with our view of the world in a way I appreciated. After the opening introduction and acquiring a sword, we’re given the ability to use the shoulder buttons to rotate the world. In town, it means getting access to houses where you couldn’t previously see doors. More importantly, it means opportunities to start “hiding” enemies, switches, and blockades to make progress to different areas or turning the world fast enough to cause squares to pop up to provide opportunities to reach higher areas or damage foes. So as some of the earliest examples, there’ll be a situation where you rotate 90 degrees to completely hide a huge slime you couldn’t otherwise defeat at that point to slip past to the next area in a forest. For one boss, you rotate the world 360 degrees as quickly at the switches that will make a piece of ground pop up when the opponent is about to get near to damage it five times to win. You stand on a switch to open a door, then rotate the world to block it so you can then move and safely go through the doorway. In one situation, you move a box to a point where you need to rotate 360 degrees to lift yourself and the box up so you can jump.
Keep in mind, these are the earliest kinds of progression. In a true The Legend of Zelda and even Metroidvania type of fashion, Cassette Boy also eventually encourages returning to past areas or temporarily blocks off access to certain spots by hiding them behind a type of “trick” you haven’t learned yet. So you might see a shrine in the first forest you can’t reach yet or an area of town blocked off, but need to wait until you can see things the right way to get to that new place. These come in the forms of cassettes for the headphones you acquire early on that help you "focus" to change the way you see the world.
Image via Wonderland Kazakiri and Pocketpair
Yes, I mentioned a shrine. Like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom , there are portals to brief shrines in Cassette Boy . If you gain access to one of these optional spots, you’ll be posed with additional logic puzzles. I’ve never seen any combat-related ones in my time with the game. Each one I encountered seemed to build upon my knowledge of my abilities in ways that sometimes challenged me a bit more than the typical puzzles encountered when searching for bosses holding Moon Fragments. Which is good because, while the combat isn’t terrible, it does feel like closer to the earlier The Legend of Zelda NES and Game Boy games. The melee attacks with the sword didn’t have the sort of responsiveness and combos as some contemporaries, and aiming with the bow and arrow can be a pain even after you get used to knowing how long to hold it to shoot it proper distances.
Another thing I appreciate about Cassette Boy is that it is a really minimalistic game. It relies about the same Game Boy style greenscale palette. While there are a few indoor area tile situations where this can be a lot when multiple designs are combined, it generally is really effective and eye-catching, while still making visual distinctions quite clear. Which is important since you do need to be very precise about positioning to solve puzzles. That’s a little frustrating sometimes, especially when it involves ensuring a dangerous enemy is blocked or that a blockade is 100% hidden. But the design philosophy really adds to the experience.
Image via Wonderland Kazakiri and Pocketpair
Likewise, that comes a bit with the script. This is a rather simple game and doesn’t feature a super intense narrative. There are some occasionally clever lines, though! And again, there is a minimalistic approach to it. For example, while there’s not a lot of dialogue for NPCs, we will see reactions to certain events. This happens with our avatar’s neighbor, Nell. Our protagonist themselves will also occasionally think about things happening, and those asides can be entertaining.
Cassette Boy is at its best when challenging you to rethink your perspective to solve puzzles in this The Legend of Zelda and Fez style adventure. There are times when it can really test you and make you think! The minimalistic design direction is also a highlight. However, some combat elements can occasionally feel finicky, especially when the bow is involved. It definitely can be quite clever, and it’s well worth at the very least trying the demo if you also enjoyed games like Fez.
Cassette Boy will come to PCs via Steam on January 15, 2026, and a demo is available. It will also eventually appear on the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X .
The post Review: Cassette Boy Experiments With Perspectives Like Fez appeared first on Siliconera .
Jan 9
Flotsam – ReviewSun, the sea and… More water? Lots of water? Yes, indeed! Because that is what Flotsam is all about. This latest city-builder game was developed by Pajama Llama Games and published by Stray Fawn Publishing. It takes place on the open ocean, which covers most of the world. In this review, we will take a deep dive and see for ourselves if this game floats above or below our expectations. Story The world has flooded almost entirely, and you have a ship. That is the beginning premise of Flotsam. Along with a few survivors, you try to make the best of it and set sail onwards to gather resources and build yourselves a new place to call home, afloat the wide blue ocean. As you go on, you will learn and find new methods to create a better place, as well as find other stragglers who will help you in achieving this. Aside from that, there isn’t too much of a story as it’s mainly there to set the scene for the building sim that you are going to play. Of course, your crew has some ‘backstory’ shown by what their jobs were before the flood and after, but this is more to showcase which tasks they prefer doing over others. Graphics The graphics of Flotsam are simply gorgeous. The style used here for buildings and items features these thick comic book-styled outlines, which contrast nicely against the blue ocean that will take up most of your screen more than half of the time. While the water itself takes a slightly more realistic look, everything else looks surrealistic and cartoon-like. This, paired with the simple yet vibrant colors of the structures and your ship, makes for a pleasant experience on the eyes without straining them too much during gameplay. Aside from the buildings and such, the menus you interact with try to maintain that same cartoon style, while managing to stay readable and clear, so nothing looks off or hard to find. If not for words, many icons indicate what each button does, making it easy and accessible to most. One thing we initially struggled with was understanding that some of the resources appeared very similar, yet a slight change to the icon indicated that they were different. Wet wood has the same icon as regular wood, but with a water droplet on it. Sound Flotsam’s music featured in this game is clearly trying its best to create a serene and pleasant experience for the player by making sure it’s not the focus point. The theme of this game can be described as a typical harbor tune, mixed with the cartoon style it seems to go for. During gameplay, the music plays calmly in the background but can be turned off if one wishes to do so. When we experienced the game, however, it felt like a nice background theme that didn’t distract us from achieving our next goals. Aside from the music, there are, of course, nature sounds that play during your time at the sea. You hear the waves, the wind, and seagulls, and it sets the mood just right and can be quite enjoyable if this is a setting you like to be around in. Of course, your crew also talks, in a funny gibberish that isn’t exactly meant to be understood. Gameplay As mentioned in our introduction, Flotsam is essentially a building sim. Except this time it is on water instead of the usual forest or city setting. This is exactly what sets the game apart from others, as resource gathering is done differently than anywhere else. Due to everything being flooded, the player’s crew is meant to dive for driftwood, plastic, and scout nearby land for whatever they can manage to repurpose. The more crew you get, the faster they can gather and utilize the found loot. It is essentially a sort of chain reaction of getting resources, getting more crew members, getting more resources, and so on. After you are done gathering items in one area, the player can open their map and sail further in the world to find new things. These are indicated by floating objects on the map, so nobody needs to endlessly sail without knowing where to go. The controls aren’t too difficult to get used to. Players who are familiar with games such as The Sims will find themselves in a similar setting as to how to control their camera, fast-forwarding, or freezing time in-game. Finally, the building of structures can be expanded by learning more skills. This is a linear grid that requires certain conditions to be met to learn these and progress the possibilities on your float. This means there is still enough to strive towards. Conclusion A refreshing and new take on an already known concept, Flotsam stands out by being new yet familiar. A relaxing building sim that sets goals to achieve without the pressure of doing them in a certain timeframe, paired with relaxing nature sounds and a funny art style, this game really delivers a pleasant gaming experience for all types of gamers alike.
Jan 9
Dragon Khan Demo Released
Developer Evolution Game Studio released a demo for its third-person fantasy action RPG Dragon Khan . The demo is available for PC via Steam and contains around one hour of gameplay from one of the game's early regions. The full game is in development for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Dragon Khan puts players in the role of Botu, a dragon-human hybrid whose mixed blood has rendered him an outcast within the world of Ithannar, which is created and governed by dragons. After the ruler of the forest domain disappears and the domain is invaded, Botu sets out to uncover who is responsible. Botu is able to use hand-to-hand combat techniques modelled on real-world martial arts in addition to his powerful claws, bite, and tail, as well as latent magical power.
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The post Dragon Khan Demo Released appeared first on RPGamer .
Jan 8
New Mario Tennis Fever Trailer Highlights The Biggest Roster Of Playable Characters In Series History
Nintendo revealed Mario Tennis Fever, a Switch 2 exclusive, during a Direct that aired last September. Now, with roughly a month to go until the game's February 12 release date , the company has released a new overview trailer highlighting nearly 6 minutes of gameplay, including a look at the series' largest roster of playable characters. That's because Mario Tennis Fever features 38 different characters, ranging from fan-favorites like Mario and Luigi to more mischievous players like Dry Bones and Baby Waluigi. Alongside those 38 characters, Mario Tennis Fever features 30 Fever Rackets, which are all-new to the series and allow you to equip your character with unique abilities. The Ice Racket, for example, turns parts of the court into a slippery tundra, while the Mini Mushroom Racket shrinks your opponent to bite size.
"Just fill up your Fever Gauge to unleash a Fever Shot," a press release reads. "And if you're on the receiving end of one, don't worry – you can try and send it back at your opponent before the shot hits the court, so they feel the effects instead." That's an especially useful skill to learn when up against rackets like the Shadow Racket, which causes the receiving player to see double as it duplicates the player using the racket. Check all this out and more in the Mario Tennis Fever overview trailer for yourself below: Mario Tennis Fever will feature a single-player Adventure Mode, a campaign in which mysterious monsters turn Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Wario, and Waluigi into babies, forcing them to re-master their tennis skills and overcome challenges to return to normal. Elsewhere in the game, the Trial Towers mode forces players to take on a series of challenges as they climb their way to the top of a tower, and Mix It Up mode allows you to play matches with unconventional rules, like Ring Shot, where you have to hit balls with precision through rings to earn points and Forest Court Match, where you can expand the court's size by feeding Piranha Plants tennis balls. Returning modes include Tournament, with play-by-play commentary from Super Mario Bros. Wonder's Talking Flower, and online modes like Online Room for casual play with customizable rules and Ranked Matches, where you can play against players around the world. There's even a Swing Mode where you gently swing your Joy-Con 2 controller to hit different kinds of shots. Mario Tennis Fever launches exclusively on Switch 2 on February 12. For more, check out the Mario Tennis Fever reveal trailer , and then read Game Informer's Mario Tennis Aces review .
Jan 8
Halloween 1985 – Review“Wait a minute!”, you say as you read the title of this review. “It’s neither Halloween nor 1985! This seems like an inappropriate game to review in early January! What gives?”. Well, dear reader, we’re going to make a bold claim here: forget Christmas or Easter, the Spooky Season is the best season! Officially, we’re filing this one as our first backlog review of 2026, but unofficially, we’re simply hopeful that Halloween 1985 can prove that it can be Halloween year-round. Story In true retro arcade fashion, Halloween 1985 adopts a “show, don’t tell” approach to set up its simple story. A short opening cutscene shows a group of halloween monsters, led by a vampire, walk up to a little pumpkin shop. They ransack it, stealing all the pumpkins and leaving the shop in a terrible state. The shop’s owner, the pumpkin-headed Pumpk-man, returns to see his livelihood destroyed. He sets out to reclaim his beloved pumpkins and to take revenge on the monsters. Little does he know who really is the mastermind behind this act of grand pumpkin larceny… but he’ll soon find out! There is a beauty to the simplicity and straightforwardness of Halloween 1985’s premise. The game gets the story out of the way quickly and mostly focuses on its arcade-style gameplay, but the clear and concise manner with which it ties everything together does just enough to frame the action. Graphics The monsters that make up Halloween 1985’s cast ooze personality but lack an identity of their own. That may sound like a contradiction at first, but try to picture a generic cartoon witch and what you’ll end up with in your mind will look strikingly close to the Witch here. The Vampire is a legally distinct generic vampire, and not Dracula either. The generic monsters make the instantly readable, but also instantly forgettable once you put down your controller. Despite this, the character sprites are as charming as it gets, just like the more detailed designs in the optional frame that you can use to fill up the black borders around the game’s 4:3 aspect ratio. To complete the retro look, there’s an optional CRT filter as well. The game’s visual simplicity results in a buttery smooth performance, with short load times and no issues. Sound Each of Halloween 1985’s monsters has its own theme music that plays as Pumpk-man invades their living space -rightfully so, we might add. The game’s soundtrack appropriately consists of 8-bit style chiptune music. This is further supplemented by simple but effective sound effects. There is no voice acting here, but this isn’t something we’d have expected either. Gameplay So far, we’ve covered the “Halloween” part of the game’s title, but what about the “1985” part? Well, that’s where the gameplay comes in. Admittedly, we weren’t around during the Golden Age of arcade games, as we weren’t even born yet in 1985. However, through a combination of pop culture osmosis and playing games with a similar vibe on our original Game Boy, we can tell you that Halloween 1985 nails the retro arcade feeling… or at least the image we’ve been cultivating in our head for 30 years. What you’re getting here is a platformer where every level is contained on a single screen. Taking control of Pumpk-man, you need to collect every pumpkin, while avoiding enemies, traps and obstacles themed to the stage boss. Unfortunately, our hero is woefully underpowered. He’s only armed with a very tight control scheme, allowing you to jump and move, but no way to fight back… at least not directly. Indirectly though, each of the game’s six themed stages offers a way to deal with the stage boss. The game makes a point of telling you how to beat a boss before you start a level, although most of these ways are intuitive if you have basic knowledge of the monsters you’re dealing with. Opening window shutters to let in light defeats the Vampire, for example, and triggering a comedically oversized boxing glove proves to be an effective way to punch the evil Clown in the face. That said, we always thought that the only way to stop a Werewolf was a silver bullet, not poorly isolated electrical wiring. Shows what we know. Beating a stage boss is entirely optional, but it does give you a huge score boost. That inevitably brings us to why you’d play Halloween 1985. As a retro arcade game, the entire point is to get the highest possible number on the game’s built-in leaderboard, which, sadly, isn’t online but local only. Sure, the game may take you through six distinctly themed stages -the Vampire’s mansion, Werewolf’s mine, Mummy’s pyramid, Clown’s Circus, Witch’s forest and finally Inferno, where you face off against the Devil himself- but with only 150 seconds to clear a stage, this isn’t exactly a long game, clocking in at around 15 minutes to beat. That inherent shortness isn’t a flaw though- it’s the entire point of this kind of game. Beyond the standard beginner mode, Halloween 1985 offers unlockable expert (2 rounds per level) and speed run modes, further encouraging you to chase that high score. This fits in with the philosophy of real-world arcade games, which were designed to be short and sweet and to earn as many coins as possible. Fortunately, that isn’t the case here, and you’ll only need to pay €4.99 once. As a result, Halloween 1985 is the perfect palette cleanser in between bigger games, although we found that the 15-minute runtime suddenly turned into hours as we kept trying to beat our own high score. Conclusion We were more than pleasantly surprised by Halloween 1985, and not just because of its spooky setting. The gameplay transported us back to a simpler time, when games like Boulder Dash or Hyper Lode Runner ruled the roost. Whether you’re an arcade aficionado looking to relive the golden days or if you’re simply looking for a good “in-between” title, look no further than Pumpk-man and his quest for pumpkin justice.
Jan 8
Sentenced to Be a Hero Animation Studio Has Also Made These 5 Underrated Classics
Sentenced to Be a Hero, a new anime that started airing on January 3, 2026, earned an overwhelmingly positive response. The first episode, Punishment: Kuvunji Forest Withdrawal Support, has been rated 9.4 on IMDb. As it turns out, this is not the only masterpiece created by Studio KAI. Following is the list of the top […]
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Jan 6
The ForestAs the lone survivor of a passenger jet crash, you find yourself in a mysterious forest battling to stay alive against a society of cannibalistic mutants. Build, explore, survive in this terrifying first person survival horror simulator.
