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Get a sneak peek at the most anticipated games of the year. From action-packed adventures to mind-bending puzzles, we've got something for everyone. Stay ahead of the game with our exclusive previews!

Everything We Know About Dominion, The Late-Game City Of Borderlands 4's Antagonist Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Gearbox Software Release: September 12, 2025 ( PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC ), 2025 ( Switch 2 ) Borderlands 4 features a seamless open world , but your journey seems to culminate in an assault on the Timekeeper's stronghold city, Dominion. Though not much is known about the densest environment in Borderlands' history, Gearbox gave me a guided tour of the city. While I can't share everything I saw and heard, here is everything I can say about this late-game zone. In contrast to much of the rest of Borderlands 4's open world , you don't get access to Dominion until later in the game when you are on your march to confront the Timekeeper . Using an event that occurs on Pandora's moon, Elpis , which is now in the orbit of Kairos, the Vault Hunters can enter Dominion with the hopes of facing off against the Timekeeper. Once inside the walls of Dominion, things aren't as orderly as the Timekeeper's obsession would lead you to believe. The various Borderlands 4 factions are at each other's throats within the city limits, and, without spoiling anything, the city isn't quite what I expected coming in; the Timekeeper values order at any cost, but the city in which he bases his operations feels oddly chaotic. As I watch creative director Graeme Timmins give me a tour, the Timekeeper taunts his Vault Hunter in their ear. And despite the Vault Hunters knocking on the door, he's keeping his composure. "Even though we're breaking in, really trying to get to the Timekeeper, he's still in his element," senior project producer Anthony Nicholson says. "He's still very calm and sure of his plan and what he has in store." But even if playing solo, the Vault Hunter storming Dominion won't be alone. "Obviously, you make a lot of friends along your way, and they're all going to help and contribute to your time here in the city," Timmins says. Throughout the game, players can see Dominion in the distance, similar to how Hyrule Castle is always visible to players in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It's intentionally placed so that players are aware of the goal, and it remains front-of-mind. "As you're starting your journey in Fadefields, you'll see that tower in the distance," global creative executive and former Game Informer editor-in-chief Andrew Reiner says. "That's actually there. That's not a skybox. It's not in the background. [You] can fly out of here, back to the starting point of the game. That content is always there." Dominion serves as the home of Borderlands 4's main antagonist, the Timekeeper The design of Dominion appropriately feels like the culmination of the game, as each zone you visited in the rest of the game has a dedicated biome within the city limits. Additionally, the city is extremely dense and vertically oriented, with numerous places to climb and explore. "As you move throughout the missions and go through each of these different districts, you get more of the story that's evolving and unfolding," Nicholson says. Timmins and Nicholson share additional details, both about Dominion and the Timekeeper, which I won't disclose in the interest of maintaining surprises. However, Timmins is excited for players to explore this area. "There are a lot of important story moments that happen here in the city," he says. "It is a whole 'nother zone's worth of content. It's also the most content-packed. Being the city, we prioritized really making it feel like an urban sprawl. We slammed together lots of locations that are stacked on top of each other." The main story will give you a tour of the various districts within Dominion, which, like Borderlands 4's open world, can be explored seamlessly. But players can go off the beaten path to experience additional content. "There's tons more side-missions that are located here as well," Timmins says. "Actually, some of my personal favorite side-missions happen to be in the city. And they're pretty lengthy, too. Some of the side-missions in Dominion, in particular, have a lot of chained missions that you end up spending a lot of time with some of these NPCs, and some of the relationships you actually make in the side-missions in the city, in particular – or at least for me – stand out as some of the more interesting ones.” There were plenty of more details to cover surrounding Dominion, but I withheld them from this story for the sake of avoiding spoilers. Suffice it to say, the environmental storytelling will shatter some of your preconceived notions you may have had coming into Dominion for the first time. If you're itching to storm Dominion and take down the Timekeeper, you don't have much longer to wait, as Borderlands 4 arrives on September 12. For more on Borderlands 4, head to our magazine hub for the vast array of exclusive content.

Game Informer PreviewsJul 11

Ghost Of Yōtei Has New Director Modes Inspired By Miike And Watanabe And Lots, Lots More Developer Sucker Punch Productions’ Nate Fox and Jason Connell, co-directors of Ghost of Yōtei, appeared in voice today for an 18-minute presentation detailing a bit of the game’s story and new features ahead of its release on PlayStation 5 on October 2. In Ghost of Yōtei, players control Atsu, who the citizens of Ezo (which contains Mount Yōtei) seee as the Onryō, a ghost hellbent on revenge. The rumors circulating around her are not entirely untrue, as she is out for revenge and will stop at nothing to achieve it. Atsu’s family was slaughtered by the Yōtei Six, a group that she has sworn to kill one by one. After her family is killed, Atsu left Ezo, but has returned 16 years later fully prepared to act out her plan of vengeance.   The showcase for the game shows that, when returning to Atsu's childhood home, players can push a button to instantly travel back in time to when Atsu was a child to gain a better understanding of her past and her family. It's unclear where this ability is limited to, but the technology looks impressive. As players explore the world and get into trouble, they will collect cards that represent clues and potential locations to explore. When you interrogate a character after defeating them, you will apparently get a choice of cards. Some cards will push you towards interesting places with upgrades. Others will show you where to get into fights. The card system is how you will keep track of various missions. Also, as you fight on your path to take down the Yōtei Six, your reputation will grow, as will your bounty, making Atsu more susceptible to random passerby trying to start trouble. Atsu can also chase bounties herself, which will be part of the card collection system. In terms of exploration, Sucker Punch showed Atsu sliding down a hill, a new ability, and finding an Altar of Reflection, which gives her access to new abilities. You can buy maps to important locations from cartographers, but taking some inspiration from Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Atsu can also look through a spyglass in the distance and mark interesting locations players want to explore without ever entering a menu. As was the case in Tsushima, the wind will guide you to your new destination, but Fox and Connell point out that you can now guide your horse through paths of flowers to ride faster. Fox and Connell also made frequent points that the game is designed to be taken at whatever pace players want. Along with story missions and exploration, Atsu was briefly shown playing a game with coins sliding across a table and cutting down bamboo, just as Jin Sakai did in Ghost of Tsushima. When you’re not riding your horse and playing games, Atsu gets into fights and uses a broader range of weapons than Jin. She can use a katana, kusarigama, ōdachi, dual swords, or spear. She also has access to bows and arrows, muskets, kunai, bombs, and blinding powder. Her arsenal is deep. In one sequence shown, Atsu grabbed an enemy from a distance using a kusarigama to pull them close and kill them. Then she threw a spear at an enemy from a distance before closing in with dual swords to the rest of the group. She has no qualms with using whatever is necessary to win a fight. We also saw a stealth sequence where Atsu took out a collection of three enemies at high speed without alerting anyone, much like Batman was able to do in Arkham Knight. Weapons can be changed mid-combat, and it will apparently be necessary for each fight to move between weapons. We also learned at least a little more about animal companions. Atsu has a wolf with her, or can choose to have a wolf with her, and we saw a scene where the wolf helped her take down an enemy very quickly. In the open world, Atsu can set up camps to rest and cook food, but it will also make various characters and peddlers show up. The implication from the presentation is Atsu can set up camp and invite specific peddlers to join her where she can buy various tools, weapons, clothes. Sucker Punch showed off tons of various clothes options and combinations. These various character-based shops will let you know when they have new inventory. Two music tracks from the game from composer Toma Otowa are apparently immediately available on various streaming services. The soundtrack is using Eastern instrumentation with Western flavors to hopefully craft something unique and authentic. The game, at launch, will be playable in Japanese with English subtitles, and Sucker Punch has once again partnered with famed Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa’s estate for Kurosawa mode. This mode allows you to play the game in black and white, adds film grain and audio effects and more. But Kurosawa isn’t the only director Sucker Punch is working with. Miike mode, inspired by director Takashi Miike (13 Assassins, Ichi the Killer), zooms the camera in closer and adds more blood and mud. Watanabe mode, inspired by director Shin'ichirô Watanabe (Samaurai Champloo, Cowboy Bobop) lets players explore while listening to lo-fi beats that have been curated by Watanabe. Photo mode is also making a return, which is good news as it produced some of the most impressive photo mode images of the previous generation of consoles. One photo during the segment showed Atsu with a bear. Maybe it’s another friendly animal partner? Ghost of Yōtei is coming to PlayStation 5 on October 2. So far? It looks fantastic.

Game Informer PreviewsJul 10

Mycopunk Early Access Preview—Mushroom ManiaWhile Mycopunk is certainly geared towards multiplayer, I was consistently impressed by how well the game works as a single-player experience.

Previews – CGMagazineJul 10

Going Hands-On With Of Ash And Steel—Twisted MetalI was immediately intrigued by Of Ash and Steel when I saw it, specifically because of how ambitious it looked for an indie project. For what appears to be the first game by developer Fire & Frost, its size and scope as an action RPG seemed pretty impressive, and I’m always on board with indie […]

Previews – CGMagazineJul 10

Borderlands 4: Pandora's Moon Elpis Plays A Bigger Role Than You Think Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Gearbox Software Release: September 12, 2025 ( PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC ), 2025 ( Switch 2 ) We've already extensively covered the events of the end of Borderlands 3, where Lilith teleported Pandora's moon, Elpis, to another part of space, but in the process, smashed it into the veiled planet Kairos, disrupting the order the Timekeeper tried to force upon the population. But in my discussions with the Gearbox team, I learned that Elpis plays a more significant role than just catalyzing the story and being an object players can sometimes see in the sky. At the start of Borderlands 4, Elpis crashes an area of Kairos known as Carcadia Burn, decimating the region and transforming it into a wasteland biome. The series' iconic Psycho masks rain down, and one of the Timekeeper's underlings, Callis, picks one up. To her, the mask symbolizes rebellion and it sparks something in her, and in her moment of clarity, she rips out the Command Bolt that the planet's dictator installed in her, reinstating her free will. She encourages others to do the same, and she becomes known as the Ripper Queen. Though Pandora's old moon inspired this open act of rebellion and the founding of the Ripper faction, perhaps most significantly, Elpis connects the brand-new planet of Kairos to the series' most prominent setting, Pandora, and thus, links the series' latest story to its past. "Elpis represents a very real link to the previous games and the history," creative director Graeme Timmins says. "From that perspective, it puts it in, like, 'Yup, you're still in Borderlands! That moon that you've seen on Pandora that is always there, [no matter] our time of day – which doesn't make the most perfect scientific sense – that's here!'" With Borderlands 4, Gearbox wanted to establish a new planet in the same way it did with Pandora over the first several games in the franchise. And as you move through regions like the Ripper-controlled Carcadia Burn, you'll encounter enemies wearing the Psycho masks that fell from Elpis when it ripped apart Kairos' veil upon impact. "We wanted to go back to really focusing on a single planet and establishing its history and its lore," Timmins says. "But, we love the Psycho enemies, we love all the history, and so Elpis was that tool to create that connection of like, 'Elpis showed up, so we now have a convenient vessel to bring Psycho masks and rain them down onto the populace.' There are a lot of convenient things for us to do it this way as well, so we can still keep those identifiable enemies and character designs from the previous games and bring them into this whole new world that would have been hidden away from human civilization in any significant way for thousands of years." However, there's much more to Elpis than just serving as an anchor to the series' past. In fact, its presence poses various questions to players as they embark on their Kairos adventure. "We know Lilith took that from Pandora and brought it here, of all places in the universe; why would Lilith [teleport] a moon to this hidden planet?" Timmins says. "What about this place matters to either Elpis or Lilith? Who knows?" As players move through the world and the story of Borderlands 4, Elpis remains in the skybox, constantly reminding them of its presence. Additionally, the moon will change over the course of the game, coming apart and spreading more and more, serving as a visual marker of your progression. But it's not just something you observe from a distance. Though Gearbox remains tight-lipped on the details surrounding the circumstances, players actually go up to Elpis to wrap up one of the story's threads. Although Kairos is a completely new planet, Borderlands 4 should serve as a jumping-on point for new fans, while longtime players will reap the rewards of understanding the histories of NPCs and various references to the Pandora past. Borderlands 4 arrives on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on September 12. A Switch 2 version will come at a later date.

Game Informer PreviewsJul 9

Edge Of Eternities Is Taking Magic: The Gathering To The Stars In StyleOn the Edge of glory The post Edge Of Eternities Is Taking Magic: The Gathering To The Stars In Style appeared first on WellPlayed .

Preview – WellPlayedJul 8

End of Abyss Turns Survival Horror Into a Top-Down Nightmare—and I Am Here for ItBlending Metroidvania structure with survival horror dread, End of Abyss is a terrifying journey into isolation and discovery.

Previews – CGMagazineJul 8

Borderlands 4 Creative Director Discusses Designing The 'Very Ambitious' Endgame Content Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Gearbox Software Release: September 12, 2025 ( PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC ), 2025 ( Switch 2 ) Up to this point, the coverage we've provided for Borderlands 4 has focused on the world , core gameplay , and story . But longtime fans of the Borderlands franchise know the game doesn't necessarily end when the credits roll. During our recent trip to Gearbox, we asked creative director Graeme Timmins to share all he could about the Borderlands 4 endgame. Clearly, the studio wants to keep most of the details under wraps, as when I ask Timmins about the kind of endgame that exists in Borderlands 4, he initially starts with, "We will have an endgame; I can say that." However, after Gearbox global creative executive and former Game Informer editor-in-chief Andrew Reiner chimes in by saying, "It's very ambitious," Timmins opens up a bit more. "I care about it a lot personally, as my role on Borderlands 3 was curating what became the endgame for that," Timmins says. "I know what's important to our community, and that's built already into the game. Like, we made purposeful decisions with our Action Skill tree, assuming what will come in the future with our endgame. It's not a secret that we always eventually do level-cap increases, right? That's built into the high-level design of saying, 'Okay, if that's going to still be in our future, how can we make our Action Skill tree this time anticipate that and be balanced from the jump?'" The team drew lessons from past games, including the most recent entries in the series, in designing Borderlands 4's endgame. "In Borderlands 3, we ended at 72 skill points," Timmins says. "It's a really high number, right? And so, for the game designer in me, that can create a lot of chaos with how those Action Skills were designed. You lose build diversity as you add more skill points because everyone's homogeneous, because they all have the same skills ultimately unlocked. We've thought about [Borderlands 4's] endgame from the jump, and we have some great plans for it that we're going to share, but I think we're taking a lot of the lessons from both [Tiny Tina's] Wonderlands and Borderlands to make sure that we execute the best version of the endgame yet for Borderlands." Presumably, we'll learn more about the Borderlands 4 endgame before it arrives on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on September 12.

Game Informer PreviewsJul 7

Moses & Plato: Last Train to Clawville previewIf someone were to ask you, what are some of the greatest mystery stories in the world, how would you answer? What if they asked you, “What are some of the greatest detective stories of all time?” Some would say Sherlock Holmes, while others would say The Maltese Falcon. In the world, there are a […] Source

Previews – Niche GamerJul 7

Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School Preview: An Entire World of Puzzles & MysteryEscape Academy 2: Back to School brings puzzles to the campus in a whole new way, with a brand-new open world and more.

Previews – CGMagazineJul 5