New Game Preview

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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!

ARC Raiders Impressions: The Most-Promising Extraction Shooter I've Played Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Embark Studios Developer: Embark Studios Release: 2025 ARC Raiders, the upcoming extraction shooter from developer Embark Studios, has blown me away with its level design, world-building, and tense, often white-knuckle combat encounters with players and enemy AI alike. The up-and-coming studio’s veteran team proved its mastery of multiplayer design with the release of The Finals, a first-person shooter I praised for bucking trends. After playing ARC during a recent three-day press event, the sophomore release seemingly follows suit. While extraction shooters have cultivated engaged fans since emerging in the late 2010s with releases like Hunt: Showdown and The Division’s PvPvE Dark Zone, the genre has yet to gain a foothold with mainstream audiences. However, the genre is ripe for mainstream attention with Escape From Tarkov’s upcoming Steam 1.0 release and Bungie’s Marathon just around the corner. ARC Raiders – Tech Test 2 Trailer: Embark has crafted an intriguing retro-futuristic setting, bucking the subgenre's typically muted aesthetics while producing ample hostility and hard-earned escapes that make extraction shooters so sticky. Old-world architecture grounds the firefights erupting within, and an armory of futuristic gadgetry adds playfulness, contrasting otherwise daunting missions. Ziplines, door blockers, mobile barricades, odd grenade types, and traps complement satisfying rail weapons and shoddily crafted, bygone arms. ARC’s third-person perspective sets it apart from most extraction shooters, but it still maintains a similarly harsh ruleset. Before selecting a map to explore, players kit their character with as little or as much gear as they like (a terribly-basic loadout is freely available), with the acknowledgement that they’ll lose almost all of it in the event of death, save for any precious items stowed away in an included Safe Pouch. Long-term progression relates to homebase upgrades that house helpful crafting recipes for new weapons, healing items, gadgets, and beneficial augments like increased carrying capacity and the option to equip high-tier shields. Additionally, vendors frequently offer missions to collect specific items (essentially, a shopping list) in exchange for new gear, resources, or experience points to invest in a sizable skill tree — the latter is a welcome addition to the niche design formula. Every match demands careful decisions; your risk threshold likely changes based on the loot you’ve acquired. It’s increasingly more difficult to extract later because exits expire at various frequencies as the match progresses. Some players may retreat five minutes into a run if they nab something desirable, while others may max out their backpack space until the 30-minute time limit runs out. Regardless, other players may have a similar plan, so it’s crucial to consider ambushes in offensive or defensive planning. Embark’s mastery of various game art disciplines is on full display in ARC Raiders, with beautifully rendered environments that are rewarding to explore. The Dam features dark hallways beneath its surface, ripe with rollerbots that swarm if the security system detects suspicious movement or noise. The environment features a mixture of dry, desert-like red rock and wetland isles below the towering walls of the dam. Elsewhere, derelict conservatories house abundant loot (and risk) due to their central location. Another level, Spaceport, features incredible science fiction imagery. The broken chassis of building-sized spiderbots lay in ruin, as an attractive looting area or a critical path to scramble up otherwise difficult-to-climb perimeter walls. Weather systems, time of day, and other modifiers change the conditions of its maps, and even enemy spawns and pathing behaviors. A giant, crab-like robot called a Bastion patrols a garage in the Abandoned City by day. However, it’s seemingly elsewhere during the night. While exploring what we thought was an empty location, a hostile player squad ambushed my teammates and me in the moonlight, giving way to a gripping chase reminiscent of my favorite action thrillers. ARC’s visual and sound effects help to realize its aesthetic while distinguishing important actions, which is critical to signaling feedback to attentive raiders. Players emit a flair when knocked down, signaling their general whereabouts to friendlies and enemies alike. Sparks fly as weapons pepper characters with bullets, adding a satisfying effect whenever you successfully land a shot. Each weapon I used distinguished itself with various reload times and fire rates, but the sound design does a lot of heavy lifting. Lower-tier rifles feel cheap due to the bell-like plinks accompanying their bullets, subtly conveying the instrument’s lack of effectiveness, as if the projectiles are ricocheting off the material rather than piercing it. Lastly, the artificial intelligence powering enemies facilitates hairy field scenarios. Even basic enemies possess overwhelming power in numbers thanks to the excellent logic dictating their behavior. It often feels like you’ve barely scraped by, making almost every combat scenario significant, especially when other raiders might be lingering nearby. Harsh consequences make extraction shooters satisfying to master, but they’re also the greatest hurdle for new players. Time will tell if ARC Raiders can penetrate the mainstream, but Embark appears to be making meaningful progress in a niche ready for more attention.

Game Informer PreviewsMay 2

Rematch Preview – Kick, Pass, It’s All In The MindPossession is everything The post Rematch Preview – Kick, Pass, It’s All In The Mind appeared first on WellPlayed .

Preview – WellPlayedMay 2

Borderlands 4 Deep Dive Details New Vault Hunters, Open-World Changes, Loot Shakeups, and More Gearbox Software gave us our first big deep dive into Borderlands 4 courtesy of its own dedicated PlayStation State of Play. The 20-minute presentation revealed two of the game’s four new vault hunters, broke down its new loot and progression systems, and new streamlined approaches to co-op. The State of Play introduced us to Vault Hunters: Vex the Siren and Rafa the Exo-Soldier. Vex is a winged mercenary capable of conjuring ghost-like minions to fight alongside her while empowering her own abilities. Rafa is a former Tediore soldier proficient in a variety of firearms. Vault Hunters are accompanied by Echo 4, a new robotic companion that guides players toward objectives, can hack terminals and machines, and scan the environment to find useful objects. Confirmed returning characters include Claptrap, Moxxi, Lilith, and Borderlands 3’s Vault Hunters Zane and Amara. The game’s setting of Kairo is a new planet boasting four distinct biomes players can travel between seamlessly. This world had been kept hidden for thousands of years by its ruler and the game’s antagonist, the Timekeeper. This dictator rules his citizens by implanting them cybernetic parts called Bolts and polices Kairos using his own personal army of synthetic soldiers called The Order. Regarding the series’ signature comedic tone, Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford noted that Borderlands 4 will return to “a more grounded tone” reminiscent of the first two games. Taking a page from live service titles like Destiny, the open world features dynamic weather and events, such as world bosses and border patrols. Players can even spawn their own speeder bike-like vehicle (which can be customized) to cruise across the terrain quickly. Speaking of getting around, new traversal abilities include Glide, which allows players to float through the air to cover long distances. Characters also sport a wrist-mounted grapple hook to quickly scale vertical platforms. Each Vault Hunter sports three Action Skills, class-specific abilities. Each Action Skill has its own skill tree and can be further bolstered by augments and capstones to change or improve its properties. Vault Hunters also sport passive abilities called Traits. Borderlands is all about loot, and the fourth entry features weapons from eight manufacturers, three new to the series: Jakobs, Maliwan, Vladof, Tediore, Torque, and the newly added Order, Ripper, and Daedalus. Each brand sports various perks and traits, and a new Licensed Parts system combines various abilities from multiple manufacturers into a single weapon. Enhancements replace Artifacts and act as gear slots to augment weapons based on the manufacturer. An example would be an Enhancement that deals extra firepower for using a Tediore gun. Grenades and heavy weapons like rocket launchers no longer take up slots in your gun rotation. Instead, they occupy a new shared slot called Ordnance and now operate on a recharging cooldown meter. This means you can use these more explosive weapons continuously in any encounter. Overall, Gearbox is responding to player feedback by overhauling loot drop rates to ensure rarities matter again. To that end, it states Legendaries now drop far less frequently than in Borderlands 3 to ensure they feel special again. The ability to replay entire missions and boss fights has also been added, meaning players can easily re-run bosses without reloading saves. Fight For Your Life returns as the last-chance opportunity to save yourself when downed. However, a new piece of gear called Rep Kit lets players heal themselves or activate temporary buffs to raise their odds during firefights. The four-player online multiplayer has been simplified with an improved lobby system for easier matchmaking. Co-op players can also set their difficulty individually without affecting everyone else, meaning one player can play using an easier setting while another plays on a more challenging mode. Loot is also instanced for each player, meaning no one misses out on any drops. Borderlands 4 also features two-player local splitscreen. Borderlands 4 is getting its first hands-on event sometime in June (possibly during Summer Games Fest) and launches on September 12 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The game will also be coming to Switch 2 later this year.

Game Informer PreviewsApr 30

Marathon Hands-On Preview — A Day In The Life Of A Corpo ReclaimerI can safely say that this latest Marathon reboot has the potential to be among the best of the genre.

Previews – CGMagazineApr 29

ARC Raiders Hands-On Preview: Come For The Violence, Stay For The RoosterARC Raiders is shaping up to be a top-tier third-person sci-fi adventure — and one of the most distinctive extraction shooters to date.

Previews – CGMagazineApr 29

Going Hands-On With Mycopunk—Grunge WorkMycopunk is an upcoming co-op shooter from Pigeons at Play and Devolver Digital that is as fun and chaotic as it is strategic!

Previews – CGMagazineApr 28

Towerborne Preview - From Tactics To Brawling – The Banner Saga Developers’ Big Multiplayer Swing Platform: Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Xbox Game Studios Developer: Stoic Rating: Teen Banner Saga and its sequels won plenty of praise from both critics and tactics fans for its deep and thoughtful take on challenging battles set against an inspiration of Norse mythology. After completing the trilogy, the teams newest game feels like a dramatic departure – a bright and inviting multiplayer brawler focused on loot and fast, compelling action. Ahead of the game’s release on Xbox Game Preview (via Game Pass) on April 29 and as the PC early access title continues to evolve, we had a chance to ask development team members about the project and what makes it distinct. GI: Towerborne feels like a big departure from the team’s work on Banner Saga. Even so, were there any big carry-over elements or learnings from the team’s prior projects that helped inform Towerborne? John Watson, CTO & Co-Founder of Stoic: There certainly are some differences between Towerborne and Banner Saga. Banner Saga was driven by the story with the tactical combat mechanics supporting and providing weight and atmosphere. The combat mechanics of Banner Saga were tightly constrained, with small numeric ranges, relatively similar battlefield sizes and opportunities for mobility, and rare loot drops of substantial importance. Towerborne, on the other hand, is driven by its gameplay mechanics and revolves around combat: the action combat skills you develop as a player, the huge amount of variety in combat tactics, the vastly flexible RPG progression system, and of course the great wealth of loot to support and fuel it. The story and lore of the Towerborne world is rich and deep, but unlike Banner Saga it plays a supporting role instead of driving the player's experience. The Towerborne world is much more approachable and hopeful than the dark and serious world of Banner Saga. One of the biggest carry-overs from our experience with Banner Saga is the desire to engage with our community and participate with them in a living game. One year into the development of Banner Saga, we released Banner Saga Factions, which was a free online version of the game which focused entirely on multiplayer combat. This allowed us to test, tune, and iterate on the combat in real time with our community. The experience was incredibly positive and many of the people who joined us for that are still with us today. Towerborne allows us to do that again, but on a bigger scale. GI: Towerborne has an appealing and approachable art style with some familiar fantasy trappings. Can you share some perspective on the art direction of the game? Arnie Jorgensen, Chief Creative Officer & Co-founder of Stoic: We started with the idea that the player is playing an animated film, something Ghibli’esque. I say “esque” because we were never trying to do something like an anime exactly, we just used it as inspiration to get going. We initially planned on the game being fully 2D, similar to Banner Saga, but eventually to make the gameplay what we think it needed to be we pivoted to 3D and I think that move also shifted us away a little from the initial inspiration. Once we started bringing on more artists and the Lead Concept Artist, Jeff Murchie, the game really started taking on its own artistic identity and it’s been growing ever since. My job has largely been to simply make sure we’re staying within the large bounds of what we initially envisioned and it’s been fascinating and rewarding for me to see it grow into what it is today - the team really killed it I think, all props to them and our amazing Art Director, Pedro Toledo. GI: While the game seems to be leaning heavily into brawling and loot as core elements, can you share anything about the lore and fantasy setting for all that action? Daniel McLaren, Game Director: We definitely wanted to expand the concept of the brawler through the introduction of a deeper loot and itemization system, but also we wanted to open up an entire world around the game. The central theme of Towerborne is “hope”. When we sat down and started talking about the story (humanity's cities have been destroyed by some mysterious antagonist and now they have taken refuge in the Belfry, where our story takes place), the main thing we said was, “This is not a post-apocalyptic story. It’s a post-post-apocalyptic story.” The idea has always been that this story focuses on the restoration of humanity and the reclamation of the world from those who seek to destroy it. Without giving too much away, the conceit here is that humanity has always had a connection to “the other side”–or, the Ebb–and some rare, but exceptional, humans can interact with it via friendly creatures called Umbra. Through that knowledge and relationship humans learn how to thrive and survive in this dangerous world. Being completely on-brand, humanity gets kinda soft and thinks “What could possibly go wrong?”, and of course, some mysterious agent of evil is like, “yeah, that’s my cue”, and thus destroys the technology that keeps everyone safe. Well, that action tears the veil between the real world and the Ebb, so now the Umbra are “bonding” to special humans after they die and bringing them back with powers. These are known as Aces, and of course, you play one! So now the game starts with you trying to figure out what happened, who dunnit, and why. No pressure. GI: Would you share some details about combat in the game, and how Towerborne aims to elevate above button-mashing brawling? Isaac Torres, Lead Live Designer: When designing the combat of Towerborne it was always important to make something that was easily approachable and had tons of depth. Towerborne has a lot of similarities to games like God of War and Devil May Cry in terms of combat prowess. Combos can be intertwined in a variety of ways where it’s just fun to try stuff out. That's just the start, though. Then you have your more advanced tactics like dodge cancels, jump cancels, special move cancels, and even combo resets. Umbra are reminiscent of assist characters in tag fighting games, giving you an extra tool that you may not normally have. Sometimes you may want to just drop an elbow into a crowd of enemies and see the chaos unfold. A key philosophy of the combat system is to give players fun ideas that can be explored in a variety of ways. It’s that nuance that really makes Towerborne shine, which is then amplified by the new Class Skills system. Want to expand the capabilities of your favorite move? There’s a Skill for that. You can even change up the functionality of your core Class mechanic. We also have a Skill for players who want to button mash and it’s super fun! There really is something for everyone. GI: What can you share about Curios and how they feed into the game’s monetization and progression? Would you share some examples of Curios, and how they might differ from items or equipment found naturally through playing the game? Daniel McLaren, Game Director: One of the most important things we had to figure out early was how we would monetize Towerborne, and something that was incredibly important to us was the idea of getting rid of as much “fear of missing out” (FOMO) as we possibly could. So the main thing here is that none of the rewards in the Curio will impact gameplay, so no Sword of Slaying +100 Damage to Beasts, or boosters, or in-game currency, or anything like that. It’s all cosmetics, expression stickers, emotes, etc. So if a player decided they don’t want to buy a Curio, they’re not being penalized in their actual gameplay. With that, we wanted to look at how the Curio was structured. Personally I have always hated the idea that the common Battlepass is a linear, arduous system that is stacked with rewards you must get, but might not want to have, and then, if you don’t get all 100 items before the timer runs out–oopsie! Too bad! So we did a couple things (and happily other games have beat us to the punch so we were able to see our concepts executed in real time): The first was to let players be able to purchase it and complete it whenever they wanted. Or, even better, cherry pick the things you want and then leave it to never be completed if you don’t care. There are a few restrictions in that we’ve structured it in tiers and each tier is unlocked when you purchase a couple items from the previous tier. We do want to incentivize playing the game and giving goals for the players to achieve. Which leads to the second point: We made sure that the in-game play activities that reward Curio currency (writs) are designed around things you, as the player, want to do. This is important, because a lot of games give you a checklist of challenges to earn battlepass points, and 50% of the challenges are either lame, or they’re things you don’t want to do as a player. So no more, “Go kill 1500 enemies with a pistol while blindfolded and doing a backflip in PvP” tasks. What if I stink with a pistol, or what if I hate PvP? Then I miss out on the currency and my progression is stymied. It’s a terrible feeling and it’s a big reason why players feel penalized for engaging with that kind of a system. Now one final thing here, and I think this is really important. If a player does not purchase a Curio when it becomes available, normally it would never come back and you would miss out forever on those things. We are working on systems to ensure that the items in the Curio, or the Curios themselves, will make a return. How long until they do? We don’t know, but we want our future players to be able to acquire things that our day-1 players had the ability to acquire–we just want to give the players who bought it when it originally released to have a meaningful window of exclusivity to thank them for helping us thrive! GI: Can you walk us through the release timeline coming up? Is the game still going to be in early access when update 6 launches at the end of April? On what platforms can players try out the game at that point? Do you have a targeted timeframe for the full 1.0 launch? Trisha Stouffer, CEO & President of Stoic: Towerborne will continue to be in Early Access / Game Preview throughout the summer and it is available on Steam, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X|S. It is playable on handhelds and via Xbox Play Anywhere. Player reaction and our ability to respond thoughtfully to feedback will influence when we go to 1.0 and the game is free-to-play.

Game Informer PreviewsApr 25

Dune: Awakening Preview: Arrakis AwaitsDune: Awakening is an upcoming multiplayer survival game from Funcom. Set to release on May 20, 2025, this third-person, exploration, and survival title aims to refine some of the long-established mechanics of the genre.

Previews – CGMagazineApr 25

TRON: Catalyst Hands-On Preview—Son of a GlitchCGM takes a first look at Bithell Games and Devolver Digital's upcoming foray into The Grid in TRON: Catalyst.

Previews – CGMagazineApr 24

Tron Catalyst Preview: Groundhog cycle"Players fill the bytes of Exo, a former courier turned super-powered program unknowingly immersed in intrigue and system-destroying stakes," Steve writes in his Tron Catalyst preview. The post Tron Catalyst Preview: Groundhog cycle appeared first on Stevivor .

Previews | StevivorApr 24