ARC Raiders has seen a decline that has stripped hundreds of thousands of players away from the game, and it's not slowing down.

The post ARC Raiders Player Count Has Been Bleeding For Five Months and Isn’t Slowing appeared first on Insider Gaming.

Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has been delayed beyond 2026.

The post Paramount Executive Confirms Marvel 1943 Won’t Arrive in 2026 appeared first on Insider Gaming.

Coming from the creators of Nidhogg, Blood Dungeon is a new 2D platforming auto-shooter, taking the Survivors-like Bullet Heaven genre in a new direction when it launches in late summer 2026 for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5.

Blood Dungeon is basically a cross between Vampire Survivors and Spelunky, as admitted by Mark Essen of Messhof. It’s a platforming game, but it’s a kind of goofy one as your humanoid character can grab onto ceilings, clamber up walls and just wibble through the world.

All the while, you’re blasting away at enemies that are coming towards you, with over 100 weapons to find and use, while collecting blood, gold and bones to increase your powers.

While the bullet heaven is pretty common these days, they’re usually from the top-down and give you more freedom of movement. The distincive thing for Blood Dungeon is that you’re stuck in a platforming maze, and that maze has you being affected by gravity as you move around. It could be a really interesting and engaging twist.

The upcoming Halo: Campaign Evolved is expected to be at the Xbox showcase on Sunday. However, new information and images have begun to leak concerning the game's pre-order bonuses

The post Halo: Campaign Evolved Pre-Order Bonuses and More Leak appeared first on Insider Gaming.

The trilogy that launched Agent 47's journey to gaming superstardom has been rebuilt and is coming soon for PC and all major platforms.

The post HITMAN Classic Trilogy Remastered Announced appeared first on Insider Gaming.

Clutch is the debut title from Maverick Games. The studio comprises former Forza Horizon developers. The game was officially announced earlier in the week, but at Summer Games Fest 2026, the First full trailer was shown off.

The post Clutch’s First Full Trailer Shown At Summer Games Fest appeared first on Insider Gaming.

Telltale Games has unveiled The Wolf Among Us Remastered and it's release window at Summer Game Fest. Here are more details.

The post The Wolf Among Us Remastered Release Window Revealed appeared first on Insider Gaming.

PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox; Yacht Club Games
This brilliant adventure creates a whole world from one character with a unique ability

You could mistake Mina the Hollower for something found on the liquid-crystal display of a Game Boy Color around the turn of the millennium. Like the pocketable Zelda and Pokémon games of the time, it presents a kind of snow-globe reality that you peer into from above, relying on imagination to decipher each two-colour clump of pixels into a tree, or a skeleton, or a cloaked mouse wielding a hammer twice her size.

This is Mina, our hero: she jumps, she moves at a clip, and she can delve downward into the soil or floorboards, tunnelling underfoot for a moment or two before popping back up, like an inflatable forcibly submerged in a swimming pool. This is her signature move, perfectly elastic in sensation – the way the released button springs back against your thumb! – and in application. The burrow-jump is an excavation tool, unearthing any treasure you happen to dig through, and a navigational one, used to hop over gaps, reach high-up spots and nose into tiny hidden spaces, where more treasure almost invariably awaits.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Yacht Club Games

© Photograph: Yacht Club Games

© Photograph: Yacht Club Games

The PS5 era has been in some ways disappointing for Sony – on Tuesday, the company revealed a slate of games they hope will change that

• Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

PlayStation’s future has looked a little uncertain these past few years. Although the PS5 has sold well and been very profitable, the brand is far from the runaway market leader it was in the PS2 days. Earlier this week, Game File dug into Sony’s most recent earnings reports to illustrate how PlayStation has been selling fewer and fewer of its own flagship games since a peak during the pandemic. About 54.1m copies of games either developed or published by Sony were sold in the 2018 financial year; in 2025, it sold 32.1m.

Sony has put out some great homegrown games since the PS5 was released in 2020, from Astro Bot to Ghost of Yōtei, but it has also had some expensive and very public failures and cancellations; PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, who retired in 2024, placed big bets on live-service games and only a few panned out (hello, Helldivers). Sony also seems to have rolled back on releasing its single-player PS5 games on PC after a polite interval of time, suggesting it wants to preserve what advantage and exclusivity it has.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sony

© Photograph: Sony

© Photograph: Sony

With Summer Game Fest 2026 set to kick off in a few hours, here’s what you need to know heading into Geoff Keighley’s latest gaming showcase. 

The Game Awards might be the biggest gaming event hosted by Geoff Keighley, but Summer Game Fest is pretty much the same thing but on a slightly smaller scale.

The 2025 showcase was headlined by Resident Evil Requiem, but previous years have debuted the likes of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown, Wanderstop, Lego Horizon Adventures, and others.

With the death of E3, Summer Game Fest is now the closest thing to a multiformat summer reveal event. Although while there are usually a few brand new reveals it tends to focus more on gameplay trailers for previously announced games, such as the first reveal of Elden Ring in action.

Some games have already been confirmed for tonight, but if you’re looking to find out when the show starts, along with some of the most enticing rumours, see below for the full Summer Game Fest 2026 breakdown. 

What time does Summer Game Fest 2026 start?

For UK viewers, Summer Game Fest 2026 starts on Friday, June 5 at 10pm BST and is set to run for two hours.

The start time is far more confusing than it should be though as the official website incorrectly lists it as 9pm GMT, while the YouTube stream is set to go live at 9.15pm BST – although that’s presumably to start a countdown. 

Either way, based on host Geoff Keighley’s latest tweet, it’s 10pm BST. Definitely (probably) 10pm BST. 

Where can I stream Summer Game Fest 2026? 

The show will be available to stream live across the Summer Game Fest YouTube and Twitch channels, with the official YouTube channel offering a stream in 4K at 60fps.

What games are confirmed for the show? 

Of the confirmed reveals so far, the biggest is the gameplay trailer for XCOM-like Star Wars Zero Company, developed by Bit Reactor and Respawn Entertainment. 

We also know Guild Wars developer ArenaNet is at the show, and while we don’t know what they’ll announce, all signs point toward Guild Wars 3. 

Other confirmed titles include new driving game Clutch from former Playground devs, along with Blood Message – a Chinese action game from the makers of Naraka: Bladepoint.

Beyond those games, we also know there’ll be updates on Fortnite, Among Us, and Dead By Daylight. 

The drums still thunder from the walls.

The blood on the blade has yet to dry.

Yet the road home lies ahead.@BloodMessageBM is coming to #SummerGameFest live this Friday. pic.twitter.com/frRmeVhITz

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) June 1, 2026

What games are rumoured? 

One of the big rumours, following the showcase of Resident Evil Requiem last year, is that Capcom will debut the first look at the Resident Evil Code: Veronica remake. 

Additionally, a new Hot Wheels game titled Infinite Rush has seemingly leaked ahead of the show, and while it’s unclear if it will appear it does seem like.

Several games have also teased possible announcements. Sega recently posted a teaser for its Crazy Taxi reboot, while a recent short clip related to Alien: Isolation 2 suggested more information is on the way soon – although that doesn’t necessarily mean Summer Game Fest, especially with the Xbox summer showcase taking place on Sunday.

Other rumours include a new definitive edition of Sonic Frontiers, a new Worms game, a possible reveal for Injustice 3 from NetherRealm, and maybe, just maybe, Persona 6.

There’s even a rumour that Nintendo will be at the event, in lieu of a Direct next week, but as ever with all these showcases it’s best to assume you’ll be disappointed by the announcements, so as to have the best chance of being pleasantly surprised by what is actually there.

What games were revealed at last year’s Summer Game Fest? 

To put the hype into perspective, the biggest reveal at last year’s Summer Game Fest was the trailer for Resident Evil Requiem. Beyond that, however, there wasn’t a whole lot to shout about. 

Other announcements (as rounded-up here) included the shadow drop of Lies Of P’s Overture DLC, Dying Light: The Beast’s release date, new game Wu-Tang: Rise Of The Deceiver, Game Of Thrones: War For Westeros, Scott Pilgrim EX, Mortal Shell 2, Killer Inn, Stranger Than Heaven, Atomic Heart 2, and a release date for Arc Raiders.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Comments Add as preferred source

The Friday letters page wonders what GTA 6 conspiracy buffs will do after the game comes out, as a reader asks after Rayman Legends Retold’s music levels.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Late night
So tonight’s the night for Summer Game Fest and I’m in two minds… about whether to stay up for it or not. First of all, kudos to the genius who thought this was a good thing to put out on Friday night. The organisers so completely don’t care about Europe that they list the start time on their website as 9pm GMT… so I’m not even 100% sure when it starts.

Personally, what I’m hoping for is Resident Evil Code: Veronica, Alien: Isolation 2, Devil May Cry 6, and a new FromSoftware game. I’m sure we won’t get all of those, but I think all of them are possible to some degree. I’m also interested in that Star Wars XCOM clone.

I also think there’s a reasonable chance Sony could show Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Sony are weird about Summer Game Fest and more than once have shown something there that wasn’t in their own State of Play.
Casper

All aboard
I thought Wolverine looked terrific, basically everything I’d want in a game about a little nearly-indestructible nutter with big metal claws. I’m glad they didn’t try to make it open world and that it’s taking a more linear approach. Hopefully this’ll lead to a wide variety of locations and enemy types.

The combat looked weighty, fun, and visceral and it seems like it’ll be filled with spectacular set pieces. I can understand frustrations that most AAA games don’t really do anything new but I’m having a ton of fun with 007 First Light, which is essentially Hitman x Uncharted, so Batman: Arkham x Uncharted will do me for Wolverine.

The new God Of War also looked amazing, although I think the talking sidekick thing was a bit jarring and it remains to be seen how annoying that could become over the course of the game. Lots of cool stuff to look forward to though.
Magnumstache

Hammer time
I was a big fan of Rayman Legends when it came out. I still play it now and again and find it odd this was the one they chose to reboot, as it still looks great on Switch and PlayStation 4. I do quite like the 2.5 D visuals but I’m a bit concerned these new Panzer Dragoon style sections have replaced the music rhythm sections at the end of levels.

That would be a real shame as I loved those bits. Has there been any chat about whether there still in the game or have they been ditched due to licencing issues or something?
Somasonic

GC: Apparently there’s going to be four new ones, with one of the songs being U Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer.

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Less than perfect
Another vote for how amazing the gameplay is in Saros. I would urge anyone on the fence to play it as you won’t find much better, especially if you haven’t played Returnal yet.

The one thing that didn’t change enough for me was the level design, I was hoping for bigger areas or even FromSoftware type map design. However, it was too similar to Returnal in that respect, with each level cut into the small fight rooms.

Still, don’t let that put to you off I still couldn’t put the game down. So highly recommended.

Looking forward to their next game or even the studio (Cosmic Division) formed by game director of Returnal who quit Housemarque during the early years of Saros development.
Carlos

Slow leaners
That’s a big ol’ yikes on PlayStation 5 sales dropping by a half after the price cut. I know that people were probably saving up to buy it before the price change, but it does show that Sony’s position isn’t untouchable. 12% of nothing is still nothing, when you’re talking about Xbox Series X sales, but it Is proof that with the right exclusives Xbox could’ve made a difference.

It’s far too late for that now, including for Project Helix (I believe) but the takeaway for everyone should be that exclusives are the most important thing and getting rid of them for a trivial profit on PC or other formats is hurting yourself for no reason. Exclusive are the whole reason you exist! Sony does seem to have learnt this now, but how they never understood that before they started I’ll never know.
Jayden

Half-finished
I empathise with Alex and his troubles installing 007 First Light. I too bought the disc version of the game specifically because I don’t have super-fast internet, and First Light seemed to take ages to install mainly due to an extra mandatory download. This whole problem with buying fundamentally incomplete games that need massive downloads got me thinking. Is there any other product/service that you buy full price that’s incomplete to the extent that it doesn’t serve its function?

If a chef half cooked your dinner in a restaurant you’d be rightly cross and would send the meal back.

I guess a dentist might do some big jobs in stages/multiple appointments, but there’s usually a good reason for that other than he/she couldn’t be bothered to finish your filling.

Are all games released unfinished nowadays? Another weird aspect I’ve found with buying disc-based games is that modern consoles initially try to download a new game even after I put a game disc into the machine. I have to turn off my internet to get the console to install the game from the disc.

I really don’t understand what objection a console might have to using a game disc that’s already in the machine.
Michael Veal (@msv858)

GC: Publishers in general don’t want you to buy physical games, they want you to buy digitally because it’s more profitable for them; so they’re not really interested in making things easier.

Post-launch roadmap
These weirdos trying to get into Rockstar HQ, to force them to do whatever it is they’re upset about, is crazy. All that nonsense about a constant police presence and sirens going off… the building is in the middle of Edinburgh, right outside the parliament building. You’d think someone else would’ve noticed if something’s going on like that.

I’m sure there’s a CCTV camera pointed at every square inch of the building, and probably hefty private security, but there’s no need to make up all that crazy other stuff. I don’t know what some of these people are going to do with themselves when the game comes out. Actually, I do: they’ll just complain that it isn’t 100% exactly the game they’ve been imagining, because that’s how these things always go.
Endof

Glass half full
I found the showings of Wolverine and God Of War Laufey highly impressive. The games look to be the zenith of the cinematic blockbuster Sony/Naughty Dog formula that so many value the PlayStation 4 and its catalogue for.

I do, though, understand and agree with the feeling of having seen it all before. Sony have used the same formulas and templates in so many games in a short space of time. Familiarity producing indifference is to be expected.

The games have also never been anything particularly new gameplay and systems wise. The gameplay and systems have always been very good but it’s the production values that have always been the standout feature of them. But the sum of the parts is fantastic.

Even though the gameplay wasn’t that risky Sony did take massive risks with the first batch of games on PlayStation 4. Both in greenlighting new IP and taking risks on big IP like God Of War. It was very successful and maybe where the confidence/arrogance came from for the nutty live service plans.

I do think Sony need to diversify though. They put out far too many similar games. It would be nice if they did that with more double-A games, like Astro Bot, but also taking a risk on a big triple-A games again. When the latter is done you can get games like Zelda: Breath Of The Wild or God Of War 2108; special games, surprising games.

In general, though, I feel more positive about Sony these days. The live service failings have seen them downscale those ill-conceived plans. Along with making single-player games PlayStation exclusive again it seems they are taking a long hard look at themselves.

I’m cautiously optimistic but as it takes so long to make games it’ll be a while before we know the outcome and as they never say anything about strategy these days, it could just mean they’ll double down on the current house style and franchises and milk them for all they’re worth. Time will tell, I guess.
Simundo

Inbox also-rans
As an avid supporter of 3D brawlers like Devil May Cry, God Hand, Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta et al. – not to mention the earlier classic entries in Santa Monica’s series, especially the PlayStation 3 games – I really liked the look of the more aerial dynamic fighting style in God Of War Laufey!
GG

Better late than never on the Elden Ring annoucement for Switch 2 but please, I need to know what From’s next multiformat game is. Why won’t they tell us?!
Rackem

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE: Games Inbox: Did Marvel’s Wolverine make a good impression in the State of Play?

MORE: Games Inbox: Will God Of War Laufey be a good game?

MORE: Games Inbox: Will tonight’s State of Play be a good one?

Comments Add as preferred source

Xbox Series X sales are up and the Nintendo Switch 2 is now the best-selling console in the UK, thanks to the PlayStation 5 price increase.

With gaming hardware across the board constantly growing more expensive, companies need to go the extra mile to encourage people to invest in a new console.

That’s easier said than done, though, and Sony is in the awkward position of needing to keep propping up the PlayStation 5 despite it being nearly six years old and the PlayStation 6 being nowhere in sight.

PlayStation 5 sales were up over Christmas thanks to a generous Black Friday discount, and it hit the 90 million lifetime sales mark earlier this year, but it looks like that growth has quickly slowed down, as it barely beat the Xbox Series X in May, in the UK.

This is according to Christopher Dring of The Game Business, who reports that PlayStation 5 sales dropped by 50% last month in the UK, although, as usual, no exact figures were given.

While he doesn’t specify, Dring is presumably comparing sales to the PlayStation 5’s April figures. Normally you wouldn’t expect much difference, as neither are traditionally busy months for sales, but these are unprecedented times.

The most obvious reason for the PlayStation 5’s decline is the price hike on April 2, which saw both the digital and physical versions of the PlayStation 5 go up by £90 to £519.99 and £569.99, respectively.

Some retailers, though, still sold both versions for the previous prices in early April, which could have encouraged a boost in last-minute sales from those eager to avoid the price hike.

By May, that new price will have been firmly locked in so when combined with the lack of any major exclusives in the near future (Wolverine isn’t until September), there was little incentive to pick up a PlayStation 5 in May.

In the UK, PS5 sales fell 50% in May. It only outsold Xbox Series S/X by 400 units (which saw a 12% rise, helped by console exclusive Forza Horizon 6). Switch 2 was easily No.1 (NielsenIQ). There will be more in today's The Game Business Show/Newsletter thegamebusiness.substack.com

— Christopher Dring (@dringo.bsky.social) 2026-06-04T08:35:45.988Z

But while Sony suffered an unusually bad month it was one of the best in a long time for Microsoft, with the Xbox Series X seeing a 12% increase in sales, motivated by the release of Forza Horizon 6.

That game is currently only available on Xbox and PC, but while the PlayStation 5 version will follow later this year, it goes to show that even a temporary console exclusive can move units.

The Nintendo Switch 2, meanwhile, was ‘easily’ the number one console of the month and has now sold over 1 million units in the UK since its launch last year. According to Dring, it hit this target 30 weeks faster than the original Switch.

Compared to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox, the Switch 2 is certainly a more affordable option, although it too is building up to a price hike later this year.

Sony no doubt hopes the recent State of Play will spark a surge in interest, with major new games such as God Of War Laufey and Marvel’s Wolverine, even if both seem more tailored to existing owners than those that haven’t yet bought the console.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Sony’s been selling less games with each passing year since 2020, which is attributed to its increasingly thin release schedules and lack of consistent exclusives.

As a result the company has talked about monetising the current install base, which could suggest Sony’s priority is to wring as much money as possible from PlayStation 5 owners (like it’s doing with the PlayStation Plus price hike) rather than attract new ones.

That said, GTA 6 is out this November and if any game can dramatically shift new units, it’s that, especially if, as rumoured, Sony and Rockstar have signed a deal to release a special console bundle.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Comments Add as preferred source

A new trailer for Star Wars Zero Company is confirmed for Summer Game Fest, ahead of an earlier than expected launch this summer.

We have been fervently waiting for more news on Star Wars Zero Company, a new XCOM style strategy game, since its reveal last year.

Fortunately, that wait is nearly over, as publisher EA has confirmed a new trailer will debut during Summer Game Fest this Friday, while also sharing new artwork of some of its characters.

It was already safe to assume the trailer will include a release date, as the game’s only ever had a vague 2026 window, but that date has leaked ahead of time and it’s mercifully not another September release.

What is the release date for Star Wars Zero Company?

According to the consistently accurate billbil-kun at Dealabs, Star Wars Zero Company will launch on August 27.

It willretail at $49.99 on PC and $59.99 on consoles. While that translates to approximately £37 and £45 respectively, EA will likely price it at £49.99 and £59.99 here in the UK.

Unsurprisingly, there’ll be a more expensive deluxe edition that costs $59.99 on PC and $69.99 on consoles, though while its contents are unknown, billbil-kun adds that it won’t include any sort of early access.

Early access has become increasingly common for new releases, but it’s not yet a standard. Last month, the likes of Forza Horizon 6, the new Lego Batman game, and 007 First Light all offered early access as a pre-order bonus.

Whether or not EA is deliberately avoiding September, it’s a relief as that month is chock-a-block with new games, including but not limited to Sony’s Wolverine game, Capcom’s new Onimusha, and Silent Hill: Townfall.

No doubt this is a result of GTA 6’s November launch as many publishers are eager not to launch too closely to that game and risk being completely overshadowed.

What is Star Wars Zero Company about?

Star Wars Zero Company is set during the prequel era of the franchise, specifically the Clone Wars, and sees you leading a band of mercenaries (the titular Zero Company) as a fully customisable character named Hawks.

Like XCOM, it’s a turn-based tactics game and while you can recruit a myriad of characters, they can permanently die during missions if you’re not careful.

The new key art gives an indication of what sort of characters will appear, including a member of the Lasat; the same alien race as Zeb, one of the main characters from the Star Wars Rebels cartoon and, most recently, The Mandalorian And Grogu.

The guy in the spacesuit seems to be an Umbaran from a memorable arc from the The Clone Wars CGI series (the one with the four-armed Jedi Pong Krell) and the horned alien looks to be a Togruta, the same species as Ahsoka.

The alien in the top left corner seems to be the same species as Tubes, who was affiliated with Saw Gerrera from Rogue One and Andor. Saw’s character originated in The Clone Wars series, so it’s quite possible he’s in the game too.

Considering it’s set towards the end of the Clone Wars, we could even see the game adapt the events of Order 66 and the early rise of the Empire, which could also incorporate elements from Andor.

Zero Company isn’t the only Star Wars game launching this year either as racing game Star Wars: Galactic Racer is scheduled to follow on October 2.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Comments Add as preferred source

As the owner of the James Bond franchise, Amazon is keen to have more of a say in the coming 007 First Light sequels.

There’s no denying that 007 First Light has been a tremendous success for IO Interactive and proof that it was the best choice for developing a new big budget James Bond video game.

First Light has already outperformed IO’s Hitman games, as it’s not only the studio’s highest scoring game on Metacritic, but its fastest-selling game ever, pushing 1.5 million copies in just one day. It’s also estimated to have sold over 2.2 million copies so far, according to Alinea Analytics.

This makes First Light’s blatant sequel bait well deserved, but it also means Amazon, the rights holder of the James Bond franchise, has taken a worrying interest in the next game.

Jeff Gattis, the general manager of Amazon’s gaming division, told Polygon any First Light sequel will be ‘done by MGM and, theoretically, by Amazon Game Studios.’

He added, ‘We did not [make First Light]. We do have a stake in it because we now own the IP.’

1.5 million copies sold!

Thank you for showing up to the launch of 007 First Light, for your overwhelming enthusiasm and for sharing your experience with the game.

Play our re-imagined James Bond origin story today and #EarnTheNumber. Available now.https://t.co/svbhiUOym0… pic.twitter.com/xf4gzZ95YM

— IO Interactive (@IOInteractive) May 28, 2026

Amazon’s name may appear during First Light’s opening credits, but the company was not involved with its development. It didn’t even publish the game; IO handled that itself.

That’s because First Light entered production before Amazon acquired the James Bond franchise as part of its buy out of MGM Studios, which was announced in 2022 but wasn’t approved until 2023.

It’s not entirely clear if Gattis is only referring to taking over publishing duties or if the plan is for new James Bond games to be made in-house and not at IO Interactive.

The latter sounds like a disastrous idea as not only did IO do a great job but Amazon’s efforts at game development haven’t been very successful. It’s cancelled multiple projects, including two attempts at a Lord Of The Rings MMO, and has found no real success with the games it has released.

The one exception has been MMO New World, but even that is now scheduled to shut down in early 2027, just over five years after launch.

If Amazon is smart, it’ll maintain a partnership with IO Interactive and let it continue to work on future Bond games. It’s doing this with Tomb Raider, striking a deal with series developer Crystal Dynamics to handle the Legacy Of Atlantis remake and the all-new sequel Tomb Raider: Catalyst.

Even so, it may exert more creative control on how Bond is depicted, especially once its plans for the next movie solidify. It’ll also probably try and squeeze more money out of the process for itself, potentially making a sequel far less profitable for IO.

Despite having a new Tomb Raider TV show in the works, Amazon Games’ vice president Christoph Hartmann very much downplayed the idea that it’s in any way connected to the new games.

‘Look at Spider-Man. There’s amazing, amazing games. There’s great animated content, there’s great live action, and everyone seems to be very happy with that. So it does not need to be always that everything is mingled together,’ he told Variety in 2024.

They may well take the same approach with 007, although there’s clearly going to be some awkward conversations with IO, who in the end may have ended up being too successful.

Update:

Amazon has issued a statement on the issue but, as you can see, it doesn’t address any of the issues and only increases the impression that they might not allow IO to make the sequel.

We asked them to clarify this but have received no reply, although they have insisted that no sequel has been confirmed – which will be news to anyone that’s completed the game.

‘Amazon MGM holds the rights to any future James Bond video games but it’s still too early to discuss future projects. We have a great relationship with IO Interactive and are proud of what we’ve accomplished together on 007 First Light. Our partners at IO will reveal more about 007 First Light in the near future and we’re looking forward to sharing what’s next.’

What exactly Amazon think they’ve accomplished with First Light is unclear, since IO did all the work, but it’s all sounding very ominous.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Comments Add as preferred source

The Thursday letters page is cautiously optimistic about Tomb Raider: Legacy Of Atlantis, as a reader is worried about the sequel to 007 First Light.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Expected response
I think I agree with your summary of the State of Play, in that it was solid, didn’t do anything wrong, and yet I wasn’t excited by it at all. The problem is, and I think you hinted at it, is that while I’ll probably even buy Wolverine and God Of War Laufey, I already know what they’ll be and while I’m sure they’ll have unexpected moments they really don’t seem to be doing anything we haven’t seen before.

It’s the problem with sequels and using existing IP and while I understand it, and even encourage it when it comes to something I really like, they almost seem like wasted games, in terms of not moving anything forward.

I’m sure they’ll rake in the money, because tried and tested is what sells, but I feel Xbox has an opportunity here, to have a much more surprising showcase, with some games that aren’t just the obvious go-tos. They’ll probably miss the open goal though, they usually do.
Gazza

Logan Drake
I’m getting some serious Uncharted vibes from Marvel’s Wolverine. The whole thing with the chase on the bike reminds me of the Madagascar chase from Uncharted 4. That was probably the best bit in the entire game, so you can’t blame them for trying to copy it, but it doesn’t give me much hope that Wolverine is going to be very original.

Especially when they had that bit where he’s looking down at the soldiers below and he’s doing some simple stealthing about (like Batman: Arkham Asylum, again). I just don’t know what’s going to be special about the game other than its production values. But then I suppose Wolverine doesn’t really have particularly interesting powers from a video game perspective.

He’s just got short daggers in his hands really, and there’s probably only so much he can do with that, so I’m not entirely on board yet.
Goldie

Direct cycle
There’s got to be a Nintendo Direct next week. I don’t care how obstinate Nintendo are, you can’t go half a year without announcing a single big game or saying what’s coming out at Christmas. Especially not with a price rise coming up, where you’ve really got to justify why people should be buying the console.

I agree with GC though, in that it’ll be a minimum effort and probably only announce one or two big things, then the rest will be already announced games, DLC, and Switch 2 editions. Then we’ll be right back into wondering if there’s going to be another Nintendo Direct and if there’s a secret Christmas game they haven’t told us about yet.

I get why things are like this now but it’s kind of exhausting and not as much fun as it used to be.
Zeiss

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Modern gaming
I recently purchased 007 First Light for the PlayStation 5. I put the disc in and downloaded what popped up to get everything ready for when I could start to play. I sat down today to begin and there was an update, just seven minutes – so annoying but not too bad. I played through the first tutorial mission. All pretty standard but I was keen to see what was next after all the positive reviews.

The game halted suddenly after the intro music, a pop-up stating ‘content downloading, returning to main menu’. I look in the PlayStation 5 downloads and I have more stuff downloading, three hours worth (yes, I have slow internet where I live but nothing too unusual).

I was quite underwhelmed with the early stages of the game, thinking that it continues the trend with modern triple-A games being mildly interactive unimaginative movies rather than actual games. Add to this the fact that I can’t actually play any more of the game today and I really do think that modern gaming is finally becoming not for me.
Alex

GC: You really should’ve waited until it had finished downloading before starting it, as it’s colouring your view of the game.

Traffic jam
Really looking forward to Onimusha: Way Of The Sword continuing the Capcom quality run, but that last week of September period is an absolute nightmare. All those games coming out at the same time, all trying to stay out of the way of GTA 6… they’re all going to suffer and some of them are going to flop completely.

Nobody has enough time or money to play them all even if they wanted to, so hard choices are going to be made. In this case it doesn’t seem publishers had much choice about what to do, but I hope some of them change dates now that they see how things have shaken out.

It’s Control Resonant I fear the most for. Remedy games just don’t sell and this one isn’t going to either if it’s like the sixth most high profile game of the week.
Grackle

Bubble Raider
So what they’re saying about AI in Tomb Raider is that you can guarantee people are going to find AI stuff in the game, in the first week or so, and then we’ll get the usual apology tweet saying they thought they’d removed it all (aka they were hoping nobody would notice).

I would love to know how much time they think they’re saving by using AI for temporary graphics and then going to all the trouble of removing them (or not) and/or changing them. That sounds like a faff to me and unlikely to save much time, while also generating bad publicity.

What did they do before? Presumably used graphics from older games, which considering Crystal Dynamics has been making Tomb Raider games for decades now they must have plenty of by now. Just use ones from Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which was the first time they did a remake.

I understand that AI can help with programming but we’ll probably never know about that, so you can’t say anything about it, one way or the other.

But in terms of anything else I don’t see how it’s helping at all, other than making the developers look incompetent and heartless. The sooner this ridiculous bubble bursts the better. I’d almost wish NFTs had caught on instead at this point.
Sharkton

Thunderballed
As much as I’ve loved 007 First Light, I have big worries about the sequel. It turns out the reason Amazon, who own the Bond licence, weren’t involved in First Light is that they hadn’t bought it when it started. But now they own it they want to publish any game in the future.

That has me very worried, as IO published First Light and that seems to be one of the main reasons they did it. If Amazon kicks off IO from being the developer that would be an absolute disaster.
Private

Top two
Being firmly in the camp that believes Returnal was the best PlayStation 5 game by a country mile, I’ve been looking forward to Saros more than any other game in a long while. Now that I’ve completed it, I can say without a doubt: this is easily one of the top two games on the console.

Like many others, I was mildly disappointed at first. The atmospheric, abstract storytelling of Returnal is a bit more prescribed here (though, ironically, many complained that Returnal was too abstract). However, once I got over the fact that it’s different, I came to enjoy it immensely, possibly even more than its predecessor.

The combat, as always with Housemarque, is second to none; for my money, it’s the best shooting in any game ever. The new mechanics, like using your shield to charge up power weapons and parrying red bullet, add brilliant, fun layers to the loop. The guns are as good as ever, with each class possessing its own distinct style and playing completely differently to keep things fresh.

At first, I thought the shotguns were duff, but once you unlock the enhanced melee attack, staggering enemies with a blast and smashing them to pieces becomes extremely satisfying. Personally, my favourites are the Chakrams, reminiscent of the Dreadbound in Returnal with a few twists, which can absolutely melt through enemy health bars. The bows are great fun too.

When you’re in that flow state, juggling standard fire, alt-fire, shields, power weapons, and parries, it perfectly captures the intense bullet hell arcade action of Ikaruga or Housemarque’s older titles, but blown out into a big budget, 3D space. The sheer drama of each fight leaves you breathless, and the boss fights are extremely impressive. It is a non-stop rollercoaster ride; a sci-fi, bullet hell space opera extravaganza.

I also enjoyed the narrative and found myself genuinely looking forward to the cut scenes to unpick what was going on. The endings are great too.

Is it better than Returnal? The combat is absolutely better. And while I preferred Returnal’s atmosphere, I still really invested in this story. Ultimately, the reason I keep playing these games isn’t the plot; it’s the gameplay, and in that regard, Saros just pips it to the post.

Either way, both games are entirely unique. No other titles on the market feel like them, which is incredibly rare in this day and age, and exactly why I love them both so much. Choosing between them is like picking a favourite child. Either way, Housemarque has proven once again that they are the absolute kings of modern arcade action.
Mud

GC: We think you liked the story a bit more than we did but generally, we agree – especially in terms of the combat.

Inbox also-rans
Anyone want a Metal Gear film? Give War Machine a go. Obviously, there’s a lot less history, dialogue and confusing plotting. Best thing is, its runtime is a lot shorter than some Metal Gear cut scenes.
Bobwallett

The announcement trailer for the Tomb Raider remake looks absolutely incredible. I’m in awe! One of my favourite video game franchises. They can’t mess this one up, can they?
Paul C.

GC: Anything is possible.

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE: Games Inbox: Will God Of War Laufey be a good game?

MORE: Games Inbox: Will tonight’s State of Play be a good one?

MORE: Games Inbox: Is this the most important week for gaming in 2026?

Comments Add as preferred source

An insider suggests God Of War Laufey could be released next year, as Cory Barlog teases more Kratos games in the future. 

God Of War Laufey was the big showstopper at the end of Sony’s State Of Play, but oddly it didn’t come with any release date or window. 

This usually means we’ve got a long wait in store before it’s released but according to Bloomberg games journalist Jason Schreier, that isn’t the case for God Of War Laufey. 

In a post on Bluesky, following the game’s reveal, Schreier wrote: ‘I wouldn’t read too much into God Of War Laufey not getting a release date or window – in contrast to a lot of other big announcements, this one *isn’t* years away.’

While he doesn’t explicitly clarify how far away it could be, Schreier responded ‘definitely not’ when someone asked if it could be a 2028 game, implying it would launch sometime in 2027. 

This tracks with previous rumours about the title. Reliable insider NateTheHate previously said God Of War Laufey, before it was officially revealed, would launch in the ‘first half’ of 2027 ‘barring any delay’. 

FWIW I wouldn't read too much into God of War Laufey not getting a release date or window — in contrast to a lot of other big announcements, this one *isn't* years away

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2026-06-02T22:37:31.126Z

The lack of date or window could be Sony hedging its bets in case GTA 6 is delayed beyond November 19 but more likely it’s because Sony doesn’t want to imply anything about Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which also doesn’t have a release year – but which may now be looking at a Christmas 2027 launch, if God Of War is early 2027.

Other studios are cramming their games into September and October to steer clear of Rockstar’s sequel, but for any games coming after, there’s perhaps an element of trepidation in case Take-Two does push GTA back at the last minute. 

For those uninterested in the idea of playing as Faye/Laufey, Cory Barlog – Santa Monica Studio’s head of creative – has teased there will be more games starring Kratos in the future. 

Speaking with God Of War Laufey’s director Ariel Lawrence on PlayStation’s YouTube channel, Barlog said: ‘It’s exciting. Faye is, while it’s a different thing, it’s still part of the larger tapestry of what we truly want to explore, all these different characters in there. But there’s always going to be Kratos games throughout the whole history.’

In response, Lawrence replied: ‘Oh for sure. We can’t not tell stories about the big guy.’

It’s a vague statement, and there’s no clarification on whether there are any new God Of War games (we’re not counting the remake) in development right now, but it’s a small crumb of hope for Kratos fans. 

Beyond God Of War Laufey and the previously confirmed remake trilogy, a God Of War TV series is also in development. The series doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s expected to premiere sometime in 2027. 

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Comments Add as preferred source

Sony’s summer State of Play showcase offered a first look at God Of War Laufey, Until Dawn 2, and many other games, so why did it still feel so safe and predictable?

With two more major showcases to go this week, and rumours of a Nintendo Direct on Tuesday, it was left to Sony to perform the opening salvo in this year’s summer showcase line-up. Back when E3 was still a thing, they always used to go after Xbox, benefiting from being able to change their plans at the last minute – which they did to famous effect following the Xbox One’s debut.

Nowadays, those kinds of machinations are no longer necessary and Sony often doesn’t seem to make so much of an effort anymore. They did on Tuesday night though, with a well-paced State of Play with plenty of interesting first and third party games, almost all of which looked impressive in some way.

What was absent though was anything in the way of surprises, with Until Dawn 2 being one of the only games that hadn’t already been rumoured to hell and back (and even then it had been hinted at). By comparison, God Of War Laufey had been known about in some detail for quite a while, but that wasn’t the main reason why it seemed so predictable.

Some of the God Of War rumours were so specific they now count as spoilers but the gist of them was that Laufey/Faye has a very different fighting style to Kratos, more akin to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Watching the footage on Tuesday night, that was exactly what the game seems to be and… exactly what you could’ve predicted before seeing it.

To be clear, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a disappointing or a bad game, or even that Santa Monica Studio had done anything wrong, it’s just that in 20 minutes of footage it feels like you can extrapolate out what the entire game is going to be, if you’ve played either of the previous two titles.

Marvel’s Wolverine had much the same problem, in that as impressive as the visuals are it all seemed very familiar, despite it appearing to have little in common with Insomniac’s previous work with Spider-Man (there’s no open world for a start) and Wolverine not having an established formula for his games.

This isn’t a Sony problem. The problem is that only the most surefire hits can ever justify the time and money needed to make triple-A games nowadays and that means that no matter their overall quality, predictability is now a prerequisite.

The other disappointment is that there was no sign of any kind of change in approach in Sony’s first party plans. To be fair to them, they’d given no indication there would be but after rumours of reviving older franchises, and moving away from PC releases, there had been a hope amongst fans that Sony might be moving back towards a style and frequency of releases more similar to the PlayStation 4 era.

That may well be happening, to some degree, but when high-end games take five or more years to make change comes slowly. This State of Play wasn’t a sea change moment but three first party releases (Marvel’s Wolverine, Until Dawn 2, and God Of War Laufey) is more than we’ve had recently, even if the latter didn’t have a release year and there was no sign of Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

What also wasn’t there was Fairgames$ or any other live service game beyond Marathon. Despite rumours that Fairgame$ has had a name change it didn’t get a mention, and there’s still nothing to suggest it hasn’t been cancelled or put on the backburner. Horizon Hunters Gathering wasn’t mentioned either, in what was a very single-player focused showcase.

However, there’s a danger in just seeing what you want to see in these sorts of things. Most people want to return to the PlayStation 4 days, when new first party games were frequent and new IP was not unheard of, but there’s no indication that Sony does.

You can read the tea leaves in a certain way, to make it seem as if change is coming, but until we see multiple new games announced at once or, god forbid, Sony actually comes out and explains their plans, it’s all just wishful thinking.

If they were going to change direction then the launch of the PlayStation 6 would be the obvious time to do so, although when that will actually be, given the ongoing memory crisis, remains a mystery – and probably to Sony as well.

In the meantime, solid but predictable is probably going to be the watchword for not only future State of Plays but the rest of the not-E3 period, including the upcoming showcases from Xbox and Nintendo. The modern state of video game development just doesn’t lend itself to surprises or multiple reveals at once, and a great deal has to change for that to ever not be the case again.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Comments Add as preferred source

Insomniac has confirmed various details about Marvel’s Wolverine, including a no gore option and no Spider-Man.

Sony kicked off last night’s State Of Play with a new look at Marvel’s Wolverine, which featured appearances from other X-Men characters like Jean Grey and Mystique. 

Following the presentation, developer Insomniac has shared various other details about what to expect and confirmed the action title will not have an open world element – unlike the studio’s Marvel’s Spider-Man games.

Speaking in an interview with IGN, Wolverine’s game director Mike Daly described the title as a ‘globe-hopping adventure’, where you wouldn’t be anchored to one location. 

‘So what you can expect out of the game is that we’ve created a comic book-style pacing, dense story, that’s like a rollercoaster and it grips you from beginning to end,’ Daly said. ‘And generally speaking, you’re driven through all of these missions by important events and plot points that are happening. So in that sense, what you saw in the gameplay trailer was kind of representative. 

‘Logan’s got a lead, he’s got a direction, but he has agency in how he decides to approach it. The areas have different paths you could take. Stealth is optional; you could do it or you could not do it, you could jump straight into combat. And you can poke your nose around the nooks and crannies of the world to find things here and there, and some optional content and collectibles along the way.’

Daly explains the environments will have variety in how they ‘feel’, which ‘leads to different flavours of gameplay as well’ – stating some will be ‘more about observation and traversal’, while others will focus on ‘stalking enemies and taking them out’, or ‘finding characters to interact with’. 

He added: ‘I can say we did not set out to make an open world game or a sandbox game. What we really wanted was a high-octane, high intrigue, linear single-player adventure, and the missions reflect that in their structure.’

While all the trailers so far have made Marvel’s Wolverine look like a linear experience, it’s not something Insomaniac have talked about before now.

Similarly, in the same interview, Insomniac ruled out a crossover with Spider-Man, despite the two games sharing the same Marvel universe. 

‘It’s correct that it does take place in the 1048 Marvel Universe, which is the Insomniac video game universe,’ co-game director Marcus Smith said. ‘It happens in the same world, but we don’t have any crossover. Spider-Man will not be making an appearance in Wolverine.’

One of the most divisive aspects of Marvel’s Wolverine might be the gore, but Insomniac has clarified that it can be reduced or turned off entirely via the accessibility options.

Speaking about the gore settings, Daly said: ‘It’s clearly integrated into the game in a lot of different ways, and so it’s a nuanced feature that is very selective about what we show, what we censor, turning off blood and things like that, just in order to make it more palatable to people who don’t really want to have that part of the experience.’

Marvel’s Wolverine launches worldwide September 15, 2026 on PlayStation 5 only.

As for what else was shown during the State Of Play, Sony debuted God Of War Laufey, Unti Dawn 2, and the return of Stuntman. 

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Comments Add as preferred source

The Wednesday letters page is worried about the September release schedules, as a reader is unconcerned at not being able to afford a ROG Xbox Ally.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Unexcited state
So that God Of War Laufey looked good… can’t say anything else surprised me or excited me about the State of Play though. I don’t feel we really need a new God Of War game, and would’ve preferred to see Santa Monica Studio do something new, but I’m sure it’ll be a good game.

I’m not sure how much the State of Play being a little dull is the fault of Sony, compared to the fact that everything leaks out in advance, but while this might be happening at the same time that E3 used to, you’re definitely not getting the swarm of new announcements you used to get back then.

Lots of the games looked good but apart from release dates I don’t feel I really learned anything new about any of them. It was informative rather than being exciting, is probably how I’d put it.

I’ll be interested to see how it compares to Xbox on Sunday, because I expect they’ll try and go all out with reveals and such, even if Sony don’t need to be that desperate. I’m not sure what I’m expecting from Summer Game Fest but that’s such a slog given how long it is – I think I’ll just see the edited highlights the next day.
Gorf

A familiar mess
Watching the State Of Play and it seems everyone was so terrified of being out at the same time as GTA 6 they’ve decided all to release in September instead.

Even if Nintendo or Microsoft don’t announce anything for September (which is unlikely) the Sony presentation has already packed out the schedule in a way which means some titles are going to suffer.

I’m hoping the new Control game isn’t one that suffers in the scrum, as it looks excellent.

You would think that when putting together this show someone might go ‘Hang on, these are all a bit bunched up aren’t they?’ But then logic and sense rarely seems to feature in release schedules.
Euclidian Boxes

GC: The problem is only Sony knew all the release dates ahead of time and most of these publishers will be finding out about them at the same time as everyone else. Now that everything is made public, they have the chance to change them, as that last week of September is madness. We share your pessimism that they probably won’t though.

As predicted
I don’t regret staying up late to watch the State of Play but now it’s just finished I can barely remember any of it. God Of War Laufey looked good but also not very surprising. I know nothing is allowed to just end nowadays but I’m really not sure there’s much point in making the game, especially when the only new gameplay idea seems to be making it more like Devil May Cry.

Couldn’t you just… play a Devil May Cry game if that’s what you wanted to do? It looks great though, so I’m sure it’ll be cinematic and all that, so I might give it a go if I can get it cheap, but I’m not exactly going to pre-order it or anything.

It was fine, I guess, but the days of being blown away by these kind of livestreams, where it’s shock reveal after reveal are long gone. Now it’s more like waiting to see how much of the rumours were right, which this time was almost all of them.
Focus

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Game of the show
Well, I know what must have been GC’s favourite game in the otherwise predictable State of Play: The Lost Wild! Anything with dinosaurs is good with me too and this one looked really good. Weirdly I got confused with it at first, as I thought it was the trailer for the movie The End of Oak Street, which the beginning of the game trailer seemed very similar too, whether on purpose or not.

I’m not clear what the explanation for the dinosaurs is in the game, but I appreciate it using current scientific information and for making it look so cool and realistic. Here’s hoping it plays as good as it looks. Even better, let’s hope it’s the start of a new trend for dinosaur games, then we can finally get Capcom to take notice!
Radar

Unwanted story
I would be very glad if the success of Forza Horizon led to lots of games trying to do similar kind of things but as much as I want to see Clutch succeed, I’m really not sure adding a story is the way to make your game seem different.

I don’t think it’s an accident that other racing games have little or not story so I’m not really sure what they think they’re going to gain by bucking that trend. At best, if the game’s good, I’ll just end up ignoring the story. After all, as bad as the tournament stuff is in Forza Horizon it’s fairly easy to ignore and switch off.
Tolly

Luxury device
I agree that releasing another ROG Xbox Ally (I still don’t understand what the ROG bit means) seems a bit silly but I think the other reader has it a bit wrong. Obviously, spending a grand or more on a handheld console is not something most people are going to want to do but I also don’t think they’re really missing out on much.

None of these PC handhelds have exclusive games, they’re just a way to play existing PC games on a specialist device. If you want to be portable most ordinary laptops can play indie games at the very least, plus the Switch 2 has most of the same ones. So you’re not even really missing out on that portability front.

I’d put this sort of thing into the same category as the PS5 Pro, where even quite hardcore gamers see them as an unnecessary luxury and not something they want to spend money on or, more importantly, feel like they’re missing out on if they don’t have one.

We’d all love to own whatever hardware takes our fancy, I’m sure, but they’re just not essentials or anything that’s going to have a big impact on the rest of gaming. I feel that Project Helix will fall into that category as well. It’s a neat option if you’ve got infinite funds but it’s not something any ordinary gamer actually needs.
Grando

GC: ROG stands for Republic of Gamers, which is a brand Asus uses for most of its gaming hardware. They seem really keen on it.

Nintendo discount
Good Star Fox preview, GC. I pre-ordered the game from Currys straight after reading it.

I don’t normally pre-order but there was a 10% discount for doing so, which meant I only paid £40.49 for a physical copy with free delivery too.
Arteta26Legend

GC: Currys almost always seems to have that sort of deal for Nintendo games, to the point where it almost seems like an official relationship.

Spaceship adventures
I really like the sound of the Star Fox 64 remake, but I also like the idea from the Reader’s Feature at the weekend, of turning the series into a space trading game. I feel this would be a great idea as the problem with all the games after Star Fox 64 is that they’ve got so far away from the original game, which was focused on the spaceships.

They kept trying to turn it into a generic modern shooter, but Star Fox needs to be either an on-rails shooter or something where you’ve got a bit of freedom. To me, using something like Elite as your starting point sounds great, especially as I’d love to see what Nintendo would do with that kind of idea.

I consider the absolute worst Star Fox game to be Star Fox Adventures, which had nothing in common with the original games. It was just a boring Zelda clone, with no puzzles or anything that makes Zelda good, and then the Star Fox characters dumped on to top. I know it used to be a different game, before Star Fox was added, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a bad Zelda clone.

So I think you’ve got to stick to the spaceships as the focus first of all. The characters are cool (or amusingly not cool, depending on how you want to think about it) but you shouldn’t base the gameplay around them, in my opinion. I don’t even pick Fox in Super Smash Bros.
Curly

Inbox also-rans
My kids are going to love those Lego Pokémon sets. I was shocked at the prices of the first lot they announced but these are pretty reasonable. It’s crazy how much adults are willing to pay for Lego nowadays.
Olliephant

These Pokémon sets are all well and good but where’s my Lego Arwing?! Don’t tell me that wouldn’t sell, and if it wouldn’t make it anyway!
Benson

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE: Games Inbox: Will tonight’s State of Play be a good one?

MORE: Games Inbox: Is this the most important week for gaming in 2026?

MORE: Games Inbox: Will Modern Warfare 4 save Call Of Duty?

Comments Add as preferred source

As Sony announce Until Dawn 2, they also reveal release dates for multiformat games including Onimusha: Way Of The Sword, Silent Hill Townfall, and Ace Combat 8.

It may have been one of the longest State of Plays ever, at over an hour, but Tuesday night’s showcase was a little short on surprise announcements. There was God Of War Laufey, which took up 20 minutes at the end, but that had been heavily rumoured beforehand – not that that took anything away from the actual reveal.

In fact, almost everything shown, including both first and third party games, looked interesting and the one thing the event did provide was lots of release dates, with games such as Silent Hill Townfall, Control Resonant, Ace Combat 8, and Onimusha: Way Of The Sword finally revealing their schedules.

Tomb Raider: Legacy Of Atlantis was also dated, but unfortunately it confirmed previous rumours that it has been delayed. Either that or it’s trying to get out of the way of GTA 6 in November. It’s hard to tell, but at least it didn’t go with a September release date, unlike seemingly everything else.

Marvel’s Wolverine – September 15

Surprisingly little time was spent on Wolverine, which may mean there’s a dedicated State of Play coming up in the future. It looked great, just as you’d expect, and extremely gory, with a cameo from Jean Grey and confirmation of villains such as Mystique and Sabertooh. Its release date wasn’t news though, as that had been previously announced.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls – August 6

The release date for Arc System Works’ one-on-one fighter also wasn’t a revelation, although Sony did announce a number of villains for the game, namely Doctor Doom, Magneto, Green Goblin, and Carnage. We weren’t sure who the character sitting on the throne was but apparently he’s called the Champion of the Universe (aka Tryco Slatterus) and he’s the big bad of the whole game.

Rayman Legends Retold – October 1

There’re almost no surprises in preview events nowadays, with everything being leaked out weeks and often months in advance. The reveal of a 3D remake of 2013’s Rayman Legends was a surprise though, in the fact that it looked really good. There are a few new into-the-screen sections but the gameplay is still mostly 2D and the new 3D visuals look really nice, and seem to maintain the same charm as the original.

Bancho The Chef – TBA

Speaking of charm, we’re not sure it’s a good idea to create a spin-off from not-indie game Dave The Diver that doesn’t maintain the same pixel art style graphics. That made the visuals look rather bland in comparison, but nevertheless there was a good energy to the trailer, with a prequel that shows how Bancho became the talented sushi chef you see in the original game. There was no mention of a release date though.

Kemuri – 2027

One of the only major surprises of the night was the latest from The Evil Within’s Ikumi Nakamura and her new studio Unseen. It seems to be a co-op action adventure, somewhat in the style of Devil May Cry et al. There’s lots of jumping and gliding around, as you fight yōkai and then… turn them into clothes you wear in order to use their powers. Because why not.

Tomb Raider: Legacy Of Atlantis – February 12, 2027

A delay for the (second) remake of the original Tomb Raider seemed inevitable after the rumours began but at least it still looks good, with some impressive visuals and lots of focus on dinosaurs. There was also lots to suggest the game is sticking pretty close to the original story, although we’re yet to see much evidence of how it will handle platforming, which was originally the antithesis of the Uncharted style action from the more recent games.

The Lost Wild – 2027

Speaking of dinosaurs (and there’s few things we enjoy doing more) this new game comes from Annapurna Interactive and is by a new British studio called Great Ape Games. It seems to be some kind of survival games, and a lot more scientifically accurate than most dinosaur media, with a lot of feathered dinosaurs and some gigantic Quetzalcoatlus flying reptiles (pterosaurs are not dinosaurs, ackchyually).

Dune: Awakening – September 22

A survival game and MMO that takes influences from both the books and movies, this has been out on PC for almost a year now. It’ll come to PlayStation 5 this September, bringing with it a new single-player story mode, which we imagine will also be made available for the PC and Xbox Series X/S versions.

Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered – October 1

Not a remaster we look forward to with much enthusiasm but there you go. Like most of these games it’s available on Xbox Series X/S and PC at the same time, although unsurprisingly the State of Play made no reference to that.

No Rest For The Wicked – October

Despite what we just said this is coming to PlayStation 5 first, sometime in October, with Switch 2 and Xbox versions arriving only at a ‘later date’. This will be the final 1.0 version of the game, which will hopefully improve on the slightly questionable impression made by the early access release.

Onimusha: Way Of The Sword – September 25

This release date would’ve been one of the bigger reveals from the State of Play, except it leaked out early too. Either way, Capcom’s Resident Evil-esque zombie samurai game was already one of our most anticipated games of the autumn, as we were very impressed by our hands-on preview last year. Although you can give it a whirl yourself now, as there’s a free demo out today.

Silent Hill Townfall – September 24

For a game set in Scotland we’re still yet to hear a single Scottish accent in any of these trailers, which is weird because developer Screen Burn are actually Scottish. They’re responsible for the excellent Stories Untold and the awful Observation, so we’re not sure what to expect with this one, although in terms of Silent Hill atmosphere everything does seem to be on point.

Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve – October 2

Available in early access from September 29, presumably if you buy one of the more expensive editions, you can see what we mean about September getting very busy. It’s all obviously GTA 6’s fault but we hope this doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. Although there’s a pre-order bonus of a port of PlayStation 2 game Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War on offer, to tempt you into making an early purchase.

Stuntman: Hollywood – TBA

It probably says a lot about us that the only licensed car we didn’t instantly recognise was the first one, which is apparently from Fast & Furious. Although apparently that’s not Mad Max towards the end, but the Jason Statham version of Death Race. The game itself is a revival of the old Stuntman series from Driver creator Reflections, which is surprising as the original’s trial and error gameplay made it an acquired taste.

Ill – 2007

There’s no doubting the craft in this first person action horror game but it is a very grim prospect, with some truly horrible imagery and some extremely difficult to kill zombie style enemies. It’s certainly going to scare off a lot of more casual Resident Evil fans but in terms of hardcore horror thrills this is definitely one to watch.

Control Resonant – September 24

A lot of these publishers will be finding out about the release dates of other games at the same time as you, so if they’ve any sense some of them will change them pretty quickly, because at the moment Remedy’s Control sequel is coming out on the same day as Silent Hill Townfall and a day before Onimusha: Way Of The Sword – which isn’t good news for any of the games.