GameRant

Cameron Swan went hands-on with the next Plague Tale entry from Asobo Studio and Focus Entertainment, and it's a bold and beautiful step in a very new direction for the franchise. Read the full preview: https://lnkd.in/gQxXNfPm

Game Rant went hands-on with upcoming Soulslike Valor Mortis from ONE MORE LEVEL S.A., and while it's always had promise, it's now clear that it's something truly special. Read our full preview: https://lnkd.in/gCbAbX8Q

Anthony Taormina visited That's No Moon to get the scoop on their new game Crossfire, a narrative-driven game that wants to push the cover shooter genre forward in a big way. https://lnkd.in/gwRkgzVD

GTA 6 from Rockstar Games is set to be the biggest launch in the history of the medium when it arrives November 19. And yet millions of players still won't have access to it on day one, for reasons that say a lot about where the industry is heading. There's no PC port at launch, keeping the game console-only for now on PlayStation and XBOX. Take-Two Interactive doesn't sell in Russia, where regulators are moving to ban it outright. And a growing wave of age-verification laws, including in Australia, will gate access to online play. Where should the line sit: is age verification a necessary safeguard, or a barrier that pushes players toward unregulated workarounds? Full breakdown: https://lnkd.in/gdHwsctM

GameRant Editor-in-Chief Anthony Taormina went hands-on with Control Resonant from Remedy Entertainment Plc. You play as Dylan Faden as he fights for his humanity and our survival against a reality-bending cosmic threat. Are you going to play the game when it releases?

When Ace Combat 7 brought the series back, it reached 7.5 million players and proved there was still a real audience for arcade flight combat. Its sequel has a clear job: turn that momentum into the new front door. We went hands-on with Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve for six hours across seven story missions. The most interesting design choice is how Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. widened the entry point while raising the difficulty, smarter onboarding and skippable tutorials up front, far more punishing missions once players are in the air. There's also a clear next-gen play in the world itself, including a mission that removes radar and has you tracking enemies by reading jet trails in the sky. A sequel built to be both more accessible and more demanding is a notable bet on growing an audience without losing the core. Full hands-on preview from Josh Cotts: https://lnkd.in/gh9gt82M

Pride Month is a good time to look back at the games that got LGBTQ+ representation right and not as a token subplot, but woven into the core of the experience. Larian Studios set the standard with Baldur's Gate 3, treating every romance, including same-sex and polyamorous relationships, with the same depth and care as everything else in the game. Naughty Dog made Ellie's identity central to The Last of Us Part 2 in a way that felt genuinely authentic. Supergiant Games gave us Hades, one of the few mainstream games to represent bisexuality and polyamory without a single punchline. Celeste, from Extremely OK Games, remains one of the most quietly powerful trans narratives in any medium. And The Sims, from Electronic Arts (EA), has been giving players the freedom to build the households they actually want since 2000. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gmyqAArp

Cameron Swan attended a #LEGO Pokemon reveal event! After just a few minutes with the new sets, it's clear this is what Smart Play was meant for. Thanks for the hands-on preview the LEGO Group and The Pokémon Company International! Read the full preview: https://lnkd.in/gv2rzCB3

Anthony Taormina got the chance to play Ubisoft’s upcoming remake of the fan favorite Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. Is the game shaping up to be the return to form fans have been waiting on? Let’s answer some rapid-fire questions on Black Flag Resynced with GameRant editor-in-chief Anthony Taormina and Christian Buckley.

XBOX CEO Asha Sharma has just confirmed that the recent Xbox Game Pass price cuts have already had a positive effect on the subscription service. The new Xbox CEO first announced these Xbox Game Pass price cuts in late April, confirming that the cost of the subscription service's Ultimate tier would be reduced from $29.99 a month to $22.99. Do you think this was the right move?