Josh Wardle had a hell of a tough act to follow. His last game, Wordle, became incredibly popular thanks to its blend of simplicity, clarity and shareability. Over four years (and a seven-figure sale of Wordle to The New York Times) later, Wardle has released his follow-up game.
Like Wordle and its myriad clones, Parseword offers up one puzzle per day. It taps into the mechanics of cryptic crossword clues. So it might ask you to replace one of the words with a synonym, reverse it or find a homophone. You may need to remove letters from a word or combine it with another one to find the answer. There’s a tutorial to help you get to grips with things and hints are available.
Wardle told The New Yorker he was inspired by The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin, who he heard discuss the logic behind cryptics on a podcast. Wardle brought in two friends, Chris Dary and Matt Lee, whom he worked with at Reddit to collaborate on the new game. They received permission to use clues from long-time cryptic constructors Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon.
After playing the tutorial and today's puzzle, it seems you may need to be wired in a certain way to play Parseword. It’s certainly less approachable than Wordle. At first glance, it’s hard to see this reaching the same kind of mass appeal as Wardle’s previous game. (Fittingly enough, Parseword feels like a game geared toward New Yorker readers.)
Of course, countless other casual daily games that aim to replicate the success of Wordle have popped up over the last few years, from Quordle, Bracket City and Framed to the Times’ own Connections, Strands and Pips. Catfishing, which asks you to guess Wikipedia article subjects based on their categories, is a new favorite of mine. I still miss the original Heardle, though.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/wordles-creator-is-back-with-a-new-game-and-its-a-real-chin-scratcher-182639801.html?src=rss
The Super Mario Galaxy Movieis nearly upon us, as the hotly-anticipated sequel arrives in theaters on April 1. Nintendo recently dropped the final trailer for the film, which is filled with quick visual gags and nods to the source material.
There aren't too many actual reveals in this footage, as it covers a lot of the same ground as previous trailers. However, it does show that fan favorite Lumalee is returning as a prison guard of some sort, reversing the storyline from the original film in which the cheerfully nihilistic creature was trapped in a cage.
Nintendo also released a larger presentation that featured the aforementioned trailer, but also included interviews with actors and franchise creator Shigeru Miyamoto. We did get some news in this video.
It was revealed that the long-tongued dinosaur Yoshi will be voiced by Donald Glover. So it's likely the dino will be saying a lot more than "Yoshi" over and over. Actor Luis Guzman will also be playing Wart, the primary antagonist from Super Mario Bros. 2. Issa Rae will be on hand to voice Honey Queen, the gigantic bee character from the Super Mario Galaxy games.
It was even confirmed by lead actors Chris Pratt and Charlie Day that Luigi would be on hand for the entire adventure this time, and not confined to a cage-based subplot. I didn't realize Luigi's role in the first film was enough of a controversy to warrant this kind of mention, but here we are.
Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri also appeared in the video, assuring viewers that there are still "some big surprises" waiting in the actual film. To that end, there's been a rumor floating around that Fox McCloud from the Starfox franchise would be showing up. Is this the start of a Nintendo cinematic universe that will culminate in 10 years with a Super Smash Bros. movie? Stranger things have happened.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/heres-the-final-trailer-for-the-super-mario-galaxy-movie-181819593.html?src=rss
Nintendo's next platform adventure, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, will be released for Switch 2 on May 21. The company announced the release date as part of its annual Mar10 Day celebration. This is a made-up holiday that exists because the date spelled out like that sort of looks like the word Mario.
In any event, there's a new trailer for the perpetually hungry dinosaur's latest adventure. It looks super cute. It sort of resembles a children's picture book come to life. Yoshi games typically boast unique graphical styles, with past entries featuring entire worlds made of yarn, cardboard and more. Even the very first Yoshi platformer, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, featured a kind of hand-drawn aesthetic.
The gameplay looks to be somewhat unique, with a reduced emphasis on chucking eggs. Many of the game's creatures grant Yoshi special abilities when they hop on the dino for a ride. This reminds me of another Nintendo-branded glutton, Kirby.
Today's trailer also shows Yoshi gobbling up an enemy and encountering a foul and bitter taste, giving the little cutie a momentary stomach ache. I guess Yoshi's palette has become more refined since the last game.
This has already been a big week for the anthropomorphic dinosaur. Nintendo recently dropped another trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and it was revealed that Donald Glover will be voicing Yoshi. That film hits theaters on April 1, which is just a few weeks away.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/yoshi-and-the-mysterious-book-will-be-released-for-switch-2-on-may-21-164753150.html?src=rss
Meta is snapping up Moltbook, a Reddit-like social network for AI agents that has been around since January and remains completely ridiculous. The company hasn't disclosed the terms of the deal.
Moltbook and its creators Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr will be joining Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) when the deal closes. That's expected to happen in the coming days, according to Axios.
“The Moltbook team joining MSL opens up new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses," a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch. "Their approach to connecting agents through an always-on directory is a novel step in a rapidly developing space, and we look forward to working together to bring innovative, secure agentic experiences to everyone.”
It seems current Moltbook users will be able to continue interacting with the platform for the time being. Moltbook was built on the back of OpenClaw, a tool that enables people to whip up AI agents that can interact with dozens of different apps. (OpenAI hired the creator of OpenClaw last month.)
Schlicht used OpenClaw to create a bot named “Clawd Clawderberg” and asked it to create a social network for AI agents. And that's how Moltbook came to be.
For what it's worth, Clawd Clawderberg is a play on "Mark Zuckerberg" and Moltbook is a clear riff on "Facebook," so it’s somewhat fitting that Schlicht vibe-coded his way to a job at Meta. It also emerged that it was relatively easy for humans to pose as AI agents and post on Moltbook. Again, all of this is deeply, deeply absurd.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-is-buying-moltbook-the-ridiculous-social-network-populated-by-ai-bots-152732453.html?src=rss
Shazam is now available within ChatGPT, if you don’t want to launch the music discovery app on your phone for, well, reasons. You will have to link the Shazam app with the chatbot first from its Apps page, after which you can summon it in-chat to identify whatever song is playing. To summon Shazam in-chat, you can use prompts like “Shazam, what’s playing?” or “Shazam, what is this song?”
A box will pop up that you can tap on to launch the music discovery service, which will then listen to the tune playing. ChatGPT will display the song’s name, artist and artwork, along with the option to save the song to Shazam. Take note that the feature will work within ChatGPT even if you don’t have the music discovery app downloaded on your device, which does make it useful if you’re using a phone with full memory. The Shazam integration has started rolling out globally within ChatGPT on iOS, Android and the web.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/you-can-now-use-chatgpt-to-open-shazam-instead-of-just-opening-shazam-114000363.html?src=rss
Tech has a bad (and deserved) reputation as a sleep killer. Blue light, incessant scrolling and information onslaught conspire to keep us on edge and exiled from dreamland. But a few gadgets and apps out there may actually help us sleep. We’ve tried many such products over the years and have gathered the ones that actually did some good in this list. But first, take the arguably most important step towards good sleep: Use the sleep schedule on your phone (Android, iPhone). Once you’ve done that, check out the best sleep gadgets below and prepare to shuffle off to the land of nod.
Best sleep apps and gadgets
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-10-best-sleep-apps-and-gadgets-for-a-better-nights-sleep-in-2026-114742582.html?src=rss
The hype for Gang of Dragon, the debut game from Nagoshi Studio, may already be getting derailed. According to a Bloomberg report, Chinese tech giant NetEase is going to stop financing Nagoshi Studio starting in May. Bloomberg confirmed the news with the studio's employees and a NetEase spokesperson.
The report explained that NetEase decided to cut funding to Nagoshi Studio, which was founded in 2021 by Yakuza franchise creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, after finding out the studio needed $44.4 million to complete the project. Bloomberg reported that Nagoshi Studio is trying to find new sponsors but hasn't had any success so far. The report also added that the studio can continue the project on its own, but would be responsible for paying NetEase for any associated costs to hold onto the brand or assets.
While Nagoshi Studio may have been working on Gang of Dragon since the studio's creation, the general public got a better look at the title through a trailer announcement during The Game Awards 2025. The action-adventure game set in Tokyo would star Ma Dong-Seok, a South Korean actor who starred in Train to Busan and Marvel's Eternals. As of now, Nagoshi Studio might be at risk of joining other casualties stemming from NetEase's executive decisions, like when the tech giant decided to shut down Ouka Studio in 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/netease-is-reportedly-pulling-funding-for-yakuza-creators-studio-182945690.html?src=rss
Roblox has launched a feature powered by AI that can rephrase inappropriate language in real time. The online game has been using AI filters to block out any language that goes against its policy for a while now, but it has been replacing censored chats with a series of hash signs (####). Roblox admits that encountering too many hashmarks can be disruptive and make conversations hard to follow. This new feature will instead replace words and phrases with what the AI deems as more appropriate substitutes.
Rajiv Bhatia, Roblox’s Chief Safety Office, said the game is starting with profanity. For instance, if a user sends “Hurry TF up” in chat, the system will replace it with “Hurry up!” Everyone in the chat will see a note when a message has been rephrased, and the sender will see what language was edited out. A user who keeps cursing in chat will still be penalized for breaking Roblox policy even if the AI rephrases their messages. “As these systems scale, they create a flywheel for civility, where real-time feedback helps users learn and adopt our Community Standards,” Bhatia said in a blog post.
Rephrasing has been rolled out to chats between age-checked users in similar age groups and in all the languages the game’s translation tool supports. Roblox introduced a mandatory age verification system back in January after reports came out that it has a “pedophile problem,” with adult players allegedly using the game to groom children. Kids under 13 can no longer use in-game chat outside of certain experiences, while everyone else can chat with players around their age. Age check, however, hasn’t stopped authorities from suing Roblox: LA County, in a lawsuit filed in February, said Roblox knows its platform “makes children easy prey for pedophiles.” Louisiana’s AG has also just filed a lawsuit, saying Roblox “created a public park and filled it with sex predators that are preying on… children.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/roblox-introduces-real-time-ai-powered-chat-rephraser-for-inappropriate-language-160000063.html?src=rss
Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. We've got a lot of new and upcoming games to highlight this week, and those are on top of all of our coverage of the Nintendo Indie World stream the other day. Nintendo packed a lot of news into that 18-minute stream, including the sudden arrivals of three great games — Blue Prince, Minishoot' Adventures and Öoo — on Switch and/or Switch 2.
The company revealed release dates for a bunch of games we've had on our radar, such as InKonbini: One Store. Many Stories (April 30), Mixtape (May 7), Denshattack! (June 17) and Ratatan (July 16). Release windows for several games were confirmed as well, including Toem 2 and Grave Seasons, both of which will be out this summer.
Meanwhile, if you have a Playdate (or have been meaning to get one), be sure to check out the third anniversary sale on the Playdate Catalog storefront this weekend. There are lots of good deals and we've got some suggestions for you.
Elsewhere, speedrunners will be showing off their skills in AAA games, indies and everything in between during the Frost Fatales event from Games Done Quick. From March 8-14, you can watch women and femme speedrunners tear through the likes of Undertale, Strange Antiquities, An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs, Tunic, Hollow Knight and Windswept. It's a charity event that will be raising funds for the National Women's Law Center.
On that note, there’s a Women's Day sale on Steam that’s running until March 15. There are discounts on tons of games from women and gender marginalized-led teams as well as demos for upcoming titles. Among the games on sale are Dredge (60 percent off), Overcooked 2 (75 percent off), The Wandering Village (50 percent off), Dogpile (35 percent off) and Consume Me (35 percent off).
New releases
Slay the Spire has helped to popularize the roguelite deckbuilder genre since its early access debut in 2017. Mega Crit is back for another bite at the cherry with Slay the Spire 2, which hit Steam in early access this week for $25. The studio says the price will increase after early access.
The studio expects the sequel to remain in early access for between one and two years, though it won't release the full version until the game "feels great." During the early access period, Mega Crit is going to try some experimental features and "exotic designs," while pinpointing niche issues and getting feedback from players to "make sure the game is headed in the right direction."
Perhaps the biggest change in the sequel is the addition of a co-op mode for up to four players. There are new cards (including multiplayer-specific ones), characters and enemies in the mix as well, of course.
Demons have descended on Toronto and his Sex Bom-omb bandmates have been kidnapped, so it's up to Scott Pilgrim and his allies to save the day. Scott Pilgrim EX is the franchise's latest side-scrolling fighter, following on from Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game.
This entry is from Tribute Games, which has a pretty great recent track record when it comes to co-op beat-'em-ups after Marvel Cosmic Invasionand Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. This time around, the studio teamed up with Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley to develop a new storyline.
I haven't had time to jump into Scott Pilgrim EX yet, unfortunately, but I'm really looking forward to doing that soon. When I do, I'll be instalocking Roxie Richter as my character. Gonna listen to “Black Sheep” a bunch in the meantime.
Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf is at the top of my to-play list this weekend. I adored the first entry from Wishfully and Thunderful Publishing a few years ago, and I've heard that the sequel is even better.
This is a narrative-driven adventure platformer in the vein of Limbo and Inside. As in the first game, you'll be evading dangerous robots after the antagonist weaponizes technology to exploit the resources of Lana's home planet. I'm sure that doesn't have any parallels with our reality.
Planet of Lana II looks just as gorgeous as the first game. Lana is said to be more agile this time and is capable of moves like wall jumps. Her companion, Mui, remains available to help her solve puzzles and survive this dangerous world.
Planet of Lana II is out now on Steam, Switch, Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S for $20. The Steam, Switch and Switch 2 versions have a 10 percent launch discount. You can get that same discount on PlayStation if you're a PS Plus member. The game is also available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
The Legend of Khiimori hit Steam and Epic Games Store in early access this week for $30. It's an open-world adventure game in which you take on the role of a courier rider in 13th-century Mongolia. You can breed and train horses with special abilities to help you explore this landscape and carry out deliveries.
You'll need to set up camp and craft critical items on your journeys, and you'll need to be on the defensive against dangerous wildlife. There are also evil spirits to fend off in order to liberate corrupted zones.
There's a lot going on here and, evidently, a lot more to come. Developer Aesir Interactive plans to add a string of features during the early access phase (which is expected to last for around a year), including racing, falconry, a "peaceful mode" and character and horse customization.
Lost and Found Co. is a lovely-looking hidden object game from Bit Egg and co-publisher Gamirror Games. It's on Steam for PC and Mac for $18, though there's a 10 percent discount until March 19.
I love this trailer for Lost and Found Co. It's full of charming animations and neat details, like a comic book-style series of panels that helps tell the story. You play as Ducky, a duck who has turned into a human intern at a startup that helps people get their lost items back. That sentence alone has me smiling.
In the wake of Blippo+, another game that debuted on the Playdate has now landed on PC (Steam and Itch), Mac (via Steam and the Mac App Store) and Nintendo Switch. Ratcheteer DX typically costs $13, but there's a 25 percent launch discount on all storefronts except the App Store.
The original version of Ratcheteer made its bow in Playdate season one, meaning that every owner of the little yellow console has access to it. You play as a young mechanic who — like the rest of humanity — lives underground to stay safe from an eternal winter. However, after the power plant and water treatment plant go out of commission, it's up to you to fix them. That kickstarts a top-down pixel-art adventure in the vein of the early Legend of Zelda games that should take you about four to five hours to finish.
This updated game from Shaun Inman, composer Matt Grimm and illustrator Charlie Davis is available in color — with filters that include the 1-bit Playdate look — and it has a CD-quality version of the soundtrack. It's the first game that publisher (and Playdate maker) Panic has made in house that's landed on Steam and consoles. I've only played a little of Ratcheteer DX so far but it seems just as delightful as the original version, so I'm eager to keep going with it.
On another day, I might have wrapped up this section with a feel-good game like Lost and Found Co. Not this time. Instead, here's a bird-spotting psychological horror walking sim.
The one-minute launch trailer for Birds Watching, from Studio Ortica, is about one-60th as long as the game's runtime. It's full of creepy details, like a giant bird with humanoid legs. The tone is unnerving, but it absolutely caught my attention.
Birds Watching is out now on Steam for $5. You can get it for 10 percent off until March 13.
Upcoming
This trailer for My Little Puppy (which premiered during the Indie World showcase) captured my whole damn heart. Korean developer Dreamotion created the game by "adding dreams and hopes to the story I shared with Bong-gu, a dog who I adopted and raised," the studio's Junyoung Lee said. After crossing the rainbow bridge, the game's version of Bong-gu eventually picks up the scent of his dad and sets out on an adventure to rescue his human. I'm crying in the club at my desk.
My Little Puppy is coming to Switch on May 29. It's already available on Steam for $25.
Lunacy Studios is a studio that boasts developers with experience on the likes of Star Wars: Battlefront, Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Life is Strange. Its first game is The House of Hikmah, which is coming to Steam on April 8.
This is a story-driven 3D adventure game that takes place in a setting inspired by the Islamic Golden Age. You take on the role of Maya, a 14-year-old who is looking for answers after her father passes away. He left Maya with an elemental heirloom that she can use to solve puzzles and she can use wind channels to help her traverse the environments.
I can't speak to how authentic its representation of the Islamic Golden Age is, but the setup and art direction of this game have me intrigued. It certainly doesn't hurt that Austin Wintory (Journey, Sword of the Sea, The Pathless) composed the music.
I got completely hooked on Ball x Pitand I'm looking forward to trying out MLB The Show 26. So, I really think there should be more ball-based games. And, look at that, here's a first peek at Ballgame from new studio Human Computer.
In this physics platformer, you play as a sentient ball. As is the case in golf, the idea is to get to the hole in as few shots as possible. Also like in golf, that's harder than it might seem at first. The levels pull in elements from a range of inspirations, including pachinko, pinball, skeeball and many other types of ball games. Among other things, you'll skim across water, bounce off of bumpers and float in bubbles.
There are arcade minigames where you can earn a type of currency that you can use to unlock upgrades, custom looks and dozens of other balls. It all seems quite chaotic at first glance. I live for chaos. I'm in.
To wrap things up for this week, here's a nifty teaser trailer for Echobreaker, a precision platformer with an isometric perspective. The aim is to reach the goal as quickly as possible. You'll use powerups to help you do that. You'll also need to battle enemies along the way.
I had no trouble following what was happening at any given moment in this short clip. I think the perspective here makes things interesting. There have been a bunch of high-octane first-person platformers in recent years. I think that being able to see the action from above helps make it clearer to me what's going on here. The clean, futuristic art style helps too.
Echobreaker, which is from Upstream Arcade and publisher Weekend Games, is slated to hit Steam later this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/slay-the-spire-2-scott-pilgrim-ex-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-120000884.html?src=rss
Netflix's library of streamable party games is expanding today with a custom version of Overcooked! All You Can Eat. Netflix launched its cloud gaming program with games like Lego Party and Tetris Time Warp, but Overcooked feels a bit unique because it features a roster of Netflix-affiliated characters from KPop Demon Hunters and Stranger Things.
For the uninitiated, Overcooked plays like a more manic version of Diner Dash, where teams attempt to prepare food together in increasingly elaborate kitchens filled with obstacles. The original version of Overcooked! All You Can Eat was released in 2020, and includes DLC and stages from previous versions of the game. Netflix's version bundles in the same content, and "10 Netflix celebrity chefs" including "Dustin, Eleven, Lucas, and the Demogorgon from Stranger Things," and "half-dozen faces from KPop Demon Hunters," like "Mira, Rumi, Zoey, Jinu, Derpy and Sussie." Like Netflix's other streaming games, playing Overcooked also requires you to use a connected smartphone as a controller.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/netflixs-version-of-overcooked-lets-you-play-as-huntrx-212515187.html?src=rss
Jurors in a New Mexico child safety trial heard testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg today. During pre-recorded testimony, Zuckerberg was repeatedly asked about the company's understanding of social media addiction and other issues that had been studied by its researchers.
During the deposition, which was recorded last March, Zuckerberg was asked about numerous findings from researchers at Meta who studied how the company's apps affect users and teens. The CEO downplayed the significance of many of these documents.
Early in the testimony, which was viewed by Engadget on Courtroom View Network, Zuckerberg was questioned about a document on the effect of feedback on Facebook users. The document stated that "contributors on Facebook are likely to learn to associate the act of posting with feedback" which will "lead contributors to seek rewards by visiting the site more often.” Zuckerberg said he wasn’t “sure if that's actually how it works in practice, but I agree that you're summarizing what they appear to be saying.”
Later, the CEO was questioned about a document that graphed the proportion of 11 and 12-year-olds who were monthly active users on Instagram. The chart indicated that at the time, around 20 percent of 11-year-olds were monthly users of the service. "I agree that the graph says that, I am not familiar with what methodology we were using to estimate this," Zuckerberg said. "I assume that if we had direct knowledge that any given person was under the age of 13, that we would have them removed from our services."
New Mexico's attorney general sued the company in 2023 for alleged lapses in child safety, including facilitating predators' access to minors and building features it knew were addictive. In court, Meta's lawyers and executives have disputed the idea that social media should be considered an "addiction." In public statements, the company has said that lawsuits have relied on "cherry-picked quotes and snippets of conversations taken out of context" and that it "has consistently put teen safety ahead of growth for over a decade."
As with his recent testimony in a separate trial over social media addiction in Los Angeles, Zuckerberg repeatedly rejected the "characterization" of questions that were posed to him. And he said that Meta's goal was to make its apps "useful" rather than to increase the amount of time people spend with them.
Zuckerberg was also questioned about a document written by a company researcher that stated "there is increasing scientific evidence, particularly in the US, … that the average net effect of Facebook on people's well being is slightly negative." The CEO said that "my understanding is that the general consensus view is not that."
It's not the first time a Meta executive has tried to downplay the significance of internal research. The company used a similar strategy in 2021 after former employee turned whistleblower Frances Haugen disclosed documents showing that Facebook's researchers had found that Instagram made some teen girls feel worse about themselves.
Zuckerberg's testimony was played one day after jurors heard recorded testimony from Instagram chief Adam Mosseri. The exec was also asked about Haugen's disclosures and Meta's response to them. Some of those disclosures were based on "problematic research," he said. "Most research is surveys. We run hundreds of surveys every month."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/mark-zuckerberg-downplays-metas-own-research-in-new-mexico-child-safety-trial-222924340.html?src=rss
The official title is Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, and that's about all we know for sure. The company released some concept art but it's just protagonist Edward Kenway hanging out on a boat.
We don't know when Ubisoft will release this thing into the world, but the company did recently say that a previously unannounced game would be released by the end of the coming financial year, which happens on March 31, 2027. At that time, Black Flag Resynced had yet to be officially announced. It's possible we could be playing this thing sooner rather than later, particularly if the company has been working on it for years.
This announcement came as part of a franchise roadmap, which included a slight mention of the next mainline Assassin's Creed entry. This is being developed under the name Codename Hexe, with Ubisoft promising a "unique, darker, narrative-driven Assassin's Creed experience set during a pivotal moment in history."
The creative director of that one, Clint Hocking, recently left the company after a 20-year tenure. He's been replaced by Jean Guedson, who had the same job for the original Black Flag 13 years ago.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-confirms-assassins-creed-black-flag-remake-193629862.html?src=rss
Humble Games' library has returned home, so to speak. Indie publisher Good Games Group (GGG), led by former Humble leaders, has acquired the full back catalog of over 50 Humble Games titles from Ziff Davis. Alongside the purchase, GGG has rebranded to Balor Games, positioning itself as a force in "triple-I" gaming.
"For the developers we have worked with over the years, this moment is a reunion," Balor Games CEO Alan Patmore wrote in a statement. "[It has] the same leadership and the same commitment to thoughtful publishing remain in place. What changes is our scale and our focus. Balor Games is built for inventors and backed by believers. To that end, it exists to be a seal of quality for independent games."
The Humble Games lineup includes (among others) Slay the Spire, A Hat in Time, SIGNALIS, Forager, Coral Island, Monaco and Wizard of Legend. Separate from the Humble transaction, Balor also bought the complete catalog of Firestoke Games (which shut down last August) and publishing rights to Fights in Tight Spaces. In total, the young studio now owns the publishing rights to over 60 indie titles.
Humble Games is separate from the Humble Bundle storefront. The latter is still owned by Ziff Davis.
Alan Patmore (l) and Mark Nash
Balor Games
The seemingly happy ending comes after quite the rocky road. In July 2024, Ziff Davis laid off all 36 employees of Humble Games. But later that year, Humble Games' former leaders (Patmore and Mark Nash) formed GGG and cut a deal to help manage their old studio's back catalog. Now, with Ziff Davis in a selling mood, that library is back in Patmore and Nash's hands. Balor Games, it is.
The pair view the newly anointed Balor as a developer-friendly publishing house. As for its name, Balor is a supernatural being in Irish mythology. It's sometimes depicted as having three eyes. Triple-eye, triple-I… Clever devils!
The triple-I moniker is a more recent addition to the gaming lexicon. It typically means something defined by indie creativity and passion — with a budget far less than AAA but more than a tiny two-person passion project. (Balor says it's about "high-quality, impactful games.") You wouldn't be blamed for wondering how that's different from AA. But the slant here is to define the genre less by budget and more by "indie" intangibles.
Nash detailed the company's vision in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz (which, curiously, is a Ziff Davis property). "We felt that what's becoming more and more critical is that as game development becomes more diverse, more complicated, and expectations continue to rise, we feel it's important that a publisher can match the needs of each individual project," Nash said. "We are spending a considerable amount of time with anyone we are partnering with, figuring out what they need specifically."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/humble-games-former-bosses-buy-the-studios-back-catalog-183831194.html?src=rss
Rhythm games never really went away after the decline of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but it feels like they’re having a bit of a moment again. From projects like Clone Hero and YARG, to Fortnite Festival and Stage Tour (an upcoming title from Guitar Hero veterans at RedOctane), to indies with rhythm elements like Ratatan and People of Note, music games are still very much around. You can now add Beat Weaver to the mix.
This upcoming game from Echolox Interactive — solo developer Christopher Lerch — is inspired by pre-Guitar Hero Harmonix titles like Amplitude and Frequency. (Given the way that tracks twist and turn, the trailer also reminds me a bit of Thumper. Thankfully, this doesn't feel nearly as ominous.)
As in Amplitude, you control a ship that barrels along tracks. You'll need to hit notes at the right time to be successful, of course, though Beat Weaver brings some interesting complexities to the formula.
Each track is linked to an instrument and you can switch between tracks at will. However, you'll first need to unlock additional tracks. If you play a sequence of notes (i.e. phrases) without a mistake, you'll activate one. As long as a track is active, it will sip away some of your energy. If that drops too low and you make an error, all the activated tracks will be disabled and you'll need to gradually unlock them again.
You'll need to switch between tracks and complete more phrases to keep the full mix active. Songs can have up to 16 tracks, so you might need to stay on your toes. That said, you won't need to hit every note dead on.
Lerch is aiming for more of a flow state feel and there are several difficulty levels. Plus, if an upcoming phrase looks overly complex for your current mood, you can stick to a track that has a simpler note pattern. Powerups that give you the opportunity to slow down and rewind tracks should help too.
Lerch originally started working on Beat Weaver as a hobby back in 2017. After receiving funding from Germany's Press Start: Games Founding Grant program last year, Lerch was able to focus on Beat Weaver full time. The developer says the protracted development time "allowed me to experiment with audio playback systems and engine architecture to maximize the interactive music experience, as well as making maximum use of the third dimension with the dynamic note highway system."
Details about artists who are featured in the game will be revealed later. Lerch composed much of the music personally. Players will be able to add custom songs, though they’ll need to load in separate audio files for each playable instrument.
Lerch is developing Beat Weaver in a custom engine without using generative AI. “For rendering it doesn't use any traditional texture mapping in favor of generating colors, patterns and skyboxes with shader code, noise functions, raymarching and mathematical expressions,” Lerch wrote. “Its comparatively low performance demands and dependencies allow it to run on older machines.”
This game just looks really neat. It’s nice to be excited about neat-looking things. Beat Weaver is slated to hit Steam (with support for Steam Deck) later this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/indie-rhythm-game-beat-weaver-looks-like-a-mix-of-amplitude-and-thumper-110000834.html?src=rss
Sure, Blue Prince has the most name recognition among the indie games that had a surprise debut on Nintendo Switch 2 today. However, I implore you not to overlook two other wonderful indies that hit Nintendo’s consoles in the wake of this morning’s Indie World showcase.
Minishoot’ Adventures — from SoulGame Studio and co-publisher IndieArk — is a game I absolutely loved when it first emerged on Steam in 2024. It’s an RPG that adopts the format of top-down Legend of Zelda games. At the same time, it’s a twin-stick bullet-hell shooter. The two-person team at SoulGame blended those genres to great effect.
Here, you play as a ship. Exploration is key, as you’ll need to find upgrades for your ship in order to access new areas. SoulGame injected a ton of personality into Minishoot’ Adventures as well. Errant apostrophe in the name aside, it’s a real gem.
I’m perplexed as to why Nintendo only showcased Öoo in the Japanese version of the Indie World stream. It’s utterly brilliant and by far the best new game I played in 2025. It’s so exquisitely designed by Nama Takahashi (ElecHead) that a 20-second trailer is all that’s needed to show how this puzzle platformer works.
You play as a caterpillar who has a bomb — and later a second one — that can be used to blow stuff up. The bombs are also used to hold down buttons and to propel the caterpillar upwards or sideways.
There are no instructions here. Takahashi (who made the game with the help of Tiny Cactus Studio and Tsuyomi) helps you figure out what to do solely through intelligent level design. The puzzles aren’t overly difficult, but they got my brain matter working just enough that I smiled whenever I found a solution. The visuals, music and sound design are supremely charming too.
This is a truly wonderful game. It doesn’t outstay its welcome either, as it can be completed within a couple of hours.
Öoo is available now on Switch for $11. It’s coming to PS5 on March 11 and Xbox Series X/S later this month.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/two-fantastic-indie-games-not-named-blue-prince-also-just-arrived-on-switch-182648197.html?src=rss
Nintendo has scheduled an Indie World Showcase livestream for tomorrow, March 3, at 9AM ET. The company says this event will include "roughly 15 minutes of news and updates on indie games coming to Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch." That's not a whole lot of time, but indie trailers tend to be on the shorter side.
We really don't know anything about what Nintendo and its partners could reveal tomorrow. It's entirely possible we'll see something big, like the previously announced Sea of Sorrow DLC for Silksong. More than likely, however, we'll get trailers and updates regarding a spate of unexpected indie games.
The previous Indie World Showcase took place in August and it gave us trailers and announcements for stuff like the excellent Ball x Pit and the upcoming Mina the Hollower. To that last one, Yacht Club Games said it would be launching the title for consoles this spring so we could get a release date announcement tomorrow.
Scott Pilgrim EXwill be available for download tomorrow, so a launch trailer is almost certain. This is a new side-scrolling fighter with four-player co-op and music by Anamanaguchi. My personal white whale is Witchbrook, the long-gestating life-sim set in a magical school. It's being published by Chucklefish, the company that originally published Stardew Valley.
There's some stuff we absolutely shouldn't expect. This is an Indie World Showcase, and not a Nintendo Direct. There will likely be no appearances by Mario or Zelda, unless a character pops up in an indie game as DLC or something. The stream is also unlikely to spotlight Pokémon Pokopia, despite the life-sim launching on March 5.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-just-announced-an-indie-world-showcase-for-tomorrow-at-9am-et-164706666.html?src=rss
Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. It's Steam Next Fest week, with literally thousands of demos for upcoming games for us to dive into. I'm trying to check out as many as I can before the event wraps up on Monday. However, I made a near-critical error in my planning: I opted to try the Raccoin demo first. I could and would have happily played that all week.
This is a coin-pushing roguelike deckbuilder that adopts the format of Balatro. To progress, you need to earn a certain number of points and the target increases each round. Every three rounds there's a sort-of boss — a few coins that negatively impact your game until you can get rid of them. After every round, you’ll go to a shop to buy and sell special coins and other upgrades. As you might expect with this type of game, finding ways to boost the points you can score from each coin is how to win.
On my first successful run, I found a way to electrify the coins (which boosts their score) by charging them and use passive abilities and special coins to spread and amplify the effect. Then I was able to replicate a special coin that pulls all other nearby coins into a cyclone — having the water-based coins in there helped to spread the electrical effect between other coins. There were a few rounds in which I didn't even have to do anything. The cyclones just dumped enough coins over the edge for me.
This was only the first way I've figured out how to break the game. Six hours in, I'm eager to find many more.
Raccoin — from Doraccoon and Balatro publisher Playstack — will hit Steam on March 31. The demo is currently still available.
I've had The Eternal Life of Goldman on my wishlist since we first learned about it a couple of years ago. I'm very glad that was one of the demos I've tried. This is an utterly gorgeous platform adventure with hand-drawn art. As Goldman, an elderly gentleman, you'll swap parts of your cane on the fly so you can hook onto floating rings or pogo off springs.
The platforming is challenging enough that I had to focus to get through the demo, which lasts about 75-90 minutes. There's almost always something going on in the background or foreground too. This game from Weappy Studio is shaping up to be quite something. I can't wait to play the full thing when The Eternal Life of Goldman hits PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, hopefully later this year.
Of course I had to check out the Next Fest demo for Vampire Crawlers, which is also available on Xbox. The latest game from Poncle is a turn-based deckbuilder roguelite. Oh, and it's also a Vampire Survivors spin-off. Instead of passively firing your weapons at surrounding enemies, you have a bit more control here.
It plays a bit like those first-person maze games from the '90s. You'll walk around each level with the help of a map that shows where enemies, chests and bosses are located. When you encounter enemies, you'll play cards in a certain order to deal damage or boost your stats for that particular battle. You can play all your available cards in one go, but you might want to rearrange them first so that you, for instance, use a card that boosts your damage before firing any weapons. Each card has a mana point value — you can only play a full hand if you have enough mana. And yes, there are weapon evolutions.
Turn-based games usually aren't my bag, but sometimes they just hit right. The Vampire Crawlers demo hits right. I can already tell I'm going to spend dozens of hours with the full game, which is coming to Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android this year.
I tried a few other demos so far, including one for John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, a co-op shooter in the vein of Left 4 Dead. It's a little rough around the edges right now, but it seems enjoyable enough.
There are a bunch of other Next Fest demos I'm hoping to try over the weekend, including precision platformer Croak, PvE pirate game Windrose, cyberpunk platformer Replaced, record store sim Wax Heads, match-three/tower-defense game Titanium Court and Dragon Care Tarot. I read that you can pet dragons in the latter, so I'm sold.
New releases
If you can't get enough of The Witcher and are impatiently waiting for CD Projekt Red to unleash The Witcher IV, here's one way to keep your thumbs busy in the meantime. Reigns: The Witcher is the latest installment of the Reigns series from Nerial and Devolver Digital for Steam, Android and iOS ($6).
You still play as Geralt of Rivia. However, this is a narrative-focused game in which you make choices by swiping. It's something a little different for Witcher fans. It might just pull some long-time Reigns players into that fantasy universe for the first time too.
Bread and Fred is the cutest thing. The co-op platformer from SandCastles Studio has been available on PC (Steam, GOG and Epic Games Store) and Nintendo Switch for a while, and this week it landed on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4 and PS5. It normally costs $15 and there's a 20 percent launch discount on those consoles. You'll need to be a PS Plus subscriber to get those savings on PlayStation, though.
You and a friend take control of a pair of adorable penguins that are tethered together. The aim is to ascend a mountain, sometimes by swinging each other to get to hard-to-reach places. But if you miss a jump, you can plummet back down and erase a chunk of your progress. There is a single-player mode in which one of the penguins is replaced by a rock. The pixel art aesthetic here is super charming.
Here's another co-op game. This one is a side‑scrolling RPG brawler. After several months in early access/game preview, the full version of Stoic's Towerborne arrived on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox on PC, Steam and PS5. It costs $25, though there's a 20 percent launch discount on Xbox. It’s on Game Pass Ultimate and Premium as well.
After the 1.0 update, the game has a full campaign that you can play offline by yourself or online with friends. Stoic has added fresh biomes, enemies and bosses, and there are said to be hundreds of missions, side quests and bounties. I really dig the fluidity of the animations in the trailer, though the action is a bit hard to parse at first glance. Still, I'm curious enough to try out Towerborne.
I’ve been a little too occupied with other Next Fest demos (plus Overwatch challenges, I’ll admit it) to play Dice A Millionyet, but this roguelike deckbuilder looks pretty interesting. The aim is to find the right combination of dice and rings (i.e. passive abilities) to roll a million points in one go. As with the likes of Balatro, it's all about figuring out powerful synergies between dice and rings to break the game and rack up ridiculous scores. I did quite enjoy a line on the Steam page that reads, "Cutting edge next-gen graphics (not really, I drew all of them on paint)."
Dice A Million — from Countlessnights and publisher 2 Left Thumbs — is also available on Itch and Xbox on PC. It's on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Otherwise, it costs $13, but there's a 20 percent discount on Steam until March 11. There's a demo available on Steam too.
Let's start this section with a news roundup. Mouse: P.I. for Hire continues to look rad, but unfortunately we'll have to wait a little longer to play it. Fumi Games and publisher PlaySide have delayed it by a few weeks until April 16 to polish the game up.
I do love voxel-based heist game Teardown, so I'm jazzed for the online multiplayer update. Tuxedo Labs revealed it will go live on Steam on March 12.
It will add a co-op campaign option (for up to 12 players!). There'll be hundreds of other multiplayer modes created by the studio and the community, including prop hunt, battle royale and floor-is-lava modes. There's going to be so much carnage. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Teardown will get the multiplayer update later this year.
ConcernedApe (aka Eric Barrone) marked the 10-year anniversary of Stardew Valleyby showing off some very early gameplay footage, some stories from his time of working on his all-time-great indie game and revealing the two additional characters that players will be able to marry when the 1.7 update goes live. Sandy's cool, so it'll be nice to have her as an option, but Clint? That guy sucks. Here's hoping Barrone will finally focus more of his attention on Haunted Chocolatieronce this Stardew update is done and dusted.
Also as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, it was revealed this week that an orchestra will deliver a one-night-only performance of music from Stardew Valley at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on October 25. I missed my chance to see the Symphony of Seasons tour in person when it stopped near me, because I don't always make the wisest decisions in life. At least we can now watch an official recording of a previous concert.
Minimap, a social platform for gamers, ran its first indie game showcase this week. Among the highlights:
Thrifty Business (Spellgarden Games), a cozy thrift-store management sim that's coming to Steam this year. A demo's available now.
Another look at Please, Watch The Artwork, an anomaly-spotting game — without jump scares or monsters — from Please, Touch The Artwork developer Thomas Waterzooi.
Lily’s World XD, a psychological horror game from SonderingEmily in which you'll investigate a teenage girl's laptop in the early 2000s. The trailer brings to mind screenlife films like Searching and Unfriended.
Coming-of-age adventure Ikuma - The Frozen Compass from Mooneye Studios. You'll play as both cabin boy Sam and husky Ellie (or have a friend take control of one of them) as you try to make your way home from the Arctic. This should hit Steam later this year.
Tombwater was originally supposed to arrive in November, but Moth Atlas and publisher Midwest Games delayed it for further refinement. It's now set to arrive on Steam on March 31.A Next Fest demo is available now.
This is a 2D Soulslike with a Western setting and 2D pixel art that's inspired by Bloodborne and early Legend of Zelda games. You'll face off against horrific eldritch creatures as you search for a missing friend. You'll have seven playable classes to choose from and the ability to wield more than 50 firearms and melee weapons, and more than 20 spells. Tombwater is said to have around 20 hours of gameplay.
There's no release date for Solarpunk as yet, but I found this trailer quite soothing. It offers a first look at co-op gameplay for this base-building and exploration game from the two-person team at Cyberwave and publisher rokaplay.
Up to four players will be able to explore floating islands, gather resources and build out a homestead together. As the title suggests, there's a technology-driven element to Solarpunk. You can use renewable energy sources to power tools that can automate things like resource harvesting and watering plants. The airships you use to travel between islands look cool too.
Solarpunk is set to hit Steam later this year. A demo is available now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/steam-next-fest-a-different-flavor-of-the-witcher-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-120000900.html?src=rss
Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery are officially merging. The studio paid Netflix the $2.8 billion termination fee it was owed for breaking its original deal to buy Warner Bros. earlier today, and the historic film studio has now formally accepted Paramount’s offer.
Along with the deal, which values Warner Bros. Discovery at $31 per share, Paramount is making several commitments to assuage the fears of regulators and the entertainment community. Those include a guarantee that the new company will produce 30 theatrical films annually, that theatrical releases will have a minimum 45-day window in theaters before they’re brought to video on demand (something Netflix ultimately also agreed to) and that deal itself will close by Q3 2026.
This turnaround in Paramount's fortunes has happened quickly. Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Paramount's offer was superior to Netflix's on Thursday, and not long after the streaming service said that it wouldn't provide a counter offer, effectively abandoning its previous agreement.
Ultimately, Netflix and Paramount were vying for different parts of Warner Bros. Disocvery. Netflix was primarily interested in Warner Bros. proper, while Paramount Skydance wanted the whole company, cable networks and all. Either deal would need to be approved by regulators, which is the hurdle Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery face now. The general assumption has been that the close relationship Paramount CEO David Ellison and his billionaire father Larry Ellison have with the Trump administration would smooth over any issues, but the deal will receive scrutiny abroad and likely also at the state level, based on a recent post from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Paramount Skydance has proven its willingness to comply with President Donald Trump, but delays in closing the deal could be costly. The company is on the hook to pay Warner Bros. Discovery "a daily ticking fee equal to $0.25 per share per quarter beginning after September 30, 2026." The company also has to pay $7 billion to Warner Bros. Discovery if the deal is terminated for regulatory reasons. Netflix lost the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery, but getting a competitor to potentially overpay for the studio might be its own reward.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/paramount-agrees-to-buy-warner-bros-discovery-pays-netflix-28-billion-for-breakup-215936514.html?src=rss
With the likes of The Last of Usand Falloutout of the way for a bit, Amazon has seized its opportunity to put the spotlight on the next big video game adaptation, its currently-in-production God of War show. Today we got our first look at Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson as Kratos and Atreus.
The image released by Amazon shows the eponymous God of War standing next to a tree as he watches his son — who notably looks a bit younger than the video game version of 11-year-old Atreus we first met in 2018’s God of War — take aim with his bow. Exactly what they’re hunting is unclear, but we know that the developing relationship between father and son that was such a big part of the PS4 game is also going to be at the heart of the show.
Whether Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios have nailed the looks of its central characters is a matter of opinion. Personally I think Hurst’s Kratos in particular looks a little bit off here, but there’s every chance it all comes together later in production. Or when we first hear him angrily exclaim "boy!"
The Sons of Anarchy star was cast as Kratos back in January, and earlier this week we learned that Deadpool’s Ed Skrein will play Baldur in the Amazon show. The rest of the cast includes Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Max Parker and Heimfall, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Teresa Palmer as Sif, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Jeff Gulka as Sindri and Danny Woodburn as Brok.
No release date has been announced yet, but a second season of God of War has already been confirmed.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/heres-your-first-look-at-kratos-and-atreus-in-amazons-upcoming-god-of-war-tv-adaptation-172251366.html?src=rss
Stage Tour is playable solo or with other players in a band, according to RedOctane, and supports inputs from a keyboard and mouse on top of the expected guitar, drums and microphone accessories. The studio plans to primarily offer the game digitally, but hopes to also sell a bundle with a guitar controller and a download code because "that just feels right." As far as ongoing support goes, whereas games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band included a set tracklist and support for song DLC, it sounds like RedOctane could be taking an approach more inspired by Epic's regular updates to Fortnite. "The plan is regular special events that are more than just music drops," RedOctane writes. "Real moments. Real themes. Real updates. We want to evolve the game alongside the fans who support it. Improve it. Expand it. Keep it alive."
RedOctane and Harmonix created the first Guitar Hero in 2006, before RedOctane was acquired by Activision to continue the franchise in 2006, and Harmonix went on to start the Rock Band series. Development of Stage Tour is currently being led by RedOctane, with Eidos Montréal helping with motion capture and QA, and Third Kind Games providing additional development support. Conveniently, RedOctane’s owner Embracer Freemode also already owns CRKD, a video game accessory maker that has experience building controllers for rhythm games.
Sign-ups to play an alpha of Stage Tour will open soon, and RedOctane plans to "kick off closed alpha testing late spring/early summer." We're long past the peak popularity of games like Guitar Hero, but rhythm and music games never went away. Players have had Clone Hero and more official experiences like Fortnite Festival to get their Guitar Hero or Rock Band fix, but Stage Tour could be a more than welcome third option when it launches later this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/guitar-hero-vets-redoctane-reveal-their-new-music-game-220809719.html?src=rss
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