Author Archives: Anna Washenko

Housemarque’s Saros is delayed to April 30

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PlayStation had said on X that it would have news about Saros at The Game Awards, and unfortunately, fans excited for the new Housemarque project will need to wait a little longer to get their hands on it. The game has been delayed from its planned March release. But there's only a short time until the new date of April 30, and pre-orders are open now. Star Rahul Kohli appeared at The Game Awards to introduce the newest trailer for the game. 

I'm glad we won't be waiting too much longer, because Saros looks very cool. Housemarque made its name on titles like Resogun and Returnal, and Saros seems like a great addition to their library. The latest trailer shows off all the golden and solar vibes in Carcosa. It also has more glimpses of the characters and story as well as the dangerous and deadly beings that will be trying very hard to kill you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/housemarques-saros-is-delayed-to-april-30-041813989.html?src=rss

Exodus is delayed to early 2027

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So there's good news and bad news about the highly anticipated Exodus coming out of The Game Awards this year. The good news is that there's a fresh trailer showcasing more of the game. The bad news is that the game won't be out until early 2027. The game was originally announced two years ago (also at The Game Awards) and had been pegged for release in 2026.

We may be waiting longer to get our hands on Exodus, but the substantial new trailer shows more of what the final product will entail, offering some backstory on main character Jun Aslan. He's the only human who can use the technology developed by Celestials, which are humans that have evolved 40,000 years into the future. The trailer also showcases the character C.C. Orlev, voiced by Matthew McConaughey. (Insert obligatory "alright alright alright" here.) Developer Archetype Entertainment includes some notable names from BioWare, 343 Industries and Naughty Dog, and the BioWare lineage seems particularly strong with this character- and choice-driven science fiction story.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/exodus-is-delayed-to-early-2027-032610665.html?src=rss

The devs of SOMA are back with a spiritual successor called Ontos

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Frictional Games is back with a new game that looks primed to carry on the studio's tradition of excellence in horror. It's called Ontos, and it's slated to launch on PC, PlayStation and Xbox next year. The trailer debuted during The Game Awards 2025.

The company's past projects include Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA, and this new title is also looking pretty dang creepy. It looks like things will take a philosophical turn, with a story of trying to piece together your father's past that leads you to questioning the meaning of life and reality. The team is going big with the casting, with Stellan Skarsgård playing one of the main roles in the trailer. This is one that any horror fans will want to keep on their radar.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-devs-of-soma-are-back-with-a-spiritual-successor-called-ontos-021535060.html?src=rss

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic is a new action RPG from the director of Mass Effect and KOTOR

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The Game Awards kicked off with a bang, showing the world premiere of Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic. It's a brand new action role-playing game that will be directed by Casey Hudson, who previously headed up several notable BioWare games you probably know like Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic.

There’s not much to go on in the trailer, but the game simply existing is a pretty great surprise and this cinematic trailer sure looks shiny. Hudson is working with Arcanaut Studios on this project, which is described as “an epic interactive adventure across a galaxy on the brink of rebirth where every decision shapes your path towards light or darkness.” Which kind of sounds like Star Wars crossed with Mass Effect, and I am personally very excited for that combo.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/star-wars-fate-of-the-old-republic-is-a-new-action-rpg-from-the-director-of-mass-effect-and-kotor-012913046.html?src=rss

Bradley the Badger looks like Wreck-It Ralph as a real video game

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A lot of trailers drop during The Game Awards, but the comedy of Bradley the Badger stood out from the pack. The conceit is similar to Wreck-It Ralph. Bradley, the protagonist of a fictional platforming series, is suddenly transported into the worlds of other unfinished video games; the trailer shows a badger-ified Bloodborne, Cyberpunk 2077 and The Last of Us. He also has access to a kit of dev tools that let him modify these incomplete projects, getting a taste of making a game. As the trailer ends, Bradley briefly crosses into the real world and comes face to face with an actual game developer. This looks like it will be a funny and very meta game. Astro Bot made that combo work brilliantly, so here's hoping Bradley the Badger does too. 

"Bradley is part love letter to videogames and part satire of them," said Christian Cantamessa, co-founder of Day 4 Night Studios. "Games are an art form and this is a story inspired by our adventures making them." Cantamessa and fellow co-founder Davide Soliani have some big credits on their resumes, including Red Dead Redemption, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. The titular badger is voiced by Evan Peters, who has been in the recent X-Men movies as well as Tron: Ares.

The team is planning to release the game on Steam, with consoles possibly to follow, but no timeline has been given yet.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/bradley-the-badger-looks-like-wreck-it-ralph-as-a-real-video-game-005634520.html?src=rss

Apple (mostly) loses its appeal in Epic Games case

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Apple has clawed back a bit of ground in its legal fight with Epic Games that could have wide-reaching consequences for all app developers. Today, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals mostly upheld a previous contempt ruling regarding fees Apple levied on third-party payment systems. However, the judges did decide to reverse the order that Apple cannot charge any commissions on those external payments, which was one of the company's main arguments in this ongoing debate.   

To catch you up, US Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers initially ruled in 2021 that Apple must allow third-party payment systems, although her decision fell shy of calling the tech company's control over the App Store a monopoly. In May 2025, she ruled that Apple's 27 percent commission on those outside payments violated her previous order. Apple responded with an emergency motion to appeal that finding. 

Epic Games had taken its smash hit Fortnite off both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store while it was in court arguing these cases. Fortnite returned to iOS in the spring and just arrived back on Android devices today.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-mostly-loses-its-appeal-in-epic-games-case-235509557.html?src=rss

Fortnite is back on the Google Play Store

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Epic Games has spent a lot of time in court over the past several years, but it seems the company's litigious era may be winding down. The company announced today that its game Fortnite is back on the Google Play mobile store in the US. Fortnite's return to Android devices means Epic's popular hit is now available on just about every gaming platform following five years of arguing antitrust lawsuits. 

Epic took both Google and Apple to court over their policies for mobile payment systems back in 2020. The gaming company has been successful on the whole in its challenges, most recently reaching a settlement with Google in November. The companies agreed to a modified version of the order US District Judge James Donato originally placed on Google regarding fees charged to developers and handling of in-app payments and third-party billing systems. 

The same saga unfolded earlier this year with Apple. US Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers also sided with Epic Games in May, ordering Apple to stop collecting commissions on purchases made outside its own App Store. After a bit of back and forth, Fortnite finally returned to iOS in the US a few weeks later.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnite-is-back-on-the-google-play-store-195507458.html?src=rss

Google Disco is an experimental web browser that builds AI widgets based on your tabs

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The latest experiment emerging out of Google Labs is Disco, which is the company's AI-driven approach to web browsing. The first feature for Disco is called GenTabs, built on Google's Gemini 3 model. 

GenTabs are interactive widgets created from a mix of user prompts, open tabs and chat history. The preview examples demonstrate how GenTabs can create a model to demonstrate entropy as a study aid, or collect trip ideas into one screen for building an itinerary. The GenTab can be further refined with natural language requests, and it will also offer contextual suggestions for additions that may be helpful. Google's blog post announcing this concept notes that information given in a GenTab will include links to its sources. 

Google has a waitlist for people who want to try out Disco and GenTabs, although for now it's only on macOS. Google Labs projects don't always go the distance to an official public release, and the company even acknowledged that GenTabs will likely have some wonkiness at this experimental stage. But it's been clear for months that big tech companies are gunning for the best and fastest ways to put their AI tools into browsers, so it seems likely that there will be more features in this vein coming up soon.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-disco-is-an-experimental-web-browser-that-builds-ai-widgets-based-on-your-tabs-180000701.html?src=rss

Mewgenics, the next game from The Binding of Isaac’s developer, will arrive next February on PC

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Indie game developer Edmund McMillen hosted a Reddit AMA today offering some more details about his upcoming game Mewgenics. For starters, the Steam release date for this turn-based cat-breeding RPG has been slightly delayed to February 10. The game was first announced all the way back in 2012 and had most recently been slated for a launch some time this year. Part of the long development cycle was so that McMillen could pause to launch Super Meat Boy Forever, the sequel to his Super Meat Boy platforming hit from 2010. Gamers may also know McMillen for The Binding of Isaac, which has had some notable crossovers with titles like Balatro in recent years.   

Other tidbits from the AMA include the promise that McMillen already has DLC ideas, so expect to have additional content release after the base game is available. Although there doesn't seem to be any lack of replayability in Mewgenics; McMillen said "I currently have 300+ hours across 2 saves and have only beaten the game on one save so far." There is also a plan to have some console versions of the game, although likely not until much later next year at the soonest, the dev added.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/mewgenics-the-next-game-from-the-binding-of-isaacs-developer-will-arrive-next-february-on-pc-235740063.html?src=rss

Repair iconic 2000s-era gadgets in upcoming indie game ReStory

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We love a little nostalgia mixed in with our cozy gaming, and ReStory looks like a perfect blend of those two. In this upcoming indie game, you play the owner of a Tokyo electronics repair shop in the mid 2000s. The trailer that dropped today shows you tinkering with some very familiar gadgets from the era, such as renamed riffs on a Tamagotchi, a Nokia brick phone, a PSP and a Walkman. You clean and repair these devices for customers, and it looks like your conversations with them might have as much impact on their lives as your official work does. 

The whole thing looks exceedingly charming and chill. It's nice to see a game like ReStory as a counterpart to something with a similar premise but wildly different tone like Kaizen, which was a highlight during the Steam Automation Fest over the summer. ReStory is being developed by Mandragora, and it is currently playtesting ahead of a planned 2026 release.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/repair-iconic-2000s-era-gadgets-in-upcoming-indie-game-restory-233445848.html?src=rss