In this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, our editor-in-chief, Matt Miller, joins Alex and Marcus to discuss why Marvel Rivals has grown on us and how it's shaking up the Overwatch formula. Next, the crew dives into some of July's best indie games, including Dungeons of Hinterberg, Arranger, and Thank Goodness You're Here — okay, that last one technically releases today, August 1st, but I played and beat it during July via a pre-release copy. Finally, Marcus dives into Silent Hill 2 (2001) and Forestrike, the follow-up to 2021's pixel art action title, Olija.
The Game Informer Show is a weekly gaming podcast covering the latest video game news, industry topics, exclusive reveals, and reviews. Join us every Thursday to chat about your favorite games – past and present – with Game Informer staff, developers, and special guests from around the industry. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
Matt Storm, the freelance audio editor for The Game Informer Show, edited this episode. Matt is an experienced podcast host and producer who's been speaking into a microphone for over a decade. You should listen to Matt's shows like the "Fun" And Games Podcast and Reignite, a BioWare-focused podcast. The Game Informer Show – Podcast Timestamps:
After debuting in cinematic teaser form during Summer Game Fest, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII's gameplay reveal is set. Fans will get their first look at the game in action during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live show this month.
Mark August 20 on your calendar as the date for Gamescom’s annual evening kick-off show (hosted by Geoff Keighley). The event will feature the world premiere of Civilization VII’s gameplay trailer. Following the show, Firaxis will stream a special gameplay showcase on Twitch featuring over 20 minutes of developer insights and deep-dive discussions of the game’s new features.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII launches in 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
Squirrel with a Gun is an evocative title, and this wacky sandbox platformer by Dee Dee Creations lives up to its namesake. You do, in fact, control a seemingly ordinary squirrel who wields human-sized guns (and other weapons like a rocket launcher) to blast shady government agents while bouncing around a physics sandbox. It's a strange and silly game, and you can watch editors Marcus Stewart and Charles Harte attempt to rationalize this exclusive gameplay montage.
Head to Game Informer's YouTube channel for more previews, reviews, and discussions of new and upcoming games. Watch other episodes of New Gameplay Todayright here.
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC Publisher: Capcom Release: Rating: Teen
The Ace Attorney series spends the vast majority of its games following defense attorneys like Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice, but there are a few games where this isn't the case. After all, the word "attorney" can also refer to prosecuting attorneys, like Miles Edgeworth, star of the upcoming Ace Attorney Investigations Collection. Capcom has been on an Ace Attorney remaster streak these past few years, and the Ace Attorney Investigations games were the last in the series not yet brought to modern consoles. We got the chance to go hands-on with each title to see how well they hold up, and play one that had never made its way North America until now.
The collection includes two games. The first, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, was released for the DS in North America in early 2010. It received generally positive reception with a 78 on Metacritic, but according to a 2013 article from Siliconera, its sales in the region were "poor at best." As a result, Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit was never officially released in the West, meaning many fans have never had a chance to play it. In addition to the games, the collection provides the full suite of quality-of-life features included in modern Ace Attorney collections (including auto-advance, a log of past dialogue, and a story mode that plays through the game for you) as well as a gallery to view concept art and listen to the series music.
My time with each game has been largely positive. The series' greatest strength has always been its writing, and that's no different here, but it doesn't always reach the highs I'm used to. My favorite part of an Ace Attorney game is when all the evidence and testimony align at the end of a case in a truly satisfying narrative conclusion, but the cases in Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, while competent mysteries, never gave me that same rush. On the other hand, the opening case from Prosecutor's Gambit absolutely lived up to that standard, with its twists and turns keeping me engaged in a way openings of video games rarely do. That case alone has made me very excited for the game's launch.
Mechanically, Investigations spin-offs play a little differently than mainline Ace Attorney games, but the basics are similar. While these games don't have the typical courtroom structure, Edgeworth does engage in battles of wits with suspects and witnesses that are functionally identical to cross-examinations. Instead of first-person observation of crime scenes, players control Edgeworth directly, walking around isometric areas to collect clues. This ultimately represents the biggest change – players investigate active crime scenes just minutes after the crimes occur, essentially collecting the evidence for a theoretical courtroom battle in the future. Edgeworth also uses a unique Logic mechanic to connect clues and come to conclusions, and in Prosecutor's Gambit, a minigame called Mind Chess where he outwits witnesses into revealing information.
My main issue with the collection is its disjointed art style. As a part of the modernization process, all the pixel character sprites have been redrawn in an HD anime style. In isolation, they look quite good, and the animations especially deliver, but they stand out as odd against the game's painterly backgrounds; the character models are just a little too crisp for the world they inhabit. You can adjust character models in the settings to turn them back into pixels, but these models don't look great either, and the game still feels a bit off. That said, character portraits used in dialogue sequences look as great as ever, partially because they match the painted style seen in the backgrounds, so it's not all an eyesore.
The Investigation games are a pair of black sheep in the history of Ace Attorney, and I can see why. They are different but not different enough to attract a new audience or to feel particularly novel in comparison to the rest of the series. However, based on what I've played, they are far from bad games, and I look forward to playing them in full – especially Prosecutor's Gambit – when Ace Attorney Investigations Collection launches on September 6 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
The 2002 Star Wars: Bounty Hunter video game is being updated and making its way to modern consoles and PC, and we decided to give it a look.
The original game, now more than 20 years old, was released on GameCube and PlayStation 2, and this new version adds all kinds of interesting bells and whistles. According to developer Aspyr, this version is a native port of the GameCube version of the game, as opposed to an emulation. The game also features contemporary controls and and overhauled camera system.
You can watch the video for our full impressions and play (or replay it) on August 1 on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, Switch, and PC.
Head to Game Informer's YouTube channel for more previews, reviews, and discussions of new and upcoming games. Watch other episodes of New Gameplay Todayright here.
Bungie has announced layoffs affecting 220 employees. In a blog post, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons cites “rising costs of development and industry shifts as well as enduring economic conditions” as the primary factor while revealing some dramatic changes for the company going forward.
These layoffs represent 17 percent of the studio’s workforce and affect every department of the company, with executive and senior leadership roles impacted most. Parsons states that departing employees will receive a “generous” exit package that includes severance, bonus, and health coverage. Bungie also plans to hold employee town halls, along with team and private individual meetings over the coming weeks, to help sort out the next steps. 850 employees remain following the layoffs.
“I realize all of this is hard news, especially following the success we have seen with The Final Shape,” Parsons writes. “But as we’ve navigated the broader economic realities over the last year, and after exhausting all other mitigation options, this has become a necessary decision to refocus our studio and our business with more realistic goals and viable financials.”
Parsons also reveals plans to further integrate Bungie into Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), which acquired the studio in 2022, to leverage its strengths. Firstly, Bungie is working to integrate 155 roles (12 percent of its staff) into SIE over the next few quarters. Bungie states this has allowed them to save additional talent that would have otherwise been affected by today's layoffs.
Second, Bungie is working with PlayStation Studios to form a new, separate in-house studio that will continue developing one of its incubation projects. Bungie describes this title as “an action game set in a brand-new science-fantasy universe.”
Parsons then elaborates on how Bungie found itself in this difficult position. He explains that the team’s goal was to ship games in “three enduring, global franchises” and set up several incubation projects to achieve this aim. However, Bungie found itself stretched thin too quickly. This forced its support structures to grow larger than it could feasibly support, especially given the ongoing development of two big titles in Destiny 2 and the upcoming Marathon.
Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Parsons also cites this rapid expansion collided with a broader economic slowdown, the sharp downturn games industry, the mixed reception to Destiny 2: Lightfall, and the need to give the recently released The Final Shape expansion for Destiny 2 (which garnered critical acclaim) and Marathon more development time to ensure a high quality. “We were overly ambitious, our financial safety margins were subsequently exceeded, and we began running in the red,” Parsons states.
“After this new trajectory became clear, we knew we had to change our course and speed, and we did everything we could to avoid today’s outcome," says Parsons. "Even with exhaustive efforts undertaken across our leadership and product teams to resolve our financial challenges, these steps were simply not enough.”
Today’s layoffs come roughly 8 months after the studio cut 100 staffers last October, and the second since it was acquired by Sony. It represents another wave of game industry job cuts that have run rampant since last year, and hopefully the affected staff can land on their feet sooner than later.
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Publisher: Behaviour Interactive Developer: Supermassive Games Release: Rating: Mature
The Casting of Frank Stone may have new elements due to its ties to Dead by Daylight, but it remains a Supermassive horror game at its core. By that, I mean it’s a narrative-focused, choice-driven adventure that can result in numerous different outcomes based on your decisions and reaction time to sudden button prompts. Characters can be permanently killed off due to your actions, and this blueprint has given past Supermassive works like Until Dawn and especially The Quarry (which boasted 186 different outcomes) plenty of replayability for fans who wanted to see every possible route the story could take. This has typically meant restarting the entire game, but The Casting of Frank Stone eases this process thanks to a new destination called the Cutting Room Floor.
This mode opens after you’ve beaten the game once, but it will be available at the start for owners of the Deluxe Edition. The Cutting Room Floor displays the web of possible outcomes, locked and unlocked, for every narrative fork in each chapter. It also shows the number of collectibles you’ve found or can be found.
Every decision has a percentage number representing the number of players who chose it, and this statistic will continually fluctuate as more people play. You can replay any segment, which means you can preserve your choices from a previous section of the game and only change later outcomes, and vice versa. Since some outcomes can only be experienced by making a specific combination of decisions, the Cutting Room Floor seems like a great, streamlined way to witness the different story permutations and go collectible/achievement hunting without replaying unnecessary stretches or the whole game.
How many different directions can the story take? When I asked Supermassive Games this question, creative director Steve Goss told me that the sheer number of outcomes won’t be as vast as The Quarry’s. Instead, he says to compare the game to Until Dawn’s structure. The team aimed to write a more tightly written tale for The Casting of Frank Stone to facilitate more satisfying character arcs and resolutions. That said, you’ll still be making plenty of decisions, and the Cutting Room Floor will make it easier than ever to revisit those choices and make new ones.
The Casting of Frank Stone launches on September 3 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Click the banner below to visit our cover story hub for more exclusive stories and videos.
Destiny 2: The Final Shape
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