RPG

Armando Troisi, a cinematic designer on the Mass Effect trilogy and lead cinematic designer on Mass Effect 2, says pessimism about the next Mass Effect is overstated. He argues BioWare still has many original developers on the project and can deliver a strong singleplayer, narrative-driven RPG if allowed to return to its cinematic RPG formula. Troisi frames his view as a response to community concern after Anthem, Mass Effect Andromeda, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard struggled under live-service pressures or development pivots.

Armando Troisi, original Mass Effect cinematic designer and lead cinematic designer on Mass Effect 2, said BioWare does not need outside advice to develop Mass Effect 4. He noted many of the creators from the original trilogy still work at the studio and added the team can do the job "as long as people get out of the way." This places responsibility for the franchise's direction with BioWare's internal staff and signals confidence in continuity for the next installment.

After a quiet summer, September 2026 delivers a dense slate of PC releases and updates, led by The Blood of Dawnwalker on Sept. 2 and two major launches — Silent Hill: Townfall and Control Resonant — on Sept. 24. The Blood of Dawnwalker is a vampire action RPG from Witcher veterans Rebel Wolves. The Witcher 3 Remastered is being distributed as a free upgrade (including its DLC) to owners of the original, adding a high-profile update amid the crowded month.

The Blood of Dawnwalker has seven distinct endings: four start with an assault on Griefberg Castle, one is reached by making a deal with Brencis, and two are secret endings triggered before the main finales. Most endings include an epilogue that reflects your in-game choices and requires 800 Denarius for a church donation and a dowry for your sister Yanna. Every ending shows the same fate for Lunka and concludes with a post-credit cutscene.

A 45-minute demo of Exodus at Gamescom left the reviewer intrigued and impressed. The sci-fi RPG is developed by Archetype Entertainment and is openly positioned as a spiritual successor to Mass Effect, involving members of the original creative team. The demo played differently than expected and showcased the studio’s ability to deliver on that pedigree, marking Exodus as a noteworthy upcoming title for fans of narrative-driven space RPGs.

A preview play of Exodus found strong similarities to the Mass Effect series, though the game is a new IP rather than Mass Effect 5. Exodus is the debut title from developer Archetype Entertainment. The game is scheduled to launch on April 7, 2027 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, making it a major upcoming sci-fi release across current platforms.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, the third and final entry in the Remake series, will be released on a single physical disc but requires an internet connection to download additional game data on every platform. Previous entries (Remake and Rebirth) were split across two discs and were content-complete on-disc; Revelation will not be playable straight from the disc out of the box. This change means players without internet access or limited bandwidth cannot run the game from the physical copy alone.

Wizards of the Coast and Square Enix announced a new promo card tied to the Magic: The Gathering–Final Fantasy crossover. The original Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set launched more than a year ago and became the most successful crossover in the Universes Beyond line. The new promo will keep the collaboration active well into 2027, extending the franchise partnership.

The official StarCraft website is showing brief visual glitches on the StarCraft Remastered pages, flagged online days before BlizzCon. John Carson posted examples on Bluesky. 2026 rumors claim the publisher of Arc Raiders is developing a StarCraft shooter and that Nexon sought rights to create a new RTS possibly called StarCraft III. This matters because the franchise has seen no new mainline releases since StarCraft II (2010–2015) and fans hope Blizzard will announce a revival at BlizzCon.

Director Naoki Hamaguchi confirmed in Sony's State of Play livestream that Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will release on 8 April 2027. The game will launch worldwide and simultaneously on PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S and PC. This marks the first time a Final Fantasy 7 title will arrive on all platforms at the same time.

On day two of Gamescom 2026 a scheduled preview at the Square Enix booth was lost when the attendee's name was missing from the slot list. A Square Enix PR representative offered an on-the-spot demo played standing on a Switch 2 console. The unplanned hands-on gave a stronger impression of Final Fantasy Resonance than the game's trailers. The incident highlights how busy show schedules and communication errors can shape first impressions of upcoming games.

CD Projekt Red generated 435 million PLN ($116.4M) in revenue and 249 million PLN ($66.6M) in net profit for January–July 2026, rises of 23% and 37% year-over-year. The company reported a 57% net profitability margin driven by strong sales of The Witcher and Cyberpunk franchises and growing licensing income. Licensing deals (including Cyberpunk tie‑ins with Wuthering Waves and Apex Legends) and a successful Cyberpunk TCG Kickstarter boosted results. Management expects further revenue growth from The Witcher 3 Remastered (2026), the Songs of the Past expansion (2027), and The Witcher 4 (2028).

Square Enix released a company statement denying reports that it plans to go private. The Tokyo-based publisher and developer, owner of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest, said the claims were incorrect. The clarification removes immediate uncertainty for shareholders, partners and fans of its major franchises.

CD Projekt Red held a behind-closed-doors demo of Songs of the Past at Gamescom 2026 for media and business visitors. The expansion arrives 11 years after the original The Witcher 3 and follows Geralt visiting Dandelion's ancestral homeland. CD Projekt Red has allocated significant resources to the new storyline to aim for the same narrative quality as the base game and its major expansions. Rumors about the add-on circulated for roughly a year before the demo.

CD Projekt has paused active work on The Witcher 1 remake by Fool’s Theory and folded its development into The Witcher 4 production because of shared technology and asset dependencies. The studio is switching from its RED Engine to Unreal Engine, and The Witcher 4 will set the Unreal-based technical standards needed for the remake. Fool’s Theory is now the primary developer on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s Songs of the Past expansion while a small portion of its team supports the remake.

Xbox Game Pass will remove ten games from the service on September 15, including Cyberpunk 2077, Dead Cells and Spiritfarer. Cyberpunk 2077 will be removed from Cloud and Console access while most other titles are leaving across Cloud, Console and PC; Frostpunk 2 is being removed on PC only. Cyberpunk was added to Game Pass in March, and Game Pass is adding new titles this month such as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage, and RuneScape: Dragonwild.

Polish developer CD Projekt Red said it never considered charging players for the newly revealed Remastered edition of The Witcher 3. The studio also explained that the Songs of the Past expansion came about after a couple of 'happy accidents' during development. The comments illustrate the studio's approach to evolving The Witcher 3 without creating paid barriers for players.

CD Projekt Red cannot guarantee a PlayStation 5 disc edition of The Witcher 4 because production depends on Sony’s manufacturing; the game is scheduled for release in 2028. Joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski said the studio is "at the mercy of Sony's manufacturing factories". CD Projekt Red will still produce a boxed edition with physical "feelies" regardless of whether a PS5 disc version is available. The uncertainty affects availability for players and collectors who prefer physical PS5 copies at launch.

Goddess of Victory: NIKKE issued a Sept. 3 update from developer Shift UP with seven hours of maintenance (11:00–18:00 UTC+9) to deploy new content. The patch introduces SSR Drake: Great Villain with a Special Recruit banner running from post-maintenance through Sept. 17, a new Union Raid called Coordinated Operation, Champion Arena Beta Season 3B, and changes to how future game data is downloaded. The update arrives during an ongoing Persona collaboration and ahead of another event later in September, giving players new recruitment and endgame content to tackle.

Sony will air two consecutive State of Play broadcasts on Sept. 3, starting with a global show at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET. The first broadcast will feature updates from Sony's own studios and third-party partners and conclude with an extended look at Final Fantasy VII: Revelation. A second, Japan-focused State of Play hosted by Yuki Kaji will follow, offering deep dives into upcoming games from Japan and Asia with English subtitles.

FromSoftware released the $5 Tarnished Edition DLC for Elden Ring, adding new starting classes, armor sets, horse armor and a few unannounced items hidden in the world. Players have located the additions and begun systematic testing, focusing on Leontiel's Greatsword — a stealable weapon with a matador-style 'Muleta' skill that feints then thrusts for a backstab. Community demonstrations show the Muleta combo performing particularly well on bull-like bosses such as Old Gaius and being tried on the Full-Grown Fallingstar Beast, affecting how players evaluate boss strategies and loadouts. The DLC's hidden placement of gear and striking new animations have driven rapid player experimentation and discussion.

HoYoverse unveiled Nodusfall, a co-op monster-slaying action game featuring dark fantasy visuals and large boss encounters. The game currently has no release date or release year; HoYoverse's typical pattern of three open betas before launch places a likely release around 2028. The official Nodusfall site is open for pre-registration and includes a questionnaire to select players for future betas; there is no ongoing beta. Nodusfall departs from HoYoverse's usual character-collection gacha model, indicating a different gameplay and monetization direction for the studio.

In this week's 'What we've been playing' feature, Kelsey returned to Elden Ring while Bertie spent time at the Prancing Pony roleplaying an 'edgy' Aragorn. Other Eurogamer team members are traveling back from Germany and will provide further write-ups next week.

A leaked build of Nvidia's DLSS 5 is circulating and being forced into games it wasn't optimized for, producing AI-driven image changes rather than straightforward upscaling. The leaked implementation alters facial features, skin texture and expressions—sometimes aging or photorealizing stylized characters—and users have posted examples from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Starfield and Hogwarts Legacy. Members of the RenoDX Discord shared before-and-after images and mixed reactions, with some calling results humorous or unsettling and others praising improved realism. The leak highlights DLSS 5's shift toward generative image modification, which can change a game's artistic presentation when used outside official optimizations.

Two thefts at Gamescom targeted exhibitor booths and left indie developer Ryan Laley and vendor Iam8bit without equipment. CD Projekt Red offered to send replacement gear to Laley, while marketing consultant Indie Game Joe donated funds to replace his lost equipment and encouraged players to wishlist Laley’s upcoming game Mimic. Two laptops stolen from Iam8bit's booth contained early demos for Petal Runner and Escape Academy 2, creating both financial harm and a risk of leaked unreleased builds.

HoYoverse unveiled Nodusfall at Gamescom's Opening Night Live as a four-player co-op action game focused on contract-based hunts against large, multi-phase monsters. Characters are not obtained through random draws and HoYoverse has not confirmed any gacha mechanics, though cosmetic monetisation is being considered. The game pairs a bleak, fallen-divinity aesthetic with gameplay closer to Monster Hunter and is explicitly not a soulslike.

CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory revealed a new full expansion, Songs of the Past, sending Geralt to Letten, the homeland of Dandelion. The expansion adds a new open-world region, new monsters, new quests, a silver chain item for Geralt and an additional romance option. Around 15 minutes of gameplay was shown at gamescom, including the early main quest 'A Bed of Thorns' and an introduction to Dandelion’s family. All improvements from The Witcher 3 Remastered carry over into the expansion.

Tim Curry, who voiced the villain Doviculus in Double Fine’s Brütal Legend, has died at age 80. Double Fine has made Brütal Legend free to claim or download on itch for 666 minutes as a tribute. Doviculus was originally planned to be voiced by Ronnie James Dio, and Curry’s performance helped define the game’s heavy-metal tone. The giveaway echoes a prior 666-minute promotion tied to Ozzy Osbourne’s cameo in the game.

Tim Curry died late Tuesday night at his home in Los Angeles at age 80. He was best known for stage and screen turns such as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show and for playing Premier Anatoly Cherdenko in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, and he extended his career into videogames. His performances shaped cult film and gaming culture. Curry suffered a major stroke in 2012, underwent brain surgery, and was left partially paralyzed with short-term memory impairment.

This week saw big franchise moves from Square Enix and CD Projekt, a promising Mass Effect–style debut from Archetype, and industry-wide tech and distribution headaches — from DLSS 5 leaks to disc-based games that won't run offline. Players should watch Sony's State of Play and next week's BlizzCon for clues on several of these threads.