Features
The latest long reads, interviews and perspective from across PC and console gaming.
Orbitals makes its co-op partner part of the game, not the bill
A free invited partner and a local demo make Orbitals' two-player premise easier to begin, even if they cannot solve the harder task of finding the right companion.
How Celeste and Super Meat Boy make failure worth another go
A brutal jump becomes easier to face when the game makes its failed version useful.
Moonlighter 2 makes every relic argue with the one beside it
The sequel's cleverest trick is making the same relic matter in the dungeon, the bag and the shop.
Well Dweller wants its movement upgrades to change the whole map
A developer's self-critique of Crypt Custodian makes Well Dweller's glowing matchstick much more interesting.
How Into the Breach and Slay the Spire put danger in plain sight
Two modern classics reveal just enough of the next turn to turn chaos into a decision.
NBA 2K27's shared City makes its split career stranger
A co-ed City gives NBA 2K27 a genuinely shared build space. Elsewhere, the career remains more fragmented.
BrokenLore: DON'T LIE turns Junko's flat into a map of isolation
Junko's flat is not a staging area for the horror. It is the game's central, unstable piece of evidence.
Black Ops Cold War's evidence board gave its campaign room to think
Its evidence board asked players to collect, compare and decide before the next mission started.
Mewgenics sends every battle back to the house
Its house gives every risky expedition a history that the next cat party has to live with.
Maneater 2 turns a theme park into a shark's food chain
The sequel's theme-park setting can make eating, exploring and evolving feel like one escalating act of vandalism.