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Video Game Previews August 19, 2026, 07:00 PM
Imagine you're a kindergarten teacher. Your life revolves around young children—and all the stress that comes with them. Every workday is a test of endurance: you're responsible for a room full of kids, surrounded by constant noise, crying, shouting, and endless mischief. How do you unwind after all that and clear your head (especially when alcohol isn't an option)? That's exactly the sort of person cozy games are made for, and today we're taking a look at one of them: Cozy Liora. -
Video Game Previews August 18, 2026, 05:00 PM
Following the success of Papers, Please, the market has been flooded with “work simulators” that focus on routine tasks requiring attention to detail and patience—some rely on complex mechanics, others on the storyline, and still others attempt to combine both approaches. Trainwatch—a new project from Harvester Games, the creators of The Cat Lady—combines border checkpoint duties, time management, and narrative storytelling; we tried out the closed beta and are ready to share our impressions. -
Video Game Previews August 14, 2026, 08:00 PM
It’s hard to imagine the “Popular New Releases” section in game launchers without idle games these days—they’ve become a staple in gamers’ lives. Most of these games follow the “click, wait, upgrade” formula, but Pinata Smash: Incremental Circus from indie studio Punk Func Games aims to rethink the genre. We tried out the closed beta and are ready to tell you whether the game is worth the wait. -
Video Game Previews August 6, 2026, 07:00 PM
When the developers at Secret Mission Games talked about Mad King Redemption, they cited two completely different sources of inspiration: classic arcade beat 'em ups like Golden Axe and modern roguelikes with deep progression systems, such as Hades. It sounds very enticing in theory. However, in practice, the game only manages to pull off the first part well; it’s still a long way from reaching the level of modern roguelikes with sophisticated progression systems. -
Video Game Previews July 29, 2026, 07:00 PM
Even from the very first gameplay trailer for Mortal Shell 2, it was clear that Cold Symmetry had seriously refined the concepts established in the original. After playing through the extensive demo—which is essentially the beta—it became clear that nearly every aspect of the game had been improved. We can already say with confidence that Mortal Shell 2 is poised to become one of the best games in the Soulslike genre. But we’ll go into more detail in this article. -
Video Game Previews July 24, 2026, 03:00 PM
Halo: Campaign Evolved launches on July 28, 2026, for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. Owners of the Premium Edition have had access since July 23. It’s a full-fledged remake built on Unreal Engine 5, which, according to the developer, offers a fresh perspective on the familiar story campaign. But upon closer inspection, it copies the original so faithfully that you can’t help but wonder: was the game really worth it, given that the Master Chief Collection is already available on last-gen Xbox consoles and PC? -
Video Game Previews July 8, 2026, 07:00 PM
The game is being made by Patrice Désilets — one of the creators of Assassin's Creed. After leaving Ubisoft, he began working on the project at THQ Montreal. THQ then went bankrupt, and Ubisoft bought the studio along with the rights to the game. What followed was a years-long dispute between Désilets and the publisher over control of the project, which only ended in 2016, when the rights to 1666: Amsterdam returned to the developer. That backstory alone is already decent promotion. If someone fought for a game for that many years, surely something truly special awaits us? -
Video Game Previews July 6, 2026, 07:00 PM
Back in the day, the success of indie games like Balatro and Manor Lords—and even earlier, Undertale and Minecraft—sparked discussions about possibilities that had once seemed unimaginable: soon, games might be created by a single developer, without massive budgets or marketing campaigns. Since then, countless indie developers have been chasing that dream—creating a game that would be enjoyable not only for themselves, but for other players as well. -
Video Game Previews June 26, 2026, 12:00 PM
A game about an unlucky burglar who broke into a maniac's mansion. Now, the main goal is simply to survive and escape the trap. -
Video Game Previews June 25, 2026, 07:00 PM
Fans of survival sandboxes can count themselves lucky: at least a couple of new releases show up on popular launchers every month. Some try to offer something new, while others simply copy a proven formula with minimal innovation. The latest entry in the genre — Hawthorn — bills itself as an "RPG sandbox from developers at Bethesda, BioWare, and Naughty Dog," set in an original setting: a charming fantasy world of talking animals. We played through the short demo presented to the public at the latest Steam festival and are here to tell you what direction the creators have in mind. -
Video Game Previews June 16, 2026, 07:00 PM
I, the author of these lines, kill the boss — and get thrown straight back to the start screen. No credits, no final cutscene, just the main menu. I sit there and realize I've completed the entire Early Access campaign in two hours. And thank God I wasn't spending my own money on this, because I have never played such a shoddy piece of work in my life. -
Video Game Previews June 8, 2026, 07:00 PM
You pick up a massive Japanese door off the ground. You shield yourself from archers' arrows with it. You march forward. And then you slam that plank straight into the faces of your enemies. The Onimusha: Way of the Sword demo ends far too quickly — the moment the credits rolled, I, the author of these lines, went straight to preorder. Capcom is churning out hits at an industrial pace this year: Pragmata, Resident Evil Requiem, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. And the new Onimusha holds its own against all of them. -
Video Game Previews May 28, 2026, 07:00 PM
For years, EA’s The Sims had virtually no competition. Building a life simulator this detailed is incredibly difficult, and even the closest challenger — inZOI — failed to fully pull it off. But Alex Massé’s Paralives, a project that started seven years ago as an attempt to create “The Sims, but made by your mom’s friend’s genius son,” might finally be getting close. -
Video Game Previews May 19, 2026, 06:30 PM
To be honest, I was somewhat surprised to learn that Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era would launch in Early Access rather than straight into version 1.0. The reason was that last year the game received a content-rich demo that already felt like Early Access at the time. It also immediately came across as a quality product that only needed some minor polishing. Nevertheless, the developers decided not to rush the final release and chose the path of full-fledged Early Access instead, which speaks to their commitment to the project. The same can be seen in how seriously they treat community feedback: many weak points of the demo have been improved. That means the rough edges of Early Access will almost certainly be smoothed out in a similar way over the coming months. -
Video Game Previews May 16, 2026, 07:09 PM
Sit back and get comfortable, because today we’re taking a closer look at something truly bizarre. We’ve all played “rock-paper-scissors” at some point to decide who gets the last slice of pizza or the front seat in the car. But the developers at Handmancers decided to take it a step further and turned this childhood game into a full-fledged card RPG that recently launched in early access. If you’ve been looking for a reason to start trusting your fingers more than swords and magic again, then this review is for you. -
Video Game Previews May 14, 2026, 06:00 PM
There was a time when I played so many survival games that I almost lost interest in the genre altogether. Still, the original Subnautica impressed me so much that I would call it not just the most interesting game of its kind, but also one of the most memorable and important games overall. That is exactly why I, along with hundreds of thousands of other fans, had been waiting so impatiently for a full-fledged sequel. The moment has finally arrived: Subnautica 2 is now available in early access on PC and Xbox Series X/S. Time will tell whether it can surpass the original, but I am ready to share my first impressions right now — after spending time with the preview version. -
Video Game Previews May 12, 2026, 07:46 PM
Grinding Gear Games, the studio behind the Path of Exile series, has a tradition: every update is announced as a major event—with hours-long presentations about new systems and gameplay changes that the community then analyzes in detail for weeks. The closed stream for media representatives about the 0.5.0 update for Return of the Ancients was no exception. -
Video Game Previews May 7, 2026, 10:37 PM
After playing Throne and Liberty for 10 hours, I, the author of this piece, realized that this is an MMO that isn’t interesting for its combat or storyline, but rather for its scale, visuals, and the world’s elaborate design. As soon as the game lets you out of the starting corridors, it begins to captivate you with its vistas, the verticality of its locations, its vast spaces, and the feeling that you’re truly in a massive online world—not just a collection of arenas stitched together by quests. In the first few hours, the plot serves as a guide to the world, rather than a story that makes you care about the characters. -
Video Game Previews April 29, 2026, 11:15 PM
Many classic real-time strategy games are still alive thanks to their multiplayer modes, even as the genre itself is in decline. That’s why it was doubly intriguing to try the demo of Crimson Freedom from the Serbian studio Yboga doo — the developers pitch it as a story-driven single-player RTS. Releasing something like this in 2026 almost feels like a deliberate step into a niche, with little hope for major profits. And yet, even after just an hour with the demo, its potential is obvious. -
We played the press version of The Expanse Osiris Reborn. Is Owlcat Games making their own Mass Effect?
Video Game Previews April 22, 2026, 07:15 PM
While Bioware is going through a wave of layoffs and still can’t find a creative direction for the new Mass Effect (rumor has it the project is in early pre-production), many other studios are preparing to release their own space operas. Both indie teams and veterans from Bioware itself have joined this race. Their projects, without exaggeration, could overshadow the iconic series about Commander Shepard’s adventures. One of the main contenders is The Expanse: Osiris Reborn from the well-known studio Owlcat Games. We were lucky enough to get our hands on a beta version of the project, and we’re ready to tell you what this game is all about, how it plays, and what the developers still need to work on for their magnum opus to exceed all expectations at launch.
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