That October 7 release date applies to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. The Switch version “will be available at a later date.”

The trailer opens with an attack by Venom, joining the villains in wreaking havoc on the city. Naturally, Venom’s traditional foe, Spider-Man, swings into the fight, confirming suspicions that he would join the roster of playable characters.

The trailer does not show any gameplay, but it does show a sleek new look for Spider-Man, as well as demonic versions of characters like Venom, Sabretooth, Scarlet Witch, and Hulk.

The trailer also shows Scarlet Witch standing among the heroes under a title card, so it looks like she’ll be part of the playable roster, as well – and that matches up with recent leaks, too.

We got some hands-on time with the game recently, so check out our Marvel’s Midnight Suns hands-on preview for much more information. In short, it’s already looking very promising, but it won’t scratch your XCOM itch for tough-as-nails, high-stakes strategy – which director Jake Solomon tells us is a very deliberate choice to build a more empowering type of strategy. It’s also a play style shaped by some surprising influences, including anime and JRPGs. 

Even without a real E3 2022, the E3 2022 schedule is heating up today, so you can follow those links to stay current on everything that’s happening throughout the weekend. Check out our Summer Game Fest live coverage for all of today’s big announcements, too.

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“War of the Chosen was the first game where I’d say we actually had an intermediate amount of narrative in the game,” Solomon explained in a recent interview, discussing some similarities between the villains in Midnight Suns and the central council of War of the Chosen. “So it definitely helped us. If we had not done War of the Chosen, I don’t know that Midnight Suns would have happened because it would have been too much of a reach where we’re like, I don’t know that we can do that. I don’t know that you can put this much narrative structure into the kind of game that we make. And so I think it’s an unintentional consequence. But yes, now that you’ve said that, I definitely see that parallel.”

As Solomon told us, Marvel first approached Firaxis about making a game in its universe toward the end of development on War of the Chosen, with the gist being that “a lot of people at Marvel games are really big fans of XCOM.” Solomon says he was immediately excited about the opportunity, but he and the rest of the studio had to pause to consider the implications of working with a license like this. Of course, we know how the deal turned out. 

Relatedly, Solomon stressed that while the legacy of XCOM played a major role in Midnight Suns, the game itself is very different, and he says those differences won’t bleed into XCOM itself. In particular, he says he would be “extremely hesitant” to make the next XCOM game – the presumed but unannounced XCOM 3 – more like Marvel’s Midnight Suns if he were to return to the series’ helm. 

The Marvel’s Midnight Suns release date has been set for October 7 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, with a Switch version coming “at a later date.”

Check out our full interview with Solomon on how JRPGs and anime made Midnight Suns a better strategy game after the XCOM approach failed, and head to our Marvel’s Midnight Suns hands-on preview for more details on how the game feels in action.

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With so many Star Wars games teased and announced, it’ll be exciting to see if any of them make another appearance during E3 2022. While we know that EA Play won’t be happening this year as part of the E3 2022 schedule, there are plenty of showcases taking place that may show us more of some of the new Star Wars games from other studios and developers. So, if you’re more than ready to pull out your lightsaber and dive into a new adventure, read on below to find all of the upcoming Star Wars games announced so far, along with their expected launch windows and platforms. 

Star Wars: Hunters

Release date: 2022
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS 

Star Wars: Hunters is a new team-based multiplayer game coming to mobile and Switch sometime in 2022. Made by developer Zynga and Lucasfilm Games, Star Wars: Hunters takes place after the fall of the Galactic Empire, with a cast of new characters you’ll be able to choose from as you join squads and take on multiplayer battles in various settings inspired by “iconic” Star Wars locations. Some of the characters you can choose to fight as in the upcoming arena-combat game include the likes of Rebels, Stormtroopers, and bounty hunters. A recent panel (opens in new tab) during the recent Star Wars Celebration event also revealed that every character will have backstories and set dynamics with other characters.  

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor 

Release date: TBC 2023
Platform(s): PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

First announced during Star Wars Celebration, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is officially on the way from developer Respawn. Jedi: Survivor is a follow-up to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, set to take place five years after the events of protagonist Cal Kestis’ original adventure. As one of the last remaining Jedi in the galaxy, Cal is said to continue to feel the weight of his position as he tries to stay ahead of the Empire’s pursuit. While we don’t know much about the story just yet, we do know that Survivor will expand upon stories and characters in the Star Wars universe and looks set to also build on the combat of Fallen Order. What is perhaps most exciting of all is the fact that this upcoming sequel will find a home on current-gen consoles, meaning Cal’s next journey will be taking advantage of the latest hardware capabilities on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. 

Respawn’s Star Wars FPS

Release date: TBC
Platform(s): TBC 

As well as continuing on the Star Wars Jedi series with Survivor, Respawn is also currently working on as yet untitled Star Wars first-person shooter. Respawn game director Peter Hirschmann is leading the development of the project, which was first revealed in January 2022. Hirschmann is no stranger to the Star Wars franchise in the gaming space, having previously experience working on the original Star Wars Battlefront games, as well as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. At the time of the announcement, work had only “just begun” on the title, so it’ll likely be some time before we get a solid release date or learn more details about the game. Still, given that Jedi: Survivor is current-gen, it does seem like a safe bet to assume we’ll see this new experience land on the latest consoles. 

Respawn’s Star Wars strategy game 

Release date: TBC
Platform(s): TBC 

If an FPS and another step in the Star Wars Jedi series wasn’t enough, Respawn kept the surprises coming with the announcement of a Star Wars strategy game. Revealed alongside the first-person shooter, the untitled Star Wars strategy game is currently being developed through a “production collaboration” with freshly established studio Bit Reactor. Respawn will be producing the project, while Bit Reactor leads its development. The new studio is being led by veteran developer Greg Foertsch, who previously worked at Firaxis on Sid Meisner’s Civilization series – among others. Very little has been revealed about the project so far, so the release date is still likely to be a ways off. 

Star Wars: Eclipse

Release date: TBC
Platform(s): TBC

First announced during the Game Awards 2021, Star Wars Eclipse is a new action-adventure from Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human developer Quantic Dream and Lucasfilm Games. Described as a branching narrative game, Eclipse takes place in the High Republic Era in an “uncharted region of the Outer Rim”. With new faces and environments, you’ll be experiencing its story through the eyes of an ensemble cast of playable characters who are all said to have their own personalities and motivations, and will each make their own impact on each other and the adventure overall. When it was first announced, it was said to be in the early stages of development, so it may be some time before Eclipse arrives. And while it has not yet been confirmed, it seems likely that it will land on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S when it does. 

Knights of the Old Republic remake 

Release date: TBC
Platform(s): PS5, PC

The Knights of the Old Republic remake is set to deliver a new version of the much-loved RPG from 2003 to PS5 and PC. First revealed during the PlayStation 2021 Showcase, we got our very first look at a revamped Darth Raven who was a customizable protagonist in the original game. The remake is coming from Aspyr and Lucasfilm Games, the former of which has previously worked on several remasters of previous Star Wars games, including Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast. With only a brief teaser revealed so far, we don’t yet have a release date, but the prospect of a remake is undeniably exciting. The original game from BioWare allowed you to shape your own journey in the galaxy as one of nine different customizable characters, with plenty of choice and freedom. It’ll be interesting to see how this new version shapes up and how the Knights of the Old Republic remake will make use of the power of modern-day hardware. 

Ubisoft Open World Star Wars game 

Release date: TBC
Platform(s): TBC

Ubisoft is currently working on a new open world Star Wars game in collaboration with Disney and Lucasfilm Games. With development led by The Divison studio Massive Entertainment, the upcoming Ubisoft Star Wars game is set to be a story-driven adventure. Creative director Julian Gerighty said in a post from Ubisoft (opens in new tab) that “we want to make it a unique game in the saga with a captivating story and set of characters that players can relate to and connect with.” We also know it’s being created on the Snowdrop engine using “cutting-edge technologies”. Given the emphasis on the tech, we’ll likely see it land on the latest platforms and take advantage of the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. 

Amy Hennig’s Star Wars game

Release date: TBC
Platform(s): TBC

As yet untitled Star Wars games is also currently in the works from Skydance New Media. In collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, veteran writer and director Amy Hennig will be at the helm of the studio, who’s well known for previously working on big hits such as Uncharted and Jak and Daxter. The new Star Wars game is described as narrative-driven action-adventure, and while not much else has been revealed about the project, a report suggests it could well be a revival of a prior Star Wars project that was ultimately shuttered. While still unconfirmed, a leak pointed towards it bringing back Project Ratag, a game set during the Rebel Alliance era that was once in development at EA studio Visceral. The project is still likely quite a ways off, but we certainly can’t wait to learn more. 

See what else is on the horizon with our roundup of upcoming PS5 games and upcoming Xbox Series X games. 

The post Upcoming Star Wars games: Every new Star Wars game announced so far appeared first on Game News.

In case for whatever reason you’re still here and not downloading XCOM 2 free of charge from the Epic Games Store (opens in new tab), let me explain why you should do exactly that and then cancel your weekend plans to save the world from aliens. XCOM 2 is a turn-based strategy game where you fight off aliens by out-maneuvering them around various maps. The story takes place after aliens win the fight against humans in the first game (also excellent) and you’re tasked with starting from scratch and expelling the bad guys from your planet.

The original XCOM is an undisputed classic, but XCOM 2 has improved visuals, more diverse gameplay thanks to revamped classes and a wider range of foes, and its procedurally generated maps make it highly replayable. Oh, and mod support adds even more to do once you’ve played and replayed through the game proper. We were among the many publications to give XCOM 2 a perfect, or near-perfect score when it launched back in 2016.

XCOM 2 retails for $60, and although it isn’t hard to find on sale if you’re happy to wait, it’s rarely ever completely free, so I heartedly recommend snagging it before the deal ends on Thursday, April 21.

Once you’ve played and inevitably fallen in love with XCOM, here are some great games like XCOM to try afterward.

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The strategy game set in Frank Herbert’s sci-fi universe will release on Steam Early Access on April 26. From Northgard developer Shiro Games and publisher Funcom, Dune: Spice Wars sees four factions fighting it out on Arrakis to claim the sandy planet’s supply of spice, the universe’s most valuable resource.

Along with the early access release date announcement, Funcom and Shiro Games have also revealed the game’s fourth playable faction, the Fremen. Its creators describe the benefits of this new faction in a blog post (opens in new tab):

“With a greater capacity to move across and withstand the open desert, less chance to attract colossal sandworms, and an improved ability to ally with hidden Sietches (neutral native settlements), the Fremen are uniquely poised to expand their area of influence in order to control the planet.”

The Fremen join the three previously announced factions, House Atreides, House Harkonnen, and the Smugglers. Each faction comes with its own distinct strengths and weaknesses. The game promises to be a tough juggling act as you’ll have to balance military power, infiltration, resource production and political influence.

As well as publishing Dune: Spice Wars, Funcom is also developing an open-world survival multiplayer game set in the Dune universe.

Dune: Spice Wars is putting an intriguing twist on the usual RTS formula with a blend of RTS and 4X gameplay.

If you’re eager to spice things up, check out how Dune: Spice Wars delivers its own flavor of real-time strategy in Frank Herbert’s sci-fi universe.

The post Dune: Spice Wars is launching in early access this month appeared first on Game News.

Meier has been talking to the BBC (opens in new tab) for the 30th anniversary of Civilization’s release. Today, he still oversees Civ, as well as games like XCOM and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, as a key figure at Firaxis.

“The real challenge and the real opportunity is keeping our focus on gameplay,” Meier goes on. “That is what is unique, special and appealing about games as a form of entertainment. When we forget that, and decide it’s monetisation or other things that are not gameplay-focused, when we start to forget about making great games and start thinking about games as a vehicle or an opportunity for something else, that’s when we stray a little bit further from the path.”

The backdrop to Meier’s comments, of course, are the rise of NFTs and other metaverse-related concepts that excite investors but have so far failed to connect with gamers at large. It’s notable that over Meier’s long career, he and his companies have been largely unswayed by industry trends – either for in-game mechanics, or the mechanisms of release and money-making.

“I think the way the internet works, once a shift starts to happen, then everybody runs to that side of the ship,” he says. “I think we need to be sure that our games continue to be high quality and fun to play – there are so many forms of entertainment out there now. We’re in a good position… but we need to be sure we realise how critical gameplay is – and how that is the engine that really keeps players happy, engaged and having fun.”

I recently talked to XCOM designer Jake Solomon for Edge magazine’s career retrospective segment, Collected Works. His continued reverence for Meier was palpable, and confirmed that the Civ creator very much puts his principles into practice at Firaxis, the studio at which they work together.

Civ still features in our list of the best strategy games you can play today.

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Announced and released today, the No Man’s Sky Sentinel update brings an overhaul of the combat systems and enemies currently in the game in order to make the game much more difficult. The update is available from today on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, as well as through Xbox GamePass and in VR. 

The Sentinels, which already exist in No Man’s Sky, have received an upgrade making them more interesting and also more fun to defeat. New classes of drone – including heavies, summoners, and repair units – have all been added in the update and each Sentinel now deploys their own mobile energy shields and has access to weaponry. Also included in this update is fresh lore surrounding how Sentinels came to be in the form of new story missions. 

Luckily for players though, this update will also bring an array of combat improvements and enhancements. Once the latest update has been downloaded, players will have access to new weapons and upgrades, like the Neutron Cannon and stun grenade. You’ll also be able to install an AI onto your own Minotaur Exomech and have it protect you during combat. 

All of this and more will be available to experience in No Man’s Sky from today, there’s also a new Exobiology Expedition launching next week which will have a tonne of exclusive new rewards for players up for grabs. 

Can’t wait to jump into the Sentinel update? Take a look at our No Man’s Sky tips before you get started.

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Earlier today during the Home of Wargamers Live broadcast on December 14, Slitherine and Skydance Media debuted a brand new Terminator game. Unlike Terminator: Resistance though, Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance puts a real-time strategy spin on humanity’s ongoing war against the machines.

Dark Fate – Defiance offers a core single-player campaign mode, which stars the player in the role of a Commander in humanity’s Founders faction, taking the fight to the machines under the “Legion” umbrella. A very brief teaser trailer on YouTube (opens in new tab) shows off the likes of humanity’s tanks, foot soldiers, and helicopters going up against the incredibly advanced futuristic machine army.

Elsewhere, there are Skirmish and Multiplayer modes available to compliment the single-player campaign of Dark Fate – Defiance. Publisher Slitherine isn’t sharing too many details about either mode right now (we don’t know how many players the online multiplayer will support, for example), but we do know that both modes will feature the additional “Resistance” faction.

Right now, that’s all the information we have to go on surrounding Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance. As we mentioned previously, it’s definitely taking the video game side of the Terminator franchise in a very different angle, skewing away from the hectic first-person shooter action of 2019’s Terminator: Resistance, and straying into strategy territory for the very first time.

For details on what else we can expect when the New Year rolls around, as well as further on down the line, you can head over to our full new games 2022 guide for more.

The post Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance PC strategy game announced for 2022 appeared first on Game News.

The news was broken by Nintendo earlier today on October 22, through the tweet from the official Nintendo of America Twitter account that you can see just below. While the remasters of the first two Advance Wars games were originally slated to launch on the Nintendo Switch later this year in December, they’ve now been pushed a few months to Spring 2022.

Hello, troops! #AdvanceWars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, which was set to launch on 12/3, will now release for #NintendoSwitch in spring 2022. The game just needs a little more time for fine tuning. You’ll be battling with Andy & friends soon! Thanks for your patience. pic.twitter.com/dSi8VSsxTHOctober 22, 2021

See more

The remasters of the first two Advance Wars games were actually only just unveiled earlier this year in June. At the time, Nintendo debuted a “reimagined and rebuilt” versions of the first two Advance Wars games, swapping out the pixel art of the original two games for a new, fresher 3D animated art style instead.

Shortly after that, it was revealed that DuckTales: Remastered developer WayForward would be handling development duties on the Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp package. Additionally, WayForward revealed that the remastered package would support online multiplayer for the first two games in the classic series for the very first time.

Of course, multiplayer isn’t technically new to the first two Advance Wars games. Back in the Game Boy Advance days of old, players would pass around one controller between each other, taking turns to battle it out, or pair multiple handheld devices together with a Link Cable to face off. This time though, when the Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp eventually launches next year in Spring 2022, it’ll support multiplayer for the very first time over the Nintendo Switch’s online services.

For a full look at every other Nintendo game launching over 2022, head over to our upcoming Switch games guide for more.

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In the latest issue of Edge, which you can buy here (opens in new tab), we talk to the development team at Firaxis about how a Marvel universe deep cut proved the perfect pick for a very different kind of tactics game.

That shift makes perfect sense when you consider how many games the XCOM reboot has inspired since. Little wonder, then, that creative director Jake Solomon didn’t simply want to repeat the trick but with a Marvel skin. Still, he admits it took some time to come together: “I don’t want to be dishonest and say, like, oh it was so exciting. Because actually, it was terrifying for the first couple of years.”

Still, what has come from that is undoubtedly exciting, and that extends to our cover, where Iron Man, Blade, and original creation The Hunter take centre stage. 

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Granted the opportunity to see more of the game than anyone else, we bring you a host of new details about this fascinating blend of strategy, deck-building and Persona/Fire Emblem-style socialising. And we find out how, in combat, it’s almost like XCOM in reverse: you are, after all, a team of superheroes, so it’s only right that you should be the ones on the front foot. “It’s not about, can I beat this guy?” Solomon says. “It’s about, how many guys can I beat with this one ability? How can I take out three guys at once?”

• Want to make sure exclusives like this land on your doorstep in the future? Be sure to subscribe to Edge Magazine here. (opens in new tab)

Elsewhere in E363, we turn our gaze to one of the most exciting publishers around: Annapurna Interactive. We examine the forthcoming slate of releases for this Hollywood-adjacent studio, and talk to both the publisher and the developers it’s working with about how the definition of an Annapurna Interactive game is changing. We also talk to the artists at Amanita Design about the meticulously crafted Creaks, and revisit Supergiant’s debut Bastion, explaining how it laid the blueprint for the multi award-winning Hades.

In our Hype section, we run the rule over Halo Infinite, take a first look at Volition’s Saints Row reboot, and talk to Eidos Montreal’s Mary DeMarle as the studio’s fresh take on Guardians Of The Galaxy nears launch. And in Play, we deliver our verdict on Psychonauts 2, alongside Naraka: Bladepoint, No More Heroes 3 and The Forgotten City. There’s plenty to – forgive us – marvel at, then, in Edge 363, which is on sale now.

Edge 363 is in UK shops now, and can also be ordered for delivery via Magazines Direct (opens in new tab). To buy the issue digitally, head to Apple’s App Store (opens in new tab) or PocketMags (opens in new tab).

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