After dozens of stories, we’re just about wrapped with our coverage of Summer Game Fest 2023. Following the cancellation of E3 back in March, we had a smaller, stripped-back experience at SGF. It began... before it all began, with Sony holding its own PlayStation Showcase livestream on May 24th. It was a pretty packed show, featuring Bungie's Marathon, Haven's Fairgame$, a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, more info on Final Fantasy XVI and Spider-Man 2, and a release date for Alan Wake II. There was also the Project Q handheld streaming device. 

Then came Summer Game Fest with an opening night event on Thursday, June 8th. We got a gameplay reveal for Mortal Kombat 1, a new (delayed to 2024) release date for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and a handful of smaller reveals like Sand Land and Sonic Superstars. There were a lot of sequels and free-to-play MMO trailers, but it was a generally low-key affair, with fewer big names than we've come to expect from the team behind The Game Awards.

The Day of the Devs and Devolver streams immediately following Summer Game Fest's live show were a little more successful, with interesting games from smaller studios, including Baby Steps, Beastieball, Cocoon, Hauntii, Helskate, Simpler Times and Viewfinder.

It wasn't until Sunday's Xbox event that we got an event filled with the AAA announcements you'd expect out of E3. Microsoft had a customarily dense show that featured new announcements and some release dates (or windows) for known games. Among the games featured were Avowed, Fable, South of Midnight, Persona 3 Reload, Forza Motorsport, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Metaphor: ReFantazio and Clockwork Revolution. We also finally got an Xbox Series S that has 1TB of built-in storage.

On Monday, we saw a pair of smaller shows. First up was Ubisoft, which featured Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, a trio of Assassin's Creed games, a new Crew game and a fresh Prince of Persia title. Later that day it was Capcom's turn, and they showed off Exoprimal, again, and offered an intriguing look at Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, which looks like a unique third-person action game. Finally, because it's 2023, there was also an indefinite delay to the company's almost-forgotten AAA sci-fi game, Pragmata. That's a game that was announced for PlayStation 5 way back in June 2020 — before we even knew what the PS5 looked like — and this is its second delay after initially being expected in 2022.

We’ll have more coverage in the coming weeks, and will update this post with links when they go live. For now, enjoy our analysis, previews and all the other big announcements from SGF 2023.

Analysis

Summer Game Fest 2023 and the stagnant state of the industry

I published this story about the state of AAA gaming on the eve of Summer Game Fest. After a week stuffed full of gaming announcements, I feel exactly the same way. — Jessica Conditt, Senior Reporter

Generative AI can help bring tomorrow's gaming NPCs to life

This story from senior reporter (and Engadget's AI expert) Andrew Tarantola looks at the history of NPCs from if-then programming through to finite-state-machines, decision and behavior trees, GOAPs, and modern AIs in games like The Last of Us, and then looks to the future to see how generative AI might impact the future of gaming.

Ubisoft needs a reboot

At some point in the last console generation, Ubisoft lost its soul. It was a piecemeal erosion process that started in 2015, and it finally resulted in a complete identity collapse somewhere between the studio’s unironic rollout of in-game NFTs and its sixth delay of Skull & Bones. Ubisoft has 40 years of AAA hits and weird licensing deals to its name, and it used to be a pillar of European innovation — but in 2023, it’s selling live-service blandness, mobile ports with microtransactions and unreliable release dates. What even is Ubisoft anymore? — Jessica Conditt

The Starfield direct has me excited for Bethesda's new ambitious RPG

Senior video producer Brandon Quintana shot this video immediately after Microsoft's Starfield Direct on Sunday, outlining why, after a fuller look at the game, he's more excited than ever for Bethesda's new ambitious RPG.

Why the 'Oxenfree II' team became Netflix's first game studio

In early 2021, Night School was in the market for a partnership. It ended up being acquired by Netflix, becoming the company's first game studio. Now, Night School is gearing up to launch its first game for the streaming giant. But that's not the end of Netflix's ambitions.

Game previews

'Alan Wake II' stands out in a sea of sequels

I’m nervous about Saga’s fate in Alan Wake II — and that only makes me more excited for the full game. This is first-and-foremost a linear, narrative-driven experience, and it looks spooky as hell. – Jessica Conditt

‘Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon’ has fast battles with customizable mechs

Armored Core, one of the longest-running mech battle series ever, hasn’t been seen in over a decade. Now, developer FromSoftware, flying high from Elden Ring and Dark Souls glory, is returning to mechs, with what it says is a remastered, reimagined take on robot combat. It’s time for a mech gaming boom. – Mat Smith, UK Bureau Chief

‘Cocoon’ is worth getting excited about

Cocoon is a game that makes perfect sense while you're playing it. That would be an unremarkable achievement if it wasn't also a game that forces you to use its levels to solve themselves. It’s the debut title from Geometric Interactive, a studio from folks that previously worked on the award-winning puzzle platformers Limbo and Inside. At Summer Game Fest 2023 I had around half an hour to play through the game’s opening, and it has stuck with me more than anything else I saw at the show. In my mind it’s the game of the show. – Aaron Souppouris, Executive Editor

'Forza Motorsport' wants you to drive forever

The long-overdue next title in the Motorsport series (it’s been over five years since the last!) has a bunch of new features, improved physics, better AI and looks absolutely fantastic at 4K/60. The most interesting thing about it to me is that it could well be the last distinct Motorsport game, as Microsoft is moving the series to a game-as-a-service model. In the age of Game Pass, that makes perfect sense to me, and I can’t wait to start driving this October. – Aaron Souppouris

'Immortals of Aveum' first look: A little more magic and this might be wonderful

When I saw the announcement trailer for Immortals of Aveum in the winter of 2022, I was surprised by my own interest in the game. Today, I remain interested in Immortals of Aveum and I think I’ve figured out why. There aren’t a ton of first-person action games that rely on mechanics other than guns — Dishonored, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hexen come to mind, but it’s a small field overall. That might be one reason Immortals stands out as something fresh, but it’s also nice to see a new, AAA-level game that’s single-player and narrative-driven with a contained campaign, rather than an open world of live-service features. – Jessica Conditt

‘Lysfanga’ is what happens when hack-and-slash meets tactical time travel

Lysfanga’s isometric views may conjure up memories of Hades, but this is a different kind of game. While you’ll still be slicing and dicing monsters and enemies, protagonist Imë combines her spells and weapon combos with the ability to revert time and do it all over again, differently. The second time around, her shadow from the previous timeline will continue to rush into the enemies. While some action-game prowess helps, you’ll only beat most levels by thinking them through before you act. The controls and play style aren’t remotely similar, but Lysfanga reminded me of old Fire Emblem games, where careful planning decided a fight before it even begins. Even in this early demo, the game offers some incredibly satisfying moments when all your attacking clones come together to wipe out all the enemies in mere seconds. – Mat Smith

‘Mortal Kombat 1’ made a great first impression

Ed Boon's on-stage gameplay reveal of Mortal Kombat 1, the latest entry in the storied fighting game franchise, was one of the stand-out moments of an otherwise subdued opening event. At a private event after the show, Brandon Quintana and Mat Smith sat down to play some MK1 and came away impressed.

'Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown' is a Metroidvania-style platformer coming in 2024

After a small reveal at Summer Game Fest’s opening night event, Ubisoft did a deeper dive into the game during Monday’s “Forward” stream. After that, senior video producer Brandon Quintana got his hands on an early build of the game and had a blast.

'33 Immortals' first look: Defying a god is more fun with friends

Can you imagine assembling 33 players for a 25-minute raid? 33 Immortals plans to do exactly that. Channeling the animation style of retro cartoons (and a little Banner Saga), 33 Immortals is a multiplayer roguelike top-down action game from the creators of Spiritfarer. In this early build of the game I played with five others and had a lot of fun, even if some technical issues spoiled the party a little. I’m excited to play a roguelike as part of a mob, and I'm curious to see what the other character types will be. – Mat Smith

‘Under the Waves’ is a sad but relaxing oceanic adventure

Parallel Studio’s Under the Waves is a calming game. Between the cheers and jeers from Crash Team Rumble players (possibly employees) nearby, I was diving. Diving deeper and deeper into the inky blue, chasing a jettisoned shipping container as it bounced off rocks, spilling soft toys and revealing a mysteriously abandoned submarine hidden deeper still. While I might have been relaxed, I also felt a little unsettled. In a lot of ways, whether it’s the story yet to be revealed or the uneasy tension that is touched on regularly, it reminds me of Firewatch, even if it’s all set undersea. – Mat Smith

All the other big announcements at Summer Game Fest 2023

You can find all of our coverage from Summer Game Fest right here, but here’s a chronological list of the announcements we think really moved the needle.

Thursday June 8th

• You can play a demo of the goth Pinocchio game 'Lies of P' right now

• 'Sand Land' is a new adventure game based on a manga by the creator of Dragon Ball

• 'Sonic Superstars' gives classic gameplay another modern makeover

• ‘Like A Dragon Gaiden’ revives Kiryu on November 9th 2023

• 'Final Fantasy VII Remake: Rebirth' is delayed to early 2024

• 'Baby Steps' is the 3D 'QWOP' we've all been waiting for

Sunday June 11th

• Take a peek at Xbox's Fable reboot in action

• 'South of Midnight' is a Southern Gothic monster adventure from Compulsion Games

• Obsidian's fantasy RPG 'Avowed' is coming to PC and Xbox in 2024

• 'Senua's Saga: Hellblade II' will arrive in 2024

• 'Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth' will make you see Ichiban's bare butt in early 2024

• Xbox Series S will be available with 1TB storage in black for $349 on September 1st

• 'Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty' will take you back to Night City on September 26th

• 'Cities Skylines II' will arrive on PC and consoles October 24th

• 'Metaphor: ReFantazio' is a fantasy RPG from the team behind 'Persona 5'

• 'Clockwork Revolution' is a time-traveling RPG of steampunk anarchy

• Overwatch 2's story missions and new PvP mode will land on August 10th

• 'Persona 3 Reload' updates a PS2 classic for modern platforms in early 2024

Monday June 12th

• Ubisoft’s ‘Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’ arrives on December 7th 2023

• 'Skull and Bones' is still alive, will apparently have a closed beta in August

• First 'Star Wars Outlaws' gameplay trailer offers 10 minutes of scoundrel wish fulfillment

• Capcom's Pragmata has been delayed for a second time

• Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is an action game with traditional Japanese aesthetics

In early 2021, Night School was in the market for a partnership. The studio’s debut game, Oxenfree, was a breakout success in 2016, and it was followed by Afterparty in 2019 and then 2020’s Next Stop Nowhere, an Apple Arcade exclusive. By 2021, co-founders Sean Krankel and Adam Hines had made deals with the major players in the industry – Xbox, PlayStation, Valve, Nintendo, Apple – and Night School was an acclaimed indie team.

“We were actually talking to Netflix about just bringing some of our existing games over,” Night School co-founder Sean Krankel said at Summer Game Fest, sitting with co-founder Adam Hines and lead developer Bryant Cannon around a small table behind the demo hall.

Krankel said Night School wasn’t in danger of collapsing or laying off any staff in 2021. He and Hines had about 20 employees, they were still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, and they were interested in establishing real stability at the studio. Maybe they’d even find a buyer. They were casually talking with Netflix employee Bill Holmes – whom Krankel described as “the reason why there's a Netflix button on our TV remotes” – about potential publishing deals, nothing more.

“It's like another normal conversation with any first party,” Krankel said. “And then, one day, he literally says, ‘Would you ever be interested in joining?’ And I'm like, hummina hummina – yes. Totally.”

Night School Studio (Twitter)

Night School was the first video game team that Netflix purchased outright, and the deal was announced on September 28th, 2021. This was just two months after Netflix revealed it had hired former EA executive Mike Verdu to lead the company’s formal push into video game publishing and development, with plans to offer titles to subscribers on its streaming platform. Netflix had been messing around with games since 2017, offering mobile experiences and interactive streams based on popular shows like Stranger Things and The Dark Crystal.

Netflix’s first experiment in video games was Stranger Things, a mobile title that landed in October 2017, developed by Texas studio BonusXP. It was well-received and Netflix and BonusXP went on to release a follow-up, Stranger Things 3: The Game, alongside the premiere of the show’s third season in 2019.

If it feels like there was a weird gap between these releases, that’s because there was – but not in the way you might think. Throughout 2018, Telltale Games was building an episodic narrative adventure (as it generally did) based on Stranger Things, signalling the start of a broader partnership with Netflix. At the same time, Telltale tapped Night School to create a companion mobile game set in the world above The Upside Down. Telltale and Night School had collaborated before on the 2016 Mr. Robot mobile title, Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n.

As reported by The Verge, Night School began work in January 2018 on a first-person narrative adventure that would feed directly into the wider-platform game, and Krankel and Hines hired four new people for the project. Telltale missed a number of milestone payments to Night School and was generally difficult to communicate with, according to studio members who spoke with The Verge. And then, in September 2018, Telltale effectively shut down. Night School was left floating for a while, until it was clear their game was dead, too. There’s been a Netflix-shaped ghost in Night School’s résumé ever since.

By 2021, Krankel and Hines had seen the best and worst of what publishers had to offer, and Netflix was finally ready to admit its video game ambitions. The Night School team had considered acquisition offers from other companies over the previous few years, but “there was always something off,” Krankel said.

“After the first chat that I had with the executive team [at Netflix] about this next thing, it was so exciting, because they didn't ask me, you know, ‘Are you in the red on this?’ Or, ‘What's going on with that?’ It was more like, ‘What can we do to unblock your team from making your dreams?’”

Hines added, “Our big concern was the autonomy aspect. We’ve all worked at bigger studios before, and have just seen and felt how long it would take to get decisions made, how the creative would kind of get choked out of things because there's too many cooks in the kitchen. But just talking to Netflix a lot before we joined up, we felt really at ease, just like we were talking the same language about how to make games.”

Night School’s latest project is Oxenfree II, a hotly anticipated sequel coming to PlayStation 4, PS5, Steam, Switch and mobile devices via Netflix on July 12th. (There’s no drama behind the Xbox exclusion, Krankel said: “Nothing happened honestly; it is just where we are in our development.”)

Night School has expanded its team size and moved into the Netflix offices, and they’re able to fly remote employees in as often as they need. One obvious benefit of the Netflix partnership in Oxenfree II is its inclusion of 32 languages at launch.

“That’s crazy,” Hines said at Summer Game Fest.

Lead developer Bryant Cannon agreed: “Especially for a game with hundreds of thousands of words in it. All that's really exciting. I think the game is going to be better because we have this battery in our back.”

Night School was the first purchase in September 2021, but Netflix today owns six video game studios, including Alphabear developer Spry Fox and two internal teams in California and Finland. Netflix has plans to expand into AAA development and past mobile platforms; it offers more than 50 games in its library right now, and the company plans to add 40 more by the end of 2023.

Netflix is publishing more games than it’s buying outright, including Spiritifarer, Into the Breach, Poinpy and Kentucky Route Zero. One of the biggest names in its pile is Laya’s Horizon, the latest title from Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey studio, Snowman. Laya’s Horizon is a serene wingsuit game set in a sprawling mountainside sandbox, and it’s exclusive to Netflix Games on Android and iOS.

Snowman

Snowman got its start publishing the iOS versions of the Team Alto games in 2015 and 2018, followed by the Apple Arcade timed exclusives Skate City and Where Cards Fall. Snowman developed and released Lucky Luna for Netflix in 2022, followed by Laya’s Horizon this May. Snowman’s games tend to end up on multiple platforms, eventually, but Android has generally been an afterthought. Its last two projects landed on Android and iOS simultaneously because of Netflix.

In April, Snowman founder Ryan Cash told Engadget that the Netflix partnership hadn’t been a barrier for players. Yes, you need a Netflix account to play the games. But:

“Everyone I've had this conversation with has Netflix,” Cash said. “So they just get to playing right away. Whereas before, it was either, I have to sell them a $5 game or I have to tell them, OK, it's free to play, there are ads but you can remove them if you want. Or it's like, you gotta sign up for Apple Arcade, or you need an Xbox or whatever it is. So it's been the most barrier-free way to tell people what I do.”

Laya’s Horizon doesn’t have a currency system, microtransactions, pop-ups or billboards advertising real-life products lining the slopes of its virtual mountain – because Snowman doesn’t need these features for the game to be adequately profitable. The Netflix partnership took care of that aspect, and creative director Jason Medeiros didn’t have to implement monetization in the actual game.

“I didn't want any of that stuff,” Medeiros said. “Because I mean, I liked games before all that stuff happened. So having a platform like Netflix, it's just like, none of that matters. Like, you don't have to do that stuff. It's a breath of fresh air; we jump on opportunities to make games that way.”

When I initially asked the Night School crew why they chose to be bought by Netflix, Krankel immediately got to the heart of the matter and volleyed, “Why not remain independent?” And then he answered his question:

“A small subset of teams are good to go for the next 10 years, but others have these peaks and valleys, and we were somewhere in between. We weren't in danger of anything going sideways. But we were at a spot where we're like, it would be cool to tether to somebody who has a similar vision, and somebody that we could work with that would like, de-risk us.”

Signing up to be acquired by a massive media company comes with its own risks, but they’re different concerns than those of a fully independent operation, which has to manage funding and paying salaries without a safety net. The challenge for indie studios is to sign up with a parent company that can strike a healthy balance between support and autonomy, and Netflix has a proven track record in this space when it comes to film and television. Games are just the next frontier when it comes to streaming entertainment.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

Rockstar Games co-founder and former creative director Dan Houser has a new company. Absurd Ventures says it will build stories, characters and worlds across different mediums — including but not limited to video games. The 49-year-old left Rockstar Games in 2020.

“Storytelling. Philanthropy. Ultraviolence.” That’s the tagline for Absurd Ventures, which launches with the two-minute video below that shows more than it tells about the company’s creative, abstract and edgy vibe. However, a press release does provide a more tangible description, describing Absurd as “building narrative worlds, creating characters, and writing stories for a diverse variety of genres, without regard to medium, to be produced for live-action and animation; video games and other interactive content; books, graphic novels, and scripted podcasts.”

It would be a vast understatement to say Houser was a central figure during his 22 years at Rockstar, one of gaming’s all-time great success stories. He co-founded the legendary studio in 1998 with his brother Sam Houser, Jamie King, Terry Donovan and Gary Foreman. As Rockstar grew, he remained an integral part of the company’s creative works, including producing five Grand Theft Auto games and serving as a writer for every GTA installment to date (including Grand Theft Auto V) and both Red Dead Redemption titles. In addition, he did voice work in Grand Theft Auto III and its two standalone expansion games.

Parallel Studio’s Under the Waves is a relaxing game. Between the cheers and jeers from Crash Team Rumble players (possibly employees) nearby, I was diving. Diving deeper and deeper into the inky blue, chasing a jettisoned shipping container as it bounced off rocks, spilling soft toys and revealing a mysteriously abandoned submarine hidden deeper still. While I might have been relaxed, I was a little unsettled.

First announced at last year’s Gamescom, in Under the Waves you play as Stan. And he doesn’t seem to be in a good place. My demo started on the third day of his placement at an underwater living pod, but I know (from the game’s synopsis) that he’s down there quite literally to get away from it all. He appears to be grieving the loss of his daughter, but it’s only lightly touched on during these opening parts of the game. Stan seems unsettled and twitchy in bed (and facially twitchy in general – hopefully, his face will settle down with more time in development).

At the start of the demo, Stan wakes with a piercing headache and picks up a call from what I assume is an offshore coworker called Tim. He reveals that the living pod’s oxygen mix is out of whack, likely explaining the sore head. Tim even added that a previous worker failed to flag his headaches, and by the time the rest of the dive team, the worker had started hallucinating. (And of course, Stan gets his own hallucination moments very soon after.

Quantic Dreams

While you’re able to walk around your oxygenated living quarters, most of the game is spent in the ocean, either diving with a limited amount of oxygen (which can be replenished using oxygen sticks) or while steering your own deep-sea vehicle, which can cover ground quicker and help conserve oxygen.

In a nod to the reality of ocean waste, spent oxygen sticks will float where you leave them. These can be collected and converted into plastic. Throughout the game there will be machines and crafting blueprints so you’ll be able to make your own items (like more oxygen sticks) from plastic, metal and other materials found floating or left on the ocean floor. (Parallel Studio have partnered with Surfrider Foundation Europe to support its ocean preservation aims.)

While the ocean floor is attractive and interesting, the man-made features have a retro-futuristic design, like an alternate future that’s… in the past. Like Prey or the more recent Deathloop, the anachronistic combination, somehow works.

Stan is equipped with a scanner, making it infinitely easier to decode instructions from Tim and other objectives. You’ll still have to pay attention though, a little like Firewatch. When Stan heads out to fix the oxygen issues, you’ll have to trace the route of several pipes, noting the broken ones based on their red bulbs. The scanner doesn’t simply do everything, but it does ensure you’re at least headed in the right direction.

In a lot of ways, whether it’s the story yet to be revealed or the uneasy tension that is touched on regularly, it reminds me of Firewatch, even if it’s all set undersea. While this is developed by Parallel Studio, it’ll be published Quantic Dream’s new Spotlight arm, focused on new developer IP. Quantic Dream has created several games, including Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, which placed a huge focus on narrative and storytelling. For developer Parallel Studios, it seems a good fit.

Under the Waves launches on August 29th, 2023.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

MSI's Stealth laptops have long been one of my favorite gaming notebook lines thanks to their blend of performance and portability. But last year's model was a disappointment. After a few years of sticking with the same design, its chassis felt tired and refreshed specs didn't address the system's underlying issues. But for 2023, MSI has given the Stealth a complete makeover including a brand new design, an optional 240Hz display, more powerful components and not one but two sizes to choose from. Heck, there are so many additions MSI even changed the name of the entire series: The Stealth Studio. After using one for the past few weeks, I feel like we might be looking at the most improved gaming laptop of the year.

Design

I've been testing the 14-inch version, but there's also a larger 16-inch model, with both sizes sporting a slick magnesium aluminum exterior that's available in two colors: pure white and star blue. Admittedly, the white model isn't very stealthy, but I don't care because it looks fantastic and it’s super light. It weighs just 3.75 pounds, which is almost a full half pound less than rivals like the Alienware x14 R2.

Despite its small size you still get solid connectivity, including three USB ports (one Type-A and two Type-C) and a full-size HDMI jack. But more importantly, there are a ton of tiny features throughout the system that show MSI's attention to detail. On the vents in back, the grille spells out the name of the system, kind of like you might get on a sports car. And in front, MSI has partnered with SteelSeries to deliver gorgeous RGB lighting on its keyboard. MSI also added some small, up-firing stereo speakers in front, which provide a nice upgrade in audio quality from the previous model. You even get a physical shutter for the webcam. Sure, it's just a little plastic flap, but I'm glad it's there.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

My two small gripes are that the webcam is only 720p – come on MSI, it’s 2023 – and that the chin below the screen looks a bit ungainly. Even if you ignore how big it is, I wish MSI had gone with a hinge that cut down on the gap between the display and deck, because it can be kind of a distraction to see the rear lights shining through while working or gaming.

Display

By default, the Stealth 14 Studio comes with a 1920 x 1200 165Hz IPS display, which is a good place to start. However, our review unit has MSI's upgraded 2560 x 1600 240Hz screen and it's a real treat. In testing, I measured peak brightness just shy of 450 nits which is almost double what we got from last year's machine. That makes it great for playing all sorts of games, and thanks to a color gamut that covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 spectrum, it can pull double duty as a photo or video editing workstation too.

Performance

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Packing an Intel Core i7-13700H chip, NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, the Stealth 14 Studio has more than enough performance for pretty much any task. In games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Returnal at 1080p and max settings, the Stealth Studio hit 67 and 78 fps respectively, which is actually a touch higher than what I got from a Razer Blade 18 with the same GPU and an i9 chip.

That's pretty impressive when you consider that the MSI's smaller chassis means it has way less room inside to manage thermals. Even on synthetic tests like PCMark 10, the Stealth Studio edged out the Blade 18 with a score of 8,126 versus 7,236, despite the Razer costing over $1,000 more than the MSI. This just goes to show that bigger and more expensive isn’t always better.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Lately, I've been playing a lot of Diablo 4 which really shows off the capabilities of the Stealth 14 Studio. You can turn down the graphics to take advantage of the screen's speedy refresh rate or enable all the game's bells and whistles while still staying well above 60 fps.

The two small downsides to the Stealth 14 Studio's performance are that it runs kind of hot and it tops out with an RTX 4070, which is understandable given its size. I tried to game with it on my lap while watching TV, and trust me when I say that it gets real toasty. So unless you have a lapboard, you're better off sitting at a desk or table.

Battery Life

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Coming from last year’s model that conked out after a little more than four hours, MSI has delivered some notable gains here too. On our video rundown test, the Stealth 14 Studio lasted five hours and 19 minutes, which is up 25 percent over last year's system. But what's even better is that it also beat out larger rivals (with bigger batteries) including both the Blade 16 (5:01) and ASUS' ROG Zephyrus M16 (4:38).

Wrap-up

The Stealth 14 Studio is an almost complete about-face for MSI's thin-and-light gaming line. It's got a striking new design, updated internals and a handful of welcome quality-of-life upgrades – all in a chassis that's easy to carry around; I've already made multiple cross-country trips with it and it hasn't let me down yet. In fact, the Stealth 14 Studio has basically everything I look for in a great all-rounder – well, except for maybe an OLED screen or an SD card slot (though you do get one on the larger 16-inch model).

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But if those aren’t deal breakers for you, MSI has delivered a system offering a stunning build and solid performance for gaming or anything else you might need. And with our upgraded model currently going for $1,900, you're getting more storage and a faster CPU and GPU than a base Alienware x14 R2 for only $150 more. So, after a down year, MSI has restored the Stealth – ahem the Stealth Studio – back to its former glory as a system that can do a bit of everything while looking great too.

If Sony is going to enable PS5 game streaming on devices like its Project Q handheld, it needs to offer that streaming in the first place. Thankfully, that's on the horizon. The company is now testing streaming of "supported" PS5 games for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers, including PS Plus Game Catalog titles and game trials. You'll have to use your PS5 system, but this will save you the trouble of downloading games and chewing up valuable SSD space.

The test is in the "early stages." A launch window and other details will be available "when we're ready," Sony says.

PS Plus Premium normally costs $15 per month and already allows cloud gaming for PS3, PS4 and "classic" titles. You can also stream those titles on a PC. PS5 support should make the tier considerably more appealing, especially as Sony expands access beyond the PS5 itself. Project Q mates an 8-inch display with DualSense-equivalent controls and currently is only confirmed to work with Remote Play directly from a PlayStation 5 that you own.

This doesn't mean first-party games will be available to stream on launch day, as they sometimes are with Microsoft's Game Pass. Subscriptions head Nick Maguire tellsGamsIndustry.biz that in-house titles will still be released "outside the service first." The existing approach of moving games to Premium a year or more later is "working," according to Maguire. In other words, the company wants to eke out as many purchases as it can.

That still provides access to a significant library. As of next week, PS Plus is adding Far Cry 6, Inscryption, Rogue Legacy 2 and Soulstice to the PS5 section of the Game Catalog. While those aren't necessarily must-play titles, Premium streaming could make it relatively painless to check them out.

Armored Core, one of the longest-running mech battle series ever, hasn’t been seen in over a decade. Now, developer FromSoftware, flying high from Elden Ring and Dark Souls glory, is returning to mechs, with what it says is a remastered, reimagined take on robot combat. The last time I extensively played a mech game was Konami’s Zone Of The Enders space opera – and that was back in 2003. I think it’s time for a true mech gaming boom.

In a hands-off demo at Summer Game Fest, I saw roughly 15 minutes of Armored Core VI gameplay, set in an early icy stage filled with vertiginous factory structures and tightly-packed warehouses. These dense environments immediately demonstrate how modern consoles can elevate FromSoftware’s newest mech game.

Since mechs can move around in all three planes, expect to see plenty of levels and architecture that take advantage of that. ACVI producer, Yasunori Ogura, noted that you’d be able to go anywhere in a level, flying “as far as your boost system allows”. He teased that several missions offer multiple paths and ways to achieve your objectives. In the snowy level I saw, he said the player could fly to the top of a structure to make their way into a base, or (and what I saw) you can just rush in, guns blazing, to the main entrance.

At the heart of Armored Core VI is your mech loadout. Alongside components affecting energy levels, defense and speed, you can attach weapons to four slots: one in each arm and two on the back, like multi-lock missiles. Arm weapons can range from rifles and machine guns through to light-saber-esque blades and more.

As anyone who’s played an AC game can attest to, your mech design choices will be crucial. You’ll be able to create a lighter, agile mech that can float in the air longer, dodge attacks and probably not take a lot of damage. Or, you could go heavy-duty, making a slower-moving robot with an array of long-range attacks and powerful melee weaponry. You’ll also need to balance out the energy demands of your mech against the power generator component.

Bandai Namco

While you can expect a degree of exploration as you fly around these huge environments, the game will be mission-based, just like its predecessors. Each stage begins with a briefing about your mission, some backstory and an outline of what you need to accomplish. If you’re here for the story, Armored Core VI is set on a distant planet of Rubicon 3. The planet is the home of a new energy source, one that’s so powerful and volatile that it caused a cataclysmic event in the past that “engulfed the entire star system in flames”.

If you were expecting a more Souls-style approach to the Armored Core series, you’d likely be disappointed, going off both the hands-off demo I saw and comments from FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki. In an interview with IGN, he said the studio would stick to what makes the Armored Core series "special", which he believes is the breadth and depth of mech customization. But like Dark Souls et al., major fights against more capable mechs could prove to be a highlight.

During the hands-off demo, the player dodged around a powerful molten steel-flinging mech, boosting above it to reveal a weak spot. You’ll be able to stagger enemies to deal bigger damage, another dynamic you’ll need to pay attention to when selecting your mech’s composition.

The fiery mech soon bested the player in the demo, but this meant they could make some adjustments and changes to their mech, retooling it specifically to take down this boss. In this instance, they swapped in more agile legs and a rifle capable of doing more substantial stun damage. A new Armored Core game is long overdue. Hopefully, it’ll be worth the wait.

Armored Core VI will be released on August 25th on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One and PC .

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

You probably wouldn't think of McDonald's if you're asked to guess which company would release a retro game this year. But yes, the fast food giant did indeed launch a 2D retro game seemingly in the style of Game Boy Color, and it's all in celebration of Grimace's 52nd birthday. The company teamed up with Krool Toys to develop the platformer that you can play on a modern PC or a mobile device. In it, you control Grimace on a skateboard as he searches for his missing friends — and collect enough milkshake for all his guests — before his birthday party begins.

While I fumbled a bit trying to control the purple mascot as he jumped over obstacles and slid across hand rails, I could only blame my own clumsy handling of the game's controls. The game worked smoothly on a computer, and you can even expand the screen if you don't mind getting blurry graphics, which truly do look like they were created for Nintendo's old handheld. The game was most likely created using a drag-and-drop tool for Nintendo handheld games called GB Studio. Indie developers like Krool have been using the program to create retro games, because doing so from scratch is typically very time- and resource-consuming. As a nice nostalgia-inducing bonus, even the website for the game is a throwback to the era marked by colorful and busy Angelfire, Lycos and Geocities web pages.

McDonald's only officially released Grimace's Birthday as a fun little game you can play on PC and mobile, but people were quickly able to find and share a copy you can download. While it's not an official release, it will allow you to play the game on a Game Boy emulator in case have one. 

Google has a long history of building in easter eggs into its search engine, whether that’s minigames or animations when searching specific keywords. The company is continuing the fun with a built-in minigame when you search for "Katamari" (via Kotaku), a game series that originally launched on the PlayStation 2. The minigame lets you roll everything on the page into a virtual ball. To start, you click on the Katamari ball icon on the right side of your screen. You play the game by using your keyboard’s arrow keys if on a desktop or laptop or with your finger if on a mobile device.

The easter egg is likely referencing the recent remaster of We Love Katamari earlier this month. The game, which was originally released on PlayStation 2 in 2005, got a remaster titled: We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie. The title was made available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and on Steam.

The Katamari series is developed by Bandai Namco and revolves around a series of puzzle-action games where you play as the Prince of All Cosmos. In the surreal series, you’re tasked with rolling up a ball of random things such as cats, cars and more – those balls replace the stars in the sky that were destroyed by your father, The King of the Cosmos.

Thankfully, Google’s version is a little less stress-inducing. There’s no goal or time limit per-se, you just roll a Katamari ball till your heart’s content (or if you have nothing left to catch). I spent more time than I’m willing to admit "testing" the game on my computer and it runs pretty well in my experience. Mobile, on the other hand, is a bit rough. The game seems to have a decent amount of input lag which makes the experience less than desirable. But as a little easter egg, Katamari fans should still get a laugh out of this.

"Basically, we're not planning a distinct sequel at all."

Dan Greenawalt, GM of the Forza series, has been working on Motorsport games for two decades, but his remarks in a post-Xbox Showcase briefing on Sunday suggest this next release could be the last in the series. Forza Motorsport is the eighth title in Turn 10 Studios' driving sim franchise, and the first new entry in almost half a decade.

Forza has been one of Microsoft’s most reliable first-party properties. Ignoring Playground Games' spinoff Horizon series, the original Xbox had one Forza title, the Xbox 360 had three, and the Xbox One had three. Barring a few launch hiccups, every title has been well-reviewed and the franchise as a whole has sold millions. We’re now in the third year of this console generation, and there’s been no Motorsport game for fans to play.

A lot’s changed since Forza Motorsport 7 arrived in September 2017. The “day one with Game Pass” paradigm shift started with Sea Of Thieves in 2018, and has since become Microsoft’s entire business model. Now, Microsoft measures success more like a social network (or a tech news publication), focusing on monthly active users and playtime, rather than sales.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Forza Motorsport is set up more like a service game than a traditional AAA title.

While many of the modes that Forza players expect, especially the online multiplayer component, are being reworked and improved, Turn 10 is betting that its new career mode will keep players coming back week after week. At Summer Game Fest, the game’s creative director Chris Esaki talked a group of journalists through this new career-mode loop and the shift in philosophy for the series.

Esaki described Forza Horizon as “a whole new take on falling in love with cars.” We saw a career mode event called the Builders Cup, which began with a narrated showcase of a trio of cars. After picking one to roll with, you then head into “open practice,” where you get to know the car. These sessions are packed full of stats and challenges; you earn Car Experience Points (CXP) for every corner you take, and the closer to perfection you are the more CXP you’ll get. CXP is specific to each car, and is used to upgrade parts and customize vehicle performance.

After open practice, you head into a race, where there’s a new “challenge the grid” system that lets you essentially bet against your racing talent. You choose where on the grid to start and how fast your AI opponents are, with higher rewards as the difficulty scales up. After competing in the race itself, you’ll earn money for new vehicles as well as more of the car-specific CXP. Then it’s onto the next open practice, more tuning and customization, and more races.

Esaki calls this loop “level, build, dominate.” He sees it as a way to get players interested in a broad swathe of cars, rather than having them head straight to a Ferrari or Bugatti. That might sound like the ethos of another popular racing sim, but while there are definitely elements of Gran Turismo 7’s cups and café challenges in here, the Builders Cup feels both more contained and more repeatable. It’s all by design: Similar to recent Forza Horizon games, players can expect a big content update monthly, which then rolls out week-by-week.

We’ll likely hear much more about Forza Motorsport in the lead up to its release on October 10th, and I’m interested to try out the new simulation features, like a massively overhauled physics system and improved opponent AI. For now, though, the pitch seems solid. I’m a huge fan of Gran Turismo 7, but if you don’t enjoy online sim racing and the toxicity that comes with it, its single-player experience is fairly threadbare. In contrast, Turn 10 seems to have developed Forza Motorsport as a game that will last forever, with new experiences every week designed to satiate gamers’ desire for fresh races and Microsoft’s desire for monthly active users.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!