Category: Gaming

As I’m typing this, we’re in the final hellish days before the October 16 launch of TENEBRIS SOMNIA – the retro survival horror game with live-action cutscenes – coming at you from Andrés Borghi (The Black Heart) Saibot Studios (Hellbound), and published by New Blood Interactive. (FAITH: The Unholy Trinity, DUSK, Blood West).

In Tenebris Somnia you play as Julia, a young woman who is having nightmares about her ex-boyfriend being torn apart by horrible monsters. Hoping to find some peace, she goes to his apartment to check on him. What she discovers is a world of horror that descends beyond her darkest dreams. What if the nightmares are real…?

One night while filmmaker and indie game developer Andrés Borghi was streaming our previous horror game FAITH: The Unholy Trinity, he got the idea to make a pixel horror game of his own with a sinister twist: the cutscenes would be live action, with real actors in real locations and real spooky special effects.

So Andrés and Saibot Studios lead Tobías Rusjan got working on a demo. Then they pitched the full game to New Blood, the only studio crazy enough to give a horror filmmaker the budget to make a survival horror game.

And that’s just what we did! Shortly after inking the publishing deal, we traveled to Buenos Aires to see Andrés and the film crew in action. What we saw amazed us – a legit professional camera and production crew, practical monster effects supervised by the award-winning Marcos Berta (“When Evil Lurks”), the performance by Argentine scream queen Clara Kovacic as the game’s protagonista – all meticulously storyboarded and directed by Andrés.

We witnessed the floor of a 17th-century Argentine cathedral splattered with fake blood. We watched a boom operator sprint 20 meters – and slide on his knees the final 2 meters – to get the perfect lighting effect under an actor at the perfect moment. They even guerilla-filmed several shots on the subway in the middle of the night (but don’t tell anyone). This wasn’t the low-budget FMV approach you remember from classic horror-adventure games. It was high-quality movie magic happening right in front of us. And absolutely no generative AI was used anywhere at any point in production.

That’s right, we did it the old-fashioned way. Good old human slop. Practical special effects and limited CGI. Human produced and directed, human-translated localization into English, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese. In-game art and animation drawn by hand, pixel by pixel, frame by frame. Audio and music by an actual human composer. Real-life living breathing human programmers. Even if we had used generative AI to take shortcuts (not that we even know how) we wouldn’t be able to call it a New Blood Interactive game with a clear conscience. Would it have saved us some money? Probably, but we would incur a much steeper cost – the trust of our fans who look to us for sincerity and authenticity. It’s just not our brand. Our players and, quite frankly, games in general, deserve better than gen AI. But enough about that.

Back to the game’s incredible cutscenes. These aren’t just cutscenes for cutscenes’ sake. In a lot of retro games, cutscenes were often a reward for making it to the end. In Tenebris Somnia, the cutscenes are directly linked to the gameplay – you never know when a cutscene will begin or end. This not only shocks the player – because now they’re encountering the horrors of the game in gruesome detail – but it keeps them in suspense at all times. You never know if the cutscene will drop you right into an enemy encounter or start right after one!

Merging pixel horror gameplay and live-action cinematics didn’t come without its challenges, however. Film sets needed to match the in-game locations, requiring careful planning and a blend of practical set-dressing and seamless CGI. Thankfully Andrés is also a talented film editor and VFX artist! To make the monster effects believable, silicon masks and prosthetics were molded out of performer’s faces and then fitted back on with makeup – a process that took several hours each time just like in a major Hollywood-style production. You can see behind-the-scenes videos on how this was done on our YouTube and Instagram. We hope to release a full making-of documentary after the game is launched!

After nearly 4 years of production we’re extremely proud of this monster we’ve created together. Tenebris Somnia offers a classic survival horror experience – scary monsters, limited resources, brutal boss fights, great sound design, puzzles to solve, and a terrifying plot to uncover. In the words of Andrés, “I hope players will come to see the cutscenes, and stay to experience the story”! It also stands alone as a genuinely scary horror game with a truly unique identity – take it from me – the guy that made FAITH!

Tenebris Somnia is available now on XBOX Series X|S and XBOX on PC. PC. Play it on console and PC at no additional cost with XBOX Play Anywhere.

US Representative Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York City, announced today that he will introduce the “Power To The Players Act.”

If it becomes law, the bill will see the US Federal Trade Commission create regulations that protect our “ability to own and play” purchased games, according to Torres’ office.

Looking for what to stream this weekend? Then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve searched the most popular streaming services to bring you our bespoke list of the titles worth watching this weekend, so you can kick back and relax with the most exciting new releases.

Below, you’ll find everything from the latest Marvel Phase 6 release to a heart-breaking tale of loss and love. So, whatever you’re in the mood for this weekend, we’ve got you covered. Our recommendations this week cover Disney Plus, Apple TV, Netflix, and more.

Ubisoft is planning even more layoffs in the latest of a string of job cuts this year. It plans to shut down its RedLynx studio and reduce its Germany-based workforce by about 100 workers, while Ubisoft Singapore is losing around a fifth of its 350 or so employees.

“Today, we informed our teams of a proposal to close RedLynx in Finland, subject to the local change negotiation process, which would affect up to 52 positions,” Ubisoft told GamesIndustry.biz. “At Ubisoft Singapore, 70 positions have been impacted to align the studio with upcoming production needs. The studio remains an important part of Ubisoft’s global production organization. We deeply value the contributions of both teams and recognize the impact this may have on our colleagues. We are committed to supporting our teams throughout this process and conducting it with care and respect.”

Both RedLynx and Ubisoft Singapore have been providing support to other Ubisoft studios in recent times. They were placed in the Creative Network division as part of a restructuring the company announced last year.

Ubisoft snapped up RedLynx, the creator of the Trials series, in 2011. The company laid off dozens of the studio’s workers a year ago. The last game of its own that RedLynx developed was a decoration and puzzle title for mobile devices called Gwen’s Getaway. The game had a soft launch in 2023 but Ubisoft canned it just over a year later.

Ubisoft Singapore initially opened as a support studio in 2008. Its work on naval combat in Assassin’s Creed games led it to making the Skull and Bones. That game finally arrived in early 2024 after many delays and, despite its protracted development, it hardly set the world alight.

Separately, Stephen Totilo’s GameFile reports that Ubisoft plans to reduce its workforce in Germany by about 100. The company currently has over 600 employees spread across three studios in the country. Mostly focused on supporting the development of larger games, the German studios have also led development on recent The Settlers and Anno games, with its Mainz studio responsible Anno 117: Pax Romana in 2025. According to Totilo, the company will be offering voluntary buyouts to staff, and hopes to avoid having to directly lay anyone off.

A cost-cutting drive has resulted in Ubisoft cancelling at least half a dozen games and shuttering several other studios this year, such as those in Winnipeg and Belgrade. It also closed Ubisoft Halifax just two weeks after workers there unionized. The company has laid off workers elsewhere this year, including at Star Wars Outlaws developer Massive Entertainment, Ubisoft Stockholm and its Paris headquarters.

Update, October 14, 7PM ET: This story was updated to include details from GameFile on planned cuts to Ubisoft’s German workforce.

In the video game industry, 10 years may as well be a lifetime. Entire tech empires can rise and fall in that span given how quickly the medium tends to evolve. If you need a concrete example of that, look to the PlayStation VR, which launched on Oct. 13, 2016. At the time, the bulky headset felt like a mainstream turning point for a niche corner of gaming that was still in its infancy. A decade later, the PSVR instead stands as a monument to a doomed trend that’s on the brink of extinction in 2026.

While there was buzz about VR brewing in the mid-2010s, 2016 was the year that properly kicked off the trend. It began when the Oculus Rift, a device considered to be the first consumer headset of the era, released in March. That was quickly followed up by the HTC Vive in April, starting a rat race in the headset market. While those devices were exciting, they weren’t entirely consumer-friendly, seeing as they required you to own a gaming PC rig capable of running them.

The PlayStation VR looked like the answer to that problem when it launched in October. So long as you owned a PlayStation 4, all you needed to do was plug it in to the headset. Okay, it was a little more complicated than that and required a mess of cables, but it was still an easy setup compared to its competitors. It also looked more inviting; its white design came off as friendly and approachable next to its black rival headsets that looked like serious, complicated pieces of tech.

Despite those strengths, it took a few years for the PSVR to really come into its own. Its launch game lineup wasn’t terribly memorable, with games like PlayStation VR Worlds and Batman: Arkham VR doing little to shake the feeling that VR games were glorified tech demos. A few great games showcased the potential, including Ubisoft’s Eagle Flight and Rez Infinite, but PSVR really didn’t take off for another two years.

2018 was so significant for Sony’s headset that you could almost consider it a relaunch. Its game lineup got a huge infusion of new blood thanks to Tetris Effect, Moss, and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. All three games were the bonafide killer apps that were needed to convince curious players to give it a shot. I know that for a fact, because that’s when I bought the PSVR. It was a hot item during that year’s Black Friday sales, with reasonably priced bundles that came with heavy hitters like Moss. PSVR had already sold three million units as of August that year, and the number seemed to rise dramatically during a successful holiday season. VR on consoles has arrived.

In retrospect, it’s now clear that 2018 was the peak of the mountain for Sony’s VR experiment. While new games like Blood and Truth continued to push what the tech could do throughout the headset’s life, Sony couldn’t remain on VR’s center stage. In 2020, Oculus regained mainstream attention with its Quest 2 headset. Valve also took the spotlight that year by releasing Half-Life: Alyx, a landmark VR game that you couldn’t play on PSVR. Sony’s headset was starting to feel clumsier and less capable as the tech evolved rapidly around a device that was tethered to a last-gen console come 2020.

Sony’s last shot at making PSVR a viable part of the landscape came in 2023, thanks to the PlayStation VR 2. The revamped headset was a major upgrade in every way. It was more comfortable, more powerful thanks to the PS5, easier to set up, and had a deep backlog of great games on day one. It seemed like Sony was serious about it given that the device launched with Horizon: Call of the Mountain, a true first-party exclusive using one of its biggest franchises.

The triumph was short-lived. PSVR2 was virtually dead on arrival, launching as mainstream interest in the tech had all but faded. Aside from launching a VR mode for Gran Turismo 7 and putting some advertising muscle into promising titles like Synapse, Sony seemed to abandon the headset instantly. In 2024, one year after the launch, Sony released a PC adapter for the device. It was a way to generate a last bit of buzz, but also seemed like an admission that console VR simply wasn’t the future.

And if that was in question in 2024, it’s all but certain in 2026: This September, Sony reportedly transferred several patents related to VR to Meta. On its 10-year anniversary, Sony has all but confirmed the end of an era for its VR ambitions.

It’s a sensible example of a company reading the room, because the VR gaming industry is on its deathbed in 2026. Many of the superstar developers behind VR’s greatest hits have pivoted to flat-screen games. Others, including Moss studio Polyarc, have shut down entirely. High-profile VR games from major publishers are becoming less frequent, with early adopters like Ubisoft stepping away from the tech entirely. Any hope that Valve would revitalize the space with this year’s Steam Frame faded away when its high price tag and lack of first-party game support came to light. There aren’t many reasons to be optimistic about the tech’s future these days.

While we’ll likely never see console manufacturers getting into VR again, there’s still a little life left in a space that has shrunk down to a dedicated niche. A newly released mod that gives Titanfall 2 VR support is turning heads (literally) at the moment, suggesting that fan projects could gain momentum with official game releases slowing down. There may be a world where VR gaming continues to hang on as an enthusiast hobby for people who like to tinker with old games. (And Nintendo’s surprise Virtual Boy revival this year taught us that sometimes doomed tech can get a nostalgia-tinged second life.) But the tech rat race that gave us the PSVR is firmly over, for better or worse, wrapping up a 10-year journey in a perfectly imperfect bow.

I generally find it quite frustrating how limited the medium of games insists on being when it comes to engaging in a wide breadth of genres. One particular genre that its filmmaking cousin frequently utilises but is rarely seen within games is comedy. Sure, occasionally a game makes an attempt at telling a joke within a cutscene (failing more often than not (comedy’s hard!)), but rarely is it a genre mechanically. So I’m quite pleased to learn of Send in the Clown, a turn-based RPG where you play as a clown that has to save a 12 year old’s birthday party… and it only has one turn.

In Send in the Clown, you play as Pockets, a horrendously sad name for a clown. He has been hired to perform at Miranda’s birthday party, except it’s being ruined by her shitty brother Tad. Your goal, then, is to save the day by saving the party by, uh, fighting a child! That’s Tad, to be clear. The problem is, Tad is a dirty trickster, and despite you being a literal adult, isn’t easy to take down. Your solution to that is by trying to make friends with everyone and anyone at the party.

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That involves playing a range of minigames. There’s a single dad who wants to impress with his dance moves but has two left feet, so you teach him through a rhythm game. There’s an exhausted mum who you help give a “much-needed break from parenting with Uncharted-style quick time events.” And there’s an awkward shy kid who you have to hype up a bit to get him involved. After befriending them, they essentially get added to your party (the RPG kind) and can be used to take down Tad; I’m particularly fond of the mum’s incredibly powerful attack where she throws her newborn baby.

It’s not just about making friends, there are a range of secrets to unlock and discover that can aid you in taking down Tad. Eventually all of this culminates in a single battle, and yes, an entire battle system was developed just for this one battle. That’s commitment! It’s just the bulk of the game is in the delightfully silly prep work you have to do. Best of all, it’s not trying to outstay its welcome; the game is only an hour long, so it doesn’t sound like any grinding will be necessary. I also greatly appreciate this note on the Steam page: “No artificial intelligence, or intelligence of any kind, was used in the making of this game.”

If any of this sounds up your alley, you can try out a demo, or just shoot it a wishlist, on its Steam page.

The Crimson Plague is ravaging Europe. Scattered across every level, echoes of the fallen and journal pages reveal the army’s secrets and the horrors of the plague. In Valor Mortis, you play William, a young Englishman disillusioned with the monarchy who joins Napoleon’s cause, drawn by the promise of a unified Europe. He dies for that ideal — and you’ll need every tool at your disposal to survive what follows in Valor Mortis, available today for XBOX Series X|S, XBOX on PC, Game Pass, and with support for XBOX Play Anywhere. Before you lead William into battle, the team at One More Level wants to share how its combat really works, and a few things we hope you will go looking for.

A Few Simple Tips

Valor Mortis is a soulslike, but its systems are built to feed each other. Your blade breaks posture. Your firearms hit weak points. Hitting weak points refills your nephtoglobin (nephto), and killing enemies often drops ammo. Once that loop clicks, you are always one move away from your next advantage.

• Break their posture. Enemies have a posture meter, similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Land hits and parries to break it, then follow up with heavy attacks or a powerful finisher.

• Commit, then parry. You can’t cancel an attack animation into a parry, so never start a swing you can’t finish. On weapons that support it, a clean parry lands with a metallic clang and sets up a counter-attack. A perfect dodge gives you a moment of slow motion.

• Block, then counter. Counter-attacking right after a block restores the health you lost while blocking. In Valor Mortis, defense is also a way to heal.

• Make every shot count. Ammo is scarce, so aim down sights at glowing weak points (the pustules, or “lambent blisters”). Detonate the explosive barrels some enemies carry, and shoot glowing red-orange nodes to reveal blocked paths.

• Burn, then finish. The Fire Transmutation sets enemies alight, and burning enemies are open to finishers.

Change Your Playstyle with Ambers

Ambers are where your build gets personal. Some simply make you stronger, but the best ones change how the game plays. Slot them in when you visit a lantern. The more you level William, the more Ambers you can equip, so use catalyst clots from your inventory to push past the next level threshold.

Here are three that show how far an Amber can take your build:

• Marksman’s Bane. Lets you parry bullets, and every successful bullet parry gives you a Pistol round. Enemy gunfire becomes a source of ammo.

• Volatile End. Shooting an enemy’s weak point causes a damaging explosion. Every precise shot now hits even harder.

• Butcher’s Carnage. Your melee strikes restore health, but you can no longer heal with Ferrofluid Flasks. It rewards staying aggressive and punishes every moment of hesitation.

Every major boss has a strategy that works best against it. If a fight isn’t going your way, try different Transmutations, firearm combinations, and items from your inventory, and come back with a new plan.

Explore Every Corner

Valor Mortis rewards you for exploring, like a metroidvania. Abilities you unlock later open up areas you have already visited. Later levels open into combat arenas with fights across multiple heights, and villages are full of shortcuts and alternate paths.

The best rewards are off the main path. Echoes of the fallen and journal pages fill in the story of the Crimson Plague. Many Ambers are tucked into optional areas, and you are unlikely to find every one of them in a single playthrough.

Some of the most powerful enemies in Valor Mortis are also the best hidden. Optional mini-bosses wait in the corners of its interconnected levels for players curious enough to look. You never know what you will discover, or what kind of trouble you will find.

Ready to Die for Napoleon?

Valor Mortis is available today for XBOX Series X|S, XBOX on PC, Game Pass, and with support for XBOX Play Anywhere. We can’t wait to see the builds you create and the secrets you uncover.