The Epic Games Store is not very good. This is not a controversial thing to say, I’m fairly certain, as the lack of features available within it feels a bit odd also eight years into the thing existing. Sure, there’s some free games every now and then (like Citizen Sleeper, right now), but there’s a lot of basic things missing. But it seems much of that, including simple things like patch notes, will be coming within the next 12 months.

Over on the EpicGamesPC subreddit, a series of photos from a talk Epic held regarding the storefront’s future shows off the kinds of things you can expect from it over the next year. A roadmap of sorts outlines what you can expect when, with smaller things like pre-registration for free-to-play games, patch notes, a private beta for the next version of the launcher, improved storefront navigation, and whatever the hell “Fortnite Chunked Installation” is (I’m assuming that it lets you download only certain parts of the battle royale) coming up first.

Epic Games Store roadmap for 2026 and more screenshots of launcher rebuild
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Speaking of that revamped storefront, a couple images of that were shown off, with some captions explaining that home pages will be personalised per user, highlighting games that match an individual’s “interests and playstyle.” Sounds pretty basic! Game pages will apparently be more detailed too, with again some tailoring done for each user to “show what’s relevant to them based on where they are in the game.”

In the up next section of the roadmap, there’s also a mention of user written reviews, the absence of which is a commonly levied criticism against the storefront, alongside supposed discovery improvements, and the launch of the next version of the storefront. A look at user profiles was also shown off, which shows things like games a person owns, what they’ve been playing recently, achievements. Once again, literally nothing unique to be found here.

It is quite odd that Epic have been taking so long to add such basic elements of a digital storefront. But then, they did lay off over 1000 employees earlier this year, so, it doesn’t really seem like they know how to run a team very well. At least Unreal Engine 6 will incorporate generative AI! I definitely feel good about that! Please, oh god please, read the sarcasm here.

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After rumors were swirling, Atlus has announced the English voice cast for Persona 4 Revival, their new remake of their beloved RPG classic Persona 4.

While the English voice cast for Persona 4 Revival is entirely new, the Japanese voice cast has remained the same since the original release. Here’s the cast:

• Protagonist (voice by Nazeeh Tarsha) – A second-year high school student, who, due to unfortunate circumstances with his parents, was sent to live in Inaba at the home of his uncle.
• Yosuke Hanamura (voice by Paul Castro Jr.) – Another local high schooler, Yosuke is the cheerful and caring strategist of the group, bringing together the deductions and opinions of team members.
• Chie Satonaka (voice by Anne Yatco) – A lively local girl who attends the town’s high school, Chie is a warm and empathetic person with a strong sense of justice.
• Yukiko Amagi (voice by Brianna Knickerbocker) – A popular student at school, Yukiko is the sole inheritor of one of the town’s long-established inns. She’s reliable and level-headed, albeit spacey.
• Marie (voice by Ari Thrash) – A mysterious girl to encounter in Inaba who occasionally stops through town, Marie comes across as aloof and unfriendly. However, she is also curious and proactive by nature.

Persona 4 Revival is set to launch across Windows PC (via Steam and the Microsoft Store), Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 on February 18th, 2027.

Atlus, Persona 4 Revival, Sega

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I’m going to go out on a limb and say that when you think of penguins and video games, Club Penguin is probably the one that comes to mind for you (or the Surf’s Up adaptation if you’re nasty). There aren’t really a lot of games about these flightless birds, and they’re normally on the sillier side when there are because penguins are funny little critters. Penguin Colony, the next game from the devs behind Umurangi Generation, doesn’t completely abandon that silliness, but it does throw in some cosmic horror and the hubris of man in for good measure. And its first demo certainly sets the stage for an old experience.

In Penguin Colony, you are a penguin. One of many, any penguins actually. You can slide on your belly, jump, and swim, a Shadow of the Colossus style stamina meter limiting your ability to walk up steep, icy cliffs and the like. But you do not have to stay as this penguin. The tuxedo wearing animals are found all over the game, of varying sizes and species and benefits and negatives. If you walk up to a baby penguin and switch to it, you can climb under a gap in a fence, but if you try to swim you die, whereas embodying a fully grown adult nets you more stamina.

Controlling the penguin(s) is admittedly a tad awkward, in a way that feels incidental over purposeful, and yet it still lends itself well to the experience. Waddling along feels stiff and unsatisfying, but when have you ever seen a penguin be graceful while moving on its two feet? This is why you must slide as much as you can, for that’s where things smoothen out.

And then there is the Lovecraftian madness. As you make your way forward, ever forward, at first towards the flare of a human stationed out there in the Antarctic, later towards an obelisk structure that the Nazis (the original ones) claim is linked to an ancient, Aryan race, the voice of Disco Elysium’s Lenval Brown warningly narrates at you his experience in this frozen tundra. It is disquieting and somehow isolating, and I look forward to more in the full game.

You can pick up glowing orbs along the way to restore some stamina, random words appearing as you collect them like indigenous and encyclopedia. They don’t just litter the land either. At one point I came across a man who fell to his knees, violently shaking his head before it exploded, producing an orb for me to add to my portfolio. The word it produced was “sex.”

Penguin Colony’s demo is short, but does at least set the groundwork for a unique critique of fascist ideology. Who could have thought you’d get something like that while playing as a penguin! Right now it doesn’t have a release date, but it is due out in 2026, and you can try out its demo on Steam for yourself right now.

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When Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair in September 2024, many expected a long legal battle with potentially serious consequences for one of gaming’s biggest hits. Nearly two years later, however, the situation looks very different.

The lawsuit centered on three Japanese patents related to monster capture/release and riding mechanics. Nintendo had sought both an injunction and damages, but setbacks like patent office rejections for lack of originality (citing prior art from games like ARK and others) have weakened their position significantly.

Recent court developments suggest Nintendo’s case has narrowed significantly, with the dispute now focused almost entirely on older versions of Palworld rather than the game players are experiencing today. While the lawsuit isn’t over, its ability to meaningfully impact Palworld’s future appears to be fading.

The shift happened after Pocketpair proactively altered several gameplay mechanics that had become central to Nintendo’s patent claims.

You can no longer summon Pals by throwing Pal Spheres in the way you could at launch, and gliding has been redesigned to rely on a dedicated glider rather than using Pals directly. Pocketpair has openly acknowledged these changes were made to avoid disruptions to development and distribution while the legal process continues.

That alone raises an interesting question: if the disputed features are already gone, what exactly is left to fight over? At this stage, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are primarily pursuing damages tied to earlier versions of the game.

Reports suggest the potential financial reward could be relatively small compared to the scale of the case itself. More importantly for players, there is currently no indication that Palworld’s upcoming 1.0 launch on July 10, 2026 is under threat.

For Pocketpair, that’s arguably the most important victory. The studio has spent the past two years transforming Palworld from an early-access phenomenon into one of the biggest success stories in recent gaming history.

What initially caught attention as “Pokémon with guns” quickly evolved into something broader: a survival-crafting game that combined creature collection, base building, exploration, and multiplayer systems in a way that resonated with millions of gamers. That popularity is a major reason the lawsuit generated so much discussion beyond legal circles.

Many argue the case represents a growing problem within the games industry, where broad gameplay concepts can become the subject of patent disputes. Supporters of Nintendo, meanwhile, maintain that companies have a right to defend intellectual property they believe is being infringed upon.

The reality likely sits somewhere in the middle. While Nintendo may have succeeded in forcing certain design compromises, the larger objective appears increasingly out of reach. The possibility of an injunction affecting Palworld’s current version has diminished considerably, and the game continues moving toward its full release with major updates still on the roadmap.

The optics have also become complicated for Nintendo. Online discussions increasingly frame Pocketpair as the underdog surviving against one of gaming’s largest corporations. Whether fair or not, many players view the lawsuit less as a defense of innovation and more as an attempt to limit a competitor that successfully tapped into a market Pokémon itself had struggled to satisfy in recent years.

What’s particularly notable is that Palworld’s success hasn’t slowed during the legal battle. If anything, the lawsuit may have increased public awareness of the title. With another court hearing expected in October, the case is not technically over.

Nintendo may still secure some form of financial compensation tied to earlier builds of the game, but the likelihood of significantly altering Palworld’s trajectory appears slim.

Palworld is hitting full release for all platforms next month, on July 10th globally. The game has been available for Windows PC (via Steam and the Microsoft Store), Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

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Vanillaware might not be a household name to some of you, but it’s got a library that hangs up there with the best of them. Odin Sphere, Dragon’s Crown, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, all games that I have seen their biggest supports plead for you to play them on sites like Dwitter and Bluesky. Only problem for us lot is that none of them are on PC. Well, most of them, as just this week it was announced that one of their earlier titles Muramasa: The Demon Blade will finally be coming to PC. And, as it seemingly turns out, Vanillaware would like more of their games to be made available on PC… it’s just not up to them.

Author and founder of indie game festival BitSummit James Mielke took to Bluesky to share word from Vanillaware founder George Kamitani about the studio’s interest in further PC ports. “Glad to see Muramasa coming to PC,” Mielke wrote, continuing, “I asked Vanillaware’s George Kamitani why he hasn’t put his other games on PC and he said he totally wants to, but it’s up to the publisher to finance the ports. So if you want 13 Sentinels, Dragon’s Crown, Unicorn Overlord, Odin Sphere etc. on PC, make some noise.”

This did cause some confusion for some, as Atlus, who published Unicorn Overlord, said that their agreement with Vanillaware meant that only a console release was planned. In turn, this led some to believe that Vanillaware didn’t want their games on PC. One user on Bluesky responded to Mielke regarding this, with Mielke explaining that “the reports were wrong,” about Vanillaware not wanting PC ports.

Whether any of the aforementioned games get a PC port in the future does now seemingly come down to enough people causing a bit of a fuss to make it happen. Maybe don’t tag the publishers in question on your social media of choice with expletives or anything, but a friendly email might do the trick. I know I’d certainly like to see 13 Sentinel’s gorgeous art in particular up on my monitor, so, hop to it you lot.

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Developer SBN3 has announced the latest entry in the Class of ’09 series, Class of ’09 Puzzle Showdown!

Class of ’09 is an irreverent visual novel taking place in the late 2000s in highschool. Anyone who lived through that time at that age probably thought the games were hilarious and since then the series has gained a niche and dedicated fanbase.

The latest entry takes the visual novel format and adds match-3 style gameplay, to what end? We’re not sure. But there’s supposed to be five campaigns of story likely filled with the kind of humor we’ve come to expect from the series.

You can check out the trailer below.

The next generation of #Classof09 is here…
CLASS OF ’09: PUZZLE SHOWDOWN

Wish list on Steam TODAY! pic.twitter.com/QNCEOAblp3

— Class of ’09 (@Class_of_09) June 12, 2026

The Class of ’09 girls took the internet by storm in 2023 with the visual novel genre. Now that the Class of ’09 VN trilogy has concluded, the late 2000’s girls we know and love return to bring you the most story-rich 2D VS Puzzle Game to date in Class of ’09: Puzzle Showdown! Swap blocks to lines of 3 or more, but the true learning curve is mastering the chaining system to bury your opponent before they bury you!

5 Unique Campaigns, 13 New Endings
You read that right, we have 5 unique campaigns challenging your puzzle skills. Each campaign centered around a different Class of ’09 girl from their unique perspective, and a side quest all about Kelly! Every last one of these campaigns still bringing you the earnest comedy known with the prior Class of ’09 games.

Go beyond the story with ONLINE MULTIPLAYER
This Class of ’09 game maximizes replayability with P2P online and local multiplayer. Develop your skills by playing the campaigns and then take them to the digital streets to see who’s the best of the Puzzle Showdown!

Class of ’09 is still heard!
The entire voice acting cast is back with some new voices along the way! This game also features an original soundtrack with over a dozen new songs you’ll eventually ask us to upload to streaming.

You can check out our review of the second game in the series, Class of ’09 The Re-up here (we thought it was pretty funny).

You can wishlist Class of ’09: Puzzle Showdown here, it launches on July 17, 2026.

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Crimson Desert. It’s basically an everything game at this point, so it’s not too suprising that the latest update developers Pearl Abyss have put out takes the Red Pudding further down the road of being a Nintendogs competitor. The number of pets you can tame as you wander around Pywel has been growing gradually since launch and you can now have up to 100 of them. That seems dangerously impractical, but hey, video game.

Based on the update notes, the studio are pegging achieving pet ownership maximalism as its own challenge. We’ve “added reward items for the existing pet challenge that increases the number of pets you can register” they whispered as they announced the upping of the pet registration total to 100. In theory, that could allow a person to own 100 pigeons or loafy cats, establishing themselves as lord of the avian arseholes or flabby felines.

Sadly, the notes specify that you can only summon up to 50 pets at camp at any one time, so you’ll only be able to invite half of your animal army to a party at once. That’s sure to fuel some resentment in the ranks, making the job of commanding such a four-legged or two-winged force tougher than you might think. Better start reading Sun Tzu or Machiavelli.

Beyond that, the update adds a map icon for baby wyverns, as well as letting secondary protagonists Damiane and Oongka muck about with mining drills and chainsaws. In another tweak, any rare gear you lose will be gathered up by shopkeepers and re-sold at higher prices. Finally, Pearl Abyss have messed about with the pinball minigame they added in another recent update (told you, everything game). Red Pudding pinball should now be easier, with its balls boasting a slightly heavier feel and less propensity for passing through walls.

Yep, less balls through the wall, as Crimson Desert’s devs continue to go balls to the wall with updates. I’m here all week.

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The latest trailer for Persona 4 Revival finally gave fans a closer look at Atlus’ upcoming remake, but it wasn’t just the updated visuals that caught attention.

While Atlus still hasn’t officially revealed the actors behind Persona 4 Revival’s main characters, it’s now clear that the cast has been completely recast. That’s not entirely surprising. Rumors about a remake had been circulating for years, and several original voice actors previously confirmed they hadn’t been asked to return.

One of those actors was Erin Fitzgerald, who voiced Chie Satonaka in Persona 4 Golden and multiple spin-offs. Following the new trailer, Fitzgerald shared an emotional message on social media, saying she was “deeply grieving” while also expressing gratitude for the opportunity to play the beloved character:

“I’m ok chat. I’m just deeply grieving. Everything in life is transient. I celebrate that the experience happened. I am grateful that I lived it FULLY. Thank you for sharing the journey with me. Yukiko, i will love u forever. Yosuke, let’s go get a burger.”

The situation mirrors what happened with Persona 3 Reload, which also introduced a completely new English cast. While many players eventually embraced those performances, there was an adjustment period for fans attached to the original voices.

Players won’t have to wait too long either, as Persona 4 Revival is currently scheduled to launch on February 18, 2027 on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5, with Persona 6 waiting in the wings afterward.

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I like a factory simulation that fervently embraces the basic evilness of factory sims, these games about wrapping a smoking, clanking straitjacket around a realm of organic colours and unsuspecting resource deposits. Or in the case of Asema, around the wonders of the interstellar abyss, and whatever life it contains. “You are old, one of many,” goeth the blurb. “There may be an infinite amount of your kind in the cosmos, older than stellar dust. But for you, the only space that matters is the one you can silence.”

Gosh, that’s a sentence, isn’t it? Up there with “Sins of a Solar Empire” in terms of billowing nihilism. What else have you got to offer, Asema? You say you’re replacing our beloved conveyor belts with huge railguns, so as to launch resource packages between factory nodes suspended in a 2D gravitational simulation? Yes, I think the grasping starbarons who read Rock Paper Shotgun would enjoy hearing about this.

In Asema, you slowly build up a relatively freeform logistical network that reaches across moons and asteroids. You kick off with one drone in the rich shallows of the inner solar system, then extend your reach via unlockable technologies into the outer void.

The big problem is gravity, a “unique environmental puzzle” for any Kuiper Belt magnate trying to optimise their loading bay configuration. “Your heavy machines will naturally drift toward the nearest gravity wells, such as moons,” explains the Steam page. What’s more, “anything can become a gravity well when it has enough mass – even one of your own machines.”

If this is a daunting prospect, there are waterwings of sorts for people who can’t do slingshot maneuver equations in their heads. “You don’t need to calculate orbital math or plot trajectories,” the devs continue. “You just need to manage your economy. Build and power dedicated Focus arrays (computational anti-gravity) to keep your grid stable, counter the pull of the moons and gravity wells and keep your factories perfectly positioned.”

This does sound like it could ultimately rob the idea of its complexity, to be honest, but there is the implicit mid-to-late game prospect of power-outs that send your entire factory network spiralling into the nearest black hole. Yes, Asema has those too.

There’s a demo on that Steam page. The full game is slated for release later this year. If you’d rather shoot explosive shells out of those railguns, maybe give In The Black a look instead – it’s a space combat game from former X-Wing and Mechwarrior devs that also features a Newtonian physics simulation.

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Akupara Games has announced two new publishing partnerships, adding indie veterans Pixeljam and Behold Studios to its growing portfolio of developers.

While both studios may not be household names outside indie circles, they’ve spent years creating memorable experiences long before independent games became a major force in the industry. Now, Akupara plans to help bring many of those beloved titles to new platforms and fresh audiences.

The agreement includes several well-known games from Behold Studios, including the Power Rangers-inspired tactical RPG Chroma Squad and the chaotic multiplayer survival title Out of Space.

Meanwhile, Pixeljam’s catalog joining the partnership includes Dino Run DX, Grid Ranger, Last Horizon, Snowball!, and Cheap Golf.

Pixeljam is also preparing to release two new projects, Cornhole Hero and Dino Jump, both scheduled to launch on July 23.

“I have fond memories growing up renting games from the video store and grabbing my first NES from a garage sale. When I look at what Pixeljam and Behold Studios built during the renaissance of gaming, I get that same warm feeling. Publishing both of these studios’ titles is an exciting trip down memory lane and an opportunity for an entirely new generation of players to discover them. We can’t wait.”  – David Logan, CEO, Akupara Games

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