Here’s one I wasn’t quite expecting: Silent Hill 2 remake and Cronos: The New Dawn developers Bloober Team are working on a Star Trek game in collaboration with license owners Paramount. As you might imagine, given Bloober’s pedigree, it doesn’t appear to be a very uplifting Star Trek game. It is not a Star Trek game in which you would expect to have an Earl Grey teaparty on the Holodeck, with Data playing the viola. Called Star Trek: Shadow Frontier, it’s a “psychological thriller” set on an uncharted planet that has become a spaceship graveyard. Something with tendrils lurks hereabouts, and it’s trying to eat your mind.

In Shadow Frontier, you play no less than Ro Laren, a Bajoran Federation officer (and later, Maquis turncoat) introduced by Star Trek: The Next Generation back in the 90s, with original actress Michelle Forbes supplying voice and motion capture. She’s come to the planet to answer a distress call, which is never a great opening move. “As she explores the planet’s corrupted surface and crosses paths with other survivors, she must face twisted creatures, a hostile ecosystem, and an entity that seeks to envelop her body and mind,” explains the press release. The aesthetics slop Zdzisław Beksiński-flavoured effluence over what could be Romulan or perhaps Klingon interiors. Yeah, we’re a long way from the campy fixtures of the original Star Trek series. Here’s a trailer.

Bloober are making Shadow Frontier in partnership with Paramount Games Studio – a new “unified” development operation that encompasses Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media, announced amid layoff-ridden restructuring as Paramount complete their $82 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. In a statement, PGS head of creative and production Shawn Kittelsen enthuses that “we have full confidence in Bloober’s ability to deliver a game that does justice to the Star Trek name while bringing something bold and new to the beloved franchise”.

Bloober CEO Piotr Babieno is similarly flush with ecstasy for things both bold and beloved. “As lifelong fans of science fiction, Star Trek has always held a special place in our hearts,” he says in the release. “By combining that passion with what we do best, horror, we’ve partnered with Paramount to create something truly unique: a new adventure set in a beloved universe, enriched with our own signature layer of dark, psychological thriller. We’re genuinely excited about this journey, and our hope is to honor the legacy of Star Trek in a way that feels both respectful yet refreshingly different.”

As a recovering Trekker, it’s been years since I thought about Ro Laren, but off the top of my head, her backstory would suit a “dark, psychological thriller”. She’s a convict, defector, secret agent – an absolute piece of work, basically. The Bajorans at large are Star Trek’s one-size-fits-all analogy for displaced and traumatised peoples throughout history. Bloober have never been particularly subtle in how they depict trauma, and I confess, I can imagine their attempts to plumb Star Trek’s subconsciousness going very badly. I am, however, intrigued by the pitch in general.

It’s out in 2027, and you can read more on Steam. Curious about the ins and outs of adapting Star Trek? You might want to peruse this interview with the founder of Zachtronics about their abandoned pitch for a Next Generation engineering sim.

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Day of the Devs was a busy one at Summer Game Fest 2026 this year, following on from the Geoff Keighley showcase, as usual, with another oddball assortment of indie games, big and small. The difference this year was that they had more exclusive announcements, world premieres unless you can come up with something better, than ever before!

Day of the Devs is a non-profit organisation, built off donations and support from game companies across the industry, and relying on the volunteer time of all the hosts that you saw in the show. This year saw over 1700 individual submissions, all of which have to be reviewed and curated to get down to the 20 games that they rattle through in the showcase.

So, without much further ado, let’s dive right in:

The Full Day of the Devs 2026

Blood Dungeon

A new game from Messhof, the creators of Nidhogg. This is a platforming game riff on the Vampire Survivors Bullet Hell formula, where you have to navigate a platforming maze, scrambling up walls and along ceilings, and are battling with gravity as much as the hordes of enemies that are coming your way. This is set to bring its distinctive take on the genre to us all with a late summer ’26 release window for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Tenebris Somnia

Saibot Studios have a refreshing take on the retro survival horror genre that blends its pixellated video game horror with lavishly produced FMV cutscenes. It’s a really special blend. The game follows Julie who has nightmares of her boyfriendbeing killed by horrible monsters, only to find that those nightmares are very real.

Check this out when it launches on 16th October.

Oh, and it’s all practical and digital VFX. No AI was used for the production of this game.

Mr. Records

Moonlighter meets Tiny Bookshop and the music industry in Mr. Records, as George the record shop owner travels deep into the music itself for some rhythmic platforming, capturing the music and then being able to add it to his catalogue for selling to customers during the day, where he might need to match a particular customer’s musical wishes.

The team are also the composers, creating a great variety of music from different genres.

Wishlist Mr. Records on Steam.

33 Immortals

Thunder Lotus (the developers of Spiritfarer) have been working away at this broad co-op action RPG for a while now, 33 Immortals looking to capture the tone of MMO raiding with big lobbies of up to 33 players. The game’s been in Early Access since last year, and will now launch fully on 10th June.

Dreadmoor

A strange catastrophe has transformed the world, leaving it dark and twisted…. but a man’s gotta eat. Dreadmoor is a dirst-person fishing adventure, where you need to head out to fish in the murky waters with all the fishing sim needs of using the right bait, timing and having a patient approach to catch your fish… but you’ll also need to keep upgrading you boat, craft survival gear and fight monstrous creatures to survive.

This is sure to be a cult hit when it launches in Q4 ’26 – Wishlist now to keep tabs.

Threads of Time

A classical inspired turn-based RPG, Threads of Time evokes plenty of the HD-2D visual style in its own way, and a good bit of Chrono Trigger in another. This is a time-travelling tale, which has you hopping about the Time Ship The Needle to go back and forth and restore the order of the Time Knights.

There’s been a broad collaboration to bring this together, with the passionate developers at Riyo Games able to team up and partner with developers of the games that inspired this adventure. Wishlist it across Steam and Xbox.

N PLUS INFINITY TIMES TWO

Metanet Software are continuing to pick at this one great idea they had way back when, with N Plus Infinity Times Two the latest sequel to N+. This time around, they’ve sought to remix it as a virtual couch party game giving five different ways to play – some new, some old, all chaotic – and leaning in on that online stuff…. but there will still be a solo campaign to master your ninja skills.

N Plus Infinity Times Two can be wishlisted on Steam

Into the Unwell

A third-person roguelite set in a fever dream, you’ll play solo or in a party of three as flawed and heavily medicated misfits…. OK, so you’re a cartoon cat in a rubber hose art style, and I got some System of a Down vibes from the soundtrack. Just what you need when you’re not feeling great. This one’s coming out in 2027.

Bub

Bub is a deeply personal story about art and creation, coming from Case Jernigan and Todd Anderson who have crafted a layered stop-motion world for the game, through which Bub can overcome his MS, relive his past and mirror it within his own creations.

The development of the game has echoed Bub’s journey, as Case shares that he was diagnosed with MS 3 years ago, losing and needing to refind his own creative spark with the help and friendship of Todd. After a long journey, they hope to release the game in 2027.

Lazy River

Mike Boxleiter (of Secret Hitler fame) and friends are making a freidnsloppy co-op FPS set through an infinite lazy river. On a space station. With space water. Which you really shouldn’t pee into because that turns everyone into zombies.

Someone peed in the water, and now you need to survive and escape before the security bots wipe out all organic life.

There’s a while to wait for this, as Lazy River is expected to drop into Early Access in summer 2027.

Prove You’re Human

Can you prove you’re human? Well, what about that giant robot head on a mechanical arm? Mesa really, really thinks that she’s human, and that she has a body, but you’ve been hired to put her in her place. Also you can walk around and make Captchas.

Ithaca

In this roadtrip RPG, Penelope is a 30-something environmental rights lawyer, but she’s maybe taken things just a little bit too far? THere’s a CEO in her car boot and she’s driving down to Ithaca. Let’s just pretend that everything is totally normal, calling and texting with friends and family on the journey. Nothing suspicious. Totally normal.

If you’re in favour of eating the rich, you can check out Ithaca on Kickstarter and Steam, and look forward to it in late 2027.

Screenbound

The Qboy isn’t an ordinary handheld console, it’s a reality-splitting one that bridges actions from inside the game to the world around you. The dual-adventure of Screenbound takes place both in the retro 2D world of the game, and the 3D world around you at the same time. The game cartridge your playing with can also be swapped out, jumping between different retro genres.

This one’s launching on 10th September for all the major platforms, with a demo now live on Steam.

Shot One Fighters

This 2.5D roguelite fighting game lets you build the moveset of your fighter as you go, battling your way through a universe that’s being eaten by Paradox with over 100 moves to learn and earn. Wishlist now and follow on Kickstarter.

Apple Crumble

The Duck Detective devs are back with something a little bit Knives Out, a bit Mouthwashing, and a bit loopy in general. It’s your grandma’s 84th birthday and the family is turning out for a dinner party, but you think someone’s trying to killer her and you need to find out who! Apple Crumble is out later this year.

Slap Out Of It!

Inspired by classic point and click adventures and the simple satisfaction of slapping things, Slap Out Of It! is a slapstick “slap-and-solve” adventure that embraces a bit of lateral thinking for its puzzles. Played from a first person perspective, you slap everything to interact, and never tickle.

Super Yooka-Laylee Kart

Everyone knows the fourth game in a franchise needs to be a kart racer, and Super Yooka-Laylee Kart is getting there on a technicality… but that’s OK. This game aims to combine classic karting action in the vein of Mario Kart on the SNES or GBA with modern gameplay, including hugely customisable rules and a unique Rage mode to strike back at other players who’ve hit you a bit you often.

Beta tests are coming soon, with the Steam page live now for a wishlisting.

Into the Fire

The team from The Invincible need you to race toward the exploding volcano for a high-risk extraction job. Rescueing survivors won’t be easy as you need to adapt to changing fire, create new escape routes through ash and lava and try to get back out.

Trin 6: Together in Time

The next Trine title is launching on 17th September, inducting a new generation of characters to join the original trio for more .

When Sirens Fall Silent

LKA Games’ third title is their most ambitious by far. Set in Intaly in the early 1990s, you’re a rookie police officer who’s drawn into a serial killer case, trying to find clues, piece them together and figure out what’s real and what’s supernatural. Just as with their previous game, Martha is Dead, expect this to broach some difficult topics, while exploring your character’s choices and fragility.

Wishlist this on Steam to keep tabs on its developmnet.

Phew! It’s been a long night of game announcements, and Day of the Devs certainly delivered this year after the main Summer Game Fest showcase.

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As AI agents grow ever more capable, enterprises racing to put them to work across applications, workflows, and products face a new challenge: ensuring an agent does what it’s supposed to do when it’s deployed across different environments.

Microsoft is trying to solve this problem with a new open source standard called Agent Control Specification (ACS) that aims to give developers a more consistent and granular way to control what AI agents are allowed to do.

The specification essentially lets developer, compliance, and security teams define their own policies for agents to follow. The rules can define what the agent may do, what it must not do, when a human should approve an action, and what evidence should be logged for later review. These policy files are checked at several “interception points” when the agent is off performing a task to make sure it stays within the guardrails.

The spec comes as developers are improvising ways to control what their AI sees and does, especially with conversations focusing on AI workflows going wrong due to tool misuse, or unintended actions that result in cascading failures.

Today, developers might specify instructions in a system prompt, add custom checks in the application code, or use classifiers to catch problematic inputs and outputs. Those approaches work, but they often leave companies with fragmented controls that are hard to audit and harder to reuse across different frameworks, interfaces, and systems.

ACS aims to integrate those controls into a common governance layer. Microsoft says the specification can be used to check whether an agent is sticking to guardrails at multiple points in its workflow — before it receives input, before it calls a tool, after a tool returns a result, and before the final response is sent to the user. A policy may allow an action, block it, redact sensitive information, or even ask a person to approve it.

Developers can also insert classifiers for inputs and outputs to categorize information, predict outcomes, or determine how an agent should respond; add LLMs with prompts to act as a “judge” for policies; and logic for checking tool calls, tool selection, input accuracy, output usage, and responses.

And because these policies can be written as single files, they can be bundled with agents, allowing a security policy to follow an agent across different frameworks and environments.

ACS is shipping as an SDK with plug-ins for LangChain, the OpenAI Agents SDK, the Anthropic Agents SDK, AutoGen, CrewAI, Semantic Kernel, Microsoft.Extensions.AI, MCP tools, and more.

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AI researchers and labs have advanced by leaps and bounds in evaluating AI models for everything from safety and compliance to sycophancy and alignment. But it appears companies and developers are faced with a new, specific need: making sure that their AI system behaves as intended for their specific product or service.

In a bid to make that testing process simpler, Microsoft on Tuesday took the wraps off ASSERT, short for Adaptive Spec-driven Scoring for Evaluation and Regression Testing.

The open-source framework, Microsoft says, makes evaluating application-specific AI behavior easy by using AI to turn high-level, natural-language descriptions of goals, policies, or intended behaviors into thorough, scored tests that can be investigated.

ASSERT takes plain-language descriptions of an AI model’s expected behavior and policies, turns them into a structured set of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, generates problem scenarios and test cases, runs them against the target system, and scores the results. It can also record the paths the AI system takes, including intermediate actions and tool calls, so developers can inspect where failures happen.

Devs can provide system context, tools, and constraints, too, if they want to further customize what the evaluations cover.

For example, a developer could specify that a document research AI agent shouldn’t send emails to people outside the company, limit confidential information to C-level executives, and provide concise summaries with prior context in mind. ASSERT will use those rules to generate test cases that check whether the system follows those rules on an ongoing basis.

The framework, according to Microsoft, fills a gap that broader, more general evaluations cannot when AI models are intended to behave in a manner that is shaped by an application or product’s context, policies, and tools.

“One of the things we’ve learned is that evaluations are absolutely critical to making good decisions,” said Sarah Bird, chief product officer of Responsible AI at Microsoft. “Because if you don’t understand the behavior of the AI system, it’s really hard to know if it’s meeting your organization’s bar […] What we found is that if you really want to have a trustworthy system, you should evaluate many more dimensions that are application-specific.”

Bird said ASSERT can be used to evaluate systems when they’re being built, after deployment, and even for continuous monitoring.

The release comes amidst a gradual but broader shift in the AI industry. As models grow more capable, researchers are focusing on repeatable testing and regression checks, with Stanford’s HELM, MLCommons’ AILuminate, and evaluation groups like METR rolling out benchmarks to measure how models behave under different conditions.

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