Jessica Conditt

Starfield, the excellent Digipick puzzle game surrounded by 80 hours of sci-fi mediocrity, is getting a performance update on Xbox Series X that unlocks frame rates above 30 fps. Starfield's May update adds the option to target 30 fps, 40 fps, 60 fps or an uncapped frame rate — for displays that support VRR running at 120hz. Displays without VRR will have the choice of 30 fps or 60 fps.

Xbox is expanding its accessibility footprint with the Proteus Controller, a modular gamepad created by nascent peripheral company Byowave as part of the Designed for Xbox program. The Proteus Controller is a group of palm-sized cubes that can be connected to each other in a wide variety of configurations, with interchangeable faceplates that include standard controller buttons, analog sticks and a directional pad. This means players can set up the Proteus Controller to be used in individualized ways: in one hand, flat on a desktop, as part of a traditional gamepad with palm grips, connected to a joystick, and other setups.

Microsoft has shuttered three ZeniMax teams: Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog Studios. The company is also folding Roundhouse Games into Zenimax Online Studios. Arkane Austin is the home of Prey and Redfall, while Tango is responsible for The Evil Within, Ghostwire Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush. Alpha Dog is the creator of Mighty Doom and Roundhouse was a support studio for ZeniMax projects.

In the last five days, Helldivers 2 was removed from the PC market in 177 countries and the game’s Steam reviews collapsed under the weight of more than 200,000 negative ratings, dropping from Positive to Mixed. It’s now Tuesday and the Helldivers 2 Steam page is overrun with people ranting against Sony and celebrating democracy, and for anyone taking their first glance at the game, it’s all a bit confusing.

This one's a bummer. Mega-publisher Take-Two Interactive is shuttering Rollerdrome studio Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 team Intercept Games, according to paperwork seen by Bloomberg.

I found myself in a variety of odd situations while solving puzzles in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. I spent some time staring at a mid-century movie poster for a documentary about a decomposing cat, wondering if I should focus on the runtime or the date it came out. I pulled up old hotel blueprints and deciphered the math of dead architects. I played a handful of ASCII-style PC games to receive messages from a 19th-century magician who calls me his sister. I found some toy blocks and shoved them into the walls of a secret cathedral. I slipped between realities and traversed a maze that shattered into shard-like pieces under my feet. I watched a woman fall to her death. I wondered if that woman was me.

The latest batch of rumors make it pretty clear that a PlayStation 5 Pro is coming this year, but will anyone really care about slightly better 4K graphics? This week, Engadget Senior Editor Jessica Conditt joins Cherlynn and Devindra to chat about the PS5 Pro, as well as her piece on the PlayDate two years after its release. You could say the Playdate is pretty much the opposite of another expensive high-end console.

Take-Two Interactive plans to lay off 5 percent of its workforce, or about 600 employees, by the end of the year, as reported in an SEC filing Tuesday. The studio is also canceling several in-development projects. These moves are expected to cost $160 million to $200 million to implement, and should result in $165 million in annual savings for Take-Two.

Playdate came out two years ago, and it’s still miniscule and yellow with a black-and-white screen and a delightful crank on its side. Today, the device has a built-in library of more than 100 titles, none of which are Call of Duty, Dark Souls, The Last of Us or any other big-budget, mainstream game — and this is precisely what makes it so damn charming. The community that’s sprung up around this palmheld is lively and creative, and scrolling through the Playdate tags on itch.io or github feels like hanging out in a friendly underground clubhouse populated by crank-obsessed video game freaks.

In a year packed with rad fishing sims, Dredgewas arguably the best. It came out in March 2023 and filled the wet, eldritch-horror-shaped hole in the year's gaming catalogue — and now, it's going to be a movie. Developer Black Salt Games and media company Story Kitchen are partnering to turn Dredge into a live-action feature film. The project's logline is, «Think The Sixth Sense on the water. A grounded atmospheric cosmic horror blend of HP Lovecraft and Ernest Hemingway.» That's not not a description of Dredge as a video game, so it looks like we're off to a fine start.

After nearly seven years of activity across PlayStation 4 and PS5, the PlayStation Tournaments platform is getting its first branded competition, and the name at the top of the screen is smothered in tomatillo-red chili salsa. The Chipotle Challenger Series featuring Tekken 8 will kick off on PS5 Tournaments with a qualifier round from April 15 to 26, open to anyone who wants to test their fighting-game skills — or just score some free snacks. All participants in the qualifier round will receive a code for free chips and guacamole from Chipotle. According to the company's official rules, the freebie must be redeemed alongside a full-priced entrée item, purchased online or in-app only. Also, the offer expires on May 31. But, hey, there's still a clear path to free chips and guac via Tekken 8 playtime here.

Open Roads is an easy game to get lost in. It tells a twisting tale about generational trauma — the tension, lies and love between mother and daughter — with all the comfort and warmth of an early 2000s network drama like Gilmore Girls or Charmed. As a former suburban teen myself, this game left me feeling equally exposed and understood.

Former professional esports player Dennis Fong founded GGWP in 2022, more than a year before companies like Microsoft and Google debuted their natural-language search engines and the AI revolution officially gripped the globe. GGWP is an AI-powered moderation system that identifies and takes action against in-game harassment and hate speech, and after two years on the scene, it’s now integrated into titles at more than 25 studios.

Cities: Skylines II developer Colossal Order has a uniquely close relationship with its community. The original Cities: Skylines came out in 2015 and gobbled up the audience that was left behind by EA’s SimCity, which came out in 2013 and was a busted mess. Cities: Skylines scratched that urban-planning itch, plus it cost just $30. The game came first to PC, Mac and Linux with modest hardware requirements, and it hit consoles within two years. Critically, Cities: Skylines also supported mods through the Steam Workshop, allowing players to add their own tools to the game and share those features with others.

With the news that Blizzard and ESL FACEIT are preparing to launch a new esports circuit for Overwatch 2, mere months after the death of the Overwatch League, it's a good time to take stock of the entire esports scene. Things are looking slightly frantic, at least in North America. League of Legends and Rocket League are particularly messy, entering their 2024 seasons with lean budgets and major shakeups. Meanwhile, an expansion of the open-qualifiers model should provide more opportunities for everyday players to compete in Valorant, Overwatch 2, Rocket League and all manner of fighting games. Get those fingers ready, folks.

Avowed, the fantasy roleplaying game from Outer Worlds studio Obsidian Entertainment, is due to hit Xbox and PC in the fall. This is a slight update from the game's original release window, which was just "2024." Specifically, Avowed will hit Xbox Series X/S, PC via Xbox and Steam, and it'll be available through Game Pass on day one.

I own a jacket that’s eerily similar to Tess’ in Open Roads. It’s a blue bomber with yellow and burnt orange accents, and it’s not the only thing that Tess and I have in common. As she leisurely explores her childhood bedroom in the first few minutes of the game, Tess comes across set pieces that ground her environment in the early 2000s. There’s a chunky black television set and scattered DVD cases, little bottles of bright nail polish, a black-and-white strip from a photo booth, newspapers remembering 9/11 and hunting for bigfoot, and a bright pink tube of sickly sweet lip balm. These are the leftovers of her adolescence — the room is disheveled and largely empty, with most of her possessions packed away, ready to move. Tess picks through the room’s remaining photos and yearbooks, her hand-drawn fingers reaching out to interact with 3D objects, revealing more of her backstory with each touch. The cuff of her jacket is jarringly familiar every time it enters the frame.

Welcome back to our weekly gaming news roundup.

Sony shared its upcoming PlayStation Plus free games for January on Wednesday. Headlining this month’s batch are Capcom’s 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake and the Borderlands spinoff Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can claim the 14 new games on January 16.

Deconstructeam announced today that its upcoming divination-based game, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, arrives on August 16th. The player-choice-driven narrative adventure will be available for PC and Nintendo Switch. In addition, a new launch trailer gives us a closer glimpse at the title’s tarot deck building and weighty decision-making.