Genre News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Manic Mechanics wears its influences as clearly as a mechanic’s boiler suit is splattered with engine oil and brake fluid. This is Overcooked!, only instead of preparing a multitude of meals for ravenous punters, you are instead tasked with fixing up a never-ending string of banged-up cars.

Animation was the butt of the joke at this year's Oscars ceremony, but one high-profile director/producer had the perfect response to the poorly received joke from host Jimmy Kimmel. 

While Mario has become the face of Nintendo, and perhaps video games as a whole, it’s important to remember that it was in a Donkey Kong game that he really became an icon. Since then, our beloved ape has bounced between being friend and foe of the plumber, as well as broken free to star in his own series of games with an expanded cast of friends and enemies. It’s been a long time since we’ve been graced with one of his banana-fueled adventures, so we decided this was as good a time as any to look back at Dinkey Kong’s legacy and decide which of his many solo efforts stand as the best.

Outcast: A New Beginning, the sequel to one of the very first open-world games ever made, is actually hugely inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. 

Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

A wave of EA Classics has joined the most popular PC digital store, Steam, for the first time ever.

Unicorn Overlord MSRP $59.99 Score Details DT Recommended Product Pros

If you like to get extremely angry at video games, you might be disappointed with how Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy failed to spawn a whole genre of masochistic climbing games. Your disappointment is shared by the solo dev behind a new game that attempts to keep that Getting Over It spirit alive.

The action genre had a fantastic 2023, with strong new entries in banner franchises and exciting one-off movies from creators established and upcoming alike.

During the Xbox Partner Showcase, New Zealand-based developer RiffRaff Games (led by Joshua Boggs, known for the puzzle game FRAME) announced Sleight of Hand, a neo-noir stealth sim game.

Dune: Part Two has taken theaters by storm after a relatively quiet start to the 2024 box office. It’s getting even more people into this franchise, which is the grandfather of a lot of modern sci-fi stories. Dune also has a more storied history with video games than you may think. If you’re in the mood to return to Arrakis and experience more entertainment set within the Dune universe, you don’t have to wait for Dune: Awakening.

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Jeff Wadlow, writer and director of the new Blumhouse horror movie Imaginary, has revealed that classic works of fantasy were a big influence on the film, especially the creation of the Never-Ever, an otherworldly universe and kingdom of imagination that our characters are plunged into as the film continues.

Back in 2022, Vera Drew’s highly personal, incredibly irreverent stylized memoir movie The People’s Joker made a splashy debut at the Toronto International Film Festival — in that immediately after its premiere, DC Comics’ parent company, Warner Bros., filed a cease-and-desist order against the movie, shutting down all subsequent screenings and throwing the movie’s future into doubt. It’s taken years for the film to see the light of day, outside of the occasional festival screening. I saw it at the 2023 Fantastic Fest, where Vera Drew was present to talk about the experience, but was careful not to address the question of whether her film might ever get a real theatrical run. But now, according to the poster, it’s “coming soon. Legally. Seriously.”

Dear fellow Elden Ring players,

This is a quiet week on TV, especially compared to the bonanza in theaters that is Dune: Part Twoor the ongoing fervor around Helldivers 2 (shoutout to those servers).

Happy March, Polygon readers. The weather is warming up, winter is closing up shop, and the Oscars are around the corner. But first: new movies for you to watch on your streaming services in March.

February is coming to a close, and with it, more awards contenders are heading to streaming services with the Oscars around the corner.

Balatro publisher Playstack Games has taken to social media to defend its poker roguelike after fans noticed it had been removed from certain stores.

Macs have always been hit-or-miss when it comes to gaming. Until just a few years ago, it was always a gamble as to whether a game would come to this operating system, and most of the time, thingsdidn’t pay off. However, at WWDC 2022, Apple committed to starting “a new day” for Mac gaming, with a focus on on two new features to make the platform better. These features are MetalFX, an upscaling program, and the Fast Resource Loading API, which will decrease game loading times.

When I bring up the “tactics RPG,” it feels like there is a certain image that comes to mind: grid-based, turn-based, isometric, or top-down, with units hopping up and down terrain to bonk each other on the head with swords and magic. The sheer popularity of games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and Fire Emblem have cemented as much.

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There are plenty of new shows this week, but I will do the rare cheat out and tell you I already have a favorite: Shōgun.

Nintendo fans are spoiled for choice when it comes to platformers. On the Switch alone, there are more than a dozen games in the Super Mario franchise from across console generations that illustrate why Nintendo developers are the masters of the platforming genre — and that’s not even including games starring Donkey Kong, Kirby, and Nintendo’s smaller stars, like BoxBoy.

Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

Elden Ring's director says both himself and FromSoftware at large don't feel pressured by other games in the 'Souls-like' genre.

Who would have thought that 2024 would be the year of the monster-collecting game? While several have tried (and often struggled) to recapture the joys of Pokémon, this year’s Palworld is perhaps the first game that’s ever truly been able to pull it off. Granted, it did that by trading in finely tuned RPG combat for Ark-like survival crafting that makes it an entirely different game, but a win’s a win. While Palworld has broken records on Steam, its early access nature means you can hit its bottom quickly — something fans seem to be struggling with as its player count continues to drop.

The Souls games, or whatever umbrella you want to put all of FromSoftware's action RPGs under, collectively redefined an entire genre and literally defined a new one in the form of Soulslikes. So it is immensely amusing to hear creative director and studio boss Hidetaka Miyazaki describe this success, in an interview with Eurogamer, as: "Players seem to enjoy our games."

A previously PC-only turn-based strategy game, Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is now available on Xbox and PlayStation consoles. PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One owners can now play the Warhammer universe-based adventure for the first time. I’ve spent some time playing it on PC already, so here’s what you’re getting, console players.

Not to start with a massive spoiler for Act 2 of life, but middle age has few upsides before the nosedive into elderliness begins in earnest. I always figured the greatest perk would be more disposable income to buy sicker toys and gadgets, however, there’s no time to enjoy any of it. That being the case, I’ve modified this supposed mid-life bonus into something I've dubbed Connoisseur Gaming Inception—the pure satisfaction of slyly introducing a younger family member to an unknown gaming genre, just to see if you can watch a new passion take flight.

Before Palworld combined the adorable monster-collecting appeal of Pokémon with survival and crafting gameplay, there was Temtem, the game that blended MMO mechanics with friendly monsters. Now, the folks behind Temtem are mashing up Tems with another style of game — the “bullet heaven” genre popularized by Vampire Survivors.

Sony has lined up another third-party PS5 console exclusive for 2024, and this time it comes from indie studio Far From Home. Forever Skies is a first-person, sci-fi survival game that's been in early access for nearly two years, but it'll fully launch later this year. When it does, it'll be a timed console exclusive on Sony's system.

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We are now in the doldrums of February; it’s still kinda chilly, the days aren’t quite long enough yet, and the Valentine’s candy sales are down to the dregs.

Helldivers 2 – the sequel to 2015 top-down shooter Helldivers – released earlier this month for PlayStation 5 and PC. Despite the genre changing to third-person, it's received a fairly warm reception.

New Netflix thriller A Killer Paradox has been climbing the streaming charts, with reviews praising its twist on the serial killer genre.

The funky upbeat Foamstars soundtrack is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, and other platforms. The album consisting of multiple artists can be downloaded on your phone through these services.

March 2024 is bringing a fresh new slate of games to the table, with titles from to releasing across the full range of modern platforms. Not every 2024 game has been a hit so far, but between the launch of games like and has complemented a boom in popular survival crafting experiences to prove plenty of market strength. March 2024 could keep that momentum up, and some of the most anticipated titles feel like sure bets for fun.

There are only three days left before the PC early access debut of Nightingale, the first game released by Canadian developer Inflexion Games.

We all know the feeling. Boot up a survival game, slip into an online server, and set yourself up with a little base so you can be ready to explore the vast and glorious digital landsc – Oh. You're dead. Oh, and now someone's teabagging your looted corpse. Cool. Just wonderful.

If there's one game I would want to follow CDPR's long-awaited sequel The Witcher 4, it would be a cosmic horror game set in feudal Japan - and I mean that sincerely! In fact, CDPR, with its spectacular worldbuilding, is one of the few studios I would trust to pull off something so wild. But, sadly, that very specific genre is exactly the only one CDPR has fully ruled out for its new IP, codenamed Project Hadar.

Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

Alan Wake 2 received widespread critical acclaim when it was released in late November. Our own Francesco De Meo gave it a 9/10 and said:

Ori developer Moon Studios announced No Rest for the Wicked at the last The Game Awards. Developed for publisher Private Division, it's labeled as a visceral top-down action RPG that Moon Studios has been prototyping even before they released the first Ori game.

Nightingale, the debut title of Canadian studio Inflexion Games, is scheduled to launch on PC early access via Steam and the Epic Games Store next Tuesday.

We’ve all wondered why no one gets in a car and drives away from the terror in scary movies and games. Pacific Drive by Ironwood Studios lets us live out that scenario. This upcoming first-person survival adventure drives a customizable station wagon into the genre.

Having spoken to Mass Effect veteran Aaryn Flynn, CEO of Inflexion Games - the developers working on upcoming survival crafting game Nightingale - it's clear he's aware of the stiff competition vying for our attention in the genre. When our game libraries are saturated with well-rounded titles like Valheim, Palworld, and Sons of the Forest, pulling in an extensive player base for Nightingale isn't going to be an easy task. But is all that competition so bad? 

Last year’s Alan Wake 2 was a triumph, not only in the survival horror genre but in AAA gaming in general. Given the high praise, it’s no wonder we declared it one of our favorite games of 2023. And for good reason, too.

Like Ikea trips before them, games like Overcookedare littered with fights between previously loving couples. Instead of coming from arguments over utensils or sectionals, these fights spur from who made the unforgivable mistake of chopping more onions instead of removing the burning meat from the frying pan. These games are more about communication and coordination than anything else, and while they can be stressful, they can also be incredibly rewarding once you get into the rhythm.

The “bullet heaven” genre was not something I seriously encountered until I started playing Vampire Survivors. It’s got that dopamine hit that comes when you’re the one the enemies have to watch out for. But if you want something that’s less about castles and spells and more about basic shapes in space, Geometry Survivor is where it’s at.

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Another Steam Next Fest is over, meaning another collection of indie game demos have vanished into the ether. As ever, with so many options at your fingertips, it can be hard to know what to play, but now that the dust has settled, we've collated our Steam Next Fest coverage to point you towards the games we loved that deserve a spot on your wishlist.

This morning, developer Cygames announced on Twitter that Granblue Fantasy: Relink has become a million seller eleven days after its launch. The Japanese studio also promised 'more updates' to the game are on the horizon.

Over the years, we have seen some truly bizarre microtransactions and DLC add-ons, especially ever since the advent of the live-service genre. Almost every publisher is guilty of overpricing skins or cosmetics, with Capcom, Square Enix, and Electronic Arts all having fairly recent controversies surrounding cosmetic prices in the past 12 months. Activision Blizzard is considered by gamers as the king of overpriced cosmetics though, as it has displayed once again with Diablo 4.

Not only is February a big month for the AAA titles of the world, but it's also lined up some fascinating indie games for PS5, PS4 owners to digest. Alongside Pacific Drive is Ultros, an incredibly colourful platformer promising just as much brutal action as there is calming gardening. It is out for Sony's two systems on 13th February 2024, and to learn more ahead of release, we caught up with game design director Mårten Brüggemann to ask maybe one too many questions.

Recently, successful survival-crafting releases like Palworld and Enshrouded have turned early 2024 into a competitive market for the genre. Inflexion Games has been crafting their take on the genre, Nightingale, for over five years now.

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How’s everyone feeling, post-Super Bowl Sunday? Mildly hungover? Stuck with a lot of hors d’oeuvres? Well hang on to those leftover bags of chips: There’s plenty of new TV coming this week that will give you some (more) opportunities to sit on the couch with your best dip and have a lovely February night in.

The survival crafting game genre is in the middle of a renaissance. Players have been drawn to mainstays like Minecraft and Terreria for well over a decade at this point, but the last couple of months have seen plenty of new contenders enter the market. Lego Fortnite, Palworld, and Enshrouded all recently launched and became some of the biggest surprise hits in the industry in recent months. Now, Nightingale is launching and aims to ride this genre popularity wave to success.

Starnaut is a new roguelike bullet hell from a developer behind Devil May Cry and Okami - and it enters early access this week.

The last decade of gaming on PC and other platforms has seen the increasing popularity of run-based games like , which offer looping gameplay cycles that make use of procedural generation and reward an overarching sense of progression and mastery. These games are sometimes interchangeably referred to as either «roguelikes» or «roguelites,» but the two terms actually have mechanically distinct definitions. Although both are usually capable of conveying the general meaning or idea of a genre in offhand descriptions, understanding the specific differences can help categorize games more accurately.

Even with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X offering up next-level visuals, PCs remain the home for high-end gaming for many players. Games usually look their best on PC, and there’s a massive selection to choose from. From indie darlings to AAA blockbusters, our roundup of the best PC games has something for everyone.

PlayStation’s previous State of Play featured an…interesting trailer for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. However, the headline coming out of the event was Kojima’s announcement of a return to the genre he arguably created: action espionage.

Just like you probably enjoy getting to choose your own path in real life, you want to have the same freedom in your favorite video game. Open-world games like The Division 2have only continued to grow in popularity since their release.

A couple of weeks ago, Hideo Kojima announced that he was returning to the action espionage genre with a new game, codenamed Physint.

Greetings, Polygon readers!

Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

It’s only February and 2024 has already another unexpected hit. Helldivers 2 revels in the confidence of knowing exactly what it’s doing, offering up one of the most approachable extraction shooters yet.

Hideo Kojima announced a new “action-espionage game” named Physint at Sony’s PlayStation State of Play event last month. And to hear the founder of Kojima Productions describe it, Physint sure sounds a lot like a new take on Metal Gear, the stealth series that Kojima created, but taken to its extremes.

It’s never been a better time to be a multiplayer gamer, with fantastic titles such as Fortnite, GTA Online, and Call of Duty: Warzone taking the industry by storm. However, the same can be said about single-player experiences, especially in recent years thanks to the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

After an uneven console cycle with the Xbox One, Microsoft’s latest consoles are aimed at getting the ship back on course. The Xbox Series X is a next-generation powerhouse that rivals gaming PCs, while the Xbox Series S is an affordable stopgap for those who are curious about trying new games.

Champions! offers a unique twist on the party game genre, immersing players in a whirlwind of crazy tournament-style duels where characters chosen by the players battle it out for the coveted title of Champion! The game’s play style revolves around predicting which of the eight candidates will emerge victorious through three intense rounds of play, making it an engaging and unpredictable experience for all involved.

Steam Next Fest is back for another round of non-stop demos, including one survival game with more in common with Palworld than just its genre. 

A series like Far Cry is rather unique within the industry. There are very few other FPS franchises that completely swap out characters and settings between every major installment, but all still feel like a cohesive whole. Some are more different than others, but the formula of an open-world shooter has proven a strong enough foundation to build one of the biggest series in Ubisoft history.

As I write this, Reacher is the No. 2 show on Prime Video according to the site’s ranking, almost two full months after its second season premiered. Prior to that, it spent most of the last couple months at the No. 1 slot — the show is, according to Amazon’s public metrics, a huge hit, and yet every time I tell people to watch it, they’re always a bit skeptical. “Really?” they wonder, as if I have ever liked a bad show. Yes, I tell them. Really. I still would, even though I have spent some time now feeling fairly grumpy about how Reacher season 2 has turned out. Uneven as it’s been, Reacher is a reminder that time is one of TV’s biggest strengths, and the natural peaks and valleys a show experiences over its life can only serve to reinforce what makes it special.

In the first of a regular series of columns, Failbetter's marketing chief Haley Uyrus tells us about how developers can brand their projects using words alone

Beneath the cathedral of Tristram, past the catacombs and deep caves, a Prime Evil grows in strength. Terror grips the townsfolk. They pray for someone to descend into the darkness, avenge their fallen friends, save Tristram, and destroy their demonic malefactor. Will you answer the call?

In the last year, Mediatonic has released games across numerous different genres and platforms all the while maintaining an industry-leading reputation and high quality. Creative director Jeff Tanton tells us more

Phrases like “user acquisition company” and “data and insights” don’t tend to quicken the pulse, but you know what does?