Games

It’s hard to get a clear idea of what’s happening with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. Ubisoft hasn’t officially announced anything, but fans are getting excited based on rumors and hints. So, while it’s good to be cautious, it feels like Ubisoft might be planning a surprise release. The biggest debate among fans, however, centers on how the series has changed. Recent games like Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, and Shadows have become massive open-world RPGs, and in the process, some of the classic Assassin’s Creed elements – like smooth parkour, stealth, the modern-day storyline, and the conflict between Assassins and Templars – have been lost.

As a huge anime fan, I’ve seen a lot, and while Bleach is a classic, a few series have actually managed to top it! They either matched Bleach‘s epic, long-form action, or they did something truly special that Bleach didn’t, or smartly avoided some of the issues that held Bleach back. Don’t get me wrong, Bleach is great, but it wasn’t perfect, and that opened the door for a select few anime to just slightly edge it out in terms of overall quality.

Released in October 2024 exclusively for the Meta Quest 3 and 3S, Batman: Arkham Shadow is the second VR installment and tenth game in the Batman: Arkham series. Developed by Camouflaj, the studio behind Marvel’s Iron Man VR, the game was highly praised by critics for successfully bringing the atmosphere of the classic Rocksteady Batman: Arkham games to virtual reality. Batman: Arkham Shadow has earned multiple awards, including a Game Award, a New York Game Award, and a D.I.C.E. Award, and currently boasts a perfect 100% critics’ recommendation score on OpenCritic.

The new World of Warcraft expansion, launching March 2nd, continues the Worldsoul Saga. Players will work to prevent Xal’atath from taking control of the Sunwell. The update raises the level cap to 90 and introduces four new areas to explore, including updated versions of Eversong Woods and Zul’Aman, along with several new dungeons and raids.

Peanut first gained popularity playing Escape from Tarkov, but he became a well-known figure in the gaming world with the release of ARC Raiders last year. He really grabbed people’s attention after a public disagreement – often called a ‘war’ – with another ARC Raiders streamer, HutchMF. This quickly went viral, with players showing their support for each streamer by dressing their characters accordingly. Although some weren’t happy with the conflict, it generated a lot of buzz for Embark’s second game and boosted its success.

Over the next six months, owners of the new Switch 2 will have several games to enjoy, including Mario Tennis Fever – which features the biggest character lineup ever for the series – and the charming Pokemon Pokopia, a game that blends the worlds of Pokemon and Minecraft. It’s unusual to see so many new Switch games released close together, as they’re normally spaced out.

Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, excels at crafting compelling villains. The series features some of the most captivating antagonists in anime, and the Akatsuki stand out as particularly mesmerizing for fans. They were a central and highly popular group throughout the story.

Longtime fans of the Animal Crossing series likely noticed how naturally these changes happened. The game has always been about things shifting behind the scenes, and no characters represent that quite like Kapp’n and Mr. Resetti. They used to be central to how you traveled, faced consequences, and understood the game’s structure, but New Horizons has given them new, more relaxed roles. Here’s a look at their history and how they’ve evolved in the latest game.

A great illustration of this trend is the “soulslike” genre, a term that didn’t exist before FromSoftware created challenging and difficult games. Now, it’s hard to discuss gaming without mentioning titles like Elden Ring, or the many other excellent games inspired by that initial risk-taking. But soulslikes aren’t the only example. Over the past few years, we’ve seen several new game classifications emerge to describe experiences fundamentally different from what came before. Some of these new genres are simply existing ones with a unique spin, while others cleverly blend elements from different types of games, creating surprisingly compelling combinations that nobody would have predicted.

I’m so excited to share that Amazon is actually making a Tomb Raider TV show! It was announced last year, and it’s going to star Sophie Turner – yes, Sansa from Game of Thrones – as Lara Croft. We just got our first glimpse of her as Lara, and she looks amazing! I can’t wait to see it.