In this excerpt from The Game Informer Show podcast, Rare's original composer David Wise walks us through the creation of some of the best music from Donkey Kong Country like Gangplank Galleon, Stickerbush Symphony, and the title theme for Diddy's Kong Quest. He also talks about his work on the upcoming game Tamarin releasing later this summer.

You can watch the interview above or click here to subscribe to The Game Informer Show podcast to listen to the full episode, which includes new details on Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.

Have you ever wanted to see if Nergigante could beat Albert Wesker in a fight? How about Chun-Li versus a Rathalos? Now you can live that dream, as Capcom's IPs join under one roof in Teppen, GungHo's free-to-play strategy collectible card game on iOS and Android. It embraces real-time decision making and timing, as there are no "turns," but rather two players playing simultaneously on a three-lane board. In stark contrast to most digital card games, twitch reflexes actually play a role, both in getting units out to the board efficiently and especially for combat considerations. Big flashy ultimate abilities take the center stage (each hero has three to pick from) and are reminiscent of filling up your gauge in a Street Fighter game to unleash hell.

The big issue right now for me with Teppen is game stability. The game constantly crashes on my iPad Air 2, and isn't playing nicely with PC methods to play Android titles like Bluestacks or Nox. I hope those issues get fixed soon, because there's actually a lot of fun stuff in this game; it leans hard into the illusion-world where Ryu punching a Monster Hunter creature makes perfect sense. It's fun cobbling together a revenge-oriented Resident Evil deck where undead armies come back from the grave stronger and stronger, or a Mega Man healing deck where I juice up robots from the games to impervious levels, and the free card drip seems fairly generous out the gates, something akin to Shadowverse – of course, you can always buy packs or the season pass, too.

The moment-to-moment gameplay is fairly refreshing in a world where passing turns and stockpiling resources is commonplace. Choosing just the right moment to play an action effect or drop a defender on the field to fight an incoming strike takes some getting used to, but the battles are better for it. Watching your heroes dish out heavy charged-up abilities is slick and sometimes game-defining, definitely looks great for a mobile game, and there are also classic tunes to enjoy along with tons of new art for your favorite characters. Teppen even features story content that's used to unlock characters alongside the standard multiplayer ranked play, so it's not all just climbing the ladder and punching out missions.

With Teppen out in the wild for only a day at this point, it's hard to say where it will end up in the huge digital card game ecosystem – but watching Hsien-Ko and Felicia take on a Tyrant is pretty awesome for now.

There’s a reason that “hunter” is half of Monster Hunter’s title: Admiring monsters from afar might be satisfying in its own way, but the whole point is getting in the faces of these giant beasts and battling against seemingly insurmountable odds. Once you’re done, you get to take your trophies and craft new weapons and armor to do it all over again. And for that, you need a base of operations. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne introduces an all-new region to explore, as well as a place to call home. Seliana may not have a whole lot of history (yet), but Capcom relied on its experience – and player feedback – when it came time to build this outpost on the edge of the known world.

Iceborne takes place after the events of the main campaign, when the expedition notices a mass migration from the New World to an unknown destination. Shortly afterward, it’s clear that the monsters are flocking to an undiscovered continent – and with that, we’re off. Unlike Astera, the hub world in Monster Hunter: World, this new base of operations is just getting started. Astera is an established outpost, having been built up over several generations. Seliana was largely constructed in advance and flown out via enormous balloons.  

“You start off in the old headquarters of Astera, and as the story of Iceborne progresses you’re going to be able to transition to this part of Seliana, and you’ll see how this village grows and what develops in the storyline in relation to this new base,” says Kaname Fujioka, Iceborn’s executive director and art director. “Basically, it’s going to be a smaller base that they want to take to the Hinterlands.”

The expeditionary force built Seliana with the knowledge it acquired over decades of experience, which isn’t unlike how Capcom approached designing the new hub world. The team took player feedback into consideration when it came time to build Seliana, along with its own expertise in designing spaces. Director Daisuke Ichihara says that one of the big takeaways the team learned from that feedback was that Astera could be difficult to maneuver around and that certain NPC facilities were spread too far apart. “[W]e took great care when creating the new base, Seliana, in Iceborne to address some of those concerns,” Ichihara says.

“Especially the gathering hub,” Fujioka adds. “That was kind of a main focus point of some of the adjustments we made based on player feedback. For example, we really wanted to make the gathering hub a more fun gathering place, a more social-gathering environment for people, so they could communicate a little easier and have a little more fun there. And sort of use it as a social-networking space.”

We were able to explore Seliana a bit during our hands-on time with the game, and it’s striking how different the space feels from Astera. It’s smaller and has a bit of Nordic flair, and it generally has the vibe of being a place that’s on the edge of a frontier. There’s a lot of fun ambient detail, such as the various Palico helpers who carry parcels around the camp or the Poogie who wanders around in a sweater – a tiny icicle dangling from his snout. On the edge of town, you can watch wagons getting loaded before disappearing down the road. These are largely inconsequential details as far as gameplay goes, but they go a long way in selling the illusion of a bustling new community. NPCs like the chef and forge aren’t quite as far away from one another, which is at least partially due to Seliana’s smaller footprint. 

“There are reasons from both the visual design and the game design as to why it’s more compact,” Fujioka says. “If we wanted to make something that, in terms of game design, was super easy to access everything, then we’d just put all of our facilities in a straight line and call it a day – it would be an easy thing to do. But we want something that’s a lot of fun to walk around in, so you can walk around and find interesting little things here and there. That’s also part of our design philosophy. But we did take into consideration what players want, like all the room services that were in World that you had to access in your room can now be accessed in Seliana itself; you don’t have to go inside your room anymore.”

One of the things I like about the Monster Hunter team’s approach to game design is how they put a lot of thought into the underlying logic in their worlds, whether or not players wind up noticing those details. As fantastical as the monsters are, for example, the designers make efforts to come up with logical explanations as to why they’re able to use elemental attacks or have adapted to better survive in their home environments. That philosophy extends to Seliana as well.

“The basic concept of Seliana is that they’re building a base on undiscovered land – no one has been here before,” says environment artist Sachiko Fukuda. “With Astera, it was basically facing the open sea, and it was a place with a lot of rich nutrients and stuff like that. It was easy to grow stuff. With Seliana, it’s surrounded by mountains, and they’re trying to figure out they want a place where people help the hunters. They want a place where you can forge weapons, so they need that energy to power the whole place. One of the main reference points was Iceland. We did some research on cities in Iceland and how they operate, and a lot of the cities there get their energy from thermal energy.”

Iceborne’s Hinterlands are home to a variety of underground hot springs, which the residents of Seliana have been able to tap into. On a more personal level, hunters can take advantage of the springs’ healing powers to regenerate their health and stamina by taking a quick dip. That’s only one of the ways players can stay healthy and strong. Eating is another constant presence in the series, and Seliana introduces some fun new cuisine – and a new cook.

“The first concept we had was moving the Meowscular Chef to Seliana, and it was an outdoor canteen in the freezing cold; and everything was covered in snow,” Fukuda says. “We decided to move away from the first design and move the canteen indoors and make it a little warmer and more cozy. We got more advice from Fujioka that instead of just a grill of meat and everything we had in World, because it’s a cold place, to replace that with a big pot of stew, where you add things that will warm up your body because you’re in this freezing cold area. The design kept building on top of that, and as we started finalizing designs of the Grandmeowster Chef, we were going for something that resembles your grandma’s house.”

Putting the Meowscular Chef in this cozy new environment felt a little weird, so they designed a new character based on Russian nesting dolls: The Grammeowster Chef. Unlike the gung-ho attitude that Astera’s chef brings, this new Palico cook is a soothing presence, with more relaxing cooking animations than those of her protégé. Her food looks great, too. “We put a lot of thought and effort into making you be able to taste the food when you see it,” Fujioka says. “For example, the beef stew and the melted cheese. It’s something that you know there’s a lot of good taste behind it. We wanted something different from just a slab of meat in the Chef’s canteen.”

The Meowscular Chef is holding down the fort back in Astera, but not everybody stayed back. For instance, the smithy who works the forge has left that task to someone else and moved over to Seliana. If you miss anyone, don’t worry – you won’t be moving to this frontier on a permanent basis. “All the facilities that are in Astera are in Seliana, but in terms of story there will be reasons to go back to Astera,” Fujioka says. “There are going to be some changes in the new world in terms of stuff that’s happening, so you’ll have to go back and forth a couple of times to figure out what’s going on.” That said, I’m looking forward to spending more time in this new area, as well as the rest of Iceborne.

We'll have more Monster Hunter World: Iceborne coverage throughout the month, so be sure to check out the hub page linked in the banner below.

When adapting any story from one medium to another, the real trick lies in maintaining the tone and spirit of the original, while recognizing the nature of the new platform and capitalizing on what it does well. Whether it’s a comic to a film, a movie to a video game, a toy property to a cartoon, or any other combination, everything falls apart if the adaptation loses touch with its source material. Thankfully, Ravensburger’s board game take on the venerated original Jaws film hits the mark in all the ways that matter. This is a suspenseful game of cat and mouse that celebrates all the best beats of the movie, but also locks into some clever game mechanics to capture the progression of conflict between man and shark.

Best played by a full four-person complement, Jaws puts one player in the role of the deadly shark, while each of the other players controls one of the main characters from the original film. Brody, Quint, and Hooper each bring their own skills and expertise to the shark-hunting task, and it’s only through cooperation and thinking ahead that the team can win. Meanwhile, the shark player is laying a careful trail of misdirection as he or she tries to devour humans and eventually the opposing players. Many actions (especially for the shark) are undertaken in secret, as each side tries to guess the others’ movements and actions. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of the childhood fun of Battleship, trying to guess the location of your opponent’s warships, but with extra layers of strategy, tools for success, and complexity thrown into the mix.

The biggest success of the Jaws board game isn’t its moment-to moment interactions – most will feel familiar and straightforward to dedicated tabletop players – but the way those interactions fit into a larger two-part game session. In fact, you can play each “Act” as a separate standalone game. But in my playthroughs, I’ve found that the real fun is seeing how Act 1 informs Act 2, and how the final conflict between man and beast often comes down to a real nailbiter in the final turns.

In the first half of a full game, everyone plays out the drama of the shark’s attacks against the swimmers of Amity Island; the humans desperately try to rescue swimmers and locate the shark. Event cards are drawn each round that echo major beats from the movie; prankster kids with a cardboard fin pull the crew away from the hunt on a false lead, or Brody’s son is placed in mortal danger and can only be rescued by his father. The shark secretly notes on a private notepad where they’re heading next, and tries to take out one or more swimmers. Meanwhile, the human crew ranges across the island and the surrounding ocean spaces in order to avert disaster. Having taken on roles on both sides, I enjoy the way that each human character and the shark have different tasks and activities on their turn, encouraging replay and demanding individual engagement with new tasks from players.

The results of Act 1 change which team has the advantage going into Act 2, as the humans board the Orca and head out to sea for a life-and-death duel with the bloodthirsty carnivore. The entire game board flips over to show an open stretch of water and the fateful battlefield between the two sides. Here, the pace of the game increases, and the stakes go up. The ship is represented by tiles that flip over and slowly get whittled away to nothing as the shark player regularly surfaces and tears things to shreds. Meanwhile, the human players criss-cross the boat with harpoons and pistols in hand, attempting to predict the shark’s likely target and resurfacing location, and bring the creature down before the craft capsizes, or they are all mauled to death. The shark can fall back on abilities that boost its capabilities; the number of ability tiles depends on how many swimmers that player managed to devour in the previous act. Dice rolls whittle away at hit points on both sides. Each team or individual tries to outthink the other. The decaying ship layers on a sense of impending doom with each passing turn.

Even as the first act communicates a vaguely abstracted sense of conflict on the island over what is presumably multiple days of attacks, the second act feels more immediate and threatening, emulating the beats of an action scene. The two acts work together to communicate the full movie tale, even as each half of the game session has its own pace and sense of excitement, moving from suspense and tension to direct conflict. I get a kick out of that transition and the way it’s baked into the natural flow of the game.

Those two very distinct acts are what make the Jaws game special, but they also demand that you effectively learn two different rulesets in order to play a single game. Neither act attempts to throw any big curve balls as far as rules, but expect that your first play session with new players to run significantly beyond the normal expected playtime of an hour. Even so, I was pleasantly surprised by Jaws and how well the game flows from one play mode into the next. This feels unmistakably like the movie in its pacing and storytelling structure, recalling the thriller qualities of the classic blockbuster without losing touch with the importance of fun gameplay. Given that some of that story is about animal attacks and character death, I’d encourage players to tread carefully in selecting a game group for this one; Jaws likely isn’t the best fit for many families. But if your players are okay with the inherent bloody overtones and direct competition between players at the root of the game, I suspect you’ll find a lot to dig your teeth into here.

If early Spielberg films aren’t exactly your cup of tea, worry not! The Top of the Table hub includes dozens of other recommendations to help you pull together your next board gaming night. Click on the banner below to explore the hub, or drop me a line via email for some personalized recommendations.

Usually when I play mobile games, I’m only looking to fill a few minutes of downtime, and as such tend to prefer something that’s fast, simple, and well-suited to solo play. Enter tabletop gaming’s roll-and-write genre, which offers a wealth of light and fun experiences built around a handful of dice and unique scoring systems. Roll-and-write games are perfect for mobile, and we’re already seeing some popular titles make the jump.

Today I’m highlighting three games that may not offer the depth of crunchier strategy games, but still provide enough interesting choices and replayability to keep you busy well beyond those few minutes you were initially looking to fill – at least that's been my experience!

Digital Board Game Spotlight is an ongoing series that highlights my favorite digital translations of modern board games. Unlike most modern mobile games, these selections feature traditional up-front pricing, without any time-gates, premium currencies, or ads to ruin the fun. If you're looking for your next mobile fix, look no further.

Noch Mal!

Publisher:Outline Development, Developer:Outline Development
Multiplayer:Two-player Pass & Play
Available on:Android, iOS

Noch Mal! is the German translation of “Encore!,” a well-known French exclamation whose less snappy English translation means “Once Again!” Whichever language you speak, it’s an apt sentiment for this clever spatial game that has you scratching off as many colored boxes as you can manage while contending with the luck of the dice.

Players start Noch Mal! with an empty grid of colored boxes. A handful of dice – half featuring colors, the other half numbers – are rolled every round, and the player chooses one of each to fill in that many connected boxes of the corresponding color. The highlighted squares in the central column can always be selected, but anything beyond them can only be reached if an adjacent box has already been filled in.

Each die also has a wild face, which allows you to substitute the color or number of your choice (depending on which die it is). However, you can only use wilds eight times during a game, and each one will cost you a point. Any of the scattered star boxes that aren’t filled in at the end will also cost you two points – a penalty you are distinctly reminded of, as you start the game with -30 points. Completing full columns is your primary scoring method, while filling in all the boxes of a given color also provides a healthy bonus.

Noch Mal! doesn’t turn the roll-and-write genre on its head, but I appreciate the competing incentives you’re required to consider on any given turn. Sprawling out to negate those pesky star boxes is a must, but if you want to actually net some positive points, you’ll need to finish columns, which won’t be easy if you spread yourself too thin. You’ll also want to make sure the boxes you’re filling in touch as many other colors as possible – it’s surprisingly easy to roll two colors (or doubles of the same) that you don’t have access to if you aren’t planning ahead. What starts as a lackadaisical romp of putting down numbers wherever you please quickly becomes more focused and challenging as the rounds wear down and you realize you don’t actually have an open group for that five you just rolled. Huh.

Outline’s digital translation of Noch Mal! may not be the flashiest board game port I’ve seen, but it’s remarkably well implemented: The bright colors pop off the screen, the precise and responsive touch controls let you snap through turns in a second (which in hindsight may be part of my problem), and the simple but effective sound effects elicit a Pavlovian response every time you rattle up a new dice selection or lock in your move with a satisfying ding.

The digital version of Noch Mal! also comes with some welcome extras. Three bonus scorepad variations change up the layout of the colored areas, should the standard layout ever get old (it hasn’t for me, but I’ll take the extra variety!). You can buy three more layouts for an extra buck, which is the kind of additional in-app purchase I can get behind. The app can also be used as just a digital scorepad if you own the physical game but want to save yourself a score sheet (and automate the scoring process), or use it as a set of virtual dice if rolling the real ones would be inconvenient. A two-player Pass & Play option is also included, and the head-to-head view of your scorepads handles the action quite well – if you’re sitting across from each other. I still prefer solo play, and the short and snappy playing time makes it hard to resist one more attempt to best my high score – Noch Mal! indeed!

Ganz Schön Clever

Publisher:Brettspielwelt GmbH,Developer:Brettspielwelt GmbH
Multiplayer:N/A
Available On:Android, iOS

Another German roll-and-write game that lives up to its title, Ganz Schön Clever translates to “that’s pretty clever,” and tasks players with considering a whole host of tantalizing scoring opportunities.

Each round, the player rolls six differently colored dice, then selects one to score in its corresponding area (the white die is wild). The remaining dice are re-rolled – however, any dice lower than the number selected are first eliminated. After completing this process a second and third time (provided you still had dice to choose from) the whole group is rolled again and you can select one more of the three lowest dice to also be added to your scoresheet. If none of that makes any sense, the gist is that you’ll be selecting one die of a particular color at a time, while weighing the option of taking higher numbers against cutting into your remaining dice pool for the rest of the round.

The real heart of Ganz Schön Clever – or what makes it so darn clever – is the various scoring areas, each of which earns you points in a different way. In the yellow area above, you’ll be crossing off columns to score points (somewhat like Noch Mal!), while completing rows provides you with one-time bonuses to help fill in other areas. The orange area simply nets the number you rolled along with some multipliers and bonuses the further down the track you get. The purple track does too – but each number you fill in has to be higher than the previous one (the numbers reset after you record a six, in case you’re wondering how you’re supposed to record 11 numbers).

Like Noch Mal!, your attention in Ganz Schön Clever is hopelessly divided between multiple incentives. Each colored area offers a bounty of points and bonuses to attain, but with far too few rounds to do everything, you really need to focus in a specific track to attain the best of them. Play your cards dice right, and you’ll set off supremely satisfying scoring cascades – filling in the blue three in the image above would allow me to add a five to the orange track, which would let me fill in that last five in the yellow row, which would give me another four to add to the orange track, which would net me a +1 bonus, allowing me to score an extra die in a subsequent round. Granted, filling in the blue three isn’t actually a legal move in that example, but it would’ve been a sweet combo!

There are a number of other rules and abilities to consider, but the bottom line is Ganz Schön Clever let’s you focus on a different scoring strategy every game, while never quite capturing the “perfect run.” The randomness of the dice is a major part of the fun and excitement here – you never know if your rolls will work with your master plan, and have to mitigate as best you can as the game progresses.

Unfortunately, you’ll also have to mitigate a few shortcomings of Brettspielwelt’s implementation of Ganz Schön Clever; as far as I can tell, there’s no way to check the rules or back out to the main menu during a game, and if you switch out of the app, it doesn’t save your progress. The short duration of any given game minimizes these problems, but Brettspielwelt still has some work to do before it can compete with other topnotch digital board game developers like Asmodee Digital and Digidiced. Ganz Schön Clever still has earned a spot on my home screen, even if I don’t always feel so clever myself when my final score pops up.

Doppelt So Clever

Publisher:Brettspielwelt GmbH,Developer:Brettspielwelt GmbH
Multiplayer:N/A
Available On:Android, iOS

My final roll-and-write recommendation is a short and sweet one! Brettspielwelt has already implemented a sequel (both physical and digital) to Ganz Schön Clever, and there’s more to it than just a few differently colored dice.

The main structure of Doppelt So Clever (Twice As Clever) is the same as the original game, tasking to you pick out one colored die at a time from the group at the expense of eliminating any other dice with lower numbers. Instead, the changes lie in the scoring areas, and they play with the format in significant ways.

The gray area allows you to check off any corresponding number with the gray die – but any other dice you eliminate by selecting it are also added to grid, creating an enticing incentive to give up more dice early in the round. In the yellow area, each number needs to be activated twice – the first time will net you the abilities associated for completing each row and column, but you won’t score any actual points until you cross them off the second time you bank them. The new green track pairs up numbers you record, subtracting one from the other to get your score, and boosting them with increasing multipliers the further you progress. Doppelt So Clever also introduces a new ability that lets you get back an eliminated die (helpful for those sweeping gray selections), and additional bonuses can be earned by using each ability half a dozen times – if you can manage to accrue them in the first place.

As those ability bonuses may suggest, Doppelt So Clever focuses even more on activating big, satisfying combo chains than its predecessor, and you’ll have to plan around them if you want to achieve a high score. Doppelt So Clever is slightly more complicated, but once you understand the intricacies of each new area, you’ll be flying through turns faster than you probably should. On a technical level, the app suffers from all the same problems as Ganz Schön Clever, but if you’re a fan of roll-and-write scorefests, you’re guaranteed to get your entertainment out of the $3 asking price.

For more digital board games that are worth your time, check out my write-ups of the fast and fun card trading of Jaipur, the streamlined but strategic auctions of Stockpile, and the tile-laying kingdom building of Isle of Skye. For physical board game recommendations, check out Matt Miller's bi-weekly column, Top of the Table.

Apex Legends' second season launched this week and with it comes a brand new character. Wattson is a giggly and viciously dangerous scientist who can break up some of your favorite squad combinations with devastating defense tactics, but use her abilities to your advantage, and you might find yourself on a streak of victories.

Powers And Abilities

Spark of Genius (Passive)
Ultimate Accelrants fully charge Wattson's ultimate. Standing near Interception Pylons boosts Wattson's tactical recharge rate.

Perimeter Security (Tactical)
Create electrified fences by connecting nodes. Fences damage and low enemies.

Interception Pylon (Ultimate)
Place an electrified pylon that destroys incoming ordnances and repairs damaged shields.

Tips And Tricks

From first glance, Wattson's abilities paint her as a defensive-minded character, capable of building strongholds wherever you and your squad go. That is true but, with a little imagination, you can find uses for her in nearly every situation. Here're some tips to help you master Wattson's abilities.

Labyrinth Of Doom
Wattson's security fence is very malleable thanks to the fact that you can place down nodes wherever you want, as long they're in sight of one another (and decently close). Obviously you can use these to bar doors, but why stop there? Throughout Kings Canyon are several military bases with long hallways that serve as happy hunting grounds for weapons, ammo, and firefights.  Since your nodes recharge with decent speed, why not lay down a single line of fences around the corner of one of these hallways, tricking enemies into running headlong into damage as well as the fence's slowing effect. If you and your allies are nearby, you can use this to your advantage and spring a trap, tearing them to shreds as they work through their surprise.

Remember To Use Your Combos
One of Apex's chief virtues is how nicely characters' abilities slot in with one another to create squad-focused combos that can win games. The best way to use Wattson's ability in combination with others' is usually as a finisher to another ability someone's used to set up a trap. For example, Bangalore can use her smoke ability to cover your fences, meaning that enemies won't be able to navigate around them easily, leaving the door open for you and your squad to finish them off. If you have a Bloodhound along for the ride, capable of seeing foes through the smoke, they're doubly screwed.

Fallback To Sanctuary
In the middle of a tough firefight? Do you have your ultimate? Be sure to lay down a pylon (or multiple ones) if you end up on the losing side of a lead exchange. Pylons not only intercept grenades but they also recharge shields, letting you and your squaddies even the odds.

Be A Packrat
Wattson's passive ability is deceptively powerful. A single ultimate accelerant will bring her ultimate charge up to 100%. Using this in combination with the fact you can spawn up to three pylons can help you create a stronghold where you're protected from grenades and your squad gets a substantial shield buff

Hold 'Em Off
If things really start to go south, the fence is a surprisingly strong deterrent for keeping your enemies from chasing you. Planting down some fences in front of a door can buy you enough time to revive an ally and then make a hasty retreat.

Embrace The Charge
Pylons not only speed up shield recovery for you and your squaddies, they also boost your tactical recharge speed, meaning you can lay down a ridiculous number of fence nodes in a surprising amount of time.

For more on Apex Legends, check out our tips for the last character addition, Octane, or read our review of the game here.

Gears 5 is getting a pair of technical tests later this month that will let players try out a number of modes including Arcade, Escalation, and King of the Hill, as well as Bootcamp (a training mode) and Tour of Duty, where you can earn medals to unlock Tester Weapon Skins and a special tester banner.

The first test starts on July 19 and the second test starts on July 26. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or Xbox Game Pass subscribers automatically have access to the test, but you can also get a code to participate by pre-ordering the game from the Xbox Store or by pre-ordering a physical version of the game from certain retailers.

You can find a whole lot more information here including details like when you can pre-load the test (July 17) and how big the download will be (about 1 GB).  Gears 5 releases on September 10. For more on the game, you can read some of our hands-on impressions here.

[Source: Gears 5]

EA Tiburon is best known for its work on the Madden NFL series, but in 2006 the studio released Superman Returns – a tie-in game to the movie of the same name. Superman 64 gets all the heat for being the worst Superman game, but sadly Superman Returns doesn't look much better.

Join Andrew Reiner, Ben Reeves, Leo Vader, and special guest Frank Cifaldi as we relive Superman's open world adventure and explore the worst highway in Metropolis.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation 2 isn't a new title in the series, but American audiences will finally have a chance to get in its gacha Gundam action later this year.

Battle Operation 2 originally released last year in Japan, although only in Asian territories. An October patch for those versions translated the game to English, but still required players to download the game digitally through foreign PS4 Stores. It's now officially coming to the West sometime this year.

Battle Operation pits mobile suits from the original series against each other in combat, and it's all free-to-play. Of course, being a gacha-style game, you slowly unlock better versions of suits randomly, which is where the paid aspect of the game comes in. There's also multiple stages, clothing and events to factor in.

If that tickles your fancy, you can watch a trailer showing the game in action below.

Bandai Namco has officially announced One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, the next iteration of the Dynasty Warriors and One Piece mashup series.

The Musou spin-off game will feature the same kind of action we've come to expect from developer Omega Force, which means beating up huge groups of bad guys at a time, except you're doing it with your gummy limbs instead of weapons (for the most part, anyway). Bandai Namco didn't offer too many details beyond that, other than Whole Cake Island, a locale from a more recent arc in the anime and manga (Pirate Warriors 3 released way back in 2015 in Japan, though it didn't make its way to US shores until 2018) will be a new location this time around.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 does not yet have a release date, but is coming to PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam. In the meantime, we have a spiffy new trailer to look at.

The Division 2 is packed with missions to complete, projects to grind, and world tiers to overcome, but once you clear the checklist and enter the predictable endgame loot grind, the decaying Washington D.C. streets still beckon with their mysteries. 

Intrepid investigators have cracked a lot of The Division 2's secrets already. Several ciphers scattered throughout the world revealed secret Elite Hunters, whose masks you could collect and wear. Clandestine high-end vendor Cassie Mendoza can only be located once you find the Snitch and complete his bounty. Hydden Hotels scattered throughout the city delivered some bonus loot (though some would argue not bonus enough), and several missions ended up having hidden rooms that required some good investigative work and backtracking to reach. However, Ubisoft says the community still hasn't found all the secrets the team placed in the world. 

In a recent conversation with Red Storm creative director Terry Spier, he confirmed that some puzzles still remain. "When I go down the checklist, there's still a couple," he said.

There you have it, Agents. Time to solve the remaining mysteries. 

Before joining Respawn, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s director, Stig Asmussen, worked on the God of War series and directed the climactic third entry. Asmussen brought on a few former God of War developers when he moved over to Respawn, and even some contract developers who worked on 2018’s God of War moved over to Fallen Order after Kratos’ latest entry shipped. Needless to say, Fallen Order and God of War share some DNA, even if the two franchises are tonally different.

While visiting Respawn to learn more about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, we took some time to reminisce about Asmussen’s time with Kratos, talk about the series’ new direction, and learn about at least one Star Wars reference that made it into God of War 3 (which you can see in the timestamped video below). “The moment when you slice open the guts of the centaur was inspired by the Tauntaun,” Asmussen recalls. “We called it zipper tech, but the inspiration video I sent out was that moment from Empire, and it looks pretty darn close to that.”

Asmussen worked on all the God of War games (including the PSP ones) before the series was overhauled. While making the original game, his first name appeared on the short list of potential names for Kratos because of a simple mistake. “We were trying to figure out Kratos’ name, and we were working with marketing on that and [director David] Jaffe opened it up to the team,” Asmussen says. “[Kratos’] working name for a long time was Dominus, but marketing didn’t like that. I don’t know how many members of the team submitted names, but I submitted maybe a handful of them and they went to marketing and they came back with four, maybe five names for Kratos – Kratos was one of them … and Stig was one of them.”

Asmussen had not submitted his own name, Stig, as a potential name, but rather included his name on his submission in order to identify it as his list. Marketing misread it, but ended up liking it. Jaffe told Asmussen his name was in contention for Kratos and it surprised him, but he wasn’t against it. “I totally would have been cool with it,” Asmussen says with a laugh.

At that time, during God of War 1's development, Asmussen says it was strange for the team to imagine the protagonist as someone not named Dominus, but it was even stranger to imagine the game being called God of War. “We were so used to Dominus. And at the time we were calling the game Dark Odyssey, and we really liked that name, but marketing thought it might be too high-brow, and people might not get it.” Asmussen says when the name was decided as God of War he was actually a bit underwhelmed. “A lot of us on the team were like… God of War? I mean that’s what it is, I guess.” For all his incredulity at the time, it’s hard to argue the right names weren’t ultimately picked, considering the success of the series and Kratos as a character, though there is no denying the name is a spoiler.

God of War (2018) was the first game in the series Asmussen was not involved with. We asked him if he played it, and his response was straight to the point. “Of course. It’s brilliant. I’m really proud of that team.” It was a strange experience for Asmussen, though. “It’s a little bit painful playing it when you didn’t get to work on it,” Asmussen says. “It’s going to be interesting to see where they go with it. I was really skeptical when I first heard about where they were taking Kratos, where [director Cory Barlog] was going with it. [Kratos] is a lunatic, but it totally worked. It was the right time for it, too. It was exactly what God of War needed.”

For more from Asmussen about working on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, head here.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses' director,  Toshiyuki Kasukihara, recently spoke with French gaming site jeuxvideo.com about the upcoming game's length. Kasukihara said that without skipping dialogue or cutscenes, just completing one of the game's houses took about 80 hours.

Early in the game, the player is asked to choose one of the game's titular houses and your choice will change the trajectory of the game. As a result, there are three distinct playthroughs available of the game. We obviously won't know how distinct each of the playthroughs is until we're able to play the actual game, but Kasukihara says that experiencing all three playthroughs could take over 200 hours.

Kasukihara said in the interview (with translation from associate editor Elise Favis), "To finish the game with one of the three houses, it took me 80 hours. I didn’t skip the voice acting or cinematics. So if you want to do all three paths, it’s going to take you more than 200 hours."

For more on Fire Emblem: Three Houses, head here.

[Source: jeuxvideo.com]

Each year, Game Informer reviews a ton of games to help guide our readers in choosing what they should play next. While you can easily browse our reviews section to see all our most recent verdicts, we wanted to put together a handy list for those looking for the best of the best this year has to offer.

Despite hundreds of games coming across our desks each year, only a select few are able to obtain special commendations reserved for the highest scoring titles. Games that earn an 8.5 or 8.75 obtain a Game Informer Silver award, while a score ranging from 9 to 9.5 earns that game a Game Informer Gold award. While most of the best games of the year fall into that range, the most elite titles ascend to the next level to earn a Game Informer Platinum award (9.75 or 10 score).

To help you keep track of the best of the best, we've compiled all of the top scoring games of 2018 here. Check out the games we've thought are the best of the year so far, and if you want to learn more, you can read the full review with a simple click-through.

Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2 paves a brilliant path for the future of the franchise. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date:January 25

Kingdom Hearts III

The latest entry isn’t afraid to go big, but it also doesn’t forget what made fans fall in love in the first place. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release Date:January 29

Dreams

Dreams’ robust design and sharing tools offer endless possibilities to creators and a growing tidal wave of fun, hilarious, and moving gameplay experiences for players. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4
Release Date:April 16

Slay The Spire

Climb the deadly spire again and again. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Switch, PC
Release Date:January 23

Wargroove

Wargroove is a fantastic tactics game that builds and iterates on the genre in clever ways. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Release Date:February 1

The Division 2

Thrilling combat, a great loot loop, and a strong endgame elevate this Tom Clancy shooter to new heights. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, PC
Release Date:March 15

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

An intense, challenging realization of the ninja fantasy comes to life in From Software's latest offering. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date:March 22

Observation

Challenging puzzles and a fantastic plot make this horror adventure an unmissable game for fans of the genre. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, PC
Release Date:May 21

Sunless Skies

Sunless Skies is an awesome, immersive ride for lovers of imaginative fiction and horror-laden exploration. Read review

Platforms: PC
Release Date:January 31

Civilization VI: Gathering Storm

In Firaxis’ second expansion, players must endure mother nature’s temperamental streak. Read review

Platforms: PC
Release Date:February 14

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus mostly succeeds in its ambitions, making it easy to recommend to both newcomers and series fans alike. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, PC
Release Date:February 15

Dirt Rally 2.0

Codemasters delivers another captivating rally title that will have you swearing in fear and delight. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date:February 26

Super Mario Maker 2

Mario Maker 2 is not a radical reinvention of the original, but it earns the “2” in its title with a great story mode, worthwhile additions to the creation toolset, and co-op. Read review

Platforms: Switch
Release Date:June 28

F1 2019

Whether guiding your car, career, or league, F1 2019 has plenty of options to keep you covered and entertained. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date:June 28

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

This port doesn't add a ton of new content, but it's still the best way to play an already fun platformer. Read review

Platforms: Switch
Release Date:January 10

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey

The remake doesn't drastically change or improve Bowser's Inside Story, but that doesn't change the fact that it was always a great game. Read review

Platforms: 3DS
Release Date:January 11

Tetris 99

Tetris 99 is a pleasant surprise, and is my favorite content offered by the Nintendo Switch Online service to date. Read review

Platforms: Switch
Release Date:February 13

Devil May Cry 5

This entry has the series’ signature over-the-top style, but not all of the additions feel like steps forward. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date:March 8

Hypnospace Outlaw

This offbeat adventure game cleverly captures the essence of the early internet. Read review

Platforms: PC
Release Date:March 12

MLB The Show 19

After a down year, Sony delivers exciting new content and a host of fixes. The series is back on track. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4
Release Date:March 26

Operencia: The Stolen Sun

Zen Studios updates a classic genre with clever puzzles and Hungarian folklore. Read review

Platforms: Xbox One, PC
Release Date:March 29

BoxBoy! + BoxGirl!

BoxBoy returns with a couch co-op friendly adventure filled with some of the most creative and diverse puzzles in the series. Read review

Platforms: Switch
Release Date:April 26

Mordhau

Mordhau balances brutal realism and goofy battlefield antics to great effect. Read review

Platforms: PC
Release Date:April 29

Total War: Three Kingdoms

A captivating dive into warfare and political intrigue. Read review

Platforms: PC
Release Date:May 23

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is the ultimate tribute to the series' last 13 years with Etrian Odyssey elements thrown in for good measure. Read review

Platforms: 3DS
Release Date:June 4

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Koji Igarashi's return to the Castlevania formula slowly but surely earns its place in a crowded genre. Read review

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Release Date:June 18

For more of our favorite games from recent years, head to the links below.

• Top Scoring Games of 2018
• Top Scoring Games of 2017
• Top Scoring Games of 2016
• Top Scoring Games of 2015
• Top Scoring Games of 2014

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth has earned a reputation as one of the better Digimon games in recent years, but so far it's been confined to Sony consoles. Next year, that's changing.

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition (notice the change of colon location), brings the original Cyber Sleuth and its sequel, Hacker's Memory, to Switch and PC (via Steam) on October 18. Bandai Namco did not announce any additional content outside the two games included in the package or any other bonus features, but that should still be enough to get Digimon fans excited until next year.

If you haven't heard of the Cyber Sleuth series, Bandai Namco has a trailer just for you! If you haven't heard of Digimon it's unlikely you're reading this article, but you can still watch the trailer. The more digi-merrier!

At E3 this year, nestled between the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo and the Avengers reveal, Square Enix revealed that two SaGa games are coming to America, Romancing SaGa 3 and Scarlet Grace. The series has historically struggled stateside due to a lack of good localization and generally confusing marketing campaigns, but Square Enix seems to be eager to try and make a go of it in the West with a more full-throated pitch this time around.

The publisher invited us to speak with not only the producer behind SaGa franchise as a whole, Masanori Ichikawa, but also Akitoshi Kawazu, the long-time Square designer and producer. Kawazu cut his teeth on the original Final Fantasy games as a battle designer, but has since shepherded the SaGa series in all sorts of different directions, experimented with games like Crystal Chronicles and The Last Remnant. While we did not get to talk for long, we touched on the SaGa series, the new ports, and Kawazu's thoughts on the genre.

(This interview features additional reporting by Kim Wallace.)

How was Romancing SaGa 3 received when it recently came out? Did that make you confident going forward about bringing that and Scarlet Grace here?

Ichikawa: We definitely had very positive reactions from people in the West, especially because Romancing SaGa 2 did very well in Japan. There is already a lot of anticipation, people asking for a Western release. So when it did come out, people were writing comments on Twitter, like “Oh, thank you for releasing it.” Even at that point, there were a lot of positive reactions. And with that, people were asking “Where’s Romancing SaGa 3? Where are the other titles?” So even before seeing the reaction for Romancing SaGa 2, people were asking for releases for the rest of these other SaGa franchise titles.

For the Romancing SaGa titles, when it was originally released in Japan, they were on the Super Famicom, Super NES. Those were localized to the U.S., but there were players that enjoy the Final Fantasy series, like 4, 5, 6 over here. Those people that were invested and knew the games, they were always wondering “Where's Romancing SaGa?” We always heard those voices from the users and the players, so this is a good time for us to bring it to the west.

One of the things that's mentioned a lot about SaGa is how much choice matters. That's something that tends to come up a lot more for Western gamers and Western RPGs; players prefer to have a choice matter in the long term. Why do you think that older SaGa games failed to resonate in the West when that was also a point of marketing for it?

Kawazu: Even before localizing the games, the company kind of had the mindset that SaGa series games there were a little too intricate. They're difficult, maybe too much. So the company kind of perceived that the Western audience was looking for something that was more, maybe a little bit more simple, more action-oriented. That is kind of why even before we got the localization part, they were hesitant to release the titles in the West. The company just had that mindset that it would be too rigid. Like having too many choices combined with the difficult gameplay for the Western audience, they had the perception that it wouldn’t resonate and it never got the chance.

Kawazu-san, obviously you did work on original Final Fantasy, you've been in this working for Square since before it was Square Enix for many, many years. How do you feel like the Japanese RPG genre has evolved over the years? What do you think that about Final Fantasy in general and a lot of big-budget RPGs not having turned-based systems anymore? They tend to go mostly action/RPG now.

Kawazu: In order to get a larger audience to enjoy the game, it does tend to be action/RPGs. It's a little bit more easier for the players to understand, with more usability as well. I think that pertains not only to the JRPG but RPGs in general. But I also feel that this is a broader, more diverse market where players are willing to try out different types of RPGs, so in that sense, it's a happy time where developers can experiment and try different types of games and find an audience.

For Romancing SaGa 3, when a lot of the SaGa games come West they tend to add some more content for the newer versions. Is anything being added is or is it more than just like a visual upgrade?

Ichikawa: There is some added content; there'll be an additional dungeon. Some scenarios that Mr. Kawazu has written will be implemented into the game as well. But in terms of general playability and overall storyline, that will stay the same. Players that enjoyed it on the Super Famicom in Japan back in those days, they can relive the experience with some additional content, and people in the West can experience the game for the first time like the people in Japan did.

During the E3 presentation for Square Enix there were, by my count, four of your games there: The Last Remnant, Crystal Chronicles, and the two SaGa games. Looking at all those Is there any one of those series you'd want to revisit the most?

Kawazu: If I had the time, I would love to revisit all of it and make titles for all those series, but given the time restriction, SaGa is the one franchise I most want to focus on at the moment.

After its mysterious and enticing E3 teaser trailer a few weeks ago, the second season of Apex Legends finally launched, bringing yet another character as well as a host of changes and new cosmetics to the free-for-all fight. Are all these additions enough to keep one of the hottest battle royales interesting?

After spending several hours with Apex's new additions, I've discovered that the new season does a lot to add enticements to keep the playerbase busy, but maybe not enough to chart a clear path forward to the amazing service game that Apex Legends could be. Here's what works and what doesn't work about Apex's newest season.

The Good Stuff

Wattson Is The Best
The previous season's addition, Octane, was a fun character to Legends' roster, but his abilities didn't make him a bedrock squad character in the same way Lifeline's healing abilities or Bloodhound's enemy spotting power have made them popular. By contrast, however, Wattson is severely disruptive to many established strategies and squad builds. Her defensive fence-building powers, not to mention pylons that recharge your squad's shields and kill incoming grenades, make it possible for your team to build a fortress wherever you go. 

She's a wisely implemented character because she's not overpowered; there are certainly counters to her (especially if you've got Bloodhound on your team), but her disruptive nature means that even experienced pros who have been with Apex since the beginning are going to have to account for her and change up tactics.

The L-Star Rules
A carryover weapon from Titanfall 2 that leaked a long time ago, the energy submachine finally arrived in Apex. You can only get it in an airdrop and it's clear why: the L-Star is devastating in the right hands, capable of tearing down shields fast and ripping foes to shreds. Also, it's nice to see Apex's place in the Titanfall universe be acknowledged in a way that's more than a weak nod.

The Tweaks Are Smart
Patch notes are often the least appreciated bit of updates for live-service games, as players are often chiefly concerned with new content. However, the smaller tweaks listed in Apex's Season 2 patch notes are all wise additions that make for a better game. Our personal favorites include more detailed pinging options, various nerfs and boosts applied to certain Legends' ultimates, and (thank the stars) damage adjustments that make the Mozambique less useless.

The Not So Good Stuff

The Map Still Leaves Much To Be Desired
From a design perspective, Kings Canyon has proven to be a compelling battle royale map thanks to its hilly terrain, as well as the large number of interior and exterior environments that force players to adapt to new strategies as the game goes on. The map's use of bland colors and general sci-fi military complex aesthetic remains boring even with new locations like Containment and The Cage. The changes here feel safe and mostly cosmetic as opposed to the sort of risk-taking, map-altering updates of Fortnite. It wouldn't hurt to get some brighter colors here (or better yet, an entirely new map).

The Battle Pass Is Nothing Special
The battle pass has become the standard for how battle royale games, especially free-to-play ones like Apex, make their money. Players who shell out the entry fee for each season receive a whole new slate of unlockable rewards unavailable to those who simply play the base game. While for many players, Apex's frantic gameplay, ping system, and tight shooting make it the most enjoyable battle royale on the market, there's little doubt its cosmetics are among the weakest enticements in the genre.

The battle pass just doesn't have much going for it, since key rewards include things like Season 2 win stat cards for each character, apex coins, apex packs (lootboxes, basically) and some exclusive cosmetics. A few of the skins for both characters and weapons do look neat, like Caustic's Prince of Darkness outfit, but none of the unlockables match the coolness of Fortnte's John Wick-But-Not-Actually-John-Wick skin, or even Black Ops 3's various Operator skins.

The Hopefully Good Stuff

The Future Is Unclear
The message during Respawn's E3 presentation for Apex Legends was pretty clear: big changes are coming to Kings Canyon. While the second season has definitely brought with it some additions, it feels like it might ultimately serve as a prologue to what's coming rather than than being a part of some huge shift itself.

Make no mistake: Wattson is a great addition, the idea of changing the map around is a solid one that has benefited other battle royales, the tweaks here are wise, and the battle pass system is promising even with its current quirks. However, as a live service game, Apex Legends still feels like it's trailing behind all the other Battle Royale games, and I can't help but feel like there's so much more room for expansion here.

Where are some limited time modes? Not to be part of the masses who have been beating this drum since the game came out but a goofy, even broken Titan-versus-Titan limited event mode (heck, even a basic Deathmatch mode) would go a long way to adding some variety for players who love Apex but don't necessarily love Battle Royale. With two seasons under its belt, it feels like Respawn is still trying to build upon a foundation in a safe manner to retain an audience as opposed to taking risks that could expand Apex is bold new ways and attract even more players. Hopefully we start to see some of those sorts of changes in Season 3 and beyond.

For more on Apex Legends, check out our tips and tricks for getting the most out of Wattson's diabolical defensive abilities. You can also read our review for the launch version of the game here.

Super Mario Maker 2 has now been out for a little bit, and we like it a lot. With multiple editors diving into the creation tools, we decided to gather a collection of courses created by our staff in one handy article. This way, if you want to see what we've come up with, you can easily find the stages by entering the nine-digit codes into Course World.

We'll continue updating this list as we make more levels, and potentially more editors jump into the creation tools, so be sure to check back on a regular basis to find more levels to play from the Game Informer staff!

Brian Shea

• Collective Castle - Q16-LF5-2NF
• The Paths We Choose - M6C-73V-Y5g
• Subterranean Desert - 3J0-9Hk-NWG
• Super Obstacle Kart - X0V-MS8-XRG
• You Better Hurry! - 0SC-VXS-8VG

Imran Khan

• Don't Lose The Race - WSL-CPV-G1G
• Moon's Haunted - CLC-9S1-Q7G

Javy Gwaltney

• Hotline Mario Act 1 - 1ML-TW0-4MG
• Hotline Mario Act 2 - MQP-6LD-8PF
• Hotline Mario Act 3 - RQN-XH9-G0G
• Hotline Mario Act 4 - TCX- RFD-B2H
• Maze of the Sun Lord - 9Y3-DRF-NDF

If you're still playing Super Mario Maker on Wii U, you can check out some levels from the current and former editors by reading this list.

Warframe developer Digital Extremes has delivered its keynote address for this year's TennoCon (which celebrates Warframe, obviously), and made a number of announcements regarding the future, both immediate and distant, about the game. The big takeaway: There's quite a bit of content coming to Warframe, and there's lots of trailers to catch up on.

The panel was lead by an extended gameplay demo for Empyrean, an upcoming expansion focusing on cooperative space combat. Empyrean features a new way to recruit other players wot help you with missions called squad link, the ability to steal, pilot, and customize enemy ships, a new "reactive" enemies called kingpins, and a graphical overhaul across the entire game.

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Digital Extremes also dropped trailers for two more upcoming pieces of content. The first is Duviri Paradox, the game's third open-world area, which has a more surreal bent to it. The second is for the game's next "cinematic quest," The New War, which focuses the Lotus.

They also unveiled a new cinematic trailer which reimagines the game's introduction, directed, oddly enough, by 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg.

Finally, the company announced two new bits of content coming to Warframe today: The second series of seasonal Nightwave content, and the new Wukong Prime warframe (the game's equivalent of a class or character).

This should hopefully keep Warframe fans busy for the next few months, though it's only a matter of time before the fanbase begins to ask "What's next?" once again, beginning the cycle of living games once more.

NeoMam Studios is a content creation agency that makes, among other things, digital renditions of architecture with a wide variety of influences and styles. Past projects have included envisioning The Simpsons’ living room in different styles, or even offices based on different fonts. Its most recent project takes a deep dive into the architecture of video games.

“The team that worked on this, we all we agree that most of us really like architecture,” says Gisele Navarro, operations director at NeoMam. “We also like games, so we were also very excited because of that. And so I think we were just trying to reach new people.”

From a business point of view, the main reason for creating projects like these is to draw a new audience to HomeAdvisor’s site. In addition to this, however, some people had more romantic perspectives on the project’s purpose.

“You know how high fashion has all these crazy, kind of outlandish designs on the catwalk?” asks Jonny Addy, managing editor at NeoMam. “The idea behind couture isn't like you wear that on the street at night. You'll take inspiration from that and then kind of tone it down and bring it into your own life.”

For the project, they created each piece with a voxel art style, giving them a pixelated, three-dimensional texture.

“We thought about a couple of variations,” says Povilas Daknys, the project’s art director. “One was a traditional pixel style, which represents ‘90s gaming. So there's basically a pixel style, but it's made more three-dimensional, that's what it is. We found a designer, we ran some tests with it, and it looked really cool. And we thought it was the best style that represented all of the games consistently. And I think we're really happy with how it turned out.”

The results are impressive, ranging from a small diorama of a dungeon entrance in The Legend of Zelda to a sprawling castle from Dark Souls.

The team at NeoMam is busy with its next project, making animated GIFs of different national parks in the UK. Although they don’t have any plans, Addy said he’d love to do a similar project covering architecture from anime, specifically Studio Miyazaki films. Until then, we’ll have to let our eyeballs soak in these beautiful voxel creations.

For more on the covered series, check out our definitive ranking of The Legend of Zelda, our retrospective on Final Fantasy X with the game's producer, and head over to HomeAdvisor for a more detailed look at the different pieces!

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