Game Design
Ongoing coverage on Game Design.
Latest coverage
Marvel’s Wolverine: new gameplay, story details from State of Play
Insomniac Games and Marvel Games revealed new gameplay and story details for Marvel's Wolverine during a State of Play presentation. The brutal, single-player action RPG will launch on September 15, 2026, exclusively for PlayStation 5, featuring an original story centered on Logan and his fight against the Reavers and Bolivar Trask. The game will include comprehensive accessibility options and various pre-order bonuses and Digital Deluxe Edition content.
Joey the Duck Review
Joey the Duck is a short, cute platformer with a unique "seamless" level design, but it suffers from a lack of polish including janky hitboxes and poor music looping. Despite these issues and exploitable level design, the game offers challenging platforming and a solid foundation for a casual experience.
Pragmata director Yonghee Cho says it's not a sad dad game for a very simple reason: 'I'm not a sad dad,…
Pragmata director Yonghee Cho stated that the game is not a 'sad dad' title because he himself is a happy father of two. He explained that the relationship between protagonists Hugh and Diana is intended to highlight companionship and cooperation, making it relatable to a wider audience. Cho emphasized that the development team consciously focused on a 'buddy type feeling' rather than solely a parent-child dynamic.
Filmed with a Game Boy Camera, You Are Family Is an Upcoming B-Movie-Like Horror Game
DevilishGames and Kramelman have announced You Are Family, a new psychological horror adventure game. The game features a unique visual style created entirely with images captured by a Game Boy Camera, giving it a deliberately imperfect, low-resolution look. It will launch for PC and consoles, including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox, in the first half of 2027.
Subnautica 2 tries to be more like Alien: Isolation than Silent Hill 2, which is why the leviathans are invincible now
Subnautica 2's design lead Anthony Gallegos explains that making leviathans invincible is inspired by games like Alien: Isolation, not a commitment to pacifism. This design choice aims to maintain tension and threat by removing the option to fight, drawing parallels to how players often mastered combat in games like Silent Hill 2 rather than engaging with its horror elements.
How Don Daglow helped build EA Sports decades before it existed
Veteran game designer Don Daglow reflects on his foundational role in shaping Electronic Arts' sports division decades before it became the powerhouse known as EA Sports. Daglow, who was instrumental in early sports simulations like Earl Weaver Baseball, focused on creating authentic game behavior over presentation due to hardware limitations.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book Review – Delightful
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book offers a delightful and unique puzzle platformer experience, returning to a storybook aesthetic with stunning visuals. Developed by Good Feel using Unreal Engine 5, the game runs smoothly on the Nintendo Switch, maintaining high image quality in docked mode. Its focus on exploration and interaction over combat or failure makes it accessible and engaging for all players, particularly younger audiences.
Part of me wishes we could see the Subnautica 2 the devs scrapped: The Dwarf Fortress of ecosystem simulators
Subnautica 2 game design lead Anthony Gallegos revealed that Unknown Worlds explored numerous scrapped ideas for the sequel, including an ecosystem simulator and a more expansive planetary exploration model similar to No Man's Sky. While some concepts, like a complex clam and urchin ecosystem simulation, were deemed too difficult to convey to players, others were considered before the team settled on the current direction for the game.
Subnautica 2 gets first hotfix to tweak the behaviour of certain creatures
Unknown Worlds has released a hotfix for Subnautica 2, its early access underwater survival game, to address player feedback on creature behavior. The update includes adjustments to Hammerheads, Marrowbreaches, and Nibblers, aiming to make them more predictable without necessarily reducing their threat. This hotfix is the first to directly respond to player discussions about combat and avoidance options within the game's design.
Deep Dive Into Domains Of Dread With Ravenloft: The Horrors Within
Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, a new Dungeons & Dragons tabletop horror book, is set to release soon, offering DMs extensive information on Domains of Dread, Darklords, and new player options. The book features 288 pages of content, including new subclasses, species, feats, and backgrounds, with a focus on character development and horror mechanics. Additional products like a Tarokka deck and DM screen are also being released to complement the book.
EVE Online’s Cradle of War Rewrites the New‑Player Experience With Exordium
EVE Online's upcoming expansion, Cradle of War, launching June 9, 2026, introduces Exordium, a new starter system designed to improve the new-player experience with progressive complexity. Game Design Director Greg Hennessey and Senior Game Designer Josh Bayer discuss how Exordium, Military Campaigns, and new ships aim to onboard players more effectively and integrate them into the game's sandbox and larger conflicts.
Game and Mod Development
Zynga founder Mark Pincus suggests game developers should be comfortable copying successful games, referencing the adage that 'good artists copy, great artists steal.' This perspective emphasizes iterative design and learning from existing titles in the industry.
EdenSpark Crowns First Game Jam Winners and Opens the Next Challenge
Gaijin Entertainment has announced the winners of the first EdenSpark Game Jam, a monthly competition for creators using the EdenSpark open development platform. The jam's theme was "Transformation," with "Slime Shape" by teezaboo taking first place in the Dev's Choice category. Gaijin Entertainment has also launched the second game jam with the theme "Mass Control."
Every Boss, Location & How to Beat It (2026) – Expert Game Reviews
This comprehensive guide details all twelve bosses in Enshrouded, providing their exact locations, weaknesses, key attacks, and recommended strategies for overcoming them. It emphasizes understanding boss mechanics and exploiting elemental vulnerabilities, with specific advice for each encounter from early-game challenges to the endgame boss Hydrak'Dal. The guide also touches on boss farming routes and optimal character builds for tackling these encounters.
Mina The Hollower’s 11th-Hour Delay Was To Eliminate “The Worst Room In The Game”
Yacht Club Games delayed the release of Mina the Hollower to address player feedback and refine specific in-game areas, including eliminating what was considered "the worst room in the game." The studio also focused on balancing the game's open-world structure to accommodate various player progression paths.
Maverick Games Announces Clutch, A Big Open-World Driving Title Set for 2027 From Former Forza Devs
Maverick Games, an independent studio led by former Forza Horizon Creative Director Mike Brown, has announced its debut title, Clutch. This open-world driving game, scheduled for a 2027 release, will blend professional circuit racing with underground street races, featuring a narrative campaign and deep car customization. The game aims to innovate within the genre with its PvPvE open-world sandbox gameplay.
Star Fox hands-on preview - Nintendo's Star Wars barrel rolls again
Nintendo's upcoming Star Fox remake for the Nintendo Switch 2 aims to revitalize the franchise with a faithful recreation of the original Lylat Wars, enhanced presentation, and new features like GameChat avatars and a co-op mode. While the multiplayer mode is considered a brief distraction, the overall package promises a high-quality realization of the series' space epic ambitions, potentially appealing to both long-time fans and newcomers.
How to direct unconventional games like Control Resonant
Remedy Entertainment's creative director Mikael Kasurinen discusses the development process for Control Resonant, emphasizing the challenges of creating a new gameplay genre within an original setting. The studio focused on establishing core concepts early and propagating the vision throughout the team to foster investment and accelerate decision-making for the ambitious sequel.
Fire Sparrow Studio Debuts New Sealbreakers Gameplay at the MIX Summer Game Showcase, Playtest Incoming
Fire Sparrow Studio has revealed new gameplay for their upcoming roguelite beat 'em up, Sealbreakers, during the MIX Summer Game Showcase. The game features a unique evolving moveset system where players combine punches, grabs, and finishers instead of using weapons. A playtest is planned for later this summer, with PC and consoles as target platforms.
The Daily Grind: Is the MMORPG genre suffering from MMO fatigue or bad MMO fatigue?
This opinion piece questions whether the MMORPG genre is suffering from player fatigue or simply a prevalence of poorly designed games. The author suggests that players are not tired of the genre itself, but rather of low-quality titles, leading to decreased excitement for new releases.