Welcome to another week of new games releases and we start off the week with a sequel to a fairly popular ARPG game from 2020 that is currently in open beta for those that want to give it whirl before it's released. This week's general releases starts off with an ARPG set on a remote island, followed by a survival horror game set in the roaring 20's and this is followed by a medieval city builder. Up next, we have a WW1 FPS and we end the week with a melancholic first-person parkour adventure. We have a few other games that might be of interest as well.

Mortal Shell II / This week's major release / Thursday 20 August
Mortal Shell II is a standalone sequel to Mortal Shell that significantly expands on the original with unrestricted, adrenaline-charged combat, deeper weapon design with extensive upgrade options, and an emphasis on free exploration. This action-RPG offers an immersive, interconnected open world, expansive yet deliberately compact, designed to unfold its twisted landscapes and hidden structures while respecting the player's time. Steam link

It was recently revealed that Xbox would be leaning into inter-studio collaborations to increase output and efficiency at its in-house game studios, and this seems to be the case now. In a recent podcast, Windows Central journalist and notable industry insider, Jez Corden, commented that he had heard rumors that inXile Entertainment, the studio behind Clockwork Revolution, was already working on its next game after Clockwork, and that the next game would be "Fallout-adjacent."

"We know inXile's working on Clockwork Revolution, but they're already incubating the next project...and I've heard some interesting rumors that that could potentially be Fallout-adjacent as well." He goes on to explain that the project is still in the very early stages of development and could still be abandoned or change in the not too distant future. This would also make it the fifth Fallout game on the cards, with Bethesda announcing four other Fallout games currently in the works. The full interview is available below.

Amid mass layoffs at Xbox and studio closures elsewhere, more bad news emerges from the ailing gaming industry, as Midgar, the Nacon-owned studio behind Edge of Eternity, a turn-based JRPG adventure game, has officially announced that it would be shutting down. Earlier this year, Nacon also shut down Spiders, the studio behind GreedFall, for similar reasons. Similarly, Nacon also went on to publish a GreedFall DLC after the studio shut down.

The closure comes as a result of a court-ordered liquidation, which follows the studio's failure to find a buyer. The announcement comes by way of a LinkedIn post by the studio's co-founder and current Nacon CTO, Jérémy Zeler-Maury, who says that "we worked until the very end to find a solution that could preserve both the company and the team," but after exhausting other alternatives, this is the only way forward.

As we enter the second to last week of July, we have a week full of mid-range game releases. We kick off the week with some dinosaur action in this week's biggest release, where you get to take on the role as a Spinosaurus with a sword. We kick out the Monday blues with a space RTS/RPG, followed by a trip to feudal Japan and samurais and then a quick switch to Scotland for another fight for power. We round off the week with an anime-style RPG and finally a co-op game could see you getting egg on your face. We also have some other new releases this week that might be worth checking out.

Dinoblade / This week's major release / Demo / Thursday 23 July
Dinoblade is an intense action RPG set in a prehistoric world forever changed by a cataclysmic event. Step into the role of a young Spinosaurus, wielding a colossal Great Sword. Confront rival dinosaurs, some armed with weapons of their own, all in a desperate fight to prevent a looming extinction. Steam link

It's no secret that things are in a state of flux at Xbox and all of its in-house game studios, and this appears to extend to Halo Studios. Despite building excitement for Halo: Campaign Evolved, which is slated to launch in late July 2026, it seems as though projects are being cut at Halo Studios all the same. Most recently, news broke via game journalist Rebs Gaming on X that Halo Studios had officially cancelled a new Halo project known internally as Project Ekur. This information was later validated by Windows Central reporter Jez Corden, although the nature of Project Ekur is still unknown.

Currently, it seems as though Project Ekur may have been anything from an add-on for an existing Halo game to an independent extraction shooter in the Halo universe. Rebs confirmed in a reply to a commenter that project Ekur was not the Destiny-like MMORPG that has also been rumored to be in the works at Halo Studios. The news of the canceled Halo project comes amid a shake-up at Xbox that has resulted in mass layoffs, the sale of a number of studios, and the cancelation of a handful of other games and projects at Microsoft. The Xbox layoffs have also resulted in external collateral damage at IO Interactive, where funding cuts resulted in layoffs.

After a couple of slower weeks, we're now back to a more normal week of new game releases and this week's big release comes courtesy of Bandai Namco for all of the JRPG fans here. As for the rest of this week's releases, we start with a sports management game of sorts, followed by a peculiar mix of vampires and farming, a "Choose your own adventure" game, a remake of a 2013 pirate game and we round the week off with a new take on old school action RTS games.

Echoes of Aincrad / This week's major release / Friday 10 July
Step into the floating castle of Aincrad, a world of breathtaking beauty and danger where every battle could be your last. Enter a mysterious, vibrant world and shape your fate. Create your hero, choose your gear, and master combat through your special skills and reflexes. Build synergy with the partner of your choice, level up, and unlock powerful abilities as your horizon expands with every victory. Will you rise and claim your destiny or fall to foes stronger than you imagined? Steam link

As we're about to pass the half year mark of this year and enter the month of July, we have an even slower week for new game releases than last week. This week's major release isn't very major, but it's at least from a space opera franchise that everyone will be familiar with, combined with a board game that everyone should also be familiar with. As for the rest of this week's new releases we have a game that involves maths and science, an old school text-based detective game, an early fourth of July game for our US readers, a classic top-down arcade shooter and finally a pixel art RPG with a twist.

Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains / This week's major release / Tuesday 30 June
Assemble your team, build your roster of iconic Star Wars characters, and battle with your friends and family for control of the galaxy as you move across storied planets and locations. Choose from a wide array of Star Wars heroes and villains, each with their own unique abilities. Whether you're teaming up with Luke Skywalker or unleashing Darth Vader, every match is packed with team strategy, surprises, and classic Star Wars moments. Steam link

Airship Syndicate, the indie game studio behind Wayfinder, Darksiders: Genesis, and Battlechasers, has officially announced its next project, a sci-fi game called Dust: Origins (stylized as "DUST: Origins"), with a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to fund the game slated to start on July 28. Not much has been revealed about the upcoming game aside from a brief teaser and the tidbits on the game's Kickstarter page. The game is set on an orbital prison station in a state of disrepair, and players will take the role of a character recently freed from cryo-prison and have to "fight their way through a murderer's row of violent criminals and horrifying monsters before the station tears itself apart."

The game is touted as a "handcrafted sci-fi action game," while the catchphrase "there are no saints—only survivors," teases that choices matter and suggests that there will be a morality system that will affect how players experience the game's story. Some of the other hints of the game's content on the Kickstarter page include that it will be a "dark and immersive isometric action title." Its visuals and atmosphere appear to be largely inspired by Dead Space, which means we're likely to see some horror elements and claustrophobic fights. The official Dust: Origins teaser follows.

As we've just passed the summer solstice and are heading towards darker times (at least in the northern hemisphere), we should soon be back to the time of the year when there are some bigger game releases. However, this week isn't one of those weeks, but we do at least have one bigger release this week which is the return of a fighting game franchise. The rest of this week's releases includes running an animal hotel, adventuring with a deer, some 6v6 PvP action in a futuristic setting, a spooky walking simulator and a rather bizarre fishing game.

Dead or Alive 6 Last Round / This week's major release / Thursday 25 June
Fan-favorite 3D fighting game Dead or Alive 6 is back with stylish moves, striking animations, and a cast of colorful characters to go head-to-head in the fighting game world's most extreme battles! Place, pose, and take picture-perfect screenshots of your favorite characters in the new Photo Mode. Steam link

It was recently rumored that the development of Persona 6 had been concluded, indicating that the game would likely be launching somewhat soon, and that previous rumor has been somewhat substantiated by the recent announcement and publication of the store pages for Persona 6 on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles. Notably, there is no Nintendo Switch 2 store page just yet, and it's unclear if Persona 6 will release on the Switch 2. An official release date has not been set, but Atlus West has strongly suggested in a post on X that Persona 6 will launch after Persona 4 Revival, which is slated to launch on February 18, 2027. Current rumors claim a September 2027 launch for Persona 6.

The store pages provide some clues as to the game's themes and aesthetic, with screenshots hinting that Persona 6 will take on a somewhat darker tone than Persona 5 Royal. According to the Steam Store page, Persona 6 will feature "a completely fresh, standalone story and new cast of characters," and players will be confronted with "strange rumors, unsettling urban legends, and occult incidents." Of course, Persona 6 will still follow the party-based, turn-based JRPG combat format combined with relationship simulation and slice of life elements. Atlus is also careful to note that Persona 6 requires no prior Persona experience and is a self-contained story, much like the other numbered entries in the franchise.

Witchfire, the single-player, dark fantasy RPG shooter from The Astronauts, has released Revelations, a major update introducing a wealth of new content, localization for 15 languages, and a dialogue system. Players can now engage in multithreaded conversations with Fallen Preyers, making pivotal choices that impact both gameplay and story. This system establishes the narrative baseline for the game's upcoming 1.0 release, providing fleshed-out storylines that unveil the tragic history of the Preyers.

Revelations introduces the Marshland, a hostile wetland map crawling with new abominations. This grim region hides the secrets of the Cathedral of Saint Aurelian, shedding light on historical Vatican failures and the mystery of a forgotten Fallen Preyer.

It seems as though CD Projekt Red is not in the business of resting on its laurels, with the studio recently celebrating the 13th anniversary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with a newly revealed update and DLC for the game, working on both The Witcher 4 and a Witcher 1 remake, Cyberpunk 2, and apparently a new co-op Witcher game, which has started to appear in rumors of late. The rumors of a co-op Witcher game started with a spin-off game called under the codename Sirrius, that would be primarily a single-player game with optional multiplayer layered over the top. Project Sirrius seems to align with rumors of a new Witcher co-op game, as reported by MP1st. The biggest change from previous games in the Witcher universe is that this will be a multiplayer co-op experience, with players working together to hunt and take down monsters.

CDPR has yet to reveal the game or any gameplay details, but the rumors purport that the co-op Witcher game will be free-to-play and launch for both PC and mobile—presumably both Android and iOS. Allegedly, Sirrius will be set in 1230, when Geralt was already active as a witcher. However, players will not play as Geralt or another established witcher. Instead, the game will feature typical ARPG customization and a matching skill tree. Combat will largely be skills-based, relying on dodging, blocking, parrying, and executions, and players will be able to select from different witcher schools for their class, combat style, and skills. The aforementioned skills and combat system will include Signs and casting as well as potion brewing. CD Projekt Red hinted in a March earnings report that the company's next collaboration with Scopely, a mobile developer the studio worked with on prior Witcher mobile games, would certainly not launch in 2026, so a 2027 or even 2028 launch date seem more realistic, depending on how far along development is.

Welcome to midsummer week and a tad slower week when it comes to new releases. This week's major release is an anime inspired APRG set in its own universe. If that's not your style, then the week kicks off with some underground drilling, followed by driving cars in a city and a salvage operation. We round the week off with a new RPG from Square Enix and a job interview from your worst nightmares.

Zenless Zone Zero / This week's major release / Wednesday 17 June
Zenless Zone Zero is HoYoverse's brand-new urban fantasy ARPG. Players act as "Proxies" who explore Hollows alongside a wide range of unique Agents, fighting enemies, and completing commissions on their journey to unveil the mysteries behind New Eridu. Steam link

Welcome to the month of June which we kick off with a remake of an ARPG from 2001 that appears to have been given a bit more than just a graphics overhaul. The rest of the week starts with running a shop selling arcane goods, some hack and slash and sorcery, being a police dog in 1930's Chicago except it's an alternate universe, working as a medic during the war in the Pacific and finally being a card playing witch. As always there are some additional releases this week as well.

Gothic 1 Remake / This week's major release / Friday 5 June
Return to the Valley of the Mines in this faithful remake of the genre-defining open world RPG. Explore a hand-crafted, organic open world that reacts dynamically to your actions. Whether you're a seasoned Gothic veteran or this is your first time being thrown into the colony, you're in for a true RPG experience with unrestricted exploration like no other. Steam link

Warhorse Studios recently announced that a "new Kingdom Come adventure" was already in development at the game studio, although not much else was revealed about the upcoming game. Now, in a new video by Warhorse Studios, the studio has revealed that "if everything goes right, it comes next fiscal year," meaning the 2027 fiscal year, which likely refers to the studio's parent company, Embracer Group's fiscal year, which will run from April 2027 to March 2028. The video also confirmed that the new Kingdom Come game will be an open-world RPG.

The video also revealed that Prokop Jirsa, the lead designer of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, will be the creative director of the new Kingdom Come game, and the Middle Earth RPG game announced alongside the Kingdom Come game, will be led by Viktor Bocan, who worked as design director on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. It's still unclear if the new Kingdom Come game will be a direct successor to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 or a spin-off, but the condensed timeline seems to suggest that it will be a spin-off based on assets from existing Kingdom Come: Deliverance games.

Fatekeeper was announced during a THQ Nordic showcase in August 2025 as an upcoming first-person ARPG that "blends precise melee combat and precise spellcasting in a handcrafted world," and, although not much fuss has been made about the game since, THQ Nordic and the game's developer, Paraglacial, just announced the game's Steam Early Access release date and published a release date trailer for the game, giving us a glimpse of what to expect when it launches on June 2.

Fatekeeper is being developed by a 13-person outfit, Paraglacial, and to complement the aforementioned brutal melee combat and spellcasting, which have been previewed in a devlog video on YouTube, the developer has shown off an intricate skill tree that gives players a lot of flexibility when it comes to builds and combat. Fatekeeper is set in a post-apocalyptic world with elements from different cultures and time periods throughout history, and it presents players with a focussed narrative while still offering adventurous players with opportunity to explore the world and its lore.

A recent rumor revealed that there was a Lord of the Rings game in development at Warhorse, although there was some confusion surrounding the genre of the game in question. Now, Warhorse has confirmed in a post in X that the studio is indeed working on an open-world Middle Earth RPG and a "new Kingdom Come adventure," which appears to be Kingdom Come Deliverance 3. Not much else was revealed about the games, but it stands to reason that the Kingdom Come game will follow on the existing Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, although it could just as easily be a spin-off game.

This announcement follows a recent debacle in which Warhorse allegedly fired a Czech translator in favor of replacing them with AI, a matter raised questions about Warhorse's claims that "We do not see AI as a substitute for human work, and we are currently looking to expand the company, including our translation team," when asked about the use of the controversial tools in the development of the new games.

Neowiz, the game studio behind the 2023 standout, Lies of P, has officially confirmed in its Q1 2026 earnings report that the sequel to Lies of P is officially in full-scale development, although likely in the very early stages of the process, since parts of the report still list the game as being in "vertical slice," which is a stage of development in which the studio makes a small part of the game to develop a feel for what the rest of the game will feel like. A new job listing on the Neowiz website also sees the game studio hiring a developer to work in an art team at Round8 where they will "leverage generative AI technology to maximize the efficiency of the art production process and innovate the visual quality of games."

The report also reveals that there are two unannounced IPs in the prototype phase—one souls-like RPG, Project Windi, and another narrative-based RPG, Project Windi—both of which are slated to launch for both console and PC. The upcoming puzzle-platformer, Goodbye Seoul: Itaewon, a game published by Neowiz but developed by Jino Games, is slated for a PC release in the second half of 2026. Part of Neowiz's strategy going forward is to use new IPs to diversify into different genres, with the studio specifically mentioning action, social sim, and mystery.

Welcome to week 20, which kicks off with a game about the camper van life as this week's major release. This is followed by some galactic space battles, some space alien horror, another mobile home came, but with beasts, an underwater sequel and finally some post-apocalyptic cyberpunk survival. As most of the time, don't forget to check out the other releases that are launching this week as well.

Outbound / This week's major release / Monday 11 May
Outbound is a cozy open-world exploration game set in a utopian near future. Start with an empty camper van and turn it into the home of your dreams - alone or together with your friends. Build and explore at your own pace. Collect materials, craft, and build in and on top of your vehicle with modular parts. Advance in technology and efficiently use energy to power your home. Steam link

Welcome to May and this month kicks off with several new games from independent developers. This week's major release is all about navigating the great white north, in more ways than one. The week kicks off with a different take on the tower defence genre, followed by a game that combines disco and beat 'em up. Next up we have an online co-op action RPG which is followed by one that isn't online and finally we round the week off with some crab evolution. Don't forget to check out some of the other games also launching this week.

WILL: Follow The Light / This week's major release / Thursday 7 May
WILL: Follow The Light is a story-driven, first-person adventure puzzle game about a perilous personal journey through the harsh northern latitudes. To find peace and reunite with his family, Will must sail across endless waters, face numerous challenges, and ultimately discover himself. Steam link

Hooded Horse, Unfrozen Studio, and Ubisoft are excited to share that the highly anticipated turn-based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is out now in early access for PC via Steam, the Microsoft Store (via Game Preview), and PC Game Pass.

The first new Heroes of Might and Magic game in over ten years, this next entry is made for series veterans and newcomers alike, built on the familiar foundations of one of the most critically acclaimed strategy series of all time. Engage in strategic empire building, epic turn-based tactical battles, and in-depth RPG mechanics, all while exploring a vibrant land brimming with secrets and dangers.

NC America officially confirmed today that AION 2, the action-packed, open-world MMORPG, will arrive later this year on Steam and PURPLE platforms. Featuring flight as a signature experience, players can fly freely across a world 36 times larger than the original AION, dive underwater, and engage in aerial combat in PvE and PvP gameplay.

The AION 2 development team has invested deeply in building a version suited for global PC players and will be actively engaging with Western players and media throughout the year. The AION 2 development team will introduce more news for AION 2 in May, and looks forward to answering questions from the community.

The Blood of Dawnwalker, the new dark fantasy ARPG developed by Rebel Wolves and published under Bandai Namco, is expected to launch in 2026 on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox Series consoles, and according to a new Game Business interview with Rebel Wolves CEO, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the development process for the game is going surprisingly smoothly, with the game already being playable to completion on the PS5. Currently, The Blood of Dawnwalker is nearing the certification phase of the development and production process, suggesting that the launch may be around Q3 or the beginning of Q4, although no official launch date has been confirmed yet.

During the interview, Tomaszkiewicz touched on the use of AI, stating that the dev team has used generative AI in the development process for early placeholder assets, which will eventually be removed before the game releases. This is a strategy that is becoming more and more popular in the modern gaming landscape, with studios like Sandfall Interactive and Pearl Abyss using AI-generated assets for placeholders and iteration early in the development process of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Crimson Desert. It was also recently revealed by a game industry survey that many gaming professionals feel that AI is hurting creativity in gaming, echoing the sentiments of many smaller and indie game studios on the use of generative AI.

Crimson Desert has evidently had a strong launch, despite initial launch impressions being somewhat less than stellar. Even a month after launch, weekly peak concurrent player counts still top 200,000 players on Steam alone. According to a post by the official Crimson Desert account on X, the game has already sold more than 5 million copies in its first month since launch. While these sales figures are nothing to scoff at, as we recently covered, Resident Evil Requiem managed to top 5 million sales in the first week after launch, reaching 6 million a few days after that, making it the fastest-selling Resident Evil game to date.

Still, it is impressive that an entirely new IP that had a somewhat storied history—Crimson Desert was initially planned as an MMORPG, but the studio pivoted to a single-player RPG mid-development—has drawn such a large audience. Even more impressively, unlike Resident Evil Requiem, initial impressions of Crimson Desert weren't all that positive, with the Metacritic score even now sitting at 77. The user score, and the game's Steam review rating, however, are significantly more positive, with the former at 8.8 and the latter at 86% Positive.

Nexon subsidiary, Neople, launched The First Berserker: Khazan on 27 March, 2025, and despite the game's impressive critical reception, it seems as though the ARPG never quite managed to reach the commercial heights expected by Nexon. According to a recent report by Korean news outlet, Yonhap News, the development team that was responsible for supporting The First Berserker: Khazan has been reassigned by Neople, due to the game's poor commercial performance. The development company says the project is in "completion stage" and the reallocation of workers is in the name of efficiency. The workers previously responsible for the ARPG will be working on other projects that require additional human resources.

According to SteamDB, The First Berserker: Khazan peaked at 32,929 concurrent players on Steam around the game's initial launch, but that number quickly fell to around 2,000 daily concurrent players, dipping to as little as 1,013 concurrent daily players more recently. Despite the low player counts, The First Berserker: Khazan still has a "Very Positive" 90% rating on Steam, and it generally scored well with critics, with a 78 Metacritic score and a user score of 7.9 on the same site.