Good morning!

Alright, folks—another week, another wild ride in the gaming world. Sony threw everything at us in their State of Play, including pirate Yakuza, cyber ninjas, and a shocking lack of Bloodborne news (again). Meanwhile, Obsidian swears they’ll be around for 100 years, Amazon learned the hard way that gamers don’t just switch platforms because a corporate giant tells them to, and Avowed… well, let’s just say it needs a lot of patching before it’s worth your time.

Oh, and Twitch’s trending charts? Avowed is everywhere, while Elden Ring: Nightreign proves that people just love suffering.

Lots to cover, so keep scrolling, because you won’t want to miss this one.

Here’s everything you need to know this week in the world of gaming.

TOP STORY

Sony’s February 2025 State of Play: The Highlights

Alright, PlayStation fans, if you blinked, you probably missed something during Sony’s jam-packed State of Play. They crammed nearly 30 reveals into 40 minutes, throwing everything from cybernetic ninjas to time-traveling Digimon at us. If you didn’t catch the show, don’t sweat it—I’ve got you covered.

I even included links to the trailers because I love you guys.

The Big Guns

🎮 Monster Hunter Wilds – Capcom flexed with a new trailer, featuring the return of Mizutsune, the monster equivalent of a majestic murder-fish. Drops Feb. 28.

🐍 Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater – The legendary sneaky-boi simulator gets its long-awaited remake. You’ll be rolling in mud and munching on frogs again Aug. 28.

⚡ Borderlands 4 – More loot, more guns, more claptrap (literally). Coming Sept. 22.

👻 Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic – More animatronic nightmares land on June 13. If you scare easily… good luck.

🔥 Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii – Majima with a magic guitar, a pirate outfit, and a giant monkey? Say no more. A new demo drops this Friday.

The Curveballs & Comebacks

🐱‍👤 Shinobi: Art of Vengeance – The Shinobi franchise is back after years in the shadows. Mark your calendar for Aug. 28.

🏎 Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds – Sega’s throwing Sonic back into the driver’s seat. A closed network test kicks off Feb. 21.

🤖 Digimon Story Time Stranger – More digital monster chaos across time and space, expected sometime in 2025.

🔫 Directive 8020 – A sci-fi horror game where your spaceship is infested with aliens who mimic their victims (super original, right?). Launching Oct. 2.

🧟 Hell Is Us – A game about humanity being the real monsters? Groundbreaking. Drops Sept. 4.

DLC, Remasters & Wildcards

🌊 Dave the Diver x Yakuza – Ichiban is crashing Dave’s oceanic adventures in April. Fishing just got dramatic.

🏍 Days Gone Remastered – More biker vs. zombie action, now remastered, hitting April 25.

⚔ Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny – Classic samurai action returns on May 23, with upgraded graphics and smoother swordplay.

💥 Stellar Blade DLC – More anime waifu combat, coming June.

Honorable Mentions

• Tides of Annihilation – Knights of the Round Table meet a modern-day London apocalypse.

• Abiotic Factor – A chaotic survival sim heading to consoles this summer.

• Mindseye – AI, human greed, and a whole lot of dystopian vibes.

• Saros – Housemarque’s next big thing. No gameplay yet, but hey, at least there’s a trailer.

Final Thoughts

Sony came out swinging with this State of Play, proving they’ve got plenty in the pipeline for 2025. Whether you’re into monster hunting, stealth espionage, high-speed hedgehogs, or pirate Yakuza chaos, there’s something for everyone. Now, all that’s left is to figure out which pre-orders will ruin your wallet first.

LATEST NEWS

GENERAL

• Obsidian isn’t here to chase record-breaking sales or pump out billion-dollar blockbusters—it’s playing the long game. The Avowed devs plan to survive the next 78 years by staying lean, realistic, and focused on making solid RPGs, not mega-hits. Their strategy? Small wins, happy devs, and no reckless expansion. Basically, they want to be the Nintendo of RPGs—but with fewer plumbers. (PC Gamer)

• Amazon thought being 250 times bigger than Steam meant it could just muscle its way into the PC gaming market—turns out, gamers aren’t that easy to impress. Despite throwing Twitch, Luna, and even an entire game store at the problem, Steam didn’t budge. Lesson learned: You can’t just buy your way to the top—you actually have to understand what gamers want. (PC Games)

QUICK LINKS

• Nintendo has obtained a patent in the US to stiffle and snuffle out PocketPair's Palworld.

• Bobby Kotick says Activision Blizzard harassment lawsuits were "fake" and simply a "plan" to drive up union membership.

• Microsoft veteran and former Blizzard president knows "loyal Xbox gamers are mad" about exclusives launching on PS5 and Nintendo Switch but "that isn't going to change anything"

• Viktor Antonov, the visionary artist who defined Half-Life 2 and Dishonored, has died.

BITE-SIZED THOUGHTS

Elden Ring: Night Reign – My Thoughts After the Alpha Test

This past week, I had the chance to dive into Elden Ring: Night Reign during its invite-only alpha test. While I can see why some players are enjoying it, I have to be honest—I just didn’t connect with it.

If you’re excited about Night Reign, that’s awesome! I hope you have a great time with it. Plenty of players seem to be loving the roguelite spin on the Elden Ring formula. But as someone who adored the base game, I found myself missing the core elements that made Elden Ring special.

I loved the vast, open-ended exploration of Elden Ring. I loved the variety of encounters, the deep character customization, and the hard-earned sense of accomplishment that came from overcoming brutal boss fights. Night Reign just doesn’t have much of that.

What’s Different?

The biggest change is the structure—Night Reign is a roguelite, meaning:

You don’t carefully build your character over time. Instead, progression follows preset paths determined by the developers.

Each run lasts about 45 minutes, making long-term character investment nearly nonexistent.

While loot and item collection are randomized, the variety from run to run feels limited.

FromSoftware has promised more bosses and four additional player archetypes at launch, which should help with variety. But there’s a catch—some of this content will be DLC, meaning additional purchases beyond the base game’s $40 price tag. For comparison, Elden Ring launched at $60 with a massive open world, deep customization, and dozens of unique bosses. Night Reign offers a smaller, modular experience, reusing many assets from Elden Ring, yet asks players to pay for extra content upfront.

Final Thoughts

To me, Night Reign feels less like a fully fleshed-out Elden Ring experience and more like a fan-made mod turned into a standalone release. Every time I played, I just found myself wishing I was back in the Lands Between.

If you enjoy the roguelite formula, you might have a blast with Night Reign. But for me, this is the first FromSoftware title that feels like a swing and a miss.

Links:

• Elden Ring NightReign Info

• Pre-purchase on Steam

LATEST VIDEO

Avowed: A Great RPG… If It Actually Worked

You ever play a game so broken it starts to feel personal? That was Avowed for me. Don’t get me wrong—it’s a solid RPG when it actually functions. But between corrupted saves, broken questlines, crashes, and NPCs moving like stop-motion dolls, it was a nightmare to finish. Oh, and the best part? I’m not allowed to show you the worst of it—because the devs specifically banned footage from the most broken areas. Convenient, right?

Look, I want to recommend this game. But right now? Hard pass. Maybe in a few months, after some serious patching, it’ll be worth your time. Until then, save yourself the frustration. If you want the full rant (and trust me, it’s worth it), check out my full video review below 👇.

And hey, at least now I get to play a game that actually works. See you in the next one! 🎮

WHAT’S TRENDING?

MOST POPULAR:

The Twitch throne is still firmly held by Just Chatting, even with a 📉 4.7% drop this week. Meanwhile, the gaming giants remain steady:

• 🥇 Just Chatting – 382,909 avg. viewers (15.8% of total)

• 🥈 League of Legends – 139,798 avg. viewers (5.8% of total)

• 🥉 Grand Theft Auto V – 127,582 avg. viewers (5.3% of total)

• 🎯 Counter-Strike – 91,029 avg. viewers (3.8% of total)

• ⛏ Minecraft – 50,170 avg. viewers (2.1% of total)

TRENDING:

These games are exploding on Twitch right now, with Avowed leading the pack at 585 active channels (+58.5K%). If you're looking for the next big thing, this is where the action is:

• Avowed – 🔥 585 channels (+58.5K%) (absolutely everywhere)

• Elden Ring: Nightreign – 109 channels (+7.8K%) (FromSoft fans stay dedicated)

• Killing Floor III – 36 channels (+3.6K%) (zombie massacre, anyone?)

• NASCAR Racing 2003 Season – 20 channels (+1.7K%) (old-school racing is alive!)

• Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation – 19 channels (+1.6K%) (Lara Croft never dies)

• The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II – 17 channels (+909%) (JRPG fans eating good)