It’s a Standalone Story

Although The Sinking City 2 leans on the same Lovecraftian aesthetic as its predecessor, studio Frogwares has built the sequel specifically to stand on its own. Yes, you’ll be stepping into the shoes of new protagonist Calvin Raffety as he navigates the flooded streets of Arkham, but this follow-up tells its own self-contained story. Familiar themes and supernatural influence provide connective tissue to the first game, but newcomers should find The Sinking City 2 just as approachable.

Ammo Conservation is More Important Than Killing Everything

The sequel’s shift to survival horror means every bullet carries extra weight. Ammunition, healing items, and crafting resources are, as you’d expect, deliberately scarce, making you think twice before engaging every monster you encounter. Sometimes, the smartest decision is to high-tail it out of trouble, preserving your supplies instead for unavoidable fights. Resource management is a survival horror staple, but its one Frogwares is reportedly putting to good use, bringing tension by balancing risk with minimal resources.

Retreating and Returning Better Prepared is a Legitimate Strategy

We just alluded to it, but retreating with a plan to prepare for another go is often the best strategy. In fact, The Sinking City 2 encourages you to recognise when the odds aren’t in your favour, instead coming back with more ammo, additional healing supplies, or stronger, freshly upgraded gear. This preparation loop forms as important a part of the survival-horror experience as resource management itself, where your patience is rewarded by staying alive.

The Flood Brings Its Own Threat

Much like its predecessor, The Sinking City 2’s flooded streets aren’t just atmospheric set dressing. Unseen entities and absurd abominations lurk beneath the surface, ready to ambush careless wading. In a broad sense, the floodwater itself becomes an enemy, when the act of traversing by boat feels just as unsettling as navigating interior sections on foot.

Certain Monsters Can Affect The Space Around You

Not every creature in The Sinking City 2 rushes to kill you. No, some enemies possess abilities that shape and distort the world around you – or, at least, your perception of it. Certain monsters can influence rising flood waters, for instance, submerging dry paths and forcing you to find alternative routes. And other creatures can drain your sanity entirely, warping your senses with hallucinations, phantoms, and misheard auditory phenomenon like footsteps. The sequel’s bestiary demands a range of responses, from fearless quick thinking to improvisation, making each encounter less like a straightforward firefight.

The Shoggoth Arrives After Successful Fundraiser

While not being part of The Sinking City 2’s original lineup of beasts, after a Kickstarter stretch goal was reached The Shoggoth is now set to feature as a major boss battle. An intimidating spectre straight out of the Lovecraft playbook, The Shoggoth is a towering, amorphous blob of glowing flesh and blinking eyes, and it promises a very different encounter from the routine enemies roaming the streets. Because of its shape-shifting form, its attack patterns will be hard to predict, while its ginormous size means it can control space or tear down structures, demanding you maintain awareness of your surroundings in its presence.

Kickstarter Stretch Goals Added More Content

The Shoggoth isn’t the only gameplay addition funded by Kickstarter. Frogwares has also expanded the sequel with extra secrets and environmental puzzles, enriching the experience with meaningful content. Now, you’ve more reason to follow the hidden path, where exploration involves uncovering locations, optional discoveries, and additional challenges that reward observation and bravery.

A Familiar Location Also Returns

And yet another stretch goal addition is the return of a location that will be familiar if you played the first The Sinking City. An as yet unknown secret area, the location is reportedly set to be dramatically reimagined to suit the sequel’s newfound emphasis on survival-horror. If you’re a veteran, this means you’ll be able to step into somewhere that feels recognisable without the game forcing you to repeat the steps you’ve already taken.

Holloway Manor Adds Two Hours of Optional Gameplay

If you pick up The Sinking City 2 Premium Edition you’ll not only unlock twenty-four hour early access but also gain entrance to Holloway Manor, a standalone side investigation that offers roughly two hours of additional gameplay. Set within a decrepit mansion, where a family’s history was curdled by an occult practice, Holloway Manor promises to be a substantial diversion away from the main story.

Completing Holloway Manor Gives You a Weapon for the Main Game

Holloway Manor isn’t just an isolated bonus experience either, but completing the investigation rewards you with the Bucking Bronco revolver which you can bring into your arsenal in the main campaign. So, not only do you get additional story content, and the chance to uncover another one of Arkham’s mysteries, but a potential advantage once you return to the main story.

Pre-orders Give The Chthonic Arsenal

If you pre-order The Sinking City 2 you will receive the Chthonic Arsenal DLC, containing three extra weapons. Included is the Breakwater shotgun, and the Tektite Tommy SMG. Each firearm appears cosmetically enhanced with Lovecraftian mysticism, and while details on how each weapon handles is scarce, Frogwares has confirmed that each will possess a unique firing trait.

Some Editions Let You Accelerate Character Progression

The Deluxe Edition includes a bundle of outfits and useful consumables but arguably the most valuable is Dream Essence. This resource – of which the Deluxe gives three – feeds directly into The Sinking City 2’s Talent system, allowing you to unlock your first character upgrade sooner than you otherwise would. Combined with extra ammo, healing, and crafting items, the Deluxe Edition gives you a smoother start to life in Arkham compared to the Standard version.

Difficulty and Accessibility Can Be Adjusted

The Sinking City 2 includes a range of difficulty and accessibility options to help you tailor the experience to your preferences. Alongside four difficulty settings, from a more easygoing Story Mode right through to the highly demanding Survivor difficulty, you can customise subtitles and audio settings, including audio cue support to alleviate any disorientation during especially distorted scenes. The removal of rapid button presses, input, and motion controls improves comfort levels while optional HUD toggles and separate investigation difficulty sliders provide the option to simplify story progression whilst keeping the combat challenging.

A PC Demo is Available

You can try the opening segments of The Sinking City 2 via a free demo currently listed on the game’s Steam page. As with all demos, this gives you a chance to sample the game’s exploration, combat, atmosphere and overall performance before committing to a purchase.

Release Date, Price, Editions, and PC Requirements

The Sinking City 2 is set to launch on August 18th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, with Standard, Deluxe, and Premium Editions available. Priced at $49.99, $54.99, and $59.99 respectively, pre-orders include the aforementioned Chthonic Arsenal weapon pack, with Premium holders unlocking Holloway Manor and early access. If you’re a PC player, recommended specs include an Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X CPU, GeForce GTX 1070 or RX 5700 8GB VRAM GPU, and 16GB RAM. Recommended setup details an i5-14600K or Ryzen 5 7600X CPU, a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti or AMD RX7900XT 12GB VRAM GPU, and 32GB RAM.

Well, we raised an eyebrow at first, but that was before we dived into a long list of stuff that’s being done to make this one stand out from its peers. There’s quite a bit to unpack before you’re equipped with everything you need to decide if this one’s worth picking up before a sale comes along, so let’s get started.

1. Release Date, Platforms, Editions, and Cross-Play

The Standard Edition of Madden NFL 27 launches on August 13, 2026, for the PC, PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S. You could get a head start on the fun if you’ve picked up the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle, which opens things up on August 10, while the EA Play 10-hour trial and existing MVP+ early access begins on August 6.

The Switch 2 is the only one among the available platforms that isn’t cross-play compatible, while all the others can have it working across Online Head-to-toHead, Franchise, Ultimate Team, and Superstar. You should remember that Franchise remains in live beta, and that it’s recommended you start a new league instead of enabling it on a save you’d rather not lose. Also, the PS5 Pro version’s targeting over 100 fps with its Performance option, while there’s a similar one targeting a more modest 60 fps on the Switch 2.

2. A New Approach to Defense

EA’s been leading with this one, and for good reason. You’re getting a lot of options to tweak defensive plays, with comebacks and safeties getting depth and width settings, controls for plaster behaviours, roll coverage on specific threats, bracketing individual receivers, and having more comprehensive responses to stacks and bunch formations.

This goes beyond merely strengthening defenders to being a potentially effective solution to making defensive plays bring more football-aware and predictable reactions from defenders in the heat of a match, making things much more authentic for the ones running those plays.

3. More Physical WR/DB Battles

The direction in which a receiver needs to release is now accounted for in press releases, with receivers running stands attempting to gain inside leverage while the opposite goes for receivers working a corner route or running out. Combine that with expanded down field jostling, and you could see plays where defenders with strong coverage ratings are quite disruptive to the timing of opponent plays, neutralize speed, and stay connected across the field.

That’s a potentially greater emphasis on leverage, ratings, and route intent while making one-on-one coverage feel less random, all of which are welcome additions to make the gameplay loop feel further polished from a fine offering last year.

4. Timing-Based Catching

There’s a new skill check for you to keep in mind, as Madden 27 is bringing you a way to influence catches without manually switching between receivers. You get to hold aggressive, progression, or run-after catches, releasing the button within a specific timing window before your receiver gets their hands on the ball.

How generous that window is depends on your difficulty, receiver ratings, catch type and complexity, and your coverage. The traditional ratings-driven catch system is there for those of you who want it, but this one should make things feel like accurate throws aren’t dropped just because the game couldn’t keep up. That’s been an annoyance in the past and we’re glad there’s a step towards fixing it.

5. Rebuilt Short Yardage

There are improvements to the trench interactions, pile movements, contextual examinations, and a snap-timing mechanic to goal-line stands, quarterback sneaks, and fourth-and-inches situations that should improve how they feel. Perfect timing gives you a better shot at creating a push but your ratings, defensive numbers, and pressure still count as factors.

The Tush Push is a Madden exclusive this year, while expanded run blocking controls and the addition of gap integrity and defense aggression settings work well with adjustments to the green-window QB sneak results that were a tad too inconsistent in the beta.

6. Tackle Stick Reworks

You can now use your right stick to take different defensive actions, such as up for a hit stick, down for a cut, left for a lunge tackle, and right for a wrap tackle.

That’s going to be excellent when you want to defend without taking your thumb off your right stick, and with expansions to arm tackles, momentum driven collisions, directional stiff arms, and drive-through tackles, holding down the fort could be easier than ever in this one.

7. More Control Over Formation Shifts And Play-Call Submissions

You can now retain the same personnel when selecting a play and moving it over to a compatible formation. That’s helpful if you want to disguise offensive intentions or alter defensive recognition and should help you bring realistic sequences to life without having to rebuild it all from scratch every time inspiration strikes.

You can also change personnel directly from your play-call screen with substitutions staying active after they’re made. That’s useful when you’re trying to manage Wear and Tear, matchups, and specialized packages without hitting the pause menu too often. There have been fixed to those Formation Shift control issues from the beta in case you were wondering.

8. Total Pre-Play Control

Reorganised pre-snap controls make important commands like leverage, underneath or over-the-top coverage, pass commit, Smart Zones, and receiver double-teams require fewer inputs to execute.

Custom Adjustments let you create packages containing fronts, coverage behaviour, protection rules, pressure looks, hot routes, and even individual assignments as long as you allow athletes to become set before stacking other adjustments. That minimizes pre-snap movement and is sure to be quite a boon to all you online veterans out there.

9. More Intelligent Coach and Player AI

Coach DNA 2.0 allow a lot of variation in philosophies, tendencies, and adaptive behaviours among AI coaches, letting them respond to repeated route concepts, adjust run-ass tendencies, and sequence complementary plays,

Coach Speak recommendations for over 50 launch scenarios are included alongside machine-learning-based ball carrier pathing which should improve lane selection, cutback recognition, and leverage reads as the AI is trained on successful user-controlled rushing decisions. Just how effective it gets is going to be something we’re waiting to evaluate in the final build.

10. Hot and Cold, Abilities, and Home-Field Advantage Are Connected

Players enter Hot or COld states based on performance, with the former doing better and having the ability to access X-Factors, while the opposite is true for the latter. Abilities now use Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers with the higher tiers bringing benefits other than improved stats.

Home-field advantage is also returning, with crowd noise, communication problems, weather, altitude, and stadium-specific factors hampering visiting teams. Of course, all of it remains disabled In online Ultimate Teams.

11. Dynamic Weather Indeed

The weather is more than just a visual effect, but an active parameter that can change during a game, with intensifying rain or snow, and wind affecting how you approach passing or kicking.

It’s quite deep-looking since conditions are tied to locations and seasonal calendars and effects like snow react to players, and they show up on uniforms and gear. Franchise is where we expect this one to shine with an effect on weekly game planning and late-season strategy coming into play.

12. Coach Mode

This one’s interesting as it lets the CPU take over post-snap execution while you call plays and do everything else prior to it. Your options include AAuto Quarterback, Auto Snap, Coach Suggestions, pre-play audio and commus cutoffs, and more.

Having the cutoff enables cuts out the interface when the play clock is at 15 seconds, making it closer to replicating NFL headset rules. You could designate your primary read on quarterbacks, or set hand-offs or passes to an RPO all while a dedicated camera gives you a sideline perspective. It’s definitely something we’re pretty stoked to check out.

13. The New Personality Engine

The new personality engine gives players different motivations and behavioural profiles, with 65 types of DNA, all capable of evolving to influence how players respond to contracts, team performances, usage, roles, and changing career circumstances.

EA claims that previous scripted scenarios are making way for organic situations that are generated by the league with holdouts, trade demands, and contract disputes emerging from the personalities and varying circumstances across teams without being limited to the user’s roster. That’s definitely going to shake things up a bit if it’s executed well enough and we can’t wait to find out.

14. Rebuilt Weekly Flow and League News

The previous weekly flow has been replaced with Emergent Actions, with the current league’s events generating decisions such as role disputes, contract issues, and roster concerns. Delegated decisions show you your staff’s intentions so you get to confirm if that’s what you intend to do.

With a new persistent ticker, picture-in-picture, breaking news alerts, Scott Hanson audio, rumors, filters, and a News Center that you can pull up anywhere in Franchise, things are looking very different in Madden 27’s take on the popular mode.

15. Overhauled Contracts and Negotiations

Contract discussions are now spread out over multiple sessions that track patience, interest, and other unexpected developments. Feedback from the beta has resulted in allowing players to define initial years, salary, and bonuses while clear information about positional depth and a clearer breakdown of each offer make decisions go more smoothly.

Support for guaranteed contracts, void years, incentives, no-trade clauses, customized structures, and negotiations before the final contract year are all sure to add value to the gameplay loop, as will franchise tags, transition tags, and multiple restricted free-agent traders.

16. Deeper Free Agency and Long-Term League Logic

While Free Agent Frenzy turns the opening market into a simultaneous bidding event, players no longer sign with the first club to approach them; instead, offers are evaluated together when a round advances. Commissioners can set up up to 12 rounds, and you get to withdraw pending offers and view interested teams before committing cap space.

Undrafted rookies get their own signing windows while CPU-drive teams make more context-aware trades, and a more robust approach to multi-season progression are all factors to look forward to as well.

17. A Fuller College-to-Pro Journey

Expansions to Superstar mean that your Road to Glory athletes from CF27 can be imported complete with their college accomplishments and decisions. An athlete’s Road to Glory Draft Score determines their draft position, while newly created players have multiple career starting points to choose from.

Branching progression trees spanning Core, Mental, Physical, Speciality, and X-Factor ensure that you’re going in a direction that makes sense to you, while Rare Cap Breakers and archetypes such as Tight End, Edge Rusher, and Free Safety are among the playable positions. A redesigned HUD is there to give you access to crucial information without a pause menu breaking things up.

18. Consequences and a Proper Endgame in Superstar

A Superstar’s Sphere of Influence now lets them affect free agency, trade demands, teammate trading, or their retirement with relationships that affect team composure. Poor performance could see you lose your starting job or even get cut, traded, or forced to attempt a comeback through the practice squad.

The G.O.A.T. Journey tracks Skill, Legacy, and Popularity across community Leaderboards, and ends with Hall of Fame voting. A free and Premium Pass could make progression easier if you don’t feel up to the grind, but 99 OVR remains achievable without additional purchases per EA, with five to seven career seasons needed to get to it.

19. More Player Development Controls in Ultimate Team

Players specific Skill Points earned through gaempaly, item objectives, or bought in-game can be used to upgrade eligible items and players can upgrade multiple tiers in a single shot. Archetype choices allow the same base item to be useful across different builds.

Evos increase maximum ratings, alter archetypes, add abilities, and even expand chemistry options while Ultimate Captains are viable throughout the year before they can be powered down and replaced. Adjustments to ranked matchmaking divisions, and seasonal updates on Solo Seasons and Championships make for an interesting new take on Madden 27’s online offerings.

20. More Contextual and Team-Specific Presentation

Expect special graphics, music, and commentary on seasonal broadcasts and holidays while Halftime Reports cover impact players and playoff races. Weekly Recaps are going to remind you of injuries, MVP standings, trade alerts, stat leaders, and Players of the Week.

Drone shows, primetime introductions, stadium-specific traditions, and a whole lot more are all set to make this one stand out on the visual front, and make you feel like you’re right there with your team.

Well, that’s quite a lot of change for an annual release, and Madden NFL 27 looks like a very ambitious effort to shake off iterative improvements to improve several areas like defence, the Superstar endgame, pre-play customization, and the new personality Engine. But we’re still recommending cautious optimism, as a lot of these changes hinge on AI consistency and tuning, and whether all these additions can keep producing believable results after multiple franchise seasons.

However, we don’t have to wait too long to find out, and we’re going to be taking the field as soon as we get the chance with this one. We hope to see you there!

If you’ve collected a few water types by now, you’re probably going to like what’s coming next. If not, you might want to make those a priority, for reasons that are coming along as we go further into what’s new with the update and the expansion. Well, the waves beckon, so let’s jump right in for a swim through a bit of underwater fun.

Free Version 2.0.0 Update

1. Ditto’s Diving Lesson

Ditto gets the ability to swim and even go underwater for as long as his breath allows him to remain there, as a part of the free update, with completion of “Raise the environment level” at Bleak Beach and knowledge of jumping and surfing being the only prerequisites. But those peeks under the surface area are just a taste of what truly awaits in the water.

The Expansion Pass adds Manaphy, a Pokémon that can teach Ditto a very nifty way to swim underwater to his heart’s content, with a handy diving ball to summon that makes breathing possible being everything you need to join and water types on adventures into the depths of the water bodies that have remained inaccessible, but are now doorways into more adventures, and more rewards.

2. Only Water-Type Pokémon Can Come Along

It bears repeating that not all Pokémon you’ve collected can join you on your forays into the depths, and keeping a few water types handy in your collection is sure to help you stay afloat once you get into things in the expansion. There’s a lot to do under the surface, and having a few trusted companions at your side is going to make a world of difference.

That’s not to mention that some of those water types are among the most adorable ones there are!

3. Underwater Town Building

Once again, Ditto’s bringing life to previously uninhabited corners of his world, and there’s a whole new town coming to the game as part of the expansion. Of course, it’s up to you to help Ditto bring it back to life, and that’s going to have you exploring the ocean floor to pick up the things you need, plant grass, put up structures, and create underwater towns around them.

The free update allows for underwater building right off the bat, but it’s only with Manaphy that the true depth of the system comes to the surface thanks to…

Paid Expansion Pass Part 1: Bubbly Basin

4. Bubbly Basin

The headliner of the expansion pass’s first instalment is Bubbly Basin, an entirely underwater Town that’s just waiting for you as a part of the free Version 2.0.0 Update. Of course, you’re going to need Dive, which means Bleak Beach should be high on your list of priorities over this weekend if you plan to be among the first ones there.

It’s a massive place, and you’re going to be quite busy swimming through it all once you get started.

5. Farming Melons Underwater

Ditto does have a knack for sniffing out fun, unique things to do no matter where he goes, doesn’t he? Well, your fellow Pokémon are there to help, and cultivating melons is sure to make your time in Bubbly Basin easier. We did see Mudkip and Corsola in the trailer, but those water types are certainly going to work in your favor alongside the new ones you’re likely to find as you explore the depths.

It’s looking like there’s a whole other generator to build underwater, just as you’ve done on land. It’s Pokopia in an entirely new space, and we’re going to be chasing down those buoyant blocks as soon as we get our heads under the water.

6. Pokémon-Powered Machines

One of the ways water types are important to the underwater gameplay loop is their use of the Generate ability to create bubbles that power machines and street lamps. We’ve only been given glimpses from the trailers, but these are all likely to be factors in making your underwater town one that’s as welcoming to new Pokémon as can be.

It’s a new kind of Pokopia, and there are bubbles involved this time around. It’s definitely going to make this one more charming, along with making great use of its art style to bring a whole new biome to life.

7. Deep-Sea Exploration

Of course, setting up a base underwater is only one part of your new adventure, as you’re going to have to find a hole in the sea floor and travel through it with your best Pokémon in tow to follow a glowing coral. Solving that mystery is definitely something we’re making a beeline for when the update drops.

It’s a great way to get familiar with the scenery and the flora and fauna you’re likely to find along your travels as you build out your town. It’s also probably going to bring some useful Pokémon your way, which could give you a solid start as you begin to build your base and develop it.

8. Buoyant Blocks, Floating Buildings

There’s the potential for some truly unique towns under the surface as Buoyant Blocks are what you’re going to be using to build structures. They’re special bricks that float at varying levels underwater, allowing you to build structures that simply float at the level you place them on.

That’s obviously something we couldn’t do on land, and the scope to create a new town with more verticality in the mix is sure to get the more creative ones among you working hard to make some truly unique towns.

9. The Sharpedo Submarine

Any good town you build must have a place for you to put up your feet and call home when you need a break from all your underwater adventuring. Even Ditto’s boundless enthusiasm can run out from time to time. He is mimicking a human, after all. Well, the Sharpedo Submarine is going to be what helps, and building it is probably a good thing to keep track of so you’re always building up to it.

It’s going to make a great place for you to crash, and the game’s promotional materials paint it as a sort of Secret Base with Ditto making it his own with new furniture and the like coming to the game.

10. More Pokémon, New Outfits and Gameplay Items

Of course there are new Pokémon coming into the mix for us to discover and collect, but Ditto’s also getting new outfits to chase down, furniture for his base to look out for, and an upgrade to Surf to pick up. Smoothies are a new prepared food, and we’re expecting a few new recipes to find along the way.

Of course, the trailers haven’t dived too deep into it all yet, and we’re yet to learn the full extent of new content on offer. However, everything we’ve seen so far points to a new world within an already familiar one. Whether it can build synergies with the one above the surface that you’ve already painstakingly built remains to be seen, but we’re sure that there are going to be creative ways to get there.

But for now, it’s time to use the weekend to prepare for a brand new foray into unknown frontiers, with wit, charm, and the ability to imitate the best of the world around us at our side. August 5, 2026, cannot get here fast enough, but we’re going to remind ourselves that patience is a virtue while we wait. We’re quite optimistic about it being worth it, after all.

Stamina Bar Removed

One of Mortal Shell 1’s biggest grievances has been completely removed for the sequel. The Shells’ stamina bar, previously, led to repetitive encounters where you’ll move to attack before dodging backward as you run out of stamina, spending a moment waiting for it to replenish so you can re-engage and repeat the process. With stamina gone, fights are continuous and fluid, emphasising an expressive, aggression-first ethos that puts the sequel in-line with modern action-adventure titles over action-RPGs.

Abilities Become More Integral to Combat Flow

And, as stamina has been removed your Shell’s ability bar becomes weaponised. Because ability is generated during attacking, and attacks are no-longer constrained by stamina, Shell-specific active skills become more integral to combat in the sequel compared to the first game. Herros can turn more opponents to stone, Tiel deals poison with every parry, and more, with ability customisation also receiving an overhaul to be deeper and more personal. It’s a great example of the devs redesigning combat to be more aggressive and then moulding the supporting systems around it.

New Posture-Breaking System

While Mortal Shell 1 didn’t have a visible posture meter (you had to visibly gauge when an opponent was staggered), Mortal Shell 2 introduces an additional UI bar above an enemy, making it easier to determine when your attacks will stun your opposition. And, like stamina’s removal and the renewed emphasis on ability-charging, the posture-breaking system synergises with the sequel’s aggressive combat style, where continuous attacks lead to stunned enemies and a chance to unleash a devastating critical attack, all whilst recharging your ability.

New Colour-Coded Attack Indicators

Unblockable attacks in Mortal Shell 1 were indicated by your Shell’s Tarnished Seal, but the catch was that you needed to have at least one segment of Resolve in your ability bar. The sequel, instead, makes enemy attacks more readable by introducing colour-coded indicators: red means the incoming attack is unblockable, while yellow indicates the attack is parry-able. This ‘always on’ system might discourage you from memorising every enemy’s attack pattern, but the enhanced readability will lead to less frustration, more predictable outcomes, and less friction in mastering your favourite manoeuvres.

You’re Stronger Outside of Your Shell

You’re a skinny, pale being outside of your shell, and in Mortal Shell 1 your body behaved accordingly. Get knocked out of your shell and you were only one blow away from death, desperately scrambling back before an enemy finishes you off. Mortal Shell 2 gives you more agency; instead of retrieving it unscathed, the sequel asks you to deliver a melee attack string, marking another example of the game emphasising aggressive play.

Greater Weapon Variety – Including Guns!

Mortal Shell 1’s arsenal was retrained, with just four melee weapons and the ranged Ballistazooka available throughout the entire game. Mortal Shell 2, instead, broadens your options with eight primary weapons and eight secondary firearms. Guns aren’t simply long-range damage dealers either; with ammunition tied to your ability meter you’re encouraged to stay on the offensive to keep firing. Yet another example of the game prioritising combat aggression, delivering a one-two punch of blade and bullet akin to Control or Hyper Light Drifter.

Hardening Evolves To Be More Flexible

Hardening was one of Mortal Shell 1’s defining mechanics, temporarily turning your shell into stone so you could absorb any incoming attack. While it remains a staple of the sequel’s defensive toolkit, it has now been woven into a set of building blocks to slot into a modular setup. No longer the default defensive option, harden has been rebranded as the Vatra Seal, and in combination with other seals – specialising in blocking, parrying, and more – beta players have reported the new system has dramatically altered their approach to defence.

Seals Add Another Layer of Customisation

And it isn’t just your defensive options that are broadened by the introduction of seals. There is a suite of seals available which you can equip and swap to support a range of combat and traversal specialisations, providing another layer of customisation, These aren’t simple passive skills, but fundamental tools to mould your Shell to different situations. Together with Shell skill trees – which we’ll get into shortly – and modular hardening, Mortal Shell 2’s RPG systems are much deeper than the original game.

Considerably More Playable Shells

The titular Shells, as you’d expect, remain foundational to Mortal Shell 2’s build system, with each offering their own strengths, weaknesses, and combat identity across three distinct attributes. While the original featured four core Shells, Mortal Shell 2 more than doubles the variety with nine confirmed shells at launch. The aforementioned Harros and Tiel return alongside some new designs, and together with deeper customisation systems there appears to be more room for personalisation than was ever possible in Mortal Shell 1.

Shell Progression is Deeper

Shell progression sees a significant overhaul in the sequel too. Whereas in the original you had to farm two separate currencies to purchase abilities, Mortal Shell 2 introduces Shell Points which can be allocated to individual Shells’ skill trees. Fixed stat progression has been tweaked too, with your Shell rewarded with stat increases by clearing areas of enemies and arriving at checkpoints. Separating skill tree progression and character levelling in this way should encourage you to specialise in multiple shells while still getting stronger overall.

A Much Larger World

The first Mortal Shell combined several interconnected regions, with exploration focused as a result. In contrast, Mortal Shell 2 expands the original’s scale, providing a substantially larger open world with multiple routes, diversions, and freedom to explore. The shift in scope brings the sequel closer to its Soulslike inspiration, where curiosity is rewarded rather than guided.

World Design More Vertical

The sequel’s larger world makes more use of verticality too. Where the original game’s environments were largely grounded, Mortal Shell 2 introduces elevated structures, towers, and layered locations, with new traversal mechanics ensuring movement through the world feels like a breeze. Grappling, climbing, and other options make exploration more varied and hands-on.

Exploration More Open

And on that note, it isn’t solely newfound verticality which transforms Mortal Shell 2’s exploration. Thanks to its new open-ended philosophy, a dedicated in-game map makes navigation more streamlined, while the larger world branches intuitively with alternative paths to investigate. Rather than wondering if you’ve missed something, the sequel gives you the tools to carve your own route.

Setting More Involved

The setting in Mortal Shell 1 was deliberately cryptic, and while the sequel maintains the opaque style it’s now supplemented by more explicit presentation. Voiced-acted dialogue, richer setting, and a greater emphasis on cinematic exploration ensure some of the world’s mysteries are communicated directly to you instead of relying on clues and fragmented information.

More Optional Content

Exploration isn’t just about getting to the next objective as now there’s a greater number of optional side activities to distract you: hidden dungeons, mini bosses, challenges, upgrade materials, and secret areas. Mortal Shell 1 rewarded exploration, sure, but the sequel ensures venturing off the beaten path is a much more worthwhile endeavour.

Stealth No Longer the Main Focus

In Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, the series’ signature stealth mechanics take a backseat for combat, which has grown into a much bigger part of the experience compared to previous A Plague Tale games. That’s not to say stealth is gone entirely, but now you’re more likely to leap out of the shadows to tackle assailants with a dagger than sneak past them undetected.

Sophia Replaces Hugo and Amicia

Resonance switches up the protagonist too, with adventurer Sophia – whom you’ll know from A Plague Tale: Requiem – filling the shoes of Hugo and Amicia. What’s more, there is another new character in your command: Theseus – the Minotaur-slaying king of Athens Theseus, that is. At set narrative points, the game transports you back centuries to wield Theseus’ sword in Gladiatorial battle flashbacks. There’s a historical mystery tying these two protagonists together; one you’ll slowly unravel the deeper you trek into Minotaur’s Island.

Both Protagonists Bring Unique Combat Skills

Theseus’ segments are intense, with his aggressive close-quarters melee skills enabling him to dominate Coliseum arenas. Wielding a weighty sword in official gameplay footage, he breaks his opponents’ guard with strong parries and counters. His brutal style contrasts with Sophia, who is more methodical in her approach. She’s equally skilled with steel, bringing a pair of blades to the fray, yet her movement is more agile. From everything shown so far, she’s seen leaping onto enemies and launching flying kicks. Hands-on previewers note each character has a skill tree to pursue too, unlocking further abilities and manoeuvres – more on this later.

You’ll Block and Parry Alot

Whichever combatant you’re in command of, the flow of Resonance’s fighting appears skewed toward a defence-first mindset. In other words: you’ll be blocking, parrying, and dodging before you’re swinging your steel. Only once you’ve borne the brunt of your assailant’s attack does the opportunity for retaliation present itself, where satisfying counterattacks reward patience over careless aggression.

Combat Has Hidden Depth

Alongside sword-fighting, there is hidden depth in Resonance’s combat. Charged attacks, for instance, sees Theseus’ blade glow white before he deals a devastating strike. Then there are the aforementioned guard-breaking attacks, indicated by a stagger meter below an enemy’s head which fills with every successful parry. Sophia, also, is equipped with a grapple hook, which she uses to great effect dragging enemy soldiers down off their elevated perch into the dusty ground below.

The Grapple Hook Is Useful During Traversal

Sophia’s grapple hook, in fact, comes in handy during traversal too. In the official gameplay footage, we see her careen down ziplines, yank obstacles out of the way, and remove barriers. It’s a simple, perhaps expected addition, but one that should make moving through the environment feel more hands-on than simply strolling from point to point.

Extra Swords Can Be Collected

Throughout the campaign, you’ll stumble across a handful of swords, rewarding off the beaten path exploration. Each blade, too, augments combat with unique finishers and combo options, and in some cases can meaningfully shape your approach if combined with powerful area-of-effect attacks. See, switching Sophia’s primary blade’s length results in her executing a different finisher, which could be decisive in fights where she’s outnumbered.

Collectables Grant Passive Bonuses

As well as collecting swords, you’ll come across various detritus that can be collected and stored for passive bonuses. Trinkets, like the one we see Sophia collect from a chest during the gameplay reveal, decreases the chance she’ll succumb to a killer blow. Elsewhere, Arm Bands widen parry timing windows, Bracelets increase the chance a Critical Strike deals more damage, while Beads reduce the chance Sophia gets hit by an arrow. Seals and Pierced Coins round out the collectables, and what is clear is that these items foster a sense of buildcrafting beyond weapon choices and attribute upgrades.

Light RPG Systems Feature

We alluded to it earlier, but Resonance features light progression systems for both characters. By collecting Resonance Points through exploration and combat, you’ll have the currency to spend on new skills and abilities. Confirmed upgrades for Sophia include boosts to parrying and guard breaking, while a third specifically rewards aggressive finishers like critical strikes with energy absorption bonuses. For Theseus, you can expect upgrades to his area-of-effect attack, plus shield and sword charges.

Environmental Puzzles Return

While Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy places greater emphasis on melee combat than its predecessors, exploration and environmental puzzle-solving still remain core experiences. Once again, you’ll need to manipulate light sources to navigate the world and uncover the way forward. It’s a familiar mechanic, sure, but one that has been expanded with new tools – more on that next. All in all, the result preserves the thoughtful pace of earlier titles, where storytelling was embedded into the environmental puzzles themselves.

Sophia’s Mysterious Orb Serves Multiple Purposes

And that tool Sophia carries around is a mysterious sphere capable of manipulating light in several different ways. In some instances, it can be used to reflect beams of light to activate mechanisms or solve puzzles, while elsewhere it functions as a portable light source capable of illuminating dimly lit tombs. The official gameplay even suggests the two functions can be combined – we see Sophia illuminating otherwise invisible symbols before carefully redirecting light beams. It’s another example of Resonance building on A Plague Tale’s defining mechanics away from rats.

Sophia’s Journal Keeps Track of Important Clues

As you explore Minotaur’s Island and its forgotten crypts and tombs, Sophia will keep a record of your discoveries in her journal. So, rather than the game expecting you to memorise every ancient rune, mural, or environmental clue, she documents important iconography and sketches for future reference. It’s a straightforward quality of life addition disguised as a visceral mechanic, but either way it should make the game’s suite of puzzles feel more intuitive.

Companions Can Give Optional Clues

We know from the gameplay footage that Sophia has a companion by her side for at least a portion of her journey. Leni, however, isn’t just there to lend a hand during combat encounters but she can offer puzzle assistance – but only if you choose. Taken together with Sophia’s note taking, we could surmise that Resonance’s puzzles are set to be tougher than the typical action-adventure. Either way, companion assistance being optional is a welcome addition which eschews the usual pitfall of having everything spelled out for you before you’ve worked it out.

Combat Animations Are a Noted Concern

Now, this one is subjective, but gameplay footage indicates that there’s a certain, shall we say, unnatural poise to both Sophia and Theseus’ defensive moveset. Plainly, they appear to be able to change direction to deflect attacks near-instantaneously, and it’s a quirk that’s been noted by community commenters. Now, it’s important to hedge this concern with the build showcased in the footage isn’t the version that is set for release. We’ll have to wait and see if this concern bears weight when the game launches.

Release Date, Platforms, Price, and Pre-Order Bonus

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is set to launch on August 27th, with PS5, Series X|S, and PC via both Steam and the Epic Games Store the confirmed platforms. The title will be enhanced for PS5 Pro, and will be available day one on Game Pass. If you pre-order the game you’ll receive the “Heritage Pack” DLC, which includes a cosmetically decorated sword, an equipable accessory, and a digital artbook.

Oh. Oh no.

A new update is now live, and if it wasn’t obvious, this is aimed squarely at almost every aspect of trading. What are some of the most noteworthy aspects? Is it finally time to engage in the real endgame (besides fashion, re-blockades, and Hard mode), which even the most hardcore fan admitted was kind of underdeveloped for a long time? Let’s dive into everything, starting with…

133 New Trading Posts

Ever noticed how few and far between trading posts could feel at times? Update 1.16 solves that problem by adding 133 of them. Yes, 133. They won’t all be available at the start – many are tied to completing quests – but others will naturally appear as you progress through the story (so finally a reason to leave Hernand). If you’ve been thinking that Pailune could use a dedicated Trading Post, especially considering how prominent a city it is, then voila.

Trading Post Revamps and Improvements

All these new Trading Posts would be pointless if the system remained the same, though. Thankfully, the developer has implemented some much-needed changes and improvements. For starters, the overall profit from trading has increased, making it more worthwhile to engage in. Furthermore, Royal Trading Posts have seen their trade good prices quadrupled, making them a prime destination if you have the right stock.

The types and quantities of trade goods available at Posts have also been adjusted, and selling an excessive amount at a single place will cause prices to change. And if you’re wondering about the point of selling to places difficult to reach by wagon, especially when nearby locations were already good enough, the former now offers higher profits. There’s never been a better time to engage in a cross-region road trip. But what about amateur traders who always found themselves getting lost?

Wagon Routes on the Minimap

That’s right – wagon routes are now showcased on the minimap, making it easier than ever to keep track of where you need to go next. It may seem like a small thing, especially with all the other navigation tools available. However, it goes a long way toward ensuring that you really can’t get lost when trying to sell those Packaged Jades or Ceremonial Swords to different regions.

New Wagon Workshops and Functions

To make things even better, all wagon workshops now function as Trading Posts, allowing you to package and load trade goods when nothing else is available. This probably wouldn’t have worked in the base game because there weren’t many wagon workshops to begin with, so the developer has added seven more to the world. You can find them in Hernand, Urdavah, Varnia, Tommaso, Pailune, Delesyia and Demeniss, ensuring you’re never too far from a workshop.

Trade Tab on the World Map

With the incentive to travel to remote places and sell the trade goods they so desperately need – for a tidy profit, no less – how do you go about finding these places? Why, with the Trade tab on the World Map screen.

It now displays all the Trading Posts, including those of the royal variety and even wagon workshops. By checking the details of a specific Post, you can now see the market prices for trade goods. There are even filters to sort desired trade goods, so you’ll know which places are selling exactly what you want, maximizing the “buy low, sell high” philosophy all the more.

Oh, and it’s also possible to check wagon routes from the Trade tab as well, if you really want to know how far away that destination is. If you get lost at this point, well, we don’t really know what to tell you.

New Trade Goods and Stack Limits

To cater to veteran traders and mix up the market, the latest patch introduces 24 new high-value trade goods alongside four new regular types. It’s also possible to now shift trade goods between your wagon and horse directly, and when packing them, they now stack up to 10 or 100, depending largely on their price. And if you’re someone who always picked up trade goods while exploring, thinking to leave them for another time, those stacks have also increased up to five or 50 per slot in your inventory. If that wasn’t enough, you can now sell a single trade good.

Dude, Where’s My Wagon

As a side note for Royal Trading Posts: Oftentimes, delivering trade goods would cause your wagon to disappear. Not the nicest thing, especially considering your service, but Version 1.16 has seemingly addressed this, and it should no longer happen. A fantastic change overall – yet “should” is the key word here. Some players have reported the issue persisting, leaving them without a wagon, so keep that in mind if it happens to you.

Price Tendency

It’s always nice to find features that weren’t specified in the patch notes, and price tendency definitely stands out. When viewing trade goods at a Post, you’ll see specific graphs which show the trend of their prices. This allows for planning ahead of time and accounting for any potential fluctuations that could occur. A small addition but significant all the same.

Updated Ray Generation and FSR 4.1 on RDNA 3 GPUs

Would it be a hefty new patch without some new graphical features? Probably not, but Version 1.16 offers a bit more than usual. Besides updating AMD FSR’s SDK to 2.3.0 on PC, there’s now support for FSR 4.1 on the Radeon RX 7000 Series of GPUs, thus improving image quality and performance. Ray Regeneration has also been updated to reduce flickering on the edges of window frames and other boundaries, which should mean fewer headaches when navigating building interiors or your own house. An issue in certain places that caused distant objects to not be visible has also thankfully been fixed.

All the Best to All the Rest

Even if none of this convinced you to give trading a try, the latest update is full of lots of other much-needed fixes. For those who think explosives are the best martial art throughout Pywel, they can now stack up to ten and be designed to quick slots. Certain situations where a visual effect made it tough to see an enemy’s weakness have been fixed, alongside a bug that made memory fragment locations not appear when Blinding Flash was used. And for all those who specced into Silver acquisition for their Abyss Gear but saw no gains when opening Copper Pouches, that’s also been fixed. And if you’ve been wondering why the Fallen Abyss would ascend, despite the deactivation of its circuit, that should no longer happen.

There’s still more to come for Crimson Desert, including those long-awaited story improvements, and who knows? We may even see a tease for the upcoming DLC at some point. Until then, the wave of post-launch support continues, and we’re eager to see what else the development team has planned. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll get a vacation before the year is out.

A Standalone Experience

An all-new experience, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is not an expansion nor DLC. Instead, taking every element of its World War II-era forebear – brutal gunplay, shifting frontlines, real-time strategic teamwork – studio Expression Games has created a standalone entry that’s arguably more hardcore. Indeed, inserting into the sweltering Vietnamese jungle, you’ll experience the relentless intensity that defines one of the most brutal, unconventional conflicts in history.

Unreal Engine 5 Brings More Than Overhauled Visuals

While the WWII original runs on Unreal Engine 4, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam shifts to Unreal Engine 5, enabling fresh mechanics and gameplay systems alongside visual and performance overhauls. There are new ways to traverse the battleground, each offering new modes of attack, plus more dynamic equipment, squad, and environmental interactions, demanding stronger tactical decision-making beyond the introduction of better lighting and denser foliage.

A Fully Reworked Audio Engine

Audio has been fully reworked from the ground up, with a new system focused on piercing clarity. Enhanced spatialisation makes it easier to track enemy movements, while remodelled acoustics ensure custom weapon and vehicle sounds are authentic across different environments. Proximity chat and squad-based communication has also been refined, making coordination feel more immersive across vast, extreme landscapes.

50v50 Multiplayer With Defined Roles

Like its predecessor, matches are fought in large-scale, 50v50 battles where teamwork, communication, and tactical coordination are paramount. You can choose from an array of specialised roles – grenadiers, machine gunners, snipers, and more included – each contributing to the wider war effort. Whether fighting for the both factions which or the North Vietnamese Army – the NVA – clearing objectives, depends on understanding your role within the squad and broader battlefield strategy.

A “Sensitive” and Authentic Vietnam War Setting

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is aiming for a respectful yet authentic depiction of the conflict. For starters, there are unpredictable frontlines; indeed, 360-degree guerilla combat is amongst the war’s defining struggles, where battles could unfold across land, water, and air. The game’s skirmishes are spread across six expansive maps – from vast mountain gorges to dense jungle – each designed to reflect the real-life intensity brought by varied terrain.

Six Distinct Game Modes

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam launches with six distinct gameplay modes. Warfare Mode returns with its sector-based tug-of-war for control, while Offensive Mode splits each side into either attackers or defenders. New additions include Conquest and Domination – the former a morale-based clash, with the latter a CoD-style objectives battle – and while two more modes are incoming, full details on what these entail are yet to emerge.

Fully Operational Helicopters

One of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam’s standout additions is the introduction of helicopters, and these aren’t just a flashy form of traversal but a fully operational support line which plays a varied, yet critical, role throughout combat. You can use them to deploy troops to sectors unreachable on foot, provide aerial firepower, or gather reconnaissance from above. For US forces, mastering air mobility will be key to controlling the battlefield, coordinating assaults, and countering the NVA’s shrewdest counters.

Vietnamese Tunnel Networks

And, speaking of the NVA’s most underhanded tactics, if you play as Vietnamese forces you’ll gain access to a subterranean tunnel system, offering unique if potentially overpowered advantages. Perhaps the key definer of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam’s asymmetrical multi-player design, these user-defined networks allow for stealthy movement, ambush tactics, and rapid, perhaps unknowable, repositioning. For US Army players, learning how to detect and counter these hidden pathways – possibly via a helicopter’s eye view – will be crucial to maintaining control of contested areas.

Combat Expands to Waterways

Now, while the US cannot access Vietnamese tunnels, both factions dominate the jungle’s waterways. Taking control of iconic US PBR boats, you can navigate extensive river networks that cut through thick jungle maps. Aquatic traversal opens new flanking routes and relocation opportunities, bringing a unique strategic edge for US forces which, when combined with the helicopter’s aerial dominance, should balance against the subterranean subterfuge.

Mortar Squads are Tactically Distinct

Three-man mortar squads look set to be one of the game’s most quietly pivotal support roles. Operating behind enemy lines, mortar squads can deliver suppressive, indirect fire on enemy strongholds, disrupt advancing opposition, or mount a defensive setup. When used effectively, three-man mortar squads have potential to directly influence the tide of battle without needing to engage in direct combat.

Royal Armouries Collaboration

Reinforcing authenticity further is Expression Games’ collaboration with the Royal Armouries – the UK’s foremost collection of historical arms and armour. This partnership aims to ensure that weapons, gear, and equipment are faithfully recreated, with the studio capturing video, scans, and audio recordings of period-correct weaponry from the museum’s extensive collection. This layer of historical accuracy grounds the game in the real-world, showing that the theatrical horror of war is enough to maximise immersion without relying on artistic exaggeration.

Refined Movement

Movement in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam has been significantly refined, expanded to encompass new mechanics like swimming, climbing, and fast crawling. You can also drag injured teammates out of danger, reinforcing the importance of teamwork. These additions are poised to make navigation frictionless and fluid while opening up new possibilities for combat and squad preservation.

Improved Onboarding for New Players

Recognising the steep learning curve for new players, for this game Expression Games has developed new and improved onboarding systems. Revamped tutorials and guidance aim to make the game’s mechanics and objectives clearer, with a reworked user interface helping you to understand your role more quickly without diluting the depth that veterans expect.

Launch Date, Platforms, and Price

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on 13 August. The Standard Edition is currently priced at $39.99, while the Deluxe Edition – including exclusive uniform packs – is retailing for $59.99. At the time of writing, a 10% pre-order discount is currently live. Other things to note: full cross-play will be enabled at launch, and the developers have confirmed that future DLC is planned although specific information hasn’t yet been shared.

PC Requirements

At a minimum, your PC setup will need an Intel Core i5-11600K or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU and GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 GPU. Recommended hardware, however, details an Intel Core i5-12600K or AMD Ryzen 5 7600K processor and GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics which should yield 60fps performance at 1440p. Regardless of your setup, you’ll need at least 50GB or storage.

Open Beta Faced Performance Issues

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam had completed its open beta phase, and while the game’s visuals, gritty intensity, and broad tactical options received praise, there are numerous performance concerns which Expression Games will look to address. Notably, inconsistent texture loading, blurry environments, and staggered soldier animations point to a server-side issue, but there’s no need to raise the alarm just yet – this is why developers host betas in the first place, and one of the reasons why the game was delayed to August.

There’s a lot that’s different this time around, and if you’re thinking about picking up a copy expecting it to be familiar, this is something you might want to read before you pick it up. Let’s dive right in!

From Detective Action To Survival Horror

While the first game took you to a city where you really had to hunt down clues and solve mysteries to make sense of it all, things are a little more straightforward this time around. The Sinking City 2 makes scavenging for scarce resources, fending off deadly enemies, and surviving a world that’s decidedly not conducive to life as its central pillars.

Of course, there are still occasions where your investigative skills come into play, but it’s all about survival and the story this time around. Is that going to be a welcome change? Well, it’s definitely different, if the early previews of the game, played on a relatively early build of it, are any indication.

A Fully Open World Makes Way For A More Focused Semi-Open Adventure

The Sinking City’s Oakmont was a sprawling place full of varied districts, scattered clues, and threads to follow as you attempted to solve its central mystery and attempt to stop the regular floods that it was being plagued by. You made your way around by foot or by boat, or via those fast-travel phone booths strewn about. However, that was a part of its charm, and a definitely great way to make your investigation feel layered and nuanced as you piece information together.

The new game uses a semi-open structure where the places you’re exploring are more contained, deliberately structured spaces meant to feed a linear route for progression with optional detours and a bit of backtracking by boat thrown in to shake things up. That’s sure to help the game’s pacing, and is likely to make its combat feel more of a threat than the first game’s systems did.

Oakmont’s Bustle Vs Arkham’s Desolation

Of course, the titular Sinking City switches from Oakmont to the very popular Arkham for those of you who are familiar with Lovecraft’s work. Frogwares has made its new stage a place that’s lacking the hustle and bustle of Oakmont’s busy populace, whose routines and consistent chatter made for an experience that made them a necessary part of your adventure.

Of course, things are different for The Sinking City 2, with its premise and gameplay loop favoring a world with more hostiles and less allies to find. With that being said, the few survivors you find are sure to feel more interesting by virtue of their rarity, and early previews have praised what little’s been shown off of them. We’re pretty optimistic about them being memorable parts of the experience after our time with the first game’s NPCs.

World Building Vs. Environmental Storytelling

The difference in NPC density brings us to the way things about Arkham are presented to you. While the first game had you looking out for as many clues as you could find to piece together the story and lore of its world bit by bit, a lot of that involved conversations, interviewing witnesses, visiting public institutions, and navigating your relationships with the leaders of various factions. It was a core part of the gameplay loop that made Oakmont’s citizens a crucial part of its storytelling mechanisms.

Of course, Arkham being as desolate as it is, things are different, and there’s a stronger emphasis on the physical environment telling you more about what’s going on this time around. Detailed buildings, abandoned rooms, documents, environmental abnormalities, and even corpses can tell you more about the world than a single conversation ever could in The Sinking City 2.

The Importance Of Investigations

If you haven’t played The Sinking City, you’re still probably aware that investigations were a crucial part of the adventure that one presented. Charles Reed was an investigator after all, and the mission design was based on him piecing together his objectives through exploring Oakmont and finding out more about its predicament. It was a lot of grunt work and mental math, making it reminiscent of Frogwares’ past titles.

Arkham, however, does feature places for you to do a bit of sleuthing, and ties them to handy rewards that are sure to make navigating its brutal world easier. That makes investigations more of an optional detours, but a very rewarding one for those of you who like to diligently track down everything a game has to offer you.

The Investigation Systems Themselves

While we’re on the subject of investigations, they were spread across a multitude of interconnected systems during our time in Oakmont filling in for Charles. There was his Mind’s Eye, his retrocognition, the Mind Palance, your interviews with NPCs, archives, omens, and even manual map work that needed you to place markers based on vague clues, and then manually track down whatever you were looking for once you were there.

That last part could be a tad challenging in a place like Arkham where ammunition is scarce and enemies are abundant. Thankfully, your Mind Palace has been streamlined, allowing you to conduct investigations from a single interface to make connections and solve problems hindering your progress. You’re still going to play detective in this one, but the whole thing’s been woven into a survival horror loop that recontextualizes its importance from a gameplay perspective.

Celebrations Of Successful Investigations

In The Sinking City, piecing clues together to solve an investigative thread was rewarded with deductions directly tied to story and side mission progress, while also presenting you with more options on related threads and opportunities to send the narrative in different directions based on your choices. The rewards were narrative avenues that shaped Charles’ perceptions and beliefs.

In The Sinking City 2, Calvin finishing a successful investigation comes with more practical rewards, including but not limited to supplies, secrets, lore drops, alternate routes, and the Dream Essence he needs for talent upgrades. That amounts to more tangible rewards that are more suitable to a survival horror game where combat can leave you on the backfoot more often than you’d care to admit.

A New Approach To Puzzles

The first game’s puzzles were a part of the story, requiring you to rebuild past events with Retrocognition, examining evidence, picking the correct archive to file newly acquired information, and a lot of deduction-based problem solving before you could get to the right solution. We look back at the hours we spent trying to piece it all together quite fondly. It was a test of your deduction and information retrieval skills that was a very welcome change of pace at the time.

The sequel hasn’t hidden its survival horror inspirations at all, and it shows in the way puzzles are more direct, with numerical codes, locked doors, environmental mechanisms you need to operate, along with key items you’re going to have to track down before you can progress. It’s a more spatial approach to problem solving that could better suit the gameplay loop on offer in The Sinking City 2, considering how differently Arkham is structured in comparison to Oakmont.

A More Focused Experience

While the entirety of Oakmont was at your disposal in The Sinking City, one of our few complaints about that one was that a lot of it felt inaccessible to the player, making a chunk of the game’s world feel like window dressing for what was indeed exploreable. Entire buildings had no way to enter them with most of the game’s action happening out on its streets as you used partial addresses and well-placed map markers to find what you were looking for.

In Arkham, things are narrower but a whole lot more focused, as you look to clear rooms and areas before you progress, and you’re going to backtrack to familiar areas over the course of the story. While the first game sent you across a large city, this one’s looking to have you wondering how to fully clear its many levels as you go along.

Combat Is Now A Core Activity

Another part of The Sinking City that prevented us from liking it more than we did was a rather lackluster combat system. It was clear that combat wasn’t the focus of the experience it was offering even though some of those enemy designs still linger among the scariest ones we’ve seen over the years.

However, the new game puts the action right at the center of it all, with a more responsive control system and improved gunplay to make fighting off imposing foes feel like a crucial pillar of Arkham’s survival horror loop as opposed to an interruption to an investigative loop in the previous game. Progression critical locations are going to be patrolled by enemies waiting to test your ability to remain effective against them whilst managing scarce resources.

The Improved Gunplay

The original game’s shooting mechanics left a lot to be desired, and even the remaster’s improvements didn’t do much to make its broader, action-oriented combat systems feel worth writing home about. Well, there’s a tighter, over-the-shoulder aiming system, a more streamlined movement system that’s turned to feel like modern survival horror titles, dodging, melee attacks, and stagger damage from hitting weak spots for some brutal finishers.

Combat isn’t just tighter in the new game, but is rebuilt to make its frequency more appealing and deliberate.

Dishing Out Damage In New Ways

While The Sinking City was more about dealing damage to enemies through gunshots, explosions, or repeated melee attacks, the new game is taking things up a notch. Your enemies are more mobile, for starters, and generate visible boils that you’re going to have to hit quite consistently. That’s because they’re the weak points for stagger damage that we were talking about.

Getting them to a staggered state lets Calvin stomp down on them, finishing them off with stylish brutality in a move that might never get old. While the original game was about dwindling down health bars, this one gives you more control over the fight, and more opportunities to turn the tides in your favor given that you’re often going to be facing superior numbers.

Bullets Work Differently In Arkham

In The Sinking City, bullets were more than just ammunition for your weapons. Oakmont’s grim situation meant that survival wasn’t guaranteed, and having the means to even the odds was more valuable than cold, hard cash. That means bullets were a valuable currency for trading, and were a frequent reward from your investigations in the first game.

That’s changed now, and they’re more rare even with robust crafting systems in place. You’re going to have to use them well if you want to survive an adventure that’s sure to push Calvin past his mental and physical limits, with even a single missed shot meaning the difference between life and death. Bullets continue to remain the surest possible way to live in The Sinking City 2. They’re just better off in your enemy’s head instead of an NPCs pocket.

Inventory Management Redefined

Charles Reed could carry a lot of stuff in his pockets once you got the right upgrades in, with fairly generous resource caps on ammo, crafting materials, meds, explosives, and other items. There was no dedicated storage loop simply because The Sinking City didn’t need one.

Calvin, however, needs to be more careful about what he’s carrying into the field, with a dedicated storage chest and frequently appearing safe rooms allowing you to manage your inventory in what’s probably going to break The Sinking City 2 into more manageable chunks as you navigate between safe rooms. We’re suspecting that they’re going to have a role to play in fast-travel too, if things turn out as we expect.

The Right Skills For The Job

The first game took an easy approach to skills, with unlocked upgrades permanently buffing Reed’s combat abilities, health, and his mental skills set. You gradually got better as you filled out a traditionally layered skill tree.

That’s different now, as you invest Dream Essence you gather into Runes that give you passives, with the caveat being that you can only have a limited number of them equipped at any given time. While that might seem limiting at first, we’re expecting your options to open up quite significantly the more Runes you unlock, making selecting which ones you want to upgrade a matter of your preferred playstyle. There’s even the potential for switching up your build based on the situation you’re trying to tackle, which is always welcome.

And that’s about it for this one. We’re pretty excited to dive into Arkham’s waterlogged areas in The Sinking City 2, and hope that you’re going to be prowling its desolate buildings alongside us when the time comes. See you there!

But that’s not all the new information that’s relevant to the game to come to light, far from it. If you’re thinking of joining us when we dive into this one next week, we’ve got a few new things you might want to know before you hit that preorder button. Let’s dive right in.

1. A 30-Hour Playtime

Beast of Reincarnation’s director, Kota Furushima, has confirmed that the game is spread across ten stages with roughly 30 hours of playtime spread out between them. That could be quite a lot if you consider the titles that have inspired this one, although it could mean that the time flies by without you even noticing if the story is paced well enough.

We’re quite all right with a shorter playtime, as it’s the quality of what’s on offer that matters. Emma and Koo seem like they’ve got us covered on that front.

2. Side Quests To Find Along The Journey

It would be a waste of such a melancholically gorgeous world if there wasn’t too much to do in it now, would it? Well, that’s not a worry, as previews have confirmed that there are side quests for you to find, the majority of which are given to you by NPCs that you encounter while you’re out and about in the game’s dystopian future-Japan.

Pair those with optional items and explore off the fairly linear, story-focused beaten path and you’re sure to wring a lot of engaging memories out of your time with this one. Emma’s mobility is certainly going to be useful in uncovering as much of the world as you possibly can.

3. No Consequences On Death

It’s no secret that Beast of Reincarnation draws inspiration from Sekiro’s katana-based, parry-focused combat, but even that one made an interesting compromise where you only lost a fraction of your XP on death while the Dragonrot mechanic helped even out the curve. However, Beast isn’t aiming to hit you hard if you happen to mistime a parry or get too greedy with your attacks.

You get to keep all your currency, XP, and resources when you die, which is going to make getting back up a whole lot easier than it’s been in the past.

4. Your World Progress Survives With You

Building on the lack of consequences to dying is the twist that environmental unlocks, and doors that you manage to get through on a run don’t automatically respawn and force you to fight through it all over again. Combined with the last one on our list, this makes Beast seem like it could lack enough bite to be a challenge, but we don’t think that’s the case here.

You could always slap on Hard Mode and let the sublime art of not caring about dying become an asset instead of a potential liability, after all.

5. Rest Sites Are More Than What They Seem

Beast draws a little more from Soulslikes with its Rest Points acting as hubs where you can restore HP and spend any ability points you’ve picked up on your last run. That’s definitely better than having them act as mere checkpoints, and we’re expecting to see a fast travel system in place that uses them well. We’re hoping the developers adopted the practice of highlighting locations with characters once side quests move between stages if that’s how they’re implemented.

There are a few things you can only do back at your base, though. We’re getting to that in just a minute.

6. Emma and Koo Have Their Own Progression Paths

Developing your skills in Beast isn’t just about unlocking milestones on a generic progression path, with a lot of flexibility given to you in how you build synergies between Emma and Koo while ensuring that they’re both as effective as they can be in the field.

What we’ve seen of the skill tree points to different combinations and capabilities, which should complement any special effects you get from gear you find when you’re out exploring. It’s looking like finding a playstyle that works for you isn’t going to take too long, which is a good thing given the relatively shorter runtime on this one.

7. Additional Build Layers

Aside from the effects that gear brings to your build, you also get slots in Spirit Stones that bring further effects to your Loadout. From what we’ve seen so far, there’s something for those who prefer an aggressive approach, and those who like to stay at a distance. We’re especially interested in the stealth side of things, with a skill that lets Emma create a hiding spot on the fly!

We imagine that one’s going to work well with all her vine-based abilities to let her move like a Shadow among the game’s enemies, and tear through their ranks before polishing off the remnants with her katana. We’re hoping that stealth is bigger than what Game Freak has shown us officially so far, and it’s looking quite likely.

8. Slow Things Down With Koo

You’ve probably already seen that FF7-esque command selector for Koo, but we believe it deserves a special mention thanks to how it slows down time, giving you breathing room in a game where battles can get pretty intense. That Platinum Trophy on Sekiro was well-earned, believe us.

It’s great, then, that you get a mechanic that works in a few breathers so naturally they don’t feel like a crutch, but a viable tactical option meant to be used wisely in a fight. It makes Koo’s interface feel like more than just a companion ability wheel. It’s always those little touches that can make something new stand out.

9. A Bond Beyond Battle

Your bond with Koo isn’t just a story beat, but an actual gameplay mechanic that we speculate might even influence the endings we’re going to be seeing. If it’s woven in seamlessly enough, it could be an interesting part of the experience.

An Affection Meter tracks how well you’re getting along with your canine companion, and if things play out the way we’re guessing they do, it’s something worth keeping track of.

10. Koo’s Upkeep

Remember when we said there were things you could only do back at your base? Well, nurturing your Bond with Koo is one of them. He’s a majestic figure, and the grime of the battlefield isn’t doing him any favors. It’s up to you to keep him clean and ensure you give him all the pets he desires once you’re done, as there’s the Affection Meter at play.

Keeping him looking and feeling his best is definitely in your interests, and we’re very curious to see how things play out on this front.

11. Look After Koo On The Field

There’s chatter from a 90-minute hands-on that Koo can indeed be downed in battle and that allowing that to happen has negative gameplay consequences. We’d have preferred an invulnerable buddy, but Koo isn’t going to stand by and watch as we brave danger on our own, and it makes sense to tie some narrative and gameplay stakes to his vulnerability.

It’s going to impact your Affection Meter, which makes sense given that it makes errors in battle come with a risk worse than death at the hands of some truly terrifying creatures: getting the dreaded side-eye from your canine companion.

12. PS5 Pro Enhanced

Beast is listed as a PS5 Pro Enhanced title, while the base version gets support for the DualSense’s haptics and adaptive triggers, which should work well with the katana and ranged weapons we’ve seen. We’re yet to get official word on what the Pro’s enhancements could entail, though.

However, remote play and offline play are both supported, which is welcome news on a single-player title like this one. Your Portals might get some serious game time if you like taking your battles with you when you’re on the go.

13. PC Requirements

This one needs 45GB of SSD space, while 16GB of RAM is recommended at a minimum. The target is 1080p/40 fps at Low settings using DLSS or FSR1, which an Intel Core i5-8400/AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8 GB)/AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB) GPU can achieve.

For FSR3 Performance, things are a little higher with an Intel Core i7-12700K/AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (12 GB)/AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB) GPU on board. You should hit the recommended 1080p/60 fps target with that configuration, and see the Bloom in all its glory. There have since been revisions to these specs, and you can go here to find what’s changed.

14. Game Pass, Pricing, And Editions

If everything we’ve said so far sounds appealing to you, you’re probably going to be happy to know that this one’s a day one release on Game Pass, and it’s on Xbox Play Anywhere. For those of you looking to buy it outright, the $59.99 Standard Edition comes with the game, a skin for Koo, and 30,000 Amber – the in-game currency.

The Deluxe Edition is at $79.99, and throws in the Big Dipper sword for Emma, two skins instead of one for Koo, assorted vegetable seedlings, and 100,000 Amber for you to get a decent head start on things.

15. Graphic Modes

You get a Standard Mode and Cinematic Mode to choose between when you dive into this one. From preview footage and what we’ve seen, Standard looks like it’s at a consistent 60 fps, which could mean it’s making a few sacrifices to get there. We imagine cinematic is where you’re going to have to go to see 4026 Japan in all its Bloom-induced glory, although that might come at the expense of frames you could really use in a cutscene.

Well, if there are options, we’re likely going with Performance on this one.

And that’s about it for all the new stuff we thought you should know before you took the plunge and bought into a future where humanity seems to be in short supply both literally and figuratively.

More Missions

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 will feature 15 levels at launch, though it’s unclear whether they’ll be divided into separate campaigns like the original. The latter only featured 12 missions initially, making up four campaigns with distinct objectives. It’s worth noting that the Pathogen expansion added three more missions for a total of 15 to the original. But instead of going back to baseline, Cold Iron Studios is starting with the same number, offering more bang for the player’s buck.

Also, director Chris Cross told Space.com that the team focused on “clarity of narrative and mission” in Fireteam Elite 2. “It’s more than just go here, get to point B, and then shoot the thing. Playing this game, there’s an actual throughline with the story.”

4 Player vs 3 Player Co-op

The other big change is one that fans have perhaps demanded the most – four-player co-op. While the original stood out with its three-player squads, it just didn’t feel right, and that’s even more so nowadays with how many indie and triple-A titles boast four-player co-op at a minimum. Of course, the benefits extend beyond just adding another player because of how the build variety and revamped classes add more strategy to the mix. But perhaps most important of all is the environments that you’ll be fighting in.

More Space, More Mayhem

Claustrophobic corridors with ample choke points where Xenomorphs could traverse along the floor, ceiling and walls are what it’s all about in the franchise, though the first game had its share of open spaces and killing fields. With the addition of another player, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 offers larger environments and even more enemy numbers to compensate. “It’s 25% more space that you need and 25% more damage. It definitely presented some challenges, but absolutely worth it. Fireteam Elite 2 is still the same flavor, but it plays better,” Cross said in the same interview.

But how will you be tackling some of the meanest creatures in the galaxy and making it out alive? With the new revamped classes, of course.

Five Redesigned Base Classes

The original Fireteam Elite offered five classes – Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, Doc and Recon. If the names weren’t enough indication, each fulfilled a very specific role beyond slaying out. Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 takes those same classes and evolves them into the Duelist, Machinist, Marauder, Hunter and Medic. While still broadly fulfilling the same roles, they now offer more options and ways to play alongside new perks.

For example, the Marauder has the Blast Cannon ability, firing an explosive straight into a Xenomorph’s face. However, you can upgrade it into either the Blastwave or Thermal Cannon – which is a straight-up flamethrower – depending on your needs (or what looks cool). It also has Titan Rockets for launching a powerful missile, which can once again be modified into a Phosphorous Rocket or Rocket Mines. One of its key Perks is Rampage, where killing an enemy grants a stack, and at 25, your movement speed, fire rate and reload speed are heavily buffed for 8 seconds at the cost of stability. Perfect for grabbing a shotgun and going wild on a horde of Xenos.

Then you have the Duelist, whose Stay on Target perk grants two percent increased damage whenever you hit an enemy, capping at 20 percent. You better keep landing those shots though, because the stacks start disappearing if you stop. Its Burst Configuration activates an experimental weapon which can be upgraded to damage in fragments or in a singular precision hit. All in all, if you’re looking for a specific playstyle, be it support or taking on a more defensive role, Fireteam Elite 2 has you covered.

The Endgame Specialist Class

But what if none of the above quenches your appetite for total Xenomorph destruction? What if parts of them all do? Well, that’s where the new Specialist comes in. Unlike Fireteam Elite 1, which added new classes in Season 1 and 3 with the Phalanx and Lancer, respectively, the sequel offers a sixth class from launch itself. It’s endgame-focused, which means you’ll need to put time into the other classes first, but you can essentially mix and match different abilities and perks into this one build. That includes any weapons as well, granting true freedom to create a build specifically tuned to your liking – something that the original outright lacked.

Primary and Signature Weapons

Another significant change from Aliens: Fireteam Elite is how loadouts now work. Originally, you could select one Primary weapon, with the dinky sidearm serving as your backup. In the sequel, there’s now a Primary and Signature weapon setup with the sidearm kept as your third weapon. One example of a Signature weapon is the Machinist’s Plasma guns, which consume less ammo than other weapons if managed properly. Meanwhile, a Marauder has access to heavy weapons like Smartguns, Rocket Launchers and Heavy Flamethrowers, while Hunters can utilizes rifles and beam weapons.

The key difference is the Duelist, which can wield two Primary weapons and has increased ammo reserves overall, fitting the gung-ho fantasy of jumping in, guns blazing (sans jumping). And of course, the Specialist is free to use any weapons, including Signature weapons, from the other classes. Want a Revolver Rifle as your Primary and a Smartgun as your Signature? Go ahead.

Augments and Weapon Progression Changes

Much like the first game, weapons can be customized with different muzzles, magazines, and optics. And while using it more unlocks different options, they’re a little bit different in Fireteam Elite 2. Based on various previews and gameplay, weapons now have slots for Traits and stats like weapon assist or handling, besides one for changing the color scheme. It’s the last slot which is most interesting because it enables Augments, like Incendiary Ammunition, which can ignite enemies but reduces stopping power. Augments seemingly have different rarities, like Unstable, so the best options may have little to no drawbacks. Either way, this new system enables more free-form customisation rather than following a set upgrade path, and we like it.

Fully Customizable Sidearms

Let’s talk about sidearms in Fireteam Elite. Actually, let’s not, because there’s nothing to talk about. These were backup weapons when your primary ran out of ammo and offered little more than slight reassurance when facing a horde of Xenos. Thankfully, Fireteam Elite 2 now allows you to customize sidearms, instilling traits, additional stats and Augments as they rank up while equipping different attachments. And based on footage thus far, it appears to be an actually viable weapon in the sequel.

Larger Perk Grid

The Perk Grid returns, once again providing a grid where you can allot perks depending on how many blocks they occupy. The original offered a 32-block Perk Grid, but with all these different options for customizing each class, not to mention the sheer number that the Specialist opens up, it makes sense for Cold Iron Studios to expand on that. To that end, Fireteam Elite 2 has a 42-block grid, which means more damage, utility or survivability when you need it. Or really just more damage on top of damage.

Crossplay at Launch and Cross-Platform Voice Chat

When Aliens: Fireteam Elite launched, it infamously lacked cross-platform multiplayer. That would eventually change almost a year after launch, but it still lacked cross-platform voice chat, which meant needing to hop on Discord to coordinate with allies. Chalk up another win for Fireteam Elite 2 because not only does it support crossplay out of the metaphorical box, but it also packs in voice chat that applies across all platforms.”