EA and Codemasters announced last year that F1 25 would be expanded with 2026 season content instead of receiving a traditional standalone F1 26 release. What ultimately led to that decision? And how did the idea of a 2026 Season Pack fit into the broader strategic reset for the F1 franchise, especially with the next full game now planned for 2027?

Both of these questions really come back to the same thing. Formula 1 has changed significantly over the last few years. The audience is larger, more diverse, and engages with the sport in different ways than it did even a few years ago. We felt it was important that the F1 franchise evolves alongside those changes.

As part of our long-term plans for the series, we made the decision to support F1 25 with a premium 2026 Season Pack rather than release a traditional standalone F1 26 title. We believe this approach allows players to keep enjoying F1 25 while experiencing the new teams, drivers, regulations and MADRING that will define the 2026 season.

It also allows us to take a longer-term approach to what comes next. While we’re continuing to support F1 25, we’re also able to focus on delivering the next major step for the franchise.

"It also allows us to take a longer-term approach to what comes next."

The 2026 season represents a major reset for Formula 1 itself, with new cars, new regulations, new teams, and new racing systems. From a development perspective, what was the biggest challenge in translating that into F1 25?

The new regulations for 2026 are the biggest overhaul the sport has had in quite some time. It’s an incredibly exciting opportunity, but yes, that certainly represented some sizable development challenges. The first of which was to understand what to expect from the racing experience and capturing that within the game. We kept a very close eye on the official paperwork, really making sure we understood the changes to ensure we could achieve the level of authenticity we wanted. The next aspect was communicating these changes to players. Some of the terminology now has drastically different meanings. For example in 2026, Boost mode is more akin to what was previously known as Overtake mode. The functionality of Overtake has a very different strategic effect in 2026.

Beyond the updated teams, drivers, cars, and sporting regulations, what would you say are the biggest additions players should expect from the 2026 Season Pack?

The driving itself. You as the driver must operate very differently from what you’re used to. To some players, the driving can be described ‘restricted’ but others call it strategic and we have managed to capture the essence of this in game. Smart driving and circuit knowledge is way more rewarding in these regulations.

The 2026 update introduces Audi and Cadillac to the grid. How much work went into representing these new teams authentically in terms of car identity, presentation, performance, and overall feel?

Representing a team in the game is a combination of close collaboration with the F1 teams and attention to detail from the Dev side, making sure every detail from the model to the performance accurately represents the sport.

MADRING is being introduced as a new Madrid-based circuit built for the 2026 season. What can players expect from its layout, rhythm, and racing style compared to the existing tracks in F1 25?

This year players will be able to experience the MADRING circuit before the real drivers will, before it’s even built. That took an incredible effort from our environment art team, digesting the CAD data we were provided and bringing it to life, so credit to them for making it happen.

To drive, the circuit itself is a high speed street circuit, but what sets it apart is the flowing nature and elevation changes. With the barriers nearby it’s a real driver’s circuit. It rewards accuracy and bravery. The fastest laps come from carrying speed through the flowing sections while remaining accurate enough to stay clear of the walls, which should make it both rewarding to master and exciting to race on.

"This year players will be able to experience the MADRING circuit before the real drivers will, before it’s even built."

The 2026 cars are lighter, smaller, and more responsive, with active aerodynamics playing a major role. How significantly does that change the handling model and moment-to-moment driving experience?

Those are all important factors, as are the slightly narrower tyre widths. Although the lap times are only around a second slower than the previous generation of cars, they achieve that performance in a very different way.

At times, the acceleration can feel incredibly intense, but the cars carry less speed through corners, particularly the faster ones, due to the relative reduction in downforce. One of the first things players are likely to notice is that the cars don’t feel quite as planted as the 2025-spec cars, which were comparatively stable and predictable.

Active aerodynamics and the new Overtake Mode appear to be among the biggest gameplay changes in the Season Pack. How do these systems alter race strategy, especially when it comes to attacking, defending, and energy management?

The racing they produce is also quite different thanks to the introduction of Active Aero, the revised Overtake Mode and the highly powerful Boost Mode. Wheel-to-wheel racing becomes more strategic, with drivers constantly balancing energy management against opportunities to attack or defend. There are often multiple ways to approach a battle, which creates a lot of interesting tactical choices throughout a race.

Of course, we were mindful that these new systems add complexity. That’s why we’ve included assists that can help manage elements such as energy deployment, allowing players to tailor the experience to their preferred level of involvement while still enjoying the unique character of the 2026 regulations.

Overtake Mode offers a major electrical boost when players are within range of the car ahead. How did the team approach balancing that so it feels powerful without becoming too easy to exploit?

Overtake Mode can be a powerful addition, but its effectiveness is tied to the same constraints and opportunities seen in Formula 1. We’ve replicated the key characteristics of the system, including the one-second activation window, the increased harvesting allowance and the revised deployment behaviour that enables greater electrical deployment at higher speeds.

As a result, it far from guarantees an overtake. Players still need to think carefully about when to use their available energy and how to position the car to maximise the benefit. That strategic element is a big part of what makes racing under the 2026 regulations so engaging.

"Overtake Mode can be a powerful addition, but its effectiveness is tied to the same constraints and opportunities seen in Formula 1."

The 2026 Season Pack requires fresh 2026 saves for Driver Career and My Team. Why was it important to separate 2025 and 2026 career progression rather than allow existing saves to carry over?

As with everything in game development, it’s about making the decisions that deliver the best overall experience for players. Throughout development we’re constantly making decisions about where our effort is best spent and what will have the biggest impact.

Supporting existing Driver Career and My Team saves is a much bigger piece of work than it might first appear, so for this release we made the decision to focus our effort on delivering the best possible 2026 Season Pack experience.

It’s always about making the right trade-offs to deliver the best experience for players.

In My Team, players now enter as the twelfth team on the grid because the official F1 grid expands to eleven teams in 2026. How does that change the structure and feel of the mode?

Honestly depends on what type of player you are. If you’re the type of player that enjoys a challenge and likes to fight their way from the back, catching one or two cars every lap, then this is a great season for you. Then on the other hand if you’re the type of player that likes to fight at the front, then beyond the new racing style and the first turns chaos, you won’t feel much different, but your focus will shift on how to defend while managing your energy.

Which modes will benefit the most from the 2026 Season Pack, and how different should players expect the experience to feel across Driver Career, My Team, Grand Prix, Time Trial, split-screen, and unranked multiplayer?

Any mode that is supported in the season back was selected because they had a unique experience to offer to our players.

Will the 2026 Season Pack include any platform-specific visual, performance, or technical improvements, or is the focus primarily on content, rules, handling, and gameplay systems?

We introduced PSSR 2 on the PlayStation 5 Pro, Updated to XeSS 3 for Intel GPUs on PC and included bug fixes and quality improvements to the F1 25 EGO Engine across rasterised, ray traced and path traced lighting.

Now that Thick as Thieves is launching, what are you most curious to see players respond to once they finally get their hands on it?

Spector: I think everyone on the team — certainly on the leadership side — has a different answer to this question. For me the thing I’m looking for is how players respond to stealthing together. Even back in the Deus Ex days I wondered how the choice/consequence, player empowerment and player story idea would work in the context of players playing together — like a D&D part. Thick as Thieves will reveal that.

Hickman: There’s a lot – co-op will definitely be fun for people; the Haunstable is going to make an impression. I guess what I’m most curious about is how people will use the tools – zipwire and disguise are very different, and one of the things I’m always surprised by when I watch the team playing or when I play co-op is how other people do things I never would have thought to try. I’m really curious to see what streamers do with it and how expressive the game can be.

With names like Warren Spector and Paul Neurath attached to the project, a lot of players will naturally expect some Thief and Deus Ex DNA. How directly did those games influence Thick as Thieves?

Spector: Certainly, the basic concept Paul and I came up with was inspired both by the things we loved about the games we’d worked on and the genre in which we’ve spent most of our careers. I mean, all of those games are built on a foundation of players creating their own, unique narratives through play. (Don’t get me started talking about that in any detail or we’ll be here all day!) That’s the heart of Underworld, System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex and even Disney Epic Mickey. (Don’t get me started talking about the Immersive Sim Lite that is the Epic Mickey game either!) So that’s the heart of those games you mentioned and it was critical for Thick as Thieves to explore that game space as well. Though one hopes in new and different ways that move the Imm Sim genre forward.

"I don’t think we consciously tried to move away from imm sim formulas so much as multiplayer is a different context."

How much of the game’s foundation came from classic immersive sims, and where did you consciously try to move away from those older formulas?

Hickman: I don’t think we consciously tried to move away from imm sim formulas so much as multiplayer is a different context. You can’t do physics simulation over the net in realtime, so how do you make a world that’s as interactive as one where you can? Approaches that make sense when the player is the only mover in the universe make sense in single player, but in co-op or competitive multiplayer, you just can’t architect things the same way.

I think the one place where we did consciously move away from some of the “orthodoxy” around immersive sims is that we didn’t try to make the UI completely diegetic. It’s important for players to have a clear sense of how visible they are and how much noise they’re making – whether a guard is just on patrol or is actively investigating. While we respect the other choice, for us, being explicit about these mechanics rather than embedding them in the world makes the experience much more legible for a wider range of players. And at the end of the day, I want to reach as many people as we can, because I love this kind of gameplay.

Thick as Thieves is built around short, replayable heists rather than one long traditional stealth campaign. What made that structure the right fit for this game?

Spector: I’ve been promoting the idea of short, session-based games for a while now — certainly since Paul and I started OtherSide. The main reason is largely selfish. I don’t have the time or the inclination to spend hours and hours sitting in front of a PC or console playing. I have a life. I extrapolated from that to the assumption that I’m not alone. More and more adults play games now than ever before which means more and more people with less and less time. Session-based play is the obvious answer to that, not just for Thick as Thieves, but in my mind a lot of games.

The game has a four-hour campaign, but replayability is clearly a major focus. How are you encouraging players to revisit heists after finishing the main content?

Hickman: The backbone of the game is the 16-contract experience, which takes you from your first mission for the Thieves Guild and your acquisition of the Vistara Diamond to the cliffhanger ending. Over the course of those 16 contracts, you’ll visit the Constables Guildhall and Elway Manor about 7-10 times. So, it was important to have things that changed every time you came back – different mission types, different security configurations – some paths will be blocked on a given runthrough, so you can’t just fall into your favorite path through the level.

If the patterns start to get too familiar, stepping up to Thief difficulty provides a whole different set of variations in the security configurations, and I challenge anyone to make it through the entire campaign on Master Thief in just four hours. It takes me about six, and that’s playing on Thief.

"The backbone of the game is the 16-contract experience, which takes you from your first mission for the Thieves Guild and your acquisition of the Vistara Diamond to the cliffhanger ending."

Stealth games live and die by player tools. What kinds of gadgets, abilities, and gear can players expect to experiment with?

Hickman: Everything starts with the signature tool – for the Spider, it’s the Zipwire. She can get vertical quickly, or slip past obstacles, but it’s noisy and draSpector attention, even when you’re cranking it for your next move. For the Chameleon, it’s the Disguise – being able to look like a guard, or even a Haunstable, changes how you relate to the space. Each of them have their own dynamic, and players will likely settle on a favorite.

But, in addition, we have a whole suite of things for players to work with. Smoke bombs are pretty straightforward and block line of sight; the pickpocket fairy does what it says on the tin, but it also can flip switches from a distance. The insult fairy will draw the attention of any guards in the area, which can be helpful when trying to get away. Slithersap has a variety of effects – from coating searchlights to making the ground slippier, to disabling guards.

The game can be played solo or in two-player co-op. What were the biggest challenges in making sure both styles feel equally satisfying?

Hickman: We started with solo – if you’re playing with someone else, and they drop out, the game still has to be good, right? So, that’s the cornerstone – if it’s not fun for me to go in by myself and try to achieve my goals, then it’s not good enough yet. From there, we take co-op to be the cherry on top. We don’t adjust the difficulty, so it’s up to you. If you want to play with someone else, it should be easier – in reality it depends on their skill levels. A newbie companion in Master Thief is just as likely to cause trouble as to help.

Each difficulty has its own configuration of security, so I really encourage players to try out the different difficulty levels – it can make a lot of difference to how enjoyable you find the game.

How does co-op change the rhythm of stealth? Does it make heists more tactical, more chaotic, or a mix of both?

Hickman: Generally, more chaotic. When you’re the only person moving through the space, you’re completely in control of what’s happening. As soon as you’re playing with someone else, you don’t know what they’re going to do. We often play with open voice comms, so we can coordinate – you go to the tower vault, I’ll hit the kitchen, sort of thing – but things always go off plan. The game is at its best, really, when you’re improvising. It’s easy to see a throughline and plan a path, but adapting when suddenly the Haunstable comes through the wall? That’s where it gets good.

The game previously shifted away from a PvPvE focus toward solo and co-op. Looking back, how did that change strengthen the final game?

Spector: There are a variety of ways solo and coop strengthened the game and, as I said earlier, everyone’s likely to have their own answer. For me it strengthened the game simply because players told us it did. When we were working on PVP we observed a couple of things. First, players either ignored each other so they could collect loot and not get knocked out OR they stalked each other so they could knock other players out and collect loot. One was an avoidance interaction and the other was a direct interaction. They didn’t play nicely together. It wasn’t very satisfying and didn’t deliver on the “stealth action” gameplay goal Paul and I set out to achieve. Second, we saw players cooperating naturally within the very limited ways the game allowed. Listening to players just made sense and the game is clearly better for it. Frankly, the opportunity to listen to players is a big part of the reason we released the current, “sneak peek” version of the game. We want to hear from players and, if I know players, we’re DEFINITELY going to hear plenty!

Hickman: Putting the focus on PvE really helped us to raise the bar on the quality of the overall experience. PvPvE without the PvE part is really just PvP. Getting the focus on the solo experience, the guards, the security devices, the maps, the objectives – it lays a stronger foundation for competitive play.

"Putting the focus on PvE really helped us to raise the bar on the quality of the overall experience."

Contracts seem central to the structure of Thick as Thieves. Are there plans to expand contracts post-launch with new objectives, maps, modifiers, or mission types?

Hickman: We’ve been thinking about this game as an “introductory chapter” – there’s a tutorial, 15 contracts, and then the credits. Will there be more? Sure, we’d love to make more contracts, more maps, more mission types – we have ideas for all of these that we left on the cutting-room floor and will be happy to go back and revisit if the players love the game. We’ve got all kinds of ideas of other places to go in Kilcairn, other artifacts to chase – it’s an endless well of possibilities.

Since post-launch content will depend on player feedback, what kind of response or player behaviour would push you toward expanding the game in certain directions?

Hickman: I mean, it’s really simple – we care about revieSpector, and we care about sales. The game is only $5 / €5 / £5 – vote with your wallet. It’s less than most burgers cost these days. If you like it, leave a review – we pay attention to every single review we get on Steam. Every one matters to us. And tell a friend – this is a great value for your gaming dollar, and it’s even more fun together.

The FAQ says Thick as Thieves is not a live-service game, even though more content is planned. How do you define the game’s post-launch approach?

Hickman: We’ll take a look at how big the audience is in the next few weeks and see what makes sense. If the community is 200K people, that’s one size of plan; if it’s 2M, that’s a completely different plan. We’ve got a couple of issues that we’ve already identified that we’re going to support with a patch – some settings, some localization – but beyond that, we’re going to wait and see how many people buy the game and what they say about it.

UFC 6 is placing a much bigger emphasis on fighter identity and personal stories this time, especially through The Legacy, Career Mode, and Hall of Legends. What was the core creative goal behind making the experience feel more personal, rather than just building another fight-to-fight sports game?

One of our core ambitions for UFC 6 was to deepen players’ connection to the fighters and the sport. We felt that if we were going to invest heavily in making fighters look, move, and fight more authentically than ever before, we also needed to give players a reason to care about who those fighters are.

That philosophy shaped a lot of the game. We wanted to move beyond simply recreating fights and instead help players understand the journeys, rivalries, challenges, and defining moments that make these athletes special. Every fighter has a story, and UFC 6 is built around bringing those stories to life both inside and outside the Octagon.

That thinking ultimately led to experiences like The Legacy and Hall of Legends, while also influencing how we evolved Career Mode. Whether you’re following Chris Carter’s journey, reliving iconic moments from UFC legends, or building your own path through the UFC, we wanted every fight to feel like it mattered because of the people involved, not just the result.

"One of our core ambitions for UFC 6 was to deepen players’ connection to the fighters and the sport."

The Legacy introduces Chris Carter’s journey from the regional MMA scene to the UFC. How does this standalone prologue help onboard players into UFC 6’s systems while also giving them a proper narrative hook before Career Mode begins?

One of the challenges with previous Career Modes was balancing onboarding with long-term progression. New players needed to learn the systems, while returning players often found the mandatory onboarding long and repetitive, especially as it was tied to each new Career run.

The Legacy allowed us to solve both challenges simultaneously. It acts as a narrative-driven prologue that introduces players to the fundamentals of gameplay, training camps, progression systems, and decision-making through the context of Chris Carter’s story.

Because players are emotionally invested in Chris’ journey, the onboarding feels much more natural. Instead of teaching mechanics through isolated tutorials, we teach them through meaningful moments that support the narrative. By the time players reach the UFC, they have learned the core systems organically while also developing a connection to the characters and rivalries that define the story.

Once The Legacy concludes, players transition directly into Chris Carter’s UFC career, carrying their choices and experiences forward into the larger Career Mode experience.

Career Mode has been reworked to get players into the UFC much earlier, with more emphasis on choices, rivalries, social media, training, fitness, and long-term momentum. How much more reactive is this mode compared to UFC 5, and what kind of consequences can player decisions have over the course of a career?

Career Mode is significantly more reactive than it was in UFC 5. One of our major goals was increasing player agency and making decisions feel meaningful.

We overhauled our dialogue and narrative systems, expanded the number of events dramatically, and introduced more situations where player choices create lasting consequences. Decisions can influence finances, training opportunities, relationships, rivalry development, progression paths, and even the types of opportunities that become available later in a career.

Dialogue tree complexity has been considerably expanded, far beyond a single decision leading to new outcome loops, usually triggering a complex set of branching opportunities that are revealed to the player throughout multiple weeks/fights. The back end structure we built targets fans playing multiple career runs: our goal here is to offer a wide array of depth and breadth that makes each run feel different and refreshing, while organically reflecting their actions with much higher accuracy than UFC 5.

We also wanted Hype and Fitness to have a more meaningful impact on player decision-making. Players are constantly balancing short-term gains against long-term goals, and there is rarely a single “correct” answer. The result is a career experience where players feel more ownership over the journey and where different playthroughs can evolve in very different ways.

"We also wanted Hype and Fitness to have a more meaningful impact on player decision-making."

UFC 6 reportedly expands the number of story events and dialogue choices significantly over UFC 5. How do these systems change the pacing of Career Mode, and how often should players expect meaningful decisions outside the Octagon to affect what happens inside it?

We expanded our narrative systems considerably in UFC 6 because we wanted decisions outside the Octagon to feel just as important as decisions inside it.

Compared to UFC 5, UFC 6 features significantly more narrative events, dialogue trees, and branching outcomes. Many of these events present players with choices that have meaningful gameplay consequences, whether that’s improving training opportunities, earning additional resources, developing rivalries, or influencing progression.

Our goal wasn’t simply to add more dialogue. We wanted narrative moments to serve as meaningful decision points that shape how players prepare for fights and build their careers. Players should regularly encounter situations where choices made between fights directly impact what happens when the cage door closes.

With training camps, fitness, hype, social media, and fighter condition all playing a bigger role, how does UFC 6 make the out-of-fight life of a UFC athlete feel important without slowing down the overall pace of the career experience?

We spent a lot of time refining that balance. We wanted the life of a UFC athlete to feel authentic and meaningful, but we also didn’t want players buried in menus or administrative tasks.

A big part of that effort was rebuilding our hubs and streamlining systems so players can quickly understand the impact of their choices. Information is presented more clearly, decision-making is more intentional, and actions tend to have more noticeable outcomes.

The result is that players spend less time navigating systems and more time making meaningful decisions. The out-of-fight experience becomes an extension of the overall strategy rather than something that interrupts the action.

Hall of Legends focuses on Max Holloway, Alex Pereira, and Zhang Weili. What made these three fighters the right choices for this mode, and how did the team approach representing their stories, cultures, rivalries, and defining career moments authentically?

Hall of Legends was built around the idea of celebrating the athletes who have helped define modern MMA and giving players a deeper understanding of why their stories resonate with fans around the world. Max Holloway, Alex Pereira, and Zhang Weili were natural choices because each represents a very different path to greatness. Their careers are filled with iconic moments, memorable rivalries, and personal journeys that have left a lasting impact on the sport.

What made the trio especially compelling was the diversity of experiences they brought to the mode. Max’s journey from Hawaii to becoming one of the most beloved champions in UFC history, Alex’s rise from kickboxing superstar to two-division UFC champion, and Zhang’s role in helping elevate MMA on a global stage each gave us unique stories to tell and distinct experiences to build.

Authenticity was a major focus throughout development. We worked closely with UFC archival footage, conducted extensive research, and collaborated with cultural consultants to ensure each Hall reflected the fighter’s background, achievements, and identity in a respectful and meaningful way. The environments, storytelling, and visual themes were all designed to capture the spirit of each athlete and the moments that defined their careers and the videos featured throughout the Halls were curated and edited by our team from hundreds of hours of UFC footage.

"Authenticity was a major focus throughout development."

Hall of Legends seems to be part museum, part documentary, and part playable challenge mode. How do the interactive fight podiums work, and how much freedom will players have when exploring each fighter’s legacy?

Hall of Legends was designed as an interactive celebration of each fighter’s career, blending exploration, storytelling, and gameplay into a single experience. We wanted players to feel like they were stepping into a living museum where they could discover the moments, rivalries, and achievements that defined these athletes, rather than simply selecting challenges from a menu.

The interactive fight podiums are the centerpiece of that experience. Each podium represents a pivotal fight or career-defining moment. When activated, players transition seamlessly from curated UFC footage and cinematic storytelling into gameplay challenges inspired by what happened in the real event. Our goal was to create a stronger connection between the history of the sport and the gameplay itself, allowing players to experience and feel these iconic moments firsthand.

Player freedom was equally important. Every Hall can be explored at your own pace. You can spend time watching videos, interacting with exhibits, learning about a fighter’s journey and accomplishments, or jump directly into challenges and rewards through the pause menu. Nothing forces a specific path forward. We wanted the experience to feel personal and self-directed, giving players the freedom to engage with each fighter’s legacy in whatever way interests them most.

The new Flow State system is one of UFC 6’s biggest gameplay additions. How did the team balance making each fighter feel more authentic without letting certain Flow State perks become too dominant in competitive play?

The foundation of Flow State is authenticity, not power.

Our goal was never to give fighters arbitrary bonuses. Instead, we wanted to reward players for embracing the styles, tendencies, and strengths that make each athlete unique. The best Max Holloway player should feel different from the best Alex Pereira player because they’re succeeding through the same kinds of approaches that make those fighters effective in real life.

Flow State reinforces those identities by recognizing and rewarding authentic behavior. Whether it’s pressure, precision striking, counter-fighting, volume, or aggression, the system encourages players to lean into what makes a fighter special rather than treating every athlete as a collection of ratings.

From a competitive balance perspective, we were careful to ensure Flow State creates momentum, not inevitability. Entering Flow State can provide meaningful advantages, but players still have to earn those moments through smart decision-making and execution. Just as importantly, opponents have opportunities to recognize, disrupt, and respond to that momentum before it becomes overwhelming.

Ultimately, Flow State adds another layer of strategy while making fighters feel more distinct and authentic. It rewards players for understanding who these athletes are and how they fight, which aligns directly with our broader goal of bringing fighter identity to the forefront of UFC 6.

What kind of post-launch support can players expect after release? Beyond fighter updates, how substantial will the two planned expansions be, and can players expect new modes, Hall of Legends content, gameplay tuning, new fighters, or seasonal live-service updates?

Supporting UFC 6 after launch is a major priority for the team.

Players can expect continued roster updates, gameplay balancing, fighter additions, Fight Week content, challenges, rewards, and ongoing live-service support. We also have two major expansions planned as part of the Expansion Pass.

While we’ll share more details closer to their release, our ambition is for these expansions to deliver meaningful new experiences for players rather than simply incremental updates. We view UFC 6 as a long-term platform and we’re excited to continue supporting the game with new content and experiences throughout its lifecycle.

"Supporting UFC 6 after launch is a major priority for the team."

On the technical side, what are the target resolutions and frame rates for UFC 6 on PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S? Will each platform have separate Quality and Performance modes, or is the game targeting one unified visual/performance profile?

In general, we offer a single preset, handcrafted to guarantee the desired balance between performance and level of fidelity. This translates into different techniques and target resolutions across the supported consoles.

Diving more into specifics, here is a full breakdown:

Cinematics (30 fps)

• PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X: TAA 4K DRS [1800p-2160p]
• Xbox Series S: TAA 1080p DRS [900p-1080p]

Gameplay (60 fps)

• PS5: FSR3 Native + DRS [1080p-1800p]->1800p + bilinear upsample from 1800p to 2160p. Typical internal resolution 1200p
• Xbox Series X: FSR3 Native + DRS [1080p-1800p]->1800p + bilinear upsample from 1800p to 2160p. Typical internal resolution 1300p
• PS5 Pro: Upgraded PSSR Native + DRS [1200p-2160p]->2160p. Typical internal resolution 1600p
• Xbox Series S: FSR3 Native + DRS [600p-1080p]->1080p. Typical internal resolution 720p

Front End Main Menu (30 fps) Ray-Traced Direct Illumination enabled

• PS5: FSR3 Native + DRS [1080p-1800p]->1800p + bilinear upsample from 1800p to 2160p. Typical internal resolution 1200p
• Xbox Series X: FSR3 Native + DRS [1080p-1800p]->1800p + bilinear upsample from 1800p to 2160p. Typical internal resolution 1300p
• PS5 Pro: Upgraded PSSR version Native + DRS [1200p-2160p]->2160p. Typical internal resolution 1600p
• Xbox Series S: Ray-Traced Direct Illumination disabled, TAA 1080p DRS [900p-1080p]

Our intent is to target a unified visual/performance profile on all the platforms.

Will UFC 6 support PS5 Pro-specific enhancements at launch? If yes, is the game using PSSR or Enhanced PSSR, and what improvements should players expect in image quality, internal resolution, anti-aliasing, crowd detail, hair rendering, sweat, skin, cloth simulation, or replay quality?

Yes, specifically:

• Latest version of PSSR instead of FSR3, providing reduced aliasing and ghosting.
• Higher internal and target resolutions, increasing overall image clarity.
• Improved shadow maps filtering, providing improved shadows and reduced jaggies.

Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion (RTAO) is fully supported during gameplay and replays, making the overall scene feel more grounded by using scene wide information (vs screen space on other platforms which would present disocclusion artifacts), being able to capture finer details, small cavities and precise objects contact.

For PS5 Pro, is the goal to deliver a higher-resolution 60 FPS experience, a cleaner 4K output via PSSR, improved visual settings over base PS5, or any 120 Hz/high-frame-rate option for supported displays?

The main goal for PS5 Pro on UFC 6 is to deliver a higher-resolution 60fps experience, cleaner 4K output via the latest PSSR version, and improved visual settings over base PS5.

On Xbox Series X, what is the target resolution and frame rate compared to PS5 and PS5 Pro? Are there any platform-specific differences in visual settings, loading, crowd density, physics quality, replay frame rate, or animation fidelity?

Xbox Series X is at parity with PS5, but runs slightly faster and is able to typically push a higher internal resolution than PS5 (1300p vs 1200p).

PS5 Pro is able to push higher internal resolution, higher fidelity settings, AI upsampler and even raytraced effects within the same frame budget.

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has now been out for a few weeks and has seen a strong response from both critics and players. What has surprised you the most about the way people have reacted to the game?

Mateusz Michalak: The response from critics and players has been incredible. We could not have expected this amount of love and support, and that’s probably been the most surprising thing, the scale of it all. Of course, we always believed that we had something special on our hands and hoped that MOUSE: P.I. For Hire would find an audience, but you never really know how a game will be received until it is out in the wild. Thankfully, the reception to the combat, world design, characters, narrative, references and everything else in between has been truly next level!

"We could not have expected this amount of love and support, and that’s probably been the most surprising thing, the scale of it all."

The game’s 1930s rubber hose art style was one of its biggest talking points before launch, and that seems to have carried through after release. Looking back now, do you feel the art direction connected with players in the way you hoped?

Michał Rostek: We believe so! While MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is certainly not the first title that has utilised rubber hose (with games like Cuphead and Bendy and the Ink Machine being great examples here), there was arguably a gap in the market when it came to first person shooters utilising the art style in a 3D worldspace, especially in black and white. It seems that this combination has really resonated with players, by both offering a unique visual experience and connecting them with an iconic era of animation.

Now that players have experienced the full game, what kind of feedback have you received on the balance between noir storytelling and the more exaggerated cartoon energy?

Joachim Snoch: Many have told us that the game strikes a nice balance between noir storytelling and exaggerated cartoon moments, which has been great to hear! It is something we worked really hard at, trying to tell a detective-based story that touches on more “serious” themes, while also letting players have fun with what is ultimately a video game filled with anthropomorphic mice, boomer shooter-inspired gameplay, and lots of easter eggs and references. Tons of references. Maybe too many at times, which is fair, but we hope it was still enjoyable all the same!

Some players and critics have praised the style and atmosphere, but also wanted more hands-on detective mechanics. Is that something you expected, and is it an area you would want to expand in future updates or potential follow-ups?

Grzegorz Banasik: It was definitely something we thought some players and critics would desire. We have described MOUSE: P.I. For Hire as being “detective-light”, wherein you are more so observing the journey of Jack Pepper collecting clues, connecting the dots, and figuring out the truth for himself. Though, we completely understand the desire for players to be more involved in the investigative process in a hands-on manner, and this is feedback we have taken on board for the future!

"Many have told us that the game strikes a nice balance between noir storytelling and exaggerated cartoon moments, which has been great to hear!"

Post-launch support has already addressed crashes, black screen hangs, progression blockers, side quest issues, and softlocks. What have been the biggest technical priorities for the team since launch?

Mateusz Michalak: As you mentioned, the team has been hard at work on Hotfixes for key issues, particularly instances where players may have been getting blocked or soft-locked. While we believe that the game is in a good place, one of our biggest focuses right now is on Nintendo Switch 2 and addressing feedback from players with regards to performance. We hope to have more news to share regarding this in the coming weeks and we really do thank players for their patience on this.

Some players have asked for features like ultrawide support, New Game Plus, level replay, and more customization options. Are any of these on the table for future updates?

Łukasz Błaszczyk: We have seen lots of great feedback and suggestions from our community for new features in MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, and we are actively investigating and even prototyping some of these. While it is a bit too early to confirm if all of these features are coming to the game, we can say that we are working on a solution for the game to be playable in ultrawide. Without going into too much detail, this is more of a temporary “alpha” fix, wherein weapons and effects will be cut off at the edges, but the environment will be viewable in ultrawide. For us to support ultrawide in full without these drawbacks, we will need to redraw every weapon and effect to properly scale to the ultrawide perspective, and this will take some time. As for other features you mentioned and beyond, we don’t want to announce any new features that aren’t yet fully cooked, so please stay tuned to our social accounts for more updates in the future!

A fan-made MOUSE: Reloaded mod is already experimenting with Enhanced Black and White, Sepia, and Full Colour modes, along with other quality-of-life features. What has the team’s reaction been to seeing modders reinterpret the game’s visual identity so quickly? Given the interest around that mod, is an official full color mode something the team would ever consider, even as an optional visual filter? Or do you feel the black-and-white presentation is too central to the game’s identity?

Grzegorz Pamuła: It has been incredible seeing the entire community’s passion towards MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, including those in the modding scene! From the beginning, we always envisioned our game to be in full black and white, particularly given our inspirations from the rubber hose era of animation and detective noir films and shows. While we can’t confirm whether we are able to implement features like color filters or a full color mode, we completely understand the desire from fans to experience the game with colors!

"From the beginning, we always envisioned our game to be in full black and white, particularly given our inspirations from the rubber hose era of animation and detective noir films and shows."

The hotfix notes mention graphics setting adjustments on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S to improve the Quality Mode experience. Are there more console-side performance or visual improvements planned?

Daniel Armstrong: We are always looking at ways we can leverage console hardware and provide improvements best suited to those platforms, with Mouse Mode on Nintendo Switch 2 being an example of that. The best place for players to keep informed on all future updates are the MOUSE: P.I. For Hire social channels, so please stay tuned for more news!

From a developer perspective, how has the PS5 Pro version turned out compared to the base PS5 version, and did the added GPU power meaningfully change what you were able to deliver?

Mateusz Michalak: MOUSE: P.I. For Hire does not have a PS5 Pro mode where it takes full advantage of the extra GPU power, so it is not something which meaningfully changed what we delivered with that hardware. But more to the point, the game is already very optimised when it comes to GPU usage, so there would actually be little to gain from PS5 Pro support. Base PS5 consoles have enough GPU performance for all our visual features at the Ultra Quality preset.

Now that MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is complete and out in the wild, what is the biggest lesson the team has learned from launch that you would carry into future projects?

Rafał Bujalski: MOUSE: P.I. For Hire was our very first game at Fumi Games, so we learned a lot! But arguably the biggest takeaway has been the importance of playtesting. We ran countless internal feedback sessions, user tests and mock reviews prior to release, and these were instrumental in ensuring that we landed the game’s launch. And now that the game is out in the wild, we have even more great suggestions from thousands of players. Our goal is to continue to dive into these reports, determine what players want to see, and then work to incorporate that feedback, both into the base game and potential projects in the future!

What made The Expanse the right project to push the studio toward a third-person action RPG format? 

The Expanse is a rich and layered universe with multiple narrative levels and a huge amount of detail. That’s exactly what we look for in a setting—it’s the kind of foundation that works really well for a narrative-driven RPG.

At the same time, the TV series gives the universe a strong cinematic tone and provides a wealth of visual references to build on. Taken together, that makes The Expanse a very natural fit for a third-person action RPG. 

That said, it’s still very much an Owlcat game at its core, with our approach to narrative, player choice, and consequences. We’re not trying to recreate the events of the show or the books exactly—we’re aiming to expand the universe and contribute our own stories and perspective to it. 

Even though Osiris Reborn is a very different kind of game structurally, what parts of your RPG DNA from Pathfinder or Rogue Trader were most important to preserve? 

First and foremost, it’s our approach to choice and consequences. That’s a core part of how we design RPGs, and it remains just as important in The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. Companions are another key pillar—how you interact with them through dialogue, events. That layer of character-driven storytelling is very much part of our DNA and carries over directly. 

Beyond that, we still place a strong emphasis on building deep RPG systems. Even within a more grounded and realistic setting, we designed a progression system that allows players to experiment with different playstyles and builds. So while the structure of the game has evolved, the underlying philosophy remains very much the same. 

"First and foremost, it’s our approach to choice and consequences."

The Expanse is loved for its grounded sci-fi and political realism. What were the biggest challenges in turning that into a video game without losing what makes the setting feel authentic? 

The most obvious challenge comes from the constraints of realism itself. The Expanse is grounded in science, which means we can’t rely on familiar sci-fi tropes like energy shields, anti-gravity, or exotic weapons. Every ability and piece of equipment had to be designed around plausible technology or extensions of what already exists within the universe. That naturally limits the design space, but it also helps maintain authenticity. 

On the narrative side, we also had to work around the established storyline of Holden and his crew. Those events define the broader context of the setting, so our goal was to approach them from a different perspective—through our own characters—while preserving enough freedom to tell a distinct story. Politics plays a major role in that as well, but that’s something we’re planning to explore in more detail later. 

Official descriptions mention that players may run into familiar faces or voices from the wider Expanse universe. How are you approaching canon connections in a way that rewards fans without alienating newcomers? 

That’s a great question. The Expanse has a number of well-known figures within its world—major political players like Chrisjen Avasarala, Fred Johnson, or Anderson Dawes, as well as more localized but still recognizable characters like Camina Drummer, Detective Miller, or Holden’s crew. 

When we bring those characters into the game, we approach them from the perspective of what an average person in the Expanse universe would realistically know about them. That means players who are new to the setting can understand the context without prior knowledge, while longtime fans will still recognize the references and connections. 

For example, events like Holden’s broadcast about the destruction of the Canterbury would have been widely seen across the system. That gives us a natural way to anchor key moments of the canon without requiring players to know the full story of the Rocinante. It’s enough to provide context, while still keeping the focus on the story we’re telling. 

Despite the darker tone, are there meaningful opportunities for lighter crew moments, banter, or side content that help balance the overall experience? 

Absolutely. While The Expanse is heavily focused on political tension and the idea of characters struggling to survive situations far beyond their control, even the main storyline has room for lighter moments and humor. 

In our game, we wanted to reflect that range more explicitly. There are still difficult moral choices, heavy consequences, and stories about inequality and conflict, but there are also more personal, sometimes even warm or humorous moments. 

A big part of that comes from life on the ship itself. The crew spends a lot of time traveling between locations, and those quieter stretches create space for bonding, support, and a more “home-like” atmosphere that helps balance the overall experience.

Starting as a Pinkwater Security mercenary gives the game a different perspective from the main Expanse protagonists. How did that framing device shape the overall story arc and the kinds of choices players get to make? 

One of the strengths of The Expanse as a setting is that it’s broad and well-developed enough to support stories beyond the main protagonists. While Holden and his crew are dealing with the protomolecule, the consequences of their actions ripple across the rest of the system—and that creates a strong foundation for telling a parallel story. 

By framing the player as a Pinkwater Security mercenary, we place them in a position with their own agenda and limited information. They don’t have full insight into the events surrounding the Rocinante, but they experience the impact of those events and interpret them through their own perspective. 

That gives us room to create meaningful choices and a self-contained narrative, while occasionally bringing the story close to major canon events. The challenge is to make the player’s story feel significant without overshadowing Holden’s arc or contradicting it—and that’s exactly the balance we’re aiming for. 

The closed beta focuses on a full mission and already showcases squad support, cover combat, and the Exploits system. What were you most hoping to learn from players through that slice of the game? 

Any feedback from players is valuable to us. We’re already getting a lot of useful input from people who’ve played the beta or watched streams and coverage. It’s less about discovering something completely new and more about understanding where to focus our efforts. 

Within the development team, opinions can vary quite a bit when it comes to how critical certain issues are. Broader player feedback helps us align on priorities and decide what to address first to have the biggest impact on the overall experience. So yes, we’re paying close attention and reading as much feedback as we can. 

Companion support seems to be a major differentiator, especially with crew members helping even when they are not in the active two-person field squad. How central is that system to both combat and narrative identity? 

Companions are one of the core pillars of the project. From the very beginning, our goal was to push their depth further than what you typically see in similar games, and to make them part of all key systems. 

That starts with the familiar elements—having two companions in your active squad during combat and building relationships with them outside of missions. But we wanted to go beyond that. We introduced systems like combat opportunities, where companions can have a more meaningful impact on the flow of battle, as well as narrative and mechanical involvement from crew members who aren’t in the active squad. That includes things like mission briefings, where companions can contribute ideas and influence your approach. 

So yes, the companion system is absolutely central to both the combat experience and the overall narrative identity of the game. 

"Companions are one of the core pillars of the project."

The protagonist’s identical twin seems like a potentially major narrative device. How important is that relationship to the emotional core of the story and to player choice? 

That’s a difficult question to answer without getting into major spoilers. What I can say is that the relationship between the protagonist and their sibling is an important emotional anchor and a key driver of the narrative. 

At the same time, this is still an RPG. We give players the freedom to shape that relationship in different ways, including taking a more distant or pragmatic approach. That choice then naturally affects the tone of the story and the motivations behind the player’s actions. 

Players can create a captain from Earth, Mars, or the Belt. How deeply do those origins affect dialogue, faction reactions, quest paths, or even companion relationships? 

Starting with companions, your origin may influence first impressions, but in the long run it doesn’t define your relationships with them—that’s shaped much more by your actions and choices. 

Beyond that, origin plays a meaningful role in how the world reacts to you. It affects how you’re perceived in key hubs, which major figures you encounter, and even what quests become available. There’s also some origin-specific content that only certain players will experience. 

And of course, it ties directly into role-playing. Your background informs your motivations, the choices you’re likely to make, and how you engage with the major political factions in the setting. 

You have a strong post-launch reputation. Even if it is early, should players expect Osiris Reborn to follow a similar model with major expansions, story DLC, or long-tail support? 

It’s still a bit early to talk about that in detail. Of course, we’ve had some internal discussions about what we might want to do post-launch—formats, ideas, and potential directions—but nothing is finalized at this point. We’ll be able to share more specifics closer to launch. 

"Your background informs your motivations, the choices you’re likely to make, and how you engage with the major political factions in the setting. "

What are your thoughts on PSSR, and what opportunities does it open up for your game? 

We plan to integrate the latest PSSR2.0 on PS5 Pro. This tech is a significant leap forward, allowing us to achieve better visual fidelity without sacrificing performance. For our players, this basically means almost the same detail level and quality as powerful PCs can achieve with the help of the latest DLSS and FSR tech. With PSSR, we can minimize graphical artifacts and get a stable picture quality and a stable frame rate, even in dynamic scenes.

What resolutions and frame rates are you targeting on PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PS5 Pro? 

We aim to give the players options when it comes to choosing between graphical fidelity and frame rates. On all platforms, the render resolution is dynamic, and upscaling is used to bring it to the target resolution, to make sure the frame rate stays stable even under load. Our target resolution is 4K for all platforms except XBox Series S. 

And all these platforms get three possible settings – Performance (60 FPS), Balanced (40 FPS) and Quality (30 FPS). PS5 Pro will get additional options and no-frame-cap mode to support VRR displays. 

For Xbox Series S the target resolution is 2K (1440p) and it will only get 30 FPS. 

Of course, with a whole year until our planned release, some specifics here might change – this table is not set in stone, but it is our “target numbers” right now.

Now that Samson is out, what has been the biggest lesson for Liquid Swords from the game’s launch?

When you are a team of experienced developers, sometimes, we think we have all our ducks in a row. This was the first time we launched a game on our own; a new IP from a new team /studio. It’s been a massively learning (the hard way) experience.

The biggest lesson is that players are a lot less forgiving when your fundamentals are inconsistent, even if the ideas behind the game connect. We built a game with a clear identity and a lot of systems people genuinely responded to, especially the driving, the pressure(debt) systems, the atmosphere, and the way Tyndalston feels when the game clicks. But we underestimated how much technical friction, combat readability, repetition and rough edges would drag down the overall experience.

Personally, I think our biggest lesson learned was failing to communicate clearly what kind of game Samson actually was at launch, both in terms of scope and most importantly condition. That blew up in our faces. People walked in with expectations we did not properly manage, especially around the level of polish, scale and technical state. That’s something we have to live with and are currently working on correcting.

You don’t get partial credit from players because you’re ambitious on a smaller budget. If the combat camera fights the player, if AI gets stuck, if performance stutters, if chases become repetitive, then the experience breaks down no matter how much personality the game has underneath. That execution and communication matters equally has been the two biggest lessons learned.

Samson launched to a mixed response from both players and critics. How has that reception affected your immediate priorities for the game?

It changed the order of priorities immediately. Before launch, a lot of the focus was naturally on getting the full experience shipped. After launch, it became very clear that stability, responsiveness, combat readability, AI behavior and mission variety needed to move to the top of the list.

The first patches focused heavily on performance and crashes because they had to. We pushed fixes almost immediately after launch. Since then, the work has shifted more toward gameplay feel, polish and long-term replayability.

The community feedback has actually been fairly consistent. Most players are pointing at the same things. That makes prioritization easier and we can avoid guessing or just going after the game-internal “passion projects”.

Were there any points of feedback from players that genuinely surprised you after launch?

Yes, a number of them. A personal favourite was how positively people reacted to some of the smaller systems. Jake Baldino calling out things like turning off the engine and lights to hide in your car, or using the nitro system, was important internally because it confirmed that players were noticing details we cared deeply about.

"A personal favourite was how positively people reacted to some of the smaller systems."

Another surprise was how divided players were on the debt and pressure systems. Some players absolutely love the anxiety and momentum it creates. Others find it stressful or restrictive. We expected that system to be polarizing, but probably not to that degree. Here’s also a lesson learned as we communicated heavily around the game loop / debt and how it tied into the narrative of the game. There are a lot of improvements to be done in this area.

The strongest surprise overall was how many players saw potential through the roughness. Even some of the harshest reviews described the game as a rough diamond. That tells us there’s a foundation worth continuing to build on. With every update we release, we get a lot of constructive feedback that actually is based around an understanding of the state of Liquid Swords as a business and the state of the games business in general.

Liquid Swords has already acknowledged that Samson launched with issues. Looking back, what do you think were the biggest factors that led to the game releasing in that state?

The biggest factors were scope versus resources (including financial resources). We’re not a 1000-person studio. We’re a relatively small veteran team trying to build a dense urban action game with driving, systemic combat, AI, police escalation, streaming open world systems and heavy atmosphere on a much tighter budget than people probably assume.

At some point you start making tradeoffs, because you have to. Some systems got more attention than others. Some issues were known but not solved to the level they should have been before launch. We probably also held onto certain ambitions for too long instead of simplifying earlier.

There’s also the reality that games like this become exponentially harder toward the end. Small technical issues start stacking together. AI navigation, collision, combat readability, streaming performance, camera work, vehicle interactions, all of it overlaps.

I’m not making excuses here, so the honest answer is that players paid for the game. They expect it to work properly or at least be informed of the state of the game they are buying.

The roadmap has focused heavily on stability, polish, performance, and community feedback. Which areas of the game are currently the highest priority for the team?

Combat feel, more variation are the biggest priorities right now. That includes camera work, enemy behavior, readability in larger fights, feedback, responsiveness and encounter pacing. The recent combat camera changes are only the first step there and we updated the game as of today (Wednesday the 20th), with a lot of focus on combat/camera.

NPC behavior is another major focus. Enemies getting stuck, navigation issues, inconsistent reactions, those things damage immersion very quickly in a game like this.

Mission variety is also high on the list. Not necessarily entirely new mission categories, but expanding what existing jobs can become. More scenarios, more unpredictability (or even predictability to avoid chaos), more tension and more layered objectives. Right now, we work with what we have in the game and avoid throwing in new stuff, before the game is fixed.

Then there’s continued optimization and polish across the board because the game still needs it.

Beyond fixes, are there any parts of Samson’s core gameplay loop that you are reconsidering or meaningfully improving based on player feedback?

Yes, absolutely! We are looking closely at pacing and repetition across the larger loop. Some players love the pressure structure, while others feel certain loops become too predictable over time.

"Mission variety is also high on the list. Not necessarily entirely new mission categories, but expanding what existing jobs can become. "

The debt system itself is something we still believe strongly in, but the surrounding gameplay needs more variation and more emergent situations to keep that pressure exciting rather than repetitive.

We’re also looking at how pursuits evolve, how combat escalates, how city systems react to the player, and how jobs chain into unexpected situations. The core identity of the game is not changing. But the depth and variety around it absolutely can and will improve.

Samson’s structure, the daily quota, action points, debt pressure, and escalating consequences, is one of its most distinctive ideas. How have players responded to that system?

It’s been very split, which was expected and completely natural. Some players completely understand what we were trying to do. They like the tension and they like feeling trapped in a system that constantly pressures them forward. It creates urgency and gives the game its personality. Other players feel restricted by it. They want more freedom and less pressure. The world we currently have is quite small, so we will gradually expand player autonomy as we expand the world.

What’s interesting is that even players who dislike the mechanic often still admit it makes the game feel different from other open world games. That’s important to us and we never wanted Samson to feel passive or comfortable.

The challenge now is making the system feel less repetitive while keeping the pressure intact.

Combat has been one of the major areas discussed by players. What specific improvements are you looking at for brawling, enemy behaviour, feedback, and encounter variety?

The biggest issue with combat at launch was readability and was frustrating to us as well. When fighting multiple enemies, the camera often became too tight. You simply felt too swarmed. Situational awareness broke down. Enemy attacks became harder to track and sometimes was unfair to the player.

Enemy behavior is also being expanded. Bulkier enemies now have more attack variety. Navigation and positioning have improved. We’re continuing to work on crowd behavior, spacing and reactions. We want players to feel that they can walk into a room and simply go “F-K you!” and start beating the crap out of a group of enemies with self-confidence, not relying on luck. Improvisation – look at your surroundings and use environmental hazards (my current favorite is the not-so-often used A/C falling down on enemies). Adapt – you can strategize and some enemies might have moved back in the group and can easily be taken down with a bottle thrown to the head. There are so many ways we can make the combat more varied and fun and on vision and we keep our fingers crossed we’ll be able to go all the way.

Feedback is another important area as hits need to feel clearer and heavier. Environmental interactions need to trigger more reliably. Combat rhythm needs to feel more intentional instead of chaotic. That pretty much sums up what I said earlier.

Encounter variety is equally important. Better combat systems matter, but if encounters feel too similar, players still burn out. That’s where expanded job scenarios and layered situations become important. For clarity, layered situations means that we combine different types of jobs into one and try to get the heart rates racing.

"Better combat systems matter, but if encounters feel too similar, players still burn out."

Tyndalston is clearly central to Samson’s identity. How satisfied are you with how the city came through at launch, and are there plans to make it feel more reactive or alive through updates?

The atmosphere and identity of Tyndalston are the parts of the game I’m most proud of. We have spent so much time building this world and there’s still so much we want to get into the game or in a sequel.

A lot of players connected with the city exactly the way we hoped they would. It feels hostile, decaying, oppressive and strange. Tyndalston has personality and that was one of the goals from the very get-go – City as a Character.

But there’s still room to make it feel more reactive and systemic. We want more situations that emerge naturally. More reasons for the player to pay attention to the city beyond navigation. More pressure. More unpredictability. More environmental storytelling. Traffic improvements, navigation updates and future world systems all feed into that.

Are you looking at adding more missions, activities, enemy types, vehicles, or districts, or is the focus still primarily on polishing what is already there?

Polish still comes first because it where we failed to deliver in the first place. We are actively discussing additional missions, expanded job scenarios, enemy variety, gameplay modifiers and new systems that build on what already exists.

The important thing is avoiding feature creep. We don’t want to randomly bolt on systems that dilute the game. The additions need to reinforce the identity of Samson and not introduce new features before we’ve fixed the existing ones. Right now, mission variety is probably the most important content area.

When will you consider Samson to be truly “done”? Is there a specific quality bar, content target, or player reception milestone you’re aiming for?

That’s a tough one and a very valid question. I think the best answer is when the conversation around the game shifts from technical frustration to the actual experience itself.

The game has rough edges and we know some reviews focused heavily on issues that deserved criticism. What is very inspirational to us is that there’s also a version of Samson underneath that people clearly connect with and that’s worth building on.

There’s no exact review score or sales milestone attached to that internally. It’s more about reaching a point where the game fully delivers on the experience we intended. Not from the very beginning as that is a completely different beast but sharpen the experience we have set out to build.

Do you think Samson’s smaller, rougher, more focused approach is something the industry needs more of, or has the launch shown how difficult that path can be?

I think it is the way forward, for independent developers such as us. Not saying that big-budget AAA is dead, because they are not. However, there is no publisher in the world right now that spends any money on a new IP with an external team. And I say that for certainty based on my own experience. Sure, there are older IP’s that some try to reawake, but those doesn’t come with a big budget either. There are obviously exceptions, like IO’s awesome looking 007 First Light.

With that said, smaller and more focused games is the way forward and the industry need more games that takes risks, have identity and don’t cost $300 or more to make. The middle ground has kind of disappeared.

The industry for sure needs more games that take risks, have identity, and don’t cost 300 million dollars to make. The middle ground has kind of disappeared. The launch of Samson also shows how difficult that path is technically and commercially. Players still compare your game against the biggest productions, especially when you work in a genre which is associated with sky-rocketing development costs. That puts a lot of pressure on smaller developers developing in that genre.

At the same time, there’s value in games that are a bit rougher but more personal and focused. The challenge is making sure the roughness doesn’t undermine the experience itself, as many players unfortunately experienced with the launch of Samson.

"There’s value in games that are a bit rougher but more personal and focused."

With the console versions planned for later this year, how much of the PC feedback is being folded into the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions?

Everything we’ve fixed and updated in the PC version will be folded into the console versions. That means that the console versions will benefit directly from everything we’ve learned post-launch on PC. Stability fixes, AI improvements, camera work, navigation improvements, combat updates, all of it feeds directly into the console builds.

In some ways, the PC launch became a very aggressive learning process for the whole game. The console versions should feel more mature because of that.

What kind of performance and visual targets are you aiming for on PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S?

Our Tech Director Fredrik Lönn has responded to this question.

For PlayStation and Xbox Series X, we plan to have a performance and quality mode to choose from.

PS5 & XSX

• Quality: Dynamic resolution 1080-1660p with upscaling 4k
• Performance: 1080p with upscaling 4k

XSS

• 720p – 1200p with upscaling 1440p

Are you planning any PS5 Pro-specific enhancements, whether that’s higher resolution, improved frame rates, better visual settings, or ray tracing features?

Our Tech Director Fredrik Lönn has responded to this question.

PS5 Pro will feature higher-quality graphics.

Given the game’s current technical demands, is a Nintendo Switch 2 version something you would consider later, or is that not part of the plan for now?

Nintendo Switch 2 is currently not in the plans; our current focus is to make as great an Xbox and PlayStation version as possible.

After everything the team has gone through with development and launch, what gives you confidence about Liquid Swords’ future?

The Team! Despite the criticism, despite the rough launch, the team shipped a very difficult game with a very clear identity under tough conditions. Just releasing a game today, especially self-published, is a daunting task.

They also stayed with the company and as soon as the game was out, they tackled as many issued as they possibly could enabling us to respond quickly. They really owned the criticism rather than pretending it didn’t exist. As a founder and studio head, that loyalty, dedication and iron will, means a lot to me.

Many games, big and small, launch rough for various reasons. What matters is that the developer (us – Liquid Swords) understand why and learn from it, and keep on fixing the issues, improving the game with honesty instead of making excuses. We are doing just that!

We keep all the social channels open for discussion and have got some great feedback from the players and we continue to update the game. The next update is planned for June 9th and will be a BIG one.

How much of Disco Elysium’s DNA should players expect to see in ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies?

Kosmos: Disco was a good first draft of a new type of CRPG. ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies is the second draft. We’ve taken what worked well in Disco but also adapted it to a new setting, story and genre.

Beyond the visuals and overall art style, will there be any other connective tissue between ZERO PARADES and Disco Elysium?

Justin: As always, we hold story-telling and player agency in the highest regard. This time we prioritized giving players a wider variety of methods to overcome the obstacles they encounter throughout the game. This ties back to one of the central themes of our espionage story – making it up as you go along.

"Disco was a good first draft of a new type of CRPG. ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies is the second draft."

How did the idea of translating espionage themed gameplay into a tabletop RPG styled system come about?

Kosmos: It felt like a very natural progression from what we’ve done before: Roleplaying as a roleplayer has a certain intuitive appeal, doesn’t it? As soon as we came to it, we knew that we had a strong hook that also offered us a different perspective on our roleplaying systems.

Justin: Of course, we knew early on that this would not be a stealth game. The player still has to have a high degree of freedom to roleplay as they choose, even when it goes against their own interests or those of the assignment.

This is what gives the whole a pleasing tension – the push and pull between the choices you want to make as a player and the choices you feel you should make for the sake of your assignment, not too dissimilar from real life.

ZERO PARADES revolves around a three way power struggle. Will players have opportunities to shift their allegiances during the story?

Kosmos: As in our contemporary reality, the geopolitical contest frames the story, but Hershel is not one of the secret puppet masters pulling the strings – she’s like the rest of us, at the whims of forces beyond her control. The real power struggle is internal – what is the player’s motivation for doing what needs doing, and how far are they willing to go to do it?
In the murky twilight realm of espionage, one must be ready to work with everyone.

One of Disco Elysium’s most memorable ideas was turning your stats into voices you could interact with. Will ZERO PARADES explore anything similar?

Justin: Absolutely. We are still very much interested in holding a mirror up to the dark and sticky things inside the player’s heart. We have 15 skills from 3 different faculties all vying for the players time and attention, not always in beneficial ways. What facets of yourself you listen to and which you tune out is an important part of crafting your character.

How do Pressures and Exertion factor into the regular flow of gameplay?

Kosmos: The job of a spy is thankless and hard. In ZERO PARADES, this is expressed via the pressures they face in the field: Anxiety, Delirium and Fatigue. Just like in real life, the right amount of pressure makes us perform – and the wrong amount makes us fold. When the player hits one of their limits, they lose a skill point in the associated faculty.

Pressures are managed via story events and consumables. Pressures are raised by exertion – a new mechanic. You can exert yourself on active checks to roll three dice instead of two, using the two highest against the check. This means that you have a better chance of succeeding, but doing so raises one of your pressures, giving the player a new balance between short-term gain and their long-term health.

"Pressures are managed via story events and consumables. Pressures are raised by exertion – a new mechanic."

The game’s description suggests that players will fail quite often. What kinds of consequences or punishments will failure bring?

Justin: As developers, accounting for both success and failure is what makes the game for us. We walk that line with a fine balance, both metaphorically and literally – failure can be as enticing as success, granted that it is entertaining.

At the same time, it’s not just about stumbling blindly forward through every situation. Every challenge in ZERO PARADES has multiple solutions, if you’re able to find them and, more importantly, if you’re willing to live with the consequences.

Will ZERO PARADES focus on one large central environment, or will players visit a variety of locations throughout the story?

Justin: Portofiro is a large city, made up of several districts. The heart of the story takes place around the formerly working class stronghold called Quisach, but the player’s adventures will bring them to a number of surrounding areas that are quite distinct both from one another and anything we’ve done before. There’s a colourful world out there for the player to explore and – we hope – fall in love with.

Luna Abyss occupies a unique space as a narrative focused bullet hell shooter. What inspired this pairing of genres?

Benni Hill: We have always been inspired by high-octane action games that tell stories – such as Nier: Automata – and wanted to take that inspiration into thematic areas that we as a team were interested in. A lot of Manga and Anime inspired how we approached our storytelling and action – with a focus on escalation and high-stakes.

Hollie Emery: We were also a bit obsessed with shmups and classic cave shooters, and exploring high density bullet hell patterns. We wanted to overcome the challenge of rendering lots of bullets on screen in a 3D space, as we felt it would create a unique gameplay experience for a first person shooter.

"Our visual style was heavily inspired by the infinite structures from the manga BLAME!"

What were the biggest inspirations behind Luna Abyss in terms of story, gameplay, and visual style?

Benni Hill: Our visual style was heavily inspired by the infinite structures from the manga BLAME! As well as soviet constructivist brutalism. The almost alien feel of concrete allowed us to conceptualise the Abyss, and from there we let our imaginations run wild – bringing in Victorian and diesel punk elements to build out the world.

For gameplay, we really drew on our love of action-adventure games – the feeling of exploring an alien environment and using the gun to interact via shooting was inspired by Metroid Prime, whereas the bullet-hell action was inspired by Nier: Automata. We envisioned a game where aiming was not the goal, but evasion of awesome bullet patterns, and high-threat attacks.

Narratively our inspiration comes from many different areas – but our love for manga and anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion – as well as strange fiction – drove our creativity to develop what we feel is a unique and engaging world and story.

How did the idea for the game’s main setting, a strange megastructure inside an artificial moon, come together?

Benni Hill: Harry, Hollie and myself had gone through a long process of concept exploration, and found that we kept coming back to one core concept – what if a new moon suddenly showed up in Earth’s orbit? What would people do? Would it spark a new type of space-race? What would they find on it? These questions were exciting, and the more we dug into them the more we found. The questions drove the mystery, and we wanted to share that mystery with players.

Hollie Emery: Harry was reading the manga BLAME! and wanted to explore megastructures in a game setting too. We hadn’t really encountered that style in a game before, so we were really excited to explore it. Creepypastas were also inspirational, such as the backrooms: weird, uncanny valley discomfort, and playing with scale to make the player feel like a small cog in a large machine.

Given that Luna Abyss takes place inside a derelict structure, how has the team avoided making its environments feel repetitive?

Benni Hill: Without giving too much away, the Abyss is not always as it seems. The structure is very liminal – what is up may be down – spaces that feel that they should be outside are inside. There is human architecture within the Abyss as well – these are mysteries that we want players to uncover as they play – but the flexibility of the world’s mystery has allowed us to create a suite of unique and interesting environments to explore!

"Without giving too much away, the Abyss is not always as it seems."

How varied will the arsenal be in Luna Abyss?

Benni Hill: Every weapon in Luna Abyss has a specific reason to exist to counter the enemies that you will face as you explore. We have four firearms, each with specific roles in combat – from a standard rifle (The Scout Rifle), to a cybernetic shotgun (The Shieldbreaker). The four weapons cover everything from sharpshooting to heavy artillery. To top that off we also have two execution skills to help regain health and clear multiple enemies.

Will certain weapons be more effective against specific enemy types or encounter designs?

Benni Hill: Each weapon has a specific reason to exist, and enemies will have varying states that require specific weapons to be used to overcome them. An example of this is that some enemies will have a blue shield that requires the Shield Breaker to shatter it. The Shield Breaker can be used as a standard weapon too, but has a longer cooldown than the Scout Rifle, so overusing it isn’t a wise choice. We aim for players to be fluidly moving between their arsenal in flow as they carve their way through the combat encounters – combining their firearms skills with their traversal skills.

What approach is Luna Abyss taking to storytelling?

Benni Hill: Our narrative team is passionate about building a world through the eyes of the characters that exist within it – including the inconsistencies of personal perspectives. There is a traditional narrative to follow at the heart of Luna Abyss that flows through to a conclusion for the protagonists, but the periphery of this world – and the strange characters you meet along the way – is for the player to discover, rather than for it to be forced on them. Interpretation is important to us, so instilling this idea in the story has always been key from the start.

Hollie Emery: We worked with loads of awesome voice actors to bring the story to life too, such as Safiyya Ingar, Nina Yndis, David Menkin, Amelia Tyler, Patrick Moy, Dianne Pilkington, Bethan Dixon Bate and more.

"Our narrative team is passionate about building a world through the eyes of the characters that exist within it – including the inconsistencies of personal perspectives."

Replayability is often an important part of the genre. How does Luna Abyss encourage multiple playthroughs?

Benni Hill: Luna Abyss has varying difficulty modes, including a hard mode, where players can challenge themselves to beat the game’s toughest bosses. There are also a lot of discoverable collectables, such as codex lore entries, that build out the story in unique ways. We have a level select to allow players to jump into missions to search for missing content and try to fill out the codex to hit 100%.

From a developer perspective, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro, and how does the added GPU power change your approach compared to the base PS5?

John Reynolds: Any increase in GPU power allows the developer to share the game world in more detail and give the player a more immersive experience.

What are your thoughts on PSSR 2.0, and what opportunities does it open up for your game?

John Reynolds: PSSR 2.0 allows games to target higher resolutions or framerates, which can show off the environments in all the detail, or get the smooth 60, 90, or 120 frames per second that make the experience feel great.

What resolutions and frame rates are you targeting on PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PS5 Pro?

John Reynolds: Luna Abyss targets 1920×1080 for all platforms. With the Series S and Steam Deck, we’re using some upscaling to keep the 60 framerate that makes the bullet hell work so well. The game is also Steam Deck verified.

Supermassive has worked across horror for years, but Directive 8020 feels like a bigger shift into sci-fi survival horror. How much did that genre change the team’s storytelling and design processes?

The Dark Pictures were always intended to develop new gameplay with each new entry in the series. With Directive 8020, we took a little bit longer than usual to iterate on our gameplay mechanics and raise the quality bar for the ongoing series. As part of this, we wanted to broaden our audience by including more “on the sticks” gameplay while preserving the narrative, branching drama that we’re so well known for. The game has a very interesting pace – you have these spikes of “lean forward” action where your survival is dependent on your own controls, with dips of “lean back” interactive drama where you can catch a breath. It’s important for us that we keep our games as accessible as possible, so gamers can always tailor their experience to their liking using difficulty settings. If you find that the “lean forward” sections are too hard, it’s even possible to make your character invulnerable for those moments.

"The Dark Pictures were always intended to develop new gameplay with each new entry in the series."

The sci-fi setting opens up different kinds of fear than your previous games. What unique opportunities did space, isolation, and the mimic-style alien threat create for horror?

Each Dark Picture game explores a different subgenre of horror, but this is the first time we’ve delved into sci-fi horror. Our story draws on many beloved sci-fi sources, but perhaps most of all, we were inspired by John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” We wanted to create a shape-shifting alien which could pose as a human and infiltrate your ship’s crew, causing you to question who among them you could really trust.

I think space is truly terrifying as you’re effectively locked in a tin can, surrounded by death! Everything beyond the walls of your bubble is hostile to human life. This makes it a perfect setting for a horror story.

Setting the game in space gives us so many opportunities to create feelings of dread (and wonder!). While it’s so vast, it is also intimate, as you’re cooped up together in a vessel. Claustrophobia and isolation are key feelings too.

Scifi was interesting for us, as in the past, we’ve often centred our stories around teen horror. For this one, we wanted to tell a story about scientists using their heads to solve their problems. It’s a very different tone.

As the fifth Dark Pictures game, how standalone is Directive 8020 for newcomers, and what connective tissue still matters for longtime fans of the anthology?

Directive 8020 is a stand-alone title in that you don’t need to have played our previous games to enjoy it, but it’s set in the same shared world as our other titles and is very much a Dark Pictures game. There are plenty of Easter Eggs and connective tissue in the game that reinforce this. I can’t say much more without spoiling!

For Directive 8020, we have settled on the tagline “A Dark Pictures Game”, which tells our fans that it is part of the shared universe, without suggesting that it is an essential follow-on to other games in the series.

We had feedback that many newcomers thought that they had to play through our games sequentially – partially due to terms like “Season.” So, we wanted to ensure that our messaging is clear for our audiences.

"There are plenty of Easter Eggs and connective tissue in the game that reinforce this."

Turning Points is one of the game’s biggest new ideas. What problem were you trying to solve with that feature, and how did you make sure it adds flexibility without undercutting tension?

Our main goal with Turning Points was to show players how much branching there is in the game and let them easily jump back to decision points to make the experience of exploring the story as graceful as possible. In essence, it is a visual map of the story that shows your path through the story – by selecting turning points, you can “rewind” your story to redo your choices. We know people often give our games multiple playthroughs to find out all the different branches. So, it’s just really showing players that there’s an easier way to access these different points.

Choices are really important in our games – the magic of our game structure is that the story keeps rolling even if characters die when you make the wrong decision. But we also know that some players will stop playing when their beloved character dies. With rewinds, we’re giving them the opportunity to explore the story freely.

Many of our players love that classic “no second chances” style: if they want to play the original way, where every choice is irreversible, we have a Survivor mode playstyle mode that lets them see the decision tree but turns off rewinds.

Survivor Mode seems aimed at players who want the classic no-safety-net Dark Pictures experience. How important was it to preserve that old-school pressure alongside Turning Points?

It’s really important to us that players can play Directive 8020 how they like. We want to be respectful of their time. Some players will really appreciate the ability to rewind or explore different branches in the story – and they will really like Turning Points. Our testing with the system has really surprised us with how popular it is, even on first playthroughs.

However, we also know that many players will want the classic experience. This decision pressure is something that resonates with many of our players. Survivor mode is for them, and we expect this will be a popular mode too, especially on first playthrough.

"It’s really important to us that players can play Directive 8020 how they like."

Directive 8020 appears to push more into real-time danger, stealth, and direct threat management than earlier anthology entries. How far were you willing to evolve the formula without losing the studio’s core identity?

The key reason is we wanted to keep upping the fear. There’s nothing scarier than when you are being hunted by a creature in real time. However, a lot of hide-and-seek games can feel pretty relentless – for us, we wanted to sprinkle these moments through the game to create a unique tempo. They’re intentionally quite simple. It’s really not a hardcore stealth game.

Directive 8020 is more hands-on than our previous titles, but it still features impossible dilemmas, intense cinematic drama, secrets, and everything else you love from our previous Dark Pictures games.

Movie Night returns with up to five-player couch co-op, and online multiplayer is planned as a free update after launch. How did you approach the social side of horror this time around?

Couch co-op is our classic “Movie Night” experience, where up to five players take turns controlling the cast and play the game together to survive the story. In couch co-op, you only need one controller, which is passed around the room as different turns come into play. This has always been our most popular multiplayer mode, so we wanted to bring it online for the first time and allow players to get together with friends wherever they are. This online mode is looking really good but we just need a little longer to finish it.

So, Directive 8020 will launch with offline couch co-op play, with the online version following as a free update soon after. One of the cool things that online couch co-op play supports is multiple users on the same connection – for example, you could have two people playing on one machine, connected to three people playing on another. We call this “bringing living rooms together” and we expect it to be quite popular!

"Directive 8020 is more hands-on than our previous titles"

Were there any lessons from The Quarry or earlier Dark Pictures titles that directly shaped how you approached pacing, character control, or replayability here?

We are always learning and improving the art of telling branching narrative stories. Each story has a different narrative shape, and each learns in some ways from those that came before. We’ve experimented with extremely branching stories – Man of Medan is an example of this – and we’ve tried more focused stories like Little Hope. It’s important that each story is shaped differently to avoid predictability.

In Directive 8020, the end of the story has one of the most unpredictable setups we’ve ever made. For the final episode, practically any combination of characters is possible – it’s even possible to have just one survivor for the entire episode. It’s also possible to end the story half-way through the game in a calamitous event we call the “death spiral.”

For pacing, we were mindful that a good game story needs regular spikes of action. In Directive 8020, this was one of the reasons for us including “flash forward” scenes to up the tempo in the earlier stages of the story.

Replayability was the reason for including Turning Points. We trialled a similar system in the Casting of Frank Stone, but Directive 8020 has really honed it into something special.

The “trust no one” premise seems central to the story. How do you build paranoia into both the writing and the player’s decision-making without making outcomes feel random?

It was important to make the mimics in our story very good imitators – we didn’t want them to speak or act in a distinct way that would make them too easy to identity. There are certain “tells” that the player can pick up on (which I’m not going to spoil here!) but on the whole, they are good at their job!

The shape-shifting aspect of our creatures is a really fun part of the story, but it’s not the whole story – the organism goes through various stages across the game, with some forms much more monstrous. We really leaned into body horror for some of these moments!

"There are certain “tells” that the player can pick up on (which I’m not going to spoil here!) but on the whole, they are good at their job!"

What were the biggest creative influences behind the setting and story? Were you looking more to classic sci-fi horror, modern survival horror, or something else entirely?

John Carpenter’s “The Thing” was probably the big inspiration, but the story also draws on movies like Aliens, Sunshine, Life – and books, including H.P. Lovecraft’s “Mountains of Madness.” Our games are very cinematic, so we’re always asking ourselves “how would this happen in a movie?”. It’s a good guiding light.

The PS5 Pro version has already been detailed publicly with PSSR, ray tracing, and other enhancements. How much do those visual gains matter specifically for horror, where mood and legibility are both so important?

It’s hugely important – lighting matters in horror much more than in other genres. Quality of visuals is also very important for creating a sense of believability. That suspension of disbelief is vital for creating meaningful fear.

Replayability has always mattered in your games, but Directive 8020 feels especially built around revisiting branches and outcomes. How many substantially different playthroughs do you think players can realistically get out of it?

We have a range of choices, some small, some large, that impact the outcome of your story throughout. Some of our outcomes are based on “compound choices” i.e. the sum of multiple choices. Each character, for example, has two different “destiny” moments that are unlocked through traits that can only be changed by conversations with other crew members. At the end of the game, we also have some fairly major ending outcomes. There is also a “hidden link” to one of our previous games that only unlocks if a certain character survives…

Invincible is known for its brutality, but the beta showed that you are trying to make that violence feel organic to the fight rather than just spectacle. What was the philosophy behind translating that tone from the comics and show into a competitive fighting game?

Mike – We never wanted to stop the action. Just like the shows and comics, we wanted the stakes of battle to feel organic and natural to the action. If a move could kill, we wanted that represented on screen showing the stakes of battle.

Invincible VS is entering a crowded space of tag fighters. What do you see as the game’s clearest gameplay identity, and how do you want it to stand apart from other 3v3 titles?

Mike – We focused on our authenticity to the brutal stakes of fighting in the Invincible Universe, and we wanted to bring all the knowledge that we had built up on our years of KI to the tag battle genre, introducing more 2 way interactions between players. Even when you’re getting hit, you have a chance to get right back into the battle.

"If a move could kill, we wanted that represented on screen showing the stakes of battle."

The open beta leaned heavily on ranked play, tutorial, and practice mode. What were the biggest takeaways from player feedback, and what changed as a result?

Dave – We updated our damage scaling based on the amount of easy and repeatable touch of deaths that were occurring, we wanted to make sure the higher damage combos go through the tag system. Another area we looked into was making sure moves that felt like they should get punished, could be punished.

You’ve talked about approachability without “dumbing down” the game. How are you balancing accessibility for Invincible fans who may be new to fighting games with the expectations of veteran players?

Dave – We have a variety of easy combos that players can enjoy, there are auto combos by pressing light attack, magic chains, and specials that can be used as openers. The easier routes for combos are not optimal for meter or damage scaling but veteran players can use our open combo system to maximize damage and meter gain.

The tag system clearly opens the door for big combo creativity, but beyond tagging, what are the most important mechanics players should learn to really understand the game at a deeper level?

Mike – We have a unique combo structure where you can go from normal attacks to special moves, and back into normal attacks. Learning how to cancel from our various attack types and manipulating those moves through our boost system allows you to extend your combos and be very creative.

"The easier routes for combos are not optimal for meter or damage scaling"

What is your overall balance philosophy at launch? Should players expect fast responses to things like infinites and broken tech, or are you aiming for larger, more measured balance updates?

Dave – If there are issues that are ruining the fun time for our players we will jump on those as soon as possible. But we want to be very careful with our updates to balance moving forward, we will be watching how the meta progresses and address tuning in a measured way.

The full game includes a cinematic story mode with an original narrative. What can solo or offline-focused players expect from that mode beyond just a series of fights?

Mike – There are several arcade modes to play through with varying degrees of challenge. Each character has a unique ending you unlock by beating any arcade mode with them as the point character. Additionally players are rewarded for all their competitive activities with Player and Character rewards. You can unlock new character colors, player card customization items, music, art, and various collectibles from the Invincible Universe.

Training tools can make or break a modern fighter. What kinds of training mode options, frame-data tools, combo assistance, and tutorials are you prioritizing?

Mike – The Tutorial will teach the fundamentals of our combat system. Our practice mode offers a variety of dummy options, recording and playing back inputs, and frame/attack data displays to allow for deep diving into scenarios with your favorite characters.

"Each character has a unique ending you unlock by beating any arcade mode with them as the point character."

The beta let players queue from practice into ranked, which is a great quality-of-life feature. Are there any other online or lab features you think competitive players will especially appreciate?

Mike – Our practice mode offers a variety of dummy options, recording and playing back inputs, and frame/attack data displays to allow for deep diving into scenarios with your favorite characters.

With the Year 1 pass already confirmed and Immortal and Universa announced first, how are you thinking about post-launch support beyond just adding characters? Are there plans for new modes, story additions, or major system updates?

Mike – Nothing to announce at this time but we are looking into more support for the game including updates to balance and quality of life improvements.

Given the team’s fighting-game pedigree, including veterans with Killer Instinct experience, were there any lessons from past projects that directly shaped how Invincible VS handles pacing, readability, or hype moments?

Dave – We love hype moments! From overkills to feints, we really enjoy celebrating the hype moments that turn the tide of battle.

"We love hype moments!"

From a developer perspective, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro, and how does the added GPU power change your approach compared to the base PS5?

Bill – As a competitive fighting game, Invincible VS has strict performance requirements on all platforms, so PS5 Pro’s capabilities allowed us maximize optimization efforts on lower-end GPUs, while pushing visual fidelity and resolution quality even further for PS5 Pro owners.

What resolutions and frame rates are you targeting on PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PS5 Pro?

Bill – We are targeting 60hz gameplay on all target platforms; consoles included. We leverage dynamic resolution techniques internally to make careful trade-offs between detail and performance in various stages of the rendering pipeline. We target 4K output on both PS5 platforms, but PS5 Pro’s more powerful GPU allows us to crank dynamic resolution targets to achieve crystal clear 4K output.