Touted as a sci-fi survival horror action RPG, Graft is set on the Arc, a massive space station in ruins. Darkness and chaos reign, with the player venturing through its reaches to scavenge materials and survive. Horrifying monsters await and at times, grafting their parts (hence the game name) to their body is necessary to gain new abilities.

Of course, there are consequences, as you gain the memories of previous owners from parts. There’s a real Ship of Theseus-style vibe to whether the player is still the same despite many of their parts being replaced, and it’s intriguing.

Throughout their journey players will encounter other characters, forming alliances and influencing their survival. Despite the action RPG approach, you must think carefully about which battles to fight.

Graft doesn’t have a release window so stay tuned for more updates in the coming months.

Graft may be the unannounced horror game that the developer’s job listings teased back in 2020 (though they’ve since been removed). Studio co-founder Mitch Gitelman confirmed two new projects after wrapping support for BattleTech – one was The Lamplighters League, released last year for PC and Xbox Series X/S. Whatever the other may be, it’s been in the works for some time.

Stay tuned for more updates and details. As for The Lamplighters League, it turned out to be a “big” disappointment for publisher and parent company Paradox Interactive. Following layoffs at Harebrained, the two mutually parted ways, with the studio becoming independent earlier this year.

Paradox Interactive and Harebrained Schemes have announced in a press release that the two companies will be “parting ways” on January 1, 2024. The latter will retain its independence afterwards, while The Lamplighters League and other games previously developed by Harebrained Schemes will continue to be owned by Paradox.

In the press release, Paradox says the separation of the two companies is “the result of a mutual agreement, stemming from each party’s strategic and creative priorities.”

“Paradox has refocused its strategy towards its core niches within strategy and management games with endless qualities,” said Paradox Interactive COO Charlotta Nilsson. “We and HBS’ leadership have been discussing what would happen after the release of The Lamplighters League, but a new project or sequel in the same genre was not in line with our portfolio plans. Hence, we believe that a separation would be the best way forward. We’re very happy that this talented, gifted studio has the chance to continue and can’t wait to see what they will make next.”

Meanwhile, Harebrained Schemes has confirmed that it will continue to support The Lamplighters League for the foreseeable future, and will begin seeking new funding and partnership opportunities next year.

“Harebrained Schemes will support The Lamplighters League through the end of the year while we seek funding and partnerships for an independent future in 2024,” said Brian Poel, studio operations manager of Harebrained Schemes. “Our studio mission remains the same: to make games that challenge your mind and touch your heart.”

Earlier this month, not long after the launch of The Lamplighters League, Paradox Interactive called the strategy title’s initial commercial numbers “a big disappointment”, in spite of “cautiously positive player numbers in subscription services”.

The press release states that the game is set to produce a loss in the company’s financials for the fourth quarter. While the launch of the game on Xbox Game Pass has resulted in “cautiously positive player numbers”, the projected sales for the game are less than ideal. Between this and the already mediocre critical reception, the game is going to cause a loss of 248 million Swedish Krona (MSEK) for this quarter.

“Even though we see cautiously positive player numbers in subscription services, the commercial reception has been too weak, which is frankly a big disappointment. Game projects are by their nature always risky, but at the end of the day we haven’t performed at the level we should. It is painful but makes us more eager to roll up our sleeves and do better,” says Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester.

Game development is obviously a risky venture by its very nature, and there’s always the risk of running such losses if any part of the marketing or reception ends up being less-than-ideal. Paradox Interactive is set to release Cities: Skylines 2 and Star Trek Infinite later this year, so here’s hoping these two end up faring much better than The Lamplighters League.

Set in an alternate history 1930s setting, The Lamplighters League sees players recruiting a team of misfits, scoundrels, and heroes to work against the machinations of a tyrannical cult called the Banished Court, which is on the cusp of world domination. Combining real-time infiltration, turn-based strategy mechanics, and a focus on story and worldbuilding, The Lamplighters League seems to be shaping up well. Check out its trailer below.

The Lamplighters League is set to launch on October 3 for Xbox Series X/S and PC. It will also be available via Game Pass at launch.

As its trailer would show, The Lamplighter’s League is going for a pulpy vibe reminiscent of classic adventure and action stories. The game will focus on stealth as its main mechanic, allowing players to sneak past enemies to quickly take out stragglers before engaging in a full-on battle.

Harebrained Schemes is known for its turn-based games, including the RPG trilogy based on the Shadowrun setting, as well as more recently, tactical mech combat game BattleTech where players had to balance firepower during fights with the budget constraints of running a mercenary company.

The Lamplighter’s League doesn’t yet have a release date, and it is unknown if it will be making its way on to consoles in the future. Its launch, however, is set to take place on PC through Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store.

The Shadowrun Trilogy is comprised of three titles – Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut and Shadowrun: Hong Kong along with their respective updates and DLC. All three titles are based on the classic tabletop RPG and offer tactical combat with cyberpunk settings. However, they mix in magic and high fantasy for a unique setting. Of course, each offers their own distinct stories and characters as well.

Shadowrun Trilogy is currently available to pre-order on consoles for 25 percent off. It’s also available on PC with a 20 percent discount currently live on Steam. Check out our official reviews for Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Shadowrun: Hong Kong for more details on each title.

As spotted by Gematsu over on Twitter, the Taiwanese board of ratings has rated the following games in the Shadowrun franchise – Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong – Extended Edition. The games have been rated for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.

The release will most likely take on the form of the Shadowrun collection – as is the case on PC. While this rumor will most likely bear fruit given the legitimacy of the source, it’s still best to take the information with a pinch of salt until something official comes our way. Until then, stay tuned for more updates.

Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong – Extended Edition have been rated for consoles in Taiwan.

Read more on each game here:

Returns: https://t.co/BkKZgfQtAW
Dragonfall: https://t.co/ERj30O8xA9
Hong Kong: https://t.co/xtEypvFMuT pic.twitter.com/uzlmssejla

— Gematsu (@gematsu) March 31, 2022

Ever since its launch at the end of 2018, the Epic Games Store has made it part of its brand to give away free games. The amount of games it has given away in that time span is nothing short of astonishing. This week you can get four different games free of charge.

The biggest name is 2016’s Hitman. This reboot saw Agent 47 doing what he does best and finding the best (and maybe sometimes not so good) ways to kill his target. The third game in the franchise will launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store on PC, so this will be your chance to get caught up. You can also redeem Shadowrun Collection, which is a bundle of three different games: Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut, Shadowrun Returns, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong – Extended Edition.

Hitman and Shadowrun Collection will be free to redeem on Epic Games Store until September 3rd. The next game listed is Into the Breach, though there will most likely be at least one more title announced.

Ever since launching at the tail end of 2018, the Epic Games Store has been controversial. Since the beginning, Epic Games sought timed exclusivity deals instead of store improvements to get its customers, which has bothered many a PC player who aren’t fond of the practice. The latest one was next year’s Hitman 3, a deal that was announced earlier today. How you feel about it is up to you, of course, but in the meantime you can get caught up on Agent 47’s adventures for free, alongside some cyberpunk action, next week.

As seen on the Epic Games Store today during its weekly refresh, next week’s games will include 2016’s Hitman. The reboot of the series is where this current trilogy, that will end with Hitman 3, began. Beside that will be Shadowrun Collection, which is a bundle of three different games: Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut, Shadowrun Returns, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong – Extended Edition. They are three RPG titles in a fantasy cyberpunk setting with old school RPG gameplay and branching narrative storylines.

This week’s free titles are Enter the Gungeon and God’s Trigger, which will be free until August 27th. On that day, Hitman and Shadowrun Collection will go live and will be available for free until September 3rd.