It will be renamed before the sale closes while publishing rights to Gunfire Games’ Remnant series, Heart Machine’s Hyper Light Breaker, and other unannounced titles will be retained. Lost Boys Interactive (which worked on Wonderlands and faced layoffs earlier this year), mobile 3D scanning company Captured Dimensions, and Cryptic Studios of Neverwinter and Star Trek Online fame are also staying with Embracer.

These companies would be “welcomed and integrated” into other parts of the group and expected to contribute “a positive cash flow going forward.” Embracer has seen several layoffs since a $2 billion deal fell through last year, with studios like Free Radical and Volition shuttered. Whether further layoffs will occur following the sale of Gearbox and Saber Interactive remains to be seen.

Gunfire Games’ duo of Soulslike RPG shooters, Remnant: From the Ashes and its sequel, Remnant 2, have joined the subscription service’s library. Though an official announcement hasn’t been made about the same by either Microsoft or Gunfire Games, both games are now available to subscribers of both, PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass.

The two Remnant titles have their fair share of fans and have accrued plenty of praise, so those who have never had the chance to play them have the perfect opportunity to dive in and see what the fuss is all about.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Remnant 2 had sold over 2 million units worldwide. Read our review of the game through here, and our review of From the Ashes through here.

And it seems we might be getting more at some point. As spotted by a user on Reddit, recently registered trademarks suggest that the shooter RPG might be getting a sequel. Gunfire Games has registered trademarks for both “Remnant 2” and “Remnant: From the Ashes 2” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Of course, trademark registrations on their own aren’t exactly concrete evidence that a Remnant sequel is indeed in development, but at the very least it indicates that Gunfire Games is thinking about making one. That said, since 2020’s Chronos: Before the Ashes, the studio hasn’t been too active, so it might be time it to reveal its next project.

Meanwhile, a Nintendo Switch version of Remnant: From the Ashes was also rated by the ESRB late last year, but that’s not an announcement that’s been officially made yet either.

The change is essentially a “new makeover” – the organization along with its employees remains the same. All current titles for the company like Star Trek Online, Have a Nice Death and Neverwinter will continue to receive new content. Games like Remnant: From the Ashes and the Torchlight Trilogy also remain under its purview with “more amazing new games to come!”

The only real change that will be seen is the Perfect World Entertainment logo being replaced with that of Gearbox Publishing (though it will take some time before it’s reflected in its games). Newsletters and support tickets will also now come from @GearboxSF.com.

As for Gearbox Entertainment, under which Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing falls, it recently acquired Lost Boys Interactive. The 220-plus employee studio worked as a support studio on Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and will look to increase this to 350 employees in the next few years.

Neverwinter developer Cryptic Studios and publisher Perfect World Entertainment has also been acquired through the Gearbox Entertainment Company. Perfect World will act as a subsidiary for Gearbox going forward with a new title planned for launch in 2022 and five more releases coming by 2024. Animation studio DIGIC, which is known for its cinematics and trailers, and developer Shiver Entertainment have also been acquired via Saber Interactive.

The latter was founded by veterans John Schappert and Jason Andersen with a focus on development and porting titles of various genres and across different platforms. With the new year upon us, what other companies will the Embracer Group add to its roster? Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

And it seems like soon, the game will be opening the gates for even more players to jump in and see what it has to offer. A Nintendo Switch version of Remnant: From the Ashes was recently rated by the ESRB– which, of course, is interesting because no such version has been officially announced either by Gunfire Games or by publisher Perfect World Entertainment. Age ratings are usually handed to games when they’re approaching release, and if that is the case here, then perhaps an announcement of the game is not far away.

In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 7/10, “Remnant: From the Ashes is a game with extremely derivative design, but good gunplay, solid co-op play, and smart randomization means it’s still fun, if not original, solo or with friends.” You can read our full review through here.

Remnant: From the Ashes is currently available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

"The story is more linear, and gives a better sense of continuity. It also gives us an opportunity to more clearly tutorialize all the aspects of the game, so by the time you get to level 20, you know how to play your class and the rest of the game before you start playing through epic-level content."

What was behind the decision to rework the game to bring it more in line with the D&D 5th Edition ruleset? What are the biggest ways this change affects the game?

The decision came more out of desire to streamline the leveling experience, especially with all the newest content designed for players who have already reached max level. When we started talking about shrinking the leveling time considerably, it made sense to give it parity with D&D tabletop from where Neverwinter gets its roots.

Instead of 40-50 hours to get to the max level — which before was level 80 — it now only takes you 10-12 hours to get to the max level, which is now level 20. The story is more linear, and gives a better sense of continuity. It also gives us an opportunity to more clearly tutorialize all the aspects of the game, so by the time you get to level 20, you know how to play your class and the rest of the game before you start playing through epic-level content.

Neverwinter’s reworked its progression to considerably de-emphasize grinding, and reaching the level cap now requires much less time than it used to. What led to this change? How does it benefit the overall experience?

Neverwinter has been running a long time — having just celebrated its 8^th year anniversary in June — and has accumulated a lot of content. We didn’t want people intimidated by a wall of content just to get to the latest update, especially if when you have veteran players who want to play with friends who are new to the game. It also allows veteran players to more quickly level-up alternate characters of classes they wanted to try.

"Neverwinter has been running a long time — having just celebrated its 8^th year anniversary in June — and has accumulated a lot of content. We didn’t want people intimidated by a wall of content just to get to the latest update, especially if when you have veteran players who want to play with friends who are new to the game."

The Adventurer’s Guild is a pretty major new addition, especially from the perspective of newcomers. Has that become an important consideration for the development team, to make Neverwinter more accessible to new players? How have you reconciled that with making sure that those who’ve invested hundreds of hours in the game don’t get a more compromised experience?

The Adventurer’s Guild was a big part of the leveling streamlining design, giving new players a single focal point for the 1-20 level progression. Even veteran players who have played through during Closed Alpha and Preview have expressed that the Adventurer’s Guild alongside the larger leveling has a much tighter flow that they enjoy.

Can you talk about the changes you’ve made to the progression system? The milestone system and gear-based progression upon hitting the level cap are interesting changes, but what led to the decision to implement these?

The milestone system is another carry-over from D&D tabletop. While you can still play used experience point progression in tabletop, a lot of the official modules have moved to milestone leveling where once you complete a major step in the story progression, you gain a level. By having milestone progression in Nevewinter for levels 1-20, you have a more focused experience that is more about story and learning the game. Then when you get into epic-level content, the focus is more on campaign-play and how to gear up your character while going through all the different post-level 20 Adventure Zones.

The bard class is Neverwinter’s first new class in a while, and has been in the works for some time, and seeing as it comes to the game at a time where it has reinvented so much of itself, it’s shouldered plenty of responsibility to highlight Neverwinter’s biggest strengths in its current form. Can you talk about how it does that, and what the process was like of deciding which new class to put in the game and how it should be balanced to fit the experience?

There was a lot of discussion about possible classes, and it included the Druid and Monk as contenders. Between what we discussed internally, what the Neverwinter community expressed, and what Wizards of the Coast gathered from public surveys, Bard seemed to be a clear choice for us. It fit the bill as being both an interesting and creative new class, and adding in the ability for players to actually do play their own music for other players was a fun aspect that was a big clincher for us.

Balancing is a big factor when you introduce any new class. Once the basic class was built, there is a lot of iteration on how it performs in a team in Dungeons and Trials since it’s filling a specific role (DPS or Healing). Then there’s a lot of how it feels solo in leveling (powers progression) and epic-level item progression. Once we got all that worked out, we knew the Bard class was in a good state and that it would be a great fit for Neverwinter.

"There was a lot of discussion about possible classes, and it included the Druid and Monk as contenders. Between what we discussed internally, what the Neverwinter community expressed, and what Wizards of the Coast gathered from public surveys, Bard seemed to be a clear choice for us."

Looking forward, what are your plans for Neverwinter in the coming weeks and months? Can players expect any other major content updates or additions anytime soon?

We’re already well into post Jewel of the North development. We definitely want to get back to getting some more content out there for all players, including veteran players, soon.

Do you have any plans to bring Neverwinter to the Switch at some point in the future?

We have no current plans, but anything is possible!

The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S update for Gunfire Games’ Remnant: From the Ashes is now live. It offers two performance modes – 4K/30 FPS and 1080p/60 FPS – for Xbox Series X and PS5 players  (while Xbox Series S has access to the latter). To see how the game runs on PS5, check out the latest gameplay trailer below.

The update patch is free for previous gen owners and also supports the Swamps of Corsus and Subject 2923 DLCs. Along with an improved frame rate, the visuals have been seemingly enhanced for the new consoles. If you’ve ever held off on playing the Souls-like shooter, now might be a good time to hop in.

Remnant: From the Ashes is available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. As of November 2020, it’s sold over 2.5 million units worldwide. To check out our review of the base game, head here. Gunfire Games hasn’t said much about the future of the franchise, though it recently brought the prequel Chronos: Before the Ashes to PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Stadia. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Gunfire Games’ underrated third person shooter/Souls-like Remnant: From the Ashes will be receiving support for current-gen consoles next week. The developer confirmed an upgrade patch that will add 4K/30 FPS and 1080p/60 FPS modes to PS5 and Xbox Series X. Xbox Series S will only have access to the latter though.

Released in August 2019, Remnant: From the Ashes is set on Earth where a hostile invading force called the Root have overrun civilization. As a lone hero, it’s up to the player to investigate the Root’s source and cut it off from, well, the root. This involves venturing to various other dimensions from the swamps of Corsus to the desolate wastes of Rhom.

Along with DLC like Swamps of Corsus and Subject 2923 which added new areas and items, Gunfire Games also released free updates that added Hardcore Mode and a new dungeon. Remnant: From the Ashes has sold over 2.5 million copies till date and was claimed a whopping 10 million times when it was free on the Epic Games Store. Check out our official review here for more details.

Echtra Games is working on a new action RPG with NaturalMotion but support for Torchlight 3 is far from over. The developer announced new updates and patches for the title, starting with a new class. The Cursed Captain serves as a Summoner class and can summon ghost pirates to fight alongside it.

Said pirates include Riflemen, the First Mate, Cannoneers and more with players able to command them to utilize additional skills or focus on a single target. The Cursed Captain also gets a class-specific weapon with the Cannon and capes as a class-specific armor. Of course, if you’re keen on playing the Captain without summons, you can simply use Doubloons (its combat resource) as ammo or bring the entire flagship to a battle.

Other updates coming to Torchlight 3 include forty new pets and variants with four new species; changes to the Pet UI  to make them easier to manage and sort; and more slots. Along with the Cursed Captain, new dyes, pets and fort decorations will be coming in the Fur and Fashion contract update. Finally, an option to reset one’s instance is also inbound, allowing players to farm in an instance without having to wait for its timer to reset.

The Cursed Captain is coming to Torchlight 3 in Spring. Stay tuned for more details on it in the coming days.