Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror puts you in the shoes of celebrated singer Eliza de Moor. The story largely revolves around Eliza exploring her past in an effort to find herself again. The setup is quite simple; one evening, during a performance, Eliza suddenly collapses. On waking up, she finds that she has no memory of who she is or what happened, and has been taken into the care of Dr. Stern – a man claiming to be quite close with the de Moor family. In the early minutes of the game, Eliza and Dr. Stern come to an agreement about trying out an experimental treatment that promises to be extra spooky.

"The horror is ramped up very quickly once you actually reach Ravenhill"

Most of Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror takes place in the quaint town of Ravenhill, which was once well regarded for its dollmaking industry. The horror is ramped up very quickly once you actually reach Ravenhill and try to get to the de Moor family mansion, which is referred to by the people of the town as the Dollhouse. Interestingly, there aren’t any characters that you interact with throughout your time exploring Ravenhill. The story is almost entirely told either through vivid hallucinations, or through notes you find strewn about in the town and the Dollhouse. Even Dr. Stern, who is supposed to be accompanying you on this journey down memory lane, decides to maintain his distance from you in order to make sure that the “therapy” works.

In this way, Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror does a pretty decent job at setting up its atmosphere. Since you’re always alone, the sense of isolation is incredibly thick. Interestingly, despite the lack of people in Ravenhill, the game does a good job in making you believe that there might be hope around the corner. Good usage of lighting through hanging lanterns and candles always gives you the impression that, “maybe this house is safe and has someone I can talk to.”

Through Ravenhill, the game is able to tell an interesting story of the downfall of a small town. Largely told through environmental storytelling, like how certain houses might be in disarray while others are surprisingly clean, you get a pretty decent idea of what went down when the dolls inevitably rose up to fight against their masters. And ultimately, you start having to take down these dolls as well.

Most of the gameplay in Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror feels reminiscent of Resident Evil 7. You’re largely going to be exploring through dense environments, meticulously looking for clues and items that might help you figure out a way forward. Along the way, you’ll find cryptic puzzles that you have to solve, like finding the right statues to shoot in the correct order. And every now and then, you’ll have to use the more lethal qualities of your weapon to take on deranged dolls that are trying to kill you.

The puzzle design here isn’t particularly noteworthy. You’re not going to get head-scratching riddles that leave you running around looking for answers for hours on end. Most of the puzzles were fairly straightforward, and even managed to be quite self-contained to specific areas. If, for example, you happen to find a lock that requires a combination of numbers, you won’t have to go too far to find a letter that gives you the answer. The statue shooting example I used earlier was also confined to the same small area.

"Through Ravenhill, the game is able to tell an interesting story of the downfall of a small town"

Aside from having to fight against mindless enemies with limited resources, you also get similarly-cryptic yet simplistic puzzles, and even a minor crafting system that allows you to get more ammo. And considering the enemy AI, even fighting against dolls evokes a feeling similar to playing the Resident Evil HD Remake with modern controls that let you simply run around enemies without having to directly deal with them. Even the health and inventory system UIs feel like they might be from early drafts of a Resident Evil game.

The combat encounters in Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror don’t come about too often, but just about every single time you do have to fight something, the game feels much worse for it. The combat feels incredibly clunky thanks to monotonous enemies and an excruciatingly-slow movement speed, and the amount of ammo you get from early on tends to erase quite a bit of the tension that you might otherwise expect from a combat-centric horror title. Just about every bit of atmosphere the game slowly builds up thanks to its creepy environments and story tends to get obliterated the moment you have to engage in combat, and the game would have overall been much stronger had it simply skipped having a combat system to begin with or you know, made it better.

One of the big twists in Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror revolves around the use of mirrors. Every now and then, you will find mirrors that let you enter a different version of the area you’re in. Sometimes, this version might just be a glimpse into the past. Other times, it might end up being a much more surreal experience. These mirrors are used as a way to move forward, often marking a significant point in the game’s story. Sadly, there isn’t much more to these mirrors than just a sequence that occasionally happens. There aren’t any optional mirrors that you can find that might expand further on the plot, and they generally tend to stay on the linear path forward through the story.

"Just about every bit of atmosphere the game slowly builds up thanks to its creepy environments and story tends to get obliterated the moment you have to engage in combat"

Another area where the game loses quite a bit of its steam is in its visuals. While I am a firm believer that solid art direction is much more important to a game looking good than raw visual fidelity, Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror definitely loses a lot of what it was going for from the very beginning. At the risk of veering into the realm of hyperbole, Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror might just be one of the most dull and drab looking titles out there. Even at its highest settings, just about every surface looks like a muddy mess because of low-resolution textures, and the few characters you do meet early in the game tend to look like they might be ripped right out of an early PS3 game.

The only reason any of the thick atmosphere of the game is able to land is largely thanks to the clever use of lighting and the inherent creepiness of human-shaped dolls. The lighting is especially doing a lot of the heavy lifting here, and plays a big part in instilling any sense of fear that might arise from the very idea of turning around a corner.

Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror is a bit of a disappointment. There are some interesting ideas in its story and the creepy dolls that you often have to deal with end up largely being window-dressing. While there are some frights to be had, largely thanks to the excellent lighting throughout, the general monotony brought on by the game’s clunky combat system, poorly-designed enemies, and excruciatingly-slow movement speed tend to make the very idea of playing the game a rather boring experience.

This game was reviewed on PC.

The Sessions series has been made to give players more details about the first-person horror title, including information on some of its characters and how gameplay will work.

Dollhouse: The Broken Mirror’s story will revolve around Eliza de Moor. Once a celebrated singer, her life was changed when she fell unconscious in the middle of a stage performance. Years later, Eliza wakes up disoriented and with no memory of how she ended up in a sanatorium.

Doctor Stern seemingly has a solution – an experimental treatment that might help Eliza regain her memories and maybe even allow her to leave. As part of this treatment, Eliza has to visit Ravenhill Village, once known for manufacturing dolls but long left abandoned.

The village is also home to the de Moor family mansion, known colloquially as the Dollhouse mansion. Eliza must explore its depths and the surrounding village to discern what happened to her. Throughout her time, Eliza will discover the fate of her various family members. The video describes their stories as being “as tragic as it is mysterious”.

Incidentally, Doctor Stern and his father have ties to the de Moor family. Both are esteemed psychiatrists running the Stern Sanatorium, and their ties to the de Moor family go back generations.

While exploring the de Moor mansion, Eliza will travel through two distinct realities. One will be in the conscious world, where Doctor Stern acts as her guide, and the other will be in the subconscious world, where she will experience the world from the eyes of her younger self. The dolls all over the place have also seemingly taken on lives of their own.

Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror is being developed for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and is slated for a March 28 release.

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"Albatroz has a unique visual style, but achieving the final look took a tremendous amount of work. Since the game is about the joy of exploration and experiencing the environment, we drew inspiration from renowned photographers like Sebastião Salgado, as well as photos from our own travels."

Albatroz instantly catches the eye with its gorgeous art style. Can you talk to us about how you landed on this look for the game?

Albatroz has a unique visual style, but achieving the final look took a tremendous amount of work. Since the game is about the joy of exploration and experiencing the environment, we drew inspiration from renowned photographers like Sebastião Salgado, as well as photos from our own travels. We aimed for a more realistic look with fine details but heightened by a fantastic and dramatic light and color palette. Our approach focused on high contrast and saturation to make the lighting and colors vivid, and we used boosted global illumination to enhance color reflections, creating a surreal, almost fantastical world.

Framing compositions also required a lot of effort to create moments of awe in real time, like when the player reaches the top of a mountain, and the frame subtly adjusts to reveal the perfect scene without them even noticing. With backgrounds in film and design, you can imagine how much time we spent fine-tuning these details—our programmers may have cursed us a bit, but we think it was worth it!

The characters presented a different challenge. We wanted them to have charm, as one of the game’s core themes is a critique of the superficial, copycat reality we live in today, where authenticity can be hard to find. We took inspiration from Studio Ghibli’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), which served as a primary reference for the game’s essence. For character shading, we drew from The Last Guardian, which captures a fantastical look: characters feel stylized yet respond naturally to the world’s lighting.

Making stylized characters blend seamlessly into a more realistic world was one of our hardest tasks, as they needed to absorb light without looking like eerie mannequins. When the lighting was too realistic, the characters looked strange and uncanny. So, it wasn’t just a broad approach; we refined lighting scene by scene to ensure that the stylized characters and the environment harmonized perfectly.

The different places and sights that players will see on their journey is clearly going to be one of Albatroz’s highlights. Given that, what can you tell us about your approach to designing the game’s world, and the level of variety players can expect in the locations and environments they’ll visit?

Great question.

In Albatroz, the player is free to explore, yet always finds a narrative that organically adapts to their choices. Inspired by tabletop RPGs, where a Dungeon Master guides the story while the player makes decisions, we created a system that allows events, landscapes, and even the story itself to stream around the player, keeping pace with their choices.

For instance, if the player climbs to a high vantage point, they can survey the surroundings and choose their next destination—whether a distant mountain, a desert, or snow-covered hills. From this elevated perspective, they organically plan the next step of their journey, and the world responds accordingly. Albatroz is a backpacking game, making it essential for players to choose their path thoughtfully, with every choice unfolding new events along the way.

In Albatroz, exploration isn’t about cycling back to a hub or revisiting the same places. It’s a true journey from point A to point B, a design that goes against the trend of traditional open-world games. We wanted Albatroz to take place in a vast world without relying on common open-world mechanics, so certain terms were off-limits during development—words like “side quests,” “fast travel,” and “points of interest.”

For example, in Albatroz, we don’t update the player’s position in real-time; instead, we use a checkpoint system, updating location only at specific points. This approach encourages players to learn to read maps and observe their surroundings more closely. Each part of the game has its own style of map: some are simple notes, others hand-drawn sketches, and some more technical.

Just like a real hike where there’s often a “point of no return,” we created a similar system where players never go back to previous areas. This keeps the environment, gameplay, and narrative constantly moving forward, always presenting something new.

When it comes to variety, players can expect constant changes in scenery and atmosphere. To maintain a dynamic pace, we designed the game so that players aren’t in one place for too long—just like traveling, where you pass through vastly different landscapes quickly. Players will journey across salt flats, tundras, boreal forests, mountains, beaches, and more. Many of these locations draw inspiration from our own travels through the Patagonia region and tierra Del Fuego, but we’ve also incorporated elements from other stunning places, like Chile’s Uyuni Salt Flats.

"In Albatroz, the player is free to explore, yet always finds a narrative that organically adapts to their choices. Inspired by tabletop RPGs, where a Dungeon Master guides the story while the player makes decisions, we created a system that allows events, landscapes, and even the story itself to stream around the player, keeping pace with their choices."

How extensive are Albatroz’s progression mechanics? Is depth in customization and progression mechanics something that you’re aiming for, or is the focus meant to be more on the narrative side of things?

As I mentioned, we aim to blend a strong narrative with great pacing, all while giving the player the freedom to choose their path. So you can expect both story depth and player agency. Let me explain a bit more about it

To maintain the pacing and keep players immersed, Albatroz combines different gameplay elements that all point in the same direction under one unified theme. There’s vehicle travel, where players must manage gas, car maintenance, and choose the right tires for different terrains. Then there are the trails, the core of the game, focusing on tracking and exploration mechanics.

In the villages, Albatroz leans more into RPG elements, where players learn about local cultures, gather information, receive items and gifts from villagers, and use the planning mode in hostels to prepare for the next trail. Each element fits together to create a cohesive experience that reflects the journey’s spirit, drawing players deeper into the world and its story.

Discovering new places, knowing new people, learning about the lore and other things will grant the player TP (travel points). So the player can use these TP points to increase each character’s stats, to evolve each character’s unique skills and to improve the car.

You can switch the party leader at any time, and only the leader consumes stats, while the other members’ stat usage is minimized. Each character excels at different challenges—whether it’s covering long distances, climbing, descending mountains, controlling the time of day, or withstanding more damage than others.

As for the car, you can upgrade its fuel capacity, increase damage resistance, and purchase specialized tires for different terrains. You can also boost speed to improve torque, making it easier to tackle steep inclines.

What can you tell us about the resource and item management systems in the game, and how they will impact players as they attempt to make their way through increasingly challenging environments?

The game’s focus is largely tactical, where your choices have lasting consequences. At hostels in villages and other rest spots, you can use “planning mode.” Here, you review everything you’ve learned about the upcoming trail, gather items given to you by villagers, discuss the trail with party members, and pack your backpack. For instance, if you know the next trail has plenty of rivers, you can skip packing water, or if it’ll be cold, you might pack extra warmers.

Each new party member expands your backpack capacity, and it’s up to you to decide the best times to rely on each character—after all, you don’t want one to collapse, leaving your party unbalanced. Every character has an active skill, similar to an “attack” in a JRPG, with a cooldown period. For example, the main character can use a sprint skill to run faster without exhausting her legs. Characters also have tactical skills, which require specific items to perform, such as recovery, camping, and fast-forwarding time.

The emphasis is always on planning ahead, rather than scrounging for items mid-trail. There are also “epic trails,” which act as boss fights—demanding real skill from the player to overcome these intense challenges.

You also have a car to assist you on your trails, which you’ll need to upgrade to tackle increasingly challenging roads and offroads as well.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?

For a first-time player aiming to uncover optional content, the game offers around 35 to 40 hours of gameplay, not including trophies. For those attempting a speedrun, it’s closer to 20 hours.

Do you eventually also intend to bring the game to the Switch (or perhaps the upcoming Switch successor)?

It’s been very challenging to optimize the game for PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, and especially Xbox Series S due to memory limitations. A company called Kyoday is handling these ports, and they’ve been fantastic to work with. Right now, the focus is on these platforms, and depending on the game’s reception, we’ll consider additional platforms in the future.

"To maintain the pacing and keep players immersed, Albatroz combines different gameplay elements that all point in the same direction under one unified theme."

As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?

Ivaylo Koralsky (Co-Founder, Co-CEO of Kyoday): Since we received the PS5 Pro devkits late in the porting process, we didn’t have extensive time for working on PS5 Pro support. However, we managed to create a specific visual profile for the PS5 Pro, featuring enhanced draw distance and improved shadows. The PS5 Pro can also reach 4K resolution, compared to 1440p on the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Additionally, while other consoles rely on basic upscaling technology like TAAU, the PS5 Pro uses TSR, which, combined with the higher resolution, results in crisper image quality. In terms of FPS, all major consoles aim for 60FPS, though framerate stability is better on the newer PS5 Pro. For about two weeks we have been experimenting with hardware-based ray tracing (RT) for reflections, ambient occlusion, and shadows. While RT would enhance visual quality, it posed three challenges. First, Albatroz unique visual style meant RT altered the tone too significantly. We communicated our results with Among Giants before making any further decisions. Second, targeting 60FPS with RT would require optimization of nearly every material in the game. Finally, time constraints limited what we could accomplish. Despite not using RT, I believe the game looks excellent on the PS5 Pro

What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?

Koralsky: For Albatroz, we chose not to use PSSR due to time constraints, and the game already renders at a high resolution on the PS5 Pro. However, in another upcoming project with a PS5 Pro update planned, we’re using PSSR, along with ray-traced global illumination, reflections, and ambient occlusion, all while targeting 60FPS in one of the quality modes. PSSR’s superior upscaling, which surpasses FSR and TSR at lower resolutions, enables us to add modern techniques for reflections, lighting, and shadows. That project also includes Virtual Shadow Maps for significantly improved shadow quality, which isn’t available on the base PS5. In terms of quality, PSSR is closer to DLSS3 than FSR2 for example. Foliage movement and color shifting are much improved when using PSSR. As we are talking about an AI-based upscaler, its capabilities will continue to evolve and, I believe, play a significant role in the potential PS6 platform.

What resolution and frame rate will the game target on the PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and on the PS5 Pro (if supported)?

Koralsky: Each version uses upscaling technology along with dynamic resolution scaling (DRS). The PS5 Pro ranges from 1080p to 4K, while the PS5 and Xbox Series X range from 900p to 1440p, and the Xbox Series S from 540p to 900p. Both the PS5 and PS5 Pro, plus Series X target 60FPS, whereas the Series S targets 30FPS.

Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror puts players into the broken mind of once-celebrated singer Eliza de Moor. Eliza is now trapped within a labyrinth made of her own forgotten memories, and has no other choice but to make use of Doctor Stern’s experimental medicine.

As Eliza, players will be able to explore two different worlds—reality and a strange, horrifying world behind a broken mirror. As Eliza makes her way through this harrowing journey, she will be faced with many challenges, including hordes of horrific dolls that watch her every move, and even puzzles scattered throughout the game’s worlds.

Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. While it doesn’t yet have a solid release date, the game is set to come out later this year.

Charon’s Staircase is a mystery game that tasks players—as an agent codenamed Desmond—with retrieving and destroying classified documents from the site of a long-dead totalitarian regime.

As players explore the Oack Grove estate, they will discover all the horrors that took place in the past, and ultimately will discover Project Alpha.

The game is set in the 1970s, and its primary location—Oack Grove—is inspired by the atmosphere of the 70s Central European era. This, of course, means technology that was largely built during a time of great division in Europe owing to the Cold War.

Gameplay in Charon’s Staircase will largely revolve around exploration and puzzle solving throughout Oack Grove. Players will also have to work hard to uncover the secrets of Project Alpha.

Omen of Sorrow is a unique fighting game. Utilizing a four button layout, the game has been exclusive to consoles since its initial 2018 release. Now it seems more people will get a chance to play the fantasy-infused fighter, as it will have a PC release soon.

The game draws inspiration from various myths as well as legendary literary figures like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster and Mr. Hyde. It features a complete Online Mode featuring ranked and casual play, where you can create lobbies with custom rules. It also has a full Story Mode that includes over 200 in-game rewards.

The PC version will come via the Epic Games Store, and will be exclusive to that storefront. It’s available for pre-order now, which you can check out here. No release date was detailed.

Omen of Sorrow is available now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with the PC version coming later. You can check out our interview with some of the game’s developers to see what the game’s all about.

The upcoming Dollhouse will see an open beta on Steam from April 12^th at 7:00 am ET to April 17^th at 10:00 am ET. Any interested users will be able to sign up and get into the beta one day sooner. You can see details on how to sign up here, as well as links to the developer’s various social media to follow the game.

The beta will include two chapters of the single player component, which follows the story of Marie, once known as “The Greatest Detective in the World,” suffering from amnesia as she’s seemingly trapped in the sinister Dollhouse where all the doors are locked and clocks have stopped. She mentally battles personas in her mind as she tries to escape and reclaim her memories, including the truth about what happened to her deceased daughter, Emily.

The beta will feature not only two chapters of the single player, but also two maps from the multiplayer, where up to eight players can try and hunt each other down. Dollhouse will release on PlayStation 4 and PC on May 24^th (as of now there are only plans for a PC beta).

The high speed racing game, Xenon Racer, released last month, but developer 3DClouds.it and publisher Soedesco are already at work on post-launch content not long after release. The updates in question will feature new tracks, cars and upgrades for your already souped up hybrid car.

There will be three rounds of updates to the game, with May, June, and July each seeing one being rolled out. May will see the developers adding three new tracks and one new car to the game, June will bring the addition of new car upgrades, while July will bring an additional four new tracks, and one more new car.

Xenon Racer is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC, with the first of the free updates scheduled to hit in May. You can look at the full contents of the update below. Meanwhile, to get more information on the game, make sure to read our recent interview with the game’s developers through here.

"We looked at many titles for inspiration, however our true inspiration came from classic arcade racers such as Ridge Racer or Outrun. "

Will Xenon Racer have any specific gameplay mechanics in place that take advantage of its futuristic setting?

Yes, we have the ERS, energy recovery system. Drifting along the track you can gain extra energy and charge the boost batteries, once fully charged you can unleash the full boost reaching incredible speeds of up to 450 km/h!

Given the game’s futuristic setting, there are bound to be comparisons with the likes of Wipeout and F-Zero. Have you looked at those games for any sort of inspiration?

We looked at many titles for inspiration, including these, however our true inspiration came from classic arcade racers such as Ridge Racer or Outrun. As our game is set in the near future it features futuristic wheel-based cars not yet flying cars and so the look and feel of the game is not so far away from today’s reality.

Will there be multiplayer or online options in Xenon Racer?

Yes, split-screen multiplayer and online racing is a must. A lot of recent titles for whatever reason have forgotten about split screen, this is something in particular that we wanted to set right. Online and multiplayer will be available for all platforms (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One & Steam). We have further developed our online model for which we are very happy with the results, our latest version includes several improvements such as matchmaking, ranking etc.

You’ve revealed that players will be racing across futuristic versions of cities like Tokyo and Dubai. Can you tell us how many locations the game will have in total?

There are seven locations in total, with over 40 tracks to race. The locations are Tokyo, Dubai, the Côte d’Azur in France, Lake Louise in Canada, Boston, Miami, and Shanghai.

"For us arcade means just that; arcade, easy to play and lots of fun."

Will there be any customization options for the cars in Xenon Racer? If yes, can you speak to the nature of these options?

In Xenon Racer the modifications are at an advanced level. You can customise everything from colour to models to materials and performance. You can spend hours upon hours experimenting which set up or car best suits each track. The layout of every track has been deliberately designed to be as diverse as possible, and as each car has different characteristics, you will have to race with different cars and set ups if you want to achieve the best lap times.

Sound design and music are often considered to be very important parts of futuristic racers. How does Xenon Racer handle these?

A lot of research was done here as obviously futuristic sounds are anyone’s guess. The fact that our cars are electric made it even more difficult. We watched several films and played various games in order to get this right. Regarding the sound track, we’ve invested a lot of time and resources for this and a press release will be winging its way very soon on this very subject.

Can players expect to see different kinds of races and events? The likes of time trials and one on ones, maybe, but perhaps some stuff that leverages the game’s futuristic setting?

The game has a very articulated and intense career mode, but you can also play classic arcade modes such as checkpoint attack, time attack, etc.

Have you decided yet how many vehicles there will be in Xenon Racer’s roster?

Yes, but again this is something that we will share later on. Inventing futuristic cars was more difficult than we thought and that’s why we decided to engage such an important vehicle designer as Marcello Raeli.

The arcade racing genre has sadly seen a significant decrease in popularity in recent years, in spite of the fact that over the years it’s provided us with some of the best racing games ever made. Is this a space that you’re looking to fill, and do you have anything to say about the current state and the future of arcade racers?

For us arcade means just that; arcade, easy to play and lots of fun. Sticking to the true nature of arcade and not trying to do too much is fundamental, otherwise you end up with something that is not arcade – you must be true to the genre. Speed and technique without too many set up issues is the key. With Xenon Racer, at first it seems difficult, but very quickly you improve and once you learn the tracks you can reach amazing speeds and have superb fun. Arcade means fun, it can’t be too serious.

"When Switch first launched it gave some superb opportunities to indie developers as the platform needed titles, indeed Nintendo itself for the first time encouraged indie development."

As an indie developer, what’s your view on the Nintendo Switch, which seems to have become a haven for smaller indie titles since its launch?

When Switch first launched it gave some superb opportunities to indie developers as the platform needed titles, indeed Nintendo itself for the first time encouraged indie development. For Xenon Racer we thought it could potentially be a perfect fit for the Nintendo audience as there are not many arcade racers available. 3DClouds was also one of the first studios in the world to develop and offer online gameplay for Switch with our first title All-Star Fruit Racing.

Will the game will feature Xbox One X specific enhancements? What can players expect if they are playing the game on Xbox One X? Is 4K/60fps on the cards?

Yes, it’s all there, the game is simply superb on the Xbox One X!

And how will the PS4 Pro version turn out in terms of resolution and frame rate?

Again, the game looks and plays superbly on the PS4 Pro up there with the Xbox One X.

From a development perspective, how do you find the Xbox One X to be and how do you compare it with the PS4 Pro?

We are lucky enough to have great programmers that can handle anything, both are amazing devices and the difference is minimal.

How is the game running on the original Xbox One and PS4, frame rate and resolution wise?

The game is running well, but this did involve a massive amount of work to get it to where we wanted it to be. We really worked hard to get this right and our QA team did a great job in not accepting anything that wasn’t perfect.  The trick was to be as efficient with resources as possible, so our artists and programmers had to be as disciplined as possible. It became a great learning process and something that we will reap the benefits of with our future titles.

"The game is simply superb on the Xbox One X!"

And the frame rate and resolution while the game is running in docked and undocked modes on Switch?

This is something that we will provide information on in future press releases.

Next gen is coming sooner or later. From a development perspective, what is your biggest expectation from PS5 and Xbox Scarlett?

To be perfectly honest the most important thing for us as a software studio is the quality of our games. Of course we must be aligned but a new gen platform should only be seen as an opportunity.

What would we like to see improved? Games are getting bigger and bigger so obviously loading times – anything that can be done to reduce these is always welcome both for studios and the end user.

What is your take on the ongoing drama of loot boxes and microtransactions?

As a player I don’t like them and agree with a lot of the feedback. One strange thing is however that only certain titles have been caught up or singled out in this drama, other titles just as big have the same monetization strategies but have been overlooked. As a studio we don’t have any intentions to use loot boxes.

Owlboy is one of the most critically acclaimed platformers of the last few years. Developed over the course of ten years, the game launched on PC in 2016, and received rave acclaim. It’s also getting a console release at last next week, releasing on Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.

But if you would rather own a physical copy of the game, then the good news is you will get the chance to do so- at least, if you are on the PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Because developer D-Pad Studios and publisher Soedesco announced today that the game will be getting a physical release on those platforms.

In a statement, Soedesco expressed excitement at the prospect of Owlboy‘s physical release on Switch, since this actually marks the first physical Switch game from them. “We’ve had to keep quiet about this for some time, but now I can finally announce our first physical Switch game! Owlboy is a really great title to start off our Switch line-up with, but we’ve certainly got more coming up,” they said.

If you want the physical release of the game, you don’t have to wait for long, because Owlboy will be out physically on Nintendo Switch and PS4 on May 29; if you don’t want to wait, you can get it on PC now, and on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PS4 starting next week.