The tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and one of the most popular collectible card games ever have more in common than many realize. Magic: The Gathering likely would not even exist without D&D, as it originated from a very specific idea that every role player would likely know.
Why would Magic: The Gathering not have existed without D&D? The creator of Magic: The Gathering, Richard Garfield, was himself an avid D&D player and was heavily inspired by pen-and-paper role-playing games in his concept.
His original vision for Magic was a compact card game that could be played like a mini-game ideally during the breaks of long D&D sessions. Or also as a bridge between sessions when no appointment could be arranged for the entire group – a situation that many role players are all too familiar with.
This close connection is still evident today: both games share many fantasy elements – such as well-known creatures like dragons, goblins, and elves, classic spells like Fireball, or overarching themes like magic and adventure. D&D had already established a large fantasy community in the 80s and 90s, which provided the ideal breeding ground for the success of Magic.
Without the fantasy culture shaped by D&D, the rise of Magic would hardly be imaginable – an influence that is still reflected today in crossovers of the two games, but they also have more in common than many would assume.
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Magic The Gathering: The 3 Most Expensive Cards by Highest Sale Value
The “Planes” as a Basis for Crossover
What connects Magic and D&D aside from the origin story and community? As both Magic and D&D are brands of the company Wizards of the Coast, there have been efforts for years to more closely integrate the two franchises. A significant touchpoint of both games is the so-called “Planes” (or “Layers”) in the lore of Magic.
They represent entire, self-contained realities or universes, often referred to as “worlds.” Each plane is a self-contained world with its unique geography, ecology, society, history, and often specific magical laws.
These planes are separated by the so-called Blind Eternities, a chaotic, empty space that is deadly and impassable for ordinary mortals.
In the card game, you take on the role of a “Planeswalker,” an extremely powerful mage who collects knowledge, skills, and allies through their travels, and who is able to traverse the Blind Eternities without assistance, thus traveling between the planes. These mages are often involved in multiverse-spanning conflicts and act as protectors (or threats) for the various planes.
In 2021, with “Adventures in the Forgotten Realms”, a card set featuring a D&D plane was released for MTG.
Every card set of MtG (Magic: The Gathering) is set on one of these planes and reflects the respective character of the represented world. Meanwhile, there are numerous game-specific planes, but also many crossovers with other franchises such as The Lord of the Rings or Final Fantasy, which have found their way in as cards and own planes in Magic.
So too does D&D with the set “Adventures in the Forgotten Realms”, which brings the Forgotten Realms of the tabletop into the card game as a plane set, or the matching sets for the game Baldur’s Gate 3, which also finds its place in D&D. But Magic has also now become inseparable from the multiverse of D&D, so that many “worlds” are now shared.
How does Magic reappear in D&D? To enable Magic fans who are also D&D players to use planes as settings for their campaigns in DnD with the rules of the 5th edition, Wizards of the Coast has repeatedly published PDF guides named “Plane Shift” for various planes of MtG since 2016. The different planes include, for example:
Dominaria (via WotC): One of the oldest and most central planes in MtG, considered a sort of “fantasy standard” and home to many iconic characters and conflicts.
Zendikar (via WotC): A wild, adventurous world full of floating islands, ancient ruins, and the devastating Eldrazi titans.
Innistrad (via WotC): A gothic horror world inhabited by vampires, werewolves, zombies, and witches.
Kaladesh (via WotC): A plane of invention, aether technology, and vibrant metropolises.
Amonkhet (via WotC): An Egyptian-inspired world ruled by a dark god, where death has a different significance.
Ixalan (via WotC): A world full of pirates, vampires, dinosaurs, and strange Aztec/Maya-inspired cultures in search of a golden city.
The name of the PDFs is based on the spell of the same name from D&D, which allows the caster in role-playing to teleport to other planes of existence. Also, the term Planeswalker, which plays a significant role in Magic, finds its place in the lore of the multiverse surrounding Dungeons & Dragons and is used for important figures such as Elminster, Tasha, and Mordenkainen, who also travel between the planes.
In addition, there are now several source and rulebooks that draw on Magic’s planes as campaign settings for D&D, such as Strixhaven (via DnD Beyond), Ravnica (via DnD Beyond), and Theros (via DnD Beyond).
Thus, the multiverse of Dungeons & Dragons has become noticeably intertwined with the lore of Magic, and Magic would certainly not have been as successful today if D&D had not laid the conceptual groundwork.
Dungeons & Dragons is considered the first tabletop role-playing game in the world to be titled as such. Its collectible card game counterpart has meanwhile achieved another special title, as researchers around the globe seem to agree – Magic: The Gathering is the most complex card game in the world: We now know what the most complex game in the world is – and you know it
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The development team of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 shares an early concept image that shows a scene from the beginning of the game. However, this would likely mean that a certain character would not have appeared at all – or at least not so early.
What does the image show? The concept image comes from Art Director Nicho and was created about 3 years ago. On the X account of Clair Obscur, the team shares what the scene should actually look like, in which Maelle is found:
The X post is from the development team of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Accordingly, Maelle would not have been found in the mansion, but in a kind of abandoned house. The image has a strange gravity, as the room is turned upside down and some objects are floating around.
Maelle sits alone by a campfire, in the background you can see a makeshift tent. Gustave stands in the foreground and is just finding his ally. In the end, the scene was altered for the full version of the game, which resulted in the introduction of an important character.
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – JRPG with French Flair has Release Date
Old scene reminds fans of The Last of Us
Who would have been missing? The Curator is an important character in the game who takes on some functions in the camp. He is the one who finds Maelle after the tragedy on the beach and takes her into his care. This is how the player gets to know the Curator for the first time, who becomes even more important later.
It may have been that the development team wanted to introduce the Curator at a later point. However, this would have resulted in a crucial moment being lost, which shows that the Curator is friendly and cares for Maelle’s well-being.
So, if the Curator had existed at all, the group would have encountered him elsewhere, and the bond between them would not have been so clearly established.
What do fans say about this? Some fans feel reminded of The Last of Us by the dystopian setting. Here, a fungus turns humanity into mindless creatures, causing nature to gradually reclaim the planet.
Thus, X users write comments like “The Last of Us: Expedition 33” or “The image looks like a scene from TLoU”. Moreover, there are some fan theories in the comments that contain spoilers.
FromSoftware is the source of the Souls genre, known for releasing masterpieces. Alternatives in the same field are rare, but when they exist, they are very successful. Therefore, we present to you 15 of the best games that serve as alternatives to Dark Souls.
How is the list structured? In our list, we count 15 games from various studios that fall into the same genre as Dark Souls. They are distinguished either by their unique level design, their story, art style, or gameplay feel.
For the list, we made a broad selection in the editorial team, which can be serious, playful, or even mystical. For each game, you will receive a trailer for better visualization as well as a short description to know what makes the game special.
Please feel free to mention Souls-likes in the comments that we may have missed but should belong on the list. If you want to skim through the list, you can quickly jump to the individual games that interest you using our directory.
What makes the game special? Nioh 2 is a dynamic action-RPG with Souls elements. You take on the role of a demon hunter. The setting for your battles is the Sengoku era in Japan – many bloody battles and intrigues have marked the land, and where there is turmoil, the Yokai are not far behind. These Japanese mythical creatures represent your main enemies, as they pollute the land and cause trouble.
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Nioh – Trailer for the Dark Souls Alternative by Koei Tecmo
What sets Nioh 2 apart is primarily its dynamic combat system, as you can choose from countless weapon types and three different stances to vary your combos.
Additionally, the game offers an extensive character creator, an encyclopedia with entries of defeated Yokai, countless bosses, and a co-op mode in case you have trouble defeating one or more bosses. One might say Nioh 2 is the more agile Dark Souls with a focus on Japanese folklore.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Patch 11.1.5 was not exactly a highlight for Blizzard. False expectations and long waiting times ruined the update of World of Warcraft.
Patch 11.1.5 will likely not be remembered as the most popular patch by the players of World of Warcraft. The major features were not available at launch, and the only new event, the Nightfall event, was full of bugs and problems in the first few days.
This led to a sad realization: It is patch day, but there is nothing to do. And what there is to do does not work.
In an interview with the colleagues from PCGamer, game director Ion Hazzikostas talked about how several aspects of patch 11.1.5 were poorly received and what the developers can learn from it for the future.
Time-Gating as a good idea with false expectations
The biggest annoyance is probably the time-gating with which new content was released. Even though the “Disturbing Visions” were advertised as the highlight of the patch, they were not available at launch – they only came the Wednesday after, several weeks post patch release. Hazzikostas commented:
Our thinking was: Hey, it would be better for everyone and your time management – considering the season is 8 weeks old and many are still running dungeons and raids – if we don’t flood you with all the content at once and spread it out a bit so that each [piece of content] can breathe a little and have its moment.
Understandably, players are used to the patch day being the day when everything is released. We’re hearing that feedback loud and clear. It’s very likely that we didn’t hit the balance this time and that too much was delayed and not enough was available at launch.
Especially this perception of time-gating could be addressed with simple measures. Instead of cramming 3 features into patch 11.1.5 and then distributing them over several months, one could have simply released 3 smaller patches (i.e., 11.1.5, 11.1.6, and 11.1.7) at intervals of 3-4 weeks each. Each of these smaller patches could then have contained one of the features. The release speed would be the same, but the impact on the player base would be entirely different.
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WoW admits: When it comes to housing, it was inspired by WildStar
Bugs and errors spoil the fun
However, this would probably exacerbate another problem. Time and again, bugs or errors slip through quality control. Or old bugs that were thought to be fixed sneak into a new patch. This is partly because WoW is working on several updates at the same time.
A few problems came together. We fixed [bugs] in the last week of 11.1 and during that time we already finalized patch 11.1.5. We have processes in place to carry over these [bug fixes], so that the changes remain. It gets tricky when sometimes multiple changes are made to the same file in patch 11.1.5 and then there’s a conflict that is thorny and difficult to resolve. It is our job to resolve that, but for players it looks like: “How could that be bugged?” This is due to some challenging data conflicts.
You can never achieve perfection with a game like World of Warcraft. But the goal is for the number of known (relevant) bugs to get smaller each time, ideally in a low single-digit range.
The issues with the Nightfall event, which could not be completed due to bugs in the first days, are something we need to improve on. We fixed it as quickly as we could, but understandably this is not the experience we had intended. This is not the experience our player base expects and deserves when they log in on a patch day eager to test the new content.
Many also suspect that the fixed patch rhythm of 8 weeks leads to more and more bugs slipping through because the developers have such a tight schedule. However, Hazzikostas denies this. He says:
If there is an update that we know has still difficult issues, we will not release it just to maintain the 8-week rhythm. We never want to deliberately release something of low quality.
This puts World of Warcraft in a rather absurd situation. For even though the last small patches at release all had annoyances that spoil the fun, WoW is probably doing better than it has in a long time. Many agree that The War Within is the best expansion in a long time, and many things have changed for the better. The progress system, the war host, the increased focus on class fantasy with the hero talents, and the significantly better presented story than in Shadowlands.
Actually, World of Warcraft is doing well and even a look into the future is promising – after all, next up is Legion Remix and the great housing system. However, if the patches would already work properly on day 1, this first impression would not be ruined time and time again.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Warhammer 40,000 takes place in the 41st millennium and delivers unimaginable technologies. However, one thing is missing that is already a part of our daily life today: artificial intelligence. Why is that? The reason is exactly what critics are currently fearing.
The world of Warhammer 40,000 is significantly more advanced. There are towering battle suits and genetically modified supersoldiers, space travel, and space magic. With such a technically advanced state, AI should be much better, right?
Theoretically yes, but still, there is no artificial intelligence in Warhammer 40,000 anymore, at least not in the Imperium (and not officially). The reason is exactly what some people already fear today: a machine rebellion.
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The Tech-Priests of the Future: This is the Adeptus Mechanicus in Warhammer 40,000
In Warhammer 40,000, what Arnie warns us of in Terminator has happened
Already today, progress carries a certain danger. Some people, and even experts, fear that AI will eventually become too powerful and displace humanity. There are even users who politely say “please” and “thank you” to ChatGPT – out of fear.
The Terminator films are older, but they show what can happen in a machine rebellion: humanity is (almost) completely destroyed. Warhammer 40,000 had this scenario too, but much earlier than the current state of lore.
Roughly between the years 15,000 and 25,000 was the Dark Age of Technology, well before the Imperium of Man was even founded. Humanity was supposedly at the peak of its technological knowledge. During this time, two new “races” were created:
The Men of Stone, or Stone Men, were a smaller species with high technical knowledge and mechanical abilities, ideal tinkerers and engineers.
The Men of Steel, or Iron Men, were machines created by the Men of Stone with a consciousness – robots with AI that could develop independently.
In the 23rd millennium, the “cybernetic uprising” occurred. The Iron Men rebelled against their creators, the reasons for which are speculated. The most likely reason is that AI calculated that a connection with the Chaos was the most efficient, leading to a corruption of the machines.
The ensuing war nearly exterminated humanity and is considered even more destructive than the Great Brother War, the “Horus Heresy,” which took place in the 30th millennium.
Involuntary Cyborgs instead of artificial intelligence
As a result of the cybernetic uprising, artificial intelligence was eventually banned, even before there was an Imperium. The Emperor only united humanity at the end of the 30th millennium.
However, humanity did not refrain from using machines for help. The alternative is just as brutal as you would expect from Warhammer. Instead of using artificial intelligence, from this point on, humans are simply transformed into machines. And literally.
The human brain then serves to control without independent will. There are rumors that some servitors are still quite conscious and exist in a constant state of helplessness, suffering, and pain because they have no control over their own body.
Artificial intelligence, however, has not completely disappeared. What the Adeptus Mechanicus today reveres as “machine spirits” is most likely a remnant of artificial intelligence in machines.
Unlike the AI of the past, which is now referred to as “Abominable Intelligence”, machine spirits can no longer develop and improve independently. However, they can certainly become corrupted and rebel, which is why the Tech-Priests continually appease them with rituals.
For some time now, there has been “real” artificial intelligence again, and it is even most likely the same as the one that rebelled back then. The conglomerates of Votann were recently discovered.
If anyone has the financial means and the synergies to shake up the video game market, it is Amazon. Despite great efforts, the gaming division of the global corporation has yet to land a sustainable hit. MeinMMO highlights past, present, and upcoming projects from Amazon Games.
The Amazon Game Studios has been around for a while. Since August 7, 2012, to be precise. A year earlier, the Amazon Appstore was already opened, and first developers were hired to work on mobile games. Indeed, a few smaller games like the social game “Living Classics” for Facebook and the mobile experience “The Unmaking” were released in the following years.
But that was only the beginning. On September 30, 2016, the people in charge revealed that they had bigger plans and wanted to invest much more energy and time into game development in the future. Amazon also had several announcements to underscore these ambitions:
the MMORPG New World
the 4vs4 “sport brawler” Breakaway
the multiplayer survival sandbox shooter Crucible
What stands out immediately: The focus has been on service games from the very beginning, which can ideally build and retain communities for years.
[toc]
The cinematic trailer for New World from 2021:
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New World reveals a new cinematic trailer for gameplay
All beginnings are hard
Today we know: Sentence with x. That was probably nothing. Breakaway never released and Crucible had such a catastrophic launch that Amazon sent the shooter back into beta, only to ultimately shut down the servers for good here as well.
That it looked significantly better for New World at launch, we certainly don’t need to tell you. 913,634 concurrent players on Steam(DB) is a historic figure, ranking it at number 11 in the all-time charts.
However, this number rather reflects how eager genre enthusiasts were in 2021 for a new, ambitious MMORPG from a Western studio. The last online RPGs of this nature came out in 2014 (Wildstar and The Elder Scrolls Online).
Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic benefited many online games. Furthermore, Amazon excelled at utilizing its own Twitch synergies to build tremendous hype through various streamers and fuel it with great trailers. You can read more about it here:
Despite the strong start and the surely high revenues thanks to the Buy2Play model at launch, it’s hard to describe New World as a sustainable hit. Quickly, numerous problems of the online RPG came to light. Player numbers dropped faster than the popularity ratings of Friedrich Merz.
On Steam, there were only 10,000 concurrent players as recently as March 2025 (via steamdb.info). That’s a fraction of the then-peak.
The gameplay trailer for New World Aeternum:
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New World Aeternum: Well-Staged Gameplay Trailer for Launch
The biggest problem of New World that still affects the quality of the game today: The developers made a devastating beginner’s mistake in their first major AAA project and changed the focus midway through production from survival and PvP to a theme park framework with quests, PvE challenges, and more story content.
However, the remaining time was too short to fill the vast world with enjoyable quests and to adapt all planned systems and content accordingly. Instead, there were cookie-cutter tasks. And PvE group content that didn’t fit well with the combat system. Overall, the content, systems, and mechanics resembled a wild patchwork quilt.
Why did this happen? Well, developing an MMORPG is a different ball game than working on most other genres. Online RPGs are large, complex, and expensive.
Even experienced studios have only been able to launch smoothly and promptly trigger the content pipeline for regular content replenishment in exceptional cases – and they didn’t change the focus of the game midway through development. Amazon Games would have needed much more time to turn New World into a fully realized MMORPG after the switch.
It continues on the next page with the current balance as a developer, with the work as a publisher, and with future projects from Amazon Games.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Middle-earth, there are numerous dangerous creatures, including dragons. Most of them do not appear in Peter Jackson’s movies, but they are legendary and feared in the lore. Which one is the strongest?
How was the ranking created? No one needs to explain that dragons are terrifying and very dangerous creatures. Anyone who faces them should be well prepared. For this list, we looked at the dragons from Middle-earth that were mentioned by J.R.R. Tolkien himself and for which there is substantial information.
Some dragons were only mentioned by name, making it difficult to compare them. Therefore, this list only counts the four specimens that were addressed by the head of Middle-earth himself in his texts.
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Trailer for the sequel to “The Hobbit”: The Desolation of Smaug
As always, the placements are purely subjective and reflect the author’s opinion. If your personal ranking differs, feel free to let us know in the comments.
Scatha was a dragon who, due to his appearance, also had nicknames like “Wurm” or “Lindwurm”. He lived in the north of Middle-earth, near the Ered Mithrin mountains.
He was feared among the local peoples. Scatha turned against the dwarves and killed many of them. Over time, he amassed a great treasure, similar to Smaug.
Although the dragon was very strong and powerful, and defeated many who sought to rob him of his treasure, he ultimately died. The man Fram, prince of the Éothéod, from which later the people of Rohan arose, killed the Lindworm. After his victory, he refused to return the treasures to the dwarves. The horn of the mark, a part of Scatha’s treasure, became particularly famous, which was later passed on by Éowyn to the hobbit Merry.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Many young people are increasingly focusing on the so-called “chocolate principle” when planning their careers, as an expert explains. Employers can’t really understand this.
The cover image is a symbolic image.
What is the chocolate principle and why do young people follow it? The chocolate principle refers to enjoying one’s career in pieces. According to Franz Kühmayer, a future of work expert, many young people seem to follow this principle and leave their companies even when everything is fine there. This is difficult for many employers to understand, he explains in an interview with BuzzFeed News Germany.
He sees a major reason for this in a high desire for flexibility and self-determination, but also in the wish for constantly new experiences. In the past, people tended to follow the “chimney principle” and enter companies, staying there for a long time to build a career.
Especially in the USA, this is a serious trend, but this tendency is also noticeable in Germany. Many young people are therefore self-employed or are working as freelancers alongside their permanent employment. However, this can have negative consequences, as the expert clarifies.
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In Germany, there are over 400 USB sticks protruding from walls – What is the ‘Dead Drops’ project?
A High Desire for Flexibility with Consequences
What are the consequences of this behavior? In Germany, the number of solo self-employed people has been relatively constant at a share of between 3 and 4% for the past 30 years. Nevertheless, in his opinion, the need for professional security is still high. However, the dream of entrepreneurship is rising among young people, especially fueled by social media.
However, they often present a distorted image and convey the impression that with the right idea, one can achieve quick wealth and work from anywhere they want. While this can happen in individual cases, the reality is rather that it comes with many overtime hours and especially financial uncertainty. This leads many young self-employed individuals to quickly fall into difficult financial and social situations.
Is returning from self-employment a problem? The expert sees no problem anymore in returning to an employment relationship nowadays. He points out that former self-employed individuals were previously considered unstable, and there was concern that they would quickly disappear again. Today, however, regular changes are normal, making this issue obsolete.
On the contrary, self-employment is now even viewed more positively in a CV. Companies should therefore respond to the desire for independence and flexibility and provide their employees with the opportunity for freelance work or offer them more independence in other ways.
Amazon Prime does not only have “The Rings of Power”. If one wants to dedicate themselves to a series, they can also do so with “The Wheel of Time”. At least for three seasons. Now it is clear: There will not be more.
Why will there not be more seasons? As deadline.com reports, the responsible parties at Amazon Prime are canceling the fantasy series. On April 17, the finale of season 3 just premiered. There will not be a fourth season. According to the report, the decision is based solely on financial reasons.
When the series premiered in 2021 with star Rosamund Pike, it celebrated the strongest series launch for Amazon Prime of the year. Even now, it still belongs to the “Top 5 launches of all time” on Amazon’s streaming platform.
One of the trailers for the series adaptation of “The Wheel of Time”:
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The Wheel of Time – Trailer zur Fantasy-Serie auf Amazon Prime
AAA role-playing game instead of series
What do I need to know about “The Wheel of Time”? The popular book series is by Robert Jordan, which was completed by Brandon Sanderson after his death. With 15 volumes (plus various companion novels and prequels), 4,410,036 words of content, and 2,750 named characters, this is one of the most extensive works in fantasy and literary history.
In the world of “The Wheel of Time”, there is magic, but not everyone can use it. A sorceress takes 5 young people under her wing and embarks on a dangerous journey that influences the fate of the world.
The franchise surrounding Warhammer 40,000 enjoys enormous popularity like never before. So much so that the company behind it pays its employees a pile of money as a bonus.
How much does Games Workshop pay its employees? In recent years, the popularity of the Warhammer franchise has steadily grown. So much so that Warhammer owner Games Workshop is now again financially involving its employees in the growth and paying them a bonus, as the company recently shared in its “Full Year Trading Update“.
“In recognition of the contributions of their employees to these results” they would have made cash payments of approximately £20 million throughout the year in the form of corporate profit shares. These will be paid in cash in equal parts to all employees. In comparison, approximately £18 million was distributed to employees in the year 2023/2024.
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Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy in the Announcement Trailer
The focus on licenses as a major factor
How much has profit from the franchise grown? The company from Nottingham, UK, which is behind the licenses and tabletop games of Warhammer, announced that the core revenue for the 52 weeks ending on June 1, 2025, was £560 million, compared to £494.7 million in the previous period.
Licensing revenues amounted to £50 million, compared to £31 million in 2024. The core profit stands at £210 million, compared to £174.8 million, and the licensing profit at £45 million, compared to £27 million. This corresponds to a profit of £255 million before tax, compared to £203 million in the previous year.
A significant part of the growth is mainly attributed to Games Workshop’s focus on licensing. These have reached record levels during the reported period and are expected to remain an important focus area in the future. However, it is not expected that this growth will be repeated in the years 2025/2026.
In the horror movie Alien, the Xenomorph first made its debut. This extraterrestrial threat later became one of the most famous film monsters of all time, especially due to the design that has taken many forms over time.
What is the Xenomorph? Alien: The Eerie Being from Another World was released in 1979. In the sci-fi horror film by Ridley Scott, the crew of the spaceship Nostromo encounters an unknown organism that kills almost all the ship’s passengers. The uniqueness of it is that it evolves as a parasite.
Only in the second part in 1986 by James Cameron titled Aliens: The Return did the creature get a name: Xenomorph. The name is derived from the Greek word Xenos, meaning stranger and Morphḗ, which can be translated as shape (via jgeekstudies.org).
The films were a success and by 2025 not only 9 films featuring the Alien had been released, but also games, comics, and other works. In 2025, the first series for the franchise titled Alien: Earth will also be released. The Xenomorph has taken various forms and designs, but none is as iconic as the first. This is mainly due to an artist from Switzerland.
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Alien – The Resurrection – Trailer for the Alien Finale with Sigourney Weaver and Ron Perlman
A macabre artist created a unique being
How was the design of the Xenomorph created? To design the Xenomorph, they turned to the unusual artist Hans Rudolf Giger. The Swiss was especially known for his provocative and macabre art that combined the mechanical with the organic (via awberyart.com).
Giger was to draw inspiration for the Alien from his previous work Necronom IV. On Arthiv, you can see the painting that clearly resembles the Xenomorph.
As in his previous works, the design plays not only with strange aspects of insects and reptiles, but also with humanoid, almost human nuances. A sexual aspect in the form of phallic symbolism can also be found in the Xenomorph.
But Giger did not only design the adult form of the Xenomorph. He also created the egg and the monster that comes from the chest. Giger first developed concept sketches before modeling the Xenomorph itself. He used organic and mechanical parts in line with his works (via YouTube).
Based on this, Italian special effects designer Carlo Rambaldi then developed the film props and costumes for the Xenomorph and its evolutionary stages. He built 5 different alien heads, most of which used the shape of a human skull with 900 movable parts as a base.
One of the scariest and most interesting film monsters was born.
How does the Xenomorph live? For a good design to be truly effective, it must make sense in the fictional world. This is why the Xenomorph has a life cycle that can already be seen in the first film. The life of a Xenomorph begins as Ovomorph.
This is a type of egg produced by the Alien queen or through metamorphosis with hosts. It can wait several years until it hatches, and when new hosts are nearby, the inside becomes active and the Facehugger hatches. The Facehugger is a crab-like creature with a long tail. It jumps onto the face of a victim, wraps around the neck, and implants the Xenomorph embryo in the body of the victim.
Inside the host’s body, the Xenomorph then grows until it forcefully frees itself from the body. Hence the name Chestburster. The parasitic cycle is described by Muafar Riyaz in his work on jgeekstudies.org as follows: This initial stage of the life cycle sets the tone for the parasitic nature of the Xenomorph and its ability to exploit and manipulate other life forms for its own survival.
Although it has a different color, it already resembles the Xenomorph strongly in body structure. It grows and quickly develops into the classic Xenomorph from the first part, which actually represents only a drone in the Alien universe. But that is quite dangerous, not only because it can evolve so quickly.
How does the Xenomorph act? The Xenomorph has a natural urge to hunt, which it follows without hesitation. As a perfect organism, it can adapt to any situation and also use the advantages of its surroundings.
In the first film, you can see how the Xenomorph hides in the corridors of the Nostromo, patiently waiting for its prey and striking strategically. Additionally, it seems to possess a certain form of intelligence, allowing it to learn.
The insidious thing about the Xenomorph is that it does not hunt to kill or feed; it hunts to renew its life cycle. Its victims are ideally intended to be captured and serve as eggs for new Facehuggers.
Although the Xenomorph fights from the shadows, sequels of Alien show that it can indeed hunt and act in groups. Like with ants or bees, there is also a hierarchy among Xenomorphs.
Throughout the film series, you encounter further forms of the Xenomorph, which we will list here:
In the sequel Aliens, you meet the Xenomorphs that function as soldiers. They have a slightly different design and fight in groups against the marines.
In the same film, the Alien queen is also presented. She is not only at the top of the hierarchy, but also extremely dangerous in combat and relevant for the reproduction of the aliens.
In Alien 3, you see a quadrupedal-Xenomorph that behaves like a dog. It appears after animals have been infected by the Facehugger. One can assume that the host has an influence on the development of the Xenomorph.
In Alien: Resurrection, you see a hybrid-Xenomorph created through genetic manipulation using genes from Ripley and an Alien queen. The design is quite unusual because the alien’s skull is clearly visible and it is covered in slime.
In Prometheus, you see a large tentacle monster called Trilobite that infects a humanoid being (Engineer). From this, a creature emerges that looks like an underdeveloped form of the well-known alien. This is called Deacon. It is unclear whether it is related to the Xenomorph.
In Alien: Covenant, the Bloodburster is shown. Through a type of dust produced by egg sacs, its victims become infected and inside the body, an embryo grows that springs from the body. This results in a Neomorph, which has almost white skin and looks significantly more human than the original Alien.
In the Alien vs. Predator films, you also encounter the Grid, another form of the Xenomorph drone and a hybrid of Predator and Alien.
As hinted in Prometheus and Alien, the Xenomorph was created because the aliens known as Engineers used a bioweapon in a war that was supposed to create creatures to eliminate the population of a planet. The Engineers are also the reason why humans exist.
The Xenomorph evolved into an iconic film monster that has solidified its place in pop culture to this day. A new film in the franchise was released in 2024, and it’s continuing this year. Over the years, however, there have also been absurd crossovers: 5 crossovers with Alien that hardly anyone knows
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The first detailed presentation of Chrono Odyssey is exciting. Many genre fans are even more looking forward to the launch after the shown scenes. However, there is one detail that is not well received.
There are regions from the game world, character selection and creation, battles, menus, time manipulations, various activities, and much more to see. The setting strongly resembles dark fantasy RPGs like Lords of the Fallen. Thanks to Unreal Engine 5, the video promises a visual fireworks display.
Below you will find the trailer for Chrono Odyssey, which prepares you for the upcoming beta in June:
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Chrono Odyssey: Trailer prepares you for the beta in June
“I am excited … let’s go”
How did the community like the video? The new impressions and information about Chrono Odyssey are definitely causing a stir online. Many streamers have already reacted to the video. On Reddit, there are several discussions on the topic, and of course, there is also extensive discussion under the developer interview.
Games-storage writes on Reddit: “Looks like New World on steroids.”
ಠ_ಠ-ಲ6ಬ also draws the comparison to the Amazon MMORPG on YouTube: “I must admit, this looks much better than I initially imagined the combat would be. It looks like they took inspiration from New World regarding weapon swapping and targeting.”
magic_zarap writes on YouTube: “This looks like a better version of New World and I love New World. I am excited … let’s go”
chansteven1480 celebrates the visual splendor on YouTube: “I have been playing MMOs for over 30 years and have never seen such amazing graphics in an MMORPG!”
NivinyaFate summarizes his impression on YouTube: “This sounds more and more like the MMORPG I’ve been wishing for so long. I still have to play it, but the aesthetics and concepts being integrated into the game seem to be exactly what I wanted, but no MMORPG has even come close to achieving it.”
However, there are also players who seem to be particularly bothered by one thing: the weapon swapping in combat. Blepple writes on Reddit: “The weapon swapping is disappointing, it’s never been fun for me.” Matt_37 agrees in his response: “I hate it, this info alone has killed all the hype for me.”
linkfox goes into this further in his comment on Reddit: “In my experience, every game that features weapon swapping ends up being a skill spam fest. You literally use all of your weapon cooldowns, switch it and then use them all again. Guild Wars 2 is better in this regard, but I wasn’t a fan of that system either.”
The team at Sandfall Interactive had always intended to release a DLC for Clair Obscur according to Game Director Gillaume Broche. However, due to the unexpected success, things have changed and need to be reconsidered.
What kind of success did Clair Obscur have? When the game was released on April 24, 2025, even the developers did not expect such success. In a short time, the game sold several million copies and has since received a score of 9.7 / 10 from 13,461 user ratings on Metacritic (as of May 24, 2025, at 10:00 AM).
On Steam, the game is currently rated “Very Positive” with around 95% positive reviews from 64,543 players (as of May 24, 2025, at 10:00 AM). The soundtrack also made a huge impact and set records. In our review, the profound story and innovative gameplay especially shone and have left a mark on our hearts.
However, this success now means that the team of 32+1 developers (the +1 is the dog Monoco, via Reddit) must rethink the DLC they initially planned for the game.
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – JRPG with French Flair has Release Date
“Actually, we always planned to release DLC.”
What does the great success change about the plans? In an interview with the Japanese magazine denfaminicogamer, Game Director Gillaume Broche explained in response to the question of whether there is a possibility that DLCs will be released due to the success, that these plans had always existed:
“Actually, we always planned to release DLC. However, the response has far exceeded our expectations, so we need to rethink our further course of action. Please stay tuned for further updates.”
So it is apparently beyond question that there will be at least one DLC. Only how the developer team wants to approach the topic will be reconsidered due to the unexpected success. It is therefore possible that there will even be several DLCs or particularly large expansions. Everything is currently open.
While ideas and plans for the further course of action are being developed, the team is working hard to optimize the base game before integrating new content (via Washington Post – possibly paywall). They want to deliver the best possible result to the players.
The depths of WoW: The War Within came to the MMORPG to provide players with content that they can master well solo. How well Blizzard’s plan worked is now shown in a report from the community.
What exactly are the depths of WoW? They came with the current expansion The War Within to Azeroth. Behind the feature are instanced mini-dungeons that can be tackled either as a group or solo. You are accompanied by Super Dwarf Brann Bronzebeard, who can take on the role of damage dealer, healer, or tank.
I play solo. For the first time, I have received Mythic level gear through the depths that belongs to the current content. I have never completed a heroic raid; I was always too afraid to tackle Mythic Plus. There has never been a time when my item level and gear were at this level. I love the depths.
One of the trailers for WoW – The War Within:
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Alleria: Light and Shadows – WoW Cinematic to The War Within
“One of the good changes for casuals”
How does the community react to the report? With more than 2,100 upvotes and more than 160 mostly positive comments:
SirePuns also finds the status quo great (via Reddit): “Honestly, I like it this way too. If you want the absolute best stuff, then you visit high keys or mythic raids. But if all you care about is the look of the mythic gear, you can get it nice and slowly through the depths and then turn the gear into set pieces.”
someoneelse2389 also finds this great (via Reddit): “This is one of the good changes for casuals. We get decent gear and the mythic transmog while hardcore players get their better gear and mythic raid rewards.”
zangetsen celebrates on Reddit: “Congratulations, man! I’m really glad that the game finally offers a viable alternative to obtain reasonably competitive item level. Between depths […], time-walking chest and vault, players can make progress solo, and that’s a nice thing.”
MeinMMO demon Cortyn played Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. We reveal what the game is worth in this article, without spoiling too much.
After I finally had enough of Clair Obscur Expedition 33, it was time for another game. Something calmer. Something that had been on my list since its announcement, but that I had avoided because it was not “finished”.
However, a few weeks ago, the second “episode” of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage was released, making the game now complete. So I dove in, and I have to say: Man, I missed that.
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Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Release trailer of the emotional game
What is Lost Records? Lost Records is a new franchise from Don’t Nod. You have probably heard the name, as they are the original creative minds behind the first “Life is Strange” titles until it was taken over by Deck Nine Games.
Bloom & Rage is the first game in this franchise, but the developers want to create a whole new world that tells a story over several games.
I knew relatively little about Bloom & Rage beforehand. Aside from an initial teaser trailer, I hadn’t engaged with the game at all and want to make it clear:
Not knowing anything about the game is definitely a good thing. The less you know, the more the game can surprise you.
If that doesn’t scare you off (I know you!), I will now go into more detail about why I enjoyed my time with Bloom & Rage so much.
The 4 girls quickly become friends – and then form a pact.
From Insignificance to Horror Thriller
The story of Bloom & Rage starts very gently and slowly.
You are Swann, a middle-aged woman returning to her hometown after 27 years. An old friend has reached out. She received a package addressed to their friend group from back then – and that is concerning. She doesn’t dare to open the package alone because she wanted to forget the events of that time. So she gathers all the friends again to meet and process the experiences of the past.
Then you take on the role of 16-year-old Swann in 1995. Swann is not like the other girls. She feels out of place and is not particularly social. She also has weight issues, which affect her self-esteem.
However, what Swann loves is her camera. She basically always has it with her and films everything that comes in front of her lens. Whether it’s graffiti, animals in the wild, or simply beautiful panoramas that she discovers in her daily life.
Many details can only be found with careful observation.
This camera is a central gameplay element. Because you can record small clips of around 10 seconds at almost any opportunity and save them, while you control the camera yourself, rotating, zooming in, and determining the recording. Multiple clips can then be combined into a short video in which Swann shares her thoughts – about her cat, her place of residence, or her room.
As a little bonus: Those who actively experienced 1995 will find here a time travel experience that is simply nostalgic. From Tamagotchis to edible sugar bracelets or “Grow your crystals” sets in children’s rooms. The attention to detail is splendid, and anyone over 30 is likely to feel younger during that exact timeframe.
Swann is about to move away from her hometown, which is why she is collecting memories once more. But when she is taking shots of the video rental store (video rental stores, who remembers them?), she is confronted. A young woman thinks Swann is a stalker secretly filming her. This, in turn, brings her boyfriend into play, who wants to drive away the “perverse stalker” (us!).
Too many drugs? Or something magical?
One thing leads to another, and from this situation, Swann becomes part of a friendly group. By the side of Autumn, Kat, and Nora, she spends her last days in her hometown and wants to capture as many memories as possible.
But something is not right. In the first hours, you notice that your camera sometimes behaves strangely. Some subjects just can’t be filmed properly, and there are disturbances. And then there is this old mineworker’s cabin in the woods that seems abandoned for years and yet would be the perfect secret hideout for the girls…
Without going into too much spoiler-filled detail: Something mystical is occurring in this forest. The boundaries between illusion, imagination, and actual magic seem to blur as the girls form a pact in the woods that will determine the further course of the game’s story. Along with a song that determines the girls’ future:
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Bloom & Rage does not rely on quick reactions. Bloom & Rage focuses on emotional gameplay that I have never seen in this form in any other game.
And yes: you can run around with the camera and try to photograph every silly graffiti, every bird, and every creepy toy to satisfy your collecting instinct. But that is not what it is about. That is even the weakest part of the game.
In Bloom & Rage, it’s about emotions, friendship. About personal and foreign needs, empathy, and attention. About uncomfortable topics such as dissatisfaction with one’s body, unrequited love, racism, loss, and the search for one’s place in the world.
That sounds so “woke” to some that they might vomit – but hey, close the article and have a nice day. This game is not for you.
Smoking together. As long as the parents don’t find out…
Because while we guide Swann through her everyday life with her new friends, not only the dialogues are in the foreground but also the gestures and facial expressions. The small objects in the game that you can take a close look at. The little movements, little sounds of dissatisfaction or agreement.
As the girls talk, you repeatedly get choices on how you want to intervene in the conversation. Do you want to heartily laugh at Nora’s joke? Or would you rather stay silent because the joke embarrassed Autumn somehow?
No matter what you choose, the conversations continue. As the conversations progress, your response options change. The conversation develops, whether you intervene or not. Even silence is an option because you don’t have to say something to everything. But if you are constantly silent, the other girls will find that strange as well. Who wouldn’t find it odd if a friend silently stands next to her with a camera all day?
But do you prefer to be honest and reveal that you have no idea what music groups the others are talking about? Or do you try to adapt and pretend to be a fan to fit into the group?
Corey is not pleased that we are filming his girlfriend.
All these little conversations and interactions have significance and are important. Not on a level involving world-changing events but on an emotional, interpersonal level.
A few examples.
Nora asks: ‘Can you pass me my notebook?’}
So we stroll over to the pile of magazines and stand in front of 7 different issues. If we were attentive, if we watched the cutscenes closely, then we know which of the magazines should be hers. If we give her the wrong one, she will be disappointed. She thought one would know her well enough by now to realize that she is into punk rock and not video games.
Whether the girls trust you also depends on how well you know them.
At another point, Kat stands before us and is crying. She needs comfort. But how do we best comfort her? Do we just hold her and stay silent? Do we talk to her to distract her? Do we keep our distance and let her be alone because she just needs time?
These are questions we can answer only if we know Kat well. And we only do so if we were attentive. If we considered the small details. Small details that do not appear as glowing objects with a “important!” marking in the game.
Such moments are constant. Do you find the right solution to give the girls in your group what they want? And are you ready to put your own desires behind for that? Or would it even be good to set red lines and say what you want? Maybe this honesty is exactly what the others wish for?
You can film everything. Who knows which detail will become important later…
Fantastic details in a thoughtful world
Especially want to emphasize how well thought out and detailed the world is. There is one scene in particular that has stayed in my memory.
After a dramatic incident, Swann is back in her room and is compelled by her mother to finally pack her boxes for the move.
On the bed lies Swann’s phone, and next to it are listed some numbers, including those of her friends and the veterinarian for her cat.
What the game wants to convey is relatively clear: Call one of these numbers. Decide whom you want to talk to.
But it’s so much more. In the hours of gameplay before, you could explore several areas, such as the video rental store. Naturally, it also had a phone number on the door. Did you remember it? Then you can call there too.
Or did you take recordings of all the graffiti in town that sometimes had a phone number? Do you remember those? Then you can manually enter them too. Or just call 911 to reach the police?
Actually, really crazy things are possible that you won’t even think of during your first playthrough.
These possibilities with the phone call are just one detail that has stayed in my memory. Bloom & Rage is full of them, and you often only see them on the second or third look.
Bloom & Rage is so feminine that it sometimes hurts
Bloom & Rage is feminine. Not only because it’s about the relationships of a group of young (and later adult) women but also because the themes of the characters have a distinctly feminine focus, which can sometimes be slightly uncomfortable.
When Nora draws a picture during the secret sleepover in the woods, of the cartoonish caricature of a blood-soaked tampon with a face that “will haunt you all in your sleep”, I thought to myself: Okay, other games probably wouldn’t have done that. And that makes it pretty cool.
There were certainly a few moments when I cursed that. When it was too feminine for me. Because at the meeting of the women, 27 years later, everyone sits around the ominous package for several hours debating whether to open it or not. They discuss it so thoroughly that I wished multiple times: Ladies, enough is enough. Just open the package or put it away. But if you keep talking it to death, I’ll reach through the screen and open it myself.
The ominous package is debated. Very, very long.
Bloom & Rage fails at the start, and that’s a shame
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is not perfect.
If I look at the trophies of the game on PlayStation 5, it becomes quite clear where Lost Records loses players. Right at the beginning.
While 85% of accounts at least reach the first decision, not even half of them experienced the end of the first chapter – just 40.8%.
This means that Bloom & Rage loses a large part of the player base within the first hours of gameplay.
And I understand that.
Because the beginning drags on. In the first few hours, Lost Records takes so much momentum that one can lose interest multiple times.
In the first hours you stumble awkwardly through Swann’s room, pursuing absolute trivialities and feel like you are trapped in a very peculiar collection game where the only goal is to capture as many subjects with the camera as possible.
Many details are only recognized very, very late. And then you smile like in the picture.
Many of these supposed trivialities and unimportant details later turn out to have significant meaning, but you do not see it at that time. You can’t see it. And without this context, the beginning is primarily one thing: really boring.
I understand anyone who put down Bloom & Rage after an hour and never started it again. But that’s a mistake. Because after the first “night” sequence, the game picks up significantly and goes into a flow that is fun and above all makes you curious.
Despite these negative points, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage receives a clear recommendation from me. Those who can endure the sluggish start will find themselves in a game whose characters feel alive and relatable like in very few other games before.
Completely overwhelmed me was the level of detail that you don’t realize when playing for the first time. Even the first hours are so full of hints that you don’t recognize as such. During the second playthrough, I thought multiple times “Holy Shit, how could I miss that”.
That and the many different endings make multiple playthroughs very worthwhile.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage feels like an even more emotional and profound “Life is Strange”. It is even more “Life is Strange” than the latest genuine “Life is Strange”. That may sound strange, but when you reach the end of Bloom & Rage, you will understand.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
It’s almost time and Elden Ring: Nightreign is launching. When you can download it in advance and when you can play, you will find out here.
Update from May 26, 2025: We have added information about Early Access.
When does the preload for Nightreign start? If you pre-ordered Elden Ring: Nightreign, you can start the preload on May 28, 2025.
How large is Nightreign? For the download, you should reserve around 22 GB on your hard drive.
When can I play Nightreign? The release is on May 30, 2025. Depending on the time zone you live in, you can play Nightreign at different times. Here in Germany, Elden Ring: Nightreign launches for both PC and console at 00:00.
Other launch times in additional time zones can be found on the official homepage – the console version always starts at 0:00 local time, PC may vary.
Is there an Early Access? No, Elden Ring Nightreign will not have Early Access.
Start video
Is Elden Ring: Nightreign worth it for Souls fans?
Everything Important about the Release
What else do I need to know at launch? Elden Ring: Nightreign will be released for PS4, PS5, XBOX Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. Crossplay between the different platforms is not possible – players on PS4 and PS5 as well as Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S can however play together.
You can also play Elden Ring: Nightreign only with English voice acting, but you can choose subtitles in English, Japanese, French, Spanish (Spain and Latin America), German, Italian, Arabic, Indonesian, Thai, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean.
Microsoft has invested incredible sums over many years to strengthen its first-party offering for Xbox. After a long dry spell and some failures, it is finally paying off – also for us gamers.
For more than 23 years, the Microsoft representatives have been trying to position themselves with their offering of games and gaming platforms – at least – on equal footing with PlayStation and Nintendo. A reliable stream of so-called “first-party” games from its own studios is particularly important for selling consoles or “Xbox Game Pass” subscriptions.
However, Microsoft has rarely founded and built its own studios. Instead, they invested a fortune to acquire already established teams. Here are the most important acquisitions from the past 23 years:
Rare was the first notable acquisition, in 2002.
In 2014, the developers of Minecraft from Mojang followed.
From 2018, Compulsion Games, inXile Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Obsidian Entertainment, Undead Labs, and Playground Games belong to the Xbox Studios.
In 2019, Double Fine Productions was acquired.
In March 2021, the acquisition of Bethesda and Zenimax was completed.
On October 13, 2023, the responsible parties announced the completion of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft invested over $83 billion alone in the last two acquisitions. On paper, Team Xbox consisted of 35 first-party studios at the end of 2023, not counting the actual number of developer teams at Blizzard, King, and others. The stage was set for an offensive.
Who is writing here? Karsten Scholz is actually the MMORPG expert at MeinMMO, but has been observing the industry in general and Team Xbox in particular for many years. With many new releases in the Xbox Game Pass this year, he had a lot of fun. He is currently enjoying playing Avowed, South of Midnight, and DOOM: The Dark Ages.
Team Xbox celebrated the acquisition of Activision Blizzard with a trailer:
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However, even though Team Xbox has been strongly positioned regarding first-party studios since 2018, the offensive was hardly felt for a long time. Below is a comparison of the release highlights from Sony and Microsoft from 2019 to 2022:
PlayStation highlights between 2019 and 2022
Highlight releases from Team Xbox
Days Gone
Gears 5
Death Stranding
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
The Last of Us Part 2
Gears Tactics
Ghost of Tsushima
Minecraft Dungeons
Demon’s Souls Remake
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Tell Me Why
Dreams
Psychonauts 2
Returnal
Age of Empires 4
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Forza Horizon 5
Horizon Forbidden West
Halo Infinite
Gran Turismo 7
As Dusk Falls
God of War Ragnarök
Grounded
Astro’s Playroom
Pentiment
Of course, both sides have many great games that one should play. However, the most important and successful blockbusters of this time come almost exclusively from Sony. This imbalance was exacerbated by the fact that the most significant Xbox launch during this time – Halo Infinite – could not meet the high expectations of many fans.
2023 then followed with another difficult release year for Microsoft. While they were able to set a highlight with the shadow drop of Hi-Fi Rush and celebrate smaller successes with the console port of Age of Empires 2 and Minecraft: Legends, the two flagship releases caused trouble:
All of this is far too little when Microsoft has such great ambitions and can rely on so many renowned studios. The harsh reality is also: The development of games is lengthy and complex. Hits cannot be planned.
Redfall was a predicted failure – here is the launch trailer:
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Redfall – Official Launch Trailer
A lot can happen in a year
Now it has been just over 12 months since the article was published and the situation has changed drastically. Triggered by the strong December release “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle” and followed by more highly recommended first-party releases from Microsoft, as well as clever decisions regarding the integration of external games into the Xbox Game Pass.
Here are the major releases from the Xbox studios in the past months:
DOOM: The Dark Ages (Metacritic score of 85 / 86 percent positive on Steam)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Metacritic score of 82 / 82 percent positive on Steam)
South of Midnight (Metacritic score of 77 / 94 percent positive on Steam)
Avowed (Metacritic score of 81 / 77 percent positive on Steam)
Additionally, with the RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Metacritic score of 92 / 95 percent positive on Steam) and the digital headbutt Blue Prince (Metacritic score of 92 / 86 percent positive on Steam) were included in the subscription upon release.
Are these all masterpieces? Certainly not. But with these six games alone, one can have hundreds of hours of fun. Plus, there are time-consuming games like Anno 1800, GTA V, Hunt: Showdown, Stalker 2, Palworld, Crusader Kings III, the various Call of Duty titles, and so on. And of course, many little gems like Dredge or Eternal Strands.
In short: Microsoft has finally managed, after all these years, to establish a consistent stream of solid to very good first-party games and thus – in combination with clever third-party additions – make the Xbox Game Pass in its current form more valuable than ever before.
Clair Obscur is one of the best games of 2025:
Start video
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – JRPG with French Flair has Release Date
What does the future hold for Xbox fans?
In the following, I summarize what the Xbox studios are currently working on – at least as far as is known. After all, the stream must continue in the future. Note that various Activision studios have had mainly one task for years: to support Call of Duty.
Current projects of the Xbox studios
Double Fine Productions: Apparently several yet-to-be-announced projects in development
inXile Entertainment: Clockwork Revolution
Ninja Theory: Project: Mara
Obsidian Entertainment: The Outer Worlds 2
Playground Games: Fable reboot
Rare: Everwild
The Coalition / People can Fly: Gears of War: E-Day
The Initiative: Perfect Dark
Turn 10 Studios: New Forza
Undead Labs: State of Decay 3
Current projects of the Bethesda studios
Arkane Studios: Marvel’s Blade
Bethesda Game Studios: Elder Scrolls VI
Machine Games: DLC for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and currently unannounced project
Zenimax Online Studios: Not yet announced (new MMORPG), continuing to support The Elder Scrolls Online (the Seasons of the Wormcult starts in June 2025)
Here is a roadmap of the Xbox studios from the community (via Reddit):
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Raven Software: Supporting Call of Duty: Warzone and assisting with other CoD projects.
Sledgehammer Games: Call of Duty 2027
Toys for Bob: Working on an unknown project
Current projects from Blizzard
Continuation of the World Soul saga (Midnight, The Last Titan)
Mists of Pandaria Classic
New expansion for Diablo 4
Together with Nexon: Overwatch Mobile and new StarCraft game
Current projects for Xbox from partners
Avalanche Studios: Contraband
Kojima Productions: OD
Stoic Studio: Towerborne (Preview version already in the Game Pass)
Iron Galaxy Studios: Remake of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4
Team Ninja / Platinum Games: Ninja Gaiden 4
Keep in mind that the final acquisition of Activision Blizzard only happened at the end of 2023. It takes a long time to integrate such a huge publisher into a corporation like Microsoft. Additionally, many studios had to finish their “old” projects before they could concretely discuss with people like Phil Spencer which of the numerous franchises they want to develop new games for.
In other words: It will take several more years before we can assess from a distance how the acquisition by Microsoft has affected, for example, Blizzard and the games developed there. By the way, if you believe Activision is responsible for what has become of the Warcraft developers, you should check this out: It wasn’t Activision that killed the “good old Blizzard”, but the success of WoW
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
From May 15 to 27, 2025, a “Free Fly” event is once again taking place for Star Citizen. While the developers celebrate a technical milestone, many players are frustrated with a heavily limited ship offering.
What is this technical milestone? With a press release, the people responsible for Star Citizen are celebrating the launch of the “largest player-controlled vehicle ever”. The Aegis Idris is 240 meters long and consists of 13 million polygons. Just imagine a huge Sims villa flying through space. Furthermore, it states:
The Aegis Idris has raised the number of simultaneously playing players and server meshing technology to the highest level yet in the persistent universe during a stress test, and Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) is excited to report positive results from the server meshing technology.
The static mesh configuration has handled the increased load from the capital ship and correctly segmented the zones of the universe with minimal problems. This represents a significant milestone for the CIG development team and shows that a solid foundation has been laid.
This is proof of the optimization work that has been put into the game in the past months since the launch of Alpha 3.24 and 4.0. As CIG continues to rely on dynamic meshing and can reconfigure the mesh live, we will be able to support larger fleet battles and more reactive events in Stanton and beyond.
Star Citizen: The new capital ship Polaris in trailer
Aegis Idris also causes trouble
Why is there still criticism from players? During the event, players were able to purchase a limited number of the new spaceships. The problem: Many of the interested parties came up empty-handed. The accusation (among others on Reddit): The developers did nothing to prevent bot buyers from emptying the limited stock of Aegis Idris units.
Useful_Tangerine_939 writes visibly angry on Reddit: ‘It shouldn’t have been that hard to stick to the loyal supporters and not to the bots. Golden ticket, minimum play hours, deadline for account creation, I don’t care. Right now the gray market is flooded with overpriced accounts that only own a single Idris.’
Hashwagon has another suggestion on Reddit: ‘Why can’t they introduce a captcha for this? Problem solved.’
Federal_Law_9269 wonders on Reddit: ‘I’ve never seen so many people willing to give away $2,000 for practically nothing.’
Useful_Tangerine_939 turns the question around on Reddit: ‘I don’t know what’s crazier: so many people wanting to give away $2,000, or the company not wanting the money at all.’
Alongside the new troubles, industry insiders report on insider-gaming.com that several key developers who were crucial to the initially celebrated server meshing technology have reportedly left the team over the past months. It is being referred to as a “huge loss”.
PeteDorr, content creator on YouTube and Twitch, recently suffered a heart attack and is using his incident to warn his community about an unhealthy lifestyle in a video.
Who is it about? It is about the American YouTuber and Twitch streamer PeteDorr. He regularly streams on Twitch for his over 24,000 followers and has around 116,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, which he has been running regularly since 2008. He is known for playing and reviewing mainly retro games.
PeteDorr had already talked about the incident and its consequences in a Twitch stream before, but he wanted to create a YouTube video to draw even more attention to the important topic.
A heart attack is a life-threatening condition. The symptoms can vary, especially in women and men. You can read more about it on the website of the German Red Cross (DRK).
In the German-speaking area, HandOfBlood is one of the largest creators on YouTube:
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HandOfBlood: The most important thing about the YouTuber and Twitch streamer in under a minute
YouTuber admonishes community to pay attention to health
What happened to PeteDorr? PeteDorr says (via YouTube) that he has been living a very unhealthy lifestyle for the past two years. He often ordered food, mostly fast food, and hardly moved. Because of this, he was always very tired and would take a nap every afternoon.
One day, while preparing for the evening stream, he experienced back pain. He took a walk, as that usually relieved his pain. While walking, he began to feel chest pain that radiated into his arm and jaw.
PeteDorr decided to turn back and go home. He calls this the “decision that probably saved his life.” Shortly thereafter, he called an ambulance that took him to the hospital.
There, he had to spend several days and undergo two surgeries before he was discharged.
The YouTuber says he still hasn’t realized how close he was to his own death.
What does the YouTuber say about it? The title of his YouTube video summarizes PeteDorr’s main message: “(…) Let this be a lesson for everyone.” He urges his community to regularly get checked by a doctor and to pay attention to their health through regular exercise and a balanced diet.
PeteDorr himself now walks for 15-20 minutes every day since the incident. He can’t manage more yet because he still needs to become completely healthy again.
In the future, he wants to spend less time in his gaming room, see more of the world and appreciate the things he has collected more. Generally, he wants to enjoy life and the things he already likes more.
The incident plays into the stereotype that gamers lead an unhealthy lifestyle. In this case, the stereotype may have been confirmed, with serious consequences.
In the series The Big Bang Theory, it was not just about scientists dealing with nerd topics, but also about interpersonal relationships and the subsequent character developments. In the end, even every main character gets married except for one, but that’s how it should be.
Which character are we talking about? Even in the first episode of The Big Bang Theory, which first aired on September 24, 2007, it becomes clear that it’s not just about 4 nerds engaging with science, series, and comics, but also about interpersonal aspects.
Leonard Hofstadter meets his new neighbor Penny and falls in love. As a result, 279 episodes aired, often revolving around the relationships of the main characters. In the end, even 3 of the 4 scientists are married. All except Raj. However, the actor explains: That’s a good thing.
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The Big Bang Theory – Trailer of Season 1
For Raj’s character development, it is important that he was single in the end
Why is it right that Raj is the only one who is single? Rajesh Koothrappali has a significant problem with women from the very beginning of the series: he cannot talk to them. This is addressed in the series, and yet he manages to enter into several relationships and cope with his problem.
However, his relationships do not go as well as those of his colleagues. By the end of the series, he is even the only one without a healthy relationship. According to his actor, Kunal Nayyar, that is a good thing because Raj had to learn something different as a character.
He reveals in the book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive Inside Story Of The Epic Hit Series (via Slashfilm) that he liked how Raj was treated at the end of the series:
I thought it was very clever that the one person who longs so much for love realizes that maybe they must first love themselves. They do not have to come through someone else, and that is a very beautiful way to conclude a character’s story. He has developed so much as a character in the last seasons, and you could see how he became less dependent on all the things he thought he needed, which is very nice.
Raj’s character development shows that the search for a partner does not define whether one is happy. After all, all his relationships ended on a bitter note. When looking at the other scientists, all 4 have grown as characters through their relationships. Particularly Raj, as he has mastered many of his problems in 12 seasons.
