When Bloober and Konami announced that they were remaking Silent Hill 2 as part of a comprehensive series reboot, it made immediate if slightly deflating sense to me. Silent Hill 2 is the more feted of the Hills – if I were a calculating franchise custodian tasked with ‘bringing back’ one of the acclaimed original trilogy, that’s probably the instalment I and my spreadsheets would fix upon. I mean, it’s the game with Pyramid Head in it – the nearest thing Silent Hill has to a mascot, and it’s not like there’s an issue of cutting out plot material: each game in the Silent Hill series is, on some level, a distinct story with a distinct protagonist.

Still, the decision to ‘skip’ the first game in the series, whose world, narrative themes, music and art direction set the parameters for all the rest, made my brain itch a bit, and when I ran into Bloober’s creative director Mateusz Lenart and lead producer Maciej Głomb at a Konami event, I had to ask about it.

“I think Silent Hill 2 just matches our DNA way better,” Lenart began. “It’s much more emotional, a much more personal story than, for example, the first game or the third game. And we at Bloober were always fans of telling personal stories about people’s experiences, people’s feelings and how they go through them. Not so much about, you know know, occultism and things from other worlds, right? So I think that was the main reason, basically.”

Some context: without giving too much away, the original Silent Hill is more of a supernatural affair, with your character Harry swept up in various diabolical doings, though it’s also a work of psychological projection. The sequel switches priorities, placing a sorely disquieted brain at the centre, though it keeps one foot in that lineage of occultism.

Lenart added that Bloober prefers to tell stories that are similarly “grounded” and focussed. “Obviously [our games] feature some supernatural elements, but in the end it’s all about a specific person, on a specific journey that they need to make to find out the truth about themselves.”

Of course, the choice of which Silent Hill game to tackle was broadly out of Bloober’s hands. “Yeah, Silent Hill 2 is the best match for us as Bloober Team, in terms of our DNA and the games that we’ve done and that we did previously,” Glomb agreed. “On the other hand, it’s not like we were making this decision, right? The franchise is connected to Konami’s plans.

“So we had this proposition, probably because of our DNA, our backgrounds with Silent Hill 2. And we were very glad to do this version of the game, just because it fits our feelings. Even in our previous games, we were so inspired by Silent Hill 2 in more specific aspects – in Layers Of Fear, which is a completely different game, but having those different endings, it was inspired by Silent Hill 2. Having those small things during the game where we don’t tell you that it’ll lead to a different ending.”

As I said, if I were a canny Konami exec, I would probably greenlight Silent Hill 2 for the remake treatment before any of the others. As a player, however, I’m curious to know how Bloober’s remake will land with people who haven’t played the horror game that started the ball rolling. It’s still my favourite of the Hills, and Silent Hill 2 is a richer play for understanding how it responds to the original game – what it preserves, what it rejects.

While there has been a “remake” of sorts in the shape of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, the first Silent Hill lives on today mostly in the shape of the retro horror scene: its PS1 graphics and visual direction have become a distinct aesthetic, evolving alongside the hi-fi photorealism of later Silent Hill sequels. I guess we’ll always have Itch.io.

Longtime Quantic Dream writer Adam Williams has departed the studio after almost a decade. He already has his next job lined up: he’ll be starting his own independent, currently unrevealed studio.

“I’ve already been in touch with many of you guys at Quantic Dream and Lucasfilm, to thank you for everything on Detroit and Eclipse,” he wrote. “It’s been a great adventure.”

Williams joined in 2015, and served as the lead writer on Detroit: Become Human and Star Wars Eclipse. Quantic Dream was the only developer he worked at up to this point, having previously worked as a writer on UK television.

Regarding his new studio, Williams said it consists of “a group of very talented designers and developers. […] We’re working on something very innovative, very special and, for now, very secret.”

Questions remain about Star Wars Eclipse

He’s far from the first developer to leave a triple-A studio to start his own, but it is somewhat noteworthy in that he directly stated his departure and teased the new studio in one go.

With his leave, questions remain on the status of Eclipse, which was revealed in 2021. Quantic Dream has been quiet on the game since then, other than to reiterate last year that it “still exists.”

45 employees have been let go by Ubisoft, according to Bloomberg.

The outlet reports the reductions were spread across US offices located in Cary, North Carolina and San Francisco, CA. A Ubisoft spokesperson said the cuts were made to “align [their] organizations with future business and development objectives.”

Ubisoft’s Cary team (typically known as Red Storm Entertainment) was the lead developer on several Tom Clancy titles over the years. More recently, it released Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR and canceled The Division Heartland.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft San Francisco was the lead developer on the Rocksmith series. Other titles under its name include South Park: The Fractured But Whole and the free-to-play shooter xDefiant.

This marks the second time this year Ubisoft has reduced its staff by 45 employees. In April, cuts were made across its global publishing teams to “enhance our collective efficiency.”

A month later, Ubisoft revealed it had reduced its headcount by 1,700 workers since 2022.

UK publisher Kwalee has launched an Arabic-language edition of its mobile game platform Hitseeker for studios in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

For creators in that part of the world, they’re able to use the platform and its resources in their native language (or English). Beginner developers can also access tools like a library that covers core skills and concepts.

Kwalee’s mission

Hitseeker “simplifies” the development process for mobile studios, and let them test, publish, and optimize games. The partnership will also help Kwalee support the “emergent” MENA game industry, reportedly projected to be worth $10 billion by 2026.

It also builds on a development and publishing agreement with Fahy Studios. The deal was struck in late 2023, and further support is being given to studios in the LevelUp accelerator program.

Per Kwalee’s mobile publishing VP John Wright, Hitseeker’s Arabic equivalent meets a need asked by MENA developers, and will help them “take center stage and reach their full potential.”

“Hitseeker…is our way of reaching out and offering this guidance,” he continued. “We’re the publishing partner that will support developers with the skills and support they need to get their games to the global stage.”

Arabic-speaking developers can apply to Hitseeker here.

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors has told investors the PC / Console business is the ‘bad guy’ within the company.

Outlining why Embracer has stopped providing hard guidance each quarter, Wingefors said there’s some “lumpiness” within the PC / Console segment that prevents it from looking too far into the future. Case in point: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, which is being published by Embracer subsidiary Deep Silver, was just delayed until February 2025 (thanks Eurogamer). It was initially slated to launch this year.

Wingefors reiterated the overall business is performing in line with expectations, but suggested the PC / Console segment remains a “volatile” proposition–especially when compared to other businesses such as board game maker Asmodee.

“Asmodee is a fantastic business to own from the perspective of you’re always very stable in the deliverance of your numbers,” said Wingefors during an investor Q&A.

“The mobile business is the same. The PC / Console guy is the ‘bad guy’ because it’s a bit volatile. But I’m very confident and excited about the future outlook of that business as well–especially now post-restructuring.”

That restructuring program saw Embracer divest major assets like Gearbox Entertainment and Saber Interactive. It also resulted in mass layoffs, project cancellations, and studio closures.

As noted in its fiscal report for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, Embracer saw net sales within its PC / Console business fall by 34 percent year-on-year to SEK 2.65 billion ($253.2 million).

The Swedish company attributed that downturn to “lower release activity” and a “tough comparison” year-on-year due to the release of Dead Island 2 in corresponding quarter.

“Excluding the release of Dead Island 2 in the comparison quarter, the organic growth was 15 percent in Q1,” added Wingefors. “The 5 percent adjusted EBIT margin is impacted by amortization of releases with low ROI from the past 24 months. The new content that came out for Deep Rock Galactic, Remnant II and Dead Island 2 performed well in line with management expectations.”

Providing a bit more colour, Wingefors said Embracer’s broader PC / Console pipeline “looks solid” and noted the company still expects to “release completed games with a value of SEK 3.9 billion for the financial year.”

I’ve likely mentioned hitting Lovecraft fatigue so often that it’s now evolved into a second phase of Lovecraft-fatigue fatigue. This is not the same as Lovecraft refreshment, no matter how much I might want to return to the days before old one plushies and Cthulhu children’s books terrorised the internet en masse. There’s not quite enough information about “story generator” sim Marry a Deep One: Innsmouth Simulator for me to confidently say it’ll cut through my exhaustion with all things tentacular and horrifically be-gilled. But it is beguiling, isn’t it? There’s all sorts of little widgets and details shown off that remind me of everything from Sid Meier’s Pirates to classic adventure games, and maybe even a little Rimworld? It’s a heady soup, although one I’d recommend against quaffing, given where the water comes from.

“Marry a Deep One is a story generator with social mechanics at its core,” reads the store page. “You play as a villainous cult leader exerting considerable control over a small community. Nevertheless, you must also meet the demands of the Deep Ones, or they will punish the village.”

Watch on YouTube

Here’s a feature list. Probs don’t recite it out loud. And if you do, make sure to check your neck in the mirror afterward.

STORY: The game doesn’t follow a fixed script or sequence but features numerous randomized story elements that can interconnect into a larger narrative. Your actions—and even those of the NPCs—significantly influence the outcome.

MAGIC: Develop creative ways to manipulate villagers even further, to the point of breaking the game. Study documents to learn sigils, which you combine into spells.

POWER: Your grimoire grants you the power to monitor all villagers’ feelings, relationships, actions and motivations. You even have the authority to choose villagers as sacrifices to the gods of the Deep Ones.

CUSTOMIZATION: Name yourself, your cat, grimoire, cult, village, spells and children. Try out various hairstyles, glasses, and hats. Construct, expand, and modify the village’s buildings to your liking.

CATS: You can pet them.

This one’s due out sometime this year. Could it finally be the game to wash the completely average taste of Dredge out of my mouth? Am I going to elaborate on calling Dredge completely average? Nope! If you’re hankering for some Lovecraft in the meantime, the devs behind visual novel Dagon recently announced they’d raised over $50,000 for humanitarian aid in Ukraine – despite their game being free.

Epic Games has done it. At long last, we have an official Epic Games Store app for Android and iOS, downloadable and providing access to titles such as Fortnite, Fall Guys, and more.

Epic announced this is what would be happening earlier this year, but honestly, we weren’t expecting launch to be this smooth. This is likely thanks to years of legal battles between Epic, Google, and Apple, but at the end of the day, the kids just want to play some d*mn Fortnite.

To get to playing, you’ll need to download the Epic Games Store app from Epic Games by following the link below. You won’t find it on either Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Once downloaded, log in or create an account, then simply enjoy your games.

The Epic Games Store is free to install, and at launch has Fortnite, Fall Guys and Rocket League Sideswipe available to download and play for free with optional in-app purchases available. In the future, you’ll be able to purchase new products directly through the app, and get weekly free games and/or content packs.

Go forth and game, people.

Download Epic Games Store: Android | iOS