Keza Macdonald

Halo: Campaign Evolved successfully modernises the original Halo: Combat Evolved while preserving its intelligent enemies, adaptable combat, open-ended levels and strong cooperative play. The review criticises expanded opening cutscenes, the visually generic Unreal Engine 5 presentation, occasional performance problems, online-account requirements and the monotonous Flood sections, while lamenting the loss of the original Warthog handling and early-2000s aesthetic. Despite these shortcomings, the remake is judged a good version of a brilliant game and a welcome return to atmospheric, challenging single-player shooters.

The Guardian highlights ten standout video games released in 2026, spanning racing, puzzle, strategy, survival horror, science fiction, climbing and life simulation. The selections include Forza Horizon 6’s Japanese setting, Pragmata and Resident Evil: Requiem’s action-driven sci-fi and horror, Cairn’s demanding climbing mechanics, and Pokémon Pokopia’s restorative life-simulation format. Several additional titles receive honourable mentions, including Mario Tennis Fever, Mewgenics, Marathon and Life Is Strange: Reunion.

Summer Game Fest’s many showcases reveal a shift away from live-service games and online hero shooters toward expensive single-player adventures, alongside a major resurgence of horror titles. Early-2000s aesthetics and revived franchises such as Crazy Taxi, Virtua Fighter, Rayman and Spyro are prominent, while polished Chinese-made action games are gaining visibility after the success of Black Myth: Wukong. Most events were prerecorded, Xbox is restoring a limited number of platform exclusives, and horror fishing games have emerged as a small trend inspired by Dredge. The article also highlights growing industry resistance to generative AI, exemplified by backlash over Crazy Taxi’s Steam disclosure. Nintendo’s subsequent announcements, including new Fire Emblem and Xenoblade games, Kingdom Hearts 4 and an Ocarina of Time remake, add to an already crowded release calendar ahead of Grand Theft Auto 6.

The Guardian’s video games editor selects 34 notable titles shown during Summer Game Fest after viewing more than 15 hours of showcases. The lineup spans horror, role-playing, action, driving, strategy and indie games, including sequels and remakes such as Alien: Isolation 2, Resident Evil Veronica, Final Fantasy VII Revelation, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Crazy Taxi: World Tour, alongside new projects including Gen Atlas, Exodus and Silent Hill: Townfall. Established developers and franchises dominate the selection, but several experimental indie games are also highlighted.

Toys for Bob has announced Spyro: A Realm Beyond, the first original Spyro game since 2008, for release in spring 2027 on Xbox, PlayStation 5, PC and Nintendo Switch 2. The game will feature a redesigned Spyro voiced by Tom Kenny and will allow players to fly freely, while retaining the series’ colorful, family-friendly tone. Independent studio Toys for Bob aims to attract both longtime fans and a new generation of children, positioning the game as a welcoming, optimistic alternative in a market with relatively few broad-audience platformers.

Sony’s latest PlayStation State of Play presented a slate of upcoming games intended to reinvigorate the PS5 during the later part of its lifecycle. Major announcements included Marvel’s Wolverine, Silent Hill: Townfall, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, a Tomb Raider remake, Until Dawn 2 and God of War: Laufey, which makes Laufey a playable protagonist alongside Kratos’s established mythology. The showcase also highlighted The Lost Wild and several less prominent revivals and sequels, including Ace Combat, Control: Resonant, Rayman Legends Retold and Stuntman: Hollywood. The announcements come as Sony faces declining sales of its first-party games, competition from Microsoft’s publishing business and Nintendo’s stronger-performing exclusives.

The writer enthusiastically recommends Ribbit, a daily word puzzle on Puzzmo that uses a connected letter maze and animated frogs to create a satisfying five-to-ten-minute routine. The game is praised as a small, competence-building alternative to doomscrolling and as an example of how games can fit positively into brief gaps in daily life. The piece also includes recommendations and commentary on current and forthcoming games, including Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, Unreal Engine, a Lord of the Rings RPG and possible spin-off ideas for established game franchises.

Nintendo’s planned Switch 2 remake of Star Fox 64, known as Lylat Wars in the UK, inspires both affection and disappointment. The game remains memorable for its inventive use of 3D graphics and the Rumble Pak, but its short, largely on-rails structure was shaped by late-1990s technical limitations. Although the remake’s new visuals and voice acting look impressive, a wholly new, freer space-combat game would have been more exciting. The piece broadens this concern into a critique of the video game industry’s growing dependence on nostalgia-driven remakes and revisits Mixtape as a more ambivalent example of nostalgia in contemporary games.

The BAFTA Games Awards’ recognition of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 reinforces the event’s role in celebrating creative achievement rather than sales or popularity. Although Blue Prince was the author’s preferred choice for the top prize, its creator Tonda Ros won for game design, while Dispatch, Ghost of Yōtei and other distinctive titles also received awards. The breadth of BAFTA’s nominations contrasts with gaming events often dominated by commercial hype, and the awards are presented as an important reminder that games are meaningful works of art shaped by developers and players.

Microsoft is reducing the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in the UK from £22.99 to £16.99 per month and in the US from $29.99 to $22.99, while also cutting PC Game Pass prices. However, future Call of Duty games will no longer launch on the subscription service; they will initially be sold at the usual full price of about £70/$80 and added to Game Pass roughly a year later. Older Call of Duty titles will remain available, and other Microsoft studio releases will continue to arrive on Game Pass at launch. The change follows Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision for $68.7 billion and an estimate that putting Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Game Pass cost the company about $300 million in sales. It marks a recalibration of Xbox’s subscription-led strategy as Microsoft expands its games across competing platforms.

The writer describes how initially dismissing The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker as childish led to a deeper realization that childlike play is not immature but essential. The game's curiosity, exploration and joy helped restore the writer's love of games and has since influenced how they approach work, relationships, grief, parenting and new experiences. The essay argues that preserving time for unproductive enjoyment is especially important in a culture that pressures people, particularly women, to make every activity productive or self-improving.

The rise of the “unc game”—games favored by millennials and older players—reflects gaming’s increasingly intergenerational audience rather than the decline of youth-focused games. With adults over 30 representing a majority of players and older consumers driving console purchases, developers and publishers should make more games for this profitable, time-poor demographic instead of focusing almost exclusively on expensive live-service and free-to-play models. Retro-inspired releases and continued interest in classic games support this opportunity. The piece also discusses possible Game Pass price changes, a Bloodborne animated film, the next Metro game, and whether blockbuster games such as Grand Theft Auto VI could eventually cost $100.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is colorful and packed with recognizable Nintendo characters, but its shallow plot, weak humor, repetitive action and advert-like cameos make it a disappointing sequel. The film’s strongest quality is the creators’ sincere attention to Mario’s visual and musical details, yet that affection does not compensate for its passive storytelling or its perceived exploitation of children’s attachment to Nintendo. While critics and Nintendo fans may disagree about the reasons for its failure, both can view it as falling short of the creativity and enrichment offered by the games.

The cybercriminal group ShinyHunters claims to have accessed Rockstar Games data through a third-party server and threatens to publish it unless the company enters ransom negotiations by 14 April 2026. Rockstar says only a limited amount of non-material company information was accessed and that players were not affected. The incident raises concerns because Rockstar previously suffered a major breach that exposed Grand Theft Auto VI footage, while the forthcoming game is tightly controlled and reportedly carries development costs approaching $2bn.

Life Is Strange: Reunion brings Max Caulfield and Chloe Price together as adults for the series’ concluding chapter. Set amid a deadly fire threat and political conflict at Vermont’s Caledon University, it combines a light investigation with a rekindled love story shaped by players’ earlier choices. The review finds the mystery underdeveloped and the time-travel mechanics insufficiently challenged, while praising the characters, emotional sincerity and renewed focus on Max and Chloe. Despite undermining the series’ themes of loss by offering second chances, the game is judged an impassioned and deserved ending to the pair’s decade-long story.

Rising gaming costs are attributed to a combination of inflation, geopolitical disruption and especially the enormous demand for computing power created by the AI industry. Higher memory, storage and graphics-card prices are affecting PC gamers, while Sony, Valve and Nintendo are also raising prices or facing supply problems. The column argues that wealthy technology companies are prioritizing AI profits over consumer needs, making gaming hardware less affordable. It concludes with recommendations for the relaxing home-decoration game Hozy and a strongly negative assessment of Roblox’s safety, content and exploitative design.

Including online games in proposed under-16 social media bans would be difficult to define, enforce and justify because games range from closed single-player experiences to expansive platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite. Although some platforms present genuine risks, including grooming, exploitation and inappropriate content, blanket restrictions could deprive teenagers of important social spaces and would not address the wider causes of youth mental-health problems. The article argues for stronger accountability for manipulative technology companies and practical parental controls—such as disabling chat, limiting playtime and restricting age-inappropriate content—instead of banning online gaming.

Indie developer Speculative Agency is returning funding received from Microsoft’s developer acceleration programme and joining the No Games for Genocide boycott over Microsoft’s continuing commercial relationship with the Israeli military. Narrative designer Meghna Jayanth says the decision reflects the themes of All Will Rise and aims to pressure Microsoft through collective action, despite the financial risks facing independent studios. The campaign says nearly 2,800 people have signed its pledge, while gaming communities have raised substantial aid for Palestinians; it also argues that disentangling the industry from military and corporate complicity will require broader action beyond Microsoft.

Keza MacDonald traces Nintendo’s history from its 19th-century origins in Japan to its modern status as a video-game and pop-culture powerhouse. The discussion examines the company’s iconic characters and games, including Pikachu, Donkey Kong, Mario and Zelda, and argues that Nintendo’s emphasis on fun and play offers a meaningful contrast to the values of big tech.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads the 2026 BAFTA Games Awards nominations with 12 mentions, followed by Dispatch with nine, Ghost of Yōtei with eight, and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach with seven. The nominations span major blockbusters and small independent projects, including games addressing grief, identity, care, community and survival. The best game shortlist includes Arc Raiders, Blue Prince, Clair Obscur, Dispatch, Ghost of Yōtei and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, while Hollow Knight: Silksong is notably absent. The ceremony is scheduled for 17 April in London.