Night Street Games, the indie studio funded by members of the band Imagine Dragons, has laid off about a dozen staff after its multiplayer shooter Last Flag fell short of the financial success the team had anticipated. CEO Mac Reynolds confirmed the redundancies in a statement, leaving the studio with 13 remaining developers a little over a month after the game launched on 14 April 2026.

Last Flag shipped to a Mostly Positive reception on Steam, yet the player count never reached the level Night Street needed to keep the project growing. The studio has pledged to continue updating the game with new maps, modes and cosmetics before turning its attention to fresh projects.

The Redundancies At Night Street Games

About a dozen developers have been let go from Night Street Games, reducing the team to 13 remaining staff. CEO Mac Reynolds confirmed the redundancies, saying the studio had poured everything into bringing Last Flag to life but that game development remains an inherently risky business. Reynolds said Night Street would work with the affected developers over the coming months to help them find new opportunities.

News of the cuts first surfaced through executive producer Jonathan Jelinek, who set out the situation in a post on LinkedIn.

Jelinek said Last Flag had not achieved the financial success Night Street anticipated, the same shortfall Reynolds pointed to in explaining the decision. Between the two statements, the studio framed the layoffs as a direct response to the game’s commercial performance rather than any change in creative direction.

With a dozen roles gone and 13 developers left, Night Street has shed close to half of the team that built and launched Last Flag. A studio of that size carries a much narrower output, and the work immediately ahead centres on supporting the game already released rather than scaling up for anything larger. Reynolds gave no indication that the studio planned further reductions, framing the current 13-person team as the group that would carry Last Flag forward.

Last Flag’s Launch And Steam Reception

Last Flag launched on 14 April 2026 as a multiplayer shooter and currently holds a Mostly Positive rating on Steam, drawn from 475 user reviews. On Steam’s scale, Mostly Positive places the game in the band where roughly seven to eight in every ten reviews are favourable, marking a release that landed well with the players who bought it.

The sentiment, though, sits against a modest review total. A count of 475 reviews points to a small launch audience for a game built around online multiplayer, and a multiplayer shooter depends on a steady concurrent population far more than on review sentiment alone. Empty lobbies and long matchmaking queues weigh on player retention regardless of how positively the game scores, and a thin launch crowd makes that problem harder to climb out of.

That gap between a warm reception and a small audience runs through the whole situation at Night Street. Last Flag was not rejected on quality, which leaves the financial result, not the design, as the reason the studio reached for redundancies barely a month after release. For an indie team launching a single online title, a positive but quiet debut is one of the harder outcomes to recover from.

The 1 May Blog Post And A Falling Player Count

Night Street had signalled trouble before the layoffs were confirmed. In a blog post published on 1 May, just over two weeks after launch, the team said Last Flag’s player count was not where it needed to be to support additional development beyond the patches already planned.

That post drew a line under how far the studio could take the game on its launch performance alone. Rather than promising an open-ended content pipeline, Night Street tied any work past the immediate patches to a recovery in the player base that had not arrived. The redundancies followed within weeks, turning the blog post’s caution into a confirmed reduction in headcount. The wording also set expectations for players, making clear that the support roadmap would be finite rather than the rolling content cycle that live multiplayer games often promise at launch.

The timeline is tight. Last Flag launched on 14 April, the player count warning came on 1 May, and the layoffs were confirmed in the weeks after, all inside the game’s first two months on sale. For a debut release, it left Night Street very little runway between launch and the decision to cut staff, and almost no time for a marketing push or seasonal content to turn the population around.

Night Street Joins A Wider Wave Of 2026 Layoffs

The cuts at Night Street Games land in a month already crowded with job losses across the games industry. Night Street joins a growing list of studios that have announced layoffs or closures through May 2026, a list that also includes Metacore, 2K and MercurySteam.

For Night Street, the parallel is uncomfortable but instructive. Larger and longer-established companies have not been shielded from the same pressures, and a small studio launching a single multiplayer title into that environment carries far less margin for a soft commercial start. A debut release that reviews well but sells modestly leaves almost no room to absorb a shortfall.

The Imagine Dragons connection gave Night Street a higher profile than most studios of its size, with members of the band among its backers. That profile has not changed the maths facing the team. Last Flag still needs a player base large enough to justify continued investment, and the funding behind the studio does not remove the commercial test the game now has to pass. The redundancies show that even a well-backed indie is held to the same standard as any other release on a crowded storefront.

The Updates Still Planned For Last Flag

Despite the smaller team, Night Street has confirmed that Last Flag will keep receiving content before the studio moves on to new ideas. The team has committed to a defined set of additions built around new modes, maps and player-side options.

• New contestants joining the existing roster
• Additional maps for the multiplayer rotation
• A new game mode
• New cosmetics
• The ability for players to host lobbies with custom rules

The custom lobby feature stands out for a multiplayer shooter with a thin population. Letting players set their own rules and run their own matches hands the community a tool to keep games going even when official matchmaking is quiet, which can matter more for retention than new maps for a title fighting to hold its audience.

Night Street has been clear that this content arrives before, not instead of, the studio’s next move. Once the planned updates are out, the 13-strong team intends to begin work on new game ideas, treating Last Flag’s remaining roadmap as the closing chapter of the project rather than an open-ended commitment. Whether those updates can lift Last Flag’s population enough to reshape that plan, or whether Night Street moves on as scheduled, is the question now facing the studio.

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A small indie game called Scarlet Skips has become the most talked-about release on gaming this week, and the reasons are not especially subtle. Developer Yerk introduced the one-button jump rope roguelike on 20 April 2026, and within a day a single repost of the trailer had pulled in roughly 4.1 million views, with most of the attention pointed squarely at the protagonist’s chest physics rather than the gameplay loop.

The game itself is a genuinely clever take on score-chasing roguelikes, built around a single button and stackable upgrades. But the conversation online has split cleanly in two, with one crowd dissecting the mechanics and a much larger crowd making the same joke over and over. The Steam page is now live for wishlisting, and whether that traffic converts into actual sales will be one of the more interesting indie case studies of the year.

How Scarlet Skips Actually Plays

Underneath the memes, Scarlet Skips is a tightly designed arcade roguelike. The entire game runs on press, hold, and release inputs of one button, with the hold duration controlling jump height and rope swing timing. Nail the release and Scarlet keeps skipping, mistime it and the run ends.

The roguelike layer sits on top of that core loop. Each level-up offers a choice of three random power-ups pulled from a pool the developer describes as more than a dozen possible upgrades, ranging from increased jump height to adding a jump rope, to setting the rope on fire. The upgrades stack and combine, which opens up what Yerk pitches as a virtually infinite number of build configurations for players chasing optimised runs.

The premise framing is lightly self-aware. The Steam description frames the game as helping Scarlet break out of her funk by touching grass, with the tagline noting that life can be hard but you can take it one jump at a time. It is a simple elevator pitch for a simple game, which is part of why it has spread so easily.

Why The Trailer Blew Up

The game went viral through a repost from indie curator account IndieGameJoe, which framed Scarlet Skips with a straight description of its mechanics and asked whether people would play it. That tweet hit around 4.1 million views, and the replies quickly made clear that a lot of the audience was not primarily interested in roguelike build theory.

This indie dev is making a game where all you do is skip rope… with one button.

– Time your jumps perfectly
– Roguelike upgrades every run
– Try to survive as long as possible

It’s called Scarlet Skips. Would you play this? pic.twitter.com/yyKYd8TiRa

— Indie Game Joe (@IndieGameJoe) April 20, 2026

One reply noted that the developer had put their focus on “the physics” in a jumping game, to which IndieGameJoe replied that the idea is actually cool though. Another account replied that they play it “purely” for the roguelike mechanics, which earned a simple “ffs” from the curator. The running joke across quote tweets was that the character’s proportions and bounce animations were doing more marketing work than the trailer itself.

A secondary observation that has picked up traction is that Scarlet bears a clear visual resemblance to Princess Daisy from the Mario series, with red hair, a blue top, and a pose-heavy animation style.

Read More: Now You Can Run GameCube and Wii Games on Switch Without Android

Read More: Xbox Game Pass Price Drops by $7, But Call of Duty Loses Day One Access

The Animation System Yerk Is Actually Selling

The uncomfortable irony for the developer is that Scarlet’s animation system is the feature they seem genuinely proud of, and it is the reason the physics look the way they do. The Steam page specifically highlights that the team pushed the animation system to be as dynamic, expressive, and adorable as possible, using Unreal Engine animation tools to combine dozens of candid animations with logic-driven procedural movement.

That procedural layer is what allows Scarlet to respond dynamically to in-game conditions rather than cycling through pre-baked animation clips. It is a legitimately interesting technical pitch, and in a different viral cycle it might have been the headline feature. In this one, it is the reason everything jiggles.

Where To Play Scarlet Skips

Scarlet Skips is listed on Steam with a wishlist button live, though no firm release date or price has been confirmed on the store page at the time of writing. Yerk has not indicated platforms beyond PC, and given the scope and one-button design, a mobile port would be an obvious fit if the current momentum holds.

Whether the viral wave translates into actual wishlists and eventual sales will tell a broader story about how indie games break through in 2026. The attention is real, but a lot of it is ironic, and the gap between a million impressions and a paying customer is wide. If Scarlet Skips lands well mechanically when it launches, it has a genuine shot at converting the joke traffic into a real audience. If not, it will be remembered as a meme trailer that briefly owned a weekend.

The post Jump Rope Roguelike Scarlet Skips Is Going Viral, And Its Jiggle Physics Are Doing The Heavy Lifting appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The Kickstarter campaign for AdventureQuest Worlds: Infinity has now surpassed US$2 million in funding, with over 27,000 backers throwing their support behind the rebuilt MMORPG. Set with a goal of just one dollar, the campaign became one of the most percentage-funded in Kickstarter history, and it is not done yet. The campaign officially ended on 7 April, but late pledges remain open for anyone who missed the initial window.

From A $1 Goal To Over Two Million

Artix Entertainment set their Kickstarter funding goal at exactly one dollar, a cheeky move that saw the project blow past 200,000,000% funded. The reasoning was straightforward: the studio was already committed to building the game regardless of the campaign’s outcome. The Kickstarter was designed to unlock stretch goals, fund faster content conversion, and bring more artists, animators, and creators onto the project.

It has since climbed past the US$2 million mark, with 27,642 backers contributing as of now. Late pledges are still being accepted for available reward tiers, so the final number could climb higher.

What Is AdventureQuest Worlds: Infinity?

For anyone who spent their teenage years battling monsters at AQ.com, the pitch is simple. AdventureQuest Worlds: Infinity is a ground-up rebuild of the original 2D fantasy MMORPG, rebuilt in Unity so it can run on phones, tablets, and PC via Steam. The original game launched in 2008 and built a massive following, but it was made in Flash and has been stuck inside a custom launcher ever since Flash became obsolete. There has been no way to play it on mobile or through any major storefront.

Infinity is not a simple port. Every monster, quest, cutscene, and item needs to be rebuilt and reintegrated into the new engine. The studio describes this as a full remastering process, with improvements to story pacing, map design, animations, boss mechanics, and loot systems. Scrolling backgrounds, parallax effects, 60+ FPS combat, and gamepad support are all part of the upgrade.

18 Years Of Weekly Updates, And Counting

One of the more remarkable things about AdventureQuest Worlds is that Artix Entertainment has released new content every single week for 18 years straight. New monsters, quests, gear, and story chapters have dropped without a single missed week. That cadence is set to continue across both versions of the game. The studio plans to keep updating the original AQWorlds while simultaneously converting and creating content for Infinity.

Existing players will be able to log in with their current characters and gear, though the studio has been upfront that art and animations will not be exact one-to-one matches due to the different technology and art format. Not every item may be convertible, either, but the team has committed to listening to community feedback throughout the process.

A Game That Defined A Generation Of Browser RPGs

There is a reason this campaign resonated so strongly. AQWorlds was a defining browser game for a generation of players who grew up in the late 2000s and early 2010s, logging in after school to grind classes, chase rare loot, and follow the Chaos Lords storyline. For many, it was their first MMO experience, and the fact that it has been effectively locked away from modern platforms for years made the prospect of a proper cross-platform version hit hard.

The campaign leans into that nostalgia deliberately. Remastered story sagas, returning characters, and the promise of reliving adventures like the DoomWood Saga and the Throne of Darkness arc are central to the pitch. But there is also a clear effort to make the game accessible to new players, not just returning veterans.

Founder Rewards And Stretch Goals

The Kickstarter reward tiers range from a free “Funded it Myself” badge at the $1 level all the way up to a US$5,000 “Mysterious Stranger’s Offer” tier that intentionally tells backers almost nothing about what they are getting. Three people bought it anyway, and all copies are now gone. Below that, the US$1,500 tier lets backers design a custom armour set in collaboration with the development team, while mid-range tiers include founder titles, exclusive gear sets, cross-game weapon unlocks, and a flying castle player house at the Legendary Founder level.

Notably, the studio has committed to using no AI-generated art anywhere in the project. All art and animation is human-drawn, a point they have emphasised throughout the campaign. The stretch goals are structured around converting more of the original game’s enormous content library, which includes over 60,000 items, 5,000 monsters, and 10,000 quests.

What Comes Next

Alpha testing on Steam was scheduled to begin shortly after the campaign’s 7 April end date. A similar port of AQWorlds was originally slated to launch back in 2016, so the project has a long history of delays, but the successful tech demos and the sheer momentum of the Kickstarter suggest the studio is further along this time than it has ever been. For the thousands of backers and the broader AQWorlds community, the hope is that 2026 becomes the year their favourite browser MMO finally breaks free of its launcher.

The post Nostalgic MMO AdventureQuest Worlds Infinity Hits $2 Million in One of Kickstarter’s Most-Funded Campaigns by Percentage appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Stardew Valley 1.7 is officially bringing new marriage candidates to Pelican Town, and yes, one of them is Clint.

These two can be married in 1.7 pic.twitter.com/W7gFHEGdKJ

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) February 26, 2026

To mark the game’s 10-year anniversary, creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone released a retrospective video looking back at Stardew Valley’s development, while also confirming that Clint and Sandy will become romanceable in the upcoming 1.7 update. It’s the first time in years that new marriage candidates have been added, making this a pretty significant shift for long-time players.

Clint And Sandy Confirmed For Stardew Valley 1.7

At the very end of the anniversary video, Barone revealed the two new spouses in classic low-key fashion, pulling their names from an envelope. The picks are Clint, Pelican Town’s blacksmith, and Sandy, the mysterious shopkeeper who runs the Oasis in the Calico Desert.

Clint is easily the more controversial choice. He’s often mocked by the community for his awkward personality, and some players have openly disliked how he behaves around Emily, especially if the farmer marries her. Giving him full romance events could be Barone’s way of expanding his character depth, much like previous updates fleshed out other villagers.

Sandy, on the other hand, has long been requested by fans. The main catch is that she lives in the desert, which players only unlock later in the game. That could make romancing her a more mid-to-late-game pursuit, potentially opening the door to new challenge runs and different pacing for relationships.

Barone had previously confirmed earlier this month that two new marriage candidates were coming in 1.7, which sparked plenty of speculation. Some players hoped for entirely new characters, others expected the Wizard, and a few even theorised about a divorce storyline making a married villager eligible. In the end, it’s Clint and Sandy stepping into the spotlight.

A Look Back At Stardew Valley’s Development

The anniversary video wasn’t just about romance. Barone walked through early builds of the game, including its 2012 prototype known as Sprout Valley. The footage shows a version heavily inspired by the Super Nintendo era Harvest Moon, with rough pixel art and a much more basic structure.

By 2013, Stardew Valley had started to resemble what we know today, though Barone described it as a strange transitional period where the game “hit puberty.” Early versions included features that were eventually scrapped, such as procedurally generated mines inspired by Terraria and even an underground goblin village that never made it into the final canon.

He also shared how close the project came to uncertainty before launch. After four and a half years of solo development, Stardew Valley launched on February 26, 2016, selling just under 40,000 copies on its first day. That early success confirmed to Barone that he could continue as a full-time developer, though he spent the following days rapidly patching bugs.

The retrospective highlights how much the game evolved post-launch, from adding Shane and Emily as marriage candidates in 1.1 after a community poll, to multiplayer in 1.3, Ginger Island in 1.5, and the more system-focused additions of 1.6.

What We Know About The 1.7 Update So Far

Beyond Clint and Sandy, Barone hasn’t shared detailed patch notes for Stardew Valley 1.7 yet. There’s currently no release window.

Given the pattern of previous updates, players can likely expect a mix of quality-of-life changes, new content, and system tweaks rather than a small patch. Every major 1.x update has meaningfully expanded the game in some way, whether through new farm types, endgame areas, or fresh relationship content.

For players who haven’t returned to the farm in a while, now might be the perfect time to start planning a new save file. And if you’ve ever wanted to give Clint a second chance, well, 1.7 might be your moment.

As Stardew Valley moves into its second decade, it’s clear that even without being a live service game, it’s still growing in ways that keep the community guessing.

The post Stardew Valley 1.7 Update Adds Clint And Sandy As New Marriage Candidates appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Steam has added another standout free game to its catalogue, and this one is already snowballing fast. D1AL-ogue, a cyberpunk narrative puzzle game, launched on 5 February and has surged up Steam’s New and Trending charts with an Overwhelmingly Positive rating from players.

Despite being completely free, D1AL-ogue has pulled in more than 600 user reviews in just a few days, with around 95 percent of them marked positive. For a small indie release, that kind of response usually means the game is doing something genuinely special.

D1AL-ogue Is Free To Download On Steam Right Now

Instead of combat or fast-paced action, the game centres on repairing androids known as Electronic Vital Entities, or E.V.E. Using an old-school diagnostic console called the D1AL, players rotate a circular grid and merge modules to stabilise damaged cores. Every repair doubles as a conversation starter, with the quality of your work shaping dialogue, character outcomes, and story endings.

The game blends light narrative storytelling with a tactile puzzle system, creating a loop that feels closer to a quiet visual novel than a traditional puzzle game.

A Narrative Puzzle With Strong Coffee Talk Vibes

One of the most common comparisons from players is to Coffee Talk, and it is easy to see why. D1AL-ogue leans heavily into atmosphere, pixel art visuals, and intimate conversations rather than high-stakes gameplay.

Each android who enters your workshop comes with their own personality and backstory. As you carefully rotate modules and avoid overloaded or corrupted components, they open up about their lives in a city where artificial light replaces daylight. The stories change depending on how well you perform each repair, giving even short play sessions a sense of consequence.

Visually, the game mixes retro 98-era PC aesthetics with neon noir lighting, giving it a nostalgic but polished look that has been widely praised.

Steam Players Are Praising The Art And Storytelling

The overwhelmingly positive rating is not just driven by the fact that D1AL-ogue is free. Reviews consistently highlight the art direction, character writing, and the way puzzles feed directly into the narrative.

One Steam review notes that the artwork immediately pulls you in, even if you are not usually into visual novel-style games. Another player said they expected a short distraction but ended up fully invested in the story and its surprisingly wholesome endings.

There are criticisms, but they are relatively mild. The most common complaint is that the game feels too short, which many players also acknowledge is understandable for a free release. Some early discussion around AI audio usage surfaced before launch, but developers addressed the issue prior to release, and it has not affected player sentiment since.

Developed By A Small Student Team With Big Results

D1AL-ogue was developed by a small four-student team under CherryPicker and Jungle Game Lab, making its early success even more notable. The game’s rapid climb into Steam’s top trending slots suggests strong word-of-mouth rather than algorithm luck alone.

It is also fully playable on Steam Deck, which has helped boost its visibility among players looking for relaxed, narrative-driven experiences on handheld.

While there is no official explanation for why the game is free, releases like this are often used to build an audience or demonstrate a proof of concept. There has been no confirmation of paid expansions or a follow-up project, but the response so far has clearly put the developers on the radar.

A Small Free Game That Is Punching Well Above Its Weight

D1AL-ogue is not a massive time investment, and it does not try to be. Instead, it delivers a focused cyberpunk experience built around mood, characters, and thoughtful puzzle design. For fans of narrative-heavy indie games, or anyone who enjoyed Coffee Talk’s slower pace, it feels like an easy recommendation.

With its Overwhelmingly Positive rating still climbing, D1AL-ogue is another reminder that some of Steam’s most interesting releases arrive quietly, and sometimes cost nothing at all.

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ConcernedApe Addresses Growing Fan Speculation

Eric Barone, better known as ConcernedApe, has directly addressed growing concerns around the status of Haunted Chocolatier, making it clear the game is still in active development and has not been abandoned. In a new post on the official Haunted Chocolatier website, Barone reassured fans that progress is ongoing, even if it is taking longer than expected.

His message was blunt and unambiguous. He is alive, the game is still being worked on, and it will be released when it is ready.

Why Haunted Chocolatier Is Taking So Long

Barone openly acknowledged that announcing Haunted Chocolatier early may have contributed to impatience within the community. However, he explained that the extended timeline is intentional rather than a sign of trouble.

According to Barone, there is still significant work left to complete, and he believes Haunted Chocolatier needs to surpass the quality bar set by Stardew Valley. That standard, combined with the scope of the project, naturally means a longer development cycle.

Image Credit: ConcernedApe

He stressed that taking extra time is preferable to releasing a game that does not meet his own expectations.

Haunted Chocolatier Will Not Be Merged Into Stardew Valley

One of the most persistent rumours Barone addressed was the claim that Haunted Chocolatier might be abandoned and folded into Stardew Valley. He dismissed this outright.

Barone explained that the two games are entirely separate projects, built from scratch on different technology. Because they do not share the same engine, merging content between them would not be feasible in any practical sense. He added that even if Haunted Chocolatier were ever shelved, it would not result in its content appearing inside Stardew Valley.

Stardew Valley Updates Are Not Test Beds

Another common assumption was that ongoing Stardew Valley updates are being used to quietly test ideas for Haunted Chocolatier. Barone rejected this as well.

When he works on Stardew Valley, his focus is solely on improving that game for its existing audience. Likewise, when he works on Haunted Chocolatier, Stardew Valley is not part of the equation. He said testing mechanics in Stardew Valley for another project would be unfair to players and could spoil ideas meant to debut in Haunted Chocolatier.

Image Credit: ConcernedApe

Why Stardew Valley Is Still Receiving Updates

Barone also addressed speculation that he returned to Stardew Valley development because he was burned out on Haunted Chocolatier. He clarified that this is not the case.

Stardew Valley continues to receive updates because of its massive and still-growing player base, and because Barone still has ideas he wants to implement. He has previously indicated he is taking more of a creative director role on Stardew Valley updates, allowing him to prioritise Haunted Chocolatier while still supporting the older game.

No Release Date, And No 2030 Commitment

Barone once again declined to provide a release date for Haunted Chocolatier. He also clarified comments that some fans interpreted as confirmation the game would not launch until 2030.

He explained that when asked in 2025 whether the game might be out within five years, he said he hoped it would be. That statement was not a promise or a timeline, and he does not want to commit to any date until the game is finished.

What This Means For Fans

The update reinforces a familiar message from Barone. Haunted Chocolatier is progressing, rumours of abandonment are unfounded, and development will continue at its own pace. While the wait remains indefinite, the creator’s transparency suggests the project is steady rather than stalled, with quality firmly taking priority over speed.

The post Stardew Valley Creator Shuts Down Haunted Chocolatier Abandonment Rumours, Says Game Is Still Progressing appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

When Blood West was offered for free on the Epic Games Store over the holiday period, most people assumed it would mainly benefit Epic’s ecosystem. Instead, it did something far more surprising. According to New Blood CEO Dave Oshry, the giveaway triggered a massive spike in sales on Steam, with purchases jumping by around 200 percent on the same day.

I used to think EGS was a Marketing Black Hole but turns out having your game be free on Epic is great advertising for Steam sales! pic.twitter.com/yDefeTKuXq

— Dave NewBlood (@DaveOshry) January 16, 2026

The revelation has sparked fresh debate around Epic’s free game strategy, Steam’s dominance, and why many PC players still prefer paying for a game rather than claiming it for nothing.

Free On Epic, Sold Better On Steam

Oshry shared the data on social media, explaining that Blood West being free on Epic acted as powerful advertising rather than cannibalising sales. The result was a surge of players choosing to buy the game on Steam instead, even while it was available for zero dollars elsewhere.

“I used to think EGS was a marketing black hole,” Oshry wrote. “Turns out having your game be free on Epic is great advertising for Steam sales.”

The boost was not limited to PC either. Oshry also confirmed that console sales saw a noticeable spike during the same period, suggesting the free giveaway raised overall awareness across platforms.

How Developers Are Paid For Epic Giveaways

One common question around Epic’s weekly freebies is how developers are compensated. Oshry addressed this directly, explaining that studios receive a lump sum payment from Epic for making a game free for a limited time.

In the case of Blood West, New Blood allowed the game’s developer, Hyperstrange, to take 100 percent of that Epic deal. That money is now being reinvested into development, including work on upcoming DLC, while New Blood benefited from increased Steam sales at the same time.

From Oshry’s perspective, this arrangement was a win for everyone involved.

Why Steam Still Wins Player Loyalty

The situation highlights a long running reality in PC gaming. Even when Epic offers a game for free, many players still prefer to buy it on Steam. Library consolidation, community features, reviews, forums, and overall user experience continue to play a huge role.

Oshry summed it up bluntly when discussing revenue splits. “Epic could give devs 100 percent of sales and it doesn’t mean anything if there are no sales. What’s 100 percent of zero?”

Other developers have echoed similar concerns, describing Epic as a store rather than a community. Steam, by contrast, is often seen as a place where players engage, discuss, review, and stay invested long term.

Epic’s Free Games Strategy Still Has Value

Despite criticism of the launcher’s performance and feature set, Epic’s free game programme remains one of the strongest marketing tools in the industry. The sheer scale of its user base, driven largely by Fortnite, ensures massive exposure for any title included in the promotion.

As this case shows, that exposure does not always translate into Epic sales, but it can absolutely drive interest elsewhere. For developers and publishers, that makes free Epic giveaways less of a loss leader and more of a powerful discovery channel.

What This Means For PC Gamers And Developers

The Blood West spike reinforces a simple truth about the PC market. Price matters, but platform experience matters more. Many players are happy to pay a little extra to avoid splitting their libraries or giving up features they value.

For developers, the takeaway is equally clear. Epic’s free deals can be lucrative upfront and act as advertising, while Steam remains the platform where long term sales momentum often lives.

In an industry where discoverability is everything, free does not always mean cheap, and sometimes zero dollars on one store can be worth far more somewhere else.

The post Blood West Was Free On Epic Games Store, But Sold 200 Percent More On Steam, New Blood CEO Reveals appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Team Cherry has shared a major update on the future of Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong, confirming a free expansion for Silksong in 2026, a refreshed version of the original game for Nintendo Switch 2, and a wave of updates already rolling out on PC.

With Silksong’s launch year now behind it, the studio is looking ahead to what’s next, while also thanking the millions of players who helped make 2025 such a landmark year for the series.

Silksong Passes Seven Million Players

Team Cherry revealed that more than seven million players have purchased Hollow Knight: Silksong so far, with millions more playing through Xbox Game Pass. The studio described the response as far beyond expectations, even joking that the launch was big enough to crash storefronts.

The developers highlighted the growing community around the game, from fan art and mods to creative strategies and shared discoveries, calling it a huge motivation as work continues on expanding Silksong even further.

Sea of Sorrow Expansion Coming Free in 2026

The first major expansion for Hollow Knight: Silksong is officially on the way. Titled Hollow Knight: Silksong – Sea of Sorrow, the expansion is set to launch in 2026 and will be completely free for all players.

Sea of Sorrow is described as a nautically themed expansion, introducing new areas, bosses, tools, and challenges as Hornet’s journey continues. While Team Cherry is keeping most details under wraps for now, a teaser trailer shows Hornet standing against crashing waves, hinting at a darker and more perilous setting.

More information is expected closer to the expansion’s release window, which is already shaping up to be one of the most anticipated content drops of 2026.

Hollow Knight Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Announced

Alongside Silksong’s expansion, Team Cherry confirmed it is working on an updated version of the original Hollow Knight for Nintendo Switch 2.

Image Credit: Team Cherry

The Hollow Knight Nintendo Switch 2 Edition will bring the original game in line with Silksong’s enhanced Switch 2 release, featuring higher frame rates, improved resolution, and additional graphical effects. Players who already own Hollow Knight on Nintendo Switch will be able to upgrade to the Switch 2 Edition for free when it launches in 2026.

In preparation for that release, Team Cherry is also updating all current versions of Hollow Knight across existing platforms, adding new features and fixing long-standing bugs.

PC Updates Available Now in Public Beta

PC players don’t have to wait until 2026 to see improvements. Team Cherry has already pushed many of the upcoming updates live via public beta branches on Steam and GOG.

These updates include full 16:10 and 21:9 aspect ratio support, making the game a better fit for Steam Deck users and ultrawide monitors. Additional fixes and enhancements are planned before the full release rolls out next year.

New Silksong Mini-Figurines Up for Pre-Order

To celebrate Silksong’s success, Team Cherry has teamed up with Studio Tyto and Fangamer to release a brand-new line of mini-figurines. The collection features Hornet alongside her allies and rivals, designed as compact, stylised collectibles.

Image Credit: Team Cherry

The mini-figures are available for pre-order now, either individually or as a complete set, with worldwide and EU or UK ordering options available through Fangamer. The full Hollow Knight: Silksong merchandise collection is also live for fans looking to expand their shelf displays.

Looking Ahead to a Big 2026

Both the Sea of Sorrow expansion and the Hollow Knight Nintendo Switch 2 Edition are planned for a broad 2026 release window. Silksong itself was one of the most celebrated games of 2025, earning five nominations at The Game Awards and winning Best Action and Adventure Game.

Team Cherry says it still has more plans for 2026 that it is not ready to reveal just yet. For now, the studio is taking a short break over the holidays before gearing up for what promises to be a massive year for Hollow Knight fans.

The post Hollow Knight: Silksong Gets Free DLC Sea of Sorrow Expansion and Original Game Refreshed for Switch 2 appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

A Skateboarding Game Quite Unlike Anything Else

Skate Story is one of those rare games that feels familiar and completely unhinged at the same time. It mixes tight, ground-level skateboarding with a surreal descent through the underworld, turning hell into a neon dreamscape where a demon on a board tries to eat the moon. It is stylish, strange, and surprisingly true to the essence of skateboarding.

Developed by Sam Eng and published by Devolver Digital, Skate Story has launched on PS5, PC, and the Nintendo Switch 2 on December 8, and it very quickly proves why it stands out in a crowded wave of skateboarding games.

A Demon, A Deal, and A Very Strange Journey

The story begins with a demon made entirely of glass who is somehow hungry, tired, and ready to take an enormous bite out of the moon. This understandably angers the devil, who then demands a deal. If you can flip, grind, and manual your way through the underworld and eat the moon, you earn your freedom.

Along the way, you meet a cast of wonderfully odd characters, including a talking rabbit guide, a pigeon blogger, a frog barista, a cute bag of trash, and plenty of skeletons. The world constantly shifts between cryptic, quirky, and philosophical moments, creating a journey that feels like Dante’s Inferno crossed with a Thrasher photoshoot.

A Blend of Skateboarding and Adventure

Skate Story breaks its world into three types of levels. There are hub zones where you can skate freely while taking on tasks, like doing the devil’s laundry or hunting down a permit so you can take a nap. Most tasks ask you to land combos, chase characters, or collect items.

Other levels take you speeding down chaotic tracks as you race through portals and try not to crash. Then there are boss battles, where you take on eldritch creatures by chaining combos and stomping them down in marked zones. It mixes skateboarding and light adventure elements in a way that feels fresh and easy to pick up.

Skating That Feels Weighty and Reactive

While the trick system is different from modern sims like the Skate series, it keeps things intuitive. Tricks combine shoulder buttons or triggers with face buttons, and new moves unlock gradually throughout the story. This makes combos satisfying to pull off, even if the learning curve takes a moment for Tony Hawk veterans to adjust to.

Every mistake sends your glass body shattering across the pavement, but you restart instantly, which keeps the pace lively and encourages experimentation. Speed challenges, in particular, are highlights. Charging toward an ethereal exit door while the soundtrack surges in the background captures the pure rush of skating at full tilt.

Hell Has Never Looked This Good

Skate Story is easily one of the most visually arresting games of the decade. Its grainy, low-fi aesthetic blends neon lights with jagged spikes, surreal hellscapes, and warped slices of New York City. You might roll through areas that resemble bagel shops or subway tunnels, only reimagined through a haunted, neon-drenched lens.

Through this dreamy world skates your glass demon, refracting the environment as it moves. The tight, low-slung camera brings you close to the action and tumbles to the ground whenever you bail, making every run feel tense and alive.

The soundtrack, crafted by New Jersey band Blood Cultures, ties the experience together with experimental electro-pop tunes that shift in vibe depending on where you are in the underworld. It is atmospheric, catchy, and perfect for getting into a flow state.

A New Standout In a Strong Era for Skate Games

We’re living through an incredible period for skateboarding games, from the Tony Hawk remakes to indie favourites like OlliOlli World and Skate City. Even in such a strong field, Skate Story stands out because of how confidently it embraces its oddities. It understands skate culture, captures the feeling of skating with surprising clarity, and mixes it with a surreal adventure that is unlike anything else.

Not every mission hits the mark, and its replay value may be limited, but as a complete package, Skate Story is one of the most distinctive skateboarding games in recent memory. Hell might be full of pain, jagged edges, and glowing red skeletons, but somehow, it also makes for the perfect place to ride.

The post Skate Story Review: Hell Has Never Been a Cooler Place to Skate appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

For fans of Hytale, it has been a rollercoaster few years. The ambitious Minecraft-inspired sandbox RPG looked like it might never see the light of day after Riot Games cancelled the project in June. Now, in a dramatic turnaround, Hytale has been saved, revived, and returned to its original creators at Hypixel Studios, with early access officially on the horizon.

We did it. Hytale is saved. We have acquired Hytale from Riot Games.

— Simon (@Simon_Hypixel) November 17, 2025

Below is everything you need to know about the comeback, the new development plans, and what players can expect next.

What Actually Happened to Hytale?

Hytale began development back in 2015, growing from a community-driven idea into a huge project powered by a passionate fanbase. When Riot Games acquired Hypixel Studios, many believed the game would gain the resources and support it needed to finally launch.

Instead, the opposite happened. After ten years of development challenges, shifting expectations, and internal changes, Riot pulled the plug in June 2025. The studio was shut down, developers were let go, and fans assumed the dream was over.

But behind the scenes, Hypixel co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme wasn’t ready to let Hytale die.

Hypixel Buys Hytale Back From Riot Games

In a surprise announcement, Collins-Laflamme revealed that Hypixel has successfully repurchased 100 percent of Hytale and the studio itself from Riot Games. He and fellow co-founder Philippe Touchette are personally funding the new version of the studio, with a ten-year commitment to keep Hytale alive and growing.

“We are thrilled to announce that we have acquired Hytale from Riot Games,” the team wrote in a new blog post. “While it didn’t make sense for them to continue developing it in its existing form, they ultimately wanted what’s best for players.”

Riot also confirmed the news, saying the transfer gives the community “its best shot” at finally getting a playable version of the game.

Hypixel Rehires 30 Developers and Goes Fully Independent

Hypixel Studios is now fully independent again, and Collins-Laflamme has already rehired more than 30 former Hytale developers, with more expected to return. These are the people who know the game inside and out, which is expected to speed up development significantly.

The new core leadership team includes:

• Simon Collins-Laflamme, Co-founder
• Philippe Touchette, Co-founder
• Kevin Carstens, Technical Lead
• Patrick Derbic, Management Lead

The revived project is also using its previous in-house engine rather than starting again from scratch, giving the team a major head start.

Hytale Early Access Is Coming Soon

Perhaps the biggest news of all is that early access is imminent. The team says the early access release date and pricing will be revealed in the coming days, and players can expect to jump into the game far sooner than anyone expected.

However, Collins-Laflamme has been very honest about the state of the game.

“Hytale isn’t some polished AAA release waiting in the wings,” he wrote on X. “It’s messy. It’s janky. And there’s a lot of work to be done. My plan is simple, get it out to you as soon as possible. No more waiting.”

The goal is to involve the community deeply from day one. Expect bugs, unbalanced content, and regular updates that might break things, as the developers want Hytale to grow openly with player feedback at the centre.

What Will Be Included at Launch?

The initial early access version of Hytale will include:

• Exploration Mode
• Creative Mode
• Modding support (including custom servers and content)

Content that won’t be available at launch includes:

• Minigames
• Adventure Mode

Both will come later, with a dedicated team already planning improvements for the minigame experience.

Platforms and Long-Term Plans

Hytale will launch first on Windows PC, with Hypixel aiming to attempt Linux and Mac support later. Other platforms, including consoles, are planned for “much later” down the line.

Early access is expected to last at least a few years, with absolutely no rush toward a 1.0 release. With the studio now fully independent and powered by a decade-long funding commitment, there’s no external pressure to ship early.

A Rare Feel-Good Story in Today’s Games Industry

In a year dominated by studio closures, layoffs, and cancelled projects, Hytale’s revival feels like a rare win. A cancelled game has been resurrected, dozens of developers have regained their jobs, and a passionate community finally has something to look forward to.

As Collins-Laflamme puts it, “This game has always been close to my heart, and I’m excited to bring it back home.”

For a project once declared dead, Hytale now looks more alive than it has in years. Fans have waited a long time, and soon, they’ll finally get their hands on it.

The post Hytale Is Back: Cancelled Minecraft-Like Game Revived By Hypixel, Early Access Coming Soon appeared first on Shane the Gamer.