Category: Video Gaming

The game industry is changing. After years of groundwork over the past decade, laid over social media and in the halls of gatherings like the Game Developers Conference, workers are organizing into unions in their fight against a history of overwork, low pay, and harassment. Unions are on the rise in the game industry as workers seek to make meaningful, sustainable change.

Industry change is following a nationwide trend in worker organization: Over the past few years, there’s been an uptick in union elections and unfair labor complaints as workers vow to make change in their workplaces. You can see this reflected in headlines, too — alongside union efforts at Activision Blizzard and Microsoft, campaigns are ongoing at major corporations like Apple, Google, and Starbucks.

These are the gaming companies where workers are unionizing. We’ll keep this list updated as more unions pop up across the industry.

Activision Blizzard

Photo: David McNew/AFP via Getty Images

Activision Blizzard made headlines in 2021 after California’s Civil Rights Department (formerly called the Department of Fair Employment and Housing) sued the World of Warcraft and Call of Duty publisher over alleged widespread sexism and harassment. (Activision Blizzard itself sued the CRD over the lawsuit in 2022.) This kicked off a flurry of accusations and lawsuits, including a settled $18 million suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Workers, too, took action: More than 1,000 workers walked out in July 2021, and since then, organizing efforts have continued. Its three unions — two officially recognized through National Labor Relations Board elections — are entirely made up of quality assurance workers. QA workers often feel they are overlooked, subjected to low pay, unstable contracts, and brutal overwork.

Activision Blizzard has repeatedly moved to stall union efforts, maintaining the opinion that all workers at the respective studios should vote in the union elections, not just QA workers. Multiple unfair labor complaints have been filed against the company, alleging anti-union sentiment and union busting.

As union efforts were underway at the company, Activision Blizzard converted all its contract workers to full-time employees — a win workers attribute to organizing efforts.

Activision Blizzard expects to be acquired by Microsoft as part of a $68.7 billion deal. The United States Federal Trade Commission is suing Microsoft in an effort to challenge the deal. After announcing the deal, Microsoft signed a neutrality agreement with the Communications Workers of America, promising not to interfere with union efforts at the company. Some consider the deal on Microsoft’s part an attempt to ease the acquisition through the FTC, but regardless, it benefits the workers at Microsoft and potentially Activision Blizzard should the deal go through.

Blizzard Albany

Blizzard Albany, formerly known as Vicarious Visions, is working on Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo franchise, including the upcoming Diablo 4. It was the second studio within Activision Blizzard to successfully unionize; QA workers there won their vote 14-0 in December 2022, following a number of alleged union-busting efforts, according to the CWA.

The next step for the group is to enter contract negotiations with Activision Blizzard.

Raven Software

Raven Software is the first studio within Activision Blizzard to unionize, an effort kicked off in December 2021 as Call of Duty: Warzone QA workers walked out of work to protest what they considered unfair layoffs of contract workers. QA workers announced their union push in January 2022 and were met with resistance from Activision Blizzard: Management attempted to restructure the company and rule the QA bargaining unit ineligible to vote. A judge ruled in favor of the QA union after hearings, and Raven Software workers, called Game Workers Alliance, won their union vote in May 2022 and are represented by the CWA.

Proletariat

Boston-based studio Proletariat announced the filing of its union petition in late December 2022. The Spellbreak developer was acquired by Activision Blizzard in June 2022; Spellbreak was shut down, and team is now working on World of Warcraft. An election has not yet been scheduled by the NLRB. Like the other unionized studios at Activision Blizzard, Proletariat is represented by the CWA.

Proletariat’s proposed unit includes all positions outside of management — around 60 workers currently.

Anemone Hug

Image: Blackbird Interactive/Focus Home Interactive

Union footholds in the game industry is not limited to the United States. Studios in Canada are also making strides to organize their workplaces. Developer Anemone Hug Interactive, which supported Hardspace: Shipbreaker and is currently working on an original game, voted in favor of unionization in 2022. Anemone Hug’s union is part of the Canadian Animation Guild, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 938. IATSE largely services entertainment workers internationally, while the British Columbian animation unit focuses on local animation workers — and now game developers.

Cards Against Humanity

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Cards Against Humanity workers, who make the card game of the same name, unionized in 2020 with Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United following a report that alleged racist and sexist culture at the company; Cards Against Humanity management recognized the unit, and the group successfully completed contract negotiations to secure better benefits, including a successorship clause that could be enacted if owners sold the company.

Workers at Cards Against Humanity were likely the first in their industry to unionize.

Keywords Studios

Image: BioWare Edmonton/Electronic Arts

Contract QA workers who support BioWare’s Dragon Age: Dreadwolf at Keywords Studios’ Edmonton location voted to unionize in June 2022. Like Anemone Hug, Keywords Studios is a Canadian studio; their election went through the Alberta Labour Relations Board, where the group is organized under United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local 401.

KWS Edmonton United, the union, began organizing after management implemented a return-to-office order that workers didn’t agree with — commuting costs too much given their low salaries and the studio doesn’t offer paid time off when sick, they said.

Microsoft

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks

Microsoft’s labor neutrality agreement with the CWA went into effect in June 2022, when it promised not to interfere with union organizing at the company — including at Activision Blizzard, should the acquisition go through. This isn’t a common approach according to labor experts, and may have been influenced by the acquisition itself, which is under scrutiny by the FTC. Regardless, the deal benefits workers who want to organize with the CWA.

We saw it in practice firsthand when QA workers at several ZeniMax studios announced their desire to unionize.

ZeniMax

Roughly 300 QA workers at ZeniMax Media have unionized under the CWA. The group, called ZeniMax Workers United, sidestepped an NLRB election due to Microsoft’s neutrality deal. Instead, workers voted through union authorization cards or an online portal to prove interest to the company. A supermajority of those 300 workers voted “yes,” and Microsoft recognized the union.

It was a much speedier process than the traditional pathway, as evidenced by efforts at Activision Blizzard. ZeniMax Workers United includes workers at Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, and ZeniMax Online in Maryland and Texas offices.

The next step is for ZeniMax to nominate a bargaining committee and move into contract negotiations.

Paizo

Image: Paizo

United Paizo Workers formed in 2021, making it one of the earlier unions in the industry. Paizo is one of the biggest tabletop role-playing game publishers; it’s responsible for both Pathfinder and Starfinder. Workers at the studio accused the Washington state-based company of pay inequity, harassment, and “managerial impropriety.” Paizo voluntarily recognized the union, and collective bargaining began shortly after.

UPW reached a tentative agreement with Paizo management on certain topics in early December 2022, including benefits, remote work, time off, and work hours. Bargaining will continue until both sides agree to all terms.

Tender Claws

Image: Tender Claws

Indie studio Tender Claws, based in Los Angeles, announced its union petition in July 2022 — the entire proposed unit supported the effort. The group is called Tender Claws Human Union, a nod to its game Virtual Virtual Reality, which includes an in-game union for humans that work for AI. Tender Claws management recognized the union with representation from the CWA; contract bargaining began in November and is ongoing.

Vodeo Games (now defunct)

Image: Vodeo Games

Vodeo Games’ debut — and only — title is Beast Breaker, a turn-based game mixed with a bit of Peggle. The video game studio is now defunct, shut down in 2022 due to a lack of funds. But the impact its workers made on the video game industry is still important: Vodeo Workers United, represented by the CWA, was the first video game industry union in North America.

Setting the tone for the year for the rest of us, a streamer has beaten Elden Ring’s Malenia on a dance pad and controller – at the same time.

Look, I don’t care what anyone might say, I know I only managed to beat Malenia because of the Mimic Tear, and I’m not ashamed of it. She’s a damn tough boss fight, easily one of FromSoftware’s hardest. Which makes Twitch streamer MissMikkaa’s accomplishment of playing the game on a dance pad on one console, and a regular controller on another, and beating Malenia on both of them, all the more impressive (thanks, Eurogamer).

To explain the run: MissMikkaa played through the game last year, simultaneously, one of her PS5, the other on PC using a dance pad, with each version playing on a different screen. In turn, she had to beat Malenia, in both versions of the game, in the same attempt. Dying in either one of them meant starting over in the other, as it wouldn’t really be doing the boss at the same time otherwise. And just this week, she actually accomplished the ridiculous feat, in a massively impressive display of concentration and skill.

In a tweet showing off the moment, MissMikkaa said it took her three days and 199 tries, which honestly sounds on par with the rest of us attempting it normally. To take down the demigod, she used a bleed build with Flamberge and the Seppuku Ash of War, the latter of which increases the amount of damage you die, as well as being able to inflict blood loss, which normally does a huge chunk of damage.

You can watch a compilation of MissMikkaa’s various attempts at taking down the brutal blade of Miquella through all of its highs and lows below. She also showed off the full fight, which is certainly a sight to behold. It might also give you an idea of how to pull it off yourself. Would give you something to do while you wait for Armored Core 6.

If you’re finding yourself missing Zack Fair and co’s original voices, then you might want to check out the Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion mod that brings them all back.

Announced last June and released last month, Crisis Core has received a pretty extensive remaster that has overhauled a lot of what was present in the original PSP game. For one, the visuals are completely new, with modern models, new textures, and fancy lighting, all to bring it closer to Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s visual style. But it’s not just the visuals that have been matched, as the voice acting has all been redone, all to match the actors cast in 7 Remake. That might not be as welcome a change for some, but if you’re playing on PC and miss the old voice acting then good news: there’s a mod for that.

As shared by Siliconera, modder Svenchu has shared a mod that restores 99% of the in-game cutscenes that existed in the original PSP version of the game. The reason it’s not every single cutscene is because the FMV cutscenes, the fancy pre-rendered ones, haven’t had their voices replaced yet. There’s also a suite of new voice acting added into the remaster, like for random NPCs, and cutscenes you’d get through the game’s DMW system.

Svenchu currently plans to add the original combat voice lines, as well as the FMV voices, and will also add an option to completely remove new voice acting, so that it would be more like the original PSP game.

Of course, this mod will only be available for PC players of the game, so if you’re a console player, hopefully you like the new voice acting enough to not be bothered by it.

VG247’s review of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion gave the game 4/5, with Alex Donaldson writing, “Repackaged into one of the sharpest Remaster releases I’ve ever seen, it’s a relatively irresistible package – warts and all. The blemishes upon its carefully airbrushed visage are, in many ways, part of the charm.”

The medium of animation knows no bounds — which is exactly the kind of limitless possibility cinematographer Claudio Miranda needed to pull off Top Gun: Maverick. But what to do when your lead actor is a human man and not Shrek? The answer was a bit of reverse engineering.

At a recent dinner for the 2023 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, where Miranda picked up a Best Cinematography award for his work on Maverick, the director of photography revealed that his unlikely inspiration for the long-awaited Top Gun sequel was not modern aerial footage but gravity-defying action animation. Looking back at old stunts, including the revolutionary stunt work in Tony Scott’s original 1983 movie, meant potentially emulating what those movies already did. That’s not the Tom Cruise way, nor was it the goal of Maverick director Joseph Kosinski. But when Miranda discovered Damian Nenow’s 2010 short film Paths of Hate, his bar was set.

Nenow is not as known an entity as anyone involved in Top Gun: Maverick, but he is an innovator: Most recently, the Polish animator helmed Another Day of Life, an animated documentary/narrative hybrid about the Angolan Civil War that earned a release from GKIDS in 2018. Paths of Hate uses a similar bold-lined style to turn a vicious warplane dogfight into a reflection of anger’s poisonous effect on the human psyche. While introspective, it’s easy to see why Miranda sparked to Nenow’s work. The animated camera swings in and out of the cockpit, with the planes moving low to the ground in ways the Top Gun academy teachers would deem incredibly irresponsible. Perfect for Maverick.

As Miranda told Indiewire, if he could get the planes in Maverick to look like the dogfight in Nenow’s eviscerating portrait of war, then he’d be putting a live-action movie in front of audiences they’d never seen before. So he did. The cutting-edge, built-into-the-fighter-jets camera work he used to pull off Maverick’s photography is highly technical and well-detailed, but to me, even more fascinating than the micro is the macro: Animation allowed a longtime live-action filmmaker to dream big. Miranda’s storied career is littered with an embrace of digital technology — his work on David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made him the first DP nominated for a fully digital production, and he went on to shoot the highly animated Tron: Legacy. But in a field that’s constantly at war between digital/animated work and practical or on-film techniques, here’s a guy just looking for pure inspiration. And he found it in an animated short film you can watch right now.

The cherry on top of Miranda’s award-winning moment at the NYFCC dinner: Top Gun: Maverick star Danny Ramirez was on hand to present the award, and revealed that while making the movie, he bunked with the DP, who would spend his nights with headphones on, tablet up, watching YouTube videos that would “make him giggle.” This is how the real masters work, ladies and gentlemen.

The survival genre has pumped out some incredible experiences since its inception. No Man’s Sky, Rust, Minecraft, and more have defined and expanded on the immersive formula of trying to forge your way through an unrelenting world. Here are some more experiences coming out in 2023 and beyond that are sure to scratch your survival itch.

Dead Island 2 is a game that was announced nine years ago, disappeared for long stretches since, and has changed developers more than once. Suffice it to say, it’s been stuck in development hell for what seems to have been several years of that time period. But now, it’s almost here. That’s an exciting prospect for zombie genre and RPG fans, and if you’ve lost the plot over the past near-decade, don’t worry. Here’s everything you need to know about Dead Island 2, including its release date, its many delays and studio swaps, and more.

Dead Island 2 release date and platforms

Dead Island 2 arrives on April 28, 2023 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Xbox One, and PS4. This release date was announced in mid-November 2022, and actually came as a delay announcement. The game was previously set for February 2023. Hopefully it’s the last delay in store for the long in-development game.

Dead Island 2 studio shake-ups and timeline

2014-15: While some of the game’s way of being passed around to different studios may have happened behind closed doors, publicly we know of several changes since its announcement in 2014. The game was announced to be in development by Yager, as the original Dead Island studio, Techland, had moved on to begin working on Dying Light. The Polish studio later revealed it was not making Dead Island 2 due to what one Techland developer described as “a lot of moments where we would disagree on the creative vision of the project” with publisher Deep Silver.

Those comments would seem to later be echoed by Yager, when it was pulled off the project in 2015 following a delay earlier in the year. At the time, the decision was made due to a “difference in vision.” A developer at Yager would later add that losing the project was “catastrophic” for the studio and caused it to file for insolvency.

2016: Already having missed its original–and probably overly optimistic–2015 release window, Dead Island 2 was given a new lead studio in the form of Sumo Digital, a team that had previously worked on projects such as LittleBigPlanet 3. Following that announcement, the game went dark for multiple years, and though some assumed it was quietly canceled, publisher Deep Silver would later come back with more announcements.

2018: Deep Silver announced that, despite the lack of updates, Dead Island 2 had not been canceled, though it offered no substantial updates in the form of trailers or other news. The publisher was later acquired by THQ Nordic, giving the game its second publisher to go along with at least two studios attached to it up to that point.

2019: THQ Nordic confirmed again that Dead Island 2 was in production, but had no further details to add, and with its third studio in the lead spot: Dambuster Studios, co-creators of Homefront: Revolution. THQ Nordic’s parent company, Koch Media (today known as Plaion), suggested that the game’s long development cycle was a good thing, actually. “It’s just a testimony of our dedication to get[ting] it right,” said Koch Media CEO Klemens Kundratitz.

2020: In May of 2020, Embracer Group–Plaion’s (formerly Koch Media) parent company, which is THQ Nordic’s parent company, which bought out the game’s original publisher, Deep Silver, in 2018–said not to expect any more updates on the game until after March 2021. A few weeks later, a snippet of Yager’s years-old Dead Island 2 build hit the internet, giving fans a glimpse into what the game would’ve looked like under the Spec Ops: The Line developer’s leadership.

2021: From Gamescom in August 2021, Dead Island 2 came roaring back in its current and seemingly final iteration. The game is now able to be preordered–keep scrolling if interested–and it’s received a number of newsy updates, trailers, and more that seem to suggest the game is really going to launch this time. It’s worth noting, however, that the game was delayed one more time, pushed from February to April 2023.

What is Dead Island 2?

With that timeline out of the way, it might not be obvious what exactly the game is striving to be in its most recent form. But as it turns out, the sequel seems not to veer too far away from what the first game was like, or even what it looked like when the sequel was first revealed. It’s a first-person, open-world RPG set in a zombie-infested Los Angeles that leans into over-the-top combat, characters, and weapons.

Think of it as something more like Dead Rising than DayZ. Players will take on the role of six different characters with a re-spec system that is meant to be used often and easily, to give players access to many ever-changing character builds.

Dead Island 2 trailers

For a game that’s been in development for nearly a decade, there are shockingly few trailers. We could show you the original reveal trailer, but as that instance of the game is several developers old by now, it’s likely best we stick to what’s new, as that will give you the best idea of what Dead Island 2 may be like when it arrives this year.

For the most recent trailers, we have a gameplay reveal seen below, which includes things like sparking gas puddles to cause fires and set a horde of zombies ablaze and a wide range of other wacky, seemingly player-crafted weapons.

In December 2022, the Dead Island 2 team held a livestreamed showcase which included live-action parts as well as more game details. You can watch the whole thing below.

Dead Island 2 preorders

Dead Island 2 is now available for preorder across any of its scheduled platforms. We have a complete Dead Island 2 preorder guide ready to guide you through what you get with each of the several different versions of the game.

This includes things such as digital bonuses just for preordering any version, a Deluxe Edition with additional weapons and more, and even the $100 Hell-A Edition which comes with a bundle of digital items, but also physical bonuses like a map, pins, and tarot cards styled like the game.

Gaming’s marathon of sprints is back. Yes, Games Done Quick (GDQ) 2023 kicks off today and will run through Saturday, Jan. 14, culminating in a finale stream during the wee hours of Sunday, Jan 15.

Now in its 14th year, Games Done Quick is widely considered the gold standard for speedrunning events. Every year, dozens gamers put on a slew of charity streams wherein they race through video games as fast as possible. (Over the years, GDQ has raised more than $40 million for charity.) This year, donations go to Prevent Cancer Foundation.

For 2023, GDQ was initially planned as an in-person convention in Florida. But in Sept. 2022, organizers called off the physical component, citing the state’s “continued disregard for COVID-19’s dangers” and “increased aggression towards LGBTQ+ individuals,” in addition to the costs associated with cancelling at the intended venue. “We do not believe it is a safe place for our community at this time,” organizers said.

Instead, GDQ 2023 will be an entirely online affair.

How to watch GDQ 2023

You can stream the event right on the Games Done Quick website or via its Twitch channel. If you miss the event live, past runs are generally uploaded to GDQ’s YouTube page.

Here’s the full GDQ 2023 schedule. This year is stacked with some truly bonkers-sounding runs, including a blistering tear through Neon White, a first-person platformer quite literally designed for speedrunning. Here are a handful of runs to put on your radar:

• A 29-minute any% run (meaning the only goal is to hit the credits as fast as possible) through The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, by Player 5 (Sunday, Jan. 8 at 1:30 p.m. ET)
• A consecutive 40-minute sprint through every single level of Neon White level, by Blaidan (Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 10:49 p.m. ET)
• A 23-minute race through every track of Kirby Air Ride, the Kirby game most in need of a sequel, by 1davidj (Friday, Jan. 13 at 3:06 a.m. ET)
• A three-hour co-op run through randomized versions of Metroid Prime and its sequel, by UncleReggie and BashPrime (Friday, Jan. 13 at 10:35 a.m. ET)

Sundays are for brushing biscuit crumbs off your lap. Before you scatter, let’s read this week’s best writing about games (and game related things).

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All the help and advice you need to make today’s Wordle as straightforward as you want it to be is on this very page. Get a little pointer in the right direction with a fresh daily clue, read through our general tips, guides, and archives if you’d prefer, or if you’d just like to win as quickly as possible then feel free to scroll or click down to January 8’s (568) answer.

There was one key letter I really needed to find today to make the jumble of yellow boxes I had make sense and I didn’t find it in time. I was annoyed with myself, but hey, it happens.

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Sunday, January 8

As if beating Malenia – arguably Elden Ring’s hardest boss – wasn’t a feat enough in itself, Twitch streamer MissMikkaa just beat two Malenias at one time with a controller and a dance pad.

MissMikkaa accomplished this astonishing feat during an “Ultimate Challenge Run,” where she tasked herself with playing “two Elden Rings games simultaneously with different controllers (Dance Pad & PS5 DualSense).” She also had to kill the “bosses on the same try on both game instances.”

You can see a clip of the victory below, and you can click here for the full battle.

2x MALENIA HAS BEEN DEFEATED! After 3 days and 199 tries Malenia is dead in the Ultimate Challenge Run where I play Elden Ring twice simultaneously (with a dance pad & controller). In the beginning I was not even sure if this run was possible. Radagon/Elden Beast is next! pic.twitter.com/cS9VQLvrlE

— MissMikkaa (@MissMikkaa) January 5, 2023

It took her three days and 199 tries, but she prevailed in the end. She plans on taking down Radagon/Elden Beast next, and who knows what other challenges she will come up with in the future.

We spoke to MissMikkaa in November 2022 and she walked us through how she beat Elden Ring entirely with a dance pad, and this was even after she beat Malenia at level 1 with the same dance pad.

Malenia has been one of the toughest challenges in recent memory in the world of video games, and the difficulty of her battle inspired the rise of, alongside MissMikkaa and others, one of Elden Ring’s most legendary players, Let Me Solo Her. This player would appear in players’ games to take down Malenia single-handedly, and we also talked to them about how they became a hero to all.

For more in the world of Elden Ring, check out our chat GinoMachino, the player who beat every single boss without taking a single hit and why we picked Elden Ring as our Game of the year in 2022.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

If you came to Skyrim via some of the older Elder Scrolls games, you were probably used to being able to see your character when you opened the inventory screen. It let you know what you’d look like as you tried out each new piece of equipment (a mismatched dweeb), and if you were one of those strict first-person-only players it was one of the few times you got to see your outfit.

While a mod for vanilla Skyrim called Oblivion Style Inventory Character View (opens in new tab) offered the chance to gawp at yourself in each new set of armor you looted from dead bandits, a bug would sometimes leave the camera stuck that way. Now, an updated version that’s compatible with Skyrim Special Edition and Anniversary Edition called Show Player in Menus (opens in new tab) is out, and after a quick test on a couple of saves seems to be working just fine.

Several games have been accused of being little more than spreadsheets, but few have decided to lean into the allegation. That’s what EVE Online is doing later this year though, when developers CCP release their own Microsoft Excel plug-in.

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Guilty Gear Strive streamers say the fighting game is “unplayable” due to an unpatched security exploit.

As reported by Vice (opens in new tab), Guilty Gear Strive streamers allege that an exploit, which first popped up around the holidays, sees them “getting hit” with hackers who target streamers by making changes to the game’s code – such as the names of other players mid-match – causing it to crash.

Dishonored and Prey studio Arkane is diving back into co-op with its upcoming open-world shooter Redfall, and in a new exclusive interview with GamesRadar+ – as part of our Big in 2023: Redfall deep dive – the developers discuss the classic multiplayer games that inspired them.

Redfall isn’t Arkane’s first foray into cooperative multiplayer, with 2019’s Wolfenstein: Young Blood being the most recent example. The studio’s 2021 first-person shooter Deathloop has a multiplayer element, but it’s more akin to Elden Ring’s where players can spontaneously invade other players’ games. With Redfall, the developers were inspired by games they’ve been playing together for many years.

The Nintendo Switch will celebrate its sixth anniversary in March 2023. It’s hard to believe that the beloved console/handheld hybrid has been on the market more than half a decade, selling upwards of 114 million units, over 900 million games, and many, many memorable experiences. 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Metroid Dread – the list goes on and on surrounding the countless fantastic titles that can be found on Switch. However, 2023 is looking a little bit different. Questions have begun to rear their head surrounding the longevity of Nintendo’s hybrid console – namely, that the Japanese games maker might be preparing the console’s successor. Is the Switch 2 closer than we think? 

A very early prototype of Left 4 Dead has leaked in a playable state, allowing you to go hands-on with Turtle Rock’s original concept.

According to self-described video game information finder Tyler McVicker (opens in new tab), this “historic leak” is the first the world (outside of Valve and Turtle Rock, of course) has seen of the Left 4 Dead prototype outside of a small number of screenshots. In a detailed video essay (opens in new tab), the YouTuber explains how a map called Zombie City, first developed in Counter-Strike: Source and then Condition Zero back in the early-2000s, eventually became Valve’s iconic multiplayer zombie shooter.

Upcoming Metroidvania Afterimage finally has a release date: April 25, 2023.

The hand-drawn Kickstarted game – which secured over $93,000 from 2573 backers when the campaign kicked off in March 2022 – is expected to come to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S later this year, having “exceeded [the developer’s] initial expectations”.