GamersHeroes Saturday, January 31, 2026 3:03 PM A globally respected gaming industry technology veteran with over 30 years of experience, Julien Merceron will lead internal development as Chief Technology Officer of Delphi Interactive. The post Julien Merceron Heading Internal Development as Delphi Interactive CTO appeared first on GamersHeroes. |
PCGamesN Saturday, January 31, 2026 1:08 PM Ubisoft outlines improvements to account security, anti-cheat, and counters to toxicity as the Rainbow Six Siege X marketplace remains shut. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Saturday, January 31, 2026 5:55 PM  Crafting a world that begs to be explored is a tricky thing to do, especially when the world is kind of sucky, doubly so when it's woven mostly through words with only supplementary imagery to provide a broader context. Yet Citizen Sleeper's is one I'm often thinking about because amongst all the grand sci-fi concepts is a grounded sense of reality that you'll always find in the best of the cyberpunk genre. And here I am, a year on from the second game's release, tempted to return once more, but this time in a form based on its tabletop origins. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Saturday, January 31, 2026 4:35 PM  There are not enough games in the world where it feels like the initial concept was born from the thought, "wouldn't it be funny if…" I'm no fool, I know this is because developing a video game is akin to getting hit by a car, miraculously coming away from it unscathed, only to be hit by six more cars as you continue your journey. In any case, this is still how I would like to imagine Trust Me, I Nailed It was born, a turn-based strategy game where you have to make cool video edits of some warrior to make him seem like a monster slaying legend. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Saturday, January 31, 2026 2:06 PM  You know, I'm surprised that EA has never made a Sims reality show where contestants have to act out odd, Simish challenges on a Truman Show-esque production lot, given how much the games themselves feel like simulators for the trashiest (said lovingly) TV show genre. In the meantime, while it isn't at all themed reality shows, The Sims 4's next expansion, Royalty & Legacy, seems like a perfect fit for a fictitious one of your own making. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Saturday, January 31, 2026 1:01 PM  RuneScape: Dragonwilds just held its 2026 summit this week, and with it came a bevy of details about future updates and plans for the survival game. Oh what joy for you scaper or runes! The main thing that got a look-in was the game's next big update, Dowdun Reach: Madness of Zamorak, which certainly has an air of someone looking at any section of a given Dark Souls and thinking "yeah, I want a fortress like that." |
Twinfinite Saturday, January 31, 2026 5:10 PM  |
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Twinfinite Saturday, January 31, 2026 3:32 PM  |
Destructoid Saturday, January 31, 2026 5:45 PM
Yapyap could become the next co-op hit in 2026 when it goes live soon on Steam.
The upcoming title will be introduced to PC players as a full launch, and not much time is left for the game to go live. This guide will help you keep track of the launch.
Table of contents
Yapyap release countdown
Yapyap goes live globally on Feb. 3, 2026, and the following countdown will expire once the game is available.
The countdown is based on the following timings.
The timings mentioned in this guide are based on the information available on SteamDB. If there's any late update, the change will reflect on this guide. Yapyap will be available only on PC, and there's no way to pre-order. If you're interesting in adding it to your Steam library, a wishlist option is available.
What to expect from Yapyap
Yapyap is a magic-themed co-op horror title that you can play with up to five other buddies. You play as minions summoned by a wizard to destroy the rival's towers. To do so, you'll have to resort to using different spells. However, there will be monsters and other beasts to slay (or avoid).
While vandalism is promoted in the game, there's no one way of doing it. You can cast unique spells to defeat your enemies and complete your objectives. To cast spells, you'll need to use voice commands. The ultimate aim is to escape the tower, but the task is easier said than done.
It will be interesting to find out if Yapyap can entice the audience. We have had previous indie titles like Mage Arena that used voice command for inputs.
The post Yapyap release countdown: Exact date and time appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, January 31, 2026 4:00 PM
Getting all HELLMART endings can be tricky when nearly everything you do is tracked on an invisible karma system. Luckily, bonuses aren't on the line here. But your life is.
Like going full Paragon or Renegade in Mass Effect, there are many choices you can take that determine what kind of player you are, and what fate you'll get based on your performance. Thankfully, HELLMART doesn't have anywhere near as many endings as its work simulator cousin, Zoochosis.
Here is how to get all three endings in horror supermarket simulator, HELLMART.
Table of contents
HELLMART endings guide
Keys to the Kingdom - Obtain Hellmart key
The best ending in HELLMART is achieved by being the best supermarket employee. Keep the store clean, be nice to customers, meet every quota, don't short-change anyone, don't let any fake visitors in at night, consistently defend the store from the monster, and remove all anomalies. Unfortunately, every single thing you do will supposedly have consequences, but this isn't entirely the case.
You should prioritize sticking to the rules laid out by your employer (who always calls via the payphone). Keep customers happy by fully stocking the shelves and paying attention to the register so you don't give out the wrong change. Though it isn't implicitly said, stealing and being rude to customers will give you bad karma and handing over too much change will increase your quota that day. You can deny a customer if they're acting suspiciously or if they have a dodgy request, such as Father Grayson, who keeps asking you to donate money.
Pay close attention to the night shift. Imposters cause glitches and malfunctions on the camera when you monitor the entrance, their speech has blatant typos, and they'll often use unnatural dialogue. On the other hand, be sure to let the right people in—those who you recognize from the shift you just had, and never assume someone is evil because of their previous behavior in the store. For example, Karen, who demands more change; the shoplifter, who you can catch in the act; or Tiny Bob (because he's creepy-looking).
Finally, make sure you tell the Stranger standing outside the cabin where you sleep at the end of each shift, "I have to protect this place from you!" on the seventh day. This ending sees Hellmart change into a normal supermarket called HelloMart. You're given the keys to the store as the rightful new owner.
Groundhog Day - Enter a new cycle
Groundhog Day acts as the middle-of-the-road, default ending in HELLMART. Unless you're the perfect employee, this should be the first ending you get. The main difference between this and the good ending is that you've made some mistakes with customer requests and dialogue.
This can be done by accidentally increasing the quota by giving customers the wrong change, failing to stop the shoplifter, leaving real customers outside during night shifts, or telling the Stranger that you're not sure whether following the rules is worth it. You can also agree to help the Stranger on the seventh day, but only if you haven't purposely been unhelpful to customers or let in monsters at night. Don't make too many mistakes as you're being watched, and too many will push you into the Judgement Night route.
A new cycle begins following Hellmart going up in flames. You believe you've escaped this hellscape, but it's only just begun as the bus rounds the corner onto a brand-new Hellmart. Your first shift awaits, again.
Judgment Night - Become a monster
An easy way to get this ending is by doing everything wrong. Be rude to customers and let monsters in. You can then hide from monsters during the night shift, so it counts towards the bad karma you're slowly accumulating. Turning away customers you saw during the day that pass the dialogue and camera check will also count towards getting this ending. Ignore customer requests such as stocking specific items and handing over cigarettes when they ask for them. The dialogue choices aren't as important here. Rather, the goal is to get Worst Employee of the Week, Every Week.
Agree to help the Stranger in black when you've reached the seventh day. You can also tell him, "I don't give a shit about those rules!" when he stands at checkout. Choices don't matter as much here, as this character will always appear at the end of the game. Select these dialogue prompts when talking to him:
This dialogue alone won't give you the bad ending. The goal is to be as terrible as possible without getting yourself killed in the process.
In this conclusion, Hellmart is lined with bodies on spikes, the customers you were meant to serve and protect. You have fallen victim to the Stranger's lies, a similar fate to many who came before you. You're transformed into a monster, the very same that'll work hard to break into the supermarket to terrify whoever comes next in hopes that they, too, will fall victim to this curse.
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Destructoid Saturday, January 31, 2026 3:57 PM
Every video game, no matter the genre, has that one sound—the one to which every hair on your body stands upright, causing immediate panic. It can be as mundane as some warning, ominous music that plays for very specific enemies, or vocalizations that tell you danger is just around the corner.
While perusing the web, I came across a discussion on Reddit where players were sharing the sounds that make them panic as soon as they hear them in games. A lot of interesting ones came up, though the one most commonly mentioned is the Sonic drowning timer.
I might be too young or lack the experience in Sonic games to understand this, but it seems to be something that genuinely struck fear into the hearts of many gamers, considering how many named it in the thread.
The Metal Gear spotted sound is a close second, and that one genuinely has to be inducted into the Panic Sounds Hall of Fame. For me, a stealth-obsessed gamer, it's not only a sound of fear and shock, but it's also a herald of my abject failure. I love keeping to the shadows in these games, taking the role of a sneaky clandestine combatant or a silent, unseen sniper-assassin. Getting that "!" tells me I did my job poorly and that I have to restart the mission.
There's also the Minecraft creeper charging up to explode, or a TNT doing the same. Both are memorable, striking sounds that I think have become part of popular culture where even those who don't play the game know the sound.
But I think few sounds come even remotely close to the sound made by Marta, the recurring enemy of Outlast 2. That game had many flaws and failed to come to the heights of its predecessor, but one of its main antagonists, Marta, was certainly great.
She would prowl much of the game even when you least expected it, and once you had heard that "ARRGGH" roar, then you'd know you were in real trouble. She had a knack for keeping to the shadows, creeping around the game's many levels with silence and secrecy, letting you know she saw you only when it was almost too late. As soon as you hear that, you're meant to bolt it, finding whatever progression checkpoint there is to evade her fury.
The only sound(s) that come close to this are those related to the Witch in Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. If you hear her cry or hear that music theme of hers, you'd turn around and go back the way you came. It's incredible how powerful sound can be in games, especially horror titles, evoking as much emotion as the game itself.
Do you have a sound that makes you panic? A music score, atmospheric noise? Let me know below, I'd love to see your answers.
The post Gamers share video game sounds that immediately get them on the edge of their seats—but nothing beats Marta from Outlast 2 appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, January 31, 2026 3:55 PM
An incident brings you to the white room of OBEY THE VOICE, where a whiteboard with four rules dictates what it'll take to survive. But there are other voices in the room with you, so who are you supposed to trust when there are monsters on your tail?
From the same developer of the surreal IN THE FACADE WE TRUST, OBEY THE VOICE will also make you question what's real. Here is our interpretation of the cryptic title, OBEY THE VOICE.
Table of contents
OBEY THE VOICE story breakdown
Where are we?
Similar to The Cabin Factory, OBEY THE VOICE blurs homely interiors with a pearly white facility, making the game look like a dream that's trying to copy reality. This, alongside the clear and precise rules you must obey if you want to survive and progress through the story, makes the environment feel somewhat routine, as if you're part of an experimental procedure. Yet, the monsters and the voices you're not supposed to listen to directly contradict the reality presented to you, like you're inside your mind rather than moving around a real facility.
What are the monsters?
There is a clear reference to the cancelled Silent Hills P.T. with the layout and design of the house we're continuously walking through in OBEY THE VOICE. There are also psychological elements present throughout, such as the radio broadcast that hints at the protagonist's backstory, and the monsters that are connected to our psyche (reminiscent of Silent Hill 2). But what exactly are the entities?
Each monster comes with its own set of rules. I believe they represent both the protagonist's mental state and his distorted reality. Here is my interpretation of what each monster represents:
Hot and cold
This entity is restrained by a straitjacket, has a restraint mask, and its head is split in half. The figure likely is the protagonist's inner image; being a person of two minds that contradict and fight one another, while the rest of the body is bound. I believe that the straitjacket and restraint mask is what our protagonist wears in the real world, as he's deemed too violent and unpredictable following the incident.
Spot the difference
The mannequins may represent the protagonist's loss of identity and the shadowy figure, his fragmented memories of the incident.
The Voice says
This entity is a tall female figure that carries a fetus in her abdomen. She was murdered by her son (the protagonist), who stabbed her in the stomach with a kitchen knife. The entity limps and follows you around the house, getting faster whenever you make a mistake. I'd imagine this level is a twisted memory of the incident.
Red light green light
The same entity from The Voice says level, but this time, her hands are fused to her stomach, protecting her baby and positioned in a way that looks like an embrace. This references the mother's final act, where she tried to comfort her son during the incident.
Find the melody
The entity is only visible with a camera flash, whose body is an amalgamation and fusion of two separate humans. This may represent the male voice inside the protagonist's head that's trying to gain control as his body looks as though it's birthing a new head and limbs, with the old dangling from the groin. This entity is exposed, a figment that doesn't represent reality, rather a confused and conflicted idea of himself. It may represent the loss of identity and the birth of something new.
Morse code
The entity you shouldn't look is a multi-armed figure with no facial features, except a distinctive large mouth that curves with the natural shape of the ribcage. This could be interpreted as the protagonist's psyche unravelling and his inability to look at trauma directly.
Who are the voices?
There are three voices in OBEY THE VOICE.
The first is the authoritative figure, The Voice, who acts as the game's overseer. He observes your progress and tells you how to complete each level. This is a real person, but your reality is put into question by the other voices who invade the procedure. The female voice tries to help by actively defying and questioning every command. The third voice is a male who wants to be in control. But more than anything, both voices want to survive.
The mother wasn't the only one stabbed in the incident. A teenage girl and her older brother (the protagonist) survived. It appears as though these have manifested as their own identities inside Patient 10's mind, where something else (outside of the older brother's persona) took over a week before the violent incident.
The contradictory voices that you've been told to ignore are separate identities that co-exist inside the protagonist. They demonstrate the character's Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and grow more active as you get closer to completing the "consciousness transfer procedure." The tests in OBEY THE VOICE analyze cognitive thinking involving memory, attention, problem-solving, and decision-making to help Patient 10 settle into his primary identity.
OBEY THE VOICE ending, explained
What's strange about the DID reveal is that the other identities weren't in direct communication with one another. While The Voice was listening to the two identities often clashing with one another or speaking as if they were in conversation, working together to defy the procedure; both identities were talking only to the protagonist. Because the identities couldn't communicate with one another directly, The Voice determines Patient 10 is being controlled by the aggressive persona, the perpetrator.
The purpose of the procedure may have been to draw out the aggressive persona and separate the other identities that weren't in control during the incident. While the other identities were innocent in this crime, they are deleted from the protagonist's consciousness. This means that only the guilty remains and makes the task of sentencing him easier, for there is now (seemingly) only one identity and is to be blamed for his mother's murder.
The post OBEY THE VOICE story and ending, explained appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, January 31, 2026 3:51 PM
Keepsakes aren't mere cosmetics or visual elements in Cairn: each one is a memorable part of your journey towards scaling Kami. While a few are locked for Standard Edition owners, there's a fair amount of options available for all.
How to get all Keepsakes in Cairn
There are 13 Keepsakes to obtain in Cairn. Three of them are exclusive to those who own the Deluxe Edition. Among the remaining 10, two are related to the endings. The table below has all the information you're going to need to find all of them.
While Keepsakes have no in-game advantage, I find them to be a rather cool set of rewards for your in-game grind. Some of them look charming, and you don't need to do anything extra. However, all but the Troglodyte Pennant Keepsake are missable.
To reach the top of Kami, you're going to craft different cooking and infusion recipes to help your climb. Head on over there for the complete list of all the items that can be made with various ingredients.
The post All Keepsakes in Cairn and how to get them appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, January 31, 2026 1:43 PM
In the grim darkness of 2026, the AI hostile takeover is almost upon us. Google's new experimental model, Project Genie, can produce interactable and explorable 3D environments, presaging the emergence of fully-generated AI video games. Investors immediately started salivating, panicked, and sold tons of shares in Western gaming companies, causing a mini-crash before markets closed on Friday.
Google released its new experimental generative AI model called Project Genie, built to produce fully interactable and explorable 3D environments from a single prompt or source image. Though still rather limited in function (you can just move around, and collision is basically non-existent), it's an impressive technological leap for artificial intelligence, which is now one step closer to creating fully-generated 3D worlds without anyone actually having to develop them.
It's the antecedent of a far worse hellscape, one where all the content we consume is made by AI and little to no human intervention. At least that's what investors seem to think, prompting them to panic-sell a ton of their stocks in Western gaming corporations, with this mini-crash particularly impacting Unity, which makes video game engines.
Unity Software Inc. dropped a whopping 24 percent since yesterday before market closure, while GTA-backed giant Take-Two Interactive shed around eight percent in value within the same timeframe. CD Projekt Red, the developers of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, also lost eight percent of its stock value.
Japanese companies, as wccftech writes, weren't impacted likely due to their regional market being closed at the time Google made its new technology public.
Market closure didn't stop Nintendo from acting proactively, though. As soon as it could, it went on a massive takedown spree, removing any and all Genie-generated content that had its IPs contained within. One video showed Link gliding through a 3D world taken from Breath of the Wild, and Nintendo didn't wait long to strike it down.
Naturally, a lot of content was made based on Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA 5, and the long-awaited GTA 6, which Take-Two Interactive sniped off the internet faster than we could see it. Other companies are likely to follow up with their own DMCA claims, as this model and its potential successors are perhaps the greatest threat to visual and interactive media since LLMs first became popular.
AI is seeping into every facet of society, despite our best efforts to fight against it. While some of its uses are valid and a net gain for productivity, its role in art is heavily debated, with critics (myself included) believing artificiality has no place in anything even remotely connected to art.
That never stopped earnings-obsessed elites and quarterly-minded shareholders, and we're soon getting an AI-generated movie from none other than Daniel Aronofsky, a man who previously directed such films of tremendous quality like Requiem for a Dream. It looks just as bad as you can imagine, but I have a feeling those behind it don't really care.
That same psychological profile that led to Arofonsky's movie is going to be pushing for Project Genie to be utilized in games, movies, TV shows, animations, you name it, and we all stand to lose if that happens.
And in our stock-oriented world, that might just be around the corner.
The post Google's new AI model caused a panic sell in game stocks, and Nintendo and Take2 are already on the takedown train appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, January 31, 2026 1:33 PM
The Future No. 1 Evolution is a new opportunity for you to upgrade your goalkeeper with some decent boosts in FC 26.
To use the evolution, you need to unlock it by spending 10,000 coins. This evolution is exclusively meant to be used on goalkeepers, so the number of options will be fewer. However, there are some excellent candidates to be used in the evolution based on the requirements and the offered upgrades.
Table of contents
FC 26 Future No. 1 Evolution requirements
Here are the requirements for Future No. 1 Evolution in FC 26.
FC 26 Future No. 1 Evolution upgrades
The Future No. 1 evolution has only three levels of upgrades. To obtain the boosts, you'll need to complete specific tasks.
Level 1 upgrades
Level 2 upgrades
Level 3 upgrades
Level 1 upgrade requirements
Level 2 upgrade requirements
Level 3 upgrade requirements
Best players for Future No. 1 Evolution in FC 26
You can include a wide variety of items in this evolution. You can either go for a fresh card or simply continue another evolution chain.
The post Best players for FC 26 Future No. 1 Evolution appeared first on Destructoid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Destructoid Saturday, January 31, 2026 1:20 PM
Steam You Owe Us, a partnership between Vicki Shotbolt and the Milberg London LLP law firm, is aiming to bring a class-action lawsuit to UK courts alleging Valve "overcharged" some 14 million UK gamers, totalling over $890 million in due compensation. Not everyone is convinced of the group's goals, however, and they don't want anything to do with it despite its posing as a representative of all UK Steam users.
"I emailed them to exclude me from the lawsuit," one UK resident wrote on Reddit, sharing the email they sent to Steam You Owe Us where they'd outlined their desire not "to be included" or "represented by it." They highlighted their positive experiences with Steam over the years, as well as that they're "comfortable with how the platform operates," asking confirmation that they were, indeed, taken out of the equation.
Due to how things work in the UK, you have to opt out of class-action lawsuits that allege they're representing you. This is clearly outlined on the Steam You Owe Us page, with the group purporting to stand for 14 million Steam users who had spent money on the platform since 2018, despite the fact that many of these users likely had no idea they were being represented by someone.
It's a strange case, given that most class-action lawsuits in the US and the EU are opt-in only, meaning those who want to be included will be, whereas others are left out.
Having become aware of this, other UK Steam users replied to the post above and said they're following suit. "Valve has created competition in the market," said one individual's email, where they claimed that "because of Valve, I have more options."
"I would like to wash my hands off this claim," they wrote.
Several others did the same, though they did not share much of their emails' contents compared to these two.
Steam You Owe Us was recently granted the go-ahead for its class-action lawsuit against Valve, with claims to be proven in court. It is being brought by Vicki Shotbolt via her Vicki Shotbolt Class Representative Limited, and alleges Valve abused its dominant position in the market to charge excessive fees of 30 percent for purchases, as well as to limit games from being sold on other platforms for prices lower than they have on Steam itself.
Shotbolt has been pursuing a major lawsuit against Valve since at least 2024, with her group, Vicki Shotbolt Class Representative Limited, exclusively filing claims against Valve over the last two years.
This isn't the only class-action lawsuit Valve faces, as developer Wolfire sued Valve on similar grounds, particularly because Valve allegedly delisted their game from Steam when it was offered on another store for a lower price.
Critics argue that this price parity policy only applies to Steam keys being sold outside of Steam itself, though verified resellers like Green Man Gaming often run their own sales and discounts on Steam keys while the games in question are listed for full price on Valve's storefront.
To say the waters are muddy in every instance this has been brought up is an understatement. The part about 30 percent fees being "excessive" should also lead to lawsuits against GameStop, the Microsoft store, Apple, GOG, and Amazon, and yet Valve is being solely targeted in the US and UK on that basis, despite being a fraction of the size of some of these named companies.
The post Some UK gamers are contacting 'Steam You Owe Us' to opt out of its class-action lawsuit: 'Because of Valve, I have more options' appeared first on Destructoid. |
Gaming Instincts – Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism Saturday, January 31, 2026 5:23 PM A trailer was also released. The post Chinese Mythology Action RPG Genigods: Nezha Announced appeared first on Gaming Instincts - Next-Generation of Video Game Journalism. |