In 2020, it's been harder than ever to have a truly good night's sleep. With the world in disarray as a pandemic threatens our safety and wellbeing, I know that I am not alone in seeing a heavy uptick in nightmares, including dreams about death, disease, and general distress. Superliminal is about dreams and dream-logic, and represents a sort of nightmare itself, but it's a different kind from the ones I've experienced. For all its confusing geometry, strange logic, and growing unease, it's ultimately an optimistic and satisfying experience. Superliminal offers a short, enjoyable run through a subconscious in crisis, and it's a consistently clever and pleasantly challenging game with a lot on its virtual mind.You play as a patient of Dr. Glenn Pierce, one who is undergoing the Somnasculpta sleep therapy program. The whole game is set within your medically induced dream as the program probes your subconscious, asking you to complete a series of challenges to find peace of mind and overcome feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. Things go wrong fast, though; you take a wrong turn and stumble deeper into a dream state than was intended, and the deeper you go, the further your surroundings shift from a recognizable reality. It's like Portal's puzzle chambers crossed with the dream spaces of Inception (and a hint of Alice in Wonderland too), but despite those clear influences Superliminal feels like its own thing.To get through the game, you're told to view things from a different perspective--although it might be more accurate to say that the game is about taking your existing perspectives and reconceptualizing them. The puzzles in Superliminal all revolve around your first-person viewpoint, and you have to figure out what elements of each environment you can manipulate. A lot of this involves resizing objects through an extremely satisfying mechanic--if you hold up a small square block in a hallway and position the reticule so that the block looks like it's far in the distance, you can drop it… and it'll now be much larger and located down at the other end of the hall. Similarly, if you grab something large in the distance and then look straight down, you can drop what is now a tiny object on the ground in front of you.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

A new trailer for Hulu's upcoming Marvel show, Helstrom, has debuted during the show's Comic-Con@Home panel.The trailer gives fans a closer look at the dysfunctional Helstrom family, highlighting Daimon (Tom Austen), his sister Ana (Sydney Lemmon), and their mother Victoria (Elizabeth Marvel). The show will be standalone and independent from the MCU stories that exist both in theaters and on Disney+.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

This story originally appeared on GameSpot sister site TV Guide.Get ready to head back to Xadia! The Dragon Prince has officially been renewed through Season 7. The Dragon Prince creators Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond surprised the cast with the renewal news during the show's Comic-Con@Home, "Zoom Into Xadia", on Friday. TV Guide has learned that Seasons 4 through 7 will each consist of nine episodes, meaning there's a whole lot more story to tell!"We feel, obviously, amazingly grateful, incredibly grateful to the fans and the community who have been so passionate," Ehasz said. "And honestly, after Season 3, the swell of passion and love around the show, the amount of art and talk online and people, by the way, really politely telling Netflix how badly they wanted this story to continue was so inspiring, and it worked!"Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Mark Twain never played a video game. But he did, more than a century ago, succinctly summarize the difficulty game developers continue to have as they attempt to craft believable worlds."Truth is stranger than fiction," Twain wrote in 1897. "But it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn't."As it turns out, there is little fiction that video game critics are more skeptical of than the graffiti developers dream up to emblazon their virtual walls. Back in 2013, Kotaku published a piece titled "Cool It With The Dumb Video-Game Graffiti" that chronicled the medium's history of on-the-nose wall writing. And, until recently, it was easy to agree with the argument presented in that piece: that game developers spend so much time constructing living, breathing worlds, filling them with meticulous detail. Why ruin them with un-subtle graffiti? And besides, what's the rationale? Wouldn't people in the midst of a crisis have more important things to do than writing obvious graffiti messages to be discovered by some late-arriving player character? Would they really spend their precious time scrawling their discontent? Would the residents of The Last of Us’ quarantine zones really steal a can of spray paint to write “Stop feeding us lies! Give us our rations!” on a wall?Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

In the 26 years since Revolution Software released Beneath A Steel Sky, the adventure game has come full circle. After the genre struggled to adapt into 3D and was briefly declared dead by pundits, the genre's resurgence occurred on two main fronts--the simplified, story-driven 3D games of Telltale, which focused on choice and consequence over puzzles, and retro-styled 2D games released like Unavowed, Kathy Rain, and Broken Age, which included a lot of the esoteric puzzle-solving the genre used to be known for. Beyond A Steel Sky, the long-awaited sequel to the 1994 original, is an attempt to bridge the gap between those two styles--but unfortunately, it ends up feeling like some of the messier 3D adventure games from 20 years ago rather than another classic like its predecessor.Beyond A Steel Sky brings back Robert Foster, the protagonist of the first game, and picks up 10 years after his escape from Union City and LINC, the half-mechanical, half-organic being that runs it. Robert has returned to the "gaplands" surrounding the city, where he lives a happy, earnest life within a small society. However, he's soon forced to return to Union City after a young friend, Milo, is kidnapped by a huge robot and taken somewhere in the sprawling metropolis. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic Australia, but references to the country are unfortunately fleeting, despite the game's aesthetic invocation of the British colonization of the country--the gaplanders are largely people of colour, and Union City is predominantly white.At first, it's great to be back in the world of Steel Sky. The nods to the first game start flowing in from the first moments--like the original game, the opening is made up of comic panels drawn by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, whose most famous work receives a few fun nods and Easter eggs throughout the game. Joey, Robert's robotic sidekick, also returns, and seeing these two characters reunited is one of the game's highlights. The city, which is rendered in glorious 3D is lovely, too--the skyline stretches far into the background, and the cel-shaded aesthetic suits it.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

We still have a bit of a wait for the Comic-Con@Home panel for HBO's new show, Lovecraft Country, which is scheduled for July 25 at 4PM PT / 7PM ET, but a new trailer has been released to make time pass just a little bit faster.The show, which has been developed for TV by Misha Green (Underground) and will be produced by J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele, is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Matt Ruff. It focuses on Atticus (Jonathan Majors), a Korean war veteran trying to navigate segregated 1950s America in search of a family legacy and his missing father, Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams). Check out the trailer now.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

While it's not part of the official Comic-Con@Home lineup, Rick and Morty had its own panel as part of Adult Swim's own convention, streamed live on Twitch. For the most part, the panel was a look back on Season 4, but that didn't stop co-creator Dan Harmon from teasing what's to come by showing the first footage of Season 5.Fans got a look at a cold open for an upcoming episode. While the animation was unfinished, it looked as though Morty was carrying a wounded Rick back to their ship, before escaping through a rapidly closing portal that sends them on a crash course toward the earth. Facing his own doom, Morty calls up his crush Jessica to confess his feelings, only to be shocked when it turns out she likes him back and asks him out to watch a movie.That's all it takes to convince Morty he needs to live and he manages to land the craft without killing himself and Rick, crashing it into the ocean. That, however, opens up a whole new problem as it puts Rick face-to-face with his nemesis Mr. Nimbus, who appears via a giant clamshell from underwater and carries a trident. There's little you find out about him, other than he likes to say his name a lot.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

While The Walking Dead TV series has become its own universe, with three different shows, it's all based on the amazing comic book series written by Robert Kirkman with art by Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard. However, there is another adaptation of Kirkman's comic books coming to the small screen, and that's Invincible. During the Robert Kirkman at Home panel for Comic-Con@Home, the creator revealed a slew of people who have been cast on the show.The upcoming Amazon Prime animated series will obviously feature the Guardians of the Globe, the superhero team. And there are some Walking Dead actors who will make the jump to this new series that were announced during the Kirkman panel. This includes Khary Payton (Ezekiel) as Black Samson, Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha) as Green Ghost, Lauren Cohan (Maggie) as War Woman, Chad Coleman (Tyreese) as Martian Man, Michael Cudlitz (Abraham) as Red Rush, Lennie James (Morgan) as Darkwing, and Ross Marquand (Aaron) as The Immortal & Aquarius.They'll join the central cast of the Grayson family, which you can see below.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Season 11 of the FX show Archer is on the horizon. It's returning to the network on September 16. During a Comic-Con@Home panel for the show, the cast reunited, discussed the upcoming season, and made tons of jokes about being quarantined.Speaking of quarantine, the final two episodes of this upcoming season were recorded during it, but that didn't stop them from landing a few big guest stars for the season, like Simon Pegg and Jamie Lee Curtis. While how these actors fit into Season 11 wasn't explained, we do know how Curtis landed on the show.Judy Greer, who plays Cheryl on the FX animated series, explained that getting Curtis on the show wasn't difficult. "When we first showed up [to the set of Halloween], to do rehearsals and stuff in Charleston, where we shot, I introduced myself to [Curtis], and she just went right in for Archer," Greer explained during the panel. "So much so--and I've never actually asked her this--but I do think that's why I got the job because she's an executive producer on the movie… She and her son really bond over Archer. They watched it all the time. And it's his favorite show, and she loves it. It's one of her favorite shows."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is a carefree hop, skip, and jump through world history, art, and absurdist meme culture. One moment it's 800 BC and the set is dressed in the myths of ancient Greece, the next it's 1500 AD and the sun god gazes down on Tenochtitlan, then a bit later it's the very beginning of time and everything is spaghetti and meatballs. It never dwells, never stops to make sense of it all. Historical figures pop their cartoonish heads into view for a brief visual gag before disappearing, bit players tossed aside in a bygone round of whack-a-mole.Fittingly, Rock of Ages 3 is best enjoyed with the same restless approach in mind. Structured as a series of discrete challenges, each hectic bout of arcade action lasting no more than a couple of frantic minutes, it feels designed to be experienced in short, sharp bursts. Don't linger. Dip in and, when you feel the frustration levels rising, dip out, move on to a new challenge, or simply come back later.The core conceit revolves around the idea that all war, throughout all history, is essentially fought by lobbing rocks at each other. The Rock of Ages series has so far focused on one very specific interpretation of this idea: You have to roll a rock through a trap-laden obstacle course to attack the enemy castle at the end. Controlling the roll takes some adjustment. The initial temptation is to embrace the top speed of your chosen boulder and should be resisted. Move too fast and you won't have the handling to steer through the crowded tracks, let alone slow down in time to make the next corner. Rocks don't have brakes as such, and it took me some time to get used to easing off the accelerator when required and knowing when my built-up momentum was optimal to negotiate what lay ahead.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

As you're slinking around air ducts and planning a surprise attack on a helpless scientist, it's difficult not to feel empowered by Carrion's approach to horror. Here you aren't the one slowly peeking around each corner to make sure you're safe--you're the one doing the hunting, leaving a gory trail of devastation as you pick apart an underground laboratory one department at a time. When Carrion gives you the tools to be the best betentacled killing machine you can be, it's a satisfying monster simulator with engaging puzzles and clever combat, but it falters in moments where you don't feel as in control as you should be.Carrion's star is undoubtedly the gooey red monster you play as. Simply moving around is immensely satisfying. It feels as though you're constantly floating, with extending appendages latching onto surfaces around you to feed into the illusion of chaotic but calculated traversal. By making movement effortless, Carrion lets you appreciate how good it looks in motion, from squeezing your red mass into a narrow air duct to transforming into a school of parasitic worms to swim through grates. There are a handful of instances where your size makes orienting yourself slightly challenging, but they're small teething issues as you learn to navigate around.When you consume humans, you gain life and grow, while the reverse happens when you take damage. As you progress through each level, you unlock new abilities which are directly tied to your current size. When you're at your largest, you can cause devastating damage by sending a flurry of tentacles forward and viciously pulling anything in their way towards you. At a medium size, you can encase yourself in spikes and roll around a room dealing damage in all directions, while your smallest sizes offer more utility-style abilities like stealth and a handy stun attack. Tying abilities to your size makes combat dynamic, where you're constantly watching the damage you take and adjusting your strategy as you go. It takes a bit to get comfortable with the sudden ability shifts in the heat of the moment, but getting access to movesets that let you dominate or flee a fight when you need them feels great.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Niantic's annual Pokemon Go celebration, Pokemon Go Fest 2020, is only a few days away. The event takes place this weekend, on July 25 and 26, and for the first time in its history, it will be a global experience open to players around the world. Go Fest 2020 will also feature a number of new gameplay elements specific to the event, including rotating habitats, and Niantic has now shared more details on how those will work.Virtual Habitats And Rotation ScheduleThere will be five themed virtual habitats available throughout the first day of Pokemon Go Fest: fire, water, grass, battle, and friendship. These will rotate every hour during the event and bring out certain kinds of Pokemon to catch; for example, Grass types will appear more frequently when the grass habitat is active.Although Pokemon Go Fest runs from 10 AM to 8 PM local time, habitats will rotate out at set times. You can see the full rotation schedule below:Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Microsoft has frequently touted its Optimized for Xbox Series X program--just look at that box art--which essentially utilizes the power of the Series X to enhance games. As part of the July Xbox Series X games event, the company confirmed several more games that will be optimized for Series X this holiday, including the latest entries in the Forza and Gears series.Forza Horizon 4 will run at native 4K and 60 frames per second. Currently, on Xbox One X, you need to choose between Quality and Performance modes to favor resolution or framerate, but Series X will apparently allow you to have the best of both worlds. It's unclear if there are plans for a higher frame rate mode that drops the resolution below 4K. Microsoft also touts there will be "dramatically improved load times" for the game on Series X. (Separately, it also confirmed a new Forza Motorsport coming to Xbox Series X.)Gears Tactics, the XCOM-style tactics game, is coming to Series X, and it'll run at 4K and 60 frames per second on the platform. Gears 5, the latest shooter in the series, will feature quicker load times and visuals that support 4K and HDR while utilizing the game's Ultra graphics settings.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

To kick off the Star Trek universe Comic-Con@Home panel, it was announced that a new animated series is in the works and will air on Nickelodeon. This project is different from the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks, which streams on CBS All Access.Star Trek: Prodigy "follows a group of lawless teens who discover a derelict Starfleet ship and use it to search for adventure, meaning and salvation," a description reads. It essentially sounds like a bunch of kids that find a spaceship and create their own Starfleet crew, which seems entertaining.The series is being developed by Kevin and Dan Hageman (Trollhunters and Ninjago) and is expected to air on Nickelodeon in 2021. There's no casting information yet, but it joins the ever-growing Star Trek universe that also includes Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the previously announced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Earlier in July, EA announced that Madden 21 would be removing all references to the Washington Redskin's name and logo and would use a generic team name instead after the NFL team announced that it would retire the name. That generic name will stick around longer as ESPN reports that the Redskins are temporarily changing their name to the Washington Football Team, effective immediately.This name will be used in the interim until the team finds a new name. They hope to have a new logo and brand in the next 50 days, before their season opener on September 13. The Redskins helmet logo will be replaced with gold player numbers. Washington will keep its current uniform color scheme as shown in the images below.Washington will not have any change to its color scheme. It will still use burgundy and gold. The Redskins logo on the helmet will be replaced by the player’s number in gold. The Washington Football Team will debut its home uniforms in week 1 against the Eagles. pic.twitter.com/8DpC6b0Tyj — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 23, 2020The Redskin name, which is a slur that refers to native americans, has been widely criticized, but NFL and team management regularly defended it. Team owner Daniel Snyder finally agreed to change the name after pressure from investors and widespread outrage after protests over the killing of George Floyd. EA announced that the name wouldn't appear in Madden 21 soon after.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com