Ale Abbey is now released in Early Access! Enjoy a 10% launch discount until March 4th, and you can enjoy the Brewmaster Edition with the entire game soundtrack. We hope you'll enjoy the game to its fullest. If you did, don't forget to leave us a review—it helps us a lot!

The game was announced in 2022 and was covered every week on IndieDB. It then joined Steam in 2024, and after last year's Next Fest and the first demo becoming available. We are happy to count you as one of our brewers! It was a long time in the making, and no matter when you joined the journey, we have built this abbey, and now it's finally time for you to brew something in it.

During State of Play, we revealed a new trailer for the recently announced Onimusha: Way of the Sword. This time we get a glimpse of the game's daring protagonist in action. This entry in the swordplay action series is set in an early Edo period Kyoto, twisted by the influence of the encroaching Malice. The new trailer gives us a glimpse of this title's expressive protagonist as he fights for his very life. Along with a preview of the protagonist, we were also introduced to some of the enemies he will face, and how he will deal with them.

The protagonist—Miyamoto Musashi (Voice: Kenichiro Thomson)
An ardent samurai who arrives in Kyoto looking to prove that he is unmatched in the way of the sword. However, the path before him takes a strange and unexpected turn. The protagonist of this game is a fierce young samurai, constantly moving from one bloody and mucky fight to the next. In order to cement this image of a striking samurai, Capcom has turned to none other than the late, iconic Japanese samurai movie star Toshiro Mifune to serve as the face model for this rendition of Miyamoto Musashi.

The task of authentically recreating 15th century Bohemia for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is one that's part careful forensic work, and part respectful artistic interpretation. To learn more, we sat down with senior game designer Ondřej Bittner to find out how the team at Warhorse Studios went about crafting an authentically immersive world in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, available today. Bittner explains that the team starts with the geographical data, because not a lot has changed when it comes to the formation of hills, valleys and rivers. "Then, there are the military maps created in the mid-19th century. They usually have the layout of fairly static villages," Bittner says. "This was quite a common thing to do in European military history. When you build an army that has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, you need really good maps with individual buildings, logistical points, roads and so on."

Once the top-level geography, settlements and architecture of 15th century Bohemia have all been established, the team then turns to the living curators of those buildings that survived to the modern day. "You can talk to the people taking care of these castles or churches, and see if they have any material on a particular building," says Bittner. "Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't! If they don't, then you have to reconstruct it from more general knowledge about the time."

25 years ago, The Sims made history with the first instalment of a legendary series that would go on to be one of the best-selling of all time. Few simulation games have enjoyed the success and longevity of The Sims—and the freedom and creativity to play with life however you want has afforded the series near-unrivalled appeal in the years since. This week, Electronic Arts is celebrating this milestone and the history of the series in a big way, which includes a huge The Sims 4 Free Content Update containing new Create a Sim options, clothing, Build/Buy Items and much more. The festivities will also include the limited-time Blast From The Past Event, which lets players earn revamped versions of iconic items from the original The Sims game via in-game goals.

We had the opportunity to chat with Kevin Gibson, Production Director for The Sims at EA. Gibson has been working in production roles across the franchise since 2003, and has first-hand experience of how the series has evolved in that time. The studio is abuzz with excitement about the franchise's birthday, and Gibson shares that digging deep into the series' past to rediscover nostalgic highlights has been extremely rewarding. "Our incredible players have shown us that no one does life like The Sims, and we wanted to celebrate this journey we have been on together," Gibson says. "25 years ago there was a game with an idea that made big a splash at E3, and look where we are today! We've been part of multiple generations and touched millions of lives.

2024 was a year for Age of Empires and Age of Mythology players shaped by your passion, creativity, and epic moments. Thanks to your dedication, it's been an incredible year not just for the community, but for the franchise as a whole. Together, we've had an incredible year. We kicked things off with the New Year, New Age showcase, crowned champions at Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado, connected with many of you at Gamescom, and celebrated the launches of Age of Mythology: Retold and Age of Empires Mobile. Along the way, we expanded the franchise in new ways and welcomed over 10 million new players—reaching an incredible milestone of 60 million Age of Empires players worldwide. Our players continue to influence the many ways in which the franchise moves forward. Today we're thrilled to start 2025 by unveiling what's ahead. Settle in, because we've got a lot to share!

Immortal Pillars Expansion Launches March 4, Pre-Order Now
For Age of Mythology: Retold players, the wait is almost over! After revealing the Immortal Pillars expansion for Age of Mythology: Retold at Tokyo Game Show, we're excited to announce it will launch on March 4th—and pre-orders are live now! Packed with brand-new content, this expansion introduces the Chinese pantheon, alongside stunning new maps, myth units, and gameplay features. Check out some highlights of all the exciting content here! As a reminder, if you already own the Age of Mythology: Retold Premium Edition, Immortal Pillars is yours at no additional cost—jump in and play on day one!

Before Call of Duty, before Battlefield, before even Medal of Honor, there was Delta Force. Released in October 1998, NovaLogic's FPS was one of the original tactical shooters. Arriving just two months after Red Storm Entertainment's Rainbow Six, Delta Force put players in the role of a Tier 1 Operative, challenging them to complete 40 missions in various modern military settings. Though it shared some similarities with Rainbow Six, Delta Force was defined by its radical Voxel Space technology, enabling it to simulate warfare on battlefields far larger than any FPS that came before.

Delta Force was sufficiently successful to spawn a sequel, and ultimately became a series—including its most famous entry, the 2003 game Delta Force: Black Hawk Down. Yet as Call of Duty and Battlefield took the popularity of real-world shooters to stratospheric heights, Delta Force struggled to keep up. The final game in the series, Delta Force: Xtreme 2, reviewed poorly, and as the world went wild for Modern Warfare, NovaLogic quietly exfiltrated the modern military shooter scene. Now Delta Force is back, though. Developed by Chinese studio Team Jade, the reboot is bigger, broader, and more comprehensive than any prior entry in the series. Featuring classic team-based multiplayer battles, a more modern extraction mode where players compete to scavenge loot in open-ended combat zones, and a co-op/single player campaign inspired by the series' legacy, Delta Force has its sights set squarely on the two FPS franchises that have dominated multiplayer shooters for over a decade.

Lead a nation of your design through a history shaped by your choices in Millennia, a new 4x historical strategy game from C Prompt Games and Paradox Interactive. Guide your people from the stone to a near future, maybe taking detours through historical ages of plague or steampunk technology in Millennia, available now. From us at Paradox Interactive & C Prompt Games, we hope you love the game!

Define history; turn by turn and age by age. In Millennia, you start with a blank slate on which to write a new society and culture. Choose traits and government forms as you accumulate power through a variety of domains (government, war, art, etc.), using these powers to expand and exploit the world around you. Develop a production chain to transform common resources into valuable goods, and then trade the surplus to a distant settlement, boosting its population and production. Define your nation as a land of warriors, explorers or learners as you adopt new traits over time.

Assassin's Creed Mirage was envisioned as an homage to its franchise—a celebration of how it began and what it accomplished between 2007's Assassin's Creed and 2023's Mirage. Beginning as an idea for a DLC expansion that would take Eivor to the Middle East, it grew into a standalone prequel starring Basim, the enigmatic Hidden One from Valhalla. Developed as a shorter experience by Ubisoft Bordeaux, the return-to-roots game presented a distinctive set of challenges, which are explored in the March 22 GDC talk "Between Legacy and Modernity: Creating an Homage Game to the 15-Year-Old Assassin's Creed Franchise."

During the talk, Creative Director Stéphane Boudon and Lead Producer Fabian Salomon discuss the game's beginnings, its growth into a "remoot"—that is, something between a remake and a reboot - and how a streamlined approach helped them make tough choices and focus the game on the Assassin experience. To find out more, we spoke with Boudon and Salomon about some of the early concepts behind the game, a few features that didn't make the cut, and how Mirage re-introduced and redefined stealth as a gameplay pillar.

Pixel Chest and Hooded Horse are excited to share that their upcoming action/base-building hybrid Sons of Valhalla will release on PC next month on April 5th, 2024. Pixel Chest Games' unique Viking-themed adventure will set players on a perilous journey as they cut a swathe through England, all in a bid to reclaim what was lost. Sons of Valhalla combines side-scrolling combat with base-building strategy in a beautiful pixel-art Viking Age world. Players assume the guise of Thorald Olavson, a warrior hell-bent on tracking down the Jarl who burned down his home and kidnapped his beloved. Backed by Odin himself, players must build fortresses, gather resources, and lay siege to enemy strongholds, challenging key leaders in single combat as they conquer their way across England.

But Thorald isn't a demi-god, nor is he a one-man army. Players must ensure they build up their position and recruit a large enough warband to tackle the menagerie of foes that await them—each one requiring specific tactics to defeat. Siege engines will be needed to overcome defensive walls, and runes can be collected to further augment Thorald and his warriors' skills. These runes can also be offered up as a sacrifice should players find themselves in front of Odin again…

Ah, Sparta! Home to the finest warriors in all of ancient Greece, a marvel of a city, a true superpower on the Peloponnesian Peninsula, protected by its mighty city walls... wait a second. Wasn't Sparta famous for its walls being its army only? So why can we see Spartans riding home through a massive wall in Titan Quest II's announcement trailer? The latest dev diary for the upcoming action RPG Titan Quest II highlights Sparta and explains how Titan Quest II offers a fantastical twist on the actual ancient reality.

For a deep dive on the music and world design of Titan Quest check out the previous dev diaries. Forged in the creative crucible of Grimlore Games in Germany, Titan Quest II is currently under development. This epic odyssey is destined for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X, eagerly anticipated to launch when the time comes.

Absolutely Games and Team 17 Digital have launched WWII-based strategy epic Classified: France '44 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. An original take on the turn-based tactics genre, Classified: France '44 authentically captures the challenges of World War II firefights, shining a light on a lesser known story. Take charge of the Jedburghs: a group of special forces dropped deep in the heart of Nazi-occupied France, working with the Resistance to disrupt and sabotage enemy forces in the lead up to D-Day.

Surrounded on all sides and deep behind enemy lines, you'll need to make every shot count! Classified: France '44 is a World War Two turn-based strategy game that puts you in the shoes of the French Resistance in the run-up D-Day. Build your team of resistance fighters and take the fight to the German war machine through stealth, ambush and assault tactics! Classified: France '44 is a turn-based, tactical espionage and combat game. Lead an elite team of soldiers and resistance fighters to victory against the German occupation forces.

Hello Xbox community and other gaming platform populations! Today marks a monumental milestone - our medieval turn-based strategy game, Inkulinati, is leaving the Xbox Game Preview Program and you can now enjoy the full 1.0 release! To mark the occasion, we've got a brand-new shiny release trailer, voiced by famous bardcore musician Hildegard von Blingin'. Check it out below! Inkulinati 1.0 is OUT NOW on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation!

So. what is Inkulinati, you might ask? Well, it is a turn-based strategy game, where a rabbit's bottom can be deadlier than a dog's sword (trust me, this is not a mistake!). It is inspired by real medieval art and is entirely played on the pages of medieval manuscripts. If you've ever seen old medieval books with funny drawings on the sides of the pages, or even medieval memes on the internet, these hilarious doodles (called "marginalia") were used as the basis for, well, everything in our game.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is out now on Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation 4|5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC (via Epic Games Store & the Ubisoft Store), and Amazon Luna. An all-new adventure set in a milieu of Persian mythology and history, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a 2.5D action-adventure that casts players as Sargon, youngest member of the elite, superhero-like Immortals. Armed with acrobatic combat skills and an ever-growing arsenal of time powers, Sargon explores the mythical Mount Qaf in search of the kidnapped Prince Ghassan, and gradually unravels the dark secret at the heart of the mountain's time curse.

Inspired by Metroidvanias, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown invites players to explore a vast citadel complex and its outlying biomes, including forests, caves, snowy peaks, and much more. Developed by Ubisoft Montpellier - the studio that also produced Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends - the game builds on the ultra-responsive, highly varied platforming action that the Rayman games established - as well as their tradition of spike- and trap-filled pathways that sometimes leave little room for error. Demanding quick reflexes, it delivers performance to match, with all platforms targeting at least 60 frames per second.

Visions of Mana is a game of many firsts. It's the first entirely new mainline Mana game for more than 15 years. It's the first game to offer such sprawling 3D worlds and freedom to explore them. And—perhaps most excitingly for the readers of this blog—it's the first Mana game to release on Xbox! Of course, that means that some of you may not be entirely familiar with this franchise. You may be wondering: What makes this one of the most beloved Square Enix series out there? Why did this announcement and trailer for Visions of Mana shown at The Game Awards 2023—and its surprise appearance in Developer_Direct—make people so giddy and excited. Let's start by introducing you to this brand new adventure.

What is Visions of Mana?
This sprawling new single-player action RPG puts you in the shoes of Val—a curious and carefree young man and skilled fighter. One eventful night, his childhood friend is chosen as an alm—someone who must travel to the Mana Tree and rejuvenate the flow of mana power. Val joins her as the Soul Guard to protect her on her journey, and an epic adventure begins. As Val, you'll explore vast areas, battle monsters, gain allies, and uncover the many secrets of this expansive world. And what a world it is! As you can see from the screenshots and trailer, it's a beautifully vibrant game with rich colors and expressive characters. The beauty is matched by equally appealing combat. Aerial combat allows for physical and magic attacks in mid-air, and the grand and mysterious powers of the Elemental spirits can assist players in the form of specialized weapons.. It's fast-paced, strategic, and endlessly satisfying.

We, the Mohawk Games team, are pleased to announce that the fourth DLC for Old World, entitled Wonders and Dynasties, is now available on Steam, Epic and GOG. Old World - Wonders and Dynasties introduces 30 brand new ways of starting your game with the addition of new Dynastic leaders - each empire has received new leaders and starting conditions. Play as the dictator Sulla to leverage your unique dictator trait, as Khufu to construct endless wonders with the help of his wonder cost reduction, or as Nebuchadnezzar to quickly control large amounts of territory and forge a massive empire in the early game.

Meanwhile, eight new wonders of the ancient world will add new and unique modifiers to your empire. Generate free specialists with the Jerwan Aqueduct, become the trade capital of the world with the Al Khazneh, or spawn an endless army of swordsmen with the Colosseum. Carve your legacy in blood, or stone.

Launching on October 5, Assassin's Creed Mirage takes place in ninth-century Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, a golden age not only for Islam, but for art, science, culture, poetry, architecture, and so much more. To help the development team at Ubisoft Bordeaux make Mirage as culturally, religiously, and historically authentic as possible, three Ubisoft employees brought their local and global expertise: Mohammed Alemam, localization and social media manager at Ubisoft MENA (Middle East and North Africa); Malek Teffaha, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Senior Manager of Project Management; and Maya Loréal, Senior Manager, Inclusive Games and Content.

The three joined forces with Ubisoft's Humanities & Inspiration taskforce, led by Thierry Noël, in-house historians Dr. Raphaël Weyland and Maxime Durand, and Strategic Alliances director Amy Jenkins. Loréal managed relationships, and Alemam and Teffaha served as cultural, religious, and linguistic consultants. The three were integral to helping build the game from the ground up.

Lead a nation of your own design through thousands of years of history in Millennia, a new turn-based strategy game from Paradox Interactive and C Prompt Games. Progress through ten ages of humanity, from the Stone Age to the near future, unlocking new technologies, new ways of living, and, maybe, alternate pasts that could have been.

C Prompt Games is an American development team helmed by veteran strategy game developers Rob Fermier, Ian Fischer and Brian Sousa. Motivated by a passion for deep and replayable systems-driven games, they bring their experience working on many celebrated real-time strategy games (including Age of Empires II, Age of Mythology and Starcraft II, as well as Orcs Must Die) to the turn-based 4x space in Millennia, a game that pairs the familiar comforts of the genre with fresh new gameplay to enable players to write their own stories of the past.

When Assassin's Creed Mirage launches on October 5, it will represent a return to the series' roots - but what does that mean, exactly? For one thing, it means we'll be back in the Middle East (the dense urban landscape of Baghdad, specifically) amongst the ranks of the Hidden Ones, who at this point are classic Assassins in all but name - working out of secret bureaus, constructing the legendary fortress at Alamut, and sporting the familiar white robes we first saw on Altaïr back in 2007. They can also speak entirely in their native language, with the series' first-ever full localization in Arabic.

But the connection isn't merely in the setting and story; Assassin's Creed Mirage recaptures the spirit of the series' origins through gameplay, in ways both big and small. For example, as a former street thief, Basim can pickpocket people in the crowds, much like Ezio Auditore could. He can also make use of explosive noisemakers and mines, like the ones Ezio could craft in Assassin's Creed Revelations - and if he draws too much attention, his notoriety will rise, and players will need to tear down wanted posters or bribe officials if they don't want continual, escalating attention from guards.

The fighting game genre has many notable franchises. One of the earliest to earn iconic status is Mortal Kombat. It punched its way onto the arcade scene in 1992 and quickly found its way to the home console market, wowing players with at-the-time realistic visuals and controversial over-the-top gore. That controversial content ushered in the now-industry standard ratings system, but Mortal Kombat's legacy has been defined by much more than that. For over 11 mainline installments, the series built gameplay innovations and an ever-growing roster atop its core 1-on-1 fighting system.

Ahead of the series returning to-and recreating-its "roots" with Mortal Kombat 1, now is an amazing time to look at how it evolved through the eras.

When Assassin's Creed Mirage launches on October 12, it will continue the series' tradition of bringing players closer to history with History of Baghdad, a feature that adds historical context to the game's simulation of the past. Part of an in-game Codex that also includes tutorials and a Database with lore, History of Baghdad will deliver expertly curated information on the history, art, and culture of Baghdad and the Abbasid Caliphate circa the ninth century, accompanied by images provided by museum partners.

In keeping with Assassin's Creed Mirage being a tribute to early Assassin's Creed games, History of Baghdad will be integrated into the main game, similarly to the Database of earlier games, and is tied to player progression, with an in-game reward for Basim once completed. As Basim visits 66 historical sites throughout Baghdad, players will unlock research-driven articles that dig into information across five topics: Economy; Belief & Daily Life; Government; Art & Science; and Court Life.

This immersion pack for Victoria 3 introduce Agitators and new exclusive content for France. Lose yourself in the dramatic political maneuvering of the 19th century as famous figures from history lobby for their preferred policies in Voice of the People, a new immersion pack for Victoria 3, available today. With dozens of new historical characters, you can write an intriguing new history of the Victorian age, where nihilist authors and liberal reformers challenge established authorities.

Victoria 3 is Paradox Interactive's grand strategy simulation of society in the century from Andrew Jackson to World War I. Players guide the industrial, political and social development of a historic nation, moving with the tides of time as new ideologies and shifting political alliances challenge your grand plans. In Voice of the People, more historical flavor is added with new characters integrated into the new Agitator mechanic, as well as a deeper simulation of French politics of the century, with new events, missions, and more.

Voice of the People adds more Radicals, Reactionaries, and Reformers. In a century of dramatic political upheaval, many world leaders had to deal with influential and charismatic figures - dynamic political personalities who forcefully advocated for social and economic progress or tried to resist the tides of history in favor of tradition. Voice of the People, a new Immersion Pack for Victoria 3, challenges you to handle some of history's greatest political agitators, coming May 22.

In Voice of the People, the new Agitator system is highlighted with the addition of dozens of historical figures who break convention and build political power behind the force of their personality. Meet intellectuals like Mikhail Bakunin, conservative militarists like Georges Boulanger, and voices for freedom like Frederick Douglas in this addition to Paradox Interactive's critically acclaimed historical society simulation.

The Return of Rome campaign is set for a May 16 2023 release date according to a tweet posted by the official Age of Empires account. The latest campaign expansion for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition follows several (almost) yearly DLC drops since the re-mastered strategy game's debut in late 2019 - Lords of the West (January 2021), Dawn of the Dukes (August 2021) and Dynasties of India (April 2022). Last year's India campaign added a significant amount of content, in the form of three new civilizations: the Bengalis, Dravidians, and Gurjaras. Three new campaigns were added to the base game and introduced a trio of new empires: Babur, Rajendra, and Devapala. The entire Indian civilization within the game was renamed to the Hindustanis.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome was first announced, albeit briefly, during a livestream on 25 October 2022, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of the real time strategy game series. Details are scarce about the actual content on offer, but the upcoming campaign is expected to feature all 16 of the original civilizations from the first entry in the franchise (AoE) according to an internal Xbox Games Studios memo.