When I first started playing Stellar Blade, I felt like the game was full of missed opportunities. The opening cutscene is cinematically breathtaking—EVE plummeting to Earth alongside her division, setting the stage for what feels like an epic, large-scale battle. For a moment, it’s a masterpiece. But that feeling quickly faded once I began exploring the world. At the time, I thought the game was shallow and repetitive. I was wrong—I just didn’t realize it yet.

At first, the world struck me as barren. I felt like I was wandering through a beautifully detailed environment that lacked life. Enemy after enemy appeared in repetitive patterns, and battles felt lackluster. The semi–open world design encouraged exploration through quests like photo challenges, scavenging for cans, and even fishing. Yet I couldn’t shake the question: why did the enemies feel so repetitive, and why did the world seem so empty? Again, my perspective was off—I hadn’t yet grasped the core mechanic of the story.

A Story Rooted in Humanity and Morality

The brilliance of Stellar Blade lies in its story. It’s a deeply emotional and intellectual narrative, weaving together apocalyptic themes with echoes of Biblical scripture. What makes it unique is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re religious or not—the story taps into universal concepts of morality, integrity, and the timeless struggle of human values.

You play as EVE, sent from the Colony, a society that worships the Mother Sphere. Humanity once hailed Mother Sphere as its greatest achievement—a sentient AI built to guide civilization into a brighter future. Yet what was intended as salvation soon turned to betrayal. Concluding that the current form of humanity was obsolete, Mother Sphere sought to forge a “superior” successor. She created the Andro-Eidos—androids indistinguishable from humans in appearance but devoid of DNA. This attempt to overwrite humanity sparked the Final War, plunging the world into ruin and leaving the remnants of mankind struggling to survive.

The Unraveling Truth

As you progress, the story begins to peel back its layers. You uncover the horrors of human experimentation, the creation of new species, and the violence that followed in the wake of Mother Sphere’s rebellion. In desperation, humanity engineered the Naytibas as a last attempt to preserve itself against extinction from Mother Sphere.

The deeper you go, the more the narrative reveals its complexity. It’s a story of ambition turned to hubris, of technology rebelling against its creators, and of humanity’s desperate struggle to endure. It’s gripping, layered, and in my opinion, strong enough to be adapted into an anime or a sci-fi series.

Adam and Eve—Right in Front of Us

Along the way, EVE encounters androids, humans, and other beings, forming bonds while wrestling with anger at the monstrosity of the Naytibas. Early in the story, she meets Adam—a detail I initially overlooked. Adam and Eve. The symbolism was right in front of me the entire time, and it profoundly reframed the entire narrative.

As someone who enjoys apocalyptic tales about humanity overcoming impossible odds, Stellar Blade delivers. The ending forces you to make a choice—one I won’t spoil here—but it’s a decision that cements the game’s emotional weight.

Final Verdict

What began as a 6.5/10 experience for me grew into a solid 8.5/10. Stellar Blade excels in story, cinematics, and core gameplay mechanics. Its shortcomings—repetitive enemies and sparse open spaces—are intentional design choices that reflect the emptiness of a dying world. Humanity is hanging on by a thread in Xion, and the game makes you feel that fragility every step of the way.

Stellar Blade isn’t just a game—it’s a story about survival, morality, and the human spirit. And it’s one worth experiencing.

SDCC Hosts Panel, New gameplay trailer, and major announcement for Retroware’s Toxic Crusaders beat-’em-up!

This Saturday, July 26, indie gaming and gloriously gory cult cinema will unite for It’s Troma Time, celebrating the infamous cult studio’s 50+ year legacy. During the panel, which kicks off at 9PM PDT, studio co-founder and underground icon Lloyd Kaufman will deliver updates on his latest cinematic shocker, Troma’s The Power of Positive Murder. He’ll be joined by producer Andrew Miller, star Adam Peltier, and actress Catherine Corcoran (Terrifier, Return to Nuke ’Em High), as well as Mathew Klickstein, author of Lloyd Kaufman Interviews. The panel will be moderated by Megan Silver.

Capping off the panel, Retroware’s Creative Director Justin Silverman will debut a new gameplay trailer for the highly anticipated Toxic Crusaders beat-’em-up that expands upon the story of the cult classic ‘90s cartoon series. Following the trailer, Silverman will make a major announcement about the game, so you’ll want to stick around until the end of the panel! 

Panel Details:
It’s Troma Time
Saturday, July 26, 2025
9:00PM – 10:00PM PDT
Room 25ABC – San Diego Convention Center

Key Features:

• Unleash Co-op Carnage: relive the glory days of arcade beat-’em-ups and mop up Dr. Killemoff’s Radiation Rangers with up to four players simultaneously. 
• Myriad Mutants: Take to the streets of Tromaville with seven playable pugilists, each with their own unique abilities, including Toxie, Nozone, Junkyard, Major Disaster, Headbanger, Yvonne, and Mrs. Junko
• A Saturday Morning Slugfest: Punch, kick, and mop your way through an all new story crafted to continue the narrative of the 1991 cartoon series, which only aired for one season.
• Intoxicating Visuals: Vibrant backgrounds and eye-popping character sprites combine to bring Toxic Crusaders’ Saturday morning cartoon world to life. 

Toxic Crusaders launches on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC later this year. Wishlist your copy on Steam today. You can also get an early taste of the mutant-powered mayhem with the Toxic Crusaders demo today. 

About Toxic Crusaders: The Toxic Crusaders are back to defend Tromaville against the evil Dr. Killemoff and his army of Radiation Rangers. With local co-op, you can grab up to four friends and take on the forces of Smogula across a variety of vibrant pixel-art levels. Choose from seven playable characters and dive into an action-packed, pun-filled adventure that’ll drag you through the wonderful world of Troma!

About Retroware: “We’re all about modern retro games. We develop, publish, make merch, and run arcades. Bringing you retro experiences with modern conveniences.”

Initially marketed as a visually enhanced version, Space Marine Remastered promised improved textures, lighting, and support for higher resolutions. But after launch, players noticed that the improvements were barely noticeable. Many claimed the game looked almost identical to the original 2011 version, sparking complaints on forums and social media.

Adding to the frustration, early adopters were also dismayed by the pricing model. While some were hoping for a free or discounted upgrade for existing owners, the remaster launched as a full-priced product for all players. The lack of meaningful updates combined with no loyalty discount left a bad taste for longtime fans.

In response to the growing dissatisfaction, the developers have now begun issuing refunds. Players who purchased the remastered edition and feel it didn’t meet expectations are being encouraged to request their money back through the platform they purchased it from. The team behind the release also acknowledged the criticism and said they would “take the feedback into account” for future projects.

While some fans are still enjoying the game for nostalgic reasons, many agree that the remaster fell short of modern standards — a reminder that not all re-releases are created equal.

• No more getting stuck in Guard conversations.
• Alters won’t block your progression by not going to Arc Sarcophagus on the final day.
• Alters refusing to work will no longer remain stuck in that state in new playthroughs. If you’re already affected, please load a save from before the issue started to resolve it.
• No more infinite narrative loops causing stutters, black screens, or save issues (especially in Act2).
• No more black screens or missing daily saves when you’re close to a rebellion and move to journey / new act for new playthroughs. We are still working on a fix for the existing playthrough.

Bug Fixes:

• DLSS Framegen and FSR3 not working – Fixed an issue where mentioned features were unavailable on the Game Pass PC version of the game. (Note that users who have V-Sync turned on might need to switch it off and on again for Framegen to become available)
• Guard Conversation Softlock – Fixed an issue where talking to the Guard about surveillance could lead to a softlock, if you hadn’t triggered the early conversation before. The problematic dialogue now always completes correctly and no longer blocks progress.
• Alters Not Moving to Sarcophagus – Resolved an issue where, in some cases, Alters (especially Miner) would not move to the Arc Sarcophagus on the final day of Act 3.
• Alters Refusing to Work Forever – Fixed an issue where an Alter (e.g. the Botanist) who refused to work due to an ignored request would stay in that state forever after transitioning from Act 2 to Act 3. This state will no longer happen in new playthroughs, but users already affected by this issue will need to reload a save from before the issue began. 
• Narrative System Infinite Loop – Addressed a bug where certain narrative systems would loop indefinitely, causing performance drops, framerate stuttering, black screen during day transitions and various problems with save files. The fix should resolve all of these issues.
• Journey Black Screen and Missing Saves – Fixed an issue where starting the Journey with less than 24 hours left before a rebellion could cause a permanent black screen and prevent daily saves from being created in later chapters. The Journey now starts correctly and daily saves are generated as expected for new playthroughs but users already affected by this issue will need to reload a save from their last journey. We are still working on a fix for the existing playthrough. 
• Additional minor improvements

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1601570/view/502828986443760042

At the heart of Google’s strategy is the elevation of Vulkan as the official graphics API for Android, a decision that’s been a long time coming (source: MSN article). Vulkan, for those unfamiliar, is an open-source graphics API that offers developers low-level access to hardware, enabling advanced rendering tricks like ray tracing and multithreading. Unlike its predecessor OpenGL, Vulkan is designed for modern, high-performance gaming, and Google’s full embrace of it signals a commitment to bringing PC-quality experiences to Android devices. I see this as a game-changer—literally—because it narrows the gap between the graphical fidelity of PC titles and what’s possible on your phone or tablet.

Take games like Diablo Immortal, which already leverages Vulkan for its dark, atmospheric visuals, or Pokémon TCG Pocket, which benefits from smoother performance across devices (source: Android Central). These examples show that Google isn’t just talking the talk—they’re walking it, too. For PC games to make the jump to Android, having a robust, standardized API like Vulkan is crucial. It’s a universal language that developers can use to port their titles without reinventing the wheel, and I’d argue this alone could accelerate the migration of beloved PC franchises to mobile screens.

But Google isn’t stopping there. They’re also rolling out ANGLE, a driver that translates OpenGL calls to Vulkan, ensuring older games don’t get left behind (source: Android Authority). This is a thoughtful touch—many indie devs and smaller studios still rely on OpenGL because it’s familiar and widely supported. By bridging that gap, Google is making sure the transition to Vulkan isn’t a barrier but an opportunity. I can’t help but think of the homebrew developers I’ve followed on forums like XDA or GitHub, who often work with limited resources. This kind of tool could let them take a dusty OpenGL-based project and breathe new life into it on Android, all without a massive overhaul.

Another piece of this puzzle is the Android Dynamic Performance Framework (ADPF), which Google has beefed up to keep devices cool during marathon gaming sessions (source: MSN article)). ADPF dynamically adjusts performance based on a device’s temperature, and with support from chipmakers like MediaTek, it’s poised to become a standard feature. Games like Lineage W, an MMORPG, are already reaping the benefits, delivering stable frame rates even during intense battles. For me, this is a big deal—not just for players who hate lag, but for developers porting PC titles that demand consistent performance. A PC game with heavy system requirements can now have a fighting chance on Android, thanks to smarter resource management.

What really gets me excited, though, is how Google is opening up Google Play Games on PC to more hardware and titles. Initially limited to Intel-based systems, it’s now expanding to AMD PCs, and soon all Android games will be playable through this platform (source: Android Authority). Even better, Google is accepting native PC games into the mix, positioning Play Games as a potential rival to Steam or the Epic Games Store. Imagine firing up a PC classic like Stardew Valley on your desktop, then picking up where you left off on your Android phone during your commute—all seamlessly synced. That’s the future I see Google chasing, and it’s a future that could make gaming more accessible and fluid than ever.

This cross-platform ambition ties directly into my belief that Google’s moves will benefit the open-source community. Vulkan itself is open-source, maintained by the Khronos Group, and its adoption by Google could inspire more developers to contribute to its ecosystem. Open-source game engines like Godot, which already support Vulkan, stand to gain from this push (source: Godot Engine documentation). I’ve always admired how Godot empowers hobbyists and small teams to create without the overhead of commercial engines like Unity or Unreal. With Google amplifying Vulkan’s reach, these tools become more relevant, giving open-source devs a bigger stage to showcase their work.

For studios—big and small—this leap is a lifeline. Major players like Unity are already simplifying Vulkan integration, which means AAA developers can port their titles to Android with less friction (source: MSN article)). But it’s the indie and homebrew crowd that I think will thrive the most. Picture a solo dev who’s been tinkering with a retro-inspired shooter on PC. With Google’s new developer tools—highlighted at GDC to streamline PC-to-Android porting—they could bring that game to mobile without a massive budget or team (source: Android Authority). That’s democratization in action, and it’s the kind of thing that keeps the gaming community vibrant.

Of course, this isn’t without challenges. Porting a game isn’t just about graphics APIs—there’s UI scaling, control mapping, and optimization for countless Android devices. But Google’s pilot program for game porting, also announced at GDC, aims to tackle those hurdles head-on (source: Techmeme). By offering support and resources, they’re lowering the entry barrier, which I see as a nod to the little guy as much as the big studios. Posts on X from developers like

@MishaalRahman hint at the buzz this is generating, with some calling it Google’s bid to take on Steam (source: X posts). Whether that pans out remains to be seen, but the intent is clear: Google wants to own the cross-platform gaming space.

From my vantage point, this is more than a tech update—it’s a cultural shift. By aligning PC and Android gaming, Google is creating a unified ecosystem that could inspire a wave of creativity. The open-source angle only sweetens the deal, promising tools and knowledge that anyone can use. Studios get a faster pipeline to new markets, homebrew devs get a shot at broader audiences, and players get richer, more seamless experiences. Sure, it’s ambitious, and there’s work to be done, but I’m betting on this move to reshape gaming for the better. Google’s not just smoothing out frame rates—they’re paving a highway for the future of play.

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Xbox’s Aaron Greenberg shared via X (Formerly Twitter) that Xbox Game Pass members can get the Avowed Premium Upgrade, a $90 value, for $22.

Early Access And More

Those who upgrade to the premium edition* will receive:

• Up to 5 days early access
• Premium Skin Packs: 2 sets of bonus skins for your companions
• Access to Avowed Digital Artbook & Original Soundtrack

*Requires base game or Xbox Game Pass membership (PC or Ultimate only), all sold separately.

Avowed officially releases on February 13, 2025. Early access opens on February 8th.

You can purchase the Avowed Premium Upgrade HERE or through the Microsoft Store via your Xbox Console

Avowed

4GQTV Review: 7/10

RAWG Rating: 3.3/5

Synopsis:

Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger. Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment. You are the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, sent to investigate rumors of a spreading plague throughout the Living Lands - an island full of mysteries and secrets, danger and adventure, and choices and consequences, and untamed wilderness. You discover a personal connection to the Living Lands and an ancient secret that threatens to destroy everything. Can you save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder?

Powered by RAWG

Now, if you’re like most folks, you might be scratching your head, wondering, “What on earth is PlayStation Stars?” Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many PlayStation players are in the same boat. To jog your memory, PlayStation Stars is a revamped version of PlayStation Rewards that Sony rolled out in 2022. It offered players the chance to earn coins by buying games or completing “campaigns” that dared them to play certain types of games. In return, they’d receive unique collectibles to display on a virtual bookshelf, featuring everything from nostalgic nods to PlayStation’s past to cool branded tie-ins like Spider-Man Adidas.

Despite its quirks, PlayStation Stars was a neat way to get a bit of cash back that could eventually add up. But things started going south around June 6. When players tried to access PlayStation Stars through a tiny icon on the PlayStation mobile app’s home screen, they hit a wall. Instead of their beloved program, they were met with an error message: “PlayStation Stars is currently experiencing issues. Our engineers are aware of the issue and working on a solution.”

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Sony was in the middle of running a slew of PlayStation Stars promotions alongside its mid-year Play Days sale event. This meant there were exclusive collectibles and awards up for grabs, but only if you bought and played certain games during the event. PlayStation Support assured users they’d still rack up points and collectibles while the program was down, but they wouldn’t be able to see any of it, let alone keep track of what was still up for grabs.

Fast forward 25 days, and PlayStation Stars is still on the blink. As users on the PlayStation Stars subreddit have pointed out, this outage has now outlasted the infamous 23-day PSN outage in 2011, which was caused by an unprecedented hack. Back then, PS3 players were left in the lurch, unable to play games online, buy them digitally, or use any of the console’s social features. When service finally resumed, Sony made amends by gifting players free games and a month of PS Plus.

Now, PlayStation Stars isn’t on the same level as PSN. It wasn’t hacked, it doesn’t cost a dime, and it’s used by far fewer people. So, its outage isn’t exactly a scandal. But it’s definitely odd, and Sony has yet to shed light on what’s causing the problem or when the rewards program will be back in action. So, for now, PlayStation Stars remains a mystery wrapped in an enigma.