With the annual Game Awards set to premiere later in December, there is already talk circulating about which titles will claim the six coveted Game of the Year nomination spots, and of course which one will win. With some seriously impressive releases this year already, and still more to come, the competition will definitely be steep. If you’re wondering what our chosen contenders would be, we’ve put together a list of which titles we think will be most likely to take home the biggest trophy of all.

Dead Space Remake

• Release Date: January 27, 2023 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

So far this has definitely been a year for some serious remakes of resoundingly popular classic games, and as such, we’re starting our list with one of the best. The first Dead Space game released by EA in 2008 went on to become one of the most decorated space horror franchises of all time, though the most love remains with the first installment that started it all.

The highly-anticipated Steam Summer Sale has just gone live, much to the crazed anticipation of nearly every PC gamer across the globe. While Steam often has rotating sales throughout the year on some games, the Summer Sale is one of the biggest discount events of the year, tapping an overwhelming majority of titles across every genre. If you have some Steam funds lying around and are wondering what you should consider adding to your catalog next, here are some of the best Steam Summer Sale 2023 deals.

Steam Deck Handheld Console – Up to 20% Off

• Price: 64GB Model – $359.10 USD | 256GB Model – $449.65 USD | 512GB Model – $519.20 USD
• Buy here from Steam

We’re starting off our list with one of the hottest pieces of handheld gaming hardware used to play all the Steam games you could ever want. It’s been one of the most notoriously difficult ones to obtain due to sheer demand, but if you’ve been wanting to get your hands on a Steam Deck, now may be the best chance because they’ve gotten a pretty substantial discount.

As you enter the massive world of Valisthea in Final Fantasy 16, you may be wondering where exactly you should start in terms of getting your feet on the ground, and being ready to tackle the many challenges the game has to offer while following Clive’s incredible story. We’ve put together a list of what we think are the most useful gameplay tips to get you started on your adventures.

1. Story-Focused Versus Action-Focused Mode

While you start Final Fantasy 16 off with one general difficulty setting, there are still ways to adjust it based on the type of experience you’re looking for. You’ll be given the option to choose whether you want a “story-focused” experience, or an “action-focused” one.

The newly released Final Fantasy 16 promised an enormous experience like no other in the franchise so far, if the trailers alone were anything to go by. Now we have even more visual proof of just how much work went into the creation of the game, with a candid look via Twitter of the actual script for the entire story.

While lead developer Naoki Yoshida (aka “Yoshi-P”) has definitely done his part to promote Final Fantasy 16 on the press circuit, complete with a huge livestream event dedicated to the game, other members of the team are also showing off the incredible work that brought Clive’s story to life.

This year’s Summer Game Fest live stream on YouTube included countless new surprises from the gaming industry, but the biggest of them of course was saved until the very end of the broadcast. The world premiere of the official trailer for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, the second major installment in the grand-scale, trilogy retelling of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII game, was put on display along with an updated release window.

The first installment, which was aptly titled ‘Final Fantasy VII: Remake‘, debuted the grand re-imagining of the story of Ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strife and many other familiar faces such as Tifa Lockhart, Barret Wallace, Aerith Gainsborough, Red XIII (real name ‘Nanaki’), along with many of the main antagonists like President Shinra, his son Rufus, the Turks, Hojo, and of course Sephiroth himself, all in some ways influenced by the extraterrestrial arch villain, Jenova.

All of the players currently logging countless hours into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are uncovering more and more new secrets and tricks hidden in every corner of Hyrule’s massive map. This time around, it’s no longer about just obtaining treasures and overcoming powerful enemies, but seeing just how crazy you can get with construction. It’s literally getting to the point where soon enough, the Zelda series will be able to add ‘building simulator’ to its resume.

Players are getting especially creative with Link’s Ultrahand, building all manner of contraptions and structures from an actual skate park to a flying war machine, and are now showing off the fruits of their labor in the form of hilariously long bridges used to cross immense gaps. After all, who needs a well-constructed and perfectly safe Wing airplane to get around when you can just throw together a not-very-stable, miles-long pathway from one sky island to another?

If you’re one of the many excited fans awaiting the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on the Nintendo Switch this coming weekend, there is a fantastic opportunity, albeit for a limited time, to get the new game for a GREATLY reduced price of just $20. Yep, you’re not hallucinating. If you want to take advantage of this insane new release deal, you can get Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Less Than Half Price, here’s how.

How to Get Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom For Just $20

First and foremost, this extreme discount offer is a Gamestop exclusive, allowing you to nab The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for either the Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch Lite, or the Nintendo Switch OLED for a mere $20. To do so, you’ll need to trade in two physical games from a pre-selected list of 139 titles, which shouldn’t prove too difficult. The titles vary across multiple consoles as well, from the Switch and 3DS to the Xbox Series X|S to the PS4 and PS5.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has proven to be one of the most eccentric and truly unique mangas of this generation, being one the best-selling in history and spawning a variety of animated and live-action adaptations of its multiple story arcs, along with of course a fighting game called JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R. Filled with endless references to Western music and fashion icons, and some of the most unforgettable outfits and poses, the multi-part series also features life-or-death battles between Stands, which are psycho-spiritual manifestations with some incredibly creative and often deadly supernatural abilities. While some are iconic for being dangerously powerful and integral to the story, others proved to just be flat-out…well, bizarre. Here is our list of the 10 most bizarre stands in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

1. Baby Face

The first Stand on our list is one of the strangest ones found in JoJo’s fifth arc called Golden Wind (or “Vento Aureo” in Italian), which follows Giorno, Bucciarati and the rest of the gang tasked with escorting Trish, the daughter of Passione’s mafia boss, to safety on a remote island off the coast of Italy. Along the way they’re dictated to board a train to their destination, and while on there they encounter some truly obnoxious Stand users. Among them is Melone, who attempts to kidnap Trish using his Stand called Baby Face.

With Final Fantasy 14‘s major content patch 6.4 now starting to appear on the horizon, Yoshi-P and his team have started dishing new details about what’s to come. The official webpage for the patch has now gone live, revealing that the next chapter in the game’s saga will be called “The Dark Throne”, along with an excitingly long list of new activities, changes, and loot to grind for. Among the changes includes, of course, an update to the game’s Allagan Tomestone currency. To make sure you’re ready to start saving up for the newest gear and materials, here is what to expect for changes to Allagan Tomestones in Final Fantasy 14’s upcoming patch 6.4.

Allagan Tomestones of Comedy Will Debut in 6.4

With Patch 6.4 set to bring a flood of new duty-based content to the game, including more challenging dungeons and trials and stronger gear sets, a subsequent update to tomestones is set to follow as well, including the introduction of a new tier called Allagan Tomestones of Comedy.

With the overwhelming success of the Resident Evil 4 Remake, which adds yet another checkmark to Capcom’s initiative to reimagine the first set of titles in the classic horror franchise, it begs the question of what will come next. While fans have pleaded for a remake of the beloved and challenging RE: Code Veronica, that has been left open-ended for now. However, with Albert Wesker’s appearance at the end of the RE4 Remake, the prospect of Resident Evil 5 being revamped is now entirely possible. Here are 6 things we’d like to see in a Resident Evil 5 Remake.

Using the RE Engine

Capcom has been making more that sufficient use of its new development engine for the franchise, from the remakes of Resident Evil 2, 3, and now 4 to the original installments of Resident 7 and 8 which further built upon the universe with new protagonist Ethan Winters and villain Mother Miranda who had ties to Oswell Spencer from the very beginning. The RE Engine has not only brought the story of Resident Evil into the modern scope, but provided all manner of possibilties for a new level of visual storytelling.

The original Resident Evil 4 single-handedly changed the course for the iconic horror series when it first came out in 2005. Injecting just enough of a new action element while still keeping very much to its established roots of horror and tongue-in-cheek comedic moments, the game essentially set a new standard and attracted a fresh demographic of players that avoided the infamous “tank-style” gameplay of the first three entries. For those who still never got the chance to play the original version of RE4 though and are now looking to try out the remake, here are 10 Tips and Tricks for Beginners in Resident Evil 4 Remake.

Conserve Your Ammo and Shoot Wisely

Many horror games that feature gun weaponry often keep ammo in shorter supply to up the challenge and amplify the tension, and Resident Evil has always been no exception. This means that you definitely want to conserve the ammo you find throughout the game, and decide the best situations to use it in to increase your odds of survival.

For all the avid Silent Hill fans out there, a new casting announcement has just dropped for the planned Return to Silent Hill reboot film. As now seen on the project’s official IMDB page, Jeremy Irvine and Hannah Emily Anderson have been cast as the film’s two lead actors. Deadline provided more details on this latest development.

Return to Silent Hill is the latest cinematic adaptation of Konami’s acclaimed videogame series, and it will bring the story of Silent Hill 2, the most popular game in the entire franchise, to life in all its haunting glory. Irvine, best known for his role in Steven Spielberg’s film War Horse (2011), will play the part of James Sunderland, the game’s main protagonist. Anderson, who starred in Jigsaw (2017), will play James’ deceased wife Mary Sunderland. Whether she’ll double as Mary’s mysterious doppelganger Maria is unknown, but it would seem likely.

Hogwarts Legacy is a vast, incredibly captivating open world adventure that is overflowing with all manner of activities and lore. Some of that fascinating lore comes in the form of easter eggs, that hearken back most often to the beloved Harry Potter film franchise. While some are perhaps less obvious, there are plenty more that are all too memorable to possibly forget. With so many to choose from throughout the game, we carefully picked the easter eggs that are by far worthiest of mention. Here is our list of the top 15 easter eggs in Hogwarts Legacy.

Newt Scamander’s Pets

First on our list is the appearance of Newt Scamander’s pets. The Niffler and Pickett are a clear nod to the Fantastic Beasts films, which further expanded the Harry Potter universe. Nifflers in particular are one of many animals that can be caught and kept in your Vivarium, and they look and act the same way as their counterparts in the films.