Key Note Gaming

It was impossible for me to play The Sinking City 2 for more than 15 minutes without coming to the obvious realization that this is Resident Evil in a fedora. That might sound dismissive, but I really enjoy the recent Resident Evil games, so comparing Frogwares' Lovecraftian survival horror sequel to some of the best of them – which feels especially similar to 2019's Resident Evil 2 remake – is much more of a compliment than a put-down. What sets it apart begins with its unique, rich, 1920s New England setting flush with loving detail that instills a strong sense of personality over the top of the mechanics it so clearly imitates. You play as Calvin Rafferty, a likeable occultist waking up to an apocalyptic flood set to wipe out the entire city of Arkham, Massachusetts in 1929. He's definitely a little bit of a pulp fiction stock character: hard-chinned, two-fisted, and foolishly brave. But there are layers to him that rise to the surface here and there. Similar to the Res...

Embark Studios has announced that all future Arc Raiders Expeditions have been delayed until early 2027 as it aims to "return with major improvements" following community feedback. The developer behind the early 2026 extraction shooter hit announced the change in its post-launch schedule in an update on the Arc Raiders website today. It came with confirmation that Expedition 5 will launch when the window opens September 8 and close September 29, but after that, the Rust Belt will be quieter than normal. "We have been carefully reviewing your feedback on Expeditions," Embark's post said, "and while we've made ongoing improvements along the way, we've come to realize that some of the issues you've raised, like the tight departure windows, the reward structure, and accessibility for new players, need more than incremental fixes. They call for bigger changes." "In order to address those concerns, we need to pause the Expeditions for a w...

Psychonauts and Brutal Legend developer Double Fine Productions has confirmed it has regained the IP and publishing rights for all of its games released under Microsoft following its split from Xbox. CEO Tim Schafer cleared the air about the developer's future in the industry during a conversation with Kinda Funny Games today. Amid questions from fans hoping to support Double Fine as it enters a new chapter, he clarified that buying any of its previous releases will help it continue to flex the wildly creative muscles it's known for. "I saw a question, there, 'Do you guys make the money on games?' The transfer of the IP came back to us, and we get the publishing rights back to all our games," Schafer said. The one caveat to all of this is that it may still say Microsoft owns "some of them," but that will change in time. He went on, explaining, "it just takes a while for it to all process." The headline, though, is that "when people ...

At least 20 soldiers have chosen to reenlist after a United States Army base in Fort Stewart, Georgia, began offering time off for the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 . According to CBS News , 20 soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division's 9th Brigade Engineering Battalion have chosen to reenlist after being presented with the opportunity for some off-time to play Rockstar Games' latest. A flyer presenting the GTA 6 deal that was signed by commanding officer Lt. Col. Ryan D. Hodgson found its way online earlier this week. "The idea was to have a unique incentives program that connects to what soldiers are interested in," 3rd Infantry Division Lt. Col. Angel Tomko said in a statement. "The command team, in conjunction with the career counselor, wanted to get soldiers excited to reenlist." There are about 130 soldiers eligible to sign up, with the offer specifying that they must commit to a reenlistment period for at least two years to as long as six years. Dedicati...

Woot customers can use a new promo code to get Sonic x Shadow Generations for $1 on Switch or Xbox, and Sonic Racing Crossworlds for $8 today—provided they have never shopped with the Amazon-owned retailer before. While there are plenty of caveats, this is still a tremendous offering for anyone it applies to. Woot is effectively handing out copies of these critically acclaimed Sonic games for next to nothing. By applying the promotional code " HELLOTEN" at checkout, new Woot users (i.e., those who have never shopped there before) receive an instant $10 off their total order. This discount knocks the final cost of Sonic x Shadow Generations down to a single dollar on both Nintendo Switch and Xbox consoles. The same coupon code drops Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds on Switch to just $8 instead. Woot is seriously out here handing out pre-2020 style Black Friday deals like it's going out of fashion. Sure, this is contingent on you never having used Woot before, or maybe findi...

Halo: Reach designer Niles Sankey has revealed that the game was massively influenced by the first two Modern Warfare games. On Twitter, Halo: Reach designer Niles Sankey responded to a post about the infamous nuke scene in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He noted that the first two Modern Warfare games were a "huge" inspiration for the campaign of Bungie's final Halo game. He noted that, although Bungie felt Halo was doing things better than Call of Duty in areas like enemy AI and vehicles, Infinity Ward was beating them at other things, and it made sense to pull from their games. "Many of the moments in Reach were inspired by the brilliant work of Infinity Ward, including the Nobel team squad interactions, and 'Objective Survive' was spiritually inspired by the Nuke sequence [in Call of Duty 4]. We just tried to push it one step further," he said. Modern Warfare 1 and 2 were huge influences on Halo Reach's campaign. The tonal execution in those ga...

You're likely already familiar with the Worms video game series . It's a traditionally multiplayer game where you take your worms to all-out war with your opponent. There's bazookas, there's bombs, and there's almost always a whole lot of mayhem. Taking all of that chaos and bringing it to the tabletop may seem impossible, but it has in fact been done before. Worms: The Board Game was first released back in 2024 by Mantic Games . It's normally available for around $40, but Amazon has dropped the price down to $25.97 for the first time ever. The Worms board game is pretty straightforward, making it a solid option for beginners . You can play with up to four players, each of which will control their own team of four worms. Over about 45 minutes of playtime, you will battle each other to the death, blasting each other and the battlefield apart in true Worms fashion. Once one of the player's team of worms has been completely eliminated, the game ends, and the pe...