The Outlast Trials’ latest update goes live today, with the rogue Reagent Amelia Collier taking center stage. She has laid out the path of other prisoners to escape the Sinyala Facility, giving players a chance to make a break for it in the final update for Season 2 before Season 3 kicks off at the end of the month. 

Red Barrels’ provides the following synopsis for Season 2.2 of Project Breach:

“Amelia has managed to trick the system, creating a brief means of escape for the victims of Dr. Easterman and his unethical experiments. Thanks to her carefully positioned Escape Plans and other tools, Reagants can now attempt their own getaway to try and free themselves from the horrors of the Sinyala Facility. 

But Murkoff won’t let them go without a fight. Doubling down on the extreme surveillance already embedded throughout the facility, the risk of being exposed to the all-seeing eye is greater than ever before.”

Season 2.2 introduces the new gameplay event, The Escape, which tasks four players with fleeing the Sinyala Facility. Under Survellience Part II lets players resume their progress from Part 1, offering a more challenging romp as players must avoid being spotted while locating escape plans or watching Amelia’s message before Murkoff does. 

Completing these trials earns Event Tokens that can be spent acquiring cosmetics from the new limited-time Amelia Catalog. The catalog will only be available until April 22; any unspent event tokens will be lost. Season 3 of The Outlast Trials begins on April 22, introducing new elements while closing off the Rebirth hallway for the foreseeable future. You can read the Season 2.2 changes here. 

The Outlast Trials is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC.

Over the weekend, Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin scored his 895th goal, surpassing the legendary Wayne Gretzky to become the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer. To celebrate this feat, EA Sports released a video congratulating Ovechkin and offering in-game rewards in NHL 25.

Starting today, players can log into Hockey Ultimate Team to receive a Milestones Ovechkin item. Ovechkin HUT Moments challenges will grant tokens to upgrade the item. Additionally, EA Sports is adding an "895 Ovechkin" HUT item that features special art and a 99 overall rating. Finally, NHL 25 is adding a commemorative "895" jersey in World of Chel and making it available to all players.

Alexander Ovechkin first appeared in an EA Sports NHL game in 2006 with NHL 07, where he also served as the cover athlete. Since then, he has appeared in every entry and was the cover athlete of NHL 21 and NHL 94 Rewind, making him one of only three players to be featured on the cover of EA Sports' NHL franchise multiple times. He was also the cover athlete of NHL 2K10 in the now-defunct NHL 2K series.

A whole new meaning to the term 'Greatest of All Time.' 🐐🏆#Gr8ness #NHL25 pic.twitter.com/CgyHvI36Io

— EA SPORTS NHL (@EASPORTSNHL) April 6, 2025

Alexander Ovechkin was selected first overall by the Washington Capitals in 2004. However, due to the 2004/2005 NHL lockout, Ovechkin didn't make his NHL debut until 2005. In the time since, Ovechkin has been elected to 13 All-Star teams, was named an All-Decade First-Team member for both the 2000s and 2010s, and won the Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year in 2006, as well as three Hart Memorial Trophies for Most Valuable Player. In 2018, Ovechkin led the Capitals to the franchise's first and only Stanley Cup, where he also took home the Conn Smythe Trophy for the Stanley Cup Final's Most Valuable Player.

NHL 25 arrived on October 4, 2024, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S
Platform: Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: Compulsion Games
Release: April 8, 2025
Rating: Mature

Western storytelling loves to use mythology as worldbuilding, but it fixates on Greek, Roman, and Norse myths so often that it's easy to forget other parts of the world, like the American South, have plenty of folklore as well. South of Midnight, the new action-platformer from Compulsion Games, uses this underrepresented roster of cryptids to great success, telling a heartfelt story centered around a girl and her mother. Its decent combat and platforming are elevated to great heights by stellar visual and musical presentation, resulting in a game I can't stop smiling about.

Watch Game Informer's South of Midnight Review:

South of Midnight stars Hazel Flood, a girl in her late teens trying to track her mom down in the aftermath of a hurricane. Along the way, she discovers she's a Weaver, a magical person who can use ethereal strands to fight, traverse, and glimpse visions of the past. Unlockable magical abilities are used for combat, traversal, and puzzle-solving, which is efficient from a gameplay perspective and a narrative one; every aspect of Hazel's life becomes strange and magical, and she has to learn how to handle it. On her journey, she encounters several mythic creatures from Southern folklore and learns the tragic backstories that led to their curses. I always enjoyed these flashbacks, as they flesh out the world in unique ways and seamlessly integrate myths into the main story. Still, the narrative remains grounded, thanks to Hazel's relationship with her mother, grandmother, and giant catfish companion. Aside from some pacing issues felt most heavily in the game's slow start and abrupt ending, it's a touching tale I'll remember fondly.

Cutscenes and combat are woven together by linear platforming sequences. Hazel can double jump, glide, grapple, and wall-run to traverse the world. You can also head off the beaten path to search for Floofs, the game's currency for ability upgrades, but I never found the exploration engaging. When you come to a crossroads, you can click the right stick to see the main objective's direction, so "exploring" boils down to spotting a side path when it appears, briefly heading down it to collect Floofs, and then turning around and getting back on the main path. Still, I was hungry enough for upgrades to search for Floofs whenever possible. Thankfully, a variety of movement techniques keep the experience from feeling too stale. Traversal ultimately feels less like an exciting mechanic in its own right and more like a means to move between beautiful environments, one of the game's highlights. 

Hazel grapples using her Weaver magic.

The best elements of South of Midnight are its art and music. Characters are animated with purposefully skipped frames, creating an aesthetic that falls somewhere between Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and stop-motion animation. Despite these clear artistic inspirations, South of Midnight stands out with beautifully designed characters, monsters, and environments. It's visually impressive on a technical level as well, earning its spot on modern consoles and PCs. Whether it's the sunbeams streaming across the dirt at sundown or the haunting visuals of an intense boss battle, I was consistently impressed by South of Midnight's gorgeous visuals.

The sound design is just as strong, thanks to the inspiration it pulls from the story's setting. The South has a rich musical history, from bluegrass to jazz to folk, and an appropriately varied playlist of genres scores Hazel's journey. A twangy banjo, a rowdy trombone, and a dramatic swell of violins are all equally likely to appear in any given level's soundtrack. 

Historically, these songs are also the way stories are passed across generations, and South of Midnight pays homage to this with its boss songs. These original tracks play in the background of climactic battles with lyrics pertaining to that moment in the plot, often from the perspective of one of the characters in the battle itself. "Cinematic" is an adjective used to describe games with grand setpieces or dramatic performances, but these soundtracks are cinematic in a different sense. Action sequences in movies are often underscored by relevant songs playing in the background, so every time I heard the lyrics come in to accompany the boss battle, it felt like I was sitting in a theater, watching popcorn-worthy fight choreography.

Hazel battles the intimidating Two-Toed Tom.

On that note, the combat in South of Midnight is not its strongest aspect, but it grows in complexity towards the end in ways that dramatically improve its quality. Initially, its straightforward third-person action feels derivative. While I didn't hate it, I never looked forward to it and didn't find it particularly satisfying. Its most unique element is the Unravel mechanic: When you defeat an enemy, you can pull apart its lingering spirit, slightly healing Hazel and shaving a few seconds off ability cooldowns. These abilities are unlocked through the story, including one that pushes foes, another that pulls them, and a third that afflicts them with a status called Weave, locking them in place and lowering their defenses. They're useful and should be employed as often as possible, but don't usually feel like game-changing powers. 

This is not the case by the late game. As each ability is upgraded, it unlocks new conditions to afflict Weave and speed up cooldowns, sometimes erasing them entirely. For example, you can instantly reset the Push ability by hitting multiple enemies at once, making a move with a roughly 15-second timer become a part of your regular arsenal. Enhancements like this encourage players to consider positioning and add risk and reward to the powers. Once you add a second dash and exploding Unravels, fights are fast, frantic, and fun as you move quickly to maximize your abilities, refresh their cooldowns, and Unravel foes rapidly enough to get some health back. I wish this complexity was present earlier than the game's last five hours, but I was mainly glad it reached these heights at all.

Hazel stares down a Rougarou.

Thanks to its vibrant art, music, and storytelling, I had a wonderful time with South of Midnight. Its narrative goes to some surprisingly dark places, yet it still brims with whimsy, making it a fitting adaptation of the source mythology's similar tone. I couldn't have told you what a Rougarou was a few weeks ago, but thanks to this game, I've got a catchy melody of its name that plays on repeat in my head. It's fitting that, like the stories and songs it seeks to honor, South of Midnight has successfully passed Southern folklore on to a new, wider audience.

Score: 8.5

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Though last week's Nintendo Switch 2 reveal delivered a ton of news, announcements, and extended looks at highly anticipated games like Mario Kart World, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, and Donkey Kong Bananza, an economic shadow has loomed over the celebratory feeling Nintendo was likely hoping for. Even before the announcement that the Trump administration's recently imposed tariffs were delaying preorders for the Nintendo Switch 2 in the United States while the company assesses “the potential impact of the tariffs and evolving market conditions,” many fans were dealing with the sticker shock of both the console and some of its games.

At $450 for the base model and $500 for a bundle that includes Mario Kart World, Nintendo Switch 2 is already far more in line with Sony and Microsoft's flagship consoles than the original Nintendo Switch, which launched in 2017 for $300. However, it's the price of Nintendo Switch 2's games that has attracted the most ire. Viewers were already surprised that Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, a piece of software that could be accurately described as part tech-demo/part instruction manual, was not a free pack-in game and instead costs money, but that was not the most significant controversy Nintendo faced related to its game pricing.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Following the Nintendo Direct on April 2, Nintendo revealed that Mario Kart World, as well as the full Switch 2 versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, retails for $80. The caveat is that if you own Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom on the original Switch, you will be able to pay $10 for an upgrade to the Switch 2 version, or if you're a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscriber, you can play the upgraded versions at no additional cost. That may relieve those who already own those popular Switch games, but that doesn't alleviate worries that Nintendo Switch 2 games will be the most expensive in the modern gaming landscape, or even worse, will encourage other publishers to raise their prices as well.

During the recent Nintendo Switch 2 preview event in New York, IGN sat down with Nintendo vice president of product and player experience Bill Trinen. During the conversation IGN asked about the price increase for its new platform's games.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour

"I would say it's less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it's more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what's the content, and what's the value?” Trinen told IGN. “This game is a game that is so big and so vast and you will find so many little things in it to discover. And there's still some other secrets remaining that I think as people end up buying and playing the game, they're going to find this to be probably the richest Mario Kart experience they've ever had."

Trinen also encourages fans wondering about the Mario Kart World price tag to tune in to the Mario Kart World Nintendo Direct scheduled for April 17. He feels that will further explain why the title carries a value that warrants an $80 price tag. 

Nintendo already drew negative attention for its $70 price tag of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in 2023, but other publishers, such as 2K and EA, had already priced their games at $70. In this instance, Nintendo is setting the bar by being the first publisher in the modern era to price its base games at $80. 

Then, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser justified the price tag in a similar way as Trinen. "We look at what the game has to offer," he told The Associated Press in 2023. "I think fans will find this is an incredibly full, deeply immersive experience. The price point reflects the type of experience that fans can expect when it comes to playing this particular game. This isn't a price point that we'll necessarily have on all our titles. It's actually a fairly common pricing model either here or in Europe or other parts of the world, where the pricing may vary depending on the game itself.

In recent interviews with other outlets, Bowser has doubled down on that sentiment regarding Mario Kart World while also confirming to both The Verge and Wired that the $450 and $500 price tags for the Nintendo Switch 2 did not factor in the newly implemented tariffs. 

Though the pre-order date was delayed within the United States, the rest of the world can expect to pre-order Nintendo Switch 2 on April 9. Regardless of the pre-order date, Nintendo Switch 2 launches worldwide on June 5.

What is your take on the Nintendo Switch 2 price tag? What about the prices of its games? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!

Deadline reports that Michael Sarnoski, director of A Quiet Place: Day One and Pig, has been hired as writer and director for the upcoming film adaptation of Death Stranding. The film is a joint production between A24 and Kojima Productions.

Sarnoski made his feature film directorial debut with the 2021 drama Pig, starring Nicholas Cage, which received critical acclaim. Samoski followed that by directing A Quiet Place: Day One, a prequel story in the hit A Quiet Place horror franchise, which was also positively received. He most recently directed the upcoming The Death of Robin Hood, another A24 film starring Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer, that wrapped production earlier this year. The adaptation of Death Stranding will be his fourth film in the writer/director chair. 

The Death Stranding movie was announced in December 2022, initially with Hammerstone Studios tapped to develop and produce the film. A year later, A24 announced its partnership with Kojima Productions to bring the film to life, with Hammerstone reportedly remaining a co-financier and executive producer.   

Details on the film’s plot are scarce, but we know it will retain the same premise as the games and reportedly feature new characters and elements. In June 2023, creator Hideo Kojima described his level of involvement with the project by stating, “I am deeply involved in producing, supervising, plotting, look, design and content of the film adaptation of DS.”

This news comes ahead of the anticipated launch of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which Kojima Productions recently promoted at the SXSW film festival with a new 10-minute trailer. The sequel is slated to launch on June 26 for PlayStation 5.

[Source: Deadline]