As we all expected, BlizzCon 2026 brought the official announcement of the rumored StarCraft shooter, but the studio didn't really reveal any concrete details during the Opening Ceremony. Thankfully, General Manager and Creative Director Dan Hay shared some information in an interview with Inven Global. To begin with, Hay described the game as a narrative-driven open world shooter that's not a live service game: It's a "box product." It is a narrative-driven open-world shooter where players create a character, name them, and follow that character's story. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can roam around […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/blizzard-starcraft-shooter-rejects-live-service-dan-hay/

Blizzard has officially announced its new StarCraft shooter at BlizzCon this weekend. Simply titled STARCRAFT, the game marks the franchise’s long‑awaited return and confirms that the shooter rumours circulating earlier this year were accurate.

Blizzard debuted a three‑minute cinematic trailer showing Dominion marines answering a call to battle against the Zerg. The project is being led by former Far Cry boss Dan Hay, who has been heading Blizzard’s survival division since 2022. Unlike Blizzard’s previous attempt at a StarCraft shooter, StarCraft: Ghost, which was built as a level‑based third‑person game, this new title will be open‑world. Outside of that though, we don't know much about gameplay.

Blizzard says the game will honour the established lore of StarCraft while also creating space for new stories. A description for the game reads: “The sons and daughters of the Dominion answered the call when mankind needed them most. Their courage held the line. Their sacrifice bought us another day. Now the call comes to you. Carry their strength forward. No matter the cost.”

Despite the announcement, STARCRAFT is still a long way off. Blizzard is targeting a 2030 release, so it may be some time before we see gameplay and even longer before players can get hands‑on time with the game.

KitGuru Says: After years of rumours and cancelled attempts, Blizzard is finally committing to a StarCraft shooter. Unfortunately, this one was announced a bit too early for my liking, as 2030 currently feels like a lifetime away. 

The post Blizzard officially announces StarCraft shooter with 3-minute trailer first appeared on KitGuru.

As expected, BlizzCon 2026's first game announcement during the Opening Ceremony was the long-rumored return of StarCraft. Dan Hay, a Blizzard GM/VP and former Ubisoft Montreal executive who helped shape Far Cry from Far Cry 3 through Far Cry 6 (including a stint as creative director on Far Cry 5), stepped on stage to reveal that he had first tried to join Blizzard as a youngster, only to be rejected. Two decades later, he received a call that gave him the chance to assemble a team and help bring back the studio's long-dormant sci-fi franchise. Hay's appearance also adds an […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/blizzard-starcraft-open-world-shooter-reveal-2030/

Recent weeks have seen rumours swirling around a StarCraft revival. Now, Blizzard itself appears to be teasing something new for the game ahead of BlizzCon. 

BlizzCon is set to take place on September 12th and as usual, we expect to see a bunch of announcements for new content for Blizzard's biggest franchises, from World of Warcraft and Hearthstone to Diablo and Overwatch. This year, it looks like StarCraft will also be a big point of focus for Blizzard, ending a decade-long drought for the series.

As part of the tease, Blizzard has begun ‘glitching' the StarCraft website, with flickering images that indicate new updates are coming. Considering that BlizzCon is just a few days away, we won't have to wait long to see what Blizzard has up its sleeve.

While it is currently believed that Blizzard itself has a new StarCraft shooter in development, Blizzard may also explore partnerships for other new games in the series. A recent report claimed that Blizzard has licensed the IP to Nexon for one such project.

StarCraft has long been one of the biggest RTS games around, with StarCraft 2 essentially serving as its own mini trilogy when combining the base game and its two expansions, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. At one point in time, Blizzard was making a single-player shooter called StarCraft: Ghosts to expand the series' reach beyond strategy game fans. However, Ghosts was unfortunately cancelled, and fans have wanted to see the project revived ever since.

KitGuru Says: I didn't have StarCraft returning on my 2026 bingo card. Do you think StarCraft's future is as a shooter, or would you prefer to see the series' RTS roots kept alive? 

The post Blizzard teasing StarCraft updates ahead of BlizzCon first appeared on KitGuru.

When did I get old? People are calling games like Halo and Bioshock "Old School" or just "old". I remember reading a post on Reddit where somebody said Bioshock doesn't hold up by today's standards. I still want to hurt that person, especially because I still remember playing games like Duke Nukem: Time to Kill on the PS1. What has this got to do with Twisted Tower, you ask? Not a massive amount, really. Only that Twisted Tower is a modern shooter with a proper old-school vibe, in the Duke Nukem sense, but also claims to be inspired by Bioshock. […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/review/twisted-tower-review-lets-all-shoot-pennywise/

With BlizzCon 2026 kicking off in just over a week in Anaheim, Blizzard's official StarCraft website has started behaving strangely, and the community has wasted no time picking its not-at-all-casual glitches apart. What began as a handful of glitch effects on the StarCraft Remastered page now looks like a full-blown alternate reality game, with hidden logs, transmissions, and manifests buried in the site's code pointing toward something new brewing in the Koprulu Sector. Inspecting the site's dev tools reveals a string of decrypted ASCII transmissions dated August–September 2575, which would be a 67-year jump forward from the end of StarCraft […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/starcraft-site-glitch-blizzcon-hidden-2575-horror-arg-decoded/

1047 Games has had an unfortunate string of back luck in recent years, with the team behind the highly-successful SplitGate abandoning the title in favour of a more comprehensive sequel – a sequel which would wind up with a plethora of controversies. The team would then try to bring back Titanfall with their movement-shooter Empulse earlier this year. Unfortunately, both projects appear to have failed to meet expectations, with both SplitGate: Arena Reloaded and Empulse officially ending active development.

Taking to Twitter to make the announcement, the team at 1047 Games released a lengthy statement, writing: “Today, we have some difficult news to share: we are ending active development on Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded. This is a hard update for us to write. We love these games, and we know this will be disappointing and frustrating for a lot of people.”

Explaining their reasons behind the decision, the team continued, “The reality is that neither game is generating enough revenue to support the ongoing cost of dedicated servers. We have continued covering those costs because we wanted to give both games every opportunity to grow, but we have reached the point where that is no longer sustainable.”

While an unfortunate announcement; especially given the fact that the team at 1047 Games have a clear love for the genre; both SplitGate and Empulse will live on to some degree, with the team adding that: “On Thursday, September 3, both games will move to peer-to-peer hosting with a server browser. Dedicated servers and matchmaking will shut down, but players will still be able to host matches, find games, and play with friends forever.”

Additionally, Empulse (which was a paid product unlike SplitGate) will be receiving one final update, bringing in a new map while permanently dropping the price.

In terms of what’s next for 1047 Games, the team have revealed that they are understandably moving away from live-services, writing: “After ten years of focusing on live service shooters, our focus is changing. What we build next may look very different from what people expect from 1047 Games, but what has not changed is why we are here: we love making games. We have learned a lot over the years, and we will carry those lessons into what we build next.”

KitGuru says: What do you think of 1047 Games? Did their infamous “Make Games Great Again” stunt do more harm than good? What do you hope is next in store for the team? Let us know down below.

The post SplitGate: Arena Reloaded and Empulse cease development as 1047 Games pivots from live-services first appeared on KitGuru.

Of the many Warhammer games which have been released in recent years, 2023’s Boltgun is one of the more notable – with the DOOM-esque retro inspired boomer shooter being praised in equal parts for its gameplay and OST. Officially announcing a sequel back in 2025, Warhammer 40K: Boltgun II has now gotten a confirmed release date.

Making the announcement via a new trailer, the team at Auroch Digital officially confirmed that Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun II will launch on the 14th of October 2026; landing neatly in-between heavy hitters such as Gears of War E-Day (6th October) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (23rd October).

One thing which neither of the above will have however is a soundtrack composed by industry legend Mick Gordon, with the team taking to their Steam page to write: “One of our goals with Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 was to try and make it bigger and better than the original game and we had some big ideas, like adding a second playable character, incorporating the four Chaos factions, and a few others we can’t mention yet.”

They continued, “But one we can announce today is that Mick Gordon, composer for DOOM Eternal and Wolfenstein: The New Order, joined us for Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 to create the music for our final boss battle!”

Unfortunately, it appears as though Gordon only lent his talents in a limited capacity. As mentioned however, the OST for the original Boltgun was itself highly-praised, and so hopefully the rest of the soundtrack for its sequel will be of an equal or greater quality.

KitGuru says: What did you think of the original Boltgun? How did it compare to other similar Boomer Shooters? Who’s your favourite video game composer? Let us know down below.

The post Warhammer 40K Boltgun II gets official release date first appeared on KitGuru.

Launched exclusively as a PvP experience, the extraction shooter Marathon has been experimenting with different forms of PvE opportunities as a way to garner more interest for the somewhat struggling extraction shooter. Following their first take on PvE with ‘Vault Breaker’ Bungie have now announced Ordnance Heist – “a new PvPvE experience built around a multi-run chase across different Zones.”

Taking to their blog to make the announcement, the Marathon dev team announced and detailed the next limited-time mode coming to the game. Dubbed, the ‘Ordnance Heist” this PvPvE mode will have players “Hunt through different zones, earn UESC Manifests, and spend them on fresh MIDA and Traxus rewards while you work your way toward the hottest prize in the system, the Firestorm.”

Full details on the mode can be found HERE, including specifics on the gameplay loop itself, potential rewards and their new ‘Firestorm’ Power Weapon which comes equipped with 3 unique mods.

As mentioned, the Ordnance Heist is a limited time event, going live from today until the 1st of September. That said, Bungie has promised to bring more permanent PvE modes to the game in the future starting with Season 3 in late September.

What form it will take exactly, we will have to wait and see. Between Vault Breaker and now Ordnance Heist however, we are starting to get some idea of what’s in store.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this new mode? Do you prefer PvE or PvPvE experiences? What are your expectations for Marathon Season 3? Let us know down below.

The post Marathon is getting another limited-time PvE mode: Ordnance Heist first appeared on KitGuru.

Ukrainian developer GSC Game World is preparing to release Update 2.0 for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, delivering a substantial collection of free improvements for all players. The update launches on August 20, the same day as Cost of Hope, the game's first major expansion. Update 2.0 focuses on visual improvements, more dynamic Zone activity, expanded customization, and new weapons. When it comes to graphics, players can expect an enhanced environmental presentation across the Zone, thanks to more natural lighting, more realistic shadows, and improved reflections throughout the world, including inside buildings and in underground areas. GSC has also reportedly […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/stalker-2-update-2-0-new-weapons-smarter-a-life-cost-of-hope/

Extraction shooters have a reputation for kicking you while you’re down. Lose a raid and you often lose everything with it. Royal Crow’s newly revealed Waste The Fallen wants to break that habit, and honestly, it’s about time someone did.

Set in a Lovecraftian world full of mutated horrors, Waste The Fallen has players diving into raids solo or in squads, fighting monsters and rival players to loot a world that’s gone thoroughly wrong. The deeper you push, the better the loot gets. The deeper you push, the worse the world gets too, with a sanity meter tracking how much horror you can stomach before things get properly hairy.

Waste The Fallen – Official Reveal Trailer

A Softer Extraction Shooter, Sort Of

Where Waste The Fallen tries to stand out is in how it treats failure. There’s an “oversized safebox” that lets players bank gear much faster, so a bad run doesn’t mean starting from scratch. Players also build up a hideout with crafting stations and storage, which is fairly standard for the genre these days, but it’s the safety net stuff that’s the real pitch here.

Producer Byungnam Choi put it plainly:

We wanted to make an extraction shooter that welcomes you in rather than punishing you for showing up.

Choi also pointed to Korea’s horror pedigree as inspiration, aiming for dread that builds slowly rather than punishing a single mistake. Each Deviant, the game’s character model, comes with a Bio-Arm mechanic that fuses with skills to boost survivability, which should help players lean into exploration rather than playing it safe.

A closed alpha runs from September 4 to September 8 for players in North America, so we won’t have to wait long to see if Royal Crow’s kinder approach actually holds up under pressure.

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ARC Raiders has had a bit of a tumultuous journey so far. Launching last year to waves of praise and millions of copies sold, Embark Studios have struggled somewhat to keep fans engaged across its seasons. After promising to overhaul its live-service strategy, the team have now unveiled the next major update for ARC Raiders: Frozen Trail.

Taking to their blog to make the announcement, the team at Embark Studios officially detailed the next major update coming to ARC Raiders. Launching on the 8th of October, the Frozen Trail is described as “our biggest update since launch” and has supposedly “been designed to address some of the broader questions that the community has been asking.”

While we did not get a full breakdown of everything coming with the update, some of the most notable include:

• New Map (Shani)
  • Greater focus on verticality, exploration, and “opportunities for discovery”
• “Enourmous” new ARC Operation
  • Described as “one of the most intense experiences ARC Raiders has offered to date”
• 2 new ARC enemies
• New Raider Outpost base
• Reworked skill tree for deeper progression
• New weapons (plus weapon personalisation)

As of now, Embark are holding back on further specifics, promising to share “more details with you in September.”

That said, what has been revealed so far does appear to be quite promising. Hopefully this slower, more deliberate rollout of bigger updates proves to be fruitful in the long term.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What do you think of the Frozen Trail update? Is it a step up compared to previous patches? What do you hope to see from the new ‘outpost’? Let us know down below.

The post ARC Raiders ‘Frozen Trail’ update to bring reworked skill tree, new map and more first appeared on KitGuru.

Insider Tom Henderson has just broken a new story on the Far Cry franchise, revealing that the long-rumored extraction shooter codenamed Maverick has recently been canceled by Ubisoft. Henderson first revealed the existence of the extraction shooter Far Cry spin-off in October 2023. He also shared a few basic tidbits: Maverick would have been set in the Alaskan wilderness, with players fighting one another, animals, and particularly the harsh weather to survive. However, it sounds like the project didn't convince everyone and was therefore canceled as part of the publisher's newfound focus on quality releases. Ubisoft isn't backing away from […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/ubisoft-cancels-far-cry-extraction-shooter-maverick-new-spin-off-development/

Prior to the recent upheaval of Microsoft’s various Xbox Games Studios, we had been hearing leaks regarding the future of Halo and Master Chief, with one in-development project – known as Ekur – seemingly being on the chopping block. Though never officially announced, additional insiders have now spoken out on the project, corroborating claims that Ekur has been cancelled.

For a while now, we had been hearing leaks and rumours surrounding Project Tatanka – reportedly a “a new separate PVP game co-developed by 343 Industries and Certain Affinity in the SlipSpace Engine.”

Since then, a lot has happened, with the same source (Rebs Gaming) later claiming that Tatanka was transformed into an extraction shooter under the project name Ekur.

This too however ran into some issues, with Rebs then stating that it had evolved once again, this time turning into a “super big-team-battle” type of experience running on Unreal Engine 5 under the direct control of Halo Studios (no longer involving Certain Affinity).

Given all of the back-and-forth with Project Tatanka (later Ekur), it perhaps does not come as a surprise that the game has now reportedly been cancelled, with known Microsoft insider Jez Corden claiming: “Rebs reported that Halo Studios was working on a multiplayer title known as Project Ekur, which was cancelled. I've verified that as 100% true.”

As mentioned, Project Ekur had encountered plenty of issues and setbacks even before the latest suite of Microsoft lay-offs and so it isn’t too surprising to see it ultimately being cancelled. Given how long it had been in various stages of development however, it will be interesting to see how this impacts Halo Studios moving forward.

KitGuru says: Were you excited for Project Tatanka? What about Ekur? What do you think is next for Halo after Campaign Evolved releases? Let us know down below.

The post Insider corroborates claims that Halo’s ‘Project Ekur’ has been cancelled first appeared on KitGuru.

Halo: Campaign Evolved marks the grand return of Master Chief and co. following the less-than-stellar release of Halo Infinite back in 2021. Of course, CE is set to be a campaign-only affair, with no PvP multiplayer in sight. That said, there have been plenty of rumours discussing Halo’s next mainline release. One such title is ‘Project Ekur’ – a Battle Royale which was later turned into an extraction shooter. Thanks to new reports, we have gotten a clearer picture on what to expect.

As shared by known Halo leaker Rebs Gaming (who accurately detailed Halo Campaign Evolved prior to its announcement), Project Ekur has undergone some pretty big changes since it was last reported. For the uninitiated, Project Ekur was initially known as Project Tatanka and was set to be a Battle Royale experience. Since then, the game evolved and shifted into an extraction shooter of sorts, being developed by Certain Affinity.

According to Rebs, the game has once again changed, with Ekur now switching out Infinite’s SlipSpace Engine for the much more ubiquitous Unreal Engine 5 – with this transfer being completed as of September 2023.

Beyond this, Ekur is now no longer an Extraction Shooter, with the project said to be taking the form of a “super big-team-battle idea” instead. Players will spawn in, “explore the map, find resources and battle other teams”. Though it does still feature some extraction elements, the game will feel more closer to that of Halo 5’s Warzone mode.

Perhaps the biggest piece of news however came in the revelation that Certain Affinity is no longer the team behind Project Ekur, with Halo Studios themselves now taking over responsibilities following the prototype shared by Certain Affinity.

All in all, it seems as though Project Ekur has gone through a ton of testing and prototyping. What the final product will wind up looking like, we will have to wait and see. Regardless, here’s to hoping that the team in charge have settled on a formula which works for both old-school Halo fans as well as new players.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Project Ekur so far? Which iteration of the game sounded the most fun to you? Will Ekur be released on PlayStation? Let us know your thoughts down below.

The post Halo’s ‘Project Ekur’ is reportedly no longer an extraction shooter first appeared on KitGuru.

Earlier this week, insiders claimed that 1047 Games – the team behind the SplitGate series – have been working on a spiritual successor of sorts to Respawn Entertainment’s beloved Titanfall, with Project Empulse said to be featuring advanced movement; grappling hooks; boost jumps and even giant pilotable mechs. In the wake of its early unveiling, 1047 Games have come right out and announced the game, with EMPULSE now officially being listed on Steam.

Publishing an official Steam page with a description, screenshots and more, 1047 Games have now unveiled EMPULSE: “an upcoming fast-paced 6v6 movement shooter” in which players will be able to “wallrun, grapple, Holojump, pilot mechs, and P.A.I.N.T. your way through Freehold's vertical streets.”

It seems the game will be taking movement even further than what was seen in Titanfall, with players being able to “wallrun forwards and backwards, swing with a grapple hook, launch off Holojumps, and alter surfaces with P.A.I.N.T. bombs to gain tactical advantage.”

As mentioned, we unfortunately have not gotten any video footage of the game, and so it is unknown exactly how these mechanics will look/function. That said, the screenshots shared do give some idea of what to expect, with much of the level design seemingly focused around verticality.

Those interested in learning more and gaining access to EMPULSE can sign up HERE. For everyone else, expect an Early Access launch some time this year.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What did you think of the leaked details for EMPULSE? Are you interested in what has been shared so far? Let us know down below.

The post The team behind SplitGate have officially announced their Titanfall inspired ‘EMPULSE’ first appeared on KitGuru.

While Halo Infinite may not have been the grand revival that Microsoft were hoping for the franchise, series co-developer Certain Affinity looked to be prepping to offer their own take on the franchise with a battle royale game. Ultimately this project never came to be, with reports claiming back in 2024 that the BR title had been cancelled. It appears rumours of the game’s death were somewhat exaggerated however, with insiders now claiming that the team pivoted and reworked the Battle Royale title into an extraction shooter.

As reported by known Halo insider Rebs Gaming, new details surrounding the previously in-development Battle Royale (known as project Tatanka) have been shared, with the insider claiming that:

“Tatanka was not a game mode for Infinite that would have been added to the multiplayer playlist menu, but rather a new separate PVP game co-developed by 343 Industries and Certain Affinity in the SlipSpace Engine.”

According to Rebs, “battle royale games were falling out of favor” and so 343i/Certain Affinity “wanted to avoid chasing an oversaturated genre”. As a result, Project Tatanka was ultimately cancelled, being spun off into a new project: Ekur.

Though the current status of Ekur is unknown, the project is (or was) “a PVE extraction shooter” which was in development at least up until “the end of Summer 2023”.

Some sources claim that Ekur is slated to be the next multiplayer Halo entry, while others heard that it will instead be included as a new mode in the next Halo game.

Either way, according to Rebs, project Tatanka (now project Ekur) is still happening in one form or another.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this shift to an extraction shooter? Does Halo need to chase trends? Would you prefer a Halo Battle Royale or Extraction Shooter? Let us know down below.

The post Cancelled Halo Battle Royale has reportedly evolved into an Extraction Shooter first appeared on KitGuru.

We've been hearing rumors of Halo Studios looking to add a battle royale mode to the Halo franchise, either as a new individual title or as a game mode in a larger game, for years now. Whether it was actually the case or not, to players, the idea of a Halo battle royale always seemed like Xbox trying to chase one of the most popular genre trends in the video game industry. That seems to be the same thing driving the latest rumor about what's coming next from Halo Studios, which claims that the battle royale mode has pivoted to […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/halo-studios-rumored-battle-royale-mode-pivoted-to-extraction-shooter/

Following plenty of controversies, Bungie’s Marathon finally launched just over a month ago to solid reviews and a decent playercount. Whether or not the live-service extraction shooter is a success or not remains to be seen, with insiders claiming that the title cost over $200 million to develop – possibly $250 million.

As reported by Bungie insider Paul Tassi via the publication Forbes, a ton of details pertaining to Marathon’s first month on the market have been shared.

Alongside ‘confirmation’ that the live-service extraction shooter managed to sell roughly 1.2 million copies in its first two weeks, Tassi revealed just how much money Sony/Bungie have put into the project so far, stating: “I can confirm Marathon’s budget is over $200 million. Likely more than $250 million.”

While perhaps an unsurprising figure given the inflated costs of developing AAA games in today’s day and age, Tassi also claimed that these costs do not account for ongoing post-launch support, meaning it’ll only increase with time.

In doing some very basic maths, Marathon’s 1.2 million sales represents a revenue of just under $50 million. Of course while the game costs $40 to purchase, a Deluxe Edition is also on offer for $60. Combine this with ancillary sales of various in-game cosmetics and the real figure could be much higher.

Still, it appears as though Marathon has quite the journey to go on if it wants to make its money back and turn a profit. It will be interesting to see whether we get official sales data at some point in the future.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Marathon so far? Could it have long legs? Will PlayStation make back its $250+ million? Let us know your thoughts down below.

The post Marathon reportedly had a budget of over $200 million first appeared on KitGuru.