Not CEO. Kaplan was a VP at Blizz.

Speaking for myself — no.

I had reasons for switching to using my dual boot desktop for Linux 95% of the time. Windows 11 became too annoying and bloated for me to want to deal with, and I found Proton could adequately run the games I play (including some old or foreign ones Windows struggles with).

I continue to use my Xbox because it’s unladen with Windows’ recent bullshit, and as a limited machine, it gives me less security concerns about trying games with connections to Russia, China, and Israel.

An Xbox running full Windows is one I would wecome existing but would never buy. I’d just be thankful all their games were PC compatible and use my Linux PC and streaming devices running Steam Link or Moonlight or even xCloud (until that service inevitably enshittifies).

Bethesda

That’s Microsoft now. And they’ve never seemed gung ho about GOG (I can’t think of any MS game that GOG listed while MS had control over it). Considering their “Dreamlist” thing and the status of Freelancer on it, I’m sure GOG has been lobbying hard with Microsoft to work with them, though.

https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/552558/tabletop-panic-tariffs-on-china-layoffs-bankruptcy-gama/

The U.S. has a very small industrial capacity for manufacturing tabletop games — especially board games.

“The news is bad from every angle, but especially so for card games and RPGs printed in China,” they said. “The choice seems to be either 1) a massive price hike to pay the new import taxes, or 2) go to a direct sales model that removes the hobby distributors from the equation.”

There’s currently not enough industrial capacity in the US to manufacture card games. Simple as that. Trying to do it would likely end up still being more expensive than the tariffs, and probably delay your product.

Pretty vague description, unfortunately. Sounds like it could be one of Eugen Systems’ games though?

How important is being an RPG in this case? (as I note only a couple of your examples are in that genre)

The below suggestions are not RPGs, but I think fit your request.

It’s a survival game, but Conan Exiles ticks a lot of those boxes once you get a bit geared (which doesn’t take super long), and it can be played single player. Just have to be okay with some janky experiences.

I will also note that you are a girl in Hades 2.

Sifu is another one you might enjoy, though bosses certainly are a challenge.

Bayonetta is probably the most pure example of a horde-fighting action game with a sexy female witch protagonist. Lollipop Chainsaw is there too, for more of an airhead protagonist. Darksiders 3 could fit the bill as well.

My interpretation of your request boils down to “what’s a good co-op roguelike” where the grinding is the replaying.

So, depending on how many players you need it to support and preferred genres, you might check out games like

• Risk of Rain 2
• Enter the Gungeon
• Children of Morta
• Vampire Survivors
• Streets of Rogue
• Gunfire Reborn
• Barony

There’s also a game called Jumpship that i’m keeping an eye on the development of that’s supposed to be hitting early access in the coming months.

That this thread became a mixture of They Might Be Giants and Mitchell & Webb is hilarious and i’m here for it.

Oh, so that’s why I give people cop vibes, when I’m really just colorblind.

Dishonored is the closest Deus Ex successor in my mind. Harvey Smith in the level design DNA.

As I said, it’s on consoles too — including Switch. It’s just that it’s a secondary platform for it — meaning it may be a lesser experience than on the platform it was ported from.

Outward is on consoles as well, though PC is its primary platform.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outward?wprov=sfla1

Sounds like its going for kind of a Pulsar: Lost Colony vibe to the gameplay. Not sure the Project Cars aspect of it really adds to the fun, though. Will keep an eye on it.

RWBY’s a big enough IP that a bunch of companies will likely be interested. I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney, Paramount, Netflix, Amazon, and Sony (Crunchyroll) all made bids of some kind for it.

I don’t generally force a pitch for different genders if that’s what you’re talking about. If I’m doing a voice, it’ll be in the accent and/or volume more and maybe the mannerisms.

There are a few things I consider when picking gender in a game.

• Is the character voice acted? Which voice actor do I think performs better?
• is the game third person? Which gender has the better look in armor/clothing in the game?
• Does the game feature romance? If so, then I almost always pick my own gender for a first playthrough at least.
• Which gender do I think the plot of the game will be more compelling for?

In tabletop D&D, gender tends to be the last thing I choose in a character (as opposed to video games that usually want it to be your first choice), and I basically just look at the made character including personality and backstory and realize that it’s more interesting or fun to play as one gender or the other.

EA/Bioware had nothing to do with this remake. It was in development at Aspyr at first, followed by Saber Interactive — both owned by Embracer Group.

This was/is? a remake of KOTOR 1, not a KOTOR 3 which has never been announced.

It was given to another team, but obviously radio silence ever since.

Part of me is wondering if the success of Baldur’s Gate has impacted the approach to it at all, given it falls roughly in the same genre space.

Embracer’s financials probably impacting it more, though.

Seems sorta weird they’d be looking to offload them for financial reasons. Gearbox seems like it’d be one of their more profitable studios.