I’m thrilled to reveal the Xbox version of Ascend to Zero, a time-bending action roguelike from Flyway Games that was part of last week’s Xbox Partner Preview broadcast.

Let’s start with a question: what would it actually feel like to stop time in the heat of battle? That single idea is where Ascend to Zero began — and it’s the thread that runs through everything we’ve built.

A Prototype Born from One Small Question

Ascend to Zero started with a very small moment. I was playing a survival roguelike when enemies swarmed in from every direction, cutting off every possible escape route. In that instant, one thought crossed my mind: “What if I could stop time, just for a second?”

A few days later, I revisited the idea and started building a small prototype. Less about grand design, more about answering one question: “Would this actually be fun?” In chasing an answer, I had an important realization — the act of freezing time and letting it flow again creates a strategic “turn” inside a real-time action game.

I combined that with a structure I’d always loved from Inflation RPG: explosive growth packed within limited opportunities. That’s how the first prototype ofAscend to Zero came together.

The Fun, Shaped by Player Voices

It didn’t take long to hit the limits of building alone. I started by asking friends and colleagues to play, and the ones who saw the potential in this game joined the team one by one. From there, testing gradually expanded to the community, and we paid close attention to what players loved and what frustrated them.

The loudest feedback was about the thrill of growth. Players wanted more powerful gear and systems that let them push that gear to its limits. We responded by introducing equipment sets beyond the mythic tier, over 200 new items, and three brand-new enhancement systems.

Many players responded positively to the time-bending concept, and we received a lot of feedback describing the game loop as addictive. At the same time, we noticed that some players were dropping off in the early game before fully grasping what made it fun, and that was something we couldn’t ignore.

After a lot of internal discussion, we made a decision: don’t make players wait for the best parts. We redesigned the early experience from the ground up so that players could feel what makes Ascend to Zero special from the moment they start: time-bending and explosive progression.

Save the World in 30 Seconds

All of which leads us to the final game you’ll soon be able to play. It’s 2225, and humanity has been brought to extinction by a mechanical invasion. As the last survivor, you’ll travel back in time to rewrite that fate.

You have just 30 seconds — but with the power to stop time in your hands, you can turn the tide of any battle, striking down powerful enemies to keep reclaiming time yourself. Not passive survival, but an active breakthrough, that’s the core experience Ascend to Zero is built to deliver.

A New Kind of Action Roguelike

Ascend to Zero is the result of years of development and testing, and it goes beyond the roguelike formula. Stats inflate at a staggering pace, and the satisfaction of watching your numbers climb by orders of magnitude delivers an RPG-style sense of accomplishment that most roguelikes simply can’t match.

Layer on top of that the spectacular skill effects cascading across a high-quality pixel art world, fast-paced combat, and strategic gear choices that demand a decision at every turn — every run you complete makes the next one richer. Every challenge builds toward something stronger.

A Small Start, and What It Became

Ascend to Zero began with that single question: “What would it feel like to stop time in the heat of battle?” That small idea was shaped by our team and refined through the feedback of countless players, growing into something far more exciting than where it started. I believe this is the power of indie games. New ideas always start small — but that smallness can sharpen them into something more focused, more distinct, and more fun.

Ascend to Zero launches July 13, 2026, on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC and Xbox Cloud. It will be an Xbox Play Anywhere title and available day one with Xbox Game Pass. Add it to your wishlist now, and get ready to bend time to save the world.

Ascend to ZERO

Flyway Games

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

Get it now

[Game Overview] Ascend to ZERO is a time-bending roguelike where you have the power to manipulate time and fight your way to the top. Play as unique avatars, wield powerful weapons and items, and experience fast-paced progression as your build evolves with every run. [Story] In the year 22XX, humanity built a vast underground Time Lab to master time travel. However, when the portal to the future finally opened, it wasn't hope that greeted them—only despair. A legion of unidentified mechanical monsters poured through the portal, laying waste to civilization. To prevent the impending apocalypse, humanity created the “Chrono Child”—the only being capable of traveling back through time. The mechanical legion raided the lab on the day of her awakening—as if they had foreseen her birth. In a desperate attempt, the lab's director cast the “Chrono Child” into a rift in time to save her from the invading machines. Now stranded in a ruined future with her memories fragmented, she stands as the last survivor. With the help of a mysterious aide, she must embark on a journey back through time to defeat the monsters and restore a shattered world.

The THQ Nordic & Nine Rocks teams are excited to announce that we’re bringing gaming’s most authentic hunting simulator – Way of the Hunter 2 – to Xbox Series X|S.

Over the past several years our teams have worked closely together with our active and dedicated community of simulation hunters to create the ultimate hunting game. We’ve asked questions through polls and surveys, we’ve introduced new weapons, gear, and equipment, and we’ve worked with a variety of brand partners to bring our players a world-class hunting experience.

So, what’s new in Way of the Hunter 2? The team at Nine Rocks made a conscious decision to move the game to Unreal Engine 5. It wasn’t easy – it was a huge strategic step, but we believe building the game in UE5 will allow it to be serviced at the highest possible quality for years to come. Using this engine allows the team to implement previously impossible improvements and ideas that the community’s been craving. Things like deeper systemic features, visual fidelity, world simulation improvements, and expanded gameplay possibilities are made possible with our new technical foundation.

Beyond engine improvements, we’re also bringing the most requested feature – an American foxhound hunting dog – to the table. Your new hunting companion is trained for blood tracking, even in dense terrain. Your pup knows basic commands, like sit, heel, and track, and the more time you spend bonding with it, the more obedient and better trained it becomes. We feel that the addition of a hunting dog will allow the player to track blood trails authentically and realistically, while mitigating tedious searches when the trail goes cold.

Additionally, we’ve added new hunting gear, to make your hunts even more efficient and effective. We’ve included backpacks to help expand your inventory on longer trips, calls, blinds, and decoys for duck hunting. We’ve also added a tent to facilitate fast travel, wait out harsh weather, or simply to set up camp for the night.

Let’s also take a moment to talk about your new hunting ground in New Laurentia, Canada. You’re joining a family-owned hunting reserve, Hearth and Hunt, where you’ll help restore the reserve to its former glory and turn it into the ultimate hunting getaway. In the initial phase of the game, you’ll meet four NPCs who will guide you and give you structured missions that will take you all over the map and push you to your limits. If you’d rather set out on your own to roam the vast Canadian forests and river valleys, you can also pass your time free hunting. You’ll have over 30 species to explore, including moose, elk, bears, bison, rabbits, and turkeys. You’ll also be equipped with every hunter’s dream lodge, where its vast halls are just waiting to be filled with trophies from your expeditions. Your lodge is perched in a beautiful river valley and comes equipped with a sturdy truck for traversing the vast areas of the map.

All of this and more is coming soon to Xbox Series X|S in Way of the Hunter 2. Wishlist Now!

Way of the Hunter 2

THQ Nordic

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

Get it now

Explore the vast outdoors of North America in this next level open world hunting game. Feel the thrill of the hunt and keep an eye out for the wild and wonderous species that are roaming the Canadian wilderness. Hunt and display big game like Moose, Elk, Bears or Bison as well as, smaller animals like Rabbits, Turkeys and various other birds. As the ultimate hunting simulator, Way of the Hunter 2's goal is to become the most authentic and advanced virtual hunting experience. Building upon our previous experience, invaluable player feedback, and countless iterations this game will start as the foundation for many updates, expansions and a true long-term support. With over 10 different real-world brand partners, from hunting rifle manufacturers to high-tech equipment and precision optics, our commitment to realistically simulating your favorite hunting gear guarantees ultimate in-game immersion. As the new hunter in town, you are recruited to take on a series of unique challenges that span two breathtaking environments and introduce you to a cast of memorable NPCs. In New Laurentia, you’ll team up with a skilled dog trainer and assist the former warden as you uncover the mystery behind the unusual behavior of the local moose population. Features: Hunting Dog: Bring your loyal hunting companion to support you while you hunt and track game.. It can search for animal signs, locate blood trails, and track down wounded animals. Your dog will learn and improve with constant exercise and training. Shot review: Our improved bullet camera lets you break down every shot with precision. Analyze trajectory, speed, angle, placement, and more — learn how to make the perfect shot, every time. Hunting Lodge: Welcome to the Hunting Lodge — your ultimate hub for adventure. Plan your next hunt, showcase hard-earned trophies, and unlock powerful upgrades to build the hunting paradise of your dreams. Each map features its own Lodge, unique to that territory. High Tech Equipment: High end gear will amplify your instincts — delivering the most immersive and realistic hunting experience with improved night vision and next level hunting reserve monitoring for managing your habitats.

The enhanced Dying Light: The Beast Restored Land brings new ways to play Dying Light: The Beast. From the game-changing Restored Land experience, through the One Life option to the mayhem of Roadkill Rallies, we introduced a range of features that allow players to rediscover the game by their own rules and their own pace. One of the most interesting ones are the 36 new quest encounters that appear throughout the game’s narrative.

These are memorable events placed along quest paths, designed to add depth to the narrative and the world. Each of them is a small, self-contained story that players can understand by observing the environment, the scene that unfolds in front of them and also by discovering additional notes on the spot.

We wanted to make the journey between main quest moments more engaging by introducing distinctive, individual situations. Each one answers a simple question: what just happened here? Players can piece it together through what they see and what they find.

Another goal was to show more interaction between the inhabitants of the game world, so it feels alive rather than waiting for the player.

These situations can be observed from a distance or joined or interrupted by a player at any point. We made sure that multiple events can appear across different routes, and that they show up randomly. This means players can come across different situations in unexpected moments, sometimes even during more casual exploration, and the scenes that they’ll encounter might be different during the first playthrough and NewGame+ runs.

The ideas for these narrative moments came from the state of the world and its progression. We brainstormed what could naturally happen in the story and what kinds of situations would fit best, what additional stories could reflect what is happening in the world around players. For example, Baron’s people expand their control by setting up new outposts to capture Kyle Crane and monitor the Town Hall group, while survivors respond by taking matters into their own hands and disrupting those efforts.

Another example is a Chimera transport heading to laboratory research that ends in an accident, with Baron’s people trying to regain control as the creature escapes. In a different situation, a convoy carrying supplies is ambushed by another hostile group attempting to seize resources. These moments reflect ongoing tensions in the world and add context without being part of a main quest.

Designing these moments required careful placement within the story. We had to ensure they support the pacing and emotional flow of the main quests. We started small, but seeing how players react to them in internal playtests we quickly decided they needed to stand out a little bit more. We expanded their scope and scale, strengthened the environmental storytelling, and added notes for players to find. With these new quest encounters, every playthrough feels a little different and more personal – reinforcing the idea of ‘Your Survival, Your Rules’.

Dying Light: The Beast Restored Land is a new, enhanced version of the game that includes the base game, new major content, and all previously released updates and improvements in one package. It’s a free upgrade for existing players, available now.

Dying Light: The Beast Restored Land Deluxe Edition

Techland

☆☆☆☆☆ 1936

★★★★★

$69.99 $52.49

Get it now

Take your Dying Light: The Beast experience to another level with the Deluxe Edition. You'll receive the Official Soundtrack, wallpapers, and the Castor Woods Prepper Bundle, as well as a detailed tourist map that highlights locations worth exploring.

A special agent active in South Town, Blue Mary has just closed another case and is finally ready for a well-earned break—until news of Geese’s legacy and the Sacred Scrolls forces a sudden change of plans. Answering the call of duty, she revs up her motorbike and dives back into action, her inescapable Command Sambo at the ready. Foes beware—once you’re caught in her grasp, all you can do is pray you make it out in one piece.

First introduced in 1995’s Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, the ever-iconic Blue Mary stands out for her powerful combination of physical strength and Commando Sambo mastery. Dominate your opponents with a wide range of grappling techniques—from precise, technical throws to devastating submission holds—in high-intensity, adrenaline-fueled battles that only City of the Wolves can deliver.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the key techniques that define Blue Mary’s strength.

Spin Fall

• Leaps forward and attacks with an aerial axe kick.
• Useful as an approach tool from mid-range, and can evade low-profile attacks while jumping in.
• Strong / REV versions: Can follow up with M. Spider on hit for additional damage.

Straight Slicer

• Slides forward quickly toward the opponent to attack.
• Effective for surprise attacks from mid-range and can slip under attacks thanks to its low profile.
• A versatile approach option—use it wisely to close distance.

Vertical Arrow

• Jumps upward while delivering a rising diagonal kick.
• Functions as an anti-air to intercept opponents trying to jump in. Use it to control space and maintain your preferred range.
• REV version: Causes a ground bounce, allowing further damage with REV Accel follow-ups.

Real Counter

• Evades an incoming attack in place.
• Can be followed up with Backdrop Real, allowing you to dodge and immediately grab the opponent for a counterattack.
• Great for reading wake-up attacks and punishing accordingly—experiment to find strong setups.

Quick Step

• A fast step used to quickly close in or create distance.
• Can cancel into various special moves, enabling combo extensions and sustained pressure.
• Only one follow-up is allowed per step.
• Use it to stay unpredictable—bait close-range attempts, reposition, then retaliate.
• From forward-moving Quick Step: A, you can use the command grab M. Arrest to catch opponents off guard.

Legends Unleashed!

The Legend Edition includes the base game along with Season Pass 1 and Season Pass 2, granting access to all existing fighters as well as every new Season 2 character as they are released. It’s the perfect package for both newcomers and longtime fans to fully experience the world of Fatal Fury.

Two mystery characters are still waiting to be revealed—so you won’t want to miss what’s coming next.

Stay tuned for more updates and surprises!

FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves – Legend Edition

SNK CORPORATION

☆☆☆☆☆ 111

★★★★★

$49.99

Get it now

Season Pass 2 is also available for individual purchase. Make sure you have the correct product at checkout. * FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves is only available in this Legend Edition format. * There are no plans at this time to sell the base game and Season Pass 1 individually. Contents Base game Season Pass 1 – Andy Bogard – Ken, additional stage – Joe Higashi – Chun-Li – Mr. Big, additional stage Season Pass 2 – DLC Character 1 "Kim Jae Hoon", additional stage (Available Now) – DLC Character 2 "Nightmare Geese" (Available Now) – DLC Character 3 "Blue Mary", additional stage (Available Now) – DLC Character 4 "Wolfgang Krauser" (April 2026) – DLC Character 5 "???" (May 2026) – DLC Character 6 "???" (June 2026) – Additional stages * Release date estimates are current at the time of publication.

Released in 2022, the first Syberia left an impact on the adventure genre. Three sequels followed, and enriched the universe created by the author Benoît Sokal. Now, 2025 sees the arrival of a remaster of the first episode, which takes what made the success of the original, all while adding elements to bring it up to modern standards.

Between Remake and Remaster

Even though Syberia – Remastered logically presents itself as a remaster, the teams at Virtuallyz and Microids Studio Paris decided to modernize the game to speak to a broader audience. They immersed themselves into what had been done for Syberia – The World Before released in 2022, as Aurélien Lévêque, Game Director at Virtuallyz, explains: “The backgrounds have been entirely modeled after the original 2D plans, so we had to imagine some missing viewpoints. Even the characters have been entirely modeled and animated in 3D.”

“Fun fact: at the start of the project, we didn’t have enough 3D models for all the characters, so we used Felix Smetana, the receptionist at the Kronsky Hotel, everywhere when working on the cutscenes. After seeing him so many times, he ended up becoming the team’s mascot. Thankfully, we got the opportunity to work with the team at Microids Studio Paris, which developed Syberia – The World Before and Amerzone – The Explorer’s Legacy, to help us achieve the level of quality we aimed for.”

Taking advantage of this 3D modeling, the development team were able to completely revamp the camera to make the game more enjoyable and readable, all the while allowing players to better locate themselves in the environment. Moving protagonist Kate around has also been greatly improved, as Aurélien goes into details on the matter: “We took inspiration from many elements in The World Before, starting with the character controller, meaning the way Kate moves around using a controller or computer mouse. Microids Studio Paris also helped us with putting the camera in place.”

Always with modernization in mind, the team tried to make choices that would satisfy both old fans and new players who want to discover the series. As such, they decided to implement a quest journal in the vein of what was present in The World Before, and to offer two different game modes: Story Mode, which gives hints so that players won’t stay stuck too long, and Adventure Mode, in which no help is provided and is thus way closer to the original experience.

Preserving Benoît Sokal’s legacy

The team did everything to find the right balance between the wish to improve the author’s vision and staying true as possible to the DNA of the original. Thus, if the original cutscenes have simply been upscaled, the backgrounds have benefited from a complete overhaul. Used to the Unity engine, Virtuallyz and Microids Studio Paris were able to greatly improve the visuals to enhance Benoît Sokal’s vision without altering the geography of the locations. In addition, by using the HDRP (Unity’s High Definition Render Pipeline), Virtuallyz was able to make the whole experience more immersive than ever, as Aurélien points out: “The HDRP is a rendering pipeline made for next-gen or current-gen consoles. It enables more realistic lighting, but also more control on ‘material PBR’ (Physically Based Rendering), generally used to add a sense of realism and texture to objects. All those factors allowed for an improvement of the scenery, as well as for the characters.”

The sound design was also reworked. Given that the original plot hasn’t been modified, the decision to keep the original dubbing and music was made quite early into the project. However, the devs have improved some old sounds that didn’t age well, and created new ones (such as the crackling of the chimney fire) to emphasize the immersion. Aurélien adds: “We worked on FMOD so that the voices and sounds would take into account the acoustics of the rooms or of the exterior.”

The studio faced some challenges with the cutscenes, especially as they were trying make the direction smoother while also making sure that everything would be consistent, no matter the language.

“As each language uses a different duration, we had to design an ingenious system so that the cutscenes would adapt to the duration of each sound,” Aurélien explains. “A lot of work was done to make sure that everything would interlink perfectly, and we even added new animations with travelling effects to make the whole thing more dynamic and harmonious.”

The team made all those improvements to improve Benoît Sokal’s original vision and give Syberia a new lease of life. Get ready for a one-of-a-kind journey across Europe in Syberia – Remastered, releasing on November 6 on Xbox Series X|S.

Syberia – Remastered

Microids

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$29.99

Pre-order

More than 20 years after its original release, Syberia is reborn in a fully modernized version. Rediscover its iconic locations and unforgettable characters through a stunning visual overhaul, redesigned gameplay, and the same captivating storytelling that made it a classic. Kate Walker, a brilliant lawyer from New York, is sent to a remote village in the French Alps to finalize the sale of an old automaton factory. But what begins as a routine assignment soon turns into an extraordinary journey across Eastern Europe and its snow-covered landscapes. Accompanied by Oscar, a loyal and one-of-a-kind automaton, Kate sets out to explore mysterious and forgotten places, filled with eccentric characters, as she follows the trail of Hans Voralberg, a genius inventor pursuing a seemingly impossible dream: finding the last living mammoths on the mythical island of Syberia. An unexpected, thrilling, and deeply emotional voyage that will challenge everything she thought she knew. First released in 2002, Syberia became a reference in the adventure genre, praised for its unique atmosphere, sharp writing, and the richness of Benoît Sokal’s artistic vision. This remaster is a new opportunity to (re)discover the masterpiece, following in the footsteps of other titles from Benoît Sokal such as “Syberia: The World Before” and the newly released “Amerzone: The Explorer’s Legacy”. KEY FEATURES – A faithful and stunning overhaul: Meet Syberia’s iconic characters fully redesigned and explore the game’s most emblematic locations brought to life in beautifully enhanced 3D. Every environment has been carefully rebuilt with an art direction that stays true to Benoît Sokal’s unique style, offering an even deeper immersion into his singular visual universe. – Reimagined mechanical puzzles: Enjoy a fresh take on the game’s intricate puzzles, redesigned to provide a smoother and more intuitive experience while preserving their essential role in uncovering the secrets behind Voralberg’s genius. – A modernized gameplay experience: Rediscover Kate Walker’s journey with an updated user interface, improved 3D navigation, and more fluid controls tailored to today’s standards, all without compromising the game’s contemplative and narrative soul. – A rich and immersive world: From the alpine town of Valadilène to the frozen edges of Eastern Russia, Syberia transports you into a world of mystery, automatons, and poetic machinery. Dive into a clockpunk adventure where realism blends seamlessly with dreamlike wonder. – A moving and unforgettable story: Experience a deeply human narrative, as Kate Walker’s legal assignment turns into a profound journey of self-discovery. Filled with unexpected encounters, emotional choices, and moments of awe, Syberia’s tale blurs the line between strangeness and the sublime.