Heart Machine, el estudio detrás del aclamado juego Hyper Light Drifter, ha cerrado su proyecto Hyper Light Breaker y despedido a varios de sus empleados en un contexto tumultuoso en la industria de los videojuegos. Esta situación se ve agravada por una segunda ronda de despidos anunciada justo antes del lanzamiento de su … Continue reading “”
Heart Machine, the studio behind the acclaimed game Hyper Light Drifter, has closed its project Hyper Light Breaker and laid off several of its employees in a tumultuous context in the video game industry. This scenario is further exacerbated by a second round of layoffs announced just before the release of their new game, Possessor(s), scheduled for November 11. This situation has generated discontent among players, who have expressed their concerns on platforms like Steam, claiming they do not wish to support a company that lays off workers at crucial times.
La situación es mala, pero compren y jueguen, dicen
The layoffs have sparked criticism, but both Heart Machine and its publisher, Devolver Digital, have tried to clarify the situation. Harris Foster, community manager at Devolver, expressed regret over the layoffs and assured that the affected employees will continue to receive a portion of the game’s revenue, regardless of their employment status at the studio. This measure aims to emphasize the studio’s commitment to its team and their work.
The narrative director of Possessor(s), Tyler Hutchinson, called on players to purchase the game, noting that it represents three years of effort and dedication. In his words, this title is the result of intense work that the developers hope will be enjoyed by the public. Hutchinson also emphasized that the success of Possessor(s) could help open new job opportunities for laid-off employees, as it would be seen as a professional achievement on their resumes.
Despite the adversities, the launch of Possessor(s) is not delayed and presents itself as an action and exploration experience in a devastated world. With its strong narrative and visual component, the game has the potential to connect with the audience and provide Heart Machine with the breathing room it needs amid this crisis.
Heart Machine, known for being the developer of the acclaimed Hyper Light Drifter, is going through tough times after a series of layoffs caused by low sales and mixed reviews of its recent title, Hyper Light Breaker, released in early access. Financial difficulties led the company to conduct a second round of layoffs, this time focused on the team working on the video game Possessor(s), just weeks before its scheduled release. These layoffs have not been well received by the community. The layoffs have raised questions among players about whether they should continue to financially support Heart […]
Heart Machine, known for being the developer of the acclaimed Hyper Light Drifter, is going through tough times after a series of layoffs caused by low sales and mixed reviews of its recent title, Hyper Light Breaker, released in early access. Financial difficulties led the company to conduct a second round of layoffs, this time focused on the team working on the video game Possessor(s), just weeks before its scheduled release.
Some layoffs that have not been well received by the community
The layoffs have raised questions among players about whether they should continue to financially support Heart Machine. A user on the Steam forums expressed that “it’s hard to support developers when they can no longer see a cent from a game.” This opinion reflects the discontent of some community members, who hesitate to purchase a game if the developers responsible for its creation have been laid off before its release.
However, Devolver Digital, the publisher of Possessor(s), has confirmed that all eligible team members for revenue sharing will continue to receive their share, regardless of their current employment situation. Tyler Hutchinson, narrative director of Possessor(s), urged players to buy the game, highlighting the hard work of the team and their commitment to the project. He stated: “I see video games as modern cathedrals; it is the culmination of hundreds of hours of work.” Additionally, he emphasized that the commercial success of the game could help developers find new job opportunities.
Possessor(s) is scheduled to be released on November 11 and has received positive reviews in previous demonstrations. As the release date approaches, the community is closely watching both the game’s performance and the fate of its creators.
Devolver Digital has decided to take a bold path in an industry that generally tends to shy away from competing with the giants of interactive entertainment The independent publisher has promised to release a new game on the same day as Grand Theft Auto VI, the highly anticipated installment from Rockstar Games, which will hit the market on May 26, 2026 Devolver’s stance is unusual and striking, given that most developers and publishers tend to avoid competing head-on with titles of such magnitude Devolver wants to ride the wave of going alongside, not against The situation recalls the […]
Devolver Digital has decided to take a bold path in an industry that generally tends to shy away from competing with the giants of interactive entertainment. The independent publisher has promised to release a new game on the same day as Grand Theft Auto VI, the highly anticipated installment from Rockstar Games, which will hit the market on May 26, 2026. Devolver’s stance is unusual and striking, given that most developers and publishers tend to avoid direct competition with titles of such magnitude.
Devolver quiere aprovechar la ola de ir juntos, no en contra
The situation recalls the Doom-Crossing phenomenon that occurred in 2020, when Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal shared the same release date, generating a wave of memes and excitement on social media due to the unexpected combination of their audiences. Devolver Digital seems to want to provoke a similar reaction by releasing a game on the same date as one of the most anticipated titles of the decade.
Although the company has not confirmed which specific game it will be, it is speculated that it could be Enter the Gungeon 2, which has already been confirmed for 2026. Another possibility considered is Human: Fall Flat 2, although its developer, No Brakes Games, has indicated that it will not be available on that date. Devolver’s decision highlights its ability to capture media attention and position itself at the center of the conversation about the release of GTA VI.
The situation could become more interesting if GTA VI experiences another delay. In that case, Devolver Digital could choose to maintain its release on the announced date, which would reinforce its cheeky image, or alternatively, adjust its strategy to align with Rockstar. In any case, they have already managed to capture the industry’s attention with their surprising boldness.
In the vast landscape of the video game industry, rarely does a modest title manage to capture the attention of such a dedicated group as Look Outside has. This survival-horror RPG, developed by Francis Coulombe and published by the prestigious Devolver Digital, has impressed players with its intriguing narrative, indescribable creatures, and turn-based combat mechanics. A survival horror made in RPG Maker The game places the protagonist in a peculiar apartment building, where a sinister phenomenon transforms anyone who looks out the window into a monster. This unique premise forces the […]
In the vast landscape of the video game industry, few modest titles manage to capture the attention of such a dedicated group as Look Outside has. This survival-horror RPG, developed by Francis Coulombe and published by the prestigious Devolver Digital, has impressed players thanks to its intriguing narrative, indescribable creatures, and turn-based combat mechanics.
A survival horror made in RPG Maker
The game places the protagonist in a peculiar apartment building, where a sinister phenomenon transforms anyone who looks out the window into a monster. This unique premise forces the player to embark on expeditions through the complex while facing up to 150 uniquely handcrafted creatures, representing a constant threat to their survival. Each encounter provides resources that can be used to upgrade tools or create weapons, adding a strategic layer to the gaming experience.
Available on Steam at an attractive price of 9.99 euros, Look Outside offers between 10 and 12 hours of gameplay, an ideal duration for those seeking a deep horror adventure without a long time investment. The reception has been overwhelmingly positive, recording a 99% rating of ‘Extremely Positive’ among more than 800 users. This early recognition may indicate that we are facing a gem of the genre that could solidify the position of Coulombe and Devolver Digital in the hearts of horror gamers.
With the backing of the distributor, known for launching creative titles like Inscryption and Loop Hero, Look Outside has the potential to become a benchmark within the genre, gaining followers for its originality and depth. As players continue to explore its dark corners, the title promises to gradually unveil the secrets surrounding this unsettling transformation of reality.
Croteam’s designer, Davor Hunski, recently shared details about the origin of their acclaimed puzzle game published by Devolver Digital, The Talos Principle, which emerged as a “happy accident” during the development of Serious Sam 3. In a video released by the studio, Hunski explains that while working on the design of Serious Sam 3, he began experimenting with various world elements, such as floating mines and plasma walls, which led him to come up with a series of puzzles that, surprisingly, turned out to be very enjoyable for players. Serious Sam is not a game for philosophy […]
The designer of Croteam, Davor Hunski, recently shared details about the origin of their acclaimed puzzle game published by Devolver Digital, The Talos Principle, which emerged as a “happy accident” during the development of Serious Sam 3. In a video released by the studio, Hunski explains that while working on the design of Serious Sam 3, he began experimenting with various elements of the world, such as floating mines and plasma walls, which led him to devise a series of puzzles that, surprisingly, turned out to be very enjoyable for players.
Serious Sam is not a game for philosophy or puzzles
Despite the positive response from his team, Hunski realized that these puzzles did not fit with the frantic nature of Serious Sam, which required a different approach. “No, they are too difficult. People would hate that in Serious Sam,” commented Hunski. He then decided to use the puzzles for a completely new game, giving rise to one of the best puzzle titles in the history of PC gaming.
The original game was well received. Some critics cited its blend of ancient and medieval architecture as technically impressive, but lacking a clear message. This criticism was addressed in the 2023 sequel, where the aesthetics were improved, providing players with a more polished visual experience.
Additionally, in December of last year, Croteam announced The Talos Principle: Reawakened, a remaster that aims to provide a complete visual overhaul of the original game and its expansion, Road to Gehenna. This update promises to make the beloved puzzle game not only more visually appealing but also more aligned with the improvements seen in its sequel, thus transforming this “happy accident” into a deliberate and refined work.
Children of the Sun is the new game from Devolver Digital, and although it has gone unnoticed, it is destined to be a cult game in the near future.
Games are released every day. Few manage to stand out. It is normal in such a saturated market, where word of mouth is especially important. Excluding AAA games, which have all the advertising in the world, it is difficult to keep up with most of what happens in the industry. Even with a small part of it.
Among those games that have gone somewhat unnoticed is Children of the Sun. A game that, despite being the latest from Devolver Digital, has not made as much noise as other games from the most famous independent distributors. Which is a shame. Because Children of the Sun is a sensational game that, in addition to being an absolute delight to play, is a marvel of artistic stylization.
The premise of Children of the Sun is very simple. As simple as sinister. We are The Girl, a disturbed shooter, who seeks to kill all members of a cult. Her motive is because her parents, members of the cult, are now dead because of it. And The Girl has decided that she will make her way to their leader. One bullet at a time. Many corpses for each bullet.
Mechanically, the game is simple. We can move left and right in a straight line, away from where the cult members are. We can aim, point at them, and position ourselves in an optimal place. Something we must do, because no matter how many enemies there are, we only have one chance. And only one bullet.
This is because every time our bullet hits an enemy or an obstacle, we can redirect it. That means we have to chain enemies with enemies, dodge obstacles, and try to take advantage of the few objects or creatures where we won’t lose the bullet. Like a bird, for example. Or the exploding fuel tank of a vehicle at the crime scene.
Children of the Sun is more of a puzzle game than a shooter. Since it is possible to slightly modify the direction of the bullet in the air, the game is about always trying to find the best angle. The best position. But also something that we don’t have to take into consideration in the same way in other games: how to chain all our enemies. We only have one bullet and we have to kill all our enemies. And the moment one dies, everyone around will be aware that there is a shooter nearby.
This means that there is a point of skill, one of strategy and another of tactics. We must plan well what we will do, but it is also important to improvise, because we do not know exactly what each of our enemies will do. Making there be multiple ways to solve each situation. Many of them unforeseen.
Part of its appeal also lies in the fact that we will earn more or less points depending on how we approach each situation. Hitting vital points grants more points, just like completing the phase as quickly as possible or using the fewest possible redirects. This makes it work not only as a puzzle, but even better as an arcade game. Competing with our scores, those of our friends or the online leaderboard adds an additional layer of depth to the game.
If we add to all that its excellent art direction and the outstanding soundtrack, it’s easy to understand why this game is destined to become a cult game. The kind of games that are talked about with equal parts respect and love.
Unfortunately, it’s also easy to see why it can go unnoticed. It’s a very unique game, unlike any other game out there, and although it’s very eye-catching, it’s not a sure bet. That’s why we can’t do anything but recommend that you take a look. Because if there’s one game so far this year that runs the risk of going unnoticed, but could be your new favorite game, that’s Children of the Sun.
El nuevo juego de Devolver Digital nos permite responder la pregunta que siempre pensamos, ¿cómo será producir un programa de Gran Hermano?
There is probably no video game company that is publishing more unique and interesting games than Devolver Digital. Having released games like The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood and having others like Anger Foot pending, if there is something that characterizes their games is that they are always tremendously original. Something in which the game they have just announced is no exception. In any case, it is rather one of the most particular games they have published so far.
The Crush House is a game by Nerial, the creators of Reigns. The game where we take on the role of a king and, Tinder-style, we have to make decisions for the kingdom by accepting them and sending the cards to our right, or rejecting them by sending them to our left. And although The Crush House has some control over the fate of others in its DNA, it’s slightly different. Because its inspiration is reality TV shows like Big Brother.
In the late 90s, we worked as camera and producer for a show called The Crush House. We decided which people we put in the house, and from there, our obligation is to satisfy our audience. Different audiences will ask for different things, so, with camera in hand, we will have to show what they are looking for, even forcing it to happen when the participants of the show don’t seem willing to do so. Everything escalates in difficulty as the days go by, since the audience will increasingly crave more extreme experiences, asking for more sensationalism from our participants.
If the game stayed here, it would already be fascinating. Of course, it doesn’t stay here. In The Crush House we only have two rules, which are never to talk to the participants and never to explore beyond the limits of the house. The reasons for this seem to hide dark secrets. Which we still don’t know. But we are sure that a narrative will emerge from them that will take the game even further, giving it an interesting thriller tone.
The Crush House does not have a release date yet, but it already has a Steam page and its release is planned for this same 2024. However, it is worth noting that there is no confirmed console release.
This new video game from Devolver Digital promises us two things: a lot of kicks and a lot of machine music while our enemies twerk.
At times, it feels like there are genres and ideas that are underutilized in the world of video games. The entire realm of electronic music, straightforward and immediate arcade games, and colorful aesthetics, although very popular in their time, now seem to exist mainly within indie niches. And that’s a shame. Games that are immediate, noisy, a bit furious, and cheeky have always been part of the DNA of video games. That’s why it’s heartening to know that a game like Anger Foot is continuing to make strides. Quite literally.
Anger Foot is a game developed by Free Lives, a South African game studio known for diverse titles such as Broforce, Genital Jousting, or Terra Nil. Originally announced for release in 2023 under the banner of Devolver Digital, it was delayed until 2024, as revealed during the Devolver Delayed event. Recently, at Realms Deep 2023, a new trailer for the game was showcased.
In this game, players assume the role of a man from Shit City whose favorite sneakers have been stolen, leading him to confront countless ruthless gangsters. The only way to do it, quite naturally in these cases, is by kicking them.
Although there are firearms in the game, its main attraction is the use of kicks as the primary weapon. Players have to start each level by kicking down the door, leading to an adrenaline-fueled sequence of battles where every second counts. Decision-making and knowledge of each enemy’s position are essential for achieving the perfect run. Think of it like a 3D first-person Hotline Miami, but instead of neon colors and synthwave, you have slightly desaturated flat colors and pounding gabber music in your ears.
As mentioned earlier, the game is planned to be released in 2024 by Devolver Digital, although a specific date has not been announced yet. In any case, the game already has an extensive demo available, giving players a fairly concrete idea of the intense and insane experience that awaits in this intriguing Anger Foot.
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is a game that puts us in the shoes of a witch forced to write her own story… and her own downfall.
A game is not finished until someone plays it. No matter how perfect it is, no matter how spectacular its mechanics are or how interesting the decisions we have to make are, if no one plays it, it is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter. The very act of playing the game is what concludes the game. Without players there is no game. Because the act of playing is an act of creation in itself. Because the player is part of the act of creating the game.
It is important to talk about creation in order to talk about The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood because it is an important theme in its narrative, but also in how it is played. One of the basic mechanics of the game is to create tarot cards to throw at people who come to visit us and, with them, to know what the future holds for them. But before getting into that, it is important to get to know the studio behind the game.
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is a game created by Deconstructeam, a studio from Valencia that was founded in 2012. In 2014 they published Gods Will Be Watching, a game that became famous for its cruelty both in terms of difficulty and in terms of the difficult decisions it forced us to assume. In 2018 they would publish The Red Strings Club, a cyberpunk adventure game of gentler difficulty, excellent narrative and absolutely glorious music and art. In between, they published small games for free that they put together in a compilation called Essays on Empathy, where they tackled mechanics and ideas that they would later develop, or not, in their commercial games.
This small presentation is important because it is important to understand that The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood has the DNA of Deconstructeam. It is experimental not in the sense that it is strange, or complex, but in the sense that it plays with the limits of language. Mechanical and narrative. And it does so for the purpose of exploring things it could not explore in the same way otherwise.
In The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood we play a witch who has been exiled for a thousand years to an asteroid for having predicted the end of her coven. After two hundred years, she decides to summon a Titan, a creature born before time itself, to free herself from her chains. Thanks to him, she discovers that she doesn’t need a tarot deck to predict the future: she can create her own cards to do so. And instead of receiving vague answers, which he must interpret with grace, he will receive very concrete answers that will change the future of anyone whose cards he reads.
This serves as an excuse to explore a rich, deep and peculiar universe. One where only women can ascend and become witches, and is used to explore gender issues, but also how power relations are shaped, or the implications of immortality. All this while introducing us to planets, communities, species and entities that resist being categorized in fantasy or science fiction.
Of course, there is a story behind all this. But that story is also shaped by the things we decide. Whether our protagonist feels depressed, pissed off or feels nothing in particular; whether she wants to destroy her coven, save it or have nothing to do with it; and whether she wants to flee the asteroid or has accepted her fate, despite everything, is in our hand. The premise of the game is that we have been banished to an asteroid and it is unfair, but the story leads to us deciding, along with the game, which story we are playing. How our protagonist feels and what the consequences of what happens to her will be.
In fact, now we go back to the beginning, that’s where the letters come in. We don’t just read them, we create them. By combining different elements, we can create our own designs. But each element has different concepts associated with it. In that way, each card is not only artistically unique, but also has different readings depending on what we make of them.
That’s why we make the game in The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood. There are certain events that always occur and are inevitable, but the story, how it ends, how the characters behave, and how the plot unfolds, is always in our hand. Our decisions, how we choose to declare that the protagonist feels, and the readings we make of the cards, shape the world. The story. They make us the writers of the game itself as we play it. Making explicit our role in it as that oracle who has condemned his coven from the very moment we have decided to play the game.
That’s why The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is brilliant. It’s different, it’s vibrant, it’s fun and it’s smart. No other game is so explicit and so subtle in literally putting us in the shoes of its protagonist. In making us live the role of a character without telling us that we are role-playing it. That’s why it would be a shame if a game as brilliant as this one went unnoticed. Because it’s not every day that we see games as exceptional as The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood.
Some of the links added in the article are part of affiliate campaigns and may represent benefits for Softonic.