Category: Games

Here’s something unexpected and cool: Games industry veteran Cory Davis (Spec Ops: The Line, Condemned, F.E.A.R.) has started a new game studio with Robin Finck, the longtime guitarist of Nine Inch Nails and former member of Guns ‘N Roses. The new Los Angeles-based studio is called Eyes Out, and its first game has an eye-catching description.

The game is described as a “single-player immersive cosmic horror game with strong environmental storytelling elements.” No other details are available just yet, but the studio says fans can look forward to more information in the months ahead.

Now Playing: Eyes Out Studio Announcement Trailer

“The team is made up of passionate world-builders and storytellers who believe in the powerful synesthesia that emerges from music, narrative, and interactive experiences,” according to a news release from Eyes Out.

Davis was the creative director and designer on Spec Ops: The Line, and went on to co-found the independent studio Tangent Games, the independent studio behind Here They Lie.

Davis met Finck–who is considered by many to be one of the greatest guitar players of all time and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020–when he came to his studio to play an early version of Here They Lie.

“As a fan of his work, I was super eager to get his impressions. We dug in; our conversations began with music, distortion pedals, and amp feedback but quickly led us down the rabbit hole into discussions on the meaning of existence, and the power of games as a storytelling medium,” Davis told GameSpot. “Soon we began collaborating on music for prototypes I had in development, but I found that our sessions constantly drove us to a unique space–one that began to set the tone not just for the sound and music, but for the world, visuals, and gameplay. Robin is such an open, honest, and fearless creator. A philosopher, artist, poet, musician, and explorer. Robin pushes me beyond the boundaries of my ability and perspective, into the unknown–something I’ve been seeking after in a collaborator for as long as I can remember.”

As for Finck, this is not his first video game. The musician previously wrote music for the games Observation and NOCT. He spoke to GameSpot about what he learned on those projects and how this will shape his work on the new game from Eyes Out.

“I’ve learned that concept should be the first and last say, and that all else should serve to support it. I’ve learned it is more valuable to ask ‘Why’ than to ask ‘How.’ A solid design document can be a much-welcomed light through the inevitable fog. Our deep-dive script of backstory and reference would be 18 inches off the desk were it ever printed. It’s important to invest valuable effort in crafting the details that support, and will ultimately direct, those design decisions across multiple departments at an early stage.

“It’s a fun and inspired time in the process where everything is possible. There should come a point, after all the splatter has stopped writhing on the wall, that some ideas become probable, and as designers we recognize them and empower them to become reliable and executable. And I’ve learned that lively collaboration among kindred spirits is invaluable.”

Regarding his partnership with Davis, Finck said he is a “true visionary leader.”

“Cory is at once present and in front of us and cares about your cat, and at the same time out in space walking among giants, able to convey the depths of astral horseplay. And all of it, every bit of it, is real. He’s a true visionary leader. He’s capable and dedicated and open to forces unspeakable. And he’s in the editor all the livelong day.”

Davis and Finck are writing the music together for Eyes Out’s first game. While you might have certain ideas in mind based on Finck’s body of work thus far, the musician isn’t ready to talk specifics about what the two are cooking up. But he did stress that the music will be “evil.”

“Cory and I work in tandem on music. We’re itching and scratching to tell you about it and even more so to share it with you. What I can tell you now is that it is evil. Much more to come,” he said.

Audio design is often seen as an under-appreciated element of video games. Great audio in a game can really elevate the experience, especially so in the context of a horror game like Eyes Out is making. The developers have teased that audio will play a key role in the title–and of course it would, given that Finck is attached to it. Davis spoke about why he believes audio is the “most foundational and powerful aspect of all immersive experiences.”

“Both a physical, present element adding character, style, believability, and uniqueness to the world, as well as subconsciously preparing and guiding us through emotional and even challenging experiences,” he said. “Audio also creates a zone for mystery and self-interpretation, inviting us to leave behind our inhibitions–to be entirely present in the other-world that is unfolding. It’s so exciting to be developing a new world in the horror space now with all of the new possibilities at our fingertips. Audio and music connect directly to our narrative and gameplay through the usage of generative, quantized, real-time world-warping techniques and a wide range of style bringing the world to life.”

“We’re shoving hard the divide between diegetic and non-diegetic audio, and really listening for new ways to reveal and express story through sound.” — Finck

As for Finck, he said teased that audio will play a significant role in how the new game’s story plays out, which is exciting to think about, even if he’s not giving away any concrete information yet. He told us more about how he thinks about audio design shaping the style and feel of a piece of entertainment.

“I love the subtlety and nuance of a quiet space. The opportunity that comes from a well set silence. And then exaggerating its dissolution. I like how John Carpenter would give sharp aural focus to a diegetic sound that only later would be revealed visibly,” he said. “Like hearing the incessant click of a petrol meter, before understanding what is the cause of this sound, instills this tension and breadth of environment unseen. We’re shoving hard the divide between diegetic and non-diegetic audio, and really listening for new ways to reveal and express story through sound. It’s a significant narrative component. We probably shouldn’t tell you why just yet. There is much to unfold here.”

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While the Eyes Out team isn’t ready to full reveal its first game yet, it certainly has our attention. Davis said he’s putting together a team of “passionate story-tellers and world-builders” who are looking to create something unique and special.

“We can’t wait to pull back the curtain and show you what we’ve been cooking up. Focused on creating depth and pushing the boundaries of the genre in this new game universe that we will return to again and again,” he said.

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Heels, the new pro wrestling series on Starz, is full of in-ring action. What you won’t see an overabundance of, though, is well-known professional wrestlers. In fact, only two, one of which is CM Punk, have been announced for Season 1 at this point. And while star Stephen Amell has a strong connection to the wrestling world, having previously performed for WWE and at All In, he was not the person who brought in the former WWE Champion.

Instead, that honor goes to series creator Michael Waldron. In fact, as Waldron explained to GameSpot, Punk (real name Phil Brooks) was considered for a role on Heels before Amell was even cast.

“We had talked to Punk for the first [version of] the show back in 2017 about getting involved,” Waldron recalled. “And he and I just stayed in touch. He was getting started in his acting career. And I had gotten to know him well enough to know that what defines Phil Brooks is his work ethic. The guy is just such a hard worker. And if he’s going to be an actor, he’s gonna figure out how to be the best in the world.”

When the call came to play an independent wrestler named Ricky Rabies, whose gimmick is that of a rabid animal, he didn’t hesitate to sign on. “He had done some acting between the two iterations of our show and this opportunity came up and his name came up, it was just a no-brainer,” Waldron said. “I reached out to him and he was game. We’re so lucky to have him. I think he absolutely represents the sweet spot of the kind of guy that you want to see become part of this world as an actor.”

That said, while both Punk and WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley guest-starred in the first season of Heels, the producers are wary of casting too many well-known faces from the wrestling world. “Certainly you can overload with cameos and it can get distracting and everything and that’ll be on us to walk that line in and figure out when is it better for a wrestler to play themselves,” Waldron said. “When does that enhance the world?”

Still, if the few cameos the show does have are similar to casting Punk as a Southern wrestler wearing animal fur, it should be pretty entertaining.

Heels airs Sundays on Starz.

Shawn Levy almost ended up directing the Uncharted movie, but ended up leaving that project to work on Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds, which comes out this Friday. In an interview with io9, Levy explained why making video game movies can be so hard, and why he had a better time with Free Guy, which so far has been compared favourably to the vast majority of video game movies.

Movies based on video games have a terrible reputation that, for the most part, is well earned. Levy has explained why he thinks that happens, saying that Free Guy turned out so well because it didn’t have the burden of being based on an already popular video game.

“What I know from experience–from having walked a bit of road with Nathan Drake and that Uncharted title–is you can tell a story on screen, but you have to be faithful to the game expectations and gamer expectations of the original franchise,” Levy explained. “That will always put guardrails on your storytelling.”

“I can’t wait to see Uncharted also, but for me as a director, to have absolute freedom, absolute creative freedom where I’m beholden to nothing except the ideas that were exciting to Ryan and me, that was really fun,” Levy added. “And that is not the case when you are making an adaptation of a video game, a true video game movie in that regard. There’s always going to be parameters that you have to be conscious of.”

For what it’s worth, the Uncharted movie is still largely based on the script Levy developed when he was attached to the project, though it sounds like the director had a lot more fun with Free Guy in the end.

DC Universe producer Charles Roven, who’s had a hand in both Suicide Squad films as well as other DC titles like Justice League and Wonder Woman, has spilled the beans on David Ayer’s cut of Suicide Squad. The producer explained that when David Ayer’s preferred cut was shown to test audiences against the studio’s preferred cut, audiences liked both about the same.

After David Ayer released a statement discussing his experience with Suicide Squad, The Hollywood Reporter asked Roven whether he had seen the “fully mature edit by Lee Smith” that Ayer referred to.

“When the studio was hoping to replace John [Gilroy], the original editor, we suggested Lee,” Roven explained. “He’s one of the truly great editors. He was charged with trying to take a slightly different approach, but not totally change the tone of the movie with his work. Clearly, from what David is saying, that was the version that he liked the best of all the versions.”

He also confirmed that there was a lot of conflict between what the studio wanted out of the cut and what Ayer wanted, requiring both parties to negotiate towards the final cut. When it came to audience testing, Roven said that Ayer selected an edit that most matched his vision, but also clarified that the edit used for that test was not Lee Smith’s.

“It was somebody else that came in. The studio version was also different editors as well,” Roven explained. “We tested both versions. They tested exactly the same. Because they tested exactly the same, David and the studio and ourselves, meaning Rich and I and the heads of DC at that time–on Berg and Geoff Johns–we all sat in a room and tried to come up with what would be the best of both versions.”

While Suicide Squad was a box office hit, it was widely panned by critics. The newly released The Suicide Squad by James Gunn has had a lot more luck with critics, currently boasting an aggregated score of 72 on Gamespot sister site Metacritic.

Note: This article contains spoilers for the epilogue of the Season of the Splicer. You might want to finish the mission “As Prophesied” before reading on.

This piece also builds on a previous look at Savathun’s motivations, which you can read here: Destiny 2’s Looming Villain Is Just Trying To Trick Us Into Being Her Friend

The epilogue for the Season of the Splicer brought an official end to the Endless Night and Savathun’s plot. It also left a few major questions that have been building throughout the season. In the final cutscene, we saw Osiris, who’s been suspect as hell all season, acting even more suspect. And with Savathun’s attack on the City finally wrapped up, we’re still wondering what she hoped to gain through all this.

When it comes to Savathun, the Hive god of trickery and deceit, nothing is certain. But we’ve gotten a whole lot of clues over the last season about what she might have been up to and how she was executing on her goals. Last time we looked at the story of the season, I suggested Savathun’s end goal is to eventually make friends with us Guardians, in order to ally with us against the Darkness and break her pact with the worm gods. If we take that as a given (which is also pretty speculative, granted), then the actions of Savathun and other characters through the course of the Season of the Splicer make a little more sense.

First, let’s go with the long-running fan speculation that Osiris is actually Savathun in some kind of shape-shifted disguise, something suggested by lore entries in this season and in the past, but still far from certain. Our man Osiris didn’t dispel that notion in any way with his actions during the Endless Night epilogue event. According to Lakshmi-2, Osiris helped with opening the Vex portal in the Eliksni district. During the battle to save the Eliksni from the Vex, we saw that he watched the chaos without participating. Sure, Osiris is supposedly no longer a Guardian–his Ghost, Sagira, was killed a couple of seasons ago–so he’d be at risk of dying if he jumped into the fight, but that didn’t stop Amanda Holliday or Mithrax from taking on the Vex.

Osiris has since disappeared, adding more fuel to the speculation that he’s actually Savathun. If that is the case, a lot of Osiris’s weird actions throughout the season make a little more sense as works of obfuscation and misdirection. But what is it that Savathun was trying to accomplish with the Endless Night? Was she just trying to knock out the Last City with what seemed like a fairly weak plan? Was she hoping to generate unrest in the populace and distrust in the Vanguard (which, it must be said, are outcomes the Endless Night successfully brought about)? Did she think Lakshmi might have been successful in her coup, undermining Guardian authority and plunging the Last City into chaos?

All that seems doubtful. If we’re being honest, the Endless Night never seemed like an especially dangerous threat. Sure, it was a problem, but it was mostly a creator of domestic issues within the City population, creating cracks in the unification of humanity that could make a lot of situations a lot worse over the long term. It never seemed like the Vex were poised to annihilate humanity or that Savathun was going to strike a devastating blow against the Guardians. The Endless Night could have been a lot worse for us, but it was never going to be a knockout.

So why execute this attack on the City and the Guardians, showing Savathun’s hand and sacrificing resources and minions, if it never seemed like the Endless Night was capable of truly destroying the Guardian forces? Simple: Savathun was testing us, in a number of ways, for a number of reasons. Osiris was her means to do that, and his suspect dialogue makes a lot more sense throughout the season if you assume that he’s observing and learning about us.

First, we’ve got our battle with the Vex and their network itself. After banging around in the network for a while, we discovered that Quria, a Taken Vex mind, was behind the whole thing, apparently at Savathun’s direction. In the Expunge: Delphi mission, players venture into the Vex network, fight, and destroy Quria–or so it seems. That puts an end to the Endless Night, but as we asked before, why would Savathun put one of her most valuable assets in danger by letting us get to Quria in the first place? This battle is a big deal, because Quria is the only remaining entity (we think) that’s able to “take” other life forms. Taking is the magic ability Oryx, the Taken King, used to control the minds of various creatures in order to build himself an army, and the power to turn enemies into allies seems way more useful to Savathun than trying to mess up the Last City with the Endless Night.

But the sacrifice of Quria (if that’s even what it was–I’m of the belief that Quria’s death was a fakeout) makes way more sense if that battle was actually a test for Savathun to gauge the capabilities of Guardians. Osiris has interesting dialogue throughout the Expunge missions about the Guardians’ ability to invade the Vex network, a strange computer space specific to the Vex that he’s surprised we’re able to penetrate, and mentions underestimating our abilities. There’s also a Taken enemy present during the fight with Quria called the “Evaluator of Savathun.” Osiris’s comments about gauging our abilities and the presence of an enemy called “Evaluator” both make this feel like we’re being observed for the purpose of gathering data. The Vex loving tests, experiments, and simulations, after all.

Previously, I speculated that Savathun’s aim with all of this is an attempt to gain Guardians’ help to fight and defeat the Hive’s worm gods, who themselves are allies with the evil force called the Darkness. In the Destiny lore, eons ago, the Hive made pacts with these parasitic worms to gain their incredible power, with the caveat that the Hive would have to constantly feed those worms through murder and conquest. Recent lore suggests that Savathun wants out of that pact, since the worms’ hunger never subsides–the more you feed them, the hungrier they become, and if the Hive ever stops feeding their worms, those worms will consume them.

If Savathun is considering teaming up with us against the worms and the Darkness, she would probably want to get a sense of whether we might actually be capable of winning before casting her lot with us. Hence, the presence of the Evaluator–and Osiris’s comments.

You can expand that “testing” theory to the rest of the season, too. Osiris has a few moments where he seems to open a path for Lakshmi to continue her machinations, which include attempting a coup against Commander Zavala and the Vanguard. In one lore entry, Osiris counsels Lord Saladin to steer clear of Zavala, rather than give the commander his support. At another point, he turns down Mithrax’s help to amplify the power of the device Lakshmi and the Future War Cult use to see into potential futures, which might have given Mithrax some new information about what Lakshmi had planned, or shown Lakshmi a different potential future that could have convinced her to change her actions. Over and over again, it seems that Osiris, if not purposely helping Lakshmi, is purposely avoiding hindering her. And during the epilogue, Lakshmi claims it was Osiris who helped her open her portal, and we see him watching the aftermath of the situation.

On their face, all of those moves seem like Savathun-as-Osiris was just trying to sow chaos in the City and create problems for the Vanguard and the Eliksni, but Savathun’s whole deal is plans within plans. Again, if we’re assuming that the Endless Night wasn’t the master stroke she thought would fully defeat humanity, then we have to ask what she would gain from all these machinations.

And specifically, she gained a whole lot of very specific information. With the Endless Night, Savathun created a situation in which the Guardians relied on Eliksni aid to save the City, and the Eliksni relied on the Guardians for a place to live safely. And then she started heating things toward a boil, staying out of Lakshmi’s way as she generated anger about the Eliksni refugees. She learned how humanity would grapple with the possibility of turning hated enemies into equal allies.

As Savathun-as-Osiris watched the epilogue battle from the rooftops, she learned that Guardians could change; that a man who crusaded against the Eliksni, who they had once considered a monster, could become their protector; that humans would risk their own lives to save their new allies.

If Savathun is considering whether it would be possible for her to ally with humanity against the Darkness, she would need to know two things: first, whether the alliance had a chance of actually defeating the enemy, and second, whether humanity could be trusted to honor an alliance at all. While some, like Lakshmi, might not ever accept their former enemies as friends, many did. Savathun learned that Guardians would fight to save Eliksni lives–and that means they might fight to save Hive lives, too.

We’re getting a better look at what to expect in the future of Destiny 2 later this month with a showcase on August 24, but there’s already plenty of evidence about where the story is going. Since the release of Beyond Light, Destiny 2 has explored themes of peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness. Savathun’s Endless Night wasn’t an attack on the home of humanity, but a test of our humanity. From what the story beats and lore entries of the season suggest, I think Savathun has been surprised about what answers she’s uncovered.

Note: This article contains spoilers for the end of Destiny 2’s Season of the Splicer, so you might want to complete the epilogue before reading further.

Two more weeks remain in Destiny 2‘s Season of the Splicer, but with the launch of the final Override activity, the story of the season seems to have officially concluded. The epilogue quest, “As Prophesied,” closes off the story threads of the season, brings together its themes, and sets up where things are going as we draw nearer to Destiny 2’s next expansion, The Witch Queen. In a big way, the Season of the Splicer also just upended a lot of long-standing elements in Destiny 2, and that could have a big impact on the game’s future.

First, a quick rundown of everything that’s happened during this season. After the Vex created the Endless Night simulation and Ikora recruited Mithrax and the House of Light Eliksni to help deal with it, we found ourselves in the uncomfortable situation of having Eliksni refugees in the Last City. After centuries of fighting the Fallen in a war that could have meant humanity’s extinction, we were giving quarter to our longtime enemy. That angered a lot of people in the City, the loudest voice being that of Future War Cult leader Lakshmi-2.

Despite Lakshmi’s objections and unrest brewing in the City, Guardians worked with Mithrax to learn who was behind the Endless Night and how to stop it, but that took time, which allowed Lakshmi to foment more resentment against the Eliksni refugees. With anger rising among the people, Lakshmi started working with the other faction leaders to launch a coup against the Vanguard, seemingly with the goal of installing herself as the leader of the Last City. She looked to major figures for support, including Saint-14 and Lord Saladin, although neither ended up aiding her.

Eventually, we ended the Endless Night with the help of the Eliksni. But that didn’t fully ease tensions, and in the epilogue, we saw what Lakshmi’s rhetoric finally wrought. Claiming she had the help of Osiris, she used Future War Cult technology to open a portal for the Vex in the City’s Eliksni quarter, in hopes that the invading robots would eliminate them. In the final mission, various major characters from the Vanguard and around the City worked together to save the Eliksni and drive back the Vex invasion.

That leaves a bunch of major changes in the wake of the end of the season. Lakshmi perished in the Vex invasion. The members of her Future War Cult have scattered, as have her supporters in New Monarchy, another of the factions. The third faction, Dead Orbit, has left the City as well, even though it didn’t participate in the coup. So it seems that in addition to Lakshmi, we won’t be seeing Arach Jalaal or Executor Hideo around the Tower again.

The three factions have been a part of Destiny since the first game released, originally appearing for the most part as part of an event called Faction Rally, in which players would pledge loyalty to one group in exchange for special weapons and armor. Faction Rally hasn’t been a part of Destiny 2 for years, though, and this story development more or less makes official the fact that there haven’t been factions for quite a while.

What’s interesting, though, is what the lack of factions might set up for Destiny’s future. Future War Cult, Dead Orbit, and New Monarchy were three groups that, along with the military leadership in the Vanguard and the Speaker, made up the Consensus–what was essentially the government of the Last City. The factions represented the City’s civilians, but they’re now gone, and the Speaker was killed back in Destiny 2 vanilla. All that’s left of the Consensus, then, is the Vanguard, which could leave a power vacuum of government in the City. That could also strain the already stretched Vanguard, which now has to take on whatever governmental duties formerly fell to the factions. Given how interesting intra-city politicking became in the Season of the Splicer, addressing how the people of the City govern themselves–or don’t–could lead to some very interesting situations in Destiny 2’s future.

We’ve also seen some big changes in many of the major characters of Destiny 2. After supposedly helping Lakshmi and watching the battle with the Vex without participating in it, Osiris has disappeared. There’s a lot of speculation for what that could mean from a plot perspective, and we may well have a new villain on our hands. Meanwhile, Saint-14 has become the Eliksni’s biggest ally, which is a huge shift. This is a guy famous in Destiny’s lore for fighting the Eliksni, so much so that they have stories they tell their children describing him as a monster. The epilogue cutscene saw Saint-14 fighting to defend the Eliksni, before he was eventually backed up by Ikora, Zavala, and Amanda Holliday. It seems very likely that this year’s continuing theme of re-evaluating our enemies and finding common ground with them is only going to continue now that we’ve watched several main characters risk their lives for their former enemies.

The Eliksni are staying in the City, at least for the time being. We can now likely expect Mithrax, and other Eliksni, to become regular characters as they become citizens under the same Guardian protections as other humans. That’s huge. It’s a major change to the Destiny status quo–as a reminder, the Fallen are the very first enemies you ever fight in Destiny–and it feels like it’s going to build to an even larger shift over time as Bungie fundamentally shifts the underlying premise of who are our allies and who are our enemies.

We don’t know where Destiny 2 is headed just yet (although we’re making some guesses), but it’s not much of an exaggeration to say that the Season of the Splicer has shaken up Bungie’s game world pretty profoundly. Elements introduced way back in Destiny 1 have been fundamentally altered or removed altogether. Characters we’ve known for years are changing their perspectives. The status quo going forward has already shifted.

That’s all great news for Destiny 2, even as it raises more questions about where the game is headed going into Season 15. We’ll likely learn more during Bungie’s Destiny 2 showcase on August 24, but even without more clues to the future, it’s rewarding to watch Destiny 2 continue to evolve into something new and exciting as it challenges its own underlying foundations.

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