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Age of Empires might not be one of Microsoft’s biggest series, but fans have been enjoying the history-filled real-time strategy and massive battles for a very long time. Age of Empires 4, developed by Relic Entertainment, will we the long-awaited next game, and a preview event has given us some new information on playable civilizations and improvements–including powerful war elephants.

The Delhi Sultanate will be a playable civilization in Age of Empires 4, and they have access to the massive War Elephant unit, similar to the second game, for causing massive chaos during attacks on fortresses. Sending a few of those through a group of enemy soldiers should be enough to disrupt their lines and let you push deeper into an area.

One of four campaigns available in the game, the Norman campaign begins at the Battle of Hastings in England and follows Duke William and descendants Robert, William II, and Henry I as they fight for control of the nation. This means it will take place over about 100 years, but shouldn’t be confused with the Hundred Years’ War that followed a few centuries later.

There are four Ages in total to play in Age of Empires 4, so the name kind of serves two meanings. Medieval, Feudal, Castle, and Imperial are all available, and in the Feudal Age you’ll be able to play as the Chinese and Mongol civilizations. These require their own tactics, with the Mongols excelling at hit-and-run attacks while the Chinese use technology and powerful defenses.

More content was also revealed for Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition during this event, including new campaign, cooperative battles, and even a United States civilization in the latter game.

For more on Age of Empires 4, you can check out the Virtual Village. This gives you quick access to a whole bunch of gameplay videos and a teaser for naval action.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for Godzilla vs. Kong.

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Godzilla vs. Kong is now in theatres, and on HBO Max, and given that it’s smashing pandemic box office records, it appears that audiences around the world have been eagerly anticipating this long-awaited rematch. In the lead-up to the film, the marketing campaign encouraged people on social media to declare who they were rooting for in the big showdown. Were you Team Godzilla, or Team Kong? Of course, that was the big question going into the film. Which of these Alpha Titans would emerge the definitive victor? But now that the film is out, it seems to be concerned with something else entirely. Godzilla vs. Kong is the first MonsterVerse movie where one of the monsters is the actual main character — the hero. It just so happens to also be the monster who loses the fight.

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Kong: Favoring the Unfavorite

By any metric of runtime or structure, Godzilla vs. Kong is a Kong movie through and through. He’s the first character we see after the opening logos, and the last one we see right before the end credits. He’s featured across the whole film’s narrative, while Godzilla seems to pop in about once every 20 minutes or so. Kong has a supporting cast of humans who actually interact with him and matter to his journey, while the characters loosely affiliated with Godzilla are kept at a distance from him. Taken without any outside expectations regarding franchise crossovers or the history of these monsters, the film as presented clearly positions Kong in the role of protagonist and Godzilla in the role of antagonist.

Despite this, the film also acknowledges that the matchup between these two monsters is not on equal terms. The first battle is in the water, definitively Godzilla’s domain, and Kong is left completely winded after a fight where he required the military’s help with depth charges to survive Godzilla’s assault. The second battle in Hong Kong has Kong put up more of a fight, but not only does he have to use the dorsal fin axe he found in the Hollow Earth to stay in the game, but he spends a lot of the battle on the defensive, fleeing from Godzilla’s atomic heat beam. Across the film, Kong is the underdog, but unlike many movies like this, he doesn’t triumph against his rival. Godzilla beats Kong to near death, and leaves him unable to pick himself up (before getting some help from his human pals). If Kong is our hero, why does he lose? Because defeating Godzilla was never his endpoint.

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Escape From Monkey Island

When we first encounter Kong on Skull Island, he’s fast asleep. It’s an appropriate visual to introduce him to us. Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) may talk about Kong as a rival Alpha to Godzilla, but that doesn’t really mesh with Kong’s portrayal here. He’s a complacent ruler, lazily going about his days, and although he does throw trees at his prison walls, he doesn’t seem to be attempting to escape with any real urgency. Kong is a king without a purpose, his only relationship being with Jia (Kaylee Hottle), a deaf girl and the last of the Iwi natives who shared the island with him. He may be a friendly protector to Jia, but unlike Godzilla, who pursues his goals in this film with ruthless abandon, Kong starts off without much motivation beyond being reactive.

This changes when Kong arrives in Antarctica and learns that more of his kind may be in the Hollow Earth. We know from his solo film that Kong was the last of his species on Skull Island back during his adolescence, and the potential to uncover his origins is apparently a call he cannot resist, even more so than his burgeoning rivalry with Godzilla. Consider his encounter with the anti-gravity well and the floating rocks, where he sees a statue of a giant hand pointing out to him, and he takes a leap of faith towards it. He may not find any other Kongs in the Hollow Earth, but he does discover the history of his species and his place within the wider world. Kong craves a real home, a connection to his past, in a manner more human than any other Titan in the MonsterVerse.

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The Race to Second Place

Even then, Kong still believes he can challenge Godzilla for his role as Alpha Titan, in a battle he was never going to win. In fact, Kong losing the title fight is of prime importance to understanding why Kong is the hero of the film. After all, Godzilla may be an antagonist to Kong, but he isn’t the villain. If anything, Godzilla in this franchise is above our conception of morality, acting as a protector of the Earth, yet also steadfast in maintaining his dominance above all other living beings. He only attacks when something threatens the hierarchy of nature. Like the human characters in Godzilla: King of the Monsters who had to accept their place in the natural order and work alongside Godzilla to save the planet, Kong needed to be humbled for his subsequent alliance with Godzilla to have meaning.

That alliance comes in the form of the two Titans taking on MechaGodzilla, a synthetic monstrosity built by the corporation Apex that represents the last gasp of the outdated philosophy of mankind’s attempted dominion over nature. Naturally, it backfires, resulting in the deaths of all the Apex characters and a remnant of Ghidorah’s consciousness taking over the mecha. It’s important to note that when MechaGodzilla starts battling Godzilla, Kong is under no obligation to intervene. He’s far enough from the fight that he could flee, and leave Godzilla to his fate. Yet a plea from Jia, a human child who could easily be far beneath Kong’s notice if he so chose, convinces him to join the fight. Kong’s arc concludes by aligning himself with humanity, accepting the very same humility that we once did, and he is rewarded not just with a new home in the Hollow Earth, but a new purpose as an ally to the Titan he once considered his enemy.

He may not end the film as the new Alpha, but Kong proves while holding up MechaGodzilla’s severed head that even if you aren’t the most powerful force in the world, you can still have victories all the same.

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Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.

Sony’s consistent output of critical and commercial smash hits is undoubtedly a key factor in PlayStation’s rise from the ashes after the troubled launch of the PlayStation 3. By doubling down on beloved franchises like Uncharted, a revived God of War, and more recent hits like Marvel’s Spider-Man and Ghost of Tsushima, Sony’s stable of first-party studios has become synonymous with chart-topping, award-winning games.

But a new report from Bloomberg suggests that Sony’s upper management primary focus on blockbuster games that are ‘too big to fail’ comes at the expense of riskier, more inventive projects. If the picture painted is an accurate one, Sony may be losing a key facet of its identity that’s not only been a hallmark of the company since its earliest days, but is also directly responsible for some of PlayStation’s biggest hits over time.

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Jason Schreier’s report covers a handful of allegedly canned or altered projects among Sony’s suite of first party studios, like a The Last of Us remake that changed hands several times, a Days Gone sequel that will never see the light of day, and more. It’s certainly fascinating to learn about the projects that have and haven’t materialized from a company that’s been notoriously quiet in recent years, but the report points towards a company and leadership ethos that leaves little room for a bedrock of gaming, experimentation.

The most damning example comes from what we learned about the development studio properly spinning up to be its own team within the Visual Arts Service Group, a Sony team that pinch-hit and assisted other Sony studios cross the finish line with their games. Rumors have abounded for years that they would be continuing the Uncharted franchise, but Schreier’s report states the team was allegedly working on a Last of Us remake that never got the support it needed there, and has since been moved to Naughty Dog. While the lack of support is troubling enough, The Last of Us – a benchmark of excellence at Sony – isn’t a game that screams the need for a remake eight years on, and in the wake of a perfectly good remaster.

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A quality-over-quantity approach isn’t inherently a bad thing, of course, and Sony’s output of successful first-party releases this past generation is a big reason why people buy PlayStations. But as the Horizon Zero Dawns and the God of Wars became the focal point of PlayStation’s first-party stable, there was less and less to keep players entertained in between. That led to the odd showings in the later years of the PS4, where Sony trotted out the same group of exclusives for years at PSX, State of Play, and E3 showcases.

While almost every new Sony first-party launch has been coupled with a record-breaking sales headline, and later end-of-year accolades from around the industry, the report suggests that the quality bar came at the expense of games and potential franchises that weren’t hits right out of the gate. While Days Gone didn’t necessarily review as favorably as other Sony first-party games, it amassed a dedicated fanbase and was reportedly profitable. Developer Bend Studio has shown its dedication to the game, with consistent patches and post-launch support to improve the tech issues critics noted. But even despite all that, the years of marketing pushes it got, and all the work Bend did to create its Freaker horde tech and establish this world, Bloomberg reports a Days Gone 2 was not “seen as a viable option.”

In the case of Days Gone, it’s a particular shame because there was clearly a gem of an idea buried underneath its issues. Bend’s reverence for motorcycle movement made the vehicle a joy to ride, its Freaker hordes are both frightening and thrilling to tackle, and Sam Witwer delivered a strong performance as Deacon St. John. Game franchises can come back from shaky starts, especially when there’s a solid foundation. Just look at Assassin’s Creed, which debuted to middling reviews but found its footing with the fantastic Assassin’s Creed II. And even within the halls of Sony you can find sequels that drastically improved upon the first. Uncharted 1 was well received at launch, but Uncharted 2 crystallized what the series could accomplish on a spectacle and design scale in a way the first just couldn’t. Sequels are meant to be improvements, and it’s a shame Days Gone may never get to be proof of that.

The decision was reportedly enough to cause team members to leave while Bend was assigned to help Naughty Dog on both a multiplayer game and a new Uncharted, which led to fears “they might be absorbed into Naughty Dog, and the studio’s leadership asked to be taken off the Uncharted project.“

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(The merits and timeliness of a Last of Us remake are another debate entirely, but it’s of course worth noting that a more modernized version of one of Sony’s most beloved games hardly counts as much of a risk as a brand new franchise would. More so, the alleged lack of funds or trust in the SVAG team feels emblematic of the larger problem – why should Sony bet on a new team, even if it’s working on a known property, when they can simply put it in the hands of one of their most successful teams? And sure, that might, on paper or in a boardroom, make sense, but then how does that new team find a chance to succeed?)

And if a project that, from the outside, seemed as sure a thing as a Days Gone sequel can’t move forward, how much room is there for new ideas, and risks that can lead to the next The Last of Us or God of War? Of course, these games were risks themselves! It’s almost a folly to think any one publisher can produce only hit after hit without some stumbles along the way, or experiments that, even if they don’t work on first blush, may lead to greater success down the road. It’s worrying to read about a laser focus on these big projects alongside something like first party studio Media Molecule’s Dreams, a creation-suite that, as Bloomberg notes, never quite got the marketing it deserved. Its dedicated audience is certainly there, but in an era where creation platforms like Minecraft, Roblox, and more become some of the biggest games in the world, it’s disheartening that Sony didn’t try to push Dreams into that stratosphere.

The Sony Japan Studio restructuring is further proof that Sony is hedging all its bets on only its most unflappable blockbusters. With the reorganization of Sony Japan to be focused around Team Asobi, undoubtedly due to the success and acclaim of Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Astro’s Playroom, the development house that has led to some of Sony’s most eclectic, memorable experiences is singularly focused on the series that sells consoles… or convinces players to buy into the innovative DualSense. Seemingly gone are the smaller, but no less worthy games like Gravity Rush, Ape Escape, Shadow of the Colossus, and the talent behind those franchises. The only, truly small-scale studio that exists within Sony these days is Pixelopus, the Concrete Genie devs whose latest game was certainly a charmer, but didn’t necessarily capture the same mindshare as Days Gone did in the same year. Does that studio’s creative wit have a place in modern-day PlayStation? I truly don’t know, and as a fan of their work, that worries me.

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Despite all the worrying signs, the PS5 continues to sell out, the first party studios Sony is paying all its attention to are seemingly thriving and have massive sequels like the next God of War, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and Horizon Forbidden West on the way that are, again, probably too big to fail. And PlayStation series seem to be of wider importance to Sony than ever, with Uncharted, The Last of Us and Ghost of Tsushima on the docket for film and TV adaptations. There is clearly a long, healthy life ahead for many of these series, and it would be hypocritical to say that I can’t wait for the sequels, both announced and assumed, to come.

But PlayStation has historically never rested on safe bets. Through its stumbles and successes, the lineup of PlayStation exclusives across the generations is marked by risks, some that worked and some didn’t, but all of which proved the company’s ethos of putting intriguing game experiences first. What the new report shows, more than anything, is the picture of a company more concerned with the bottom line and capitalizing on what’s already worked, rather than blending in new, bold steps to find renewed success elsewhere. It’s why, in the wake of the report, a video of former PlayStation Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden has been circulating widely on social media.

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Talking about Vib-Ribbon at E3 several years back, Layden said “A personal favorite of mine that really embodies the PlayStation spirit. It wasn’t a multi-million seller, but that’s not the point. Vib-Ribbon was unafraid to go against the tide. It was courageous in its ambition, and it brought a completely new experience to gamers. It’s an incredible time to be part of the PlayStation family… After all, guys, it’s all about the games, isn’t it?”

It’s a broad statement, and of course, I’m sure Layden would agree, it’s equally about the people making those games, and the audiences who play them. But the spirit of what he’s saying rings so true: Vib-Ribbon wasn’t an exception to the rule but rather emblematic of it. Would it be released today, though? It sure would feel like an exception. Creating art within a commercial space will also have to conform to some amount of oversight, but it seems that art disconnected from a guaranteed, monumental win doesn’t even have the room to be imagined in the first place. And with the loss of space for those ideas to grow, it’s natural to worry that some of the PlayStation legacy will be lost, too.

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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush and check out his new Persona 5 podcast.