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AppWizard

July 24, 2026

Halo: Campaign Evolved is Now Available in Early Access

Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, is in early access on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. The Premium Edition is priced at .99, with the base game available for Game Pass subscribers. Multiplayer supports up to four players with cross-platform play, and weapon spawns scale with player count. New missions, Operation: Meteorite, feature Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson, set a year before the original game. Visuals are enhanced in 60FPS Performance mode, and gameplay changes include the removal of health kits and the addition of a sprint button and third-person play. This is the first Halo title on PlayStation, with cross-play and cross-progression. The global launch is scheduled for July 28, 2026, with availability on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass at launch.

AppWizard

July 14, 2026

Ascend to ZERO: A Time-Bending Roguelike Sharpened to the Last Second

Ascend to ZERO has launched on XBOX Series X|S, XBOX on PC, and XBOX Cloud, and is part of the XBOX Play Anywhere initiative, accessible through XBOX Game Pass. The game features a 30-second countdown timer for each run, with damage taken reducing the time. A unique Time-Stop feature allows players to freeze everything while they move, enabling strategic positioning and action planning. Combat mechanics focus on autonomous targeting, allowing players to concentrate on strategy. The leveling system enables rapid progression from level 1 to hundreds of thousands. The game includes a new difficulty system for tailored challenges and an in-game play guide for player support. The late-game experience is designed to maintain excitement with strategic decision-making and culminates in a boss battle.

AppWizard

June 26, 2026

I’ve played countless Doom engine games, so believe me when I say this one that combines the FPS with JRPG combat might be the coolest one in 30 years

End of Starchild is a free standalone game developed by Em Essex, notable for its unique levels and aesthetic diversity. It features beautifully animated title cards, impactful weaponry, and an exploration-focused gameplay experience with hidden secrets and a challenging super-boss. The game takes approximately 15 hours to complete and is recommended for both Doom fans and newcomers, with adjustable difficulty settings available. Some virus scanners may mistakenly flag the game as containing a trojan, but this has been identified as a false positive.

AppWizard

June 23, 2026

Sand: Raiders of Sophie is like Sea of Thieves on land, but even tougher for solo players

Sand: Raiders of Sophie has entered early access. It is a first-person base-building extraction shooter set in outer space, featuring customizable walking bases called tramplers. Players can construct their own tramplers or use pre-existing models, equipping them with various weapons and ammunition. The game includes both player-versus-player and PvE elements, with NPCs guarding lootable locations. Players can join solos-only servers for a more strategic experience. After gathering loot, players must transport their trampler to an extraction point, which involves climbing a tower to initiate the extraction process. Initial experiences have included server issues and challenges during gameplay.

TrendTechie

May 30, 2026

Кальяри, Формула-1H2O устроила шоу на трассе Су-Сикку: Торренте и Уайатт выиграли спринтерские гонки.

The 2026 Formula 1 H2O season opened in Cagliari at Lake Su-Siccu, marking the event's return to Sardinia after a hiatus since 2004. Reigning champion Sean Torrente secured pole position in the qualifying session, followed by Rusty Wyatt and Stefan Arand. In the first sprint race, Torrente won, with Peter Morin and Bartek Marszalek finishing second and third, respectively. Comparato retired due to mechanical failure. In the second sprint race, Wyatt claimed victory, with Arand finishing third after a post-race penalty affected Trask. The next day's schedule includes a warm-up session, a demonstration of two-seater boats, a parade lap, and the Grand Prix of the Sardinia region.

AppWizard

May 26, 2026

‘I do think Blow misunderstood what the game is about’: Derelict Star made Jonathan Blow rage quit, but it’s the most fascinating indie platformer I’ve played for years

Derelict Star is an indie action-platformer released in early April, where players control an unnamed astronaut scavenging for power cells from a derelict freighter across approximately 500 screens. The game features pixel art reminiscent of the Pico-8 console, blending aesthetics from the Atari 2600 and 8-bit eras. It emphasizes meticulous movement mechanics, relying on players' mastery of speed and momentum, with a jetpack that becomes more effective after sprinting. The gameplay includes a P-Meter mechanic similar to that in Super Mario Bros. 3, which tracks speed and serves as a core puzzle element. Developer John Williams cites influences from classic platformers and emphasizes the importance of momentum, addressing criticisms from Jonathan Blow by clarifying that the game focuses on movement rather than layered puzzles.

AppWizard

May 2, 2026

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era sold 250,000 copies and ‘broke even on development costs’ in 1 day

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era sold over 250,000 copies within its first day of early access. It received 91% positive reviews from more than 3,500 user reviews on Steam, achieving a "very positive" overall rating. The game reached a peak concurrent player count of nearly 52,000 on Steam and is currently among the top-selling games on the platform. The first patch for the game has been released, which includes bug fixes, network enhancements, balance adjustments, and localization fixes.

AppWizard

May 1, 2026

Luna Abyss Launches May 21 for PS5, Xbox Series, PC, and Game Pass

Developer Kwalee Labs has announced the launch of Luna Abyss, a first-person bullet hell action-adventure game, set to release on May 21. The game will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, and Xbox Game Pass. Players will take on the role of a prisoner exploring a derelict megastructure on the mimic moon, Luna, to recover forgotten technology and uncover the fate of a lost colony. The gameplay features an artificial prison guard named Aylin monitoring the player, and the environment includes the remnants of the city of Greymont. Players will navigate through a brutalist alien megastructure, facing corrupted souls and cosmic horrors while mastering weapons in a bullet hell setting.

Tech Optimizer

May 1, 2026

Backstage Ditches Postgres for Databricks Lakebase

The divide between operational and analytical databases is diminishing, as evidenced by Databricks integrating Spotify's Backstage with its Lakebase, transitioning from PostgreSQL to a unified data platform. Lakebase now offers a serverless PostgreSQL interface within Databricks, allowing Backstage to operate without awareness of the underlying changes. The integration involved updating configurations and addressing authentication challenges using OAuth JWTs. The integration transforms the database development lifecycle by enabling near-instant database branching through Lakebase's copy-on-write architecture, allowing developers to focus on testing changes rather than safety. Branching creates a pointer to existing data, making the operation instantaneous. Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR) allows for quick restoration of data, demonstrated by a recovery process that took less than four seconds. The goal is to integrate database branching into developer workflows seamlessly, making it automatic. This change could enhance developer productivity by allowing live data testing from the start, eliminating the need for mock objects, and resolving common issues related to staging environments. The traditional constraints of slow and costly database copies will become obsolete, prompting teams to reconsider how much time they spend on workarounds for now-nonexistent constraints.

AppWizard

April 25, 2026

New on Java Realms: Catch me outside

BEACONATORS has introduced a new locator bar and several items to enhance gameplay. PERCY’S PARK has added a mermaid lagoon, a sea tour, Percy’s Popsicle van, an Enchanted Train Station, and balloon vendors. RHYTHM BREAK now has a Russian translation. SPRINT RACER has five new custom tracks created by Goodbros148 and ReflectedMantis. TRIDENT DOME has been overhauled with a new lobby, NPCs, an updated map, and a supers mechanic. Bug fixes have been implemented across various games. Popular titles like Antitheist, Pizza Time!, Snowy Skirmish 2: Avalanche, and Witch Doesn’t Belong have returned to Realms. New users can try Realms free for 30 days. Guidance for loading content into Java Realms is available, and those interested in showcasing creations can visit the Java Realms Content Creator Program page.