This week’s roundup brings together very different projects, all defined by a strong sense of identity. Some revisit dark fantasy, others focus on tactical combat, one reimagines an icon like James Bond, and another builds its adventure around movement. It is a varied selection that moves across genres and approaches without forcing a single common thread.
Stonemachia
Stonemachia casts you as Zefiro, a pawn who can transform into other chess pieces while moving through a Dantesque journey in a world ravaged by the Plague of Angels. The setting shifts across gloomy, forgotten lands, with enemies presented as armies of angels, statues and objects inspired by Italian art and folklore. At its core, it is a dark action-adventure soulslike built around armour transformations that unlock different abilities, while the shield is meant to alter the outcome of each encounter.
The journey also runs through Medhelan, where Zefiro has to uncover the secret of the chess pieces and push onward toward a return to Heaven. The trailer leans heavily on a bleak tone, mixing chess imagery with religious symbolism, ruined spaces and angelic figures, while the screenshots extend that same visual language across combat scenes and decayed environments.
World of Tanks: Heat
World of Tanks: HEAT is a free-to-play vehicle combat game built around tactical team play and fast-paced clashes. At its core are Agents, each with their own abilities, which can be paired with a roster of advanced tanks to shape a setup that fits a specific approach. Every tank can be upgraded and fitted with experimental modules and hi-tech weaponry, changing how it behaves once the match starts.
Matches are split between 5v5 skirmishes and larger 10v10 battles, with an emphasis on personal skill, coordination, and the ability to adapt on the fly. The game also stresses that there are no decisive shortcuts: victory comes from communication, reading the battlefield, and keeping momentum under control. Its setting is an alternate post-WWII timeline where science has pushed technology forward, while an escalating arms race builds beneath the surface.
HEAT runs on a brand-new engine built from the ground up, with support for advanced lighting, particle effects, and VFX. It is planned for PC via Wargaming Game Center and Steam, as well as Steam Deck, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and GeForce NOW, with progression synced through a single Wargaming account.
007 First Light
This new James Bond chapter follows the secret agent while he is still a young MI6 recruit, part of the newly revived Double 0 programme. It is set up as a standalone reimagining of his origin, beginning with a heroic act from Bond’s time as a naval air crewman. That opening leads into a mission to stop a rogue agent, but the operation ends in tragedy and forces him into an uneasy alliance with his mentor Greenway as they work to uncover a wider conspiracy and prevent a looming coup at the heart of the state.
The game is built as a cinematic espionage adventure, with missions set across varied locations and iconic vehicles woven into the structure. Each objective can be approached in different ways: staying silent, going loud, mixing fists and firearms, using gadgets to infiltrate, or bluffing past guards. Completed missions can also be replayed with additional modifiers, adding a second layer to the experience beyond the first run. The official price is $59.99 in the American market and 69,99€ for the European Union.
Mina the Hollower
Mina the Hollower centers on Mina, a Hollower sent to rescue a cursed island, and frames its action-adventure design around movement as much as combat. Burrowing is part of the core loop, letting Mina slip beneath hazards and monsters instead of treating traversal as a separate layer. That sits alongside jumping, dodging and the Nightstar whip, while the rest of the arsenal includes weapons with different move sets, sidearms used as tactical tools and trinkets that can be equipped for specific effects.
Progression also matters: Mina can level up, shaping her build around a preferred approach rather than locking her into a fixed role. The setting leans into Victorian Gothic horror, with a dark island, strange characters, hidden secrets and connected areas that encourage backtracking and route planning. The game’s presentation follows the same idea of old and new meeting in the middle, using Game Boy Color-style 8-bit visuals but adding detailed animation, widescreen framing and polished controls. Jake Kaufman handles the soundtrack, and the trailer underlines the focus on difficult battles, large bosses and a world built to be explored from one linked locale to the next.
