Screenshot: Twisted Tower I’ve been playing first person shooters for a long time. I was right there at the birth of the genre, playing some of the very first FPS games on the very first hardware. I’ve played lots of great FPS games, and even more terrible ones. Twisted Tower sits on the lower end of the spectrum, despite having a ton of initial promise. Twisted Tower is a first person shooter that is based around a 1950s (ish) theme park (er) themed tower. It obviously takes some inspiration from Bioshock (confirmed by a note on their Steam store page) and other 2000’s or earlier first person shooters. It has a diverse roster of enemies, multiple floors full of themed levels to conquer, and a whole arsenal of weapons to shoot. And right when I started it up I had the feeling that I was in for a solidly “okay” first person shooter. But let’s not kid ourselves. Screenshot: Twisted Tower I have to give some kudos to the character design for the game’s key art. There is something about it that seriously invokes 90s computer game graphics. This continues on into the game’s few cutscenes. They’re delightfully low res to sell a pseudo retro, almost boomer shooter feel. Similarly, the actual design of the game is pretty great. While the evil mascot schtick is over done in general, it’s not used terribly here. And it fits into the theme better than it does in most other games. While the mascots themselves aren’t particularly terrifying, they (again) invoked a Bioshock sort of Splicer feel. If the mascots roamed around while muttering and yelling at themselves it would have locked it in completely. The levels themselves are designed well, too. There is enough variation in the design for me to think “wow, this is new” on occasion. Also, naming a gun “Ms. Fire” is not only brilliant, but when you’re out of ammo, a little flag comes out that says “Bang!” Screenshot: Twisted Tower Delightful. And I mean that. I love that. Now that I frontloaded most of what I liked about the game, I can talk about what I don’t think worked. Enemy behavior and placement is all messed up. Most enemies are practically the same with different weapons. The enemy economy is also very strange. Enemy distribution feels completely random in some cases, like the developers were just like “yeah, let’s just throw in a few more guys here.” I’m sure every game does it, but Twisted Tower definitely did it. There are a few clever enemy placements here and there, but most enemy encounters are uninspired, or enemies come at you in waves after you get locked into a section. Screenshot: Twisted Tower Even the worst shooters can be redeemed by some good weapons. Sadly, there isn’t a gun in Twisted Tower I can say I enjoyed,though I really appreciated the design behind many of the weapons. One weapon is loaded with marbles and is fired via a pinball machine type contraption. Another is a slingshot with a magnifying glass. And there was the previously mentioned Ms. Fire. But these guns aren’t fun to shoot. And it feels like there are too many of them, with too many types of ammo. It’s like the developer made a specific number of guns to fill a quota instead of figuring out what’s actually good. Twisted Tower is not a very difficult game. Nor is it a very long game. I would not have died once, if it wasn’t for instant death on falling. I managed to complete my entire first playthrough in under four hours. There is an option for a new game plus that offers alternate routes, but the fact is I couldn’t stomach another go at it, even if I was determined to see it through. Screenshot: Twisted Tower Once was enough. I wish I would have liked Twisted Tower with its strange mix of carnival terror, and random vulgarity. Sadly, even its plot–told in random recordings and other scattered missives–does nothing to help the game. There are lots of clues in the story that don’t really pay off, and the final “twist” ended up being dreadful, and not the scary sort of dread, either. Instead it’s a weird tonally dissonant blending of vulgarity and horror that doesn't land, and makes the entire bad game even worse for it. There are so many better first person shooters. Go play those. Don’t play this.

Screenshot: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is approaching 1.0, and I got a chance to play the final build ahead of release. And while I didn’t really enjoy the first Moonlighter, I got weirdly addicted to Moonlighter 2. Anyone who was a fan of the first will find little in this game beyond a continuation of the story and fleshing out of lore. A lot of reviews will (and have) go over the differences in the two games–from the art style, to the adoption of Hades style combat–but I’m going to avoid making any comparisons and talk about Moonlighter 2 on its own–for all it does well, and all it ends up fumbling. While my initial impressions of Moonlighter 2 weren’t great, it had an insidious way of making me want to keep playing. While I felt the first game juggled two disparate systems (shopkeeping and dungeon delving) and made neither one enjoyable, I at least enjoy aspects of every bit of Moonlighter 2, even if I don’t like it all. Screenshot: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault In Moonligher 2 you play as the same enterprising adventurer from the first game, Will. After the events of the first game, Will and the people in his town were forced out by an interdimensional collector named Moloch. Forced to start over again in a different dimension and a new town, you have to fight through new dungeons and sell acquired relics to fuel upgrades that help you adventure further. Rinse and repeat. Moonlighter 2 is played in basically two phases: a roguelite combat phase where you choose a route, battle, resolve events, etc. until you either choose to leave or beat the boss at the end of the dungeon. After that, you go back to town for the second phase, where you talk to townsfolk, upgrade your shop and accouterments, and then sell all the crap you acquired while in the dungeon. Simplified a bit, but that’s how it goes for the most part. There’s also an inventory minigame that changes based on what dungeon you’re in (and therefore, what relics you’re collecting). Screenshot: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Again, I’m not going to spend time making comparisons, but Moonlighter 2 made some significant changes to the way it handles dungeon exploring and combat. Moonlighter 2 works in a way a more traditional roguelike/roguelite would work: you can see what path leads to what rooms, and choose accordingly. There is, of course, combat. But there are rooms that give you upgrades for that run, events to add a bit of risk/reward, and more. I actually didn’t have a problem with this system, except for the way it’s presented to the player. It might not matter to some, but I felt like traversal between different rooms was contrived. I would almost have preferred just normal doorways than the multitude of ways that our protagonist travels between rooms–which is different depending on the dungeon you’re in. I don't change anything about the game mechanically, I just think it’s an inelegant addition that takes away immersion for me. Functionally, however, it changes little about the actual game itself save for adding a visual style to a loading screen. But I hate it. Screenshot: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Combat itself is done well enough. I heard Moonlighter 2’s combat described like Hades “but worse.” I don’t really agree with that. To dodge yet another comparison, I’ll just say: Moonlighter 2 does a great job at combat. Character movement feels tight and responsive. The weapon varieties all feel unique and satisfying–even if upgrading/unlocking higher tiers of those weapons can be a bit cryptic. And there’s a fantastic variety in enemies, both visually and behaviorally. Each world has a variation (think: day/night) and there are even enemy variants for these that change up known enemies just enough to make them interesting and dangerous again. I’m not always a fan of how attacks are telegraphed by enemies. Sometimes I feel like I’ll be eagle-eye watching an enemy just to be somehow surprised by an attack I missed. I learned the enemy behaviors eventually, but I felt like I wasted a lot of good runs for dumb reasons. And of course, healing items are scarce and non replenishable (without an expensive upgrade) so every hit hurts. Screenshot: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault As far as in run upgrades, this is where I think Moonlighter 2 had me hooked. Sometimes I would get a great set of upgrades that stack well and absolutely crush everything in sight. Unfortunately, there isn’t much in the way of synergizing builds. Instead, it seems like stacking abilities with similar abilities (like ignite with ignite, foam with foam) is preferred instead of finding a few that work well together. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it takes away a lot of fun discovery that I have had with other similar games in the past. Shopkeeping in Moonlighter 2 is its own entire game, practically. Which is to be expected. Even though shopkeeping probably won’t take as much time as dungeon crawling, it is arguably more important. The system is simple: set prices that your customers like. If they like it enough you get a tip. Each shopping day is like a run through the dungeon, and you even get an opportunity to get perks that can get you more money as the shopping day goes on. That’s not to mention the furniture, display cases and other upgrades that bestow their own bonuses. While you start off with a modest little shop, it can eventually become a huge shopping center Screenshot: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Meta progression depends a lot on how much money you make in your shops, not necessarily how good you are at combat. If you’re not savvy, it can take you a bit longer to get through the monetary requirements brought on by the demands of the Endless Vault–both a character and a concept here. Of course, being smart about what you upgrade and how can go a long way towards progression. For instance, there's a character that upgrades your inventory–and if you do that, then you can bring more items from the dungeon to sell. Upgrade your shop and display cases, and you can get more money coming in from the bonuses those provide, too. But that brings me to a complaint I have even after spending a couple dozen hours playing Moonlighter 2–there are almost too many vendors and NPCs that you need to keep track of. Thankfully they all use the same currencies–for the most part. But more often than not if I was missing a specific ingredient, I figured I’d run across it eventually. There’s also an in game codex that helps keep track of everything, if you’d rather be proactive and informed. Screenshot: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Another complaint is one that is echoed from the first game: the grind. I know this is another comparison, and I’m sorry. But Moonlighter 2 feels like there is just so much you have to do and sell just to unlock the next challenge from The Endless Vault. On the other hand, there are so many different progression systems in place, it feels like you’re always moving forward a bit so you’re never at a total standstill. And while some progression systems in the game feel fun and meaningful, others don’t really make sense. For instance, you don’t craft better versions of things most of the time–just different versions. You don’t get armor that gives you more defense or upgraded stats, you just get one or two random boosts. Like one piece of armor allows you to mitigate one hit from the boss for free. One hit. From the end of run, boss. That’s it. Screenshot: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault I wish I could tell you that Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is a great follow-up to the original game. It’s a great game in its own right, but I have a feeling it will continue to alienate players that were looking for more of what made the first game special. Still, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is fantastic in its own right. Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault releases into 1.0 on September 2nd

Screenshot: PixArk I’ve never played PixArk before now, but I have played Ark. And while I know it has a cult following and established fanbase, I never saw the appeal. I wrote a review for Ark back when it hit 1.0 and the entire game felt waterlogged. Bloated and cumbersome, like something that is overcomplicated and literally slow because of how badly optimized it was. But I have to admit that premise is compelling, and I love me some open world sandbox games with breadcrumb stories. Subnautica is one of my favorite games ever, and I have some cherished memories from playing The Forest. PixArk does what Ark set out to do, but mixed in with Minecraft blockiness that makes all of the cumbersome elements feel–well, like they all fit neatly together. Screenshot: PixArk I’m just saying that PixArk is definitely a more palatable version of Ark–at least to me. I don’t need photorealistic graphics and jank for a good time. Developer Snail Games took Studio Wildcard’s classic game and made it less janky and more fun. You still have dinosaurs and animals to tame. Though there is a lot of competition in the block building video game landscape because games like Hytale and, well, Minecraft remain popular. I played PixArk long ago when it first released, and I remember my impression was generally favorable. It has the mystique and allure of Ark, so there’s more out there than just endless procedural generation. Screenshot: PixArk Terracrypt leans into that even more with a whole new story, and new bosses to fight, new biomes, and secrets to uncover. And there’s a lot of story and secrets to uncover as you make your way deeper into the underground depths of Terracrypt. Terracrypt is the first paid expansion for PixArk, and adds almost a dozen new bosses, just about as many biomes, and a whole bunch of new stuff to discover. There’s also a narrative trail to follow as you uncover the mysteries of the underground world you find yourself trapped in. Terracrypt, I should say, is a separate experience from PixArk. I would have much preferred it to be a new world, or section of world to visit with an established character. I mean, if I had one. So Terracrypt is a great entry point for those just starting out and wanting to check out PixArk (or you can play the base game while it’s still free for the next few days). Screenshot: PixArk But Terracrypt it’s its own experience divorced from the base game from beginning to end.I would love to tell you that, in the five or so days that I’ve had access to Terracrypt I managed to get through the story and tell you all about it. But I think I’ve barely scratched the surface. Another new addition with Teracrypt is the ability to automate base functions. Terracrypt has base automations built right into the tech tree. This is the first for an Ark game, and adds a little Satisfactory (or Factorio if you prefer) into the mix of flavors. Screenshot: PixArk Terracrypt is available today

Screenshot: Debate and Switch Recently, I had the chance to test out a couple of Jackbox party games from the upcoming Jackbox Party Pack 12, which is releasing in October this year. For this preview, I sat down (digitally) with some Jackbox crew and a few of my peers to play a match each of “Debate and Switch” and “Hyperface.” First off, I have to get this out of the way: “Debate and Switch” is itself, a bit of a bait and switch. See: “debate and switch” is an established TV Trope, and it usually refers to a morally hard choice that is somehow undone or made moot by other actions. I’ll borrow an example from tvtropes.com: A man needs lifesaving medicine for a loved one. He decides to rob a pharmacy to get it, but before he can, he wins the lottery. Moral choice undone. This is not what “Debate and Switch” is, unfortunately. It turns out it’s a more traditional debate with a few twists. Bummer, but it could be fun with the right group. And while there were some lively debates in my group, sadly, I am not only a terrible debater, but I was suffering from some technical issues, which is awkward for a technology writer. By the way, it turns out if you can’t speak, you can type your answer. That’s handy! Though I don’t know if I can type out my whole platform in a mere 30 seconds… Screenshot: Debate and Switch However, I digress. “Debate and Switch” is all about debating made up scenarios. 2-8 players take to the debate stage and debate topics like (and these are taken straight from the Jackbox Games website about the game) “All menus need photos of the food on them” or “The high school mascot should be really, really scary.” The second round of debate changes things up a bit–literally. Players have the ability to switch out a word in the debate prompt. For instance, we were given the prompt “Spelling Bees should have physical challenges” (or something) and I changed it to “Spelling Bees should have metaphysical challenges.” Come on, I’m funny. Validate me. Sadly, I was arguing in the “against” column and got rolled. But I will have my revenge, as I’ve been honing my debate skills for the inevitable release of Jackbox Party Pack 12. At least “Hyperface” went a little better for me. Wait, no it didn’t. This time I was paired off against an absolute artist. See, “Hyperface” requires a bit of artistic skill to elicit the requisite laughs, and therefore votes, to win the game. You can take a selfie, or use stock photos, and you have three rounds to manipulate the face into a clever approximation (or interpretation) of the prompt. Like, “your face after you tell a bad joke at a party” or something similar. Despite my attempts at being clever, it turns out someone who puts the entire editing time of nearly three minutes to full use instead of smudging the face into a squint and drawing some lines to show expression would succeed. But it’s not just that, she was a genius and showed the absolute blast “Hyperface” can be with a dedicated group of artistic friends. Sadly, I don’t think this would go over great with my group. If we were playing “Hyperface” I could manipulate a face to look incredibly (and cartoonishly) disappointed that we’re playing a photo editing game. Okay, it sounds like I’m being harsh on it but I’m really not. “Hyperface” was one of the highlights of what I saw during my press preview, and has me excited for Party Pack 12. Especially since it lets you get really creative, with a whole range of brushes that let you draw, grow, shrink, smudge and distort to your heart’s content. Jackbox Party Pack 12 is coming October 15th to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. Also keep a look out for Trivia Murder Party III coming to Steam Early Access September 17th.

Screenshot: Duskfade For the last week or so I’ve been spending a lot of time with Duskfade, a retro-inspired 3D platformer that has a bit of Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter and Kingdom Hearts rolled into a stylistic clockpunk world. That is: a world that is a little bit steampunk, with an emphasis on clocks and clock parts. Hell, even protagonist Zirian is using a sword that is not only clockwork, but is itself part of a clock. They really went hard with the theme. In Duskfade you play as Zirian, accompanied by your mechanical bird companion named Cuckoo. And while I get the whole clock thing, that name is a bit uninspired. A mysterious accident has plunged the massive central Clock Tower into eternal night. You have to travel to multiple different regions to undo the calamity. Screenshot: Duskfade Duskfade is a 3D action platformer in the vein of early 2000s games. That means exploration, jumping puzzles, and some combat. It also means each level is packed full of items to collect–which are handily tracked for you so you know when you have to go back because you missed something. If you grew up as a millennial or even an older Gen Z, I’m sure you played a few of these games growing up. That’s not to say that Duskfade is bad, or that I don't appreciate what it set out to do. In fact, Duskfade is a very capable game that has a few clever design and story elements that definitely make it worth playing. But I have to break the bad news up front: I don’t think Duskfade is destined for any long term success or latent explosion in popularity. And that’s because it really is just okay. Screenshot: Duskfade Most of your time in Duskfade will be spent exploring new and doing lots of platforming. I would like to say that the platforming is superb, but it’s really just okay. I’m not saying the level design is bad, or the game doesn’t control well. But it’s just nothing that I haven’t played in a dozen or more games already. There aren’t any stand out moments or sections that made me think, “man, this is special.” Part of the reason why is because Duskfade is a surprisingly easy game. If I think of a 2000s style platformer, they usually start out pretty easily, but then the difficulty often ramps up quickly. Not so in Duskfade. I kept waiting for that difficulty spike–or any sort of challenge–but it never came. But I do have to say that the platforming is tight, and responsive. It doesn’t feel bad to play Duskfade–it’s just not something I want to sink hours into just because it’s fun to move around the world. Screenshot: Duskfade Combat isn’t the best part of Duskfade, but it’s serviceable. I think titles like Dark Souls have spoiled me a bit when it comes to good feeling combat. No, I'm not expecting weightiness and difficulty spikes like I would in those games, but the combat in Duskfade is always just okay. As you progress through Duskfade, you’ll organically acquire new items and abilities. These abilities not only allow you to continue the game, but they also often open up the ability for you to backtrack and retrieve secrets and items in areas you previously visited but couldn’t access. This gives the game a metroidvania-lite sort of feeling. And I only say “lite” because backtracking isn’t necessary to complete the story (as far as I remember). Screenshot: Duskfade Visually, Duskfade is fantastic. It nails the 2000s platformer aesthetic while having some modern graphical flair and fidelity. While I’m not a huge steampunk fan, I really like the use of the clock aesthetic, especially for in-game items. Like I mentioned before, the protagonist’s sword is an especially fun design, and despite the uncreative name I dig Cuckoo’s appearance, too. But again, everything is really just “okay” and never spectacular. I think the part of Duskfade that worked the most for me was the story. Not necessarily the presentation, but the ideas that it was trying to convey. The game is about processing grief. The game’s narrative designer actually based the story on his own loss of his grandfather, who was a guide and role model. I actually spent most of my time playing this on my Steam Machine. It’s a great couch co-op game, and it would be a great game to play on my Steam Deck on the go, too. It just never excels at any of the things it sets out to do. It’s an interesting world, with interesting characters, weapons, and other mechanics. But it’s not outstanding enough to make a huge splash–which is too bad. Developer Weird Beluga definitely accomplished their stated goal of making a retro-like platformer that hearkens back to early 2000s games, but it just ends up feeling like an imitation.

Screenshot: Blood Dungeon I’m not a huge fan of the survivors style autoshooter/bullet heaven games. Before Blood Dungeon, I probably had the most fun playing Deep Rock Galactic Survivors–and that was just as much because of the theme as the gameplay. Blood Dungeon takes the survivors-type formula and adds a genre twist: sidescrolling. On its face it doesn’t seem a significant swap from top-down to sidescroller, but it completely reinvigorates the genre. In fact, Blood Dungeon is easily the most fun I’ve had playing a survivors-style game ever. First off, I need to address Blood Dungeon’s art style. Developer Messhof has never been known for its hi-fidelity graphics. They’re best known for Nidhogg and its sequel Nidhogg 2, both of those games had stylized low-res graphics. The art style for Blood Dungeon is somewhat unique–with graphics that look like they were crafted in MS Paint, and look more like they belong on Slay the Spire cards as placeholder art. Not only that, but there is also gratuitous nudity and even helicoptering penises–but it’s all so low-res it comes off as more charming than lascivious. The animation also has a jittery almost Squigglevision look to it, adding to the absurdity. Screenshot: Blood Dungeon Since you’re sidescrolling in Blood Dungeon, there’s more to consider when it comes to traversal. There’s gravity, and falling–sometimes making it much more difficult to get around groups of enemies. There’s also water, so swimming and drowning is a consideration–and plays a significant part in some levels. You can get around pretty easily, however. Characters can run and jump, obviously–but they can also climb on every surface. They’re even able to cling to the ceiling when needed. Each level is a little bit different, and has its own layout. While I appreciate a handcrafted level, I think Blood Dungeon really missed out by not having procedurally generated levels. Still, there is something satisfying about mastering a level’s layout. Some levels will require you to swim, or dig, some are laid out vertically and others completely horizontally. Levels have unique enemies, but enemies and bosses tend to overlap with other levels quite often. Screenshot: Blood Dungeon Enemies have different behaviors, though most of them will go right towards you, with some having ranged attacks that can quickly fill up the screen with projectiles. There are some that swarm, and others that come out and attack one by one, etc. They’re also visually unique, though there’s a lot of “the same enemy but bigger” variations. What I’m saying is: you’ll be seeing a lot of the same enemy types, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing in this case. There are several different characters you can play as, and each one of them has their own passive ability, health pool, and movement speed. Each also starts out with a weapon that isn’t unique to that character, so if you like a character’s main weapon but hate everything else, you’re likely able to play who you want and find your preferred weapon as you play, though that’s not guaranteed. Screenshot: Blood Dungeon The biggest draw of Blood Dungeon is just how chaotically hectic and frenetic the gameplay is. No two runs are exactly the same as you collect different combinations of weapons, spells, and charms. Eventually you can unlock the ability to carry four weapons and four spells, but you can always carry as many charms as you can pick up. There are synergies to be had, though Blood Dungeon isn't reliant on them. I’ve had runs that were chaotic and great without gear that really specifically synergized with each other. There’s a bit of freedom in that. And the game definitely rewards you as you try different combinations and weapons, since that’s a major way to unlock challenges–and therefore new weapons, charms, spells and sometimes characters. There’s also the Bone Shop to spend your meta progression currency: bones. These help you unlock permanent upgrades like faster movement speed, higher jumps, more health, more weapon slots, and a bunch more. Screenshot: Blood Dungeon Blood Dungeon is great for short play sessions, but it’s addictive enough that I often find myself playing for hours. It has a strong “just one more run” appeal to it. And with lots of unlocks and challenges to complete, it’s a game you could be going back to for a long time. I think developer Messhof has something special on their hands with Blood Dungeon. It’s easily my favorite survivors-style game, despite its unconventional art style. It’s not exactly pretty to look at, but it’s fast and fun as hell.

Halloween panel @ Fan Expo Chicago 2026. John Carpenter, Nick Castle, PJ Soles, Dean Cundey, Tommy Lee Wallace. Photo: Julian Ramirez Halloween season is nearly upon us and what better way to usher it in than with a Halloween panel featuring John Carpenter, Nick Castle, P.J. Soles, Tommy Lee Wallace, and Dean Cundey! The cast and crew of the original, ground breaking horror film got together for a fun panel at Fan Expo's main hall, delighting the crowd with the best tidbits like Robert Englund helping collect and spread leaves on the set or the pumpkins being South American gourds painted orange. Of course the topic of the The Shape's (not Michael Myers, something the panel consistently corrected the crowd on) mask came up. Legendarily a painted and cut up mask of William Shatner, the lore of the mask feels unending ,like an Emmet Kelly mask being tested well before shooting taking place - something Carpenter seemed a little iffy on. And with Shatner on the Fan Expo lineup Wallace made sure to joke "the box said Captain Kirk not William Shatner". When asked what the horror genre means to them , the panel fell a bit silent. " We're just filmmakers, not philosophers" remarked Castle, but Dean Cundey provided an in-depth answer, really delving into cinema's ability to let viewers experience emotions they never dreamed up safely. Soles spoke about the how she was in two of the most famous horror films of all time: Carrie and Halloween, She spoke of the differences between the sets. "De Palma was very technical and had the entire film completely storyboarded" while "John made actors feel more a part of the whole filmmaking process." She preferred the more relaxed atmosphere that Carpenter and crew provided. It just doesn't get much better than John Carpenter on a panel. While the man is infamous for his amazing films and just as fantastic film scores and albums, he is just as well known for his candor when answering questions. There isn't a remark he won't brush off if he feels it deserves it, and he'll be as unfiltered as possible it if warrants it . An avid NBA fan, Carpenter was asked about his feelings about the Knicks winning the Championship this year. "It sucked. Not my team" followed quickly by waving off the followup about the amazing Game 3. Question about remakes filled the panel Q&A portion, which Carpenter was ready to go toe to toe on. He didn't really want to direct the The Thing since he was such a fan of the original. And if given the chance to improve on his version of Halloween, he steadfastly declined. New tools and and techniques come around but Carpenter feels it's how the visuals and sounds move you that matters. He hopes that regardless of all the new equipment if they were to remake the original Halloween the would make the same thing because it's just that good. Speaking of being just that good, the entire panel had nothing but delightful things to say about Donald Pleasence. "He was always ready to go" recalled Carpenter. So ready to go that Cundey, very early in his career thought Pleasence was speaking to himself throughout the shoot, only to realize he was running his lines. And that iconic response to seeing The Shape no longer being in the yard after that big fall? Carpenter asked Pleasence to play it two ways: one as surprise to The Shape's disappearance, and one knowing it was going to happen. And of course, Carpenter and the crowd knew the only correct take was knowing The Shape was always going to get away. You could tell Carpenter got really excited to talk about videogames. Castle worked on the Halloween game, providing motion capture for the Shape, and Carpenter played a bit of it and is excited for the release. He even teased the release of a game for The Thing, something the crowd immediately became enamored with. When asked if Dario Argento was an inspiration for him he noted that while Argento may be one of his favorite directors, he did not take a lot from him visually. Instead Carpenter pointed more to Claudio Simonetti inspiring the score to Halloween, although noting it was "the cheese end of the stick" compared to Simonetti's genius. While the end of the panel thanked everyone for keeping the spirit of Halloween alive and bringing joy to all the members of panel, I think Tommy Lee Wallace recalling a joke was the best way to cap off the whole affair: "[The Shape] is the best performance William Shatner has ever given!"

The Halloween season just seems to be coming earlier and earlier with every passing year and honestly you won't hear me complaining. That was certainly the vibe for everyone at the Hocus Pocus panel at this year's Fan Expo when the packed crowd asked the panel of Thora Birch, Omri Katz, Vinessa Shaw, and Jason Marsden what they though of the Summerween phenomena and if they were all spookygirlies. "Well I think we kinda started it." they responded as the crowd cheered their approval, although they were unsure of the definition of spookygirlies. Hocus Pocus was released way back in July 1993 and its staying power has been amazing, even if the initial box office response wasn't as big as the studio expected. But as is the case for many 90s releases, home video can take a disappointing showing at the theaters and make it into a decades long sensation. The four cast members all seemed very appreciative of that, and seeing as how the hall was in standing room only, Hocus Pocus isn't going anywhere. The panel was filled with fun stories of on set shenanigans, which most remembered but flew over Birch's head in a few spots. She was only 10 or11 when the filming was taking place, so a lot of the memory sharing came through the rest of the cast. When panels have such a devoted crowd, it's easy for fun stories to have legs and become running jokes throughout the short time we have with the cast. Shaw shared a story about how she almost had to wear the gown featured in one scene in the film for the entire runtime before a rewrite happened. "It would have been yabbos everywhere" she exclaimed, much to the delight of her costars and crowd. She mention how she would see the dress in other films over the years, quietly thinking to her self "return of the yabbos". The topic of troublesome cats came up, and James Marsden, voice of Binx, wished that someone, anyone would name their cat "James Marsden." "Not just James, but James Marsden, the whole thing! " And boy did his eyes light up when one crowd member said they had gotten a black cat specifically because of him, thinking the cat was actually named "James Marsden, " but alas, it was another Binx. While most of the question focused on the movie at hand, I was delited to hear someone bring up Eerie, Indiana a surreal/way ahead of its time TV show featuring Omri and Jason. Both actors praised the series finally as their favorite due to the layers of meta narrative. The panel ended on a wonderful note as one of the final questions landed on the musical numbers of the Hocus Pocus films and asking IF there were a third movie, what would the song performed be? Omri immediately, without a whiff of hesitation responded: "Sir Mix a Lot, 'Baby Got Back," followed by Shaw rapping "L.A. face with an Oakland booty". Now it'll be a travesty if we don't get another sequel .

All photos by Marielle Bokor & Julian Ramirez Fan Expo Chicago 2026 has come and gone, and while we're still missing the fun and freedom of being in our fandoms with other fans, and more than a little exhausted, we've got lots of great memories to hold onto until next year. And? Some great cosplay photos. You guys killed it, and we're glad we got the chance to meet and photograph all of your hard work.

Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, and Keith David @ Fan Expo Chicago 2026. Photo: Marielle Bokor Chicago's conventions have grown exponentially even in just the past 5 years, to say nothing of what was some humble beginnings. They draw star power it's hard to conceive of these days, and even bigger crowds. This year's Fan Expo Chicago was packed to the brim with exciting reunions and big names. We had Jared Padalecki, Karl Urban, William Shatner, Christopher Lloyd, ALL the Hobbits (and even a second breakfast!) and much of the Goonies cast. Sam Raimi and John Carpenter were here. Mr. T, John Rhys Davies, Keith David. Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, and Keith David @ Fan Expo Chicago 2026. Photo: Marielle Bokor But one weird thing - despite having Keith David, John Carpenter, and Kurt Russell on the list of celeb guests, there was no The Thing panel. For horror fans (and movie fans in general) this was pretty glaring. It's not like Fan Expo hates a reunion. We had almost the entire cast of The Boys and The Goonies AND The Hobbits, so ...what gives? Furthermore, Kurt Russell was all the way on the final day. And, you know, maybe that was why. I can tell you I checked the schedule over at least 5 times to see if I was missing something. Still, you can't look a gift horse in the mouth, and it's amazing to see all these people from so many fandoms we've been a part of growing up and through now. And honestly? As someone who's worked the last decade of conventions, putting a huge panel like Kurt Russell at the end of the day Sunday was a little bit of a relief, since it potentially cuts down on crowds. Sometimes. Kurt Russell @ Fan Expo Chicago 2026. Photo: Marielle Bokor Kurt Russell's panel was the talk of the convention all day on Sunday, and the line was immense. During a convention where we hadn't filled the main stage room at any point, it was full to the brim. Kurt Russell was amazing, and we'll have tons more on his panel later on. But about halfway through, when the conversation turned to The Thing, something magical happened. Keith David and John Carpenter walked out, and thus we had our very own, unexpected and very highly anticipated and requested "The Thing" panel. And it. was. amazing. Don't take our word for it though - see what we saw !

Screenshot: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Legacy Edition I can tell I’m getting old because the games that are getting the remastered treatment don’t seem so old to me anymore. This might be retro for some, but I was nearly 30 when Lord of the Rings: War in the North released. And it had two things going against it: Skyrim and Dark Souls, both games that would go on to redefine the 3D action role-playing game as it was known at the time. War in the North, despite being the first Lord of the Rings game with an M rating didn’t really have a lasting impact. Screenshot: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Legacy Edition It’s too bad that War in the North wasn’t more well known. It was a competent action roleplaying game with co-op baked in, which is exactly the type of thing I’d be down to play at the time. Despite this, I don’t know if I played through War in the North when it originally released. And while it's definitely a game of its time, it manages to be a pretty solid action RPG–but nostalgia and friends would probably help this title out significantly. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North - Legacy Edition features three playable characters, each with their own skill tree, items, abilities, etc. All three characters are capable of ranged and melee attacks, but the dwarf is best for melee, the ranger is best for ranged, and the elf works as a bit of a support class. Even so, characters can all stay alive through anything through the power of team work. That is: holding A to get up downed members. Screenshot: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Legacy Edition You can play War in the North with friends or with bots. I ended up playing completely solo, and while it was serviceable, I feel like War in the North would be best with friends, and all characters working at their full potential. But now that you can hot-swap characters, you can even tweak the bots to be their best selves. This is just one of many improvements Aspyr made to War in the North. While it looks barely upgraded from its original version. Looks are indeed deceiving, because there has been significant changes to War in the North with this Legacy Edition. Screenshot: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Legacy Edition The Aforementioned Character Hot-Swapping: A massive quality-of-life fix. Players can now seamlessly swap between Eradan, Andriel, and Farin on the fly during gameplay rather than being locked in at the start of a level. You can also finally manage the equipment and skill trees of your AI companions. Engine Modernization: The game was upgraded from 32-bit to 64-bit architecture and shifted from the D3D9 renderer to D3D12, which should eliminate the RAM bottlenecks and crashes that plagued the original. Performance & Visuals: Full 60 FPS support. Cinematics have been re-encoded at 4K using modern Bink video compression (v2024/2025)—which is why the install size is roughly twice as large as the original. Modern QoL Adjustments: Added enemy target locking, visible health/mana/EXP bars for your party members, and autosaves. They also implemented "Triggering Secrets," allowing you to see hidden caches specific to other classes regardless of who you are actively controlling. Networking: Online multiplayer is now routed through Epic Online Services. Screenshot: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Legacy Edition So why is this getting released now? Nostalgia, surely. But also because Aspyr parent company Embracer now owns the rights thanks to their acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises in 2022. That means there’s a possibility that more WB Lord of the Rings games will be rereleased by Aspyr, so this could be the first of many.

Screenshot: Anomaly President I haven’t played a sidescrolling beat ‘em up meets roguelike since Absolum. And while that has to be a peak example of the genre, I can certainly learn to love again with Anomaly President. Released in Early Access a couple of weeks ago, I knew right away that Anomaly President had the potential to be something great. Saying Anomaly President is a hack-and-slash or beat ‘em up with roguelike stuff thrown in isn’t entirely correct. While Anomaly President is a great, fun action game with interesting roguelike abilities and the potential for some fun synergistic combos–it also has a management system and base building. Oh yeah, and you’re also running for president. It’s a whole thing. Screenshot: Anomaly President Before creating the roguelike meets management hybrid that is Anomaly President, Phew Phew games initially introduced the “Anomaly Universe” with Anomaly Agent. Much more linear and more narratively driven, the hack-and-slash action foundation was already laid before Phew Phew games got to Anomaly President. Anomaly President released in Early Access, and that means there is some game development time standing in the way of “complete.” According to the game’s Early Access information box on the Steam Store page Anomaly President will be in Early Access for at least a year–maybe more, depending on community feedback. The first month should see some quick updates, with the roadmap (so far) extending through September and the promise of new weapons and new enemies–which seems to be a roadmap staple. If you want to get Anomaly President at its lowest base price, developer Phew Phew games does plan on increasing the price as new content and features are added. Screenshot: Anomaly President But is it fun? I would say so. At least so far. The character movement feels like a retro Sega arcade game, which is to say: slightly weighty, but tight and responsive. True to its roguelike nature, deploying from the overworld kicks off a fresh run, handing you a clean slate of abilities and power-ups to experiment with. This structure naturally lends itself to high replayability, and discovering broken synergies to secure your place in democracy is a blast. However, the current build does suffer from early balance issues—most notably, Ice elemental damage feels vastly overpowered compared to its Fire and Electric counterparts. Screenshot: Anomaly President The action doesn't exist in a vacuum. A successful presidential campaign requires a softer touch than a katana can provide–which translates to a surprisingly charming series of daytime minigames. Rather than dominating your playtime, these segments serve as excellent palate cleansers between your high-octane roguelike runs. Furthermore, a campaign requires staffers. Instead of hiring traditional political operatives, you recruit from the local "Fluffy" population. These rescued creatures are put to work staffing the various modules of your expanding campaign bus—which serves as your mobile hub—effectively tying your combat victories directly into your campaign's meta-progression Screenshot: Anomaly President I’m rooting for Anomaly President. It’s a fun indie title that is unabashedly itself, while also being fun.