As the video games industry continues to face massive layoffs, narrative jobs are taking the biggest hit. The industry's job cuts over the past couple of years--more than 30,000 roles were eliminated in 2023 and 2024--disproportionately affected narrative designers, the creative professionals who craft the story elements of the game and give a title its emotional punch. Even the director of the game Avowed, Carrie Patel--a successful author and narrative developer with over a decade of experience at the game studio Obsidian Entertainment--feels lucky she was able to start her career years ago. She can't imagine trying to break into the industry under today's conditions. "It just seems to be harder and harder to find a path in," Patel says. "I've heard colleagues hired within the last three or five years say essentially the same thing."

Old-school CRPGs are experiencing a modern-day renaissance, and if you're a fan, don't miss out on the pair of fantastic freebies being given away by the Epic Games Store this week. Pillars of Eternity helped kick off the current CRPG reemergence, earning a spot on our best games of 2015 list in the process. "Obsidian has a reputation for crafting fantastic RPGs, and deservedly so. Pillars of Eternity is, as far as I'm concerned, Obsidian at its best ever," we said in our review at the time. "With Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian once again proves that it is the foremost RPG studio in the world, with an understanding of its mechanics, its lore, and (most importantly) its story on a level most games don't even aspire to."

It's one of those weeks where everyone drops trailers at once. Layers of Fear 2, Heaven's Vault, Far Cry: New Dawn, Yakuza Kiwami's PC port, and more--plus Pillars of Eternity II gets a turn-based mode, and Farming Simulator goes all-in on...esports? This is gaming news for January 21 to 25. What, you're not playing the Resident Evil 2 remake or the Anthem demo this weekend? Well then Amplitude has your back, as it's made two 4X games free-to-try for the weekend, Endless Space 2 and Endless Legend. All three are available through Sunday.

August is supposed to mire video gamers in the doldrums as they wait for the arrival of the first of the big Fall releases in September. The outlook for RPG fans is not so bleak. This August World of Warcraft gets a new expansion, the Switch gets a new Monster Hunter game while the PC gets a port of Monster Hunter World, and the first DLC packs arrive for the second games in the Pillars of Eternity and Ni No Kuni series. The RPGs on the horizon are both promising and varied. Here's what August has in store for players who enjoy RPGs.

Pillars of Eternity is an ambitious and successful gamble on role-playing game nostalgia, aimed squarely at people who enjoyed Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment. The first game, released in 2015, brought in $4m in funding on Kickstarter. Its sequel, Deadfire, also raised over $4m in crowdfunding, and has just been released. Unlike its predecessor, Deadfire is arriving into a market with many similar games attempting to leverage 90s RPG nostalgia while adding their own twists to the genre. It doesn't rock the boat too much, but a fresh theme, clever writing and improvements to the look and feel make it a very enjoyable play. Speaking of boats, in Deadfire you are a naval explorer: you choose where you go, on land or at sea, and what route you take.

The groundwork was laid for Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire to be a spectacular sequel. Its predecessor, 2015's Pillars of Eternity, did the heavy lifting. It proved Obsidian could resurrect the spirit of the old Infinity Engine RPGs for modern times, underpinned by modern technology. Flawed, sure--the original Pillars of Eternity had its problems. But with the engine developed and the underlying rules in place, the stage seemed set for a daring sequel, if not Baldur's Gate II-sized at least one that felt that grand in scope.

Seems like every single 2018 release will be revealed by one or the other. This week it's Shadow of the Tomb Raider, probably one of the worst-kept secrets, which Square finally confirmed is arriving later this year. Oh, and those rumors about Geralt of Rivia coming to Soulcalibur VI also turned out to be true. This is gaming news for March 12 to 16. Uh...not much to add to this one except that it exists, and it's coming. Square claims Shadow of the Tomb Raider will release on September 14, an extended reveal is coming in April, and there's the short cinematic teaser below.

Let that sink in a bit--and then read on because the story gets even weirder from there. That news, plus The Banner Saga 3 and Pillars of Eternity II nail down release dates, DICE talks overhauling Battlefront II's multiplayer progression, Anthem (probably) gets delayed, and Humble hands out copies of Amnesia: The Dark Descent--replacement pants not included. The Sea of Thieves closed beta is also in full swing. This is gaming news for January 22 to 26. That's copies of Frictional's horror classic Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the more relaxed follow-up Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs from The Chinese Room.

It's been a few weeks since I've done a news wrap-up, thanks to a knee-deep pile of review games I'm still slowly churning through. But my Total War sensors went off this week, so it's time to return. Also up this week: Pillars of Eternity 2 hits beta, Thermaltake's new gaming chair cools your butt off, the end of Marvel Heroes, the start for Verdun sequel Tannenberg, and of course all the internet (and real-world) drama surrounding loot boxes. This is gaming news for November 13 to 17. We've got two free-to-try titles this weekend, with both available for steep discounts if you wind up enjoying the games. For strategy fans it's Endless Space 2, launched earlier this year and updated with new diplomatic options this week.

Fans of classic role-playing games have had a lot to be happy about these past few years. The isometric genre has seen somewhat of a resurgence lately thanks to high-profile crowdfunded games like Wasteland 2 and the Divinity series -- both of which got console ports, no less. That trend continues with the news that Pillars of Eternity will make its way from PC to consoles as well. As the name suggests, Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition will pack all the expansions and patches from the PC version when it is released August 29th on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. What's more, the console versions have been updated with couch play in mind.