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Welcome to our latest recap of what’s going on in the indie game space. It’s been a very busy week in that realm, thanks to Gamescom. Before we jam through a few of this week’s new releases and some of the many, many Gamescom reveals, there’s one game that has risen high above the din to the point where it’s drowning out many of the smaller announcements.

Yes, Hollow Knight: Silksong has a release date, and it’s very, very soon. September 4, in fact. I feel for all the developers who have games coming out around the same time, such as Cronos: The New Dawn, Hell is Us, Baby Steps and even NBA 2K26. Sure, Silksong may primarily be for a different audience than the latest edition of a massive basketball franchise, but it’s going to take up much of the oxygen in the gaming space for a while. As such, some developers are delaying their games to give Silksong a wide berth.

CloverPit was scheduled to drop on September 3, but it’s getting the hell out of Silksong‘s way. The grimy, slot machine-based roguelike is now going to arrive on September 26. “We like a gamble, but this one is too risky lol,” developer Panik Arcade said. “We want to give ourselves and our fans some time to enjoy Silksong, so we’re launching a few weeks later and will use the time to polish CloverPit even further.” Meanwhile, Talegames is pushing back the 1.0 release of its adventure RPG Faeland and Aeternum Game Studios is delaying a Metroidvania called Aeterna Lucis from September into 2026.

There’s no doubt that Silksong’s arrival is a big deal. It’s been the most wishlisted game on Steam for yonks, was a focus of Microsoft’s Xbox Ally handheld reveal and is a sequel to an indie blockbuster that has now sold more than 15 million copies. In any case, we’ll soon find out if that very, very long wait was worthwhile. Years of Silksong memes sure were. I’m going to need some other long-awaited game to joke about before every showcase now.

New releases

I have no earthly idea why it took me so long to try this, but I tested my PlayStation Portal by my building’s pool for the first time this week and it turned out that the Wi-Fi was, in fact, strong enough there for me to use the handheld. It was a fitting place to check out Sword of the Sea, which hit PS5 (including on PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium) and PC this week.

I’m only an hour or so into this $30 game from Giant Squid, but I’m enjoying the relaxed approach to exploration here. As you’d might expect from developers who have worked on The Pathless, Abzu and Journey, the movement in Sword of the Sea is delightful. You’ll take off from wavy dunes and pull off tricks like you’re in an SSX game as you surf across sand and water on a sword in the aim of restoring life to the barren landscape. Sword of the Sea is a looker, and I’ll surely be getting lost in it some more over the coming days.

Speaking of games that have an eye-catching aesthetic, Herdling is another exploration and adventure title that dropped this week. This one’s from Okomotive (Far: Changing Tides, Far: Lone Sails) and publisher Panic.

Here, you’ll be guiding a ragtag herd of beasts across hilly terrain toward the summit of a mountain. You’ll have to solve some “light” environmental puzzles and even endure some stampedes along the way. Herdling typically costs $25, but there’s a 25 percent launch discount. It’s available on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. It’s on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass too.

With Ball x Pit on the horizon, I figured we were all taken care of for the foreseeable future as far as Breakout-esque roguelites go. Not so fast, said the team behind Vampire Survivors. 

Poncle has spun up its own publishing arm and the second game it’s releasing (after Berserk or Die) is Kill the Brickman from Doonutsaur. Poncle released the game on Steam and Xbox without prior warning this week, and it costs five bucks.

You’ll collect and augment various bullets that you use to destroy bricks from outer space. There’s a lot going on in the minute-long trailer, but I particularly love how some of the bricks “cry” when a bullet smacks into them.

Discounty is a life sim about managing a supermarket in a small town. Hopefully, you’ll be a more magnanimous proprietor than the operators of the JoJa Mart in Stardew Valley, but you’ll still have to deal with some folks who are none too pleased about the effect of the business on their town.

Developer Crinkle Cut Games and publisher PQube suggest there are some secrets to discover in Discounty, which is out now on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Steam and Epic Games Store. It’s coming to GOG as well at a later date. The game typically costs $20, though there’s a 20 percent launch discount on PC.

Upcoming

Engadget senior reporter Igor Bonifacic spent a few hours with Absolum, a fantasy beat-’em-up with a roguelite spin from co-developers Guard Crush Games and Supamonk and publisher Dotemu (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, Streets of Rage 4). I highly recommend reading his write up for the full lowdown as Absolum sounds like a real treat.

The demo for this slipped through the cracks for me during the early June chaos of Summer Game Fest and Steam Next Fest, but it’s still available and I’ll absolutely be checking it out to get a taste of Absolum before it arrives on October 4. It’s coming to Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PS5.

As I mentioned in our liveblog for Gamescom Opening Night Live this week, any new Ron Gilbert game is worth getting excited about. He’s the director of the first two Monkey Island games and Return to Monkey Island, as well as a developer and producer of so many other projects over the years. Death by Scrolling. is something completely different for Gilbert.

It’s a vertical-scrolling, action-heavy roguelite in which you need to stay alive and earn enough gold to pay a toll to a ferryman to escape from the afterlife. The look is very heavily reminiscent of Stardew, so if plundering the mines in that game was more your jam than farming and fishing, this might be up your alley. 

There’s no release date as yet for Death by Scrolling, which Gilbert started working on back in 2019, but it’s said to be coming this year. In the meantime, you can read updates about the game’s development on Gilbert’s terrific blog.

It’s fun that we had mentions of two John Carpenter-related projects at Gamescom this week. Not only was there another look at John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando during Opening Night Live, there was the reveal of Halloween the Game from IllFonic and co-publisher Gun Interactive.

Set to arrive in 2026, Halloween the Game follows the likes of Friday the 13th: The Game (from the same teams) and the Gun-published The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It has a 1 vs. 4 asynchronous multiplayer mode in which the quartet will have to use anything at their disposal — from wielding weapons to calling the cops — to survive the threat of the unkillable Michael Myers. There’s going to be a single-player aspect to this game as well, as you’ll be able to control the legendary mass killer in an adaptation of the original film’s story. Halloween the Game is coming to PlayStation, Xbox, Steam and Epic Games Store.

A game about a guy with a brown backpack who scours ruined, overgrown suburban homes in search of valuable resources that can help him survive a bunch of zombies in the post-apocalypse? It has to be Long Gone, of course! What other game could you possibly be thinking of?

This is a linear pixel-art narrative adventure from Hillfort Games and co-publisher Outersloth (Among Us studio Innersloth’s publishing wing). The developers seem to have been influenced by a little game you might have heard of called… Gone Home, as you’ll look through the belongings of people who used to live in this world and learn the truth about what happened. There’s no combat here. Instead, zombie encounters require puzzle solving. There’s no release window as yet for this point-and-click game, which is coming to Steam.

Fittingly enough, I’ve had my eye on Militsoner for some time, so I was delighted to hear that there’s a two-week playtest on Steam that’s open to everyone. This is an immersive sim in which you’ll try to escape a town, but that may not be too easy as there’s an enormous policeman watching your every move. The playtest is limited to a slice of the town, but I’m really looking forward to getting in there and finding out what this is all about.

I have to hold my hands up here and admit I’m not familiar with puzzle game maker Rusty Lake. But when the trailer for their next game popped up this week, it had me utterly captivated, because Servant of the Lake looks very, very pretty.

This is a point-and-click puzzle adventure that will see you carrying out tasks as seemingly innocuous as straightening picture frames to helping with experiments and cleaning up afterward. You’ll play as a housekeeper of an estate, but it’s not entirely clear whether you’ll be able to survive the weekend… Servant of the Lake is coming to Steam, Itch.io, iOS and Android in Spring 2026.

BPM: Bullets Per Minute developer Awe Interactive is back with another rhythm-based shooter, albeit one that has a top-down perspective instead of a first-person one. BPM Bitcrushed (which is being published by Kwalee) is a roguelite, pixel art dungeon crawler that syncs shooting, jumping and dodging to the beat. The dungeons are procedurally generated and there’s a “wide variety of powerful weapons, unique items and rhythm-based abilities” to discover. 

What’s most interesting to me here though is that, along with the game’s own soundtrack, you can load in your own tunes via the custom music feature. Perhaps setting the action to some slow-tempo sludge metal will make things a bit easier.

Couch Planes is an arcade plane racer from Skylab Interactive that’s coming to Steam, Epic Games Store and consoles next year. There are a few different modes, 15 maps with environmental hazards and collectable power ups including homing rockets, mines and speed boosts. There’s support for four-person local multiplayer and 12-player online action. 

From Starfox and Grand Theft Auto V to The Falconeer and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, I’ve never been much good at flying in games. But hey, Couch Planes looks like it could be a fun time with friends.

Let’s close out this bumper post-Gamescom edition of our indie games roundup with something that might not be for me, but could be for you. Canvas City is the first project from Disc 2 Games, which is self-publishing the game with help from Dredge studio Black Salt Games. 

Turn-based tactics games aren’t typically my jam, but I’m always going to have at least some interest in one that’s about a group of upstarts rebelling against an oppressive force. In this case, you’ll take charge of skaters and street artists who are fighting back in a “vibrant yet suppressed urban world” (which sounds a little similar to Unbeatable, which this week got a November 6 release date). 

What caught my attention here is that fluid movement is a key part of the game. When it’s your turn, you can use rails, ramps and other parts of the environment to pull off combinations of tricks and attacks. These chained actions can also earn you Style Points that can enhance your abilities.

Disc 2 hasn’t revealed a release window for Canvas City as yet. It’s in development for Steam and Nintendo Switch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/surfing-sand-and-sea-herding-beasts-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110053175.html?src=rss 

President Donald Trump says the US government is taking a 10 percent stake in chip maker Intel. Trump shared the news during a press conference on Friday, though an official announcement is still forthcoming, Reuters reports. News of a plan to convert Intel’s previously promised CHIPS Act funding into equity in the company was first reported earlier in August.

A meeting between Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Trump following the President’s call for Tan to resign seems to be the source of the deal. “He walked in wanting to keep his job and he ended up giving us 10 billion dollars for the United States. So we picked up 10 billion,” Trump shared during the press conference. 

Based on Intel’s current share price, a 10 percent stake would be worth around $10 billion, Reuters says. It’s important to note that the government investing in Intel is not the same thing as receiving free money, it’s the exact opposite. The government’s stake in Intel will also be non-voting, according to earlier comments from US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. 

Intel was supposed to receive up to $10.86 billion in federal funding to expand its chip manufacturing business in the US as part of the CHIPS Act. By agreeing to this deal, Tan is likely trying to make sure that funding still goes through, one of several drastic moves to keep Intel afloat. Tan assumed the title of CEO following Pat Gelsinger’s sudden retirement in 2024. Since taking over, he’s already committed to cutting Intel’s workforce by 20 percent. Even with lower costs and guaranteed investment, the company’s future is still uncertain: Intel is reportedly struggling to make its next-gen Panther Lake chips at scale. 

The Trump administration says it won’t seek similar equity deals with other recipients of CHIPS Act funding. That hasn’t stopped them from making other equally unprecedented financial arrangements. NVIDIA and AMD reportedly struck a deal with the US government that gives the companies the ability to export products to China in exchange for 15 percent of their profits.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-us-government-is-taking-a-10-percent-stake-in-intel-205047622.html?src=rss 

Apple might use Gemini to power its revamped version of Siri, Bloomberg reports. The companies are in the early stages of exploring a partnership, with Google training a version of its Gemini model that can run on Apple’s servers. The iPhone maker was previously reported to be considering similar partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic.

“The company is simultaneously developing two versions of the new Siri: one dubbed Linwood that is powered by its models and another code-named Glenwood that runs on outside technology, ” Bloomberg writes. A final decision has yet to be made on what AI model Apple will ultimately use, but it’s entirely possible it sticks with its internally-developed models.

While seceding a potentially key technology to a competitor seems decidedly un-Apple, it’s a testament to how much difficulty the company has had rolling out Apple Intelligence. Apple included the majority of its new AI features in the release of iOS 18, but failed to ship an updated version of Siri that can draw on personal data to take action in apps. Apple ultimately admitted the Siri update was delayed in March, with the new launch now expected sometime in 2026.

The turmoil caused by the delay reportedly led to Apple’s various AI projects changing hands internally, and the company’s decision to consider using a third-party AI model. As of the launch of the Pixel 10, Gemini now offers a similar set of capabilities to what Apple promised with the new Siri. It could presumably do the same things on iOS with the right changes. Using a version of Gemini that runs on Apple’s hardware and servers — the company calls this Private Cloud Compute — could also add an additional layer of security.

Apple was reportedly planning to offer Gemini as an alternative to ChatGPT in Apple Intelligence, but the option has yet to ship. Having Gemini power some of its AI features would put Apple in a similar position to Samsung, who’s Galaxy AI relies on a mix of custom models and Gemini.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-is-reportedly-considering-using-gemini-to-power-the-new-siri-184528449.html?src=rss 

Google held its annual Made by Google showcase this week, during which it unveiled the latest Pixel phones and various new AI features. What it didn’t announce is a Gemini-powered smart home speaker, but it might have snuck one into the presentation as an easter egg.

As spotted by The Verge, about 15 minutes into the stream, on a table next to F1 driver Lando Norris during a Gemini demonstration, you can clearly see what looks a lot like a smart speaker. The fabric-wrapped device we see in the video is white with a light around its base, and it looks more like an upside down HomePod mini than any of Google’s other speakers. According to Android Headlines, it’s called the Google Home Speaker, and is unsurprisingly powered by Gemini.

Android Headlines claims to have seen more images of the as-yet unannounced smart speaker, which it says will also be available in red, light green and black. It adds that Google’s Gemini Live AI assistant will be a baked-in feature for voice conversations, though without a screen or camera there’s no visual element here. There could also be new natural voice options on the speaker, as well as standard features like media control and smart home automations. It can reportedly also detect unusual sounds like breaking glass or smoke alarms and can send an alert to your phone or tablet if this happens.

According to the Android Headlines report, the Home Speaker can pair with a Google TV Streamer and double as an additional surround sound speaker, much like the HomePod does with Apple TV. It functions as a smart hub too, with support for Matter. Google announced Gemini for Home this week, which will gradually replace Google Assistant on the company’s existing smart devices, with free and paid tiers offered to users.

What the leak doesn’t contain is a launch date for this mysterious speaker. But given that Google was seemingly happy enough to have one sitting there in its most important keynote of the year, the smart money would be on an official reveal pretty soon. Engadget reached out to Google for comment, but the company said it had nothing to share at this time.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/googles-first-gemini-smart-speaker-detailed-in-leak-164227031.html?src=rss