After the smash hit that was Donkey Kong Bananza earlier this month, it wasn’t long before rumors started bubbling up about a new Nintendo Direct. Nintendo confirmed the Partner Showcase just yesterday, giving us only about 24 hours to ruminate and speculate on what could be shown. True to its word, there were no announcements or updates on any Nintendo games, but we were still treated to a new Monster Hunter, two new HD-2D Square Enix titles, and even a Legend of Zelda game. Check out all the announcements below.
Capcom opened the show with a huge franchise returning to the Switch 2. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection features a new Rathalos rider coming in 2026.
A new trailer for the next entry in the Musou spinoff of the Zelda franchise, Age of Imprisonment. Featuring new characters to cleave through mobs with, this trailer hints at a lot more story to add to the lore. There’s still no firm release date for this game.
The atmospheric time-traveling horror adventure Chronos: New Dawn can be played on the go so you can bring the scares on the go. Featuring third-person combat against mutating and evolving enemies, as well as your own sanity, this game is shrouded in mystery. It will launch on September 5 this year.
Square Enix revealed a new HD-2D action RPG featuring Elliot investigating a dangerous force threatening his kingdom. Battles aren’t turn-based, but played in real time on the field using swords, bows, chains and sickles, and others that can be upgraded. Your main companion helps in battle and puzzles either alone or in co-op. It will launch sometime next year, but you can play a demo today.
If Elliot got you yearning for the original HD-2D game, Square Enix doubled down and announced Octopath Traveler 0, a prequel that has the same amazing visuals but retains the classic turn-based combat. It will come to Switch 2 on December 4.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.