Category: IGN

Sega has announced sweeping layoffs that affect Sega Europe, Total War maker Creative Assembly, and Sonic Dream Team developer Hardlight.

Sega Europe boss Jurgen Post sent staff an email this morning notifying them of the cuts, as well as the sale of Company of Heroes and Dawn of War developer Relic Entertainment. The layoffs affect approximately 240 roles across Sega Europe, Creative Assembly, and a “small number” at Hardlight. Football Manager developer Sports Interactive and Two Point Hospital developer Two Point Studios, also owned by Sega Europe, were not mentioned.

Sega did not disclose how many staff at each studio were affected, but did issue IGN an additional update on the status of Creative Assembly’s upcoming projects: “Creative Assembly continues to have multiple projects in development with Total War and a new unannounced project.”

Post said the sale of Relic had been agreed and the studio is transitioning to become independently run, which means it is no longer part of Sega. “Sega is working closely with Relic on this shift, and we wish them the best for the future,” Post said.

Relic issued a statement of its own, saying it had become independent with the help of an unnamed external investor. It added that work on updating real-time strategy game Company of Heroes 3 continues, and indeed it will continue to support its games.

Important Update from Relic Entertainment pic.twitter.com/nCcF8olDaC

— Relic Entertainment (@relicgames) March 28, 2024

Post then apologised to staff at Sega Europe, and insisted the cuts were necessary “to secure the future of our games business”.

“Before I go on, I want to sincerely apologise for the worry and understandable distress this news will cause, particularly for those directly affected. These decisions have been incredibly tough to make, and they follow meticulous consideration and deliberation with leadership teams across the business. Change is necessary to secure the future of our games business, and to ensure that we are well placed to deliver the best possible experiences to our players going forward.

“We need to streamline, focus on what we are good at, and position ourselves as best we can for the road ahead. In order to do that, we need to respond to the changing economic landscape and the challenges we’re facing in the way we develop our products and bring them to market.”

Post then apologised to any staff who found out about the layoffs from social networks or the media before Sega itself. “Sega Sammy Holdings made a declaration regarding this news to the Tokyo Stock Exchange moments ago,” Post said. “Due to the nature of this announcement and our legal obligations in Japan, we were unable to share any detail with you until now. That is far from ideal and means some of you may have read about this in the media or via social networks before seeing this email. If that is the case, I’m sorry.

“Again, I want to reiterate that these are not decisions we take lightly. Every affected employee will be treated with respect and compassion, and you have my commitment on the following:

“We will provide support to affected employees where we can, including severance pay, career support and access to independent and internal guidance. We will adhere to the proper regional processes for redundancy. We will communicate individually with everyone affected to offer as much transparency on this process as we can. More details relating to impacted business areas and associated roles will be communicated in due course from within the affected business units.

“I fully appreciate this means we are moving into a very unsettled phase, and I ask that we all look after each other through this difficult time.”

These layoffs are the latest at Sega Europe and across the video game industry in what is one of the toughest times for developers in recent memory. In May 2023, Sega Europe laid off 121 employees from Relic. Then, in September, Sega canceled Hyenas, the multiplayer extraction shooter in development at Creative Assembly, with a source telling IGN the entire development team faced redundancy. Late last year, Total Assembly released Total War: Pharaoh, which has struggled to find an audience. The studio also apologized for various missteps it had made with Total War: Warhammer 3 DLC.

In January of this year, Sega of America laid off 61 staff as it moved to outsource QA and localization, a move which impacted AEGIS-CWA union members. At the time, the union said it was able to negotiate to double the number of saved jobs, and offer severance to temporary workers.

Overnight, AEGIS-CWA announced they had ratified their first contract with Sega, less than a year after their recognition as a legal union. The contract includes a number of worker protections, including raises for all unit members (roughly 150 full-time and temporary employees), Just Cause protections, layoff protections including a recall list and severance, commitment to crediting all workers on games they work on, and a number of other benefits.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Sega Europe has announced sweeping layoffs that affect Total War maker Creative Assembly and Sonic Dream Team developer Hardlight.

Sega Europe boss Jurgen Post sent staff an email this morning notifying them of the cuts, as well as the sale of Company of Heroes and Dawn of War developer Relic Entertainment. The layoffs affect approximately 240 roles across Sega Europe, Creative Assembly, and a “small number” at Hardlight. Football Manager developer Sports Interactive and Two Point Hospital developer Two Point Studios, also owned by Sega Europe, were not mentioned.

Sega did not disclose how many staff at each studio were affected, but did issue IGN an additional update on the status of Creative Assembly’s upcoming projects: “Creative Assembly continues to have multiple projects in development with Total War and a new unannounced project.”

Post said the sale of Relic had been agreed and the studio is transitioning to become independently run, which means it is no longer part of Sega. “Sega is working closely with Relic on this shift, and we wish them the best for the future,” Post said.

Relic issued a statement of its own, saying it had become independent with the help of an unnamed external investor. It added that work on updating real-time strategy game Company of Heroes 3 continues, and indeed it will continue to support its games.

Important Update from Relic Entertainment pic.twitter.com/nCcF8olDaC

— Relic Entertainment (@relicgames) March 28, 2024

Post then apologised to staff at Sega Europe, and insisted the cuts were necessary “to secure the future of our games business”.

“Before I go on, I want to sincerely apologise for the worry and understandable distress this news will cause, particularly for those directly affected. These decisions have been incredibly tough to make, and they follow meticulous consideration and deliberation with leadership teams across the business. Change is necessary to secure the future of our games business, and to ensure that we are well placed to deliver the best possible experiences to our players going forward.

“We need to streamline, focus on what we are good at, and position ourselves as best we can for the road ahead. In order to do that, we need to respond to the changing economic landscape and the challenges we’re facing in the way we develop our products and bring them to market.”

Post then apologised to any staff who found out about the layoffs from social networks or the media before Sega itself. “Sega Sammy Holdings made a declaration regarding this news to the Tokyo Stock Exchange moments ago,” Post said. “Due to the nature of this announcement and our legal obligations in Japan, we were unable to share any detail with you until now. That is far from ideal and means some of you may have read about this in the media or via social networks before seeing this email. If that is the case, I’m sorry.

“Again, I want to reiterate that these are not decisions we take lightly. Every affected employee will be treated with respect and compassion, and you have my commitment on the following:

“We will provide support to affected employees where we can, including severance pay, career support and access to independent and internal guidance. We will adhere to the proper regional processes for redundancy. We will communicate individually with everyone affected to offer as much transparency on this process as we can. More details relating to impacted business areas and associated roles will be communicated in due course from within the affected business units.

“I fully appreciate this means we are moving into a very unsettled phase, and I ask that we all look after each other through this difficult time.”

These layoffs are the latest at Sega Europe and across the video game industry in what is one of the toughest times for developers in recent memory. In May 2023, Sega Europe laid off 121 employees from Relic. Then, in September, Sega canceled Hyenas, the multiplayer extraction shooter in development at Creative Assembly, with a source telling IGN the entire development team faced redundancy. Late last year, Total Assembly released Total War: Pharaoh, which has struggled to find an audience. The studio also apologized for various missteps it had made with Total War: Warhammer 3 DLC.

In January of this year, Sega of America laid off 61 staff as it moved to outsource QA and localization, a move which impacted AEGIS-CWA union members. At the time, the union said it was able to negotiate to double the number of saved jobs, and offer severance to temporary workers.

Overnight, AEGIS-CWA announced they had ratified their first contract with Sega, less than a year after their recognition as a legal union. The contract includes a number of worker protections, including raises for all unit members (roughly 150 full-time and temporary employees), Just Cause protections, layoff protections including a recall list and severance, commitment to crediting all workers on games they work on, and a number of other benefits.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Embracer Group has officially divested Gearbox Entertainment, selling the division to Take-Two Interactive for $460 million.

In a press release, Embracer shared that it is divesting Gearbox Software, Gearbox Montreal, Gearbox Studio Quebec, and the franchises Borderlands, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms, and Duke Nukem. Embracer will retain rights to Gearbox Publishing San Francisco (formerly Perfect World Entertainment, and which it plans to rename), the publishing rights to Remnant, Hyper Light Breaker, and other unannounced games, Cryptic Studios, Lost Boys Interactive, and Captured Dimensions. All of its retained assets will be integrated into other parts of Embracer Group. The sale is expected to close by the end of June.

Gearbox will join Take-Two’s 2K division and will continue to be led by CEO and founder Randy Pitchford. Currently, Gearbox has both a new Borderlands and a new Homeworld game in development, as well as “at least one exciting new intellectual property,” per a separate press release.

Notably, the full purchase price of $460 million will be paid to Embracer Group in Take-Two shares rather than cash. For comparison, Embracer originally purchased Gearbox for $363 million, half in cash and half in newly-issued Embracer Group shares, with an additional consideration of $1.015 billion (also partially in shares) to be paid out if Gearbox hit certain targets within six years.

Gearbox and Take-Two have had a long-standing relationship, with Take-Two serving as the publisher of the Borderlands franchise via its 2K label. The two also have partnered on an upcoming Borderlands film, as well as Gearbox’s 2016 game Battleborn.

Embracer Group has been gradually shedding a number of its many, many studios after an multi-year acquisition spree fell apart last year. Most recently, it divested Saber Interactive, and has made numerous cuts such as the closure of Saints Row developer Volition, the cancellation of an unannounced Deus Ex game, and the layoffs of over 900 staff, with more expected in the future.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Images of a white Xbox Series X have leaked and it looks to be a disc-less version of the black Xbox Series X.

First published by Exputer, the images show a white Xbox Series X console, with what looks to be the same coating as the white Xbox Series S. The report also stated that it will have a different heatsink, among other upgraded parts. The Verge corroborated that the images look genuine as it has seen documents detailing the specifications of the console.

Additionally, Microsoft insider Brad Sams suggests that the chassis on the white Xbox Series X console is the same as the black Series X, which indicates that the former will not include any bump in specifications. The console is reportedly set to be released in June or July and cost less than the standard black Xbox Series X.

Back in September 2023, court documents leaked with seemingly some of Microsoft’s future plans. The leaks included a mid-generation refresh for both the Series S and X consoles, the former codenamed Ellewood and the later codenamed Brooklin. Both were digital-only consoles as well.

It also provided a timeline, with Ellewood releasing in August 2024 while Brooklin was due for October 2024. If the white Series X presumably releases during the summer, then there’s a chance that Microsoft shifted its mid-generation refresh strategy. Microsoft’s Phil Spencer even said that those plans were outdated.

There are also rumors that Microsoft is currently working on an Xbox handheld, and Microsoft has already confirmed that it will have a next-generation console.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey

If you’re feeling intimidated by the growing complexity of Call of Duty: Warzone and want somewhere to train, you won’t have to suffer on the battlefield anymore. Instead, Warzone is officially introducing the ability to play against bots via a mode called Bootcamp.

An expansion of the Modern Warfare III Training Course that launched in Season 2, Bootcamp is a Quad-only training mode set on Urzikstan that is designed to give players a “snapshot of the real-deal Call of Duty: Warzone experience.” It features up to 20 players via mode-specific matchmaking, and can be accessed either by partying up or via a fill-squad.

Bots are only available in Bootcamp, so their integration is fairly limited, and the new mode also won’t progress the various Daily/Weekly challenges or other in-game quests. Activision said in its announcement that if bots are introduced in any other mode that it it will “ensure the community is informed ahead of time.”

While never really acknowledged by Activision, Warzone is long believed to have had bots in one form or another, usually to fill out games or smooth out the ranked matchmaking. Bots are also a common sight in other shooters like Fortnite.

Elsewhere, Activision has revealed all of the details on Modern Warfare and Warzone Season 3, including the return of Rebirth Island, Warzone Mobile integration, and Snoop Dogg. Season begins April 3 at 9am PT.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

With few major games on the horizon and the Switch 2 seemingly delayed, Nintendo of America’s testing department is undergoing major changes, according to a new report from Kotaku that includes a statement from Nintendo.

In its statement, Nintendo acknowledged that it is restructuring its internal testing, which will “involve some contractor assignments ending, as well as the creation of a significant number of new full-time employee positions.”

“For all assignments that are ending, the contractors’ agencies, with [Nintendo of America’s] support, will offer severance packages and provide assistance during their transition,” Nintendo said in its statement. “For those contractor associates who will be leaving us, we are tremendously grateful for the important contributions they’ve made to our business, and we extend our heartfelt thanks for their hard work and service to Nintendo.”

One of the best trends in games in recent years has been a greater thoughtfulness in how diverse characters and stories are portrayed. While that work takes a number of different forms, one critical way developers are making this happen is through improved technology, specifically around animation and motion capture. One key example is Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which saw Insomniac Games take advantage of a group of talented actors, consultants, and lots of fun little motion capture sensors to bring the Deaf character Hailey Cooper and her use of American Sign Language (ASL) to life.

Last week at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), a group of animators on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 gave a talk entitled ‘Thwips and Hugs: The Animation of ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.’ In it, the group discussed the intricacies and challenges of animating elements of the game such as the Sandman fight and various QTEs. But they kicked off with the story of Hailey, whose portrayal may be one of Spider-Man 2’s most impressive accomplishments.

Hailey was introduced as an original character in the first Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, but got an expanded role in the sequel as she and Miles start dating, including a mission all her own. During the talk, associate animation director Lindsay Thompson explained the work that went into ensuring Hailey was an accurate and thoughtful portrayal of a young, Deaf, Black teenager growing up in New York City.

To start with, Hailey was portrayed and fully motion captured by Deaf actor Natasha Ofili, who herself frequently offered guidance and suggestions stemming from her own experiences. Insomniac also hired Deaf consultants from Hyper Nova to answer questions about Deaf culture, consult on scripts, and interpret the scripts into ASL.Thompson says the consultants went over every single scene and shot that had ASL in it to make sure the performances were clear and understandable.

For animators, getting accurate mocap data was critical. Insomniac ensured every hearing cast member had a Deaf body double on the mocap stage, and changed up how the actors would record different scenes depending on the complexity of the ASL being used.

“We had to figure out the best way to shoot our hearing cast’s spoken performances, along with our Deaf body doubles that would work best for Natasha to play against,” Thompson said. “For [one particular scene], we ran them side-by-side so Natasha had signing people to play off of, but could still see Nadji [Jeter, who plays Miles Morales] and Griffin [Puatu, who plays Ganke Lee] doing their speaking performance. Each Deaf cast member had their own interpreter so we could all communicate on set. And we also had the Hyper Novas on stage to help determine the scripts with the cast and plan out signing performance.”

The scene Thompson showed as she explained this concept initially had all the actors standing side-by-side in a big crowd, allowing the animators to capture the body doubles’ signing performances as well as the main cast’s emotional performance simultaneously. She pointed out that the cast’s mocap gloves had far more sensors on them than is typical. Hands, she said, are normally a challenge for animators to capture very intricate movement. The extra markers allowed them to collect more accurate data.

But having all the actors side-by-side at once wasn’t always the ideal formation. “Sometimes it made sense to have all of our Deaf cast standing and playing against each other. But other times, it was more important to have Natasha face-to-face with Nadji, while his body double would sign next to or in front of him, so Nadji could match his performance.”

Sometimes, the main cast would even perform the signs themselves. For longer conversations, the body doubles would perform the signing to ensure all complex signs and ideas were accurate. But for shorter chats, Insomniac decided it would be more authentic to have the actors themselves sign.

“Seeing as they were playing a more inexperienced signer, it was authentic for them not to be signing as fluently as a Deaf person would,” Thompson explained. “We had to consider each character’s experience and knowledge with ASL. So Ganke, Miles’ best friend, is working very hard to learn. Miles is probably the most comfortable and experienced when speaking with Hailey. Rio, Miles’ mom, is clearly just beginning to learn because Miles has just started dating Hailey. So we made sure her double didn’t sign as fluently and experienced.”

Thompson added that at the very end of the game, a certain character signs “It’s nice to meet you,” in ASL to Hailey. “We approached it as though he had literally watched a YouTube video before coming over and saying something to her. So our interpreter was like, ‘Well, that maybe wasn’t quite it but that looks like somebody who’s just trying to say a nice phrase to somebody.’ So yeah, it was pretty cool.”

Near the end of the talk, during the Q&A, Thompson added one parting thought about the importance of capturing as much data as possible from both Deaf and hearing performers to fully tell the story Insomniac developers wanted to tell.

“We’re a performance forward studio, so we always want the most emotional and authentic performance,” she said. “There’s where it comes into collaboration. Our Deaf actors and our main cast, they were treated equally on the set and we want both of their performances.”

Spider-Man 2’s impressive performances and animation are among the many things we loved about the game, which we gave an 8/10 and called “Insomniac’s best tale yet.” At GDC, it received multiple nominations for the Game Developers Choice Awards, and in a separate talk at the conference we learned that its acclaimed fast travel system was almost cut entirely.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Activision has fully pulled back the curtain on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone Season 3, including first looks at the return of fan-favorite maps, new weapons, and more.

The Call of Duty team showed off all of the new content in detail in a blog post on its website along with a release date of April 3 at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET across all platforms. Per usual, some drops are being held off for the undated mid-season update, but there will still be plenty to dive into next week. Highlights include six Core 6v6 maps – Emergency, Tanked, 6 Star, Growhouse (previously known as Sphere from Call of Duty: Vanguard), Checkpoint (mid-season), and Grime (mid-season) – the long-awaited return of Rebirth Island, new Modes, and Battle Pass Operators that include a playable Snoop Dogg.

Season 3 also brings the full integration of Warzone Mobile, meaning player unlocks and content additions will be shared across all versions of the experience. Activision boasts that Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone Season 3 is “one of the biggest content drops in Call of Duty history. It’s quite the claim, but it’s pretty easy to see why the team is happy to show off. Just looking at the roadmap image alone reveals a lineup of content that’s tough to rival.

Today, workers at Sega of America union AEGIS-CWA have announced they have ratified their first contract with Sega, less than a year after their recognition as a legal union.

In a press release, AEGIS-CWA revealed that the worker vote to ratify the contract passed, allowing the contract to go into effect. The contract includes a number of worker protections, including raises for all unit members (roughly 150 full-time and temporary employees), Just Cause protections, layoff protections including a recall list and severance, commitment to crediting all workers on games they work on, and a number of other benefits.

“One of our most notable items is our grievance process,” said Sega localization editor and AEGIS-CWA member Em Geiger. “There’s extra security knowing we have in place a system for bringing issues to the table, such as arguing Just Cause in a potential layoff. If the company wants to do something that the unit doesn’t like, we can grieve it, bargain over it, have our say before anything is finalized. And concerning Just Cause, we’re now the second unit in this industry in North America to have protections against arbitrary discipline and discharge.”

Sega of America workers first announced their desire to unionize in April of last year, citing desires for better pay, improved benefits, and workload balance. The union received legal recognition the following July following a vote, making it the largest multi-department union of organized industry workers, encompassing Brand Marketing, Games as a Service, Localization, Marketing, Product Development Ops, Sales, Quality Assurance, and other divisions.

There are times when Open Roads hits alarmingly close to home. Early on in this interactive road trip, your 16-year-old protagonist Tess turns around to reach for a bag perched in the back of her mom’s vintage station wagon – without skipping a beat, she’s accosted by her mother, Opal, from behind the wheel. The altercation flooded my brain with memories of family road trips in the early 2000s: “You can’t just turn around. It’s unsafe,” my dad would say from his vehicular throne, despite how frustratingly close I was to grabbing my Game Boy. Parental authority and nostalgia are just a few of the powerful tools Open Roads harnesses to deliver a playful and relatable story about coming of age in the early aughts, however, hastily resolved problems and the lack of an engaging mystery also make this adventure a little too predictable to leave a lasting impression.

Set in the wake of her grandmother’s passing, Tess and her mother are forced to navigate grief and economic uncertainty as they cope with the breakdown of their nuclear family. Tess’s father is distant, in touch via text alone, while her mother maintains a tough exterior for her daughter’s sake. Stuck in the middle, Tess’s optimistic outlook shines through but hides a trove of complex emotions. Open Roads’ exceptional Hollywood leads, Keri Russell and Kaitlyn Dever, amplify their uncomfortably raw exchanges – Russell’s Opal is believably guarded but capable of arresting warmth, whereas Dever’s Tess balances youthful naivete with spirited angst. Tonal subtext abounds as emotions run high, and I felt connected to these characters as early as the opening back-and-forth.

Open Roads’ art style leaves a lasting first impression as well. Hand-drawn 2D characters are layered on top of meticulously detailed 3D environments, giving this world a unique, dreamlike quality. Imperfections augment scribbled notes, juxtaposing them against the angular digital backdrop – and I couldn’t help but inspect the scratches and flecks of dust on a chunky iMac lookalike I came across at one point. While this trip is mostly isolating by design, the touches of life, like soot particles and trees swaying in the wind, make you feel more at peace in the solitude.

In the process of sorting through her late grandmother’s belongings, Tess uncovers a curious briefcase of relics, complete with a cryptic postcard from an unknown sender beckoning her grandma to join them. Keen to escape the immediate burdens of loss, Tess convinces a reluctant Opal to cross the country and unravel a generational family mystery. Melancholic but strangely engrossing, Open Roads almost entirely consists of rummaging through dioramas lost to time. From derelict summer houses to musty hotel rooms, each new location contains sprinklings of forgotten belongings to interact with alongside precious tidbits of environmental storytelling I relished in examining with a fine-tooth comb. An admittedly repetitive process, standout items like charming childhood drawings that mask coping mechanisms with superheroes and classic rented DVDs managed to keep me on the hook while effectively time-stamping each hazy era they were from.

A light smattering of systems allow you to engage your inner holistic detective to piece together the past – but don’t expect deep puzzles or critical thinking. Across its roughly three-and-a-half-hour run time, Open Roads didn’t get more complicated than finding an odd opening to another room or searching out a partially hidden letter. The more you scour, the more you’ll confront Open Roads’ past-meets-present storytelling that revolves around Opal’s own childhood traumas, which are finding new life in the issues now plaguing her daughter. Like phantom wounds passed down through the generations, their happy-go-lucky veneer masks troubling truths that are, for the most part, intriguing to unfurl.

Interacting with items can prompt Tess’s inner monologue and offer a window into her developing psyche, while plot-forwarding objects trigger eye-opening conversations with her mother. Seeking out as many of these touchy scenes as possible helped ground me in Open Roads story and compelled me to tinker with all the toys I could find in search of more emotive exposition. Unfortunately, such loaded artifacts were few and far between, but the conversations surrounding them felt sincere and created a nervous atmosphere that kept me guessing as the family’s secrets started to surface.

Environmental inspections are spliced between highway drives where Tess and Opal process the latest day while coasting to the next spot. Where static locations focus on Opal’s murky upbringing and faulty memory, the car conversations center around Tess’s present issues with her mom. Initially, the mysterious man’s letters and postcards appear to be the hook, but the persistent interpersonal turmoil is by far Open Roads’ defining asset.

It was disappointing then that as the player-come-passenger in this journey, I began to feel like a ghost in the machine, privy to all the surrounding context but unable to engage with it meaningfully. Even though I could radio surf, flick door locks, and text as the autumnal foliage passed me by, I felt distant from Tess as the story soldiered on. Despite the amount of time I’d spent in her head, Tess’s actions felt unusually measured for a teenager dealing with such traumatic events. I often wished that Open Roads would stop pulling its punches until, surprisingly quickly, the credits rolled. A few breezy puzzles offered fleeting resistance, but the twists and turns of the story didn’t provoke the emotion I expected when they finally arrived. The pieces of this quilt never quite stitched together for me.

This feeling is most frustrating when you’re offered options in dialogue. I was often keen to chase certain plot threads, but my choices always tended to lead to the same place, and the inconsequentiality of what I thought was important subtext became disheartening when I realized this in my second playthrough. The investigative spirit in its early-game explorations was never nurtured during Open Road’s conversations. Heavy discussions about mental health felt like an opportunity to level the playing field between Tess and her mother, but such moments aren’t allowed to breathe in a believable way. A safe and disappointing climax only confirmed my fears, providing an easy answer that felt like a messily applied band-aid over a far more complex wound. I was left longing for more of the ugly, believable humanity we all partake in, but Open Roads decidedly orbits.