Topic: visual design
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Google Pixel's Android 17 UI Gets New Blur Effect
Android 17 will refine the user interface by applying translucent blur effects to system components like volume controls, creating a layered aesthetic without a full visual overhaul. The update builds on Android 16's foundation, using intelligently tinted blur for depth and a lightweight feel, ad...
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Sword Of The Sea Review: A Dreamlike Adventure You Won't Forget
Sword of the Sea is an artistic adventure game where players glide through visually stunning levels to restore vitality to a fragile world, blending fluid movement with environmental storytelling. Created by Matt Nava, the game draws inspiration from extreme sports and themes of nature and solitu...
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Reanimal Switch 2 Review: Is It Worth It?
Reanimal is a chilling horror game for the Nintendo Switch 2 that evolves the *Little Nightmares* formula into a larger, 3D adventure with more varied combat, intricate traversal, and a gorgeously oppressive atmosphere. The game follows a brother and sister navigating a hellish landscape, featuri...
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Google's Gemini AI App Set for Major Redesign
Google is redesigning its Gemini AI app to replace the standard chatbot interface with a dynamic, scrollable feed of suggested prompts and images for a more engaging user experience. The new interface, discovered through an Android app analysis, features repositioned shortcut buttons and aims to ...
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LEGO Voyagers: The Ultimate Review & Building Guide
LEGO Voyagers is a cooperative two-player game that emphasizes creativity and teamwork in a charming LEGO brick world, though its campaign is notably short at just over three and a half hours. The game features intuitive movement mechanics, expressive character design, and a realistic visual styl...
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Avowed PS5 Review: Is Obsidian's RPG Worth It?
Avowed is an action RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, now available on PS5 with a polished Anniversary Update, offering a more complete version of its fantasy adventure set in the Pillars of Eternity universe. The game excels in its visually stunning world design and flexible, weighty combat syste...
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MIO: Memories in Orbit Review – A Must-Play Metroidvania
MIO: Memories in Orbit is a stylish and accessible Metroidvania that offers a deeply enjoyable, if not genre-defining, experience, with a beautiful hand-drawn world and a clear, ability-gated progression system. While its combat is competent but repetitive, the game excels in its atmospheric worl...
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Deadpool VR: Our Full Review
Marvel's Deadpool VR is a fast-paced, witty adventure exclusive to Meta Quest 3 and 3S, offering a complete package with humor, secrets, and kinetic combat that keeps the action engaging. The game features arcade-inspired combat with fluid mechanics, allowing creative maneuvers and weapon customi...
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Lost Soul Aside Review: A Stunning Fusion of Final Fantasy and Devil May Cry
Lost Soul Aside excels with its visually spectacular combat system, blending fluid weapon-switching and satisfying combos inspired by games like Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy. The game suffers from a generic, predictable narrative with underdeveloped characters and significant performance issue...
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Yooka-Replaylee's Big Upgrades Come at a Cost
Yooka-Replaylee is a remastered version of the 2017 game that introduces meaningful gameplay enhancements, such as a non-stamina-draining roll and improved controls, making exploration more fluid. The remaster adds expanded lore and detailed visuals, but these changes sometimes sacrifice the orig...
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Avowed: An Overlooked Double-A Gem That's a Must-Play on PS5
Avowed is a focused, joyful double-A RPG that delivers pure adventure without the bloat of blockbuster titles, now enhanced on PlayStation 5 with new content. It compensates for some technical shortcomings with a vibrant, psychedelic world and an upbeat tone, offering a refreshing escape from gri...
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Star Trek: Voyager's Survival RPG Is a Nostalgic Trip
The game is a nostalgic management simulation that lets players revisit pivotal moments from *Star Trek: Voyager*, blending narrative choice with familiar gameplay loops to rekindle the series' sense of wonder. Players manage Voyager's resources and crew morale through activities like collecting ...
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MSI MEG X870E Godlike X Review: Ultimate AM5 Motherboard?
The MSI MEG X870E Godlike X Edition is a limited-run, high-end AM5 motherboard offering extreme connectivity, including fifteen USB ports and extensive M.2 storage slots, but it provides no performance advantage over the standard model. Its scarcity and premium price make it more of a collector's...
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Metroid Prime 4's Organic Doorway Designs Spark Discussion
The visual design of *Metroid Prime 4 Beyond* is noted for its mature, organic direction, with many environmental details and doorways in areas like the Volt Forge being described as unmistakably vaginal imagery. This "vagina door" motif has sparked widespread online discussion, blending humor wi...
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Assassin's Creed Shadows: Is the Switch 2 Port Any Good?
**Assassin's Creed Shadows** is a major franchise entry launching simultaneously on Nintendo Switch 2, delivering a successful port of its vast feudal Japanese open world with expected visual compromises. The game features two protagonists with dramatically different playstyles: Naoe, a stealth-f...
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Sweet Surrender: Our PlayStation VR2 Review & Verdict
The PS VR2 port of Sweet Surrender was technically successful but a commercial failure, selling only about 330 units in its first month despite a smooth launch and positive reception from influencers. Key strategic errors included poor timing in a crowded holiday release window, an outdated $25 p...
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Sandfall Interactive Dominates 2025 Golden Joystick Awards
Sandfall Interactive's *Clair Obscur: Expedition 33* dominated the 2025 Golden Joystick Awards, winning six awards including Studio of the Year and matching Larian Studios' 2023 achievement. The game received accolades for its storytelling, visual design, and soundtrack, with actors Jennifer Engl...
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Google Photos and Maps Get a Fresh Look with New Icons
Google is redesigning app icons for Google Photos and Maps with gradient color schemes as part of a broader visual refresh and AI-first strategy. The new icons feature softer gradients and retain familiar shapes while symbolizing Google's evolution in the AI era and deeper integration of AI funct...
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Battlefield 6's 'Absurd' Orange Skin Sparks Player Backlash
Battlefield 6's Recon class Dead Sight skin has sparked controversy due to its bright orange and black color scheme, which undermines the class's stealth role by making players highly visible. Unlocking the skin requires completing extensive challenges over hundreds of hours, making it a prestigi...
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Donkey Kong Country Still a Brutal Challenge on Switch 2
Donkey Kong Country remains a challenging platformer with timeless design, now available on Nintendo Switch Online, showcasing brutal difficulty and pure gameplay fundamentals. The game's merciless design features pixel-perfect jumps, hidden hazards, and a one-hit-kill system, creating intense te...
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King of Meat Review: A Savory Sausage Sensation
King of Meat is a budget-friendly multiplayer party platformer with extensive customization, unlockable content, and a mix of developer-crafted and community-made levels, though it suffers from sluggish platforming and hit-or-miss humor. The game features a robust combat system with diverse weapo...
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Top Games of 2025: The Ultimate Year in Review
2025 was a standout year for gaming, offering a diverse and memorable lineup of titles across blockbuster sequels and innovative indie games. Staff favorites included the atmospheric PvE shooter **ARC Raiders**, the introspective sequel **Ghost of Yōtei**, and the brilliant puzzle design of **Blu...
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Exclusive: System Shock Remake Launches on Switch This Month
The System Shock remake launches on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 on December 18, 2025, bringing the classic cyberpunk horror game to portable consoles. This faithful 2023 remake modernizes the 1994 original with updated visuals and quality-of-life improvements while preserving its core atmosphere...
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Mixed Reality Block Breaker Creator Mode Launches Today
Cues, a mixed reality game on Meta Quest, launches a free Creator Mode update on its first anniversary, allowing players to design custom interactive environments in their own living spaces. The new mode adds a user-generated content pillar to the existing Free Play and Puzzles modes, enabling pl...
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Is 2025's Biggest Game Pass Launch
**Clair Obscur: Expedition 33** is the largest third-party launch on Xbox Game Pass in 2025, driven by a record number of unique players in its first month. The game's success is attributed to its unique fusion of JRPG gameplay with French cultural inspirations and the crucial support from Xbox G...
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Snapchat Revives Classic 2D Bitmojis for Subscribers
Snapchat is reintroducing 2D Bitmoji avatars as an exclusive feature for its Snapchat Plus paying subscribers, offering a new "Comic Bitmoji" style. The new 2D style functions like a filter, maintaining customization and expressive features while providing a comic book look with more poses and de...
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6 Turn-Based RPGs Better Than Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a foundational CRPG that emphasizes creativity, deep customization, and cooperative multiplayer, matching Clair Obscur's acclaim as a top-tier adventure. Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross are highly praised for their storytelling and innovation, with the former being t...
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New Nest Thermostat Farsight Faces: See 4 Fresh Designs
Google has introduced four new Farsight display options for the Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen), allowing users to personalize its appearance with artistic and functional styles. The new designs include Seasonal Art with monthly animated illustrations, a Minimal face for clear system status, N...
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Daemon X Machina Review: Superb Customization, Lifeless World
The game excels in mecha customization with extensive parts, weapons, and a unique fusion system that allows for creative personalization. It falters in open-world design, offering barren environments, repetitive missions, and unsatisfying combat that lacks strategic depth. Despite narrative weak...
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Content-Driven Branding: Your Fix for Zero-Click Traffic
Brand marketing is now essential to combat traffic loss from zero-click searches and AI answers, requiring a holistic focus on building a memorable, emotionally resonant brand identity across all customer interactions. Effective branding is driven by consistent content that reflects a unique pers...
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Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Director Defends Yellow Paint Design
The use of yellow paint to mark interactive elements in *Final Fantasy VII Rebirth* has sparked debate, with some players finding it immersion-breaking while developers defend it as essential for smooth gameplay. Director Naoki Hamaguchi emphasized that clear guidance is necessary to prevent play...
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Hell Is Us: A Surprisingly Accessible Soulslike With a Dark Story
Hell Is Us combines challenging soulslike combat with a more forgiving structure, set in a brutal fictional civil war that draws from real-world conflicts. The game features unique mechanics like a healing pulse system and extensive customization through glyphs and relics, though it suffers from ...
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YouTube Unveils Its New Video Player
YouTube is launching a redesigned video player with cleaner controls and icons to create a more immersive and less cluttered viewing experience. The update features rounded, subtly translucent buttons that are less intrusive than Apple's Liquid Glass, prioritizing focus on video content. The refr...
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Cronos: The New Dawn Review: A Survival Horror Hybrid That Lacks Identity
Cronos: The New Dawn combines elements from games like Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space but lacks a unique identity, offering a competent yet unoriginal experience. The game excels in its oppressive atmosphere and detailed sound design, creating a deeply immersive and unsettling horror environment....
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Nintendo's Biggest Flop Became a Pricey, Uncomfortable Gimmick
Nintendo has revived its 1995 Virtual Boy console for the Switch, but the experience requires a significant financial investment in accessories and a subscription, making it a niche novelty. The hardware, whether a premium plastic replica or cardboard viewer, recreates the original's tabletop des...
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