Steam's endless torrent of new games means that far too many of them go overlooked, but it also means that surprise hits are being created pretty much every week. Such is the case with Vein, an early access zombie survival sandbox that aspires to be a hybrid of DayZ and Project Zomboid, and has quietly but consistently accrued an impressive following over the last few weeks.

Broadly, Vein is a familiar affair, plonking you in an open world where civilization has been overrun by zombies and tasking you with staying alive in its sandbox. Like Zomboid, its appeal lies in its high level of granularity, with players able to interact with pretty much anything in its world."Open mailboxes, adjust faucets, and knock on doors," the game's Steam page promises, adding "throw a can of beans at a zombie if you like." I do like.

But all of this is presented in 3D, with dynamic seasons and highly perceptive undead. Even with a billion zombie survival games out there, you can see why fans of the genre might find Vein appealing. Even so, its launch has taken developer Ramjet Studios by surprise, so much so that it's having to readjust to compensate.

Ramjet explained all this in its most recent weekly blog post (via PCGamesN) which also details what's coming to Vein next. At the outset of the update, Ramjet mentions that it is "still quite busy from the early access launch, which was much larger than we expected, but we're managing what we can."

It's toward the end of the post where Ramjet explains in detail what's going on. "With the success of early access, we have a lot of considerations to make in terms of prioritising features, and there's a bit of a transition period as we settle finances and expand the team. Apart from game development work, a bunch of time has been just doing regulatory/financial/legal business work, so that's all happening simultaneously."

All of this is affecting how fast Ramjet can work on the next update. But the studio is beavering away regardless. For the next patch, players can expect changes to zombie spawning algorithms so they won't randomly spawn right behind you or reappear too quickly in a house you've recently searched. In addition, the studio is working on replacing foliage assets with better quality art, starting with cornfields, fixing double doors so they open and close as a single unit, adding gamepad support, and introducing new seed types so players can grow vegetables like artichokes, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflowers and more.

Finally, Ramjet is also looking at adding two bigger features to the next update, namely "better animals and better hunting". While Ramjet doesn't explicitly say this, it sounds like these are a bit more speculative, and I wouldn't consider them guaranteed additions at this point.

Name a big fantasy RPG that's come out in the last few years and chances are, Jennifer English can be heard somewhere in its voice cast. After playing Baldur's Gate 3's Shadowheart, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's Maelle, and Elden Ring's Latenna, the prominent voice actor is back in yet another fantasy roleplaying game.

Digital Extremes, the studio behind the surprisingly long-running sci-fi MMO Warframe, is side-stepping into the fantasy realm with its similarly-named, upcoming MMO Soulframe. And, just yesterday, the company held another dev stream to announce that English will be voicing Alora, the Empress of Eldveil.

"Greetings, Envoys," English said during the stream. "I had the strangest dream, you see, of a fairy who spoke in threes. She told me thus, 'Beyond the veil from whence I hail where all is Fey and flora, I'm growing weak and cannot speak, so I've a question for ya. Lend me your voice - you haven't a choice - soon, they'll call us Alora.' And, naturally, I said yes, and we simply cannot wait to meet you."

We don't know too much about this Empress just yet, but a newly released piece of concept art shows off her awesome outfit, complete with a headcrab hat and winged cape. We'll need to wait and see whether she's a force for good or evil, but with a getup that funky, I have no choice but to stan.

Elsewhere in the stream, Digital Extremes dived into the twelfth update for Soulframe's playtest, coming in two weeks with stuff like improved tutorialization, a new greatsword weapon, and a fast travel system. Last we heard, the devs weren't sure when the game would be ready for a proper launch.

Soulframe creative director knows people might think it's a Soulslike because of the name: "We agonized over it"

Matt Damon returns to cinemas next year, in Christopher Nolan's epic retelling of The Odyssey. Having made numerous blockbusters by now, the Jason Bourne star knows what makes a good one, and Nolan’s work is in the upper echelon.

Speaking to Empire, Damon gave some insight into what it was like on-set for the mythological production. "I can say, without hyperbole, that it was the best experience of my career. I saw the horse on the beach and I was just like, 'Fuck.' It was just so cool," he states.

His third collaboration with Nolan, after Interstellar and Oppenheimer, this is Damon's first time leading one of the director's films, portraying the eponymous Odysseus. Despite all the moving parts, a considerable amount of the adaptation of Homer's poem involved just seeing what happens on the day.

"We were shooting that [Trojan horse] stuff next week, so I go, 'How are you going to do it?'" Damon remembers. "And [Nolan] goes, 'I don't know. We'll just get in there and figure it out.'"

But as is typical of Nolan, practicality is key. Just as an actual Boeing 737 collided with a building in Tenet for greater realism, there's genuine physicality among the monsters and beasts. "If you're going to have an existential crisis as you pass the Sirens and you're lashed to a mast, it's there. If it says you're running for your life from a Cyclops, you're going to run for your life," Damon explains. "Chris doesn't hide the ball."

A stacked cast joins him, including Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Jon Bernthal, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, and many, many more. The Odyssey arrives in theatres on July 17, 2026.

Our upcoming movies and upcoming superhero movies guides will make sure you're ready for your next quest to the cinema.