Today's Xbox Partner Preview was focused purely on third-party studios, and one of the brand-new games in the spotlight was Vaunted from Lost Lake Games. A tactical-RPG that challenges players to seize the ultimate score, Vaunted also blends elements of third-person shooters into its gameplay to create a high-stakes experience.

Taking place in a galaxy where chaos reigns supreme--thanks to the fall of the last galactic empire hundreds of years ago--Mercenaries and treasure hunters battle each other to claim priceless imperial relics buried in far-flung ruins. Vaunted will give players control of three scrappy frenemies--Dyse, Gendril, and Kyvaath--and pit them against ruthless rivals, monstrous aliens, and giant robots as they embark on expeditions across the galaxy.

One of the twists on the typical turn-based formula is that Vaunted has no initiative-based order. Players will control who goes when, alternating with enemies as a skirmish unfolds, and they can use incoming fire and precision aiming when they launch a counterattack. Squad options include skill trees, randomized upgrades, loadout choices, and diverse build options, and the story is told from each of the main characters' perspectives. This, in turn, creates an unreliable narrator experience, as each hero tells their own version of events, and players will shape what really happened on the battlefield.

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Back in January, we got a glimpse into Xbox's 2026 plans thanks to a Developer Direct that featured Forza Horizon 6, Fable, and Kiln. During a new Xbox Partner Showcase broadcast on Thursday, we learned what third-party games will launch on Xbox between those tentpole launches.

Super Meat Boy 3D now has a release date. Announced with a trailer during the recent Xbox Partner Preview 2026 showcase, the title is coming to PC and Xbox Series X/S on March 31st. The trailer, which you can check out below, is quite short, coming in at just shy of a minute in length, and features gameplay footage alongside live-action footage of a man who seems to be losing his mind as he dies in the game’s various levels.

The gameplay parts of the trailer largely focus on showing off all the different ways that players can die as they explore the 3D levels of the fast-paced platformer. As had been evident from the original announcement trailer, Super Meat Boy 3D has maintained much of the frantic gameplay that made the original 2D side-scroller such a hit when it first came out all the way back in 2010.

The announcement trailer focused quite a bit on the new 3D gameplay, emphasizing just how different it will be, while still maintaining the core identity behind the Super Meat Boy franchise. Among the many aspects of the franchise that we will get to see in the upcoming game include the spectacular post-level screens where we get to observe and appreciate all of our attempts through the levels, including the ones that end in the gruesome death of Meat Boy, before we eventually make it through to the end.

Super Meat Boy 3D is being developed by Sluggerfly collaborating with original developer Team Meat, and is being published by Headup and GCORES Publishing.

The "fragile peace" between two of the Zone's biggest factions may finally be over.

EXCLUSIVE: Mikayla Starrels has joined WME as a digital agent. Based in the Los Angeles office, the agent will work closely with WME’s digital department to provide clients with a nuanced perspective on how creators drive culture, engage audiences, and build long-term brand value. Starrels brings extensive brand-side experience in creator partnerships, spanning integrated programs […]

While Bungie may have faced a few rocky months with questionable PR leading up to the launch of PvPvE extraction shooter Marathon, the title has seemingly turned out to be quite popular. According to Alinea Analytics, as caught by VideoGamesChronicle, around 1.2 million copies of Marathon have been sold so far, making Bungie around $55 million in gross revenue.

The analytics firm also believes that most Marathon players—just shy of 70 percent—are on Steam, with an estimated 800,000 copies sold on the platform. PS5, on the other hand, is estimated to have sold around 217,000 copies, and Xbox Series X/S around 133,000 copies. The firm believes that PS5’s player base not even accounting for 20 percent of the total is a notable data point, since Bungie is a first-party studio under Sony.

“Marathon is technically a first-party Sony title, so seeing the home console struggle to break 20% of the volume is a notable data point for the ongoing platform-agnostic debate,” wrote head of market analysis Rhys Elliott. “PlayStation Studios online games will almost certainly continue being multiplatform (despite Sony reportedly pulling back on PC releases).”

Bringing up comparisons with Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders, the analytics firm noted that the server slam events for both titles resulted in wildly varying player sentiment. This has seemingly led to Marathon acquiring players at a slower rate than ARC Raiders, which saw plenty of positivity following its public playtest. Marathon managed to see a 49 percent increase in sales following its server slam, which Elliot notes might come down to the game’s UI/UX issues and more complex onboarding.

“Bungie could have had more time to fix the onboarding process had the beta happened earlier,” wrote Elliott, “but Marathon launched three days after the beta finished. These factors limited the launch sales quite a bit, I reckon.”

As for how it has been doing since launch in terms of player numbers, the research firm says that Marathon has “settled into a respectable rhythm,” managing to get around 345,000 daily active users. Other interesting metrics include the fact that 22 percent of the Marathon player base on Steam has spent over 50 hours with it so far, and 7 percent has seemingly spent over 100 hours. Elliot believes that this might be down to players understanding the appeal of Marathon better the more time they spend with it.

“This data suggests that once the Bungie magic clicks, it hooks players deeper than the average extraction shooter,” Elliott wrote.

Marathon was released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S earlier this month. Since then, Bungie has continued to support it with post-launch updates. The biggest one of these has been the introduction of Cryo Archive, which features high-end loot that players get to fight over. For more details about the extraction shooter, check out our review, where we gave it a score of 8 out of 10. And while you’re at it, take a look at our thoughts about why the game always feels like it’s in trouble.