Like lots of canceled games, the more I hear about Perfect Dark, the cooler it sounds. Also is Tom Holland okay? And which Metal Gear should get the Unreal Engine 5 glow-up next? Face the new week with the latest edition of Kotaku‘s Morning Checkpoint at your side. The daily roundup of gaming news and culture breezes you through some of the biggest headlines going around. I stayed up until 3 a.m. this morning reviewing video games because it’s that time of year. I’m very tired but not too tired to contemplate which movies would make Carl’s top five in the Criterion closet.
Some more Perfect Dark reboot details leak
Microsoft’s canceled Xbox exclusive might have been originally planned as an episodic release. That’s according to a new report by MP1st. If accurate, that might have made the espionage shooter’s rollout similar to that of Hitman (2016). According to leaked development materials reviewed by the website, The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics were working on the game’s first robust vertical slice right up until it was canceled this summer.
Perfect Dark | Gameplay Details and Concept Art
According to the report, as of April this year, The Initiative was still working on the game’s Vertical Slice 1.https://t.co/mSBXCnflwP pic.twitter.com/ToSZNR4dKP
— Klobrille (@klobrille) September 21, 2025
The report also details a planned Adrenaline System which would be a resource that let players pull off Matrix-like abilities ranging from healing and increased damage to slowing down time for aiming and dodging bullets. Leaked concept art points to an “Eco Sci-Fi” version of Cairo, the setting of an early teaser, as being one of the locations to ship in the first episode of the game. Bloomberg recently reported that 2K Games was looking to takeover publishing but couldn’t work out a deal with Microsoft and Embracer over rights to the IP.
Tom Holland rushed to hospital after botched Spider-Man movie stunt
Tom Holland has been doing cool stunts in London while filming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Unfortunately at least one of them didn’t go as planned and he’s now recovering. “We were called at 10.30am on Friday to attend to a patient who had sustained an injury at Leavesden Studios in Watford,” an East of England Ambulance Service spokesman told The Sun yesterday. “An ambulance was sent to the scene, and the patient was transported to hospital for further care.”
According to Deadline, Holland suffered a concussion and filming has been paused for a couple of days as a precaution. Hopefully, he can make a speedy recovery even with out the real Spidey’s mutant super healing.
Which Metal Gear Solid should get the remake treatment next?
A poll has been recently shared on X which looks to be one Konami intends to send out after a Metal Gear-focused livestream later this week from TGS. The poll asks fans which other Metal Gear games they’d like to see remade, following the recent release of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. MGS 2: Sons of Liberty is the obvious choice, though I could see the case for Metal Gear Solid as well. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, meanwhile, remains trapped on PS3, though fans suspect the Master Collection Vol. 2, whenever it’s ready, will finally port it to modern consoles.
Nintendo vs. Palworld is currently a debate about mods
According to Games Fray, part of Pocket Pair’s defense in Nintendo’s patent lawsuit is that certain mechanics Nintendo claims as its own were already in use in other games, including versions modded by players. Nintendo is reportedly arguing that mods don’t count as “prior art” because they can’t exist or run separate from the game’s they were made for.
Dying Light: The Beast nerfs nudity in Japan
The open-world zombie adventure is reportedly censoring certain depictions in Japan. The tweaks include changes to female zombies and the removal of all nudity, according to Game Spark (via VGC). “These changes have resulted in an overall tone down on violent scenes, while still allowing Japanese players to enjoy seamless co-op play with friends playing the overseas version.”
Tomb Raider remaster patches out AI voice performance changes
The French version of Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered was accused of using AI to alter an actor’s performance. Those accusations appear to have been well-founded now, because Aspyr has gone and removed the AI alterations from the game. “We’ve addressed this issue by removing all AI voiceover content, while retaining the improvements made in the previous update,” the studio wrote announcing a surprise hotfix update (via The Gamer). “We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please reach out to our customer support site with any issues.”
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