As Wardogs hits a "perfectly acceptable decline," studio boss asks pl…

It's been one week since Wardogs launched in early access and only three days since the 100-person firefight reached its peak number of players on Steam, but that figure has already dropped by over 100,000 as of writing. That's to be expected for any new game as its shininess dulls and some people realize they'd rather play Nintendogs – all of which developer Bulkhead is cool with. At the same time, CEO Joe Brammer wouldn't mind some advice on how to slow some of that decline.

He writes on Twitter, "We're entering the first phase of @WARDOGS perfectly acceptable decline where people start to find issues with the balancing, or just disagree with design decisions." Wardogs hit a peak of 428,666 players on Steam, and it's currently sitting at a still wildly impressive 292,471 concurrent players, according to SteamDB.

"So, let's start the next phase of development…" Brammer says before patronizing fans with a reminder that they should, "Remember, we're in charge here, we're the ones with the vision," referring to Bulkhead. albergomalica.it

"However, you have a voice," he continues politely. "Season 2 is going to bring lots of new content and changes. But…What is the biggest ISSUE you are seeing right now that you would change mid-season? Let me know your thoughts."

I find it notable that Brammer is tentatively asking players for advice when, in the past, collecting as much player feedback as possible was the whole point for developers when launching a game in early access; Pocketpair publishing lead John "Bucky" Buckley recently told GamesRadar+ that he worries, "The culture has changed and early access, essentially, has lost its meaning. People just buy an early access game like they buy a normal game and treat it like that's the game." Perhaps the same is true for some developers – especially now that games like Palworld, TCG Card Shop Simulator, Hades 2, and so many more found huge success on Steam as in-progress early access titles.

In any case, Wardogs players are eager to share some of their best ideas with Bulkhead.

"Maybe add a dildo to put on the vehicle dashboards," suggests one fan.

"Change blue to yellow," John Buckley adds helpfully.

Well. It's a good thing Bulkhead is the one with "the vision."

Wardogs feels like Call of Duty without the pressure to kill or be killed – as long as you're making phat stacks.

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave joins Three Houses as the second-highest rated game in the series, but Awakening still rests at the top of the pile.

Not counting The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is undoubtedly Nintendo's biggest release of 2026 – which says a lot considering we've already had the likes of Pokemon Pokopia and Star Fox. The excellent tactical RPG series is returning with what looks to be an incredibly ambitious follow-up to fan-favorite title Three Houses, with four protagonists leading the story this time (although it was almost as high as eight!).

At the time of writing, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave has landed on a score of 89 over on Metacritic. This places it alongside the massively beloved Switch release Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which Fortune's Weave could be a sequel to if some of the character appearances in trailers are any indication. This places it as the joint second-best game in the franchise as far as Metacritic score goes; however, Fire Emblem Awakening – the game that saved the series – still reigns supreme with a score of 92.

Among 60 critic reviews, 15 of those gave the game full marks on their review scale, including the likes of IGN and Eurogamer. Meanwhile the game's lowest scoring reviews are three 7/10 ratings, which is still a pretty great score.

In the GamesRadar+ Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave review, freelance writer Alan Wen awarded the game a rating of four out of five stars, saying "Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave builds on Three House's multi-path structure as an even grander and more ambitious epic, with a gripping story and engaging battles that would shine brighter were it not for the myriad of busywork dragging down its momentum."

It's taken 9 years, but a great feature from one of the best 3DS Fire Emblem games returns in Fortune's Weave, and it's probably going to make the tactical JRPG even bigger.