🎮 Top 5 Announcements From Triple-i Initiative, No Zombie Animals in State Of Decay 3 and Plants vs Zombies 3 Soft Launch...
New Don’t Starve Game Announced, Valor Mortis Gets A Release Window, Alkahest Gameplay Reveal, A Free DLC For Cairn Announced And More!
Hello friends,
Today is April 21st 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌
In today’s news:
🎮 New Don’t Starve Game Announced
🎮 Valor Mortis Gets A Release Window
🎮 Alkahest Gameplay Reveal
🎮 A Free DLC For Cairn Announced
🎮 Long Gone Revealed
🎮 No Zombie Animals in State Of Decay 3
🎮 Plants vs Zombies 3 Tries To Release For Almost A Decade
🫡 True Tribute!
😄 Personal Update
All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️
Let’s dig in!
Another showcase has taken place recently, and it’s the Triple-i Initiative. A lot of new things were announced, and today I wanted to cover as much of it as I can. Here’s my personal Top 5:
🎮 New Don’t Starve Game Announced
Triple-i Initiative brought a lot of interesting things this year, and one of them is the announcement of Don’t Starve Elsewhere!
The newest entry in the Don’t Starve lineup maintains the beloved survival-crafting loop, but with a bunch of new twists. According to the official description, the game will have all-new biomes, rife with danger, precious resources, and various climates in a procedurally-generated world. Also, it will introduce a new hazard system called the Fog that curses all it touches, but apparently contains its own secrets to explore. This game also seems to have improved visuals while still maintaining the signature art style as well as familiar heroes. And it will also have a full-fledged multiplayer, just like Don’t Starve Together.
The only downside is that there is no official release date yet and no pricing details.
And this is huge! So far, the track record of Klei Entertainment is absolutely impeccable with Don’t Starve. Both the original game and the multiplayer sequel still have Overwhelmingly Positive reviews and strong commercial numbers. And since the studio is not trying to reinvent the wheel here, just building and improving on the solid foundation they already have, there is no reason to believe that this game will be anything but another success. The only thing that could go wrong is the fact that the market is a little oversaturated with survival and sandbox games right now, but since this game is a bit unique, I don’t think it poses too big a threat.
Are you excited about the new Don’t Starve game?
🎮 Valor Mortis Gets A Release Window
Another thing that was announced during the Triple-i Initiative recently is a release window for this Napoleon first-person souls-like. The game is set to be released in Fall 2026.
If you missed it, Valor Mortis is set in an alternate 19th-century Europe shaped by Napoleon’s wars and a supernatural plague. And along with the release window, One More Level also showed a bunch of new interesting gameplay. Along with that, some outlets had a bunch of interviews with the developers, like Insider Gaming, for example. And according to them, one hour with Valor Mortis felt like seconds, so they even think that it might be a sleeper Game Of The Year contender.
Personally, I don’t know about that, but looking at the trailers, the game looks incredibly polished indeed. What I think is more likely is that it will become a very respected mid-tier action game. After all, it’s a new IP with gameplay that might not be for everyone. First-person melee combat is harder to tune for broad appeal than conventional third-person action, as animation readability, spacing clarity, and perceived fairness become more fragile in this perspective. And since this game doesn’t have the pull of a big franchise, an overwhelmingly positive review consensus or unusually strong attention from content creators, I think this game might have a ceiling.
Still, if it’s at least mildly successful, it could pave the way for a new generation of souls-likes centred around the first-person perspective and then the next game will definitely be a Game Of The Year.
🎮 Alkahest Gameplay Reveal
Medieval action RPG from Push On also got a fresh trailer with its first gameplay reveal.
If you don’t know what it is, Alkahest is a game where satisfying melee combat with highly interactive environments takes centre stage, and you explore realistic locations, learn alchemy and make a name for your family. And the footage shows us as much. There is quite a lot of combat, environmental interactions, encounters with different goblins and quite a lot of alchemy. The studio also firmly believes in quality over quantity. So, the world won’t be a massive open world. Instead, it will be smaller, but completely packed with secrets and reactive systems to keep players entertained. Also, they cited titles like Dishonored and Dark Messiah as their primary inspirations, and those are great games to aim for.
Unfortunately, the game still doesn’t have a release date.
And this is yet another strong AA game. Those kicks, finishers, reactive environments, alchemy, and weapons look absolutely amazing. Which is already enough to attract not huge, but a very selective and dedicated audience if the game ends up being polished enough. Since it’s a project from a recently formed small indie studio, it’s unlikely to outspend competitors on sheer content volume or cinematic density. But the depth is already there.
So, while it’s almost impossible for a title like this to earn billions of dollars, I think it should perform strongly enough to sustain the new studio and also open up opportunities for new games moving forward. So, I’ll definitely keep an eye on it.
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🎮 A Free DLC For Cairn Announced
Cairn has already earned a lot of attention from players around the world, and what better way to keep that attention than a free DLC?
On the Trail: Deep Water is the first free DLC in a planned “On the Trail” series and will introduce three new climbing areas, each with its own set of challenges. Also, it looks like this expansion will add the ability to climb over water if falling is a concern for you. And this DLC launches in Summer 2026, so you won’t have to wait too long.
And for what was supposed to be a small indie launch, this game is sure making a big splash. Aside from some impressive milestones, like reaching 200,000 copies sold in just 4 days, Cairn also earned almost universal praise from both fans and critics, with Steam reviews stably sitting at Very Positive. But kudos to The Game Bakers as they clearly saw the opportunity here to transform this title into a long-tail premium brand instead of a one-off release.
With a strong reception and numbers like that, it’s definitely a smart move. And honestly, I think even if they charged money for this DLC, I think a lot of players still bought it. But it looks like retention and reputation are more valuable for them than money, which is also always a smart place to invest.
🎮 Long Gone Revealed
If you enjoy pixel graphics and stories similar to The Last of Us, this game will be just for you.
Long Gone is a 3D pixel narrative adventure where you explore an abandoned suburban neighbourhood decades after the outbreak. The main goal is to solve environmental puzzles with your cat companion and uncover the secret lives of the people long gone through the belongings they left behind. Oh, and of course, to watch out for zombies. The game is set to release in 2027.
What’s curious about this game is that, according to the website, it’s a solo-developed project and it has already passed 250,000 wishlists even before it was featured during Triple-i Initiative. So, the interest is definitely already there, and it’s usually the hardest part for an indie game, getting the word out. Now the biggest concern is the actual delivery, especially since it’s a solo development effort.
And even though I’m not a huge fan of pixel graphics, the game looks and sounds fantastic. With such a presentation, the features and non-combat zombie tension, all it needs is a compelling story, and we are going to have a very solid game.
Now, of course, there was a lot more stuff announced during Triple-i. So, if you want to check out the rest of the announcements, here’s a good breakdown from Insider Gaming.
And in the meantime, let’s move on to the rest of the industry
🎮 No Zombie Animals in State Of Decay 3
And the developers also admit that they announced the game waaay too early.
According to an interview with Sunny Games, Head of Undead Labs, Philip Holt said that when State of Decay 3 was announced back in 2020, the game was still just a Word document and the team had only four or five people at the time. So, the trailer that we all saw was basically just a concept showcasing the initial ideas that Undead Labs wanted to explore. But as the development ramped up, some of those ideas didn’t work out that well. Which is why Holt also officially confirmed that there will be no undead animals in the game, despite the absolutely terrifying zombie deer we all saw in the trailer. Unfortunately, he decided not to reveal anything else, like whether we will see a snow biome or if the game is going to have some sort of camping feature.
I guess we’ll have to see what is or isn’t there when the alpha playtest starts.
And I think now is the perfect time to start aligning the expectations. It’s not uncommon for game developers to share things prematurely. I mean, we just heard Todd Howard say the same thing about The Elder Scrolls 6. Since this game is just getting back into the public eye, they definitely don’t want the community asking all those uncomfortable questions. The studio might suffer a minor reputational hit right now, but it builds a stronger foundation of transparency going forward. And the bottom line is that these situations are normal in game development. You throw a bunch of ideas at the wall and see what sticks. If it doesn’t, it’s actually a good idea to cut it out. Even if you previously advertised it. Of course, it’s not your best and unique selling point 😅
It’s definitely a smart way for Undead Labs to get ahead and improve how the market reads future footage, as I’m sure once the playtest starts, we are going to see a lot of it, as well as people comparing what they play vs what we all saw in the trailers.
🎮 Plants vs Zombies 3 Tries To Release For Almost A Decade
While we are on the subject of Zombies, some of you should probably remember this highly addictive game that rocked the world back in the day. And now, almost 20 years later, the company still struggles to produce the third part in this franchise.
Since the initial development started almost ten years ago, Plants vs. Zombies 3: Evolved is in soft launch again on iPhone and Android devices in Ireland and the Philippines, before a wider rollout beginning in the UK and Singapore over the next couple of months. And it’s the third time this game has tried to launch. The company announced soft launches before, specifically in 2020 and then a second one in 2021, with a broader soft launch in 2024. After that, the game was removed from all stores for a major overhaul, and now they are back at it.
With that said, PopCap said in a recent blog post that the current Early Access is as early as it gets. Meaning that the features in the game are still under review and are subject to change. So, the game is still growing, so to speak 😅
We don’t talk about mobile games too much, but the struggle is real. Whether it’s a AAA blockbuster or a mobile free-to-play game, it takes a lot to succeed right now, which is why it’s understandable why it takes so long for these guys to come up with the concept that works. And this game is honestly not in the worst possible state. This IP is still widely recognisable and has a decent fan base, so the opportunities to test are definitely there. The only concern is the internal pressure. I doubt that EA is too happy about the fact that their next prime game is still not producing any revenue after 10 years of development.
So, let’s hope they eventually rescue this franchise before the publisher pulls the plug.
🫡 True Tribute!
Today I wanted to salute Mark from AGP and Amazing Gaming Productions !
I absolutely admire people who build communities. In fact, some of you might remember some futile attempts from yours truly to do the same 😅 But it didn’t work as I bit more than I could chew. With that said, I absolutely agree with Mark from AGP that community is very important, especially if you are trying to build something. Great points all around.
And I’m glad to be part of our whole Substack community with people like that! 😉
😄 Personal Update
Another huge thing happened recently. I finally received my PR card 🍁🎉
So, this means that I can start planning some trips to visit my family and friends in Europe after the long 3 years of being away from them. And I can’t express how excited I’m about this 😁
The only downside is that the flights are really not cheap, but oh well. Also, if you are planning to visit Europe sometime during September this year and want to grab some coffee or something and talk shop about game development, give me a nudge 😉
This is all the news I have for you folks today.
Thanks for making it this far! 🙌
If you feel like supporting me and my work, consider Powering-Up GameDev Relay 🎮
Have a great week!
Alex from Gamedev Relay.
You and me both.
I tried a few years back, it fell apart.
But the community here in Substack is pretty easy going!