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This Week (Aug 9 to Aug 16) |
The second week of August comes with several release windows and game development confirmations, further hyping up anticipation for upcoming games. Kingdom Hearts fans are on the lookout for more details on the upcoming 4th installment through the D23 panel, while Harry Potter fans should expect more announcements from the sequel coming this year. Aniimo is set to come in September after a successful CBT, but global Azur Promilia fans may need to wait a bit longer for the global server to launch. Love and Deepspace, on the other hand, continues to tread in deep waters as they release new content without addressing other issues.
Game8 also had the opportunity to sit down with the developers of DragonSword: Awakening, an action-adventure RPG that famously turned their live-service game into a premium standalone game—the gacha experience at your fingertips for one all-encompassing price.
Here’s a quick look at some of the week’s biggest gaming headlines.
Gaming News At A Glance
DragonSword: Awakening Producer and Director Double Down on the Switch to a Standalone Game
Kingdom Hearts D23 Panel Sparks Hope for KH4 Updates
Hogwarts Legacy 2 Might Come Sooner Than Later
Love and Deepspace Reveals Vermillion God Rafayel Myth Despite Outstanding Valko Support
DokeV Finally Breaks Silence and Sets 2028 Release
Other News and Developments This Week
Gaming News At A Glance: DragonSword: Awakening Sets New Standard and KH4 and Hogwarts Legacy 2 Might Come Soon
DragonSword: Awakening Producer and Director Double Down on the Switch to a Standalone Game
DragonSword: Awakening made headlines for its transition from being a live service game to a standalone premium title. Game8 sat down with Producer JYJ and Director/CEO Park Jungsic for their thoughts on the process. While the workload hasn’t necessarily slowed down, they shared that they’re now able to properly prioritize enhancing player experience and game quality, a welcome change from when they were in live service.
Still, it wasn’t an easy journey, and it's one that they can’t easily recommend. Resources, time, and dealing with player response required a lot of endurance to go through it. "When a game disappears, for the players who invested their time in it, it means something more than just one service coming to an end," they said. With that in mind, they sought to preserve the game in a more premium state, and so far, it’s been a success. They hope that despite the difficulties, DragonSword: Awakening can stand as an example that the end of a live service is not always the final nail in the coffin.
Kingdom Hearts D23 Panel Sparks Hope for KH4 Updates
Kingdom Hearts fans brace for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts panel at the Disney D23 event in hopes of any news on the upcoming next installment. First revealed in 2022, news about Kingdom Hearts 4 (KH4) has been scarce ever since, only to suddenly shock everyone with a surprise trailer revealed in Nintendo’s June 2026 Direct. With this momentum already going, fans are hoping to catch more details and information about the game.
The panel will feature guests such as Nana Gadd (Disney Japan Game Director), Tai Yasue (Square Enix Japan Game Director), Haley Joel Osment (Sora’s Voice Actor), David Gallagher (Riku’s Voice Actor), and Renée Johnson (Disney Voice Director). Yasue, in particular, is already known for being directly involved in KH4 as its co-director, thus fueling speculations and excitement even more for his appearance.
Hogwarts Legacy 2 Might Come Sooner Than Later
Hogwarts Legacy 2 is certainly still in development, as confirmed by Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q2 2026 shareholder letter. Concrete details were not shared, but the company directly stated the game outright as part of its expanding lineup. With relative silence since its first confirmation of development back in 2024, fans are more than happy to finally get some news about the title, even if small.
This appears to be part of the company’s bid to push forward the Harry Potter IP, with the HBO series, a themed tour in Shanghai, Harry Potter land in Abu Dhabi set to arrive in the future as well.
Love and Deepspace Reveals Vermillion God Rafayel Myth Despite Outstanding Valko Support
Love and Deepspace drops Rafayel’s newest Myth event, [Po Zhen Zi], set to launch on August 17th and ending on the 31st. Set in an ancient, war-torn land, Rafayel becomes the Vermillion Martial God who, despite his godliness, is tethered to the mortal realm by his "soul’s anchor." This welcomes the LI’s Vermillion Martial God Myth Companion along with his Solar Pair. The event will also give several Memories, Wishes, and Diamonds for free with participation.
However, the replies to the announcement post on X (Twitter) and other social media sites suggest that the boycott and outrage concerning cancelled LI Valko are still in full force. Comment sections are full of #BringBackValko and #ValkoisLoved posts, urging developer Infold to properly address the elephant—or rather, wolf—in the room.
DokeV Finally Breaks Silence and Sets 2028 Release
DokeV finally sets a target release year of 2028, a long nine years after its initial announcement back in 2019. The plan was confirmed in Pearl Abyss’ (Crimson Desert, Black Desert Online) Q2 2026 earnings letter. Based on Korean folklore and mythology, DokeV is a creature-collecting open-world action-adventure where players collect and befriend creatures called Dokebi.
The company acknowledged that DokeV’s production was sidelined for Crimson Desert, and that now that it has already more or less solidified its place, they will now refocus their efforts on completing DokeV and utilize what they’ve learned from developing Crimson Desert. DokeV will be the first project to benefit from the "rapid-cycle" system.
Other News and Developments This Week
⚫︎ Pokémon Pokopia Hits 5 Million Sales Following First DLC Release
⚫︎ Battlefield 6 x Top Gun Collab Takes Flight on August 18
⚫︎ Aniimo Release Date Confirmed For September 15 On Its PlayStation Page
⚫︎ Ghost of Yotei Complete Edition Launches October 1 with New Expansion and Combat
⚫︎ Meccha Chameleon Developer Leaves Cryptic Message After Successfully Hitting 20 Million Copies Sold
⚫︎ PEAK's Final Major Update, The Final Ascent, Is Now Live
⚫︎ Phantom Blade Zero State of Play Set for August 17 With Nearly 20 Minutes of New Gameplay
⚫︎ AFK Journey x Digimon Adventure Crossover Brings Agumon, Gabumon, and Digivolution on August 18
⚫︎ Azur Promilia Opens Pre-Registration in Korea and China, Leaving Global Fans Wanting More
⚫︎ Granblue Fantasy Announces Shaman King, Gintama, MHA Collabs And a Wave of New Updates
⚫︎ Persona 4 Revival Producer Explains Its Biggest Changes and Teases Future Persona Remakes
⚫︎ 2026 Wholesome Games Celebration Must-Play Games: Our Top Recommendations
