10 Cloverfield Lane is already topping the box office this weekend, Julia has seen it, and we’re going to talk about it in this week’s Cutscene.
Topics covered in our no-spoilers discussion:

10 Cloverfield Lane was announced when?
Is it related to Cloverfield at all?
Is it any good?
J.J. Abrams’ Mystery Box philosophy on art: effective, or just annoying?
The Captain America: Civil War trailer

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In each episode of Quality Control, Polygon editor-at-large Justin McElroy talks to a critic after they review a new game and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong?
In this episode, we talk with Allegra Frank about her review of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth which you can find right here. We’d love to know what you think in the comments below!

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The Division is an online multiplayer RPG-shooter, which means that most of the time you’re supposed to spend with it is going to take place after you’ve finished the main story and hit the level 30 cap. I’m not there yet, but after 15 hours of playing, I feel like I understand — more so than I did during my time with The Division’s beta — what works about this cooperative cover-based shooter, and what absolutely does not work.
You can watch Justin, known Dark Zone provocateur, and myself discuss our time with The Division in the Overview video above; although we don’t really get into his main grievance with the game.

Leaks aplenty about evil ancient tentacle gods Details on the next expansion for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft appear to be leaking, sometimes in the strangest ways. And it appears that expansion will be called Whispers of the Old Gods, and focus on the heavily tentacled, evil eldritch gods of the Warcraft universe.
Oddly enough, one of the bigger leaks that seems to confirms Whispers of the Old Gods is a painted billboard that’s currently going up in Brookyln, New York. A member of the Hearthstone subreddit spotted and photographed the in-progress ad on the side of a Williamsburg building.

We checked out the mural for ourselves earlier today and it appears to be still very much a work-in-progress (and the painters have finally covered up the logo of the supposed expansion).
One thing we know for sure is that Blizzard has some sort of Hearthstone announcement planned for tomorrow, March 11.

Join us March 11 as we announce what’s next for #Hearthstone! https://t.co/4JLz4xIPCY pic.twitter.com/NHhenPTO1T
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) March 4, 2016

So what is Whispers of the Old Gods? YouTuber “Disguised Toast" has an excellent rundown on what it’s probably all about: giant evil tentacle monsters. He provides some compelling evidence, thanks to some hints dropped by Blizzard itself.

For a look at the future of Hearthstone, read Polygon’s story on how Blizzard plans to keep its collectible card game fresh and balanced in the coming years.

It may be the sixth proper game in the series, but Hitman (2016) is likely being held to the standards of just one of its predecessors.
Hitman: Blood Money has become a cult hit since its release in 2006, its methodical and creative assassination gameplay serving as a benchmark for a different take on the stealth action genre. Blood Money refined developer Io Interactive’s sandbox sensibilities into something both approachable and sophisticated, honing the ideals of experimentation and improvisation that the series had been building until then. While 2012 saw a follow-up in Hitman Absolution, Io’s turn toward a more cinematic, action-driven bent for series protagonist Agent 47 alienated fans who wanted more of Blood Money’s puzzle boxes.
From a design perspective, this new Hitman feels like a response to those fans, and their desire for a more perfectly realized system to experiment with their more murderous, Rube Goldberg-ian impulses. But for reasons best speculated on elsewhere, Io Interactive is once again adding a new, impossible-to-ignore variable to the equation: Hitman isn’t releasing all in one piece. Instead, the game has been separated into “episodes" scheduled to be released throughout 2016, each one a proper chapter as would be expected in previous Hitman titles. This review will follow the series as it develops, with updates as each chapter arrives detailing the current state of the game.

Episode One — March, 2016

Hitman’s first episode is a promising start for the game. It opens prior to the events of its predecessors, as Agent 47 is inducted into the clandestine International Contract Agency, or ICA, and meets his handler and confidante throughout the series, Diana. The ICA immediately subjects 47 to a battery of training scenarios to ascertain his field competency in completing assassination assignments, an opportunity Io smartly uses to serve as Hitman’s tutorial.
Io has always struggled introducing its systems to new players. While many games take place in an open area, allowing players to screw around without issue, Hitman has numerous overlapping systems that allow for improvisation and creative play that depend almost entirely on the reaction of NPCs to make magic happen. With so many opportunities, it’s vital that players understand exactly what 47 can do, and how the world will react to his actions, and in that respect, Hitman does particularly well.
Of course, with the game’s defaults enabled, this can feel like overzealous babysitting. Hitman allows you to disable almost any UI element and information supplement you prefer, even walking through each type in the tutorial and giving an option to disable them. But without tweaking those settings, Hitman feels a little aggressive in telling players about the different options available to them. The in-game UI taps them on the shoulder with important bits of information and providing waypoints on the screen leading to vital mission intel and targets often before the game has even established what they’re for.
What they’re for, ultimately, is killing. Hitman is a game with a narrow focus: Kill your targets. The goal is simple, but the complex world that exists around that target is Hitman’s appeal. In that respect, this new game so far seems poised to top Blood Money or any other game in the series for that matter. The game’s prologue missions feel on par with previous games in the series regarding size and scope, but Paris, the first chapter, feels bigger than almost any previous level in the series, with what seemed like more than half a dozen possible ways to complete its objectives.

Exploring this episode —€” a fashion show in Paris complete with a runway you can experience firsthand —€” felt like the realization of Blood Money’s often clumsy attempts to build a world on hardware that wasn’t truly capable of it. Wandering with deadly purpose through hundreds of partygoers inside a massive mansion, Hitman has moments of true disassociation from the obvious systems that dominate most stealth games. It feels organic.
This organic sensibility does add a new layer of complication to the series. You can tamper with objects and sabotage various bits of equipment and machines, but you’ll often need tools found around the world to do so. Where a crowbar or wrench may have been a level-specific prop in previous games good only for mayhem, here, they’re necessary to complete certain tasks. I felt forced to make use of the environment much more, and this was a good thing.
This is important, as Hitman has an involved challenge system practically daring you to try every possible strategy and dig through every level as thoroughly as possible. The breadth of stuff in the prologue and first chapter are in keeping with series tradition, but something feels forced about how heavy-handed Hitman is about the things you should do and see.
I can’t help but feel this is in place to make what Hitman is bringing to market feel more full than it actually is. I felt a bizarre disconnect finishing the first chapter of the game knowing there wouldn’t be another episode for … I’m not sure how long, actually. Io is trying to push a cliffhanger-laden story with the game that sets each episode up as part of a vast global conspiracy, but right now, Hitman doesn’t feel episodic —€” it just feels unfinished.

This isn’t just due to an unceremonious end once you complete the Paris mission. There are numerous rough spots in Hitman’s presentation, including a "Russian" general who switches accents intermittently and some quest triggers that didn’t work in the review build I played. Other than the aforementioned accent, everyone in the game is speaking English, regardless of setting. More damning, menus in Hitman are very sluggish — pausing the game to save, load or do anything else can often take 30 seconds or more.
And, finally, and maybe most obviously, Hitman is a strange, difficult to qualify value proposition right now. You can get just the prologue and first episode for $15, with a $50 fee to upgrade to the full "season," and, like other episodic games, you can go episode to episode if you want to. But with a game that very much feels like a AAA game cut into pieces, this all seems a little surreal.
Luckily for Io, and, well, for me as a fan of the series, what it has finished is a very promising start. Even discounting the next episode, the return of Contracts mode, which allows players to create their own custom assignments for other players to attempt, signals that players will have a fair amount to do. And the Elusive targets Io plans to introduce to the game over time could be an exciting experiment in "event" programming, if all goes well —” and we’ll update this review once the first Elusive contract goes live. In the meantime, there’s enough in Hitman now to suggest Io might be making the game that Blood Money hinted could be possible. And the hard part now is waiting to see if Io can make good on that.
To be continued …

First details on the return of Street Fighter 3’s star Two major updates are coming to Street Fighter 5 this month: the arrival of the game’s first DLC fighter, Alex, and the addition of a host of long-awaited — and desperately needed — game features.
On the Capcom Unity blog, the publisher offers first details on how Alex will play, nearly 20 years after his debut in Street Fighter 3. Two decades on, Alex is still Power Bombing, according to Capcom:

In Street Fighter V, Alex returns as a powerful grappler that can inflict big damage with his close range Power Bomb command grab and his long limbs to fight from midrange distances. The threat doesn’t end there however, as Alex has a variety of special attacks that can cover a large portion of the screen for those times when the opponent keeps him out. Players looking for a methodical grappler who can do big burst damage up close, yet still do well at midrange, will find themselves perfectly at home with Alex.

Alex’s V-Skill is called Overhaul, and activating it makes him stretch, which powers up his next attack. Once Alex finishes his stretching animation, Capcom says, “the very next attack he pulls off will count as a hard hit and damage the opponent as if they were counter attacked. If that attack misses or is blocked however, he loses the hard hit bonus."
His V-Trigger move gives Alex a new move: a charged clothesline attack. Alex’s Critical Art, a powerful chop-and-drop combo, sees him smash his opponent into the ground.
Alex is the first of six confirmed characters coming to Street Fighter 5 as downloadable content. He can be purchased with in-game Fight Money or with real-world cash.
March will also see an update that delivers Street Fighter 5’s challenges, its in-game store and larger battle lounges, which are currently limited to just two players. Here are the details, from Capcom:

Challenge ModeDemonstrations: Learn the ins and outs of Street Fighter V through helpful demonstration and tutorial content. Contains content for each of the 16 characters, as well as advice geared towards players of all skill levels:

Beginner Tutorials: 12 lessons covering, movement, normal attacks, special attacks, V-System, throws, counter hits, chip/recoverable damage, etc.
Intermediate Tutorials: 11 lessons covering projectiles, invincibility frames, armor and armor break, recovery, cross-up attacks, anti-air options, etc.
Advanced Tutorials: 4 lessons covering back dashing, frame advantage/disadvantage, combo potential, button priority, etc.
Character Tutorials: 16 lessons covering each individual character.

Trials: Put your skills to the ultimate test with combo trials for all 16 characters, ranging from basic to pro combos. Completing Trials will also earn you some extra Fight Money.
In-Game ShopFight Money Expenditure: Spend your hard earned Fight Money to purchase extra game content, such as DLC characters and the Story Mode Costumes.
Online Rematch OptionSalty from a close loss online? Want revenge? Players can now play a 2/3 set in Ranked Match, provided both players accept the rematch.
Battle Lounge ImprovementsEnjoy up to 8 person lobbies, complete with match spectating.

Capcom also has some bug fixes and balance changes planned as part of the March update, which doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet.

Do androids dream of pain? Watch on YouTube | Subscribe to Polygon on YouTube
Violence is a tricky thing in virtual reality.
You almost naturally recoil from hurting another human being when it feels like you’re actually there, but that hesitation is lessened when you’re killing a robot. There’s also a technological reason for these soulless opponents: Robots are a good fit for the stylized worlds that help keep HTC Vive games running at 90 frames per second.
So you’re going to find robots in a lot of games in virtual reality and, when you find them, you’re likely going to be able to hurt them. So that’s what we did. We hurt every robot we could find.
All footage for this supercut was taken from games played on the HTC Vive, and it was shot in the process of creating in-depth videos for a variety of virtual reality games. We didn’t realize the trend of robot violence until later, and this compilation is the result of our findings.
Virtual reality may not be a safe place if you’re made of metal.

A look at three planets and a bunch of wacky weapons We’re about a month out from the release of Ratchet & Clank, the PlayStation 4 reimagining of the first game in Insomniac’s long-running shooter-platformer hybrid series. We were recently able to play through multiple planets in the new game showcasing a wide variety of gameplay.

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Ratchet and Clank on PlayStation 4 is ‘a new game,’ not just a remake

The video above features 80 minutes of our playthrough, including a look at treks through the planets of Aridia, Rilgar and Kerwan. In addition to the eccentric weapons and light platforming puzzles the series is known for, you can also get a taste of some of the variety Ratchet & Clank will use to mix things up.
On one planet, we enter a hoverboard race, hitting boost pads and performing tricks as we jump through the air and try to take first place. On another, we fly to a new area only to discover it’s under siege by enemy warships. Ratchet joins in the battle in his own tiny spaceship, leading to an epic dogfight.
Ratchet & Clank for PlayStation 4 will be released on April 12. A film based on the series will follow soon after, hitting theaters on April 26.

A new take on the tower defense series PopCap Games announced that it will launch Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, a card game based on the popular tower defense franchise, on Android and iOS this year. The free-to-play game is currently in “select territories," the company said in a press release, and will be available worldwide at a later date.
The video above shows off the new take on Plants vs. Zombies with a quick look at the character-based gameplay. Players can collect and create decks of cards featuring hundreds of heroes from the franchise, both new and old. Players can control either plants or zombies, a feature senior producer Brian Lindley calls a series’ first on the Plants vs. Zombies Heroes’ website.
New playable characters will be available as in-app purchases, although an FAQ on the game’s website explains that "everything in the game can also be earned and collected without spending a penny."
Both single-player and multiplayer missions are included. PopCap will introduce competitive PvP and a crafting system to the game later this year, according to Lindley.
Last month, Electronic Arts published Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 on consoles. Check out our review of the game — developed by EA Canada, not PopCap Games — which is now available on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.
Take a look at that game in our video below.

Welcome to one of the simplest, and best, Vive games Watch on YouTube | Subscribe to Polygon on YouTube
This is Space Pirate Trainer for the HTC Vive. You hold two laser guns and shoot at waves and waves of drones. It’s very easy to explain, and I take you through the different weapons available in the preview build sent by the developers in the video above, but seeing it is only part of the story.
“Space Pirate Trainer is a virtual reality game that makes full use of room scale VR and tracked controllers," the official page states. "The game will show you how good you are at being a Space Pirate and/or train you in becoming a better one. Not that you’ll probably ever need to be, but still …"
The game, even in this early form, is physical in a direct and satisfying way. You have to learn how to aim well with both hands, and know when to get your shield out. You also have to master the use of each setting on your gun, but that’s only part of the experience. You also have to learn how to move your actual body away from enemy fire as you take advantage of the time dilation that happens when you’re attacked.
That sometimes means ducking or stepping out of the way. During one memorable session I dropped completely, hit the floor hard on my back, and returned fire backward as I rolled around to dodge the second barrage of enemy fire. I’ve shown this game to many people and everyone gets it instantly, but it takes a very long time to master. The motion-tracked weapons and ability to dodge in the room-scale VR gives you a surprising amount of creative freedom, and it’s great fun to just jump in there and start to play in that space.
This is the sort of experience that really shows off what the Vive can do. It’s physically demanding, it’s challenging and it’s something that can only somewhat be conveyed in words or video. Developer I-Illusions will release Space Pirate Trainer this April, alongside the Vive.