Vanguard Exiles launches on March 11 as next game from Magic creator Richard Garfield - Related to can, ranked, after, muse, worlds

5 best animated war movies, ranked

Table of Contents Table of Contents 5. In This Corner of the World (2016) 4. Flee (2021) 3. Waltz with Bashir (2008) 2. Persepolis (2007) 1. Grave of the Fireflies (1988).

War is a devastating force that has brought unimaginable horrors. When depicted through animated films, terrible stories from the battlefield take on a haunting power that differs from what live-action can capture. Animated war movies capture the brutality of conflict while offering unique artistic perspectives, immersing viewers in vivid worlds that can be full of gut-wrenching moments.

From the infamous tearjerker Grave of the Fireflies to the one-of-a-kind documentary Waltz with Bashir, the best animated war films blend artistry and profound storytelling to leave a lasting impact. Whether it’s through surreal dreamscapes or stark realism, these visually arresting works have cemented their legacy as some of the greatest and most profound war movies ever made.

In This Corner of the World is an achingly beautiful anime film that portrays wartime Japan through the eyes of a young woman. Set in the 1930s and 1940s, the film follows the quiet and artistic Suzu Urano (voiced by Rena Nōnen), from her childhood in Hiroshima to her move to the neighboring port town of Kure after an arranged marriage. In this peaceful corner of the world, Suzu embraces the small joys despite the looming threat of war. Air raids and food shortages soon affect her community, but she is determined to find beauty wherever she looks, no matter what.

Director Sunao Katabuchi imbues the manga adaptation with a striking delicacy despite its heavy subject, highlighting Suzu’s subtle strength and optimism. This delicate approach is seen through the protagonist’s resilience and personality and in the film’s animation. In This Corner of the World‘s watercolor-like visuals and gentle brushstrokes evoke a nostalgia that contrasts sharply with the narrative’s harsh realities.

Stream In This Corner of the World on Peacock.

Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Flee tells the real-life story of Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym used to protect his identity), an Afghan refugee who recounts his journey from war-torn Kabul to Denmark. His interviews with Rasmussen reveal details about his past, including his family’s escape from the Mujahideen-controlled Afghanistan of the 1980s and their attempts to reach safety in Europe. A key part of his story is his recollection of his struggles with his sexual identity as a gay man in cultures that offered little acceptance. Amin also examines how his past plays a key role in shaping his relationships, particularly with his longtime partner, Kasper.

Flee is a distinct fusion of documentary, animation, and personal testimony, with this innovative combination allowing the film to reflect Amin’s psyche. The fluid, hand-drawn style shifts from realism to abstraction, showing the fragmented nature of the subject’s memory as well as the psychological weight of his displacement despite moving to safety. The 2021 film greatly benefits from Rasmussen’s sensitive direction, which never sensationalizes Amin’s trauma but allows his voice to guide the deeply moving narrative that becomes an essential story for survivors who understand the struggle of searching for a place to call home.

Part documentary, part animated fever dream, Waltz with Bashir is a surreal odyssey that defies easy categorization. After realizing he has no recollection of his traumatic experiences from 1982, director Ari Folman reconstructs his own repressed memories of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. To do so, he sets up a series of interviews with former comrades, piecing together fragments of lost history (sometimes surprised to find his own) in the remarkable 2008 movie. He soon discovers that he is much closer than he realized to one of the most infamous war crimes of the 20th century, the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

Folman takes audiences through the fog of memory as he uncovers the horrors of war, told through one dreamlike sequence after another. The film’s use of a graphic novel aesthetic makes it strangely hypnotic, with the animation of real-life testimonies lending them a detached, eerie atmosphere that underscores the distortion of trauma and memory. Waltz with Bashir invites viewers to this surreal world, only to deliver an unforgettable gut punch as Folman—and anyone watching—is reminded that this nightmare is reality.

Buy or rent Waltz with Bashir on Prime Video or Apple.

A bold coming-of-age film unlike any other, Persepolis breathes life into director Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel, capturing the events of her tumultuous youth in Iran during and after the Islamic Revolution. It starts with the depiction of a young Marjane (voiced by Chiara Mastroianni), a fiercely independent and outspoken girl, who witnesses the fall of the Shah, the rise of a repressive regime, and the devastating Iran-Iraq War. Marjane’s parents soon send her to Austria for her own safety, but she finds herself lonely, alienated, and questioning her place and identity.

The heart of the story is Marjane’s struggle to figure out where she belongs, with her wrestling between her love for Iran and the painful reality of the state of the country. Inspired by Satrapi’s original artwork, her story is told with striking black-and-white animation, complementing the highs and lows of the protagonist’s journey. Through Marjane’s complex experiences, Persepolis dispels the image of Iran as a monolith of oppression, instead revealing it as a place where love, resistance, and passion can exist.

Buy or rent Persepolis on Prime Video or Apple.

For fans of the genre (and of Studio Ghibli), Grave of the Fireflies is a film that needs no introduction. Directed by Isao Takahata, this heartbreaking animated film takes place in the final days of World War II, when Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi) and his younger sister, Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi), are struggling to survive. After their mother dies in an air raid on Kobe and their father, a naval officer, is missing in action, the pair are forced to fend for themselves as they go from one crumbling town to another. As food becomes scarce, their resourcefulness and strength are tested in ways no children should have to endure.

Grave of the Fireflies contrasts its breathtakingly beautiful animation style with the tragedy that it captures. The chaos is anchored by Seita and Setsuko’s connection as siblings, with their small moments of joy only making the devastating ones hit so much harder. The 1988 movie crucially showcases the human cost of war not through soldiers or politicians but rather through children caught in its merciless tide. Grave of the Fireflies has an iconic emotional ending that demands to be felt and remembered, not as a manipulative tearjerker but as a raw depiction of the consequences of a world that fails its most vulnerable.

Stream Grave of the Fireflies on Netflix.

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Microsoft’s Muse AI can design video game worlds after watching you play

Microsoft researchers have achieved what many in artificial intelligence considered a distant goal: teaching AI to understand and interact with three-dimensional spaces the way humans do. The breakthrough comes in the form of Muse, an AI model that can comprehend and generate complex gameplay sequences while maintaining consistent physics and character behaviors.

The model, detailed in a paper , learned entirely from observing human gameplay data — over seven years’ worth — from the Xbox game Bleeding Edge. Unlike traditional AI models that work with text or static images, Muse develops what researchers call a “practical understanding” of how objects, characters and environments interact in three-dimensional space over time.

Three key capabilities of Microsoft’s Muse AI system: consistency in physics, diversity in outcomes and persistence of user modifications. (Credit: Microsoft).

How Microsoft’s Muse AI sees, learns and plays like a human.

“The model architecture is agnostic to the game; the only requirement is access to an appropriate dataset,” introduced Katja Hofmann, senior principal research manager at Microsoft Research, in an . “We designed the model to use the most general data format, which we call the ‘human interface’ of visuals and controller actions.”.

This approach allows Muse to generate consistent gameplay sequences lasting up to two minutes — a significant technical achievement in maintaining coherent 3D world interactions over extended periods. The system can take just one second of game visuals as input and generate complex scenarios that respect game physics and character behaviors.

However, limitations exist. “Image resolution is fixed to 300×180 pixels,” Hofmann told VentureBeat. “There is a trade-off between model size and speed, meaning that our largest and most consistent models are also slowest at inference time.”.

Beyond gaming: how Muse could shape architecture, retail and manufacturing.

The development of Muse was shaped by extensive input from game creators. Microsoft researchers interviewed 27 game developers globally, including studios from both developed and developing nations, to ensure the technology would serve real creative needs.

Beyond gaming, Microsoft sees broader applications for the technology. Peter Lee, president of Microsoft Research, highlighted in a blog post potential uses in architecture, retail and manufacturing: “From reconfiguring the kitchen in your home to redesigning a retail space to building a digital twin of a factory floor to test and explore different scenarios. All these things are just now becoming possible with AI.”.

“The main limitation for applications beyond gaming is access to high-quality data,” Hofmann told VentureBeat. “Gaming is an excellent application area for driving advances, because large amounts of high-quality data can typically be collected more easily than in other 3D environments.”.

Preserving gaming history and empowering future creators.

For the gaming industry specifically, Xbox is exploring how this technology could help preserve classic games. “Thanks to this breakthrough, we are exploring the potential for Muse to take older back catalog games from our studios and optimize them for any device,” mentioned Fatima Kardar, corporate vice president of gaming AI at Microsoft, in a blog post.

The model achieves three key technical innovations: maintaining coherent physics and game mechanics over extended sequences; generating multiple varied but plausible continuations from the same starting point; and allowing individuals to modify generated content while maintaining those changes consistently.

“I am personally fascinated by Muse’s ability to learn a detailed understanding of a complex 3D environment purely from observing human gameplay data,” Hofmann expressed. “Our research demonstrates an exciting step towards novel interactive experiences crafted by creatives that are hyper-personalized to and by their players.”.

Microsoft is releasing the model weights and a demonstrator tool to researchers and creatives under a Microsoft Research License, though this is not yet an enterprise customer offering. This release aims to encourage further research and exploration of the technology’s capabilities.

The development signals a broader shift in AI capabilities: from understanding static content like text and images to comprehending dynamic 3D environments and human interactions. This could have far-reaching implications for how we design and interact with virtual spaces across industries.

As Microsoft moves to productize this research, it emphasizes that human creativity remains central. The technology is positioned as an assistive tool rather than a replacement for human game designers, aiming to augment rather than automate the creative process.

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Vanguard Exiles launches on March 11 as next game from Magic creator Richard Garfield

Vanguard Exiles, the next game by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield, will launch into early access on Steam on March 11.

The digital board game comes from Australian game developer The Tea Division, and it’s designed in association with Garfield. The title is an innovative auto battler with a redefined take on the genre. The devs say to prepare yourself for a competitive strategy gameplay experience unlike any other, offering new scenarios in each round ensuring no two turns are ever alike.

Dubbed “a board game that can’t be a board game,” Vanguard Exiles is a tabletop strategy game where the board constantly rearranges itself with each round, with players given one of countless squad combinations to control.

Set in a fantasy post-World War I diesel punk era where magic and technology fuse, your goal is simple: conquer enough territory to end the round in victory, where your strategy and decisions on the battlefield will be all that stands between you and a glorious victory…or a crushing defeat.

Vanguard Exiles goes into early access on Steam on March 11.

In Vanguard Exiles, each unit has its own identity, with its own distinctive look and a unique array of traits and abilities. To further this, each Squad has its own makeup, consisting of different combinations of units and actions. Combat happens automatically, but as mentioned earlier, this is no typical auto-battler. Strategy is key, and you’ll have to play smart, making tough tactical decisions to ensure your victory.

Vanguard Exiles offers an immense rule set of complex mechanics, all happening under the hood, aiming to teach players the nuances of gameplay rather than intimidate them. After each round, you’re even able to see what your chances of victory were. Did you play smart and get unlucky? Or play poorly but nab victory purely by chance? Every game teaches you something new, offering unprecedented room to hone your strategy against other players, who are likely refining their own personal playstyles.

The demo is currently available on Steam, offering a single-player mode to get you facing off against an AI opponent and familiarize yourself with the various units and actions available. But for those wanting the definitive gameplay experience, PvP comes to Vanguard Exiles in Early Access, launching March 11, not only giving players the option to battle it out online, but also with the addition of new Units and Actions available only in the early access build.

“Vanguard Exiles combines tabletop design with digital design into a unique and eclectic gameplay experience,” stated Garfield, game designer of Vanguard Exiles, in a statement. “The variety offered by the game is exciting, and skillful play introduces all sorts of unexpected novelty. My favorite thing in game design is having an interesting space to explore – like with Magic: The Gathering and Keyforge. Like those games, Vanguard Exiles is deeply interesting, and I am delighted to share it with a broader audience.”.

Vanguard Exiles was designed by Richard Garfield and built by The Tea Division.

“I’ve been in this industry for over 25 years and worked on some major titles and franchises, yet I’ve never been as excited or confident in a project as I have with Vanguard Exiles,” introduced Mark Rowley from The Tea Division, in a statement. “When we soft launched early playtests to get some initial feedback, we were pleasantly surprised by how captivated people were by it. New players were immediately curious about what they did to win or lose and wanted to play more to understand the underlying strategy.”.

Rowley added, “It didn’t take long for players to massively improve their game, and we have seen this with the single player demo since. We can’t wait to see what happens when players face off against each other in online matches with the release of Early Access. On that note, we have a dedicated Spectator Mode so players can analyze others’ strategies and learn just by watching.”.

The Tea Division is a remote studio based in Brisbane, gathering an assortment of passionate veterans, many of whom have worked together for decades, collectively having worked on over 100 games, spanning over 20 years of console, mobile, PC, indie and AAA video game development. A dynamic and innovative game development studio, their track record for delivering efficient solutions in a timely manner remains flawless, without ever compromising quality or service.

With extensive experience in leading/development, The Tea Division can spearhead an existing project or become an extension of the workforce to help realize their vision. Operating as a work for hire studio, there is no shortage of expertise in executing full platform ports, embedded team solutions, full project delivery, co-development and project firefighting.

Vanguard Exiles is The Tea Division’s first self-; a new style of Auto-battler designed Garfield.

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