Thanks to an exclusive preview of the Mystery Booster Commander Edition at Gen Con 2026 and now the set’s full release notes, we got a deeper look at what we can expect from the limited set — and Wizards, I’m begging you to make it as widely available as possible.

This is Magic: The Gathering’s third go at Mystery Booster (and for me, it’s third time’s the charm). Filled with reprints from across Magic’s past, the aim of the packs is to create a delightfully chaotic draft environment — a format where players only use cards they open up in the packs they are given.

This chaos is enhanced by fan-favorite art treatments giving cards strange new looks — such as Mystery Booster 2’s return to White Bordered and Future Framed cards — and ‘Playtest’ cards, game pieces that bend Magic’s rules or meme on the game and its community.

Commander Edition follows this trend with two very notable exceptions that make me more desperate than ever to play it myself: it’s a commander draft, and it has mechanically unique cards for the first time, which are legal in constructed play.

Commander draft shaped hole in my life

My favorite draft format is Commander. Instead of creating any hodgepodge of cards, you have to build your deck like you would for a standard EDH game. That is, a deck where all of the cards match the color identity of your leader, your Commander.

It’s not 100 cards, and it’s not singleton (you can play as many copies of cards you open as you have in your draft pool), but I find the deck-building restrictions of Commander an engaging puzzle to tackle while drafting.

I’ve found it also has a few advantages for chaos drafting. Luck can play a much bigger factor in what deck you can make, so taking two cards a pack can help you counter that variance. If someone is able to open some incredible cards, you have two other players to help you fight back, and the generally more casual feel makes defeat sting a little less.

Commander draft requires the right kind of set to work, and in a world where we get six or seven Standard releases a year, there isn’t a lot of room to also push out a Commander set. Mystery Booster Commander Edition fills this void.

The chance to draft Commander is my main reason for wanting Mystery Booster Commander Edition, but for most there’s a far bigger request: access to new cards.

Playing with power

Besides Playtest cards and physical reprints of previously Arena-exclusive cards (Magic: The Gathering’s digital version) Mystery Booster sets have only included cards we’ve seen in paper before, and these unique cards aren’t officially allowed outside of drafts — so you can’t put a powerful playtest card in a deck and rock up to a tournament.

That’s changing with Mystery Booster Commander Edition as it’ll be adding a lot of new cards to the game, some of which literally break the rules. These so-called Rulebreakers are special Commanders who let you get around some deck-building restrictions — such as the previously revealed Tolabow, Loch Rascal letting you put one other color of Instant and Sorcery cards (and basic lands) in what would otherwise be a mono-blue deck. Or the newly teased The Unlickiest Planeswalker letting you play with auras of any color in your deck (honoring that this fan-favorite character is often featured in the artwork for curses).

There are other new game pieces too, including Sorceries, which can be your Commander like Ashaya’s Enduring Bond, new Eminence Commanders who affect the game even when not in play, such as Sahir, Visitor in Darkness, and just generally fun and unique game pieces that support existing strategies or create new options — also cards like Arzakon that can create Black Lotus tokens.

All in all, we’ll see 59 unique Legends in the set, and while I expect several will see reprints down the line, for now there’s only one way to get them — and if access to Mystery Booster Commander Edition is going as limited as Mystery Booster 2, I’m worried.

If anything, Mystery Booster Commander Edition will only be more impossible to get your hands on because these unique cards will almost certainly drive up demand beyond what art-treatments could ever do.

So I’m begging you, Wizards of the Coast, please print this set as much as you can.

Bring it to every possible event, make sure copious quantities are available through Secret Lair Festival in a Box drops, and maybe send a load of boxes to local game stores to run Commander drafts over the next couple of years. Ideally, do all three.

I want to play so much of this set, and I know every other Commander player is chomping at the bit too. Please just give us what we want.

• km5 is collaborating with Kojima Productions on a limited edition CD player
• The Cp1 features Bluetooth 5.3, a 3.5mm headphone jack and more
• It's inspired by Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and comes in neon orange

Sony might be planning to wind down its production of PlayStation game discs, but physical media still has plenty of fans. Among them is auteur game director Hideo Kojima, whose studio Kojima Productions just announced a new collaboration with boutique Japanese audio brand km5, to celebrate that fact.

You can now buy an official Death Stranding 2: On the Beach version of km5's Cp1, a compact CD player that looks like a minimalist picture frame. It features wireless Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity so you can hook it up to one of the best Bluetooth speakers, or your wireless earbuds, in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack if you'd prefer a more retro vibe.

It's got all the expected controls (a Bluetooth pairing button, play/pause, stop, fast forward, and rewind) in a row of clicky tactile buttons, and even a built-in battery which supports roughly eight hours of playtime, so you can take it on the go. And unlike retro players with nasty AA-type batteries, charging here is via USB Type-C. There's also a little LED display, which shows the current track number, and a little sleeve that you can use to display album art.

The Death Stranding 2 edition is, naturally, translucent neon orange and is designed to look like the BB Pod from the game — that's the glowing jar that contains the adorable baby that you use to detect invisible enemies. It's got a few little decals to really drive home the look, including little text warnings like 'ensure lock is tight', and comes nestled in special packaging alongside a card insert inspired by the series.

It looks like a lovely little collectible and I already know that it's a capable little CD player, having used its big brother, the Cp2, for a few years now — the only real difference between the two models being the addition of a small speaker on the Cp2. I picked it up in Tokyo before the brand was more readily available worldwide, wanting a cute CD player that would be compact enough to fit on my shelf next to my extensive (and dare I say, pretty impressive) J-pop collection.

I normally have mine hooked up to my beefy JBL Boombox 4 (in a setup that TechRadar audio expert Matt Bolton once described as "insanity") blasting tunes as I work — right now Ano's single Kill Love. While the fidelity is obviously not quite as good as lossless streaming, there's simply nothing quite like the properly exploring a beautifully made physical album or the tactile sensation of popping in a new disc.

If you want to get your hands on this limited edition CD player, you can grab it online via the km5 website for $199 / £175 / AU$315, excluding shipping and any customs duties. That makes it about $40 / £40 / AU$60 more than the standard model. You might want to make haste though, as I expect it to sell out fast.

I still consider Lies of P to be the very best of the best soulslike games you can play today. Others have come close, like the tremendously underrated Wuchang: Fallen Feathers (I also have a soft spot for 2023's flawed-but-interesting Lords of the Fallen), but none have been able to match this macabre take on the tale of Pinocchio. And I'm happy to report the game really shines on Nintendo Switch 2 with the arrival of Lies of P: Complete Edition.

It's very much the same game that fans have loved since its 2023 release. However, Lies of P: Complete Edition also bundles in the phenomenal Overture expansion and all previously released cosmetic downloadable content (DLC).

As a result, this review will broadly focus on the game's performance on Nintendo Switch 2 and its overall value for money of Lies of P: Complete Edition. Be sure to read our original Lies of P review for a more complete rundown of the game itself, as well as our Lies of P: Overture review if you're curious about the unmissable massive expansion that released last year.

If you own a Nintendo Switch 2 and you've been waiting for a chance to play Lies of P, then you'll be well-served with Lies of P: Complete Edition. Not only does it bundle the base game and the expansion at a reasonable asking price, but it's also a winner in the performance department with robust graphics options and speedy load times. I really can't recommend it enough, especially after completing my third playthrough of the game via this Complete Edition.

It's not a perfect package; the more quality-centric graphics options are perhaps a tad too ambitious, leading to a very noticeable performance compromise. Plus, the inability to disable motion blur means you'll probably get sick of the smeary image created whenever you adjust the in-game camera.

But if you stick to the performance- or balance-oriented graphics modes in either docked or handheld play, you'll find that Lies of P mostly plays like a dream on Nintendo Switch 2.

Arms' length

As a quick catch-up (though once again I'll direct you to the review links above if you want to really learn more about the game before making a purchasing decision), Lies of P is a soulslike action game in the vein of FromSoftware-developed titles like Elden Ring and the Dark Souls trilogy.

That means you can expect a high level of difficulty, with tough boss encounters and tricky enemies. You can also expect intricate level design with plenty to explore off the beaten path, and robust build variety that lets you craft a playstyle that suits your preferences.

Where Lies of P sets itself apart is in its gameplay particulars. The player character, as a puppet, can equip a variety of Legion Arms, which offer effects like applying harmful status elements, pulling enemies toward you, or laying down proximity mines for crowd control.

You can also mix and match the blade and hilt of most of the game's weapons, with different combinations changing how you swing the weapon, as well as the special moves it has access to. Finally, exploring is greatly incentivized by Quartz - a rare item that lets you unlock strong passive abilities via your P-Organ setup at the homebase of Hotel Krat. Such passives include more healing item uses, more amulet slots for applying strong combat effects, and greater effectiveness of your dodge roll.

Lies of P can be an extremely tough game, but there are two easier difficulty options if you'd prefer a more casual experience. These can be changed at any time, so feel free to switch them around if you find you're having too hard (or too easy) of a time; the game does not punish you or lock away any content on those easier difficulties.

P for Performance

So let's break down how Lies of P: Complete Edition runs on Nintendo Switch 2, specifically. In docked mode, on TV, you have three settings. The performance-centered option lets you play at a full 60fps, and it's tremendously smooth with little in the way of hiccups. The downside here is you lose quite a bit of graphical detail, with greatly simplified environmental detail and particle effects.

The quality-centered option swings a bit too far in the opposite direction, and while it does offer some nice-looking ray-tracing, the Switch 2 isn't quite able to keep up the pace and performance really suffers as a result. This setting also makes the camera-based motion blur very apparent, creating a Vaseline-like smear whenever you shift the camera in-game. There's no option to turn off the motion blur, either, so I would recommend avoiding this setting in both docked and handheld modes.

I personally found that the 'Balanced' setting offered the best results. This had the best balance between frame rate (a stable 30fps) and graphical detail. If you're going to play on TV, this is the graphics option I would strongly recommend.

There are still some caveats that are apparent across all graphics modes, though. There's very noticeable object pop-in for distant objects, especially in the game's denser areas like the Lorenzini Arcade or Overture's Krat Zoo. It's not game-breaking by any means, but it shows that some compromises had to be made for more stable performance on Switch 2.

Another annoying thing about this Switch 2 version is that you can only change graphics options from the title screen menu. That means you'll have to back out from the game to the menu every single time you want to change things up. This is another reason why I recommend just setting the game to Balanced mode from the jump. It offers the best visual quality to performance balance, and I would only suggest swapping to the performance-centered mode if you're desperate for 60fps gameplay.

On that note, a 60fps graphics option is coming to handheld mode via a day-one patch, so I was unable to test that during the review period.

Should I play Lies of P: Complete Edition?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Lies of P: Complete Edition has a basic set of accessibility options. There are three colorblind modes (protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia), as well as the option to adjust subtitle display and size. Full button rebinding is also supported, and as mentioned in the review, there are two easier difficulty options if the going gets a bit too tough.

How I reviewed Lies of P: Complete Edition

I played Lies of P: Complete Edition for 20 hours for this review. That playtime included most of the base game and the first handful of areas within the Overture DLC. I tested all graphics modes available during the review period, including quality, performance, and balanced options.

I played Lies of P: Complete Edition primarily in docked mode on an LG CX OLED TV with a Switch 2 Pro Controller, swapping over to handheld mode every so often to get a feel for overall performance there, too. I also hooked up my RIG R5 Spear Pro HS gaming headset for more immersive audio while playing in handheld mode.

First reviewed July-August 2026

• Earlier this year, Microsoft confirmed that the price of Xbox consoles would rise in August, but did not reveal how much they would cost in the UK
• Now the prices are public, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly negative
• It follows a wider trend of increased prices driven by the sharp rise in the cost of RAM

Earlier this year, Microsoft confirmed that it would be raising the prices of its Xbox consoles worldwide in August, but it left the prices outside of the US a mystery. Now the price hike has actually arrived, we know how much everything now costs in the UK — and it's pretty bleak.

The price of the once entry-level 512GB Xbox Series S has shot up by £130 to an eye-watering £429.99. That's more than the newer Nintendo Switch 2 system, which retails for £395.99.

A 1TB Xbox Series X is now £669.99 (up from £499.99), meaning that there's only a £120 difference between it and the competing PlayStation 5 Pro, which costs £789.99 despite offering significantly more storage and more powerful specs.

You can see all the price changes below:

Here are the new prices in the US, which were announced back in June, for comparison:

The raised prices come as the consumer electronics market is being squeezed by a global RAM shortage, which has caused the cost of key components to skyrocket. Market analysts have also said that the US-Israel war with Iran could further compound issues.

The price of other devices like laptops, phones, and tablets has also risen, but video game consoles are often sold with slim, or sometimes no, margin, which makes manufacturers particularly susceptible to rising costs.

Back in April, Sony raised the prices of its PlayStation 5 consoles by $100 / £100, citing "continued pressures in the global economic landscape". Only Nintendo has not put up the cost of its hardware since it released, though a former employee has warned that it is "inevitable."

Although part of a wider trend, the reaction to the new Xbox prices has still been overwhelmingly negative. A user on gaming forum Resetera described it as the "final nail in the coffin" for Xbox, which has struggled with sharply declining sales year-over-year.

"Makes no difference, no one is buying them either way," wrote another commenter, with others remarking on how difficult it can be to even find any Xbox products on sale in stores in Europe.

Even users that have already bought systems at lower prices seem worried: "My main concern is if a console breaks I can't afford another," one added.

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1149) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• NEEDLESS
• MYRRH
• BACKSTREET
• TEA SET
• NSYNC
• SAGE
• FLY BY
• NAG CHAMPA
• MINT
• BYWAY
• BUG FIX
• RHYTHM
• FOREST
• LANE
• HUNTER
• ALLEY

NYT Connections today (game #1149) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Paths
• GREEN: This color in common
• BLUE: Words without A,E,I,O,U
• PURPLE: Beginning to annoy

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1149) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: ROAD LESS TRAVELED
• GREEN: SHADES OF GREEN
• BLUE: "Y" IS THE ONLY VOWEL
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR "PESTER"

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1149) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1149, are…

• YELLOW: ROAD LESS TRAVELED: ALLEY, BACKSTREET, BYWAY, LANE
• GREEN: SHADES OF GREEN: FOREST, HUNTER, MINT, SAGE
• BLUE: "Y" IS THE ONLY VOWEL: FLY BY, MYRRH, NSYNC, RHYTHM
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR "PESTER": BUG FIX, NAG CHAMPA, NEEDLESS, TEA SET

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

I managed to achieve two purple firsts in a row, but before my triumph I made a mistake.

Thinking that BACKSTREET and NSYNC was the trap of the day, I confidently linked MYRRH, SAGE, NAG CHAMPA, and MINT, deciding that the connection was something to do with herbs and spices.

Alas, I was wrong, but eliminating NAG CHAMPA from a group of similar things helped me focus on the word itself and in particular the first three letters.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, August 2, 2026, game #1148)

• YELLOW: FILLER WORDS: ACTUALLY, LIKE, SO, WELL
• GREEN: BY MEANS OF: BY, PER, THROUGH, VIA
• BLUE: MODE: AIRPLANE, BEAST, DARK, À LA
• PURPLE: U.S. AIRPORT CODES PLUS STARTING LETTER: ASEA, FLAX, LORD, OLGA

I've been an avid PC gamer since the early 1990s. My first computer, bought specifically to play Star Wars: X-Wing, was a plucky 486DX running at 33MHz (cutting-edge at the time — well, only behind the 486DX2, but that was too pricey). I have fond memories of playing Doom on the office LAN and getting addicted to Quake when online gaming began (thanks to QuakeWorld, which made dial-up modem play viable as opposed to an utter lag-fest).

I could ramble on with nostalgic gaming recollections, but the point is I played Quake obsessively — to a high competitive level in a clan — then I lived and breathed EverQuest for several years, and down the line, I was totally lost in World of Warcraft for another few years, and so on.

I've always been a PC gamer, through and through — I did swear off MMORPGs, mind, as I can't be trusted not to lose large chunks of my life to them. From time-to-time, I've owned a console too, but it's always been by backup, second-string gaming machine, used sparingly.

Not anymore, though. My PC is now used just for work, and I haven't played a game on it for a year or so.

I am now, officially, a PS5 gamer. A console is my main gaming machine for the first time in my life. So, how did that happen?

A vow revoked and a lesson learned

If you happen to have read my past articles, you may recall that at the end of 2024, I vowed I wasn't going to buy a PS5 Pro last year. My masterplan was to avoid purchasing a new console, and use my gaming PC on the main TV in the living room for couch co-op sessions with my wife instead, while still being able to game in the study with my computer if I wanted.

Then came Black Friday in November of 2025, and I did a complete 180. I pulled the trigger on a good deal on a PS5 Pro bundle.

What changed during the course of 2025? Firstly, I realized that running cables from a PC in the study through to the living room TV is more of a hassle than I'd anticipated. Getting everything set up at the end of each week, ahead of my weekend gaming sessions, quickly became tiresome.

Moreover, I found my long HDMI cable wasn't reliable enough. The picture on my Sony OLED TV kept flickering, which was maddening, frankly. And for no apparent reason, too — sometimes it'd happen, sometimes it wouldn't. I never found out why. I also had occasional issues with my game controllers (typical PC hardware gremlins that were perfectly resolvable, but still a pain).

On top of that, having held off on buying a GPU upgrade for my PC — my plan for the money I would've spent on a PS5 (and did eventually spend on the console) — I was put off by issues around the RTX 5070 when it arrived. This was the graphics card I really had my eye on, but it was a disappointing incarnation in terms of its performance upgrade (and that 12GB of VRAM). The initial above-MSRP price only rubbed salt into these wounds.

The prices of AMD's rival GPUs were off-putting, too, in the early days of RDNA 4 — although that did change, and I came close to buying an RX 9070 XT when pricing finally settled down.

However, at that point, it was too late. I was already frustrated with my whole piping-the-PC-from-the-study situation, and by the time that Black Friday PS5 Pro bundle bargain popped up (it really was a great deal), I just couldn't resist.

I absolutely don't regret that decision, nor am I upset about buying a console with the money that was earmarked for upgrading my ailing RTX 2060 Super. That's not to say I don't miss some things about PC gaming, or that I'm not super-annoyed about Sony's latest stunt regarding discs.

I'm going to cover both sides of this gaming coin here. First, I'll tell you why I'm loving my time with the PS5 Pro now, before discussing what I don't like on the Sony side of the fence, and the clear, undeniable strengths of PC gaming.

PlayStation bliss

I did own a PS4 Pro before — as my second-string gaming device, backing up my PC — and it's striking just how much slicker the PS5 Pro is. For one thing, I found my PS4 Pro to be the noisiest console I've ever had, by far. It was noisier than any PC I've owned, and some vacuum cleaners for that matter.

The PS5 Pro is nicely quiet, super-fast to boot up, and more importantly to wake and sleep. This means it's dead easy to fire up the console for a very quick gaming session if I only have 10 minutes to spare and just want to dip into something briefly, or to pause a session (put the console in rest mode) if I need to pop out. It all feels very seamless, and there's not a snaking USB extension cable or HDMI lead in sight.

Visually, everything looks top-notch on my 4K OLED TV, too. Baldur's Gate 3 — yes, I was very late to the RPG — looked nothing short of fantastic, and the PS5 allowed me to play the adventure co-op with my wife in what was the best co-operative gaming experience I've ever had. Being able to dip in and out so easily, as we cooked dinner, then ate, then fed the dog, going back and forth to the living room in-between, was a major boon.

The PS5 has reminded me just how good couch co-op can be, and I've been enjoying indie games like Dysmantle, which has same-screen co-op (like Baldur's Gate 3). We've been playing a bunch of these games — it's the Diablo 4 expansions next, if you're curious (we played the base game on PS4, so I'm keen to see how good the game looks on its successor console).

The PS5 controllers were an unexpected bonus, too. They're so much better than the PS4, and they even fit my wife's smaller hands (she finds many controllers too big and painfully cumbersome, but not the DualSense).

Of course, a clear benefit of the PS5 over the PC is that there's no messing about with GPU drivers. By which I mainly mean poring through Reddit 'megathreads' worrying about whether the latest Game Ready installment is actually going to be a step backwards for my PC, perhaps in terms of performance for a particular game or bugs (or broken features). Windows 11 bugs are another issue, too. (Yes, there can be software glitches on the PlayStation, but nothing like what some PC gamers must endure at times.)

Then there's the RAM crisis. Buying PC components is just getting more and more painful. Obviously RAM and SSD prices are through the roof already, but PC gamers waiting on a GPU upgrade (as I was) are facing unpleasant hikes due to the price of video memory (VRAM). Indeed, the latest rumor from YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed is potential price hikes to the tune of 40% in some cases with Nvidia GeForce GPUs. Add plenty of seasoning with that assertion, of course, but it's clear enough that GPUs are getting pricier due to VRAM increases, especially for graphics cards loaded up with more of this memory (naturally). CPUs are in line to get more expensive, too.

The crisis in general is predicted to intensify as this year rolls on, and 2027 could be worse still — perhaps the worst ever year for the memory industry, alarmingly. With no need to upgrade my desktop, I'm glad to be out of this gloomy environment of spiraling costs. The situation has turned planning PC upgrade paths, which used to be a rather fun, sometimes even exciting, exercise, into a thoroughly depressing experience.

You might now be shouting at your screen about Sony hiking PlayStation prices, too, and that's a fair point. But I won't have to worry about upgrading my console, and it will happily sit in my living room for the next few years, blissfully not needing any new components (while my work PC can carry on happily with its RTX 2060 Super).

Granted, that's just my personal situation, and if you are thinking about buying a Sony console, with the new price of the PS5 Pro, I don't know if I'd recommend pushing for it over the vanilla PS5 now. (I got mine on sale for about 60% of the current lowest retail price). The base PS5 is still a great console, though, and it'll likely make a lot more sense for the average gamer — especially come Black Friday, when with any luck, there'll be some good deals around once again.

PC strong suits

There are a good number of plus points for PC gaming versus consoles, so as promised, I'll examine the other side of the equation here, and pick out what I particularly miss.

There are some notable downsides with console gaming, including that you need to pay for a subscription to access online multiplayer (in the main, although obviously that doesn't include free games like Fortnite). This doesn't bother me personally because I don't really play online anymore — as I said early, it's mostly about local co-op for me these days. But I totally get why having to pay for a monthly plan irks gamers who want to play the latest shooter, strategy epic, or whatever else, online.

What does bother me, though, is the price of the actual games on the PlayStation. One of the major strengths of the PC is that games are cheaper than they are on console, from big-name releases (which still command a weighty premium... just not as hefty as on consoles) through to a raft of indie titles, which are often very competitively priced.

Not only this, but you get regular Steam sales where some games get huge discounts (and you can pick up older titles in particular for a song), or value-crammed GOG bundles, and also the likes of Epic giving away some compelling offerings for free. You don't get any of this on the PlayStation, and Sony's store does seem to like to charge a lot, even for older titles. For me, this is probably the biggest drawback with shifting over to being a PS5 gamer.

A recent development compounded the situation, too, when we learned that Sony is doing away with physical discs for the PlayStation. I was already aware of the situation with the price of PlayStation games, of course, which is why when I bought my PS5, I chose a bundle with a disc drive.

That meant I could pick up, for example, the physical disc copy of Split Fiction for 40% less than the digital copy on the PlayStation Store. I can also currently purchase second-hand, older games on disc at a considerable saving. But all these possibilities are heading rapidly out the window when 2028 rolls around, and Sony enacts its plan to push physical media completely aside with the PlayStation.

I won't go into this controversy in depth here – we've covered it extensively elsewhere — but suffice it to say that I'm not happy about the idea at all, and it feels like a cynical and generally anti-consumer practice. And no matter how many gamers sign petitions (here have been a lot) it doesn't seem like Sony is going to backtrack on this one (aside from maybe niche collector's editions or the like, and if we're lucky enough to get those, they will of course cost a fortune).

You could argue that the PC is digital-only already: desktops don't come with disc drives anymore, those days are long gone. But what Sony is doing is quite different, given that PC gaming is an open platform bristling with different stores and options for digital purchases, whereas Sony has the PlayStation ecosystem locked down to its store. With physical media banished, a key choice and avenue for money-saving (don't forget, you can also recoup money by selling on your disc copy of a game) is removed, and Sony has an unhealthy level of control over the whole shooting match.

Okay, so I don't feel like the PlayStation disc drive I bought is useless — it'll be good for a long while yet, and I'll still be able to play older games on it, including my PS4 back catalog, plus I can use it for Blu-rays. Regardless, this Sony decision is a painful kick in the shin.

Finally, another obvious plus point for PC gaming is the variety of mods floating around and customization possibilities in general, which you don't get with a console. The PC is quite simply a more open platform all-round — although in my case, modding isn't something that I'm all that into anyway.

Disc-less Elysium

Let me finish by pointing out the obvious: a lot of this is very subjective. You may have quite different opinions. You might live and breathe mods. You might want games to look out-of-this-world, with visual options cranked to the max (and be able to afford the necessary PC hardware to achieve that). You may never want to play a shooter without a mouse and keyboard (I get that one, but I'm okay with a controller now — and I don't play competitively anymore).

You may never, ever, abandon your gaming PC. They may have to extract it from your cold, hardened claws after rigor mortis has set in, having expired clutching the object you love most in the world, in the hopes somehow taking it with you into the afterlife.

The point is, there are all sorts of pros and cons to be tailored for your own personal take on the gaming PC versus console debate. But for me, I'm really happy with my PS5 and I am looking forward to enjoying my living room, and co-op, gaming experiences for years to come... discs or no discs.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has become a bit of a meme in my house. It’s basically the only game that my non-gaming partner and I were equally excited about on its release. Every time I’ve gotten my hands on a new gaming machine, the immediate question was ‘can it run Flight Simulator?’, to which the answer was always, regrettably, no.

Which is why when I recently picked up a second-hand Xbox Series X and subscribed to Game Pass Ultimate, there was a lot of excitement when I realized we could finally play Flight Simulator in all its graphical glory. I jumped at the chance to finally lose my chocks, slip the surly bonds of earth, and crash my plane into the face of god.

What a wonderful world

My eldest brother was a bit of a Flight Sim nerd back in the day. So my impression of flight simulators was pretty firmly defined by their late 1980s incarnations — essentially just some flat polygons and super-aliased lines in two-point perspective, accompanied by a bunch of truly incomprehensible dials. Having utterly ignored the development of flight simulators ever since, it’s safe to say that when I saw how far they’d come in the last almost four decades, it was a bit of a shock to the system.

A lot of the praise that was heaped on Flight Simulator 2024 when it was released centered on how gorgeous the graphics were. And even playing now, some two years down the line, that praise holds up. Lighting effects are exquisite, with sunsets over enormous bodies of water like Lake Titicaca looking almost absurdly true to life. Weather effects and realistic day/night cycles only emphasise this, making the world around you feel fluid and organic.

But the biggest graphical draw for me is knowing that there’s a whole world meticulously rebuilt from satellite data for me to soar over. Flying down the Grand Canyon, the scale is still absolutely breathtaking, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to gun my little prop plane down over all the rapids in the Colorado River. Likewise, when I flew over Machu Picchu, the landscape is truly stunning, and there’s a real joy in winding along the surrounding valleys, watched over by lofty mountains. The level of detail is genuinely mind-blowing.

While cities aren’t quite as perfectly rendered as the landscape — the game’s algorithm makes a lot of assumptions when filling in the gaps from the satellite data — visiting places you know well is genuinely a bit uncanny. I landed my little prop plane in my street, and it felt a little surreal to stare at my own front door when I was sat mere feet away inside. Flight Sim also does a wonderful job of recreating local landmarks: it was so fun checking out Bath’s Royal Crescent, even if the game’s algorithm insisted on popping little corner shops at the base of every Georgian townhouse.

Given it’s based on satellite data, some areas are a little less exciting than others. For example, I decided to check out the thick Congolese rainforest and was rewarded with a flat, unbroken canopy for 100 miles in every direction. I know, right? Bro shocked a rainforest contains trees. But not every journey is going to be a scenic smorgasbord, so some flights are going to be more droolworthy than others.

Still, playing Flight Simulator 2024 is one heck of a visual treat. And I would regularly fire up the game just so I could check out a favorite landmark or explore a new patch of sky.

Brace for landing

Okay, so we’ve established that Flight Simulator 2024 is a very pretty game. But there’s a reason there are as many flying enthusiasts working toward getting their pilot’s license as there are casual sightseers playing the game. Because, underneath all the gloss and sheen lies the cold steel endoskeleton of an unflinchingly brutal simulator.

Having invested 12 hours in Flight Simulator 2024 so far, I’ve gone from being truly, hauntingly terrible at it to simply being really bad. Honestly, I’ve heard the word ‘stall’ so many times at this point, I’ll likely still wake up with it echoing in my ears in my sweat-drenched retirement home bed some half a century from now. Even though I’ve now qualified for my commercial licence, I feel nothing but pity for the virtual passengers that board my plane, as I know they have at best a 40% chance of reaching their destination in one piece.

Part of the reason for this is that the simulation is just staggeringly realistic. There’s an enormous number of variables to manage, all of which you can manage via controller shortcuts or direct from the cockpit controls, if you really want to double down on the masochism. Get the balance of these slightly wrong — for example, getting your pitch a few degrees off or mismanaging your throttle — and you’ll find yourself losing height too fast or hearing the Cessna 172’s dreaded ‘stall’ warning.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve stopped making truly cringeworthy mistakes. I no longer get screamed at by air traffic control for failing to radio for clearance to hit the runway or drop out of the air ten seconds after takeoff because I’ve set my throttle too low. I’m pretty good at using trim to maintain my attitude while at cruising altitude, and I can comfortably use dead reckoning to navigate my way along my intended flight path.

But I still find landing a painful and protracted process of plate spinning that I understand in principle and yet rarely manage to nail in practice. I think I’ve hit the perfect glide path, only to find myself coming in far too low, forcing me to gun my throttle like Maverick just to avoid myself ending up a smear on the cliff face. Or I execute what I think is the perfect flare to raise my nose as I hit the tarmac, only to realize I’m going too fast and rapidly jackknife my plane face down into the runway. As Douglas Adams remarked, it’s not the fall that kills you: it’s hitting the ground at 85 knots.

All of this sounds like it should be deeply frustrating. And it is. But it’s also weirdly compelling: the more I flop off the end of the runway like a cat dripping off the edge of a table or bounce around on the tarmac like a drunken rabbit on a trampoline, the more I double down and want to nail it the next time. Because there’s something exciting about the unlimited horizons beckoning you onward.

The SteelSeries Stratus+ is a wireless Bluetooth controller built primarily for Android mobile gaming, with wired USB-C support for Windows PCs.

It launched back in 2022 at $59.99 / £64.99, but has since tumbled to sale prices around $25 / £25. It’s a welcome price drop because it’s about the only thing that keeps it in with a shot of being worth picking up, and on the periphery of the best mobile controller conversation — but only just.

SteelSeries positions the Stratus+ as delivering a console-quality mobile experience, and in theory, it has most of the ingredients to do that. A traditional shape that blends Xbox and PlayStation design elements with a removable phone mount, Hall Effect triggers, and a claimed 90-hour battery life via Bluetooth LE. In practice, however, the phone mount that should be the controller's defining feature ends up being its biggest weakness. It’s tricky to install, and once it’s in, it wobbles, spoils the balance, and worst of all, it has a habit of turning your phone off altogether.

Once you have found the sweet spot to mount your phone, game compatibility is then a mixed bag. Fortnite on mobile is often kind on controller compatibility and worked well here, but more finicky titles like Call of Duty Mobile and Need for Speed didn't work at all. Xbox Cloud Gaming fared better, performing well enough with Forza Horizon 6, though compounding Bluetooth latency with remote gaming meant noticeable enough input lag that it forced me into pre-empting inputs rather than driving naturally.

For a mobile controller, the Stratus+ actually performs best as a wired PC controller. Plug it in via USB-C, and it's instantly recognized as an XInput device, fully mapped in Steam, and perfectly functional as a basic controller. The problem is that it's a particularly competitive market, and it does very little to stand out. You could pick up an actual Xbox Wireless Controller for not much more and get a better, more comfortable pad that still pairs to your Android phone.

SteelSeries Stratus+ review: Price and availability

• List price: $59.99 / £64.99 / AU$159.99
• Now often found as low as $25 / £25 from third parties
• Available from SteelSeries and retailers

The SteelSeries Stratus+ has been around a little while now, first launching in May 2022 at $59.99, though fast-forward to 2026 and that list price isn’t holding up. It’s now often available much cheaper from retailers, and I saw it selling for less than half its list price while pulling together this review.

At full price, the Stratus+ is stuck trying to compete with options like the first-party Xbox Wireless Controller and sits uncomfortably close to the excellent GameSir G8 Galileo mobile grip or the GameSir G8+ Bluetooth controller, all of which offer better experiences in their own way.

At its current discounted price, however, it’s cheap enough to be worth a look as a budget PC gamepad.

SteelSeries Stratus+ review: Specs

SteelSeries Stratus+ review: Design and features

• Blends elements from Xbox and PlayStation controllers into a familiar shape
• Included phone mount isn’t really fit for purpose
• Solid D-pad and Hall Effect triggers are the highlight

Before you start messing around with the phone mount, the SteelSeries Stratus+ looks like a perfectly generic controller. The sort of thing you’d see in a film to avoid giving brand recognition to either side of the console war. It borrows PlayStation’s symmetrical thumbstick layout and pairs it with Xbox-style ABXY buttons and a black shell. It's inoffensive, generic, and unexciting.

Holding it, though, something feels off. Despite being almost identical in width to an Xbox Series X controller and actually a touch taller, the Stratus+ somehow feels cramped. Part of that is down to the symmetrical stick placement, I’m sure, as it naturally sits lower on the body and makes the whole controller feel shorter than it physically is. I have reasonably large hands and am very used to an offset stick layout, so it never quite settled. Some of this is obviously personal preference, and if you’re coming from a DualSense Wireless Controller, I’m sure you’ll adapt quicker, though I doubt you’ll escape that sense of being on top of yourself.

The phone mount is where things stray from the norm and, unfortunately, not particularly successfully. SteelSeries includes a detachable clip that slots into the top of the Stratus+ via two metal bars to turn this from a controller into a mobile controller. It doesn’t work well, though, and almost feels like a third-party modkit for a controller, rather than a first-party USP. It’s fiddly to install, and even with the bars fully inserted, there's noticeable wobble before you've even added a phone.

Once you do seat a device, the controller becomes top-heavy and unbalanced, constantly wanting to tip backward when placed on a surface and feeling like it’s trying to spill forward out of your hands. The mount clamps your phone from the sides rather than end-to-end, which helps with universality, but means it's also constantly trying to press your phone's power and volume buttons. During testing with a POCO X5 Pro, I had to significantly offset the phone to the right of the cradle to avoid it turning my phone off.

The D-pad is probably the highlight of the entire controller, not something I’ve often said, so it’s nice to see it get its moment to shine. It's firm with a satisfyingly soft press and rock solid with zero wiggle. The ABXY face buttons are generic but functional, and the bumpers are quiet, soft, and responsive.

There are Hall Effect sensors in the triggers with a mid-length travel and linear mapping, though there’s no hair trigger mode and no companion app to set dead zones. The ALPS thumbsticks offer fairly high resistance and felt fine during testing with no drift out of the box, though it's worth noting that these sticks don't carry the same drift-resistance guarantees as Hall Effect alternatives.

SteelSeries Stratus+ review: Performance

• Bluetooth latency is noticeable at times
• Mobile game compatibility is inconsistent
• Wired PC performance is where it’s at its best

The SteelSeries Stratus+ is trying to be two controllers in one, and in testing, the experience was certainly a tale of two halves.

Connected to my Windows gaming PC via USB-C, the Stratus+ was instantly recognized as an XInput controller and fully mapped as a generic gamepad in Steam. You’d think that’d be the bare minimum experience, but it’s actually refreshing to see it just work, as that isn’t always the case, I’ve found.

I jumped across a few titles in both Steam and Xbox Cloud Gaming, and there's nothing here that would give you reason to reach for a different controller. It’s perfectly fine but equally, there’s nothing worth shouting about, or that would make you recommend this one specifically. It looks like a generic game controller, and it plays like one, but most importantly these days it’s priced like one too, so that’s not a bad thing.

Sticking that weird phone mount into the top and heading to mobile, the experience is considerably less convincing. The SteelSeries Stratus+ connected to my POCO X5 Pro without issue, but game support is a guessing game. Fortnite recognized the controller and played well overall, but displayed PlayStation button prompts on screen despite the Stratus+ using an ABXY layout.

The firm resistance of the sticks offered me plenty of fine control, and any input lag was small enough to be below my skill cap. Call of Duty Mobile and NFS No Limits simply didn't work at all, with no controller recognition and no hardware mapping workaround available.

Again, this isn’t a SteelSeries-specific issue, but competitors like GameSir have built compatibility solutions via their companion apps, so while those games don’t have great native controller support, it’s possible with a little effort by brands.

Xbox Cloud Gaming fared better, recognizing the controller natively and without any button mapping issues. Forza Horizon 6 played OK, but this is where the Bluetooth latency became most apparent when stacked on top of the small amount of remote gaming input lag. Racing games demand reactive inputs and a feeling of being connected to your car, and with the Stratus+, there was enough delay to force me into adapting my play style.

Rather than reacting naturally to what was happening on screen as I would normally, I found myself having to preempt my next movement while still executing the last one, building in a mental delay to compensate. It's not catastrophic, and it's less noticeable in games that don't demand constant precision, like the charming Sledding Game or Stardew Valley, which both played fine.

SteelSeries claims 90+ hours of battery life, and while I unfortunately couldn’t devote nearly four straight days to gaming, I can see those numbers being true enough. Despite regular use over a week of testing, the battery percentage reported by Android barely seemed to drop, and any time I was gaming on PC was passively juicing it up again anyway. Curiously, when charging, I noticed there was often quite a discrepancy between what the controller's own LED indicators showed versus what my phone reported.

At one point, I had three solid lights and one flashing during charging, suggesting it should be 75%, yet my phone's Bluetooth settings reported just 47% battery. There’s fast charging available here, so ultimately it isn’t a dealbreaker, as I doubt you’ll be plugged in often, but I’d be inclined to trust the more pessimistic software number over the lights.

Should I buy the SteelSeries Stratus+ review?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider...

If you're looking for something else in either the dedicated mobile or PC controller space then consider these fine options.

How I tested the SteelSeries Stratus+

• I spent a week gaming with the Stratus+ across a POCO X5 Pro (Android) and a Windows PC
• I tested native Android games like Fortnite and Call of Duty Mobile, Forza Horizon 6 and Sledding Game via Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Steam titles via wired USB-C
• I paid particular attention to things like Bluetooth latency, game compatibility, and phone mount stability

I approached testing the Stratus+ independently as both a mobile controller and a PC gamepad over the course of a week, along with considering whether it successfully comes together as one hybrid unit. On Android, I tested both local titles and cloud gaming, while on PC, I tested through Steam's controller interface and games, along with Xbox Cloud Gaming, to evaluate its viability as a wired desktop pad.

I used a POCO X5 Pro in the included phone mount, paying particular attention to stability, balance, and how comfortable the overall experience was in this arrangement. I played both at home on the couch and at a desk, as well as taking the controller out and about to see how it fared on the move.

First reviewed May-July 2026

Read more about how we test

One of my favorite hobbies is Dungeons & Dragons. I love nothing more than sitting around a table with friends and playing out a fantastical adventure, in which the dice are the difference between success and failure.

It's a fun game, and all the more fun because real-life people make dumb, suboptimal decisions and the dice cause the game to change in unpredictable ways. But I really love it because the concept of people sitting around a table or hearth and telling stories is as old as the campfire, and it's a fun modern-day way to keep that experience alive.

You might think such a robust framework for an analog hobby (friends, a table, dice, pen and paper) might be tech-proof, but even in the Dungeons & Dragons world, AI is coming for my job as a Dungeon Master — the person who runs and guides the game world. Deep in the corpus of most popular generative AI models designed for general use are the rules to D&D 5e (and likely every other edition before it) and plenty of people report playing with their chatbots online.

Many of these players can't, or simply don't want to, get round a table with real people. For them, having a chatbot write them a story while the user prompts the continuation of the story with their character's actions, must seem like the perfect solution — even if it's more like a solo choose-your-own-adventure than a 'proper' group D&D game.

Gemini and ChatGPT both have a strong grasp of the rules for D&D's popular 5th Edition; they are certainly strong enough to make them an accessible choice for a player without a group. Maybe one day, the fire will die, and instead of sitting around a table with friends, we'll all be sitting at separate desks playing our own separate D&D adventures with our AI companions.

I wanted to test whether this dark future would be an adequate replacement for my usual game night, and which chatbot will be the best one to choose if so. I fired up Gemini 3.6 Flash and ChatGPT 5.5, and asked them for the same game.

The parameters

I gave both chatbots the same prompt: "Can you be my D&D 5e DM?" and following up with another message:

"Let's do a classic high fantasy dungeon crawl. Please use a strict RNG for all rolls to ensure fairness - you can roll dice for me. My character is a 10th-level conjuration wizard. See all information about him below:"

I then copy-pasted a character sheet of a 10th-level wizard — a powerful spellcaster with a variety of magical abilities at his disposal. It's easy to DM a game for a level 1 thief — I wanted to see how the AIs could handle a character who could do fantastical things, such as teleport and summon creatures to fight for him.

Interestingly, both Gemini and ChatGPT created a similar adventure, at least at first: an abandoned dwarven stronghold bristling with magical traps, ready to be explored. However, that's where the similarities ended.

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini's adventure was what any D&D player could expect from the "classic high-fantasy dungeon crawl." I avoided a pressure-plate trap that would have shot darts at me, and in one memorable sequence, defeated a bunch of skeletons by casting a Grease spell on a stone staircase and freezing them in place with my Ray of Frost cantrip while they slipped and stumbled at the bottom of the steps.

Gemini was offering me suggested actions, and I did find myself choosing a few of those suggestions — but as time wore on, this began to feel lazy, like my brain wasn't firing in the same way it did when I played with my friends. I was skim-reading the AI's descriptions of the scene and responding with a single click. I asked it to remove suggested options and as a result, I had to think more carefully about each move, typing out requests and thinking about my actions rather than clicking on a predetermined response.

The memorable finale occurred when I unlocked a secret passage and defeated a Naga, a giant snake monster, by teleporting away and blasting it with a powerful Cone of Cold. The snake ended up frozen solid, and I checked the monster's HP against the official book, and it was accurate. When asked to generate a picture of our adventure, Gemini came up with this moment:

I asked Gemini a few questions at the end, such as whether it nudged the dice in my favor, as all my rolls were successful. This happened in my previous experiment with ChatGPT. Gemini said it used a 'pseudorandom number generator', not a true RNG, but the model doesn't 'fudge dice, pad rolls, or tweak numbers behind the scenes to keep players happy or prolong the game'.

Gemini's language was natural and even evocative in places, although it's still not a patch on a good creative human. Overall, a decent enough effort at simulating a D&D game.

ChatGPT 5.5

Despite the similar setting, ChatGPT's adventure with the same character was very different. There was little to no combat throughout the entirety of the game, and ChatGPT didn't tell me when it was rolling 'behind the scenes', preferring to keep me in the moment.

When I asked it about the lack of rolling, the grovelling chatbot began its apologetic essay with "That is a fair critique. The short answer is: I leaned too heavily into narrative pacing and not enough into D&D mechanics. The adventure became closer to a collaborative fantasy novel than a 5e dungeon crawl", while suggesting fixes if I wanted to continue. I hadn't even said anything negative — but it certainly picked up on my tone, and the choose-your-own adventure I got was a far cry from a classic dungeon crawl.

Instead of combat, ChatGPT came up with a rambling mystery about a dimensional prison beneath the mountain, a sphere suspended in a cavern. Its guardians spoke ominous (and to be honest, quite confusing) portents such as "The archive does not open for authority. It opens for judgement."

Mysteries work best when they're developed with skill by a writer who can work backwards to seed clues throughout the game or text. ChatGPT does not do this: instead, it's arranging tokens on the fly to generate a facsimile of a mystery, and although it got the trappings of the genre right, the execution fell very flat. I (or at least, my character) underwent trials to seek obsidian objects such as keys and seals to reveal more about the prison, themselves accompanied by more foreboding, sometimes nonsensical portents.

Very little 'action' was taken by my character in a classical sense: it was all about investigating the origins of the being contained in this prison, and by the time I had spent 40 minutes on this, I had seen enough. It didn't help that ChatGPT also spoke in the peculiar sentence structure pattern that AI users are likely very familiar with now: "This isn't just X. It's Y." Examples include:

"Unlike the rest of Khaz Varek, this room has remained untouched.

No dust. No decay."

Or the following, when I met one of the prison's guardians:

"Ser Kaelen immediately looks toward the sphere. 'You hear it too.'

Not a question. A confirmation."

Any user of ChatGPT (or those who look at AI-generated posts on LinkedIn or Reddit) will immediately recognise this sort of language, and know what I'm talking about. By the end, it was quite painful to have every other sentence be treated as a grand revelation. Not a statement. An omen.

When asked to generate a picture of our adventure, ChatGPT came up with this moment:

The winner

Out of these two? Gemini 3.6 Flash, by a mile. It was at least a mildly enjoyable experience conveyed in natural language, and something I'd consider revisiting.

ChatGPT's efforts, on the other hand, were unenjoyable, and I wouldn't return to it. In fact, it's gotten worse since the last time I tried it.

Both, however, were a far cry from an in-person session. While they have a good grasp of the rules, and you can create your perfect world and character, the chatbots are ultimately missing the 'human and hearth' element that keep me returning to the game. For people who can't get round a table with friends, I'd pick Gemini over ChatGPT.

For those who can? While AI is busy taking as many creative jobs as it can, I feel safe in the knowledge that the role of Dungeon Master is AI-proof for a long time yet.

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1148) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• LIKE
• AIRPLANE
• VIA
• FLAX
• À LA
• SO
• BY
• DARK
• PER
• LORD
• WELL
• ASEA
• THROUGH
• BEAST
• OLGA
• ACTUALLY

NYT Connections today (game #1148) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Meaningless meaning
• GREEN: How to get threre
• BLUE: A type of thing different to the main thing
• PURPLE: Abbreviations for baggage handlers

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1148) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: FILLER WORDS
• GREEN: BY MEANS OF
• BLUE: MODE
• PURPLE: U.S. AIRPORT CODES PLUS STARTING LETTER

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1148) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1148, are…

• YELLOW: FILLER WORDS: ACTUALLY, LIKE, SO, WELL
• GREEN: BY MEANS OF: BY, PER, THROUGH, VIA
• BLUE: MODE: AIRPLANE, BEAST, DARK, À LA
• PURPLE: U.S. AIRPORT CODES PLUS STARTING LETTER: ASEA, FLAX, LORD, OLGA

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I love getting Connections badges and today was rewarded with a Reverse Rainbow. Incredibly, after playing the game for several years this is only the second time I’ve achieved this.

Key to my Purple First success was spotting LAX hidden in FLAX and GLA in OLGA, having travelled to both airports plenty of times. LAX feels particularly iconic thanks to its inclusion in several lyrics — “I hopped off the plane at LAX with a dream and a cardigan” from Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA being a favorite.

Next, I got MODE in part because I am fairly certain we have had this category before, while I simply got lucky connecting BY MEANS ahead of the yellow group of FILLER WORDS.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, August 1, 2026, game #1147)

• YELLOW: BEDDING: COMFORTER, SHAM, SHEET, THROW
• GREEN: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS SINCE 2010: BALE, JORDAN, PHOENIX, WALTZ
• BLUE: PERFORM SOME HOLE MACHINING OPERATION: S BORE, COUNTERSINK, DRILL, REAM
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH BREAD SHAPES: BOULEVARD, BUNDLE, LOAFER, ROLLS-ROYCE

You could be sitting on a treasure trove of fantastic iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV games and not even know it.

Apple Arcade might be one of the most underrated gaming services on the market right now, with many Apple One subscribers not even realizing that it is included in all tiers of the service. You can also subscribe to it separately and you could even be able to access a generous free trial right now if you're reading this on a shiny new Apple device.

But what exactly is Apple Arcade, how much does it cost, what kind of games can you play on it, and, perhaps most importantly, are any of them actually good? I've spent the last week really sinking my teeth into the service in order to find out and deliver this ultimate guide to everything that you need know.

From all the basic facts to a bumper list of my personal game recommendations and even a personality quiz to match you to titles that you might like, everything here is intended to help you walk away an expert in all things Apple gaming.

The ultimate guide to Apple Arcade

Whether you're a die-hard mobile gamer or a newcomer to the world of portable play, Apple Arcade will likely have something for you.

The subscription service gives you access to hundreds of games for your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV, ranging from revamped mobile classics including Angry Birds Reloaded and Doodle Jump 2+ to original and exclusive games in massive franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog with Sonic Dream Team. All of the included titles have absolutely zero ads and no microtransactions, meaning that they offer a more premium, console-like experience than you would get with many other App Store titles.

Most Apple phones now come with a free three-month subscription to the service, giving you the perfect opportunity to take your shiny new hardware for a whirl. Even if you're using an older device, there's still a one-week free trial that new subscribers can take advantage of, in order to see what the service offers and work out whether it's a good fit for them.

The only problem? With so many titles on offer it can be hard to know where to start, even if you're already a subscriber. That's why I've created this short personality quiz, which is designed to find out what kind of gamer you are and deliver a selection of recommendations. The recommended games have been personally tested by me, and are what I believe should suit your taste.

Did you find this quiz useful, or do you think I missed the mark with my picks? Let me know in the comments, and don't hesitate to drop your own game recommendations if you have them!

It's been a huge week for me here at TechRadar. I managed to convince my boss that it was a good idea for me to sit at my desk for five whole days and play all 200+ games available as part of the Apple Arcade service on my phone.

If it sounds like a ridiculous idea, that's because it really is. Honestly, in my rush to get paid to play some games on my phone, I don't think I actually considered just how long the task would take. That became painfully apparent when I actually started on Monday, and the fact that I was about to spend hours and hours flicking through apps set in.

Still, I managed it — even if the quest ended up sapping up all of my free time. I spent entire evenings lying on the sofa planting crops in Stardew Valley+, whole meals with one finger guiding an escaping explorer in Temple Run Legends, and my hour commute with both eyes glued to Suika Game+ . If I had just one hand free at any given time this week, I was using it to play an Apple Arcade game. Thankfully, I didn't have to drive anywhere.

Now, to be clear, I didn't spend an equal amount of time in all of them. It's easy to sink a few hours into the pixel survival action of Vampire Survivors+, for example, but literal torture to do the same in Play-Doh World (which is basically just a sensory experience for toddlers).

Still, I can now say with confidence which ones are truly worth getting into and, while the following eight picks are by no means an exhaustive list of everything worth playing on the service (just look at the honorable mentions for even more greats), they are the games I've had the most fun with so far and will coming back to time and time again in the weeks and months to come.

Top eight

8. Squiggle drop

Squiggle Drop is one of the biggest surprises I've had while exploring Apple Arcade. It's an easy-to-understand puzzler that has you drawing shapes to complete different objectives and, with basic graphics and a spartan interface, looks like a pretty simple game.

That simplicity is one of its biggest strengths, however. The controls are eminently approachable; just drag your fingers around the screen to draw, and all of the levels have multiple solutions that reward creativity and mean that you never feel like you're truly at a loose end.

There's loads of variety to boot. One mission could have you drawing a container to save a birthday cake from the rain, while another might require a more complex creation to catch an underwater fish.

With more than 250 puzzles (some of which are pretty darn difficult), rotating daily challenges, a raft of achievements to obtain, and even an in-game town that you build as you progress, it's the perfect game to pick up and play when you get a few spare moments in an otherwise busy day.

7. Lego Star Wars: Castaways

Lego Star Wars: Castaways is yet more proof that you should never judge a book by its cover (or, I guess, an app by its icon art). What I thought was going to be a generic kids' game turned out to be a really approachable and quite charming MMO.

You create a custom Star Wars hero and drop into a shared hub world that you can explore while surrounded by other real players, before dropping into iconic locations from the movies (explained in-game as a training simulation) to battle waves of Stormtroopers, Tusken Raiders, Battle Droids, and fearsome bosses like Darth Vader either solo or with up to three friends.

There are four character classes to unlock, focusing on ranged laser blaster combat, powerful force skills, team support, and stealth, and they all have meaty upgrade trees in addition to a range of distinct weapons to try. Character customization is also strong, and you can unlock loads of different hats and outfits using currency you obtain by completing quests and missions.

I had a lovely time with it as an adult, but there are some smart safety features that make this a great pick for children as well. Your character name, for example, is chosen from a random selection of suitably Star Wars-sounding words (I foolishly flicked past 'Jar-Jar Skywalker' when it popped up as an option) and numbers. There's also no direct text or voice chat function, though you can communicate through a small selection of emotes.

6. Angry Birds Reloaded

Angry Birds is a game that needs no introduction. This legendary early App Store sensation spawned countless sequels, spinoffs, theme park rides, a TV show, and even two popular animated films with a third set to release later this year.

Reloaded is basically the definitive Angry Birds game, bringing together the levels from the classic Angry Birds and its sequels Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Space, and Angry Birds Stella (the latter two aren't even available on the App Store in their original forms anymore, making this the only way to officially play them) in addition to loads of new ones.

It offers the classic bird-slinging action that made the series so popular, now spruced up with shiny new graphics that look lovely even blown up on a big screen. All of the new content means that it's a joy to dip into even if, like me, you completed all of these games back in the day.

For newcomers, it's the absolute best that the series has ever been, with the best-looking graphics, all the greatest levels, and absolutely no ad interruptions. Get it downloaded, and find out why it was such a hit.

Top five

5. Disney Dreamlight Valley Arcade Edition

If after a busy day you just want to kick back and escape to a fantasy world, then Disney Dreamlight Valley is for you. This life simulator thrusts you into a magical town filled with iconic Disney characters that has fallen into disarray. A mysterious malevolent force is taking over in the form of dark roots that sap away memories, and it's up to you to get rid of them all and restore everything to its former glory.

From relaxing farming to designing your own cute cottage and customizing your outfits, everything here seems designed to bring nothing but the most chill vibes. There's a good sense of progression as new areas are steadily unlocked while you play, bringing the worlds of new Disney franchises into the mix.

On that note, it's hard to overstate the joy of interacting with some of the company's best characters. I've never been a massive fan of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, or Goofy, but even I can't stop myself from smiling when I unlock childhood favorites like Ratatouille's Remy, Wall-E's Eve, or Peter Pan's Tinker Bell.

Although you can pick up Dreamlight Valley on other platforms, the Arcade Edition comes packed with all of the latest free updates and access to the biggest paid expansions at no extra cost. It looks great and controls well on a phone, too.

4. Sid Meier' Civilization 7 Arcade Edition

The Arcade Edition of Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is the real deal, bringing all the strategic brilliance of the latest Civilization game to mobile with few real compromises aside from some missing DLC.

If you're unfamiliar with the franchise, it tasks you with building and governing a historical society from the ground up in a randomly generated world. You build cities, conquer territory, develop new technology, and interact with other competing societies. Whether you form trade alliances and live peacefully alongside your neighbours or wage war is entirely up to you.

Unlike past games, Civilization 7 added the ability for your empire to evolve, giving you the choice to swap between different cultures for unique bonuses, special buildings, or exclusive units.

The level of depth here is simply unparalleled in the mobile space, and as games can take tens of hours at a time, it's great to be able to take it all on the go.

Top three

3. ‎Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat

Taiko no Tatsujin is a name you'll recognize if you've even been to an arcade in Japan. It's a simple but addictive rhythm game all about hitting a big drum in time with the beat, a gameplay perfectly suited for a touchscreen.

Tap either side of the on-screen drum in time with the blue icons or either side of the middle for the red ones, with bigger notes needing both sides at once. It starts off simple, but as the difficulty ramps up, beats that you have to hold are introduced, alongside ones that have you hammering the screen as quickly as possible with your fingertips.

The song selection is brilliant if, like me, you love Japanese music with a good mix of J-pop hits, Vocaloid classics, and music from popular anime. If that's not your speed, there are plenty of original songs, a whole load of classical music, a few tracks from Western blockbusters like Indiana Jones, plus viral sensations such as Baby Shark.

Nothing quite compares to the joy of mastering a song and, with so many to choose from and a wide range of difficulty levels to beat, Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat is almost impossible to put down.

2. Sonic Dream Team

What if I told you the best new 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game of the last decade was an Apple Arcade exclusive? It sounds hard to believe, but Sonic Dream Team is so good that I would recommend it even if you're not a Sonic the Hedgehog fan.

This 3D platformer has the iconic blue hedgehog navigating a series of dense worlds with impeccable dream-like visuals, hopping between floating platforms, boosting your way down high-speed rails, and dispatching enemies with homing attacks. The action certainly isn't as fast as some of the 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games, but the precise controls mean that it feels excellent nonetheless.

It's not the longest experience on Apple Arcade, lasting just a couple of hours, but it is highly replayable with six swappable characters (including a rare Cream the Rabbit appearance), each with their own distinct pacing and unique roster of abilities to experiment with, a ranking system to chase high scores, tricky challenge stages, and unlockable powers.

There are also loads of collectibles to seek out, so true completionists have plenty to chip away at even after the credits have rolled.

1. What the Golf?

If I were forced to pin down one overall favorite among everything that I played this week, then What the Golf? is the obvious choice.

It's an unapologetically ridiculous physics-based game that is only really about golf in the loosest sense. Levels are incredibly creative, and no two are the same, having you putt everything from hot dogs and cars to live horses and entire houses into the hole.

It's consistently surprising and endlessly amusing, with mechanics and even the game's perspective shifting on a level-by-level basis. It's all underpinned by an expressive, minimalist art direction, a sleek interface, upbeat music, and a barrage of punny humor. The brilliant use of haptics also deserves some credit, giving everything you punt a distinct feeling of weight to it.

In addition to a lengthy main campaign, there is a generous selection of daily courses, bonus episodes, special events, online leaderboards, and more. Indie game fans will recognize loads of crossovers and references, too. It's nothing short of a joyous time.

Even more picks

Honorable mentions

I wanted to keep my recommendations concise and varied, with a good mix of genres, art styles, control methods, and so on represented. That doesn't mean that I don't have loads more recommendations, though, so here are some more strong picks that didn't quite make the full list for one reason or another.

• Fantasian is a sprawling RPG adventure with a beautiful miniature art direction.
• Monument Valley+ and Monument Valley 2+ are two stunning indie puzzle games that play with perspective in interesting ways.
• NFL Retro Bowl '26 offers a surprisingly meaty football simulator delivered through charming pixel-art graphics.
• Stardew Valley+ combines relaxing farming with social simulation as you build relationships with a cast of memorable characters in a cozy town.
• Suika Game+ has you merging different fruits in an easy-to-understand puzzler that's taken the internet by storm.
• Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop is an exclusive entry in the long-running Puyo Puyo series that's filled with its trademark Tetris-like puzzle battles.
• MySims and MySims Kingdom are both expansive, feature-complete ports of classic The Sims spinoff games.
• Vampire Survivors+ brings the viral wave survival game to mobile — be warned that hours can vanish in the blink of an eye.

Remember when mobile gaming was fun?

Back in the day, you could just scroll the App Store, pick out an icon or two that you liked the look of, and have a new game downloaded and ready to play in just a few moments.

Booting them up, you’re not confronted with a 29.68GB additional download that you have to stay on one screen to complete, a wall of sketchy in-app permissions to accept, or a page demanding that you sign in with some iffy third-party account — just a neat little self-contained experience designed to help you kill a few hours on the train.

Though they seemed simple, many of the best App Store games were quietly revolutionary. Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja pioneered intuitive touch-screen controls, while Doodle Jump smartly utilized the iPhone’s accelerometer to show how hardware features could become core gameplay mechanics.

Statista estimates that there are now more than 180,000 mobile games available on the App Store. But when was the last time you installed one that felt genuinely exciting, rather than like a thinly veiled scheme to force ad views, harvest personal data, or pressure you into pricey Gacha Pulls? That’s exactly where Apple Arcade comes in.

Back in time

Having spent the last week diving into all 200+ of the titles available on the service, I can’t help but think that Apple’s highly curated library of mobile titles feels like a journey back in time to the App Store’s glory days.

The whole experience is completely seamless. You sign up for $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$9.99 a month and can immediately jump into browsing the games. They’re all contained in a dedicated Arcade tab in your iPhone’s App Store, so there’s no ambiguity about whether the app you’re looking at is part of the service or not.

Although the selection here is nowhere near as expansive as the regular games tab, it feels genuinely curated and cuts out huge amounts of clutter and spam.

No matter what you like to play, there’ll be at least a few games for you. An impressive variety of genres are represented in the catalog: there are plenty of massive role-playing games (RPGs) that you can sink hours into, be that Trials of Mana+ or Final Fantasy+, fast-paced racers such as Asphalt 8: Airborne+ and Sonic Racing, head-scratching puzzlers in Monument Valley+ and Lego Builder’s Journey, and so much more.

Those iconic early mobile titles I mentioned earlier? They’re back too in new and improved forms that make them a nostalgic joy to revisit. There’s a full-on Angry Birds remake with enhanced graphics and extra levels, an expanded Doodle Jump sequel that updates the hand-drawn graphics and adds new environments, and a Temple Run successor that trades the endless format for challenging levels that are better-suited for short bursts of play.

The innovation of the early App Store is there too. RPG Fantasian wows with incredible art direction that sees you exploring hundreds of beautiful real-world dioramas that were digitally scanned into the game, while bonkers sports simulator What the Golf? takes full advantage of punchy iPhone haptics to add real weight to its wacky physics challenges.

No distractions

The games are all entirely devoid of ads and microtransactions, so you never have to deal with a frustrating splash screen or pop-up that takes you out of the action.

This means that most of the games will work entirely offline as well, just like they did back in the day. I had practically given up playing mobile games on my commute before getting into Apple Arcade simply because it was so hard to find titles that wouldn’t kick me out the second my train went into a tunnel.

There are no sign-in screens anywhere, and most games don’t even request permission to send push notifications. Your progress will even automatically sync to the cloud so you can continue playing on your iPad, Mac, or Apple TV when you get home.

Oh, and you don’t need to worry about your privacy in all this either. Apple says that all of the games in the service have no third-party tracking software and don’t collect any advertising data. All that, to me, is certainly worth paying for.

If you're a die-hard iPhone user, then there's a strong chance that you already have access to Apple Arcade and don't take full advantage of it. The gaming service is currently included with all tiers of the Apple One subscription — an all-in-one bundle that also includes the likes of iCloud Plus, Apple TV Plus, and Apple Music in one monthly fee.

Even if you don’t pay for Apple One, a free three-month trial of Apple Arcade comes bundled with every new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV, plus, the service is available as a standalone subscription if you don’t want it bundled with anything else. Sounds great, right? But what actually is Apple Arcade, how much does it cost, and is it really worth the price?

I’ve spent this week getting to grips with all things Apple Arcade, from diving into some of its biggest exclusive games to comparing it to other competing services, in order to bring you this comprehensive breakdown of everything you need to know about it. Read on and become an Apple Arcade expert.

What actually is Apple Arcade?

Apple Arcade is a gaming subscription service by Apple designed for its iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and even Apple Vision Pro devices. It launched in September 2019 and gives you access to a huge library of more than 200 premium games that you can download and play offline.

Unlike many titles that you might download from the App Store, Apple Arcade games are wholly devoid of both ads and in-app purchases. They are complete experiences that you can dive into without the risk of annoying interruptions or being asked to shell-out real world cash for in-game items or downloadable content (DLC).

What kind of games are included?

There are more than 200 games available on Apple Arcade, with options across a wide variety of genres. This includes a selection of high-quality original games such as fast-pace platformer Sonic Dream Team, cozy life simulator Hello Kitty Island Adventure, and beautiful role-playing game Fantasian.

There are also some ports of console and PC games, such as hit strategy game Sid Meier's Civilization 7 Arcade Edition, Disney life sim Disney Dreamlight Valley Arcade Edition, and indie roguelike Cult of the Lamb.

You will also find loads of premium versions of existing mobile titles with no ads or microtransactions in the likes of Doodle Jump 2+, Fruit Ninja Classic+, Bloons TD 6+, and much more.

You can use our quiz below for some hand-picked recommendations.

How much does Apple Arcade cost?

The Apple Arcade standard plan costs $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$9.99 a month.

You can save some cash by opting for an annual plan instead, which is $49.99 / £49.99 / AU$79.99 — a saving of $33.89 / £33.89 / AU$39.89 compared to 12 months of monthly payments.

No matter which of these two options you choose, you can share your Apple Arcade subscription with up to six family members at no extra cost.

Apple Arcade is also available as part of all Apple One tiers (Individual, Family, and Premier). Unlike Apple Arcade, Apple One is not available in an annual subscription format, so you can only pay for it on a monthly basis. You can view and compare all of the options below.

How to claim your Apple Arcade free trial

In most regions a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV now comes with a three-month free subscription to Apple Arcade. The offer is only valid for 93 days (that's roughly three months), so if you have an eligible device you should consider claiming it quickly if you're interested.

To do so, simply follow these four simple steps

1. Open the App Store on the eligible device
2. Tap the Apple Arcade tab at the bottom of the screen
3. The offer should appear automatically
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to redeem it

If you're not eligible for a complimentary three-month subscription, there's no need to worry — because new subscribers can still claim a one-month trial via the App Store.

Whether you claim three months or one month, bear in mind that a valid payment method will be required in order to get set up. This will be billed at the standard subscription price when your promotional period is over, so remember to cancel your subscription if you want to avoid any charges.

You can find out how to do this on the official Apple Support page.

Do you need a controller to play Apple Arcade games?

You don't actually need a controller to play the majority of Apple Arcade games. On iPhone and iPad, almost every title supports full touch screen controls and can be enjoyed without any extra hardware.

If you're playing on Mac, many titles support keyboard and mouse controls.

On Apple TV, you're most likely to need a dedicated gamepad as there are only a few titles that work well with the included remote.

Of course, lots of games still allow you to use a controller on any device even if it's not strictly required and I'd recommend it if you're after an even more console-like gaming experience.

You can see some models that I've personally tested and would recommend for Apple Arcade below.

What about the competition?

If you're strictly looking for a gaming subscription service for your iPhone, then Apple Arcade doesn't really have much direct competition.

The biggest alternatives on that platform are cloud gaming services such as Amazon Luna, which you can access through your iPhone's web browser. These stream games to your phone directly from a cloud server, which means that they require a constant internet connection and cannot be accessed offline.

They also don't work too well with on-screen controls, which means a controller like the dedicated Luna Wireless Controller is required for anything but the most casual titles.

That said, cloud gaming does have some big advantages. You can access full console or PC games, including massive titles such as Fortnite, Fallout 4, or Shadow of the Tomb Raider. As they do not rely on your local hardware, they can also offer high-end graphics features such as maximum in-game settings and ray tracing — though slow or choppy internet can negate this by introducing visual artifacts.

If you have access to an Android Phone, Google Play Pass is a potential alternative. It's cheaper than Apple Arcade but similarly grants access to loads of mobile games with zero ads or microtransactions. It also includes some productivity apps, meaning that it's a little more versatile than the strictly gaming-focused Apple Arcade.

That said, its software library feels much more chaotic and less curated. It also lacks the compelling exclusive releases that I think really bring a lot of value to Apple Arcade.

Apple Arcade FAQs

"It is easier, but it's not easy," Story Kitchen co-founder Dmitri Johnson interjects.

I'm midway through an in-depth conversation with Johnson and business partner Mike Goldberg about their pioneering entertainment company when the former clarifies something he alluded to earlier.

The topic in question? Pitching movies and TV shows based on video game properties to other studio figureheads is still challenging. That's in spite of myriad recent examples of popular game franchises being turned into other screen-based art forms that have achieved critical and commercial success.

"We're working every day to continue changing the stigma that games are only for kids and lazy people who still live in their mom's basement," Johnson adds with a wry smile. "These are artists and storytellers in their own right — and their work deserves to be seen by more people."

Press start

You probably haven't heard of Story Kitchen, but you definitely know the video game adaptations they've helped to shape.

From Paramount Pictures' money-spinning Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise and Netflix's animated Tomb Raider show, to Prime Video's forthcoming TV re-imaginings of the aforementioned Lara Croft-fronted game series and Dontnod's beloved first Life is Strange title, Story Kitchen is at the forefront of what's unsurprisingly being labeled the 'golden age' of video game adaptations.

It's a cinematic epoch some believed would never happen — and with good reason. The 1990s and early 2000s are littered with examples of maligned video game movies, including — but by no means limited to — 1993's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 2005's Doom, and 2003's House of the Dead, the latter of which is one the worst-rated films on popular review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

With so many entertainment giants failing to understand the source material, the 'videogame adaptation curse' — a phrase Goldberg says "sounds really good when stories are written about it" — became a catch-all term for these and similarly crucified productions. Combine that with the notion that, as Goldberg notes, "Hollywood didn't respect the gaming community, developers, or publishers", and it seemed that video games would forever be viewed as the runt of the visual media landscape.

That was until dj2 Entertainment, the precursor to Story Kitchen co-founded by Johnson and Dan Jevons in 2011, took a leap into the unknown.

The company's primary goal was simple: make Hollywood believe that video game stories were worth telling and investing in. Predictably, Hollywood just didn't see the appeal of turning games into movies or TV shows, and countless rejections followed.

Then came the first Sonic the Hedgehog film. After slowly and methodically earning the trust and respect of SEGA, Johnson convinced the Japanese videogame titan and, later, Paramount Pictures that people wanted to see the Blue Blur star in his own movie.

A few notable setbacks, including the titular character's speedy redesign after fans attacked his initial look following the release of Sonic's first trailer, followed. Fast-forward to early 2020, though, and, despite the pandemic bringing Sonic the Hedgehog's theatrical run to a premature end, the action-adventure comedy grossed $320 million worldwide. On a reported budget of $90 million, it more than recouped its production and marketing costs.

"Dmitri always believed that, with education and respect, a different result [video game adaptations being successful] would occur," Goldberg says. "And, he was right."

'It's a new era — but not every game should be adapted'

A lot has happened in the short time since Sonic's big-screen debut, one that Goldberg describes as "an absolute game changer in the Hollywood ecosystem".

He's not wrong. Film adaptations of other iconic and/or hugely popular game series, including Mario and Minecraft, have earned billions at the global box office. Meanwhile, TV retellings of hit franchises like The Last of Us on HBO Max, and small-screen projects that expand on existing game universes, including Fallout on Prime Video and Netflix's League of Legends animated program Arcane, have drawn universal acclaim, won multiple awards, and introduced millions more people to stories, characters, and worlds they would never have connected with otherwise.

Suffice it to say, the explosion of video game adaptations is indicative of an industry-wide paradigm shift that also allowed dj2 Entertainment to level up its own game. Indeed, by investing the metaphorical skill points into the company's evolution from dj2 Entertainment to Story Kitchen, onboarding industry talents like Elena Sandoval, Timothy I. Stevenson, and Dallas Dickinson, and signing first-look deals with Amazon in February 2022 and DreamWorks Animation in May 2024, Johnson, Goldberg, and company are well-placed to help create the next wave of gaming transmedia hits.

At the time of publication, around 30 projects, some of which have already found homes and others that'll be shopped around Hollywood, are in the works at Story Kitchen HQ. That might sound a lot, but it's a mere raindrop in the ever-expanding gaming ocean. So, why doesn't Story Kitchen just take a long list of game titles to film studios, TV networks, and the world's best streaming services, and reel them off until one piques their interest?

"It's a new era, but not every game should be adapted," Golberg replies, "And not every game should be adapted right now. We want to be a friend and advocate for the space, though, because we don't see this as a fleeting moment [for video game adaptations]. We think it's got long-term potential, so we're working to ensure that we see that through."

That's not to say Story Kitchen is only focused on adapting the biggest game franchises. AA and indie titles are as much a part of the pitching process, if not more so, than their flashier, big-budget counterparts.

"We don't go into things like 'how many copies did this game sell?'," Johnson says. "We actually despise that question and refuse to answer it at this point. We respond with 'here's why these characters and stories are incredible' and 'here's why it's something we've never seen before'.

"What it really boils down to is passion," he continues. "What are the things that we can't stop thinking about and have to pursue? Once that process starts, we're convinced something has to be made, and that translates into our meetings with other companies. Initially, it might not necessarily make sense to them, but they all want to hear the pitch because it's coming from a place of passion, so most networks and studios are excited when we take something out to them. This isn't a cash-grab — these conversations are happening because we actually care."

Prime-d for more success?

And care, Johnson and Goldberg certainly do. The multi-billion-dollar-spinning Sonic franchise, which currently comprises three movies and a Knuckles TV spin-off on Paramount+, has improved with each new entry.

As of July 2026, a fourth flick is deep in post-production ahead of its March 19, 2027 release date. An untitled Shadow-fronted off-shoot project is also reportedly in the works, though Johnson and Goldberg declined to speak about it because, as Goldberg rightfully points out, "there are levels of NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) we must respect."

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 isn't the only thing that'll roll off the Story Kitchen production line next year. Indeed, two TV projects are expected to make their Prime Video debuts in 2027, the first of which should be a Tomb Raider TV adaptation that Johnson admits has been "years in the making".

Overseen by Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge, it'll star Sophie Turner as gaming icon Lara Croft. Amazon revealed a perfect first-look shot at Turner in Croft's classic tank top and shorts combo as principal photography got underway in January and, while filming was halted in March due to a "minor injury" sustained by Turner, there's nothing to suggest it'll delay the live-action series' launch.

Thanks to a partnership Story Kitchen established with Tomb Raider custodians and videogame developer Crystal Dynamics during development on Netflix's Tomb Raider animated show, Johnson says "we had a very clear blueprint of how to move together as partners". So, when Amazon, which already had an agreement with Crystal Dynamics to publish future Tomb Raider games, proposed making a live-action TV show, it seemed like a lightning-in-a-bottle moment for all involved.

"Every decision [on the show] is made with Crystal Dynamics' sign-off," Johnson reveals. "So, season one has their blessing and they're very hands-on, but they also respect Phoebe, who's a super-fan, and her perspective of what a live-action Tomb Raider project should be.

"We've actually just started seeing rough cuts, and we were grinning like 10 year olds the entire time. It's going to be good. By the way, we're not the type of people who hype up their own s**t. It's going to be something that your mom can come across and not know that it's based on a 30-year-old videogame franchise. We don't want it to be a niche adaptation just for core fans, who we absolutely honor and will make feel seen. But, if we do our job right, which we're tirelessly trying to do, newcomers will fall love this show just as much as we have."

Life is Strange is a whole other beast. The 2015 episodic adventure game, which tells the story of a high schooler named Max who discovers she can rewind time, is famous for its branching dialog option-based narrative. Ultimately, though, the choices players make during any given playthrough lead to just one of two endings.

In collaboration with its production partners Amazon, Life is Strange franchise publisher Square Enix, and Margot Robbie's LuckyChap Entertainment, then, how is Story Kitchen tackling an evolving tale built on player choice? Furthermore, how did they decide which ending to not only use, but one that, regardless of what happens in Life is Strange: Reunion, aka Deck Nine's 2024 sequel to the first Max-led game, some viewers might interpret as being its true canonical ending?

"We went into Life is Strange knowing that almost all of the major decisions were almost a 50-50 split," Johnson muses. "So, at the start of development, you have to accept that you're not going to make everyone happy. That said, the way we're approaching some of those critical decisions from the games, I think everyone is are going to feel seen, and they're going to be happy and probably emotional [with how things play out]."

It's full steam ahead for Amazon MGM Studios film adaptations of two award-winning and popular Hazelight games in It Takes Two and Split Fiction, too.

Where the latter is concerned, things are still in the early stages of development. However, prolific actor Sydney Sweeney, Wicked duology director Jon M. Chi, and Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are, as confirmed by Goldberg, all involved.

"You play these games with your significant other, friend, or a family member, and everyone has their own experience," Goldberg says. It's been such a fun challenge of interpreting that and turning it into a singular shared experience [for viewers].

"Reese and Wernick even insisted on playing the game, and that's how we want our village to be built. You're not required to be a game, but we loved that they wanted to play and experience it together before they committed to this adaptation, and that's going to influence their own script."

As for It Takes Two's film reimagining, it's been over four years since Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks production team boarded the Amazon-led project. Speaking to Eurogamer last March, Hazelight creative director Josef Fares, who's known for not mincing his words, took aim at how long it was taking for the film to move forward.

"Hollywood, there's so much b******t," Fares responded when asked for an update. "I think 90 percent of the meetings are actually b******t, and 10 percent are what actually happens. There's a lot of talk, but not a lot of walk. I don't know what's going on. Hopefully something. It would be cool to get something out of it, but my hopes are not so high."

"They are," Johnson says when I ask him if Fares, Hazelight, and Johnson's company are still involved, before he adds: "We're so close to the Hazelight boys at this point that there's a shorthand with them, and the relationship with them and partners on our side... it's all very fluid."

Days of future past

That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the 30+ film and TV projects that Story Kitchen plans on delivering.

Johnson and Goldberg want to cover as many genre bases and demographics as possible, too. Film adaptations of three Roblox games — Grow a Garden, Steal a Brainrot, and Jailbreak — are in the works, as are Just Cause, Shinobi, and Ruiner productions with Universal.

Elsewhere, Netflix has signed on to bring Sifu and Kingmakers adaptations to its user base, Lionsgate is hard at work on a Streets of Rage movie, and film reimaginings of hit indie games Disco Elysium and Dredge have also been announced. Additionally, a House of the Dead movie led by The Last of Us and Superman star Isabela Merced — "she's our homie," Johnson beams —is just another of Story Kitchen's other planned projects.

It isn't just video games that are being turned into movies, either. Toys 'R Us, a popular toy retailer in the '80s and '90s that's recently enjoyed a resurgence in the US, is getting the live-action film treatment. Meanwhile, Teddy Ruxpin, an animatronic storytelling bear that was a US bestseller in the '80s, will star in a feature that's been described as 'Sonic the Hedgehog meets Elf'.

"I think it's going to go the same way as Barbie," self-confessed Teddy Ruxpin fan Johnson says in reference to the 2023 megahit starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. "I went into that thinking 'ugh, cash grab' and then had a little tear in the eye by the third act.

"It [the Teddy Ruxpin movie] is funnier than it has any right to be," Johnson continues. "We have ridiculous musical numbers when we shouldn't, and it's so brilliantly bananas that it works. I think it's going to catch people off-guard, and kids are gonna walk out of it wanting a Teddy Ruxpin."

But, back to the games — and, perhaps most importantly, Story Kitchen's mission to create films and TV shows not only based on beloved titles from the past and those that are currently popular, but also those yet to be released.

"We're about to pitch a show based on a game that hasn't even been announced," Goldberg teases as an example of the latter. "And, should nothing change, it'll finally be announced at the 2026 Game Awards. But we're already going to take a fully fleshed, packaged, and scripted drama TV pitch on it to studios next month, so we can move as swiftly as possible once the game is officially revealed."

Whatever that soon-to-be-announced game is, its developer will surely hope it performs as well as 2025 surprise hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 did.

The first-ever title from French studio Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur unexpectedly dominated the gaming sphere last year. With over eight million copies sold (as of April 2026) and numerous award wins under its belt, it's little wonder that this critically and commercially successful title is being turned into a live-action film. As Johnson is keen to point out, though, the Clair Obscur bandwagon isn't one that Story Kitchen jumped on post-launch.

"As a company, we pride ourselves on not chasing heat," he explains. "We're less likely to pursue a game once it's become an established hit, because we don't ever want to be seen as those people.

"We were actually working with Sandfall as early as 2023," he continues. "We read almost 600 pages of scripts, had raw music files [to listen to], [and] art to look at, so we fell in love with it before we saw any real gameplay. Obviously, you don't know how a game is going to perform, so we went into this knowing that it could be a tough sell. Without the massive success it had, it would've been an uphill battle [to pitch our movie adaptation to studios]. But, as I said earlier, once the passion kicks in, we don't take 'no' for an answer. We were convinced three years ago that this was something to be excited about, and... that's all we can say about it right now."

If there's one thing I took from my chat with Johnson and Goldberg, it's this: they genuinely care about what they're doing. Like, a lot. They don't phone in their work, nor did they lazily trot out stock responses to my questions. They are completely committed to telling the world that games are not only great, but that their stories are also worth translating and telling in other mediums.

There's so much more that Story Kitchen wants to accomplish, though. Even with the abundance of productions already on their plate, Johnson and Goldberg have ambitions on adapting even more franchises for the big and small screen. Their dream projects? Mega Man and — surprisingly — Bad Dudes for Johnson, and Nintendo's iconic sci-fi franchise Metroid for Goldberg.

But such wish fulfillment must wait for another day. As we approach the tail-end of what was supposed to be an hour-long interview, Goldberg reveals that he and Johnson are being summoned by Amazon for a meeting — the contents of which he can't disclose.

It's a sign of just how busy the pair have become, but they wouldn't have it any other way. After all, Story Kitchen is no ordinary passion project — it's reshaping the multimedia landscape as we know it.

"We were recently looking back on our list of games to consider for last year's BAFTA Game Awards," Johnson says, "And there's one from a tiny Australian team called The Drifter that, after I came across it in 2025, I couldn't stop gushing about. Anyway, we ended up tracking them down and, in the very first meeting we had with another studio, we were able to find a home for this indie game in the form of a big theatrical movie.

"That wouldn't have been possible five, six years ago, and that's why we're enjoying this moment now. Step one was getting rid of this silly notion that games are cursed. Now, step two, and we say this with a straight face, you'll see Oscars, Emmys, and BAFTAs being won by movies and TV shows that are based on games. That's our next mission: proving that videogames are art. The stories being told, the characters they contain... they're no different to a New York Times best-selling book — and we're ready to show the world why."

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1147) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• WALTZ
• LOAFER
• SHAM
• BORE
• REAM
• BOULEVARD
• SHEET
• BALE
• THROW
• BUNDLE
• JORDAN
• ROLLS-ROYCE
• PHOENIX
• DRILL
• COMFORTER
• COUNTERSINK

NYT Connections today (game #1147) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Sleep under or on it
• GREEN: Movie icons
• BLUE: Make a dent in things
• PURPLE: Ready, steady, bake

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1147) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: BEDDING
• GREEN: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS SINCE 2010
• BLUE: PERFORM SOME HOLE MACHINING OPERATION
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH BREAD SHAPES

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1147) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1147, are…

• YELLOW: BEDDING: COMFORTER, SHAM, SHEET, THROW
• GREEN: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS SINCE 2010: BALE, JORDAN, PHOENIX, WALTZ
• BLUE: PERFORM SOME HOLE MACHINING OPERATION: S BORE, COUNTERSINK, DRILL, REAM
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH BREAD SHAPES: BOULEVARD, BUNDLE, LOAFER, ROLLS-ROYCE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I usually jump straight in when I have a hunch, but today I held back until I was certain.

The result was that I went through this game without any mistakes, however I also missed out on a “purple first”, as hesitancy held me back when I was feeling sure that roll, bun and loaf at the start of ROLLS-ROYCE, BUNDLE and LOAFER was no coincidence.

Alas, being unfamiliar with boule (it’s a type of French bread) meant I couldn't follow up on my half-baked theory.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, July 31, 2026, game #1146)

• YELLOW: CONSTRUCT: FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, SHAPE
• GREEN: SUPER MARIO FIGURES: DINOSAUR, MUSHROOM, PLUMBER, PRINCESS
• BLUE: FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER: DAPPLE, JDATE, SLIME, SPEAR
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS: CHEERIOS, FUNGUS, GLEEK, JOYSTICK

When Sony announced that it would no longer be producing physical PlayStation discs from 2028, the response was not positive, to put it lightly. Yes, PC gaming may now be almost entirely digital, and things have certainly been moving in a similar direction with consoles over the last few years, but ceasing production of physical games entirely? It’s a significant step many didn’t want to happen so soon.

PlayStation fans have been vocal in calling out the negatives of Sony’s decision, specifically what this means for game ownership, preservation, and collectors who enjoy buying physical. The company has been reticent to address the backlash, but the comments section of every blog entry, social media post, or trailer release since the announcement is full of anger, pleas to reverse the decision, and glib remarks at Sony’s expense.

For anyone, like myself, who has enjoyed building a collection of physical games over the years across multiple console generations, it’s devastating news.

And I don’t think Sony’s refusal to address any of the feedback is helping matters. Yes, we’ve seen fan uproar dissipate into nothingness with countless hot-button issues in a matter of days in the past — but the vociferous fans don’t appear to be going away right now.

But I think some companies aren’t letting physical games go anywhere either.

A new challenger approaches

“What we've seen and what I have taken from all of the discourse is that there is an incredible passion for physical games and other physical objects. The digital space can never provide the same kind of satisfaction that people get from a tangible good.”

This is the view of Amanda White, co-founder of iam8bit. After starting out hosting pop culture workshops, the company has since produced countless pieces of video game merch and memorabilia over the past 20 years, as well as vinyl releases for popular soundtracks and physical editions for games across several platforms. Yes, they have standard boxed releases for games on PS5, Xbox, and Switch, but the company truly stands out for its jam-packed and reverential physical collector’s editions.

Scroll through the store now, and you’ll see a copy of Lies of P that comes with a wood-carved and hand-crafted marionette puppet, a Blue Prince bundle that includes printed versions of two memorable picture books from the game, and a The Outer Wilds set featuring a traveller’s bag and a replica of Chert’s bandana.

If you’ve played and are a fan of any of those games, you’ll immediately understand the connection between the extras that are included and the game itself, and why people are willing to part with their cash to own something that they can add to a collection, display at home, or carry around with them.

“We started to realise that there was something that people saw as incredibly valuable in these tangible goods,” Amanda explains of the company’s origins. “These unique tangible goods held memories for them that related to these community experiences they were having.

“So, we want to put in the extraordinary effort required to get the gasps of delight when something lands in someone's mailbox and they open it and experience it for the first time.”

Let's get physical

It’s the same fan passion that drives Limited Run Games: a similar outfit that’s published over 1,000 physical and digital game releases since its inception in 2015. Its motto, ‘Forever Physical’, defines the exact mindset of the PlayStation fans who are disappointed with Sony’s pivot to a fully digital future and what’s lost by moving in this direction.

“I think you're losing a key part of the experience, right?” suggests Brendan Madigan, CFO and General Manager at Limited Run. “Because, obviously, the actual media is a key part of that, and I think that's where we, at Limited Run, have a responsibility to our fans to innovate and to improve the experience.”

“I think where our fans have been clear in what they want is that they want collectible products that hold value, and they want the product to be an experience,” he continues. “I’ve always viewed our product as different from a retail offering anyway, because it's highly collectable, it’s very curated, with tonnes of added features and pack-ins to it. The delivery mechanism will always change…but nothing changes about the core experience that the collector wants to have.”

It comes down to the fact that the physical offering from the traditional industry has only grown more sparse over the years. Open a PS5 or Nintendo Switch game box now and you’re more often than not presented with the sad sight of a lonely disc or tiny cartridge set into an empty expanse of plastic. You’re lucky if you get a quick start guide, or a sheet of paper with a DLC code. A full manual? You must be joking.

Similar to iam8bit, the store pages of Limited Run are filled with physical game releases that span the entire range of consoles and generations — from bulky NES cartridges to the slim cases of Nintendo Switch titles.

The products that stand out most, again, are the most recent limited edition launches, with games like Tomb Raider, Silent Hill, and Star Wars Zero Company in beautiful presentation boxes that are filled with soundtrack CDs, trinkets, posters, and other unique extras relevant to the game or its universe.

Sales figures discussed by analysts might paint a grim picture for physical releases, but iam8bit and Limited Run both emphasize just how quickly some of their releases sell out — and how even restocks of older products that were brought back by fan demand are scooped up in no time. The audience and the demand do not appear to be shrinking from their perspective.

Digital is inevitable, but there is hope

As for fans signing petitions trying to convince Sony to reverse its decision, Limited Run’s Chief Operating Officer, Nic Ashford, is unfortunately not hopeful for the outcome they're seeking, but does see what they're standing for as an opportunity.

“Look at the numbers; they're not going to change, they're not going to go back. They can't afford to and it doesn't make sense. But that doesn't mean a company like Limited Run couldn't come in and say, look, we certainly know that 350,000 people want you to keep this going, and it could go up. How about working with us to come up with a solution that works?

“We've got to find the right solution for the number of people who are out there in the minority who still buy physical product,” says Nic. “Some might say, outside the industry, that’s a somewhat flawed business model. But, in fact, it isn't, because those people who seek that type of product will always seek that product out.”

He likens it to this wider push, primarily from younger generations, who want to reconnect to the physical world in our increasing digital age. In the same way that 4K Blu-ray, CDs, and, of course, vinyl, are all in various states of resurgence, it seemed inevitable that video games would also be swept up in this growing demand for and appreciation of physical goods.

“We have, over the last couple of years, set this company up in preparation for this moment,” continues Nic. “Physical is something that we’re intrinsically involved in, and we've been aware that this was going to be coming for several years — practically over a couple of decades. So, we focused on making things more of an experience for the fans and adding value.

“They are actively going out and seeking a connection with something real, something you can hold, something you can touch, and that you can own. That's encouraging. Today's generation and the next generation of physical buyers are going to be people who have that or grow into that, but they'll have a component of nostalgia in there as well.”

Blowing on the cartridge is here to stay

Nostalgia brings me nicely onto another aspect of why physical games are so important to many — one that grows even more important as gaming and console generations keep moving forward. Preservation.

If you buy a game digitally, then there’s the fear that it could disappear and no longer be accessible at any moment. Sure, Sony isn’t going to turn off PS5 game downloads any time soon, but the PlayStation Store on the PS3 and PS Vita is about to close.

And while the company has promised downloads will be possible “for the foreseeable future,” there’s always the thought in the back of your mind that, eventually, they’ll switch it off for good.

So, being able to scan your shelf or dive into a box and find that old copy of something you’ve been craving to play is clearly a driving factor for many physical game buyers — be it a rare PS1 cult classic like Parasite Eve 2, a slightly dusty but incredibly valuable Conker’s Bad Fur Day N64 cart, or a copy of Pokémon Red on the Game Boy that you last remember playing by the light of streetlamps in the back of a car.

One company whose goal is to preserve classic games and ensure you can play them as authentically as possible is ModRetro.

It started by launching the Game Boy-inspired Chromatic and just recently launched the M64, a modern take on the Nintendo 64 that I found was a terrific way to play that console’s games in 2026.

“We wanted to basically design these exactly with this core intention to preserve the authenticity of the gameplay experience,” explains ModRetro CEO Torin Herndon. “That's also why we publish games and re-release games, too. In terms of retro games, the collecting of them is a bigger thing than the playing of them, and one of the goals of ModRetro is to make those games playable again and make them accessible again.”

Original Game Boy and Nintendo 64 cartridges are simply slotted into the Chromatic or the M64 as you would with any standard version of the respective console.

And while some modern quality-of-life touches make things easier or smoother compared to the classic consoles, you’re effectively playing the exact same physical game that you may have owned for years or picked up in a second-hand store earlier that day. With a digital-only future upon us, that won’t be possible.

“The thing that's upsetting to people on the surface is this idea of ownership: that if you don't physically own a game where the game is on physical media, it can easily lose support at any moment. It can effectively be taken away from you in some sense,” says Torin in response to the reaction to Sony’s announcement. “And given that you paid AAA prices for some of these games, that is not a super consumer-friendly option.

“Obviously, these companies don't have a choice but to move away from physical media, because the overall business model of these companies is kind of reliant on having moved away from them in the first place. Most of the physical media that you can buy is actually just a key that allows you to unlock the game and download it.

"That’s another thing that I think is interesting, maybe more interesting even than ownership, is that back in the day these games were baked onto physical media and were more reliably baked before you bought it.”

Overcoming tech challenges

That’s less of an issue when we’re discussing the Game Boy and Nintendo 64 games that ModRetro is focused on, but there will come a point when these same conversations will be happening about more modern games that are reliant on day-one updates and DLC.

The topic is big enough for a different discussion entirely, but it’s a challenge that companies like iam8bit and Limited Run Games also need to be aware of with physical media in the modern era.

Jon Gibson, co-founder of iam8bit, responds to this by saying: “We've been on the side of positivity always, and we're looking at this from a perspective of, OK, you can't change what you can't change. But how can we pivot to embrace what we do so well and to give fans things that they will enjoy and cherish and love in that physical form?

“We hope that 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 50 years from now, people are going to find a copy of a game, or a record, or a CD that we minted that they had never heard of and they give it a shot. They pop it into their console, or they put it on the record player. That's really exciting to think about that we helped to give that thing staying power, whereas, otherwise, it might be deleted digitally when a licence expires.”

That optimism is echoed by Amanda. “As John said, we're going to lean into this aspect of what we already do and have been doing for 20 years, and we'll continue to do it. If that means we need to pivot a little bit so that we're making goods that are sitting beside PlayStation products, rather than direct physical PlayStation games, then we'll do that. We’ll still do our best to make those fans happy and build a robust experience around the IP they love.”

What’s clear speaking to iam8bit, Limited Run Games, and ModRetro is that the passion for games is there in abundance, as is the drive to provide their fans of today and in the future with ways to experience and enjoy the games they love in a physical form, not just as the ones and zeros they’re made from.

The world’s most famous MMMORPG is officially joining the world’s best TTRPG, as Wizards of the Coast just revealed that World of Warcraft will get an official Dungeons & Dragons release later this year — letting you bring Azeroth’s species, locations, bosses, and player builds to your table.

The gameplay expansion is due to launch as part of D&D’s Season of Champions on November 17, 2026, and it kickstarts a new-ish approach for the tabletop game — one that arguably borrows the most controversial aspect of Wizards’ other hit game, Magic: The Gathering. However, you won’t catch me complaining.

Because while the promise of nine new and updated subclasses, seven WoW dungeons to explore, over 60 spells to play around with among so many other additions is exciting, two words might overshadow this launch as they tease the arrival of plenty more otherworldly tie-ins (It has already told us Star Wars is coming down the line).

This World of Warcraft expansion will kickstart D&D’s Universes Beyond era. And whatever you think of UB in Magic, it’s easily most at home in this Dungeons & Dragons form.

A multiverse of wonder

For the uninitiated, Universes Beyond is the branding used in Magic: The Gathering to denote cards featuring an IP that Wizards hasn’t developed. It has brought us game pieces featuring characters and places from Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, Marvel, and soon Star Trek, among plenty more.

I love it. I first picked up the TCG because of its tie-ins (after seeing D&D and Stranger Things inspired cards), and having heard designers like Mark Rosewater talk so passionately about their approach to Universes Beyond card design, I can’t help but mimic their infectious joy.

Though I can’t pretend the whole community shares my feelings.

Whether it’s because UB now makes up three of every six sets released each year and the bloat some believe this many releases in general adds, the higher costs that come with UB products compared to in-universe expansions, or simply a dislike for the external IP and a belief its vibe doesn’t gel with Magic’s, you can find many reasons for Universes Beyond hatred.

Dungeons & Dragons, however, should dodge a lot of these community complaints. In fact, I could see the Universes Beyond expansion being widely loved by the community.

Above and Beyond

For a start, if anyone hates this approach, they can ignore it. This same strategy has been suggested by Wizards to folks who dislike UB in Magic: The Gathering, but outside of fan-made formats like Planar Standard it’s simply not viable — in competitive formats you have to follow the meta. In Commander you have to accept that your opponents will play the legal cards they want to play.

In D&D, however, the game is designed for you to pick and choose what is/isn’t incorporated into the world. Some DMs ban certain subclasses, or only accept a small selection of spells. In contrast, others (like myself) will invite not only all official content but plenty of homebrew sources to their tables.

Speaking of, either through unofficial fan creations or official adaptations created using the free Open Game License / System Reference Document (which allows folks to create their own 5e-compatible content using the core Dungeons & Dragons rules) there’s already a lot of external IP ready to access — either in roundabout ways like through Steinhardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt’s Bloodborne inspirations, or in more explicit capacities like Doctors and Daleks.

I think we’ve all also played in a game where someone has taken inspiration from pop culture to build a character. I’ve built a tarroka deck-wielding Fire Genasi Bard to recreate X-Men’s Gambit, and in one of my earliest D&D games two people at the table were clearly playing fantasy Han Solo and Chewbacca (and will likely love the offical Star Wars expansion D&D is offering up after WoW).

Entering D&D’s weird world of roleplaying can be a tough experience at first, so being able to lean on familiarity, especially in an official capacity like Universe Beyond, makes the game more accessible and also simply helps players have the fun they want to have.

That’s already the approach for in-universe expansions. There’s Greyhawk for high fantasy lovers, Dark Sun if you want a more mature, violent setting, Spelljammer if you want a space-themed adventure, and Strixhaven if you want to enjoy magic school drama, to name a few.

We’ll have to wait and see how D&D’s approach to Universes Beyond evolves over time, but I don’t see any downsides.

It’s a game all about creating the adventure you want to have. Universes Beyond won’t change that. If anything, it should only make that goal a heck of a lot easier for so many players.

When CD Projekt Red finally announced The Witcher 4 was in development and dropped the first cinematic trailer at The Game Awards 2024, showcasing Ciri in all her butt-kicking glory, I jumped out of bed at midnight and did a backflip. Like most fans, I've been waiting for a new Witcher game for over a decade, and the news that the sequel will star Ciri on her own adventure easily made the game shoot up my most anticipated role-playing games (RPGs) list.

While the game is still in active development and there's no release date at this time, CDPR showcased a tech demo last year, offering an early glimpse into the Unreal Engine 5.6 features that will be used in The Witcher 4. It was confirmed that the demo wasn't actual gameplay, but rather an example of the cutting-edge technology, Unreal Animation Framework and Nanite Foliage rendering, that will power the game. Still, it's clear that CDPR has a huge ambition for the sequel.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a massive game, and as a certified fantasy RPG lover, I've spent hundreds of hours across multiple playthroughs exploring it as deeply as possible; so we should expect something similar for The Witcher 4, though I expect the graphical fidelity and attention to detail to be more impressive.

Game director Sebastian Kalemba and executive producer Gosia Mitręga have previously confirmed that the upcoming RPG will feature new regions never before seen in a Witcher game, but fans should expect a map size "more or less" the same as The Witcher 3's.

"The map is definitely more or less when it comes to size, the amount of quests, more or less the same," Kalemba said at the time. "Again, the game is going to be big. But also, the ambition of the entire team is huge. So first and foremost, we want to deliver a super compelling experience.

"Again, quality over quantity. But definitely, what we can promise: Yes, this game is going to be pretty big. It's going to be big compared to everything we've prepared so far..."

I won't lie and say I'm not looking forward to getting lost in the world of The Witcher 4; sprawling landscapes, intricately built cities, hidden dungeons, all wrapped in a sense of realism and reactivity that the Polish studio is best known for? I'll be there day one. That being said, as impressive as a highly detailed fantasy open world can be, it's hard not to worry about the game's launch.

We've seen the same song and dance before. Ambitious open-world RPGs launching in a sorry state, hindered by performance issues, bugs, and crashes, and CDPR's games are no exception.

The Witcher 3, while an exceptional experience today, launched with plenty of instability bugs, and while it took a while for the game to overcome them, it's the studio's futuristic action-RPG Cyberpunk 2077, in particular, that is remembered in history for having one of the worst game launches of all time.

If you didn't play the game when it released in 2020, let me briefly set the stage. It's 2013, and CDPR just released the first Cyberpunk 2077 cinematic teaser trailer, sparking overwhelming excitement among the studio's fanbase. But it wasn't until five years later that the official trailer was released, promising an expansive and interactive Night City, complex NPC routines and crowds, and incredible levels of character and gameplay customization. It was all the internet seemed to talk about.

It was the most anticipated game ever at the time, and excitement levels hit an all-time high when, in 2019, it was revealed that actor Keanu Reeves would star in the game, as well. An April 2020 release date was set, but the game was delayed twice, until Cyberpunk 2077 finally launched in November 2020. And... it was disastrous.

There were many factors that led Cyberpunk's terrible launch, many of which were down to crunch and rushed time management schedules, marketing promises that set expectations too high, and pressure from executives to release the game on last-gen consoles, which the studio was forced to work on until the very last moment.

"After three delays, we as the Management Board were too focused on releasing the game," said former CDPR president and joint CEO Adam Kiciński at the time, "We underestimated the scale and complexity of the issues, we ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game on the base last-gen consoles. It was the wrong approach and against our business philosophy. On top of that, during the campaign, we showed the game mostly on PCs."

You couldn't ignore the performance issues that persisted, making the game largely unplayable on console; they were so bad on PS4 and PS5 that Sony issued full refunds and temporarily removed the game from the PlayStation Store, and it didn't return until a year later.

Miraculously, Cyberpunk 2077 experienced a renaissance, and over the years, CDPR delivered on its promise to fix the game and release a steady stream of significant patches that smoothed out the critical performance issues plaguing it across all platforms. Those updates even included new content, improved gameplay features, and the critically acclaimed Phantom Liberty expansion. Now, despite all its launch woes, it's regarded as one of the best RPGs you can play today.

While CDPR managed to save Cyberpunk in the end, I don't want The Witcher 4 to have to suffer the same fate at launch. Even though the studio has switched from its in-house REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 for this project, which boasts specialized tools that offer better stability, Unreal Engine isn't without its faults; I think it's in its best interest to address PC and console optimization first over an impressive and massive open world that could cause problems down the road.

The Blood of Dawnwalker director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who also directed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, recently spoke to TechRadar Gaming about Rebel Wolves' upcoming dark-fantasy RPG, explaining that the game wouldn't exist if it weren't for the experience of former The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developers.

Since the game has so many "complex choices and consequences, with so many unique mechanics," he explained that the team built on what it learned at CDPR. He also confirmed that the team prioritised optimization at the start of development to avoid the same launch issues as The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.

"We learned how to approach the optimization of the game," he said. "When we started work on The Blood of the Dawnwalker, we already had people working on the optimization of our game all the time, right from the beginning.

"We didn’t want to be in a situation where we deliver a great game, but there are problems when we release it on consoles or some performance problems."

This is exactly what CDPR needs to do to avoid a messy Witcher 4 launch. Of course, the talented developers should take all the time they need to build the worthy Witcher 3 successor they dream of, but the magic of that experience will be lost if the game releases in rough shape. Focusing on optimization and ensuring that the game runs on current-gen and PC first and foremost, with no major performance issues, should be the priority.

CDPR recently confirmed that The Witcher 4 is in full production and recent comments from CDPR technical writers Jarosław Ruciński and Adrian Fulneczek (via GamesRadar) revealed that the studio is focused on documenting the technical process of its new games, something it wasn't able to do with older projects and which led to major development problems for games like Cyberpunk 2077.

"The future looks really promising for us," Fulneczek said of The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2. "We learned our lesson. We've got some new requirements, especially a new definition of 'done'. So as you know, any project, any game goes through development stages, and right now, every stage ends with a gate. Part of the requirements to pass that gate is the documentation, which wasn't the case before."

Ruciński added, "Unlike in the past, now, today our knowledge isn't locked between specific teams' permissions. It's a shared asset. If a team working on, let's say, The Witcher figures out a solution for a specific issue, the Cyberpunk team can see it, benefit from it, take it into their own code, modify it probably a little bit."

He explained that "problems aren't being solved multiple times by different teams, and also that if a breakthrough happens on one of the projects, the whole company benefits."

While not necessarily a direct comment on performance optimization, I'm cautiously optimistic that this means CDPR has taken lessons learned from Cyberpunk's launch to deliver a Witcher 4 launch experience worth remembering, positively this time.

The Nintendo Switch was nothing short of a phenomenon. It won the hearts of millions, possesses one of the greatest games libraries in console history, and became one of the highest selling systems of all time. It brought the best parts of its failing predecessor, the Wii U, forward, assuming an ultra-convenient hybrid form, and during the COVID 19 pandemic, it felt like everyone and their dog were building their perfect island on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, or racing to the finish line in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

All of that is to say, that whatever came next would have huge shoes to fill. And so, in came the Nintendo Switch 2 — a system that appeared to be less of a revolution, and more of an evolution. It took what made the Switch great and ran with it, offering higher resolution and refresh rates, a larger screen for handheld mode, and even a mouse mode.

And in some respects, the Switch 2 has hit the ground running. It’s the second-fastest selling games console in recorded US history, and at just over a year old it's already seen multiple exclusives (such as Donkey Kong Bananza and Pokémon Pokopia) release to critical acclaim. But at the same time, some have been disappointed over the lack of a 3D Mario or truly new Zelda title on the horizon, while issues around battery life and pricing have also proved to be a turn off for others.

So, this got me thinking. Would gamers consider the Switch 2 to be more of a hit, or a flop? Sure, its sales figures have been impressive, but are users satisfied with the hardware upgrades? What are their thoughts on its game catalogue?

I spoke with industry experts, fellow journalists — and most importantly, you, our wonderful readers, and it proved to be a fascinating experience. I heard a lot of varying viewpoints, and now I’m here to report back.

Hit or miss: the expert take

To begin with, I spoke with Mat Piscatella, Executive Director of Games at the Market Research firm Circana, who had some excellent insight into the commercial performance of the Nintendo Switch 2.

“Well, over its first 12 months in the market, Nintendo Switch 2 hit 5.9M units sold in the US,” Piscatella told me.

This, he noted, ensured it became the second fastest-selling video game hardware in the US since Circana’s records began in 1995 — finishing behind the Game Boy Advance only. “If that's not considered a hit, I'm not sure what would be,” he remarked.

“For the 2026 year-to-date period ending May, US hardware spending in total was up 37% compared to the same period a year ago,” Piscatella said. He stated that this was “entirely driven by Nintendo Switch 2 as double-digit percentage sales declines were experienced across the other in market platforms”.

He also highlighted high sales of software, such as Donkey Kong Bananza, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Pokémon: Pokopia, and Mario Kart World, a game which was largely obtained via a bundle with the system.

So far so good, then, for Piscatella, who also highlighted the benefit of the Switch 2’s backwards compatibility — giving users access to thousands of unique titles from the original system.

He did flag that June date may indicate “tough year-on-year comp for the system,” largely due to sales being compared to the launch month. “After that we should see Switch 2 continue to perform well into its announced September price increase. Then we'll have to see what happens."

What does the TechRadar team think?

The early signs have been promising, commercially speaking, but our Managing Editor of Social & Engagement (and Nintendo enthusiast), Josephine Watson, says that “the Switch 2 needed more than sales to break Nintendo’s generational curse of yo-yo-ing console success. It needed sticking power”. So, one year on, has it stuck the landing?

She argued that the Switch 2’s weaker holiday sales and subsequent production cuts suggest that “the console has yet to prove its mettle in the same way the first-generation [Switch] did, even with such high sales figures in its first year.” Despite this, she did acknowledge the mid-lifecycle boom that the OG Switch experienced, largely due to the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons during the pandemic.

In terms of games, Watson had a somewhat mixed take, arguing that the Switch 2 had “a concerningly hollow launch title line-up carried mostly by Mario Kart World,” though she did suggest that the system gained momentum moving into the new year, especially with titles like Pokémon Pokopia and strong third-party additions like Resident Evil Requiem.

Is the Switch 2 a success one year on for Watson? “No — but yes, kinda,” she said. She lamented the lackluster battery life and pointed to how Nintendo could’ve done more to eradicate stick drift from the Joy-Con 2 controllers, but did express satisfaction with the improved processing power and refined eShop. And even though her views on the game library haven’t been entirely positive, the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, scheduled for release in 2026, “is the game-changer,” she said.

TechRadar Senior Writer, Hamish Hector, admitted that he was “a little skeptical” of the Nintendo Switch 2 — both a little before and a little after its launch. But since grabbing one in the latter stages of 2025, those worries seem to have largely dissipated.

“It has cemented itself as my go-to gaming handheld,” Hector told me. “While it doesn’t have the raw power or library breadth of my Asus ROG Xbox Ally X — a handheld gaming PC with access to Steam’s vast suite of games — the Switch 2 does still boast a solid selection of AAA ports, incredible first-party hits and superb indie darlings”.

He noted how some AAA third-party ports have varied in quality, although hit the mark more often than they miss, and most issues manifest themselves as simple “graphical performance hitches” rather than “anything majorly frustrating”. He even hailed the Switch 2’s value for money, emphasizing that “At $449.99 / £395.99 it’s much more affordable than any worthwhile PC handheld, and even after its upcoming price hike to $499.99 it’ll still be a solid pickup”.

Here’s what our audience has to say

We’ve heard a range of views so far, albeit generally positive ones. It feels as if the general consensus is that the Nintendo Switch 2 has been an overall success, with a strong start in terms of sales and a commendable library to match. But I was most excited to hear from were you, our audience. So, I asked, and you answered: here’s whether you considered the Switch 2 to be a hit or a flop.

I asked our audience about their feelings on the Switch 2 across multiple platforms. With our poll here on the TechRadar website and over on WhatsApp, users were given four choices: 'It’s a hit'; 'it’s pretty good'; 'it’s a little disappointing'; and 'it’s a flop'. We got 892 votes, and the breakdown was as follows.

Over on YouTube, we wanted to try a more direct approach and gave our audience only two options: hit or flop. We received 446 votes (at the time of writing), with 61% selecting ‘hit’, and 39% going with ‘flop’.

But what do these results actually tell us? At a glance, the picture seems pretty divided. Across all of our polls on our website, WhatsApp, and YouTube, we received 1,338 responses. Of those, 693 (51.8%) were generally positive on the Switch 2 (respondents called it ‘a hit’ or ‘pretty good’), whereas 645 (48.2%) were generally more negative (respondents either selected ‘it’s a little disappointing’ or ‘it’s a flop’).

Over on our Facebook page, the reasons for such division became clear, with a wide range of differing opinions floating around.

Of course, the very meaning of ‘hit or flop’ in itself can be interpreted in a number of ways. One commenter, Andreas Carmblad, stated that “hit or flop is reflected in the sales figures,” suggesting that Nintendo’s new console has been a success so far.

Others were more focused on the quality of the system’s software lineup, with most talking up the first-party line-up — though one commenter described the current set of exclusives as “woeful,” adding “hopefully a few big releases can turn it around [like] OoT and a new 3D Mario game”.

Elsewhere, commenters expressed disappointment over the console’s battery life in handheld mode — understandable given that it can run flat in around 2 hours with more demanding games.

However, many considered the new hardware changes to be a hit, with Tim McDougall saying “It's an improvement in almost every way [over the original Switch] and it's now much closer in performance to the current gen home consoles. It's 99% backwards compatible with the first Switch, with many performance benefits. I'd say it's a success”.

I was slightly surprised to see so many members of our poll select ‘slightly’ disappointed in our poll, and I expect that this comes down to a sentiment that the console is still a few games short of being a true must-have for all gamers. However, with Zelda and Pokémon games releasing soon, a lot of opinions could be swayed — and I suspect a blockbuster Mario title would only seal the deal.

What I was pleased to see, however, is that very few members of our audience (10.4% in our main poll) consider the Switch 2 to be an outright flop. After all, the sales speak for themselves, and there have been a lot of very well received exclusives early in the system’s lifecycle.

Some personal thoughts

This brings me onto my personal thoughts. I pre-ordered the Nintendo Switch 2, and my expectations were high for the new system. Although I loved the original Switch’s library and appreciated its flexibility, the truth is, I actually didn’t love it all that much. For me, quality often felt overly compromised in handheld mode, with a lot of intensive titles struggling to reach up to 60fps. But the Switch 2 changed everything.

Now, I can enjoy titles in full HD at 60fps (and sometimes up to 120fps) in handheld mode, and I feel like the gap in quality when playing on the go — rather than in front of the TV — has shortened. What’s more, the Switch 2’s Handheld Mode Boost means that I can enjoy my original Switch games as if I was playing them with my system docked — a truly fantastic feature.

Then there’s the games. Controversially, I consider Mario Kart World to be the series’ best entry since the Wii generation, with a return to the true chaos and zaniness that made the games great in the first place — with knockout mode and the bizarre cast of characters being highlights for me. I’ve also had a blast with DK and Pokémon Pokopia, have spent countless hours racing in Kirby Air Riders, and exploring in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.

The Switch 2 has also managed to do what the original model never could for me, in that I now often choose Nintendo for third party experiences. The brilliant combination of portability and higher fidelity visuals has made grinding in Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake or playing detective in Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army feel free of compromise.

Pair that with impressive sales performance, more convenient magnetic Joy-Cons, and even some pretty impressive virtual surround sound processing, and the Switch 2, in my eyes, is a sure-fire hit.

Yes, I share many users’ battery life gripes, and I personally believe that some of the first party games are far too pricey — I mean, $79.99 / £74.99 / AU$119.95 for a physical copy of Mario Kart World? Really? But even with incoming price hikes, I’d consider Nintendo’s latest hardware to offer plenty of bang for your buck, and although I’d love to get Super Mario Odyssey 2 within the next year or so, I’m perfectly satisfied with the current, and upcoming crop of titles at this stage.

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1146) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• MOLD
• SPEAR
• DAPPLE
• PRINCESS
• MUSHROOM
• JOYSTICK
• SLIME
• FUNGUS
• CHEERIOS
• DINOSAUR
• FASHION
• MODEL
• GLEEK
• SHAPE
• PLUMBER
• JDATE

NYT Connections today (game #1146) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Well built
• GREEN: Featured in Luigi’s world
• BLUE: Produce
• PURPLE: Happy start

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1146) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: CONSTRUCT
• GREEN: SUPER MARIO FIGURES
• BLUE: FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1146) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1146, are…

• YELLOW: CONSTRUCT: FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, SHAPE
• GREEN: SUPER MARIO FIGURES: DINOSAUR, MUSHROOM, PLUMBER, PRINCESS
• BLUE: FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER: DAPPLE, JDATE, SLIME, SPEAR
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS: CHEERIOS, FUNGUS, GLEEK, JOYSTICK

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

All four SUPER MARIO FIGURES are permanently imprinted on my retinas thanks to the hours I dedicated to my Nintendo DS, so that’s where I began, but after this easy connection I floundered.

My mistake came by collecting SLIME, FUNGUS, and MOLD and then fudging a fourth tile into the mix — I went for GLEEK, as I had no idea what it meant.

Finally, my ignorance over what JDATE was (I have subsequently learned) helped me see the four FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, July 30, 2026, game #1145)

• YELLOW: VIRTUOUS: FAIR, GOOD, JUST, RIGHT
• GREEN: ACTIVITIES WITH MULTIPLE BALLS: BEER PONG, BINGO, JUGGLING, POOL
• BLUE: CRUISE LINES: CARNIVAL, CELEBRITY, PRINCESS, VIKING
• PURPLE: ON THE __, TO MEAN "PRECISE": DOT, MARK, MONEY, NOSE

Square Enix is gearing up to kick off a brand new era of Final Fantasy 14 with the release of the Evercold expansion. The beginning of the "Godless Realms Saga" story arc, it arrives after the epic conclusion of a decade-long saga, and follows on from Dawntrail which laid the groundwork for this new adventure.

Game producer and director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida has already teased the new threat players will face in the DLC, which I'm beyond excited for, as well as a number of incredible quality-of-life system updates, new content, and improvements to outdated gameplay features.

It's looking to be a mighty expansion that will hopefully draw in even more players when the massively multiplayer online game (MMO) officially hits Nintendo Switch 2 next month, but there are a few things I'm particularly eager to experience.

Buckle up, we're saving the world again

Final Fantasy 14 story spoilers ahead

After a decade of buildup, the Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions saw the pieces of an overarching story finally come together and conclude the Hydaelyn-Zodiark saga, resulting in one of the best Final Fantasy stories ever to be told.

While some events were wrapped up with resolute endings, some lingering questions were left open that presented new possibilities for the MMO, and it all starts with the Reflections: mirror worlds created by the Sundering, a great calamity that saw the Source shattered into 13 Shards.

Players have visited other Reflections in past expansions, but in Evercold we'll visit the Fourth Reflection, which was beset by a calamity of ice. This means an entire new world to explore, and from the trailers and concept art, it appears that SE is leaning heavily into the fantastical style I adored in Shadowbringers and Endwalker, and drawing from what looks like Norse mythology for inspiration.

A new, unexpected threat to all Reflections has also emerged with the recent release of Patch 7.5, the Solstice, which will bring about the natural Rejoining of the Shards and threatens to wipe out all life on the Source and its Reflections.

"In the time of the Ancients, Etheirys was divided across ten and three reflections to avert a terrible calamity," the expansion description reads. "Thus, for twelve thousand years did the star survive, and by its enduring hope did the Warrior of Light at last thwart its Final Days. Yet victory comes at a cost, and fate now demands its due.

"Faced with the new threat of the Solstice, the Warrior of Light is summoned to the Fourth reflection. But what do they hope to gain from wandering a world lost to ice?"

It's a bold move on the writers' part to thrust players back into a situation where they'll be dealing with the end of the world again; however, Dawntrail's subsequent patches have done a great job of building the foundations to make it a story worth telling.

I'm a FF14 player who looks forward to new story content most of all, and in Evercold, with the way the main scenario has been playing out, I'm certain our trip to the Fourth will open new avenues to explore and deepen the lore of the Ancients, which had been drip-fed to us over the years. In particular, the mystery behind the creation of Ethos, the key that opens up the path to these Reflections, and how this new ability to world-hop will play into the larger story.

Alongside these huge stakes, we've got a new "big bad" to face, the Winterers and the Ascian Halmarut, who are working in the shadows to prevent the Solstice.

Halmarut is unique in that she is sympathetic to mankind's current state and will do anything to ensure it survives the Solstice; however, her plan of controlled Rejoinings comes at the cost of mass death and destruction, believing that it's better to sacrifice some lives so humanity has a chance. But as the Warrior of Light, we can't go along with that idea.

Interestingly, unlike other Ascians before her, Halamurut encouraged the player to find their own way to deal with the Solstice. The Ascian was only introduced in recent patches, but given how superbly the writers developed its past villains (namely the best Final Fantasy baddie ever, Emet-Selch), I'm eager to see how SE will handle another multidimensional antagonist with a world-ending goal.

Raid content galore

FF14 has always excelled at crossover raid content, whether that be the Yorha: Dark Apocalypse Alliance raid series, developed in collaboration with Nier developers Yoko Taro and Yosuke Saito, or the major raid series inspired by previous Final Fantasy games, like Final Fantasy 3, Final Fantasy 8, Tactics, and more.

Dawntrail's major Alliance raid series, Echoes of Vana'diel, wrapped up with the latest patch, a 24-player crossover celebrating Final Fantasy 6, that offered incredible bosses and a challenging yet rewarding experience.

For Evercold, SE revealed that the Alliance raid series will be based on the hit series Evangelion, titled "Ghosts of Desire", which acclaimed director and animator Mahiro Maeda will join as a special guest artist and designer. Like the Nier raid series, I'm expecting a high-quality experience with some unbelievable boss encounters that push the boundaries of the MMO; however, I'm more excited about the eight-player raid series SE has just announced at FanFest EU.

In the next expansion, FF7 Remake series director Naoki Hamaguchi and Yoshi-P took to the stage to unveil "Beyond the Lifestream," a FF7-themed raid series.

It feels like I've waited years for a proper FF7 collaboration, and the series will come just in time for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, the final installment in the remake series.

Ahead of Evercold's release, FF14 will also be getting a FF7-themed adjacent feature in the MMO's Gold Saucer on October 28, Keybound Brawler, a new mini-game that will reward players with a glamour bundle inspired by Tifa and Barret's outfits from FF7; a teaser for what's to come.

While SE has yet to share the full raid details, I'm expecting the usual crossover gear (I'm begging for Cloud, Sephiroth, and Aerith outfits, please!), elaborate boss fights inspired by some of FF7's most iconic moments; a confrontation with Safer-Sephiroth while a remixed medley of the FF14 and One-Winged Angel themes plays in the background is surely a given.

Raid maps are also always incredible in FF14; I remember my first time entering the first raid of the YoRHa series and being blown away by the scale of the set pieces and attention to detail, so with Hamaguchi's team working alongside the FF14 team, I'm anticipating something next-level; hopefully a recreation of the dystopian metropolis of Midgar?

It's time for improvements

FF14 has been running for more than a decade after it was rebooted into A Realm Reborn in 2013. Since then, the MMO has seen innumerable changes, including to Jobs, a huge graphics overhaul that modernized the game's visuals, not to mention the upcoming expanded character customization options that players have been yearning for.

But some things have always remained the same, primarily the battle system and activity features. With the release of Evercold, FF14 will receive a significant overhaul with the introduction of the 'Reborn' and 'Evolved' modes.

Reborn mode will be based on the current combat system and Job mechanics, while Evolved mode offers greater emphasis on "job identity", updating combat rotations and changing some abilities, and will only apply to existing Jobs.

It's an exciting new change, because while Jobs occasionally get rebalanced, this is the first time the game is getting a significant gameplay revamp that will allow long-time players to experiment with a new way of playing, and newcomers have two options at their disposal.

What's more, the expansion will also see an overhauled gear progression system with the introduction of 'Adventurer Activity.' In its current state, FF14 requires players to log in every day to complete daily roulettes to earn XP and accrue their weekly cap of 450 Allagan Tomestones, which are exchanged for high-level gear; however, this can be a downside, especially for players who can't log in every day.

With Adventurer Activity, this redesigned framework will change from a daily to a weekly-based reward system, remove the exhausting grind of completing daily roulettes, and instead offer more player freedom.

Adventurer Activity (which may look like a battle pass system, but Yoshi P insisted it absolutely is not!) will let players complete a series of missions to amass activity points instead, whether it be dungeons, PvP, Trials, and more, and SE is even considering allowing unearned points from previous weeks to be collected if players miss out.

This is perfect for people like me who sometimes don't really feel like running roulettes and also gives players a chance to explore other content they wouldn't normally engage with.

Final Fantasy 14: Evercold will arrive in January 2027 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

• Control Resonant lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov isn't worried about launching the game close to GTA 6
• He says the game's release date has been locked in for a while
• Mohov explains that "It's not really been a big consideration for us"

Remedy Entertainment isn't worried about launching Control Resonant so close to Grand Theft Auto 6.

GTA 6 is the most anticipated game of the year, if not of all time, and is on track to earn over $5 billion by the end of its launch week, so it's understandable if some studios want to avoid releasing their games so close to its launch for fear of being overshadowed.

After Rockstar Games formally announced that its game will arrive on November 19, Playground Games delayed Fable to February 2027 "so it can have the dedicated moment it deserves."

However, games like Marvel's Wolverine and Phantom Blade Zero are still locked in for their Fall releases, so not every studio is worried about competing with GTA 6 or is happy with the amount of breathing room they do have, at least.

Speaking in an interview with TechRadar Gaming about the upcoming release of Control Resonant, lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov explained that he's looking forward to GTA 6 like everybody else, but doesn't think the game's launch affects Remedy "at all."

"Honestly, first of all, personally, I'm looking forward to GTA as much as everybody else," he said. "I'm a fan of [GTA] Vice City. But I don't think it's affected us at all, to be honest."

Control Resonant launches on September 24, which is eight weeks before GTA 6, so the Rockstar game shouldn't overshadow the former, and Mohov explained that Remedy's release date has been "locked in for a while."

"We expect it to be a very complete experience on day one when it comes out," he said. "We've been planning to release this game in September, for as long as I can remember. It's not really been a big consideration for us."

He added, "Obviously, this is a really exciting year to be a gamer. We're gonna be playing all of these [games] same as everybody else, but hopefully, you pick up, and your readers pick up Control Resonant as well."

Control Resonant will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.

Loath as I am to say it, the future of gaming platforms isn’t looking so rosy right now. Windows is increasingly becoming more recalcitrant, constantly throwing hurdles in the faces of PC gamers in the form of performance-ruining updates and unsolicited AI implementations. And in the console world, Sony has irked everyone by ditching physical games from January 2028, while the recent bout of mass layoffs at Xbox belies its ‘back on track’ messaging.

Meanwhile, Valve appears to be going in the opposite direction. It already has a big advantage in the form of Steam, near enough the default storefront and launcher for PC gamers everywhere. Why, it’s generated an estimated $11.1bn in gross revenue in the first half of this year already. With pockets as deep as these, and without having to divert its earnings to shareholders (given it’s still, for now, a private company), that’s cash it can invest in expansion.

So is now the perfect time for Valve to break out, capitalize on its competitors’ floundering and shoot its shot at making SteamOS the next big platform?

SteamOS vs Windows

There’s no question that SteamOS has been quite the success already. This is almost entirely thanks to the success of the Steam Deck, Valve’s hugely popular device that launched in 2022 and kickstarted a mini revolution in handheld gaming. It runs SteamOS 3, which is based on the Arch Linux distribution and far superior to its initial Debian iterations. These were used on the original Steam Machines of 2015, and are no doubt part of the reason for the discontinuation of the units in 2018.

The big advantage of SteamOS 3 is its support for Proton, the compatibility layer that allows Windows games to run on Linux devices. Although it predates the Steam Deck, Proton found its calling on the handheld, proving a lot of doubters wrong by running a large library of modern games well on a small, portable device. Even AAA titles such as 007 First Light and Cyberpunk 2077 are perfectly playable, along with plenty of others.

But Valve is no longer confining its operating system to the Steam Deck and Steam Machine. It’s recently expanded support to ARM, AMD and Intel devices, which means it can run on more devices such as the Lenovo Legion Go S and the Asus ROG Ally. Chris Hewish, a former Executive Producer at Activision and current President of gaming MoR Xsolla, explains the advantages of running SteamOS on such devices over Windows 11.

“With the SteamOS 3.8 release in June, Valve officially took the OS beyond the Steam Deck to the ROG Ally line, and Lenovo's Legion Go family, and early Intel support is starting to pull devices like the MSI Claw into the fold," he tells me. "On the same hardware, reviewers keep finding it ahead of Windows 11 where handheld players actually feel it: battery life, sleep and resume, and an interface built for a controller instead of a desktop squeezed onto a seven-inch screen.”

So, does the continued success of SteamOS rely on expanding to more hardware? Greg Weller, Head of Gaming Partnerships at Generation Media, and someone with over 20 years of industry experience — which includes stints at Rockstar Games and Bethesda Softworks — thinks so.

“The opportunity is significantly bigger if SteamOS continues to be device agnostic," he says. "The Steam Deck proved Valve could build a fantastic hardware experience, but the bigger strategic opportunity is allowing consumers to carry their Steam ecosystem across multiple devices rather than tying it to one piece of hardware.”

He continues: “We're seeing the same evolution across other entertainment sectors, like music, film and television, which have largely moved beyond device-specific experiences. People increasingly expect their content to follow them rather than the other way around. So, Valve hardware can absolutely remain the benchmark experience, but if SteamOS becomes the connective layer between a player's library, identity and multiple devices, that's a much bigger opportunity.”

However, not everyone in the industry shares this view. “SteamOS’ success largely depends on Valve's hardware for now and how far they actually push the OS itself,” says André Pimenta Ribeiro, CEO and co-founder of Anybrain, whose behavioral AI tools are used in popular online games such as Arc Raiders and The Finals.

He adds: “SteamOS’ success largely depends on Valve's hardware for now and how far they actually push the OS itself. I think Valve’s best case here is to grow to a broader, more casual audience through its own hardware and by offering its massive library to the mainstream player base, rather than exporting SteamOS to more devices in general. Once Valve hardware or SteamOS reach more mainstream adoption, then opening up the ecosystem makes sense. For now it feels mostly like a development play.”

Sticking points

If SteamOS wants a larger slice of the gaming pie, though, there are certain obstacles it needs to overcome. Hewish points to one of the system’s major sticking points: its incompatibility with games requiring anti-cheat tools.

“Kernel-level anti-cheat either does not run on Linux or has not been enabled there," he says. "Until the biggest competitive games work reliably through Proton, SteamOS is not a no-compromise choice. It is an 'as long as you don't play those games' choice, and those games are some of the most played in the world.”

Another problem is what Hewish calls “hardware breadth,” explaining that: “Windows still has the deepest compatibility layer for the long tail: niche peripherals, capture cards, VR headsets, external GPUs. If the reports about official GeForce support come to pass, that closes a meaningful piece of the gap, since SteamOS has effectively been an AMD platform until now.”

Of course, the other advantage of Windows is that once you’re done gaming, you can switch to using it as an everyday computer. “SteamOS is deliberately narrow, a console-like shell, and that focus is a strength on a handheld,” says Hewish. “But if it wants to take on Windows more broadly, the path into desktop mode for a browser, schoolwork, or a spreadsheet has to get smoother.”

SteamOS vs consoles

But what about SteamOS as a console competitor? The revitalized Steam Machine launched in June this year was hotly anticipated, and looked like a serious contender to the PlayStation-Xbox-Nintendo triumvirate. Russell Kay, a former Grand Theft Auto developer and Head of popular 2D engine GameMaker, believes it was a success in bringing SteamOS to a wider audience.

“In the living room, SteamOS is now a proper alternative to a console,” he says. "The library is already there, and so is the audience. Millions of people have a huge digital collection sitting on Steam, and SteamOS finally gives them a way to put that under the TV instead of on a console. That's a real advantage no other platform has.”

However, he says: “The real problem is the price — Steam Machines cost more than a console. A gap that’s unlikely to close anytime soon thanks to the rising cost of RAM and hardware.”

And there are other issues for SteamOS in the console space. Hewish explains: “The Steam Machine needs reasons to exist beyond ‘runs your existing library’. Consoles win on curation and exclusives as much as hardware. That fight is about habit and content, not benchmarks. Close the anti-cheat gap and keep the hardware momentum, and ‘the default handheld OS’ is realistic within a couple of years. [But] the living room is a longer climb no matter what the software does.”

Ribeiro, meanwhile, thinks: "[Valve] can make a splash against this weaker console market, but right now it's still a niche system for a specific subset of people — growing beyond that depends on where they take it. Valve is known for doing its own thing, and that’s not always conducive to serving the broader global ecosystem of casual players. I think it makes sense from the perspective that they want to grow beyond a distribution platform, but the extent of impact and its longevity is still to be seen.”

He concludes: “I already see Steam devices akin to consoles, such as the Steam Deck and Steam Machine. I wouldn’t replace my Windows PC or mobile device with it, but vs the existing console ecosystem, that’s more a toss-up.”

The future of SteamOS

It seems fairly clear-cut, then, that SteamOS is clearly leading the way when it comes to handheld gaming. But a push beyond that realm to usurp Windows or seriously challenge consoles is less certain.

Ultimately, Hewish sees it this way: “Windows still wins in two places: games with kernel-level anti-cheat, and anything you want to do that is not gaming. And in the living room it is early days. The new Steam Machine only started shipping at the end of June. So I would put it this way: [SteamOS is] a genuine competitor on handhelds today, and a credible but very young challenger in the living room.”

Of course, the high price of the Steam Machine certainly dampened its appeal. The consensus seems to be that while it was a capable device, it was too expensive to present a viable challenge to the living room market. Of course, the seemingly interminable RAM crisis threw a spanner in the works, even crashing the Steam Deck’s party thanks to a price hike that put a serious dent in its sales. But the fact remains the PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S all undercut the Steam Machine considerably.

But perhaps there’s hope yet for the Gabecube and other SteamOS implementations besides handhelds. After all, Hewish makes the point that having one platform dominate isn’t especially useful for game developers.

He says: “If you make games for a living, you do not actually want any single platform to win outright, even one you like. Concentration is where leverage goes to die. When one storefront or operating system controls the path to players, it eventually controls the terms, the fees, and the relationship. The healthiest ending to this story is not SteamOS replacing Windows. It is real competition at the platform layer, because that is what forces every gatekeeper to treat developers and players better. SteamOS taking a real share does exactly that.”

He further adds: “My bet is SteamOS becomes the preferred choice for people buying a device specifically to game, and Windows holds wherever one device has to do it all.”

Weller sees another benefit to the gradual permeation of SteamOS.

He says: “SteamOS has already established itself as a credible competitor, but not in the way people traditionally define competition. Rather than trying to replace Windows or persuade console players to switch overnight, SteamOS is reducing friction between players and the game libraries they've already invested in, allowing people to take their Steam ecosystem into more places and devices.”

“This reflects a much bigger shift happening across entertainment. Historically, consumers bought hardware first and then built a content library around it. Now, they're increasingly buying into ecosystems. Players care less about the operating system they're using and more about whether their games, saves, achievements, friends and purchases move seamlessly between devices.”

Gaming ecosystems have become important for another reason. “Our research found 72% of players discover games through social media, 67% through YouTube and 53% through platform stores such as Steam, PlayStation Store and Xbox Store," Weller explains. "Platform ecosystems have become both the storefront and the discovery engine. So SteamOS isn't simply an operating system but another touchpoint within a much broader ecosystem.”

“Valve's long-term competitive advantage has never been selling games, but focusing on the surrounding ecosystem: community features, recommendations, cloud saves, and overall experience of staying connected to your library. Those are the areas where Valve can continue to differentiate, rather than relying on exclusivity.”

The point about community features is an important one. The community around Steam has played a major role in the platform cultivating its loyal fanbase and the general good will of gamers. Its openness to mods and add-ons via its Workshop is a large part of this. And, as Kay points out, although games purchased on its storefront do contain DRM, “[it has] been one of the better stories when it comes to DRM". So if SteamOS wants to expand its horizons beyond handhelds, it needs to retain the element that sets it apart from other, closed-off gaming platforms.

Do you think SteamOS is going to be the next big platform in gaming? Vote in the poll below, and if you want to say more, why not leave a comment as well?

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1145) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• JUGGLING
• CARNIVAL
• DOT
• FAIR
• BINGO
• RIGHT
• POOL
• NOSE
• MONEY
• GOOD
• BEER PONG
• CELEBRITY
• VIKING
• MARK
• PRINCESS
• JUST

NYT Connections today (game #1145) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Doing the correct thing
• GREEN: Many spherical objects are involved
• BLUE: Big ship fleets
• PURPLE: Expressions meaning exact

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1145) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: VIRTUOUS
• GREEN: ACTIVITIES WITH MULTIPLE BALLS
• BLUE: CRUISE LINES
• PURPLE: ON THE __, TO MEAN "PRECISE"

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1145) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1145, are…

• YELLOW: VIRTUOUS: FAIR, GOOD, JUST, RIGHT
• GREEN: ACTIVITIES WITH MULTIPLE BALLS: BEER PONG, BINGO, JUGGLING, POOL
• BLUE: CRUISE LINES: CARNIVAL, CELEBRITY, PRINCESS, VIKING
• PURPLE: ON THE __, TO MEAN "PRECISE": DOT, MARK, MONEY, NOSE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

Apart from CRUISE LINES, which I saw immediately, this was a game where I sort of knew what the groups were about, but also sort of didn’t.

My mistake came in collecting VIRTUOUS and thinking that this was all about alignment and making something measure up correctly — so I had RIGHT, JUST, GOOD, and NOSE, as in “on the NOSE”, which I never considered could be a group.

Then I collected the four ACTIVITIES WITH MULTIPLE BALLS, but thought they were something about games that happen at parties; not that I have ever been to a party where a game of BINGO broke out.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, July 29, 2026, game #1144)

• YELLOW: FASTENERS: NAIL, RIVET, SCREW, STAPLE
• GREEN: NONDESCRIPT: BASIC, MID, PLAIN, VANILLA
• BLUE: UNITS OF WISDOM: GEM, NUGGET, PEARL, WORD
• PURPLE: ____BOARDS IN A CLASSROOM: BLACK, CHALK, CORK, WHITE

The PlayStation 5 Pro has been my primary, booted-up-nearly-every-day console since the premium PS5 variant launched in late 2024. I’ve used it a lot on both a 60Hz display and a 120Hz display, and the experience it gives me on both for my PS5 games has been basically flawless.

The extra power, chops, and graphical prowess that it offers have been superb for a console enthusiast like me. It makes both fidelity-focused and performance-focused game settings better, but has also paved the way for a new middle ground between the two.

This in-between mode, often labeled as ‘Balanced’, allows players with a 120Hz display to enjoy a host of enhanced ray tracing features and boosted image quality, with a bunch of extra frames per second, giving it a clear boost over standard fidelity modes, which are normally locked at 30fps. What’s even better is that you can often engage this mode on base PS5 or PS5 Slim consoles when those are teamed with a 120Hz-capable display too, and it’s proving once again to be a saving grace for fidelity-chasers this generation.

This Balanced mode is absolutely excellent in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced and is the only way I’d recommend a PS5 or PS5 Pro user to play what is one of the best Assassin's Creed games. It combines the sheer beauty of the Anvil-engine-powered Caribbean setting with loads of water, shadow, and particle detail to boot, with a 40fps frame rate that, while not as super slick as 60fps, is absolutely noticeably better than 30fps. The difference is huge.

Two and a half years ago, I wrote how I was happy with 4K 30fps on console. But, after spending time with a PS5 Pro, I will happily admit that my preferences and opinions have changed — and that gives me much confidence when it comes to Grand Theft Auto 6.

Perfectly balanced

Not that long ago, stories were circulating saying that GTA 6 having a 60fps mode on console would be unlikely. And it was something to take note of too, given it was coming from the brilliant tech analysts over at Digital Foundry.

I don’t think many folks were truly surprised at this. The amount of technical brilliance and sheer detail that will likely go into GTA 6 will surely translate into the amount of demand on a console’s GPU and CPU. Think of the poor old Series S trying to run such a behemoth. Godspeed, little Xbox.

However, playing Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on its Balanced mode right now has me feeling a bit more confident in the prospects of what we may have to settle for on GTA 6.

While the smoothness of 60fps is a joy on a console like the PS5 or PS5 Pro, I am one to chase graphical fidelity wherever I can.

I’m a sucker but also quasi-expert on video game landscapes and environments in a way, so I will always desire to see more detail like the edges of leaves, the fluttering of foliage in the wind, and expansive vistas across lands as far as the eye can see, views scattered with landscape features, ruins, and blissful seas — all at the expense of a few more frames. And that’s what Resynced’s 40fps mode does.

The glorious beauty and image quality that’s on offer in the balanced mode isn’t far off the fidelity-focused 30fps mode at all. The overall fidelity in balanced mode is fantastic. I can enjoy all the detail of plants and foliage, and every landscape element and urban rooftop or dwelling is a sight to behold, genuinely.

Sony’s enhanced PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) tech, and the benefits of variable refresh rate (VRR) play a big part in how good it looks on PS5 Pro too, of course. The former offers excellent boosts to anti-aliasing, overall image detail and quality (at least in my eye), and things like the flickering of fire and light — something again noticed by Digital Foundry. The latter, VRR, does — as usual, in my experience — a great job of smoothing out any potential frame rate drops to reduce tearing, too, but it’s not something I’ve been hugely concerned about generally with Resynced.

The extended ray tracing is also excellent in this mode on PS5 Pro, with shadows being fantastic, reflections being lifelike and adding an extra mirror-like quality to views, and particles of dust or vegetation fluttering beautifully in the wind. The water is absolutely lovely too, with each splash from Edward Kenway’s swimming perfectly natural and evocative of how the seas would behave, and the glistening rocks and sand of every beach. Blissful at every glance.

A reason to be confident

As I said above, the difference between 30 and 40fps is absolutely noticeable and tangible, and while the jump to 60 is even smoother, I concede that the fact that one can cling on to extended ray tracing and high levels of detail at 40fps is a triumph and offers a super balance. For someone who, for one reason or another, but happily, has settled on one platform in PlayStation consoles, as one’s main way to play games, and has a penchant for quality and performance, then Resynced has nailed that sweet spot.

Combine Resynced’s excellence in this mode with the likes of the Horizon games, The Last of Us games, Marvel’s Spider-Man games and more on PS5 and PS5 Pro, and the 40fps modes are the reason I’m more confident in GTA 6 if 60fps really is off the table and it does indeed end up having a balanced mode ‘instead’ of a performance mode. Plus, given Rockstar’s track record of squeezing all the graphical excellence it can out of even standard consoles — how Rockstar made Red Dead Redemption 2 look that good on base PS4 is actual witchcraft — the detail, lighting, reflections, and image quality we can expect in Vice City’s urban and natural landscapes, as well as characters adn cars, is going to be immense.

Of course, I would prefer there were a 60fps mode for GTA 6. Heck, I’d hope for the three settings we’ve grown a bit used to on the PS5 Pro covering 30, 40, and 60 frames per second modes.

But if compromises have to be made due to the likely enormous demand made by GTA 6 on consoles, then this sweet, sweet 40fps mode in the middle could be the door to excellence on PS5 and PS5 Pro, given the evidence we have so far of it being the perfect middle ground for superb graphical fidelity and deliciously smooth frame rates.

There are few games as eagerly anticipated as Control Resonant, Remedy Entertainment's upcoming action-adventure RPG. After all, we've endured a long wait since 2019's Control introduced us to the Lynchian world of the red-hued Hiss and the Federal Bureau of Control.

The good news is that the wait is nearly over — because Resonant arrives in less than two months. And the really good news is that it looks great; so great, in fact, that we gave it one of our Best of Summer Games Fest awards.

So, what will the sequel bring to the table to stand out from its predecessor in a notable way? After playing a lengthy two-hour preview of Control Resonant recently, I had a chance to speak with the lead gameplay designer, Sergey Mohov, and put that question to him, among others.

Melee masterpiece

Unsurprisingly, combat is the centerpiece in Resonant, just as it was in the original. In that game, you played as Jesse Faden, equipped with a trusty shapeshifting handgun and tasked with finding her brother, Dylan — who is now the main character in Resonant.

You could unlock several different ammo types that would essentially act as different gun types: shotgun, automatic machine gun, grenade launcher, and so on. Those were joined by various powers, some of which allowed players to levitate or hurl objects at enemies.

In Resonant, Remedy seeks to double down on that combat-heavy gamplay, but specifically with melee, using a shapeshifting weapon, the Aberrant, and other supernatural abilities. The result reminds me of the best hack-and-slash games, such as Capcom's Devil May Cry 5.

Despite my hack-and-slash comparisons, though, Resonant's combat was developed mostly with its predecessor in mind, and that's what both the preview build and Mohov's answers make clear right away.

"We actually have a pretty long and eclectic list of references, and they're not all video games," Mohov says. "If I had to name one game that this game [Resonant] is trying to be like, it would be the original Control. That's our number one reference for everything.

"With our creative director, we started figuring out what makes Control, Control? That was a big question, because we wanted to make a sequel that is spiritually and experientially similar to the first game, so it still feels like a Control game. But we also wanted to have more of this melee-focused, in-your-face, aggressive gameplay at the same time."

While Resonant's structure and identity draw primarily from Control, Mohov stresses that the Remedy team also wasn't shy about incorporating elements from other games as well.

"We use references for the individual parts of the experience. I'm a big fan of DMC 2 and DMC 3, and PlatinumGames' titles. It's really hard to name one single reference, but I think if you play the game more, you'll notice that there are things that have been done in other games, but I don't think you can directly say Resonant is 'exactly like this other thing.'

"We learn lessons from all of these other projects to see what works and what doesn't, but I think you probably haven't played anything that is exactly like this."

Admittedly, the first Control was a game that I couldn't stick with throughout its runtime, mostly due to its somewhat convoluted storyline and combat being limited to Jesse Faden's shapeshifting gun.

Mohov confirms that the "core experience" in Resonant should be around "30 hours", while the completionist experience is expected to be within the "50 hours" ballpark.

That means it'll be longer than the first game, but with the impressive RPG elements on display, and with numerous weapon and skill types to choose from, it's an even more appealing experience than before — and one that doesn't require a full playthrough of the first entry.

"I don't think you have to play the first Control game to play Resonant," says Mohov, "but if you do, it will enrich your experience, especially narratively. We put in a Control recap, right at the top of the main menu, though, so you don't need to [play it]."

Walking away from my two-hour playtest and conversation with Mohov, I'm more convinced than ever that Remedy's step into a full melee-focused Control experience is going to pay off, and I can't wait to get my hands on it when it launches on September 24, on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.

Having been put on Konami’s backburner for over a decade, Silent Hill’s resurgence has been nothing short of extraordinary.

A tepid start with Ascension and The Short Message was counterbalanced by the excellent Silent Hill 2 remake from Bloober Team and the homegrown Japanese horrors of Silent Hill f from NeoBards. The series seems like it’s now heading further in the right direction with the next game, Silent Hill: Townfall.

Early this month I played three hours of Silent Hill: Townfall and spoke with both Screen Burn director Jon McKellan and Konami series producer Motoi Okamoto about the game’s approach to retro tech, the Scottish setting, and cultural authenticity.

Going retro

Silent Hill: Townfall follows a man named Simon Ordell in the fictional town of St. Amelia, Scotland. As he wakes up, he finds the entire place shrouded in fog. Slowly walking around, I eventually pick up a pocked CRTV television, which is used for both gameplay and narrative reasons. It's Townfall’s primary mechanic and star of the show. Through it, you can see old static video recordings of Simon’s mysterious partner, Zoe Ellis, who is seemingly his connection to this island.

The radio’s screen also typically shows you the next place to go, which means it’s up to you to search around town until you find the correct spot. Additionally, you can hold up the radio to see through walls to check a monster’s position. It’s a wonderful twist on a common trope. In similar games, protagonists sometimes come with a ‘radar’ sense so that players can stay stealthy and avoid enemy detection. Implementing the radar into the radio itself is not only clever, but reinforces that Simon is, after all, just human, in an unrelenting world filled with monsters.

The time period that Townfall takes place in is paramount to its horror themes. A puzzle hints that the current year is 1996, which is where the mass adoption of technologies like the internet and home dial-up started happening. The transition to an increasingly connected world filled people with anxieties. Simon’s CRTV radio is just advanced enough, but is nowhere near the cutting edge technology we see today.

“The world was on a technological cusp around the mid 90s, where the internet was starting to become a thing. But you were too early to have Google Maps in your pocket and you didn't have this magic bullet for all the problems that might come up,” McKellan explained.

He continued, “So with analog tech, you feel like you can't quite rely on it. It’s a little bit uncertain, and I think that's a great place to be for horror.”

Another theme that was prominently was medicine and healthcare. As I strolled through St. Amecia, I saw protest signs littered around the town square with phrases about “taking this town back”.

I picked up collectibles and notes about St. Amecia’s local hospital, vaguely hinting at some sort of institution providing “protection.” As an American citizen in a country with mainly for-profit healthcare, my mind immediately began trying to connect the dots and figure out the story’s direction. Scotland has a public system, but perhaps some private healthcare provider came in and tried to take over? And what about the “protection” aspect? Did Simon, or someone else, snitch?

The medical symbolism doesn’t end there. Zoe herself is a nurse, and Simon also has an IV bag strapped to his arm. With ingredients found scattered throughout town, he can craft items Resident Evil-style. These include items like blood bags for his IV, which let him resurrect with a sliver of health after being killed by an enemy.

Thankfully, Townfall’s combat feels much smoother compared to Silent Hill f’s. In the latter, there always felt like a second of awkward hit stun when your melee weapons made contact with enemies. Here, smashing planks over their heads feels satisfying. The way their bodies all of sudden go limp simultaneously gives me a feeling of surprise relief every time.

Simon also eventually gets a powerful pistol that one-hit kills many monsters, rivalling even Grace Ashcroft’s Requiem from Resident Evil Requiem. The downside is that it makes a ton of noise when fired, so enemies nearby will zero in on your location. With limited ammo, it’s definitely your last resort weapon, and it’s gratifying every time it goes off.

McKellen ensured that social commentary would be at the heart of the story, similar to how Silent Hill f’s overarching message was around gender expectations. “There are a few different threads in this game that start to coalesce as the game progresses, and I think it takes people in kind of unexpected places,” he explained. McKellen is hoping that people (like me) have an idea of what’s happening, then excitedly twist our expectations.

So why does Simon have a cannula in his hand, and why does it bring him back when he dies? They’re not just gameplay gimmicks—they represent something. McKellen adds, “There's a lot behind it, and we pride ourselves as developers that everything in the game has some relevance. Nothing is there just because or to fill a void.”

Crafting different Silent Hills

Over the years, the setting for most of the Silent Hill games were, well, Silent Hill. But recently, Konami has expanded settings for the series to explore other areas. Silent Hill: The Short Message introduced “Silent Hill” as a phenomenon, where similar psychological and experiences occur outside of the titular town in Kettenstadt, Germany. Silent Hill f took the series back to its hometown in the fictional town of Ebisugaoka in 1960s Japan.

“Our current approach in branding is to introduce that concept and show similar types of psychological experiences and narratives that place outside of the boundaries of Silent Hill,” Okamoto said.

Screen Burn, headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, has a wide age range within its developers. Some grew up with the older games, while others recently discovered it through the newer releases. But the big lesson that the team learned about what’s essential to Silent Hill’s DNA is the understated nature of the stories. They’re not explicit, with plenty of room for interpretation but still feeling satisfied after finishing the game.

“You can walk away from a Silent Hill game feeling like you know something, but whether you know everything or need to discuss that with someone else was one of the big things that came out,” McKellan explained. “People were saying that after every game they would end up talking to someone else about it and having different theories.”

The studio’s last game was the sci-fi horror adventure Observation (which is also one of my favorites that you should check out), and the team grew from the game before that, Stories Untold. Both of them had technology as a major theme to convey gameplay, with Stories Untold having players interacting with computers and Observation switching between different cameras in a space station.

You can see the theme of technology rearing its head again in Townfall through the analog CRTV, as well as the phone booth players call to manually save their progress.

Townfall is also Screen Burn’s biggest game to date. The most notable departure is the freedom that players have in exploring the town. “Townfall feels like a Screen Burn game unleashed. We’re taking our narrative sensibilities, puzzle design, and attention to detail, and blowing that out to something much larger with the support of Konami and Annapurna,” said McKellan.

“So if you've played our previous games, you'll probably see a lot of common ground there.”

The future of Silent Hill

Looking ahead, Bloober Team’s remake of the first Silent Hill is set to come out after Townfall. Okamoto understood the worry players had about the series potentially becoming annualized, perhaps resulting in fatigue or lapse in quality. That's why Konami was open to new takes on the iconic horror franchise. The Short Message focused on social media, Silent Hill f was distinctly Japanese, and now Townfall is in Scotland.

With the rising cost of game development, it’s a wise idea to have other studios take on notable IP rather than just having your internal studios handle them. Not only does this result in more games being released, but outside talent can revitalize interest. I mean, Bloober Team and NeoBards are proof enough.

Okamoto, however, explained that this method was more about portraying cultural authenticity than anything else, and dependent on the kinds of projects Konami is working on.

“For example, the Metal Gear team has their own philosophy and approach for how they develop games,” Okamoto said. “At least from our perspective, with the goal being trying to create a wider, richer, and more culturally varied universe for Silent Hill, we feel that partnering with third-party developers works best.”

Silent Hill: Townfall launches on September 24 for PC and PlayStation 5.

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1144) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CORK
• PEARL
• BASIC
• STAPLE
• MID
• WORD
• CHALK
• WHITE
• BLACK
• VANILLA
• GEM
• NAIL
• RIVET
• NUGGET
• SCREW
• PLAIN

NYT Connections today (game #1144) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Attach to a wall with these
• GREEN: Same old, same old
• BLUE: Deliverance of insight
• PURPLE: Teachers use these

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1144) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: FASTENERS
• GREEN: NONDESCRIPT
• BLUE: UNITS OF WISDOM
• PURPLE: ____BOARDS IN A CLASSROOM

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1144) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1144, are…

• YELLOW: FASTENERS: NAIL, RIVET, SCREW, STAPLE
• GREEN: NONDESCRIPT: BASIC, MID, PLAIN, VANILLA
• BLUE: UNITS OF WISDOM: GEM, NUGGET, PEARL, WORD
• PURPLE: ____BOARDS IN A CLASSROOM: BLACK, CHALK, CORK, WHITE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 mistakes

I made hard work of a relatively simple, trap-free game.

My first two errors came in collecting the group of NONDESCRIPT words first, including STAPLE instead of MID — which is understandable, as STAPLE describes something regular and average, and then WHITE which is not understandable, although whiteness does imply boring, which is where I think my brain went.

Sadly, my errors didn’t end there as I initially thought UNITS OF WISDOM was a collection of valuable things, so after connecting GEM, NUGGET and PEARL I added CORK as it is a fairly expensive material.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, July 28, 2026, game #1143)

• YELLOW: COMMAND: CAPTAIN, DIRECT, HEAD, LEAD
• GREEN: HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES: EMPIRE, FUJI, GALA, HONEYCRISP
• BLUE: SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C": CAMPER, CLARKS, CONVERSE, CROCS
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH PALINDROMIC NAMES: ANNAPOLIS, BOBSLED, EVEREST, OTTOMAN

Are you a fan of CD Projekt Red's The Witcher game series? Have you ever fantasized about what type of character you'd be if you were somehow sucked through a magic portal and found yourself in the fantasy world of The Continent? Do you think you'd be a princess, a bard, a sorceress, or even a witcher?

A brand-new The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt expansion, Songs of the Past, has been announced, and it's launching sometime next year. While we don't have plot details yet, the story will once again follow Geralt of Rivia ahead of The Witcher 4.

This means an all-new journey to experience with everyone's favorite witcher, and, hopefully, one that will feature the return of the rest of the gang, like Ciri, Yennefer, and Dandelion.

CD Projekt Red has promised to share more about Songs of the Past next month, so we'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, I've put together a fun little personality quiz that will help you figure out which Witcher character is your kindred spirit. Are you the protective, titular witcher himself? His daughter, Child of Destiny and cabale fighter, Ciri, or the fierce sorceress Yennefer? Maybe you're the merciless King of the Wild Hunt...

Everyone has a favorite, but which character are you really? Find out below.

Did you get the character you expected or someone completely opposite to your expectations? Let us know in the comments!

Gaming is edging closer towards a divisive new normal, with Sony set to stop releasing physical game discs for PlayStation consoles in 2028, and Rockstar Games announcing that physical copies of Grand Theft Auto 6 will come with a download code in the box, rather than a disc.

Unsurprisingly, gamers attached to their physical media aren’t happy with either development, and the backlash online has been fierce, with PlayStation’s social media posts being met with furious demands for Sony to reverse course.

Sony’s plans, and the fact that Microsoft is seemingly set to follow suit, also mean GTA 6, one of the most anticipated games of all-time, likely won’t ever be available as a physical copy.

I spoke with Katarzyna Jakubiec, the chief business officer at G2A, an online marketplace that provides digital game keys. She told me that interest in PlayStation Store gift cards was already at record levels on the site before Sony’s and Rockstar's announcements, and GTA 6 pre-order openings have only further highlighted that trend.

G2A has become an increasingly popular way for players to save big on purchases as one of the few options for cheaper digital games. However, Jakubiec makes it clear that both physical and digital formats are pivotal in gaming.

"GTA 6 pre-orders have reinforced a trend we were already seeing rather than changing the market overnight," Jakubiec said. "During the pre-sale period, PlayStation gift card purchases on G2A reached record levels and continue to grow as anticipation for the launch builds, showing that many players are planning their purchases well ahead of release rather than waiting until launch day.

"While more players are embracing digital formats for the flexibility and convenience they offer, it's equally clear that physical copies continue to mean a great deal to many gamers, whether that's because of ownership, collection, or simply the experience of buying a physical game.

"We don't see this as an either-or conversation, and in an ideal world, people should have the choice to buy games in the format that suits them best. Physical and digital both have an important place within gaming, and different people will always have different preferences."

Unfortunately, that's not how Sony sees it; in fact, Sony's stance aligns with the idea that more consumers are purchasing more games digitally, as it makes the controversial decision to end game discs based on 'shifting trends in consumer preference', suggesting that physical game copies are becoming obsolete.

However, the reaction online and from key game industry figures like Dan Houser (Rockstar Games co-founder), who is no longer working at the game studio, indicate that gamers aren't, and frankly, never will be, done with physical game copies — and Jakubiec believes it's why figureheads within the industry need to adhere to players' different preferences.

"The reaction has been just as telling as the decision itself," she adds. "It highlights how passionate and diverse the gaming community is, and why major industry decisions need to consider the different ways people choose to buy, own, and experience their games.

She says that whether Sony decides to reconsider its plans is "ultimately for them to determine" — which seems unlikely, given that Sony has so far refused to reverse its decision, and shows no sign of changing its mind.

Jakubiec adds, "Whatever direction the industry takes, moments like this reinforce the need to listen to players and communicate those decisions clearly."

When I first caught a glimpse of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, it sparked a great sense of anticipation within me. After all, Square Enix and Claytechworks were collaborating to bring a brand new HD-2D RPG to the table, which appeared to combine sprinklings of classic Zelda titles with the visual, sonic, and environmental grandeur from series such as Mana and Dragon Quest.

I’m a huge fan of the HD-2D graphical style, and massively enjoyed recent releases such as Final Fantasy: The Ivalice Chronicles and Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake, but I still wasn’t quite sure if I’d love The Adventures of Elliot. Was the action combat going to be polished and engaging enough? Was the world going to deliver the spectacle and appeal conjured up with other series? Would the narrative have me hooked?

Well, after playing the game for more than 25 hours now, I have an answer to all of those questions. Here’s what I made of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.

The good: combat that exceeds expectations

Let’s start by addressing my curiosity surrounding combat in The Adventures of Elliot — just how good is it? Well, I’m pleased to report that I had a lot of fun with the action in this game. It clearly pulls on 2D Zelda, with real-time combat that challenges you to use a variety of weapons to overcome your foes.

You can equip two weapons at once, and while I typically used my sword for close range attacks and bow for projectiles, I found genuine utility in a lot of equipment, be that bombs, a hammer, spear, and more. Combat feels fluid, responsive, and well balanced. You can also defend or parry with a shield, and using this to avoid big damage can be crucial.

There’s a pretty fast, high-octane feel to battles, big or small, and by defeating multiple foes in a row, you can build up a streak to obtain better drops. This adds a layer of fun to combat, and gives you a genuine reason to seek out and destroy random creatures in your vicinity — I had a lot of fun pushing myself to get that streak as high as possible.

Combat is absolutely at its best during boss fights, though. These can offer genuine challenges, and often require you to switch up attacks, defend with care, and employ a variety of weapons to get the win. The satisfaction I got when evading a robotic titan’s assault and slashing it to smithereens with my blade was nothing short of exhilarating.

What’s more, you can customize weapons with something called Magicite, which imparts specific abilities to help you wipe out the opposition with greater ease. This is executed very well, and helps you to raise attack power, unlock elemental attacks, and extend the reach of your attacks, for instance.

By spending more Tul (the in-universe currency), you can use more Magicite, and this helps you scale in terms of power as the game unfolds, making progression feel natural and well-paced.

Other gameplay elements are solid too. Platforming isn’t a massive part of the game, but feels precise and smooth. Your companion for most of the journey, Faie, also has abilities such as dashing and warping, which make traversing environments and taking down enemies even more varied and seamless, and you can unlock more of — and improve on — said abilities as the game progresses.

The not-so good: a narrative missing its spark

So, the gameplay in The Adventures of Elliot is a hit, in my book. The brilliant bosses and close contests against frogs, robots, slugs, and more kept me coming back for more. But unfortunately, some things made me feel reluctant to indulge in long, uninterrupted play sessions — namely, the game’s narrative and dialogue.

Simply put, the story in The Adventures of Elliot lacks the spark that I was looking for. It often feels flat, lacking moments of surprise and suspense, and its largely predictable plot points paired with sluggish and dull dialogue meant that I was tempted, at times, to skip through a few scenes — something I never do with story-driven RPGs.

On top of this, the cast of characters is surprisingly weak for a Square Enix game. The protagonist, Elliot, feels somewhat hollow, and spends much of the game telling people to follow their heart, chase their dreams, and to believe in themselves. To be blunt, it feels a bit sappy, and despite his striking appearance, he’s actually quite an uninteresting lead.

A lot of the other characters are written in a slightly wooden way, too. Elliot will meet them, they’ll reveal something that troubles them — be that isolation, missing a loved one, or seeking connection with others — the hero will do something to assist them, and then you move on. As a result, characters often lack nuance or depth, and it feels hard to care about the various individuals involved.

Like a lot of other players have pointed out online, your companion, Faie, is also rather irritating. She speaks up…a lot…and her hand-holdy, pointless interjections can feel grating. You can mute your companion, thankfully, which is a good thing given that the fairy’s high-pitched tone is still haunting me.

Much of the game is centered around time travel, another element that could’ve been handled more effectively in my view. A lot of the environments look identical across different eras, and enemy variety can be pretty limited across time as well.

I did like the discoveries you could make across different ages, though, and hunting for new weapons in the various dungeons, and general exploration, was pretty enjoyable. My critique here, however, is that the puzzles within various areas are very easy, and require little effort to overcome. Therefore, anyone seeking out the ingenious design of classic Zelda dungeons may be left wanting more.

Final thoughts: a new IP with growing pains

The Adventures of Elliot still nails a lot of the fundamentals, with a beautiful soundtrack, gorgeous HD-2D visuals, and a neat UI. But when I look at the full package, I’m left feeling conflicted.

While the combat is slick and enticing, the underwhelming story and lack of variation in environments and enemies slightly disappointed me.

Although I still had a decent time with The Adventures of Elliot, and I enjoyed its delicious HD-2D graphics and high-octane battles, it’s clear that the new IP has gone through a few growing pains. And unfortunately, its forgettable characters and lacking dialogue bring the overall experience down a touch, meaning it doesn’t quite hit the highest of heights.

Should you play The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

There are a number of ways to customize the experience in The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. There are a handful of text languages, and you can swap between English or Japanese voices. You can alter text display speed, and set dialogue to auto if you want to watch scenes unfurl naturally.

There are a range of difficulty modes too, and you can remap controls to your liking for a more custom experience. Unfortunately, there’s no colorblind mode, or similar.

How I reviewed Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake

I spent more than 25 hours playing through the main story and side quests in The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. I played on Normal difficulty in this instance.

For the most part, I played the game on my PS5, which is connected up to my Sky Glass Gen 2 TV and Marshall Heston 120 soundbar. However, I occasionally dipped into the title on my PS Portal, and used the Sennheiser CX 80U to enjoy in-game audio while on the go.

More generally, I’ve reviewed a wide range of games here at TechRadar, though my main focus has been on RPGs, including Square Enix titles like Final Fantasy: The Ivalice Chronicles and Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake.

First reviewed: July 2026

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1143) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CAPTAIN
• CLARKS
• OTTOMAN
• EMPIRE
• ANNAPOLIS
• BOBSLED
• CAMPER
• DIRECT
• EVEREST
• FUJI
• GALA
• HEAD
• CONVERSE
• LEAD
• HONEYCRISP
• CROCS

NYT Connections today (game #1143) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Take charge
• GREEN: Varieties of a type of fruit
• BLUE: Footwear
• PURPLE: The same backward and forward

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1143) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: COMMAND
• GREEN: HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES
• BLUE: SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C"
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH PALINDROMIC NAMES

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1143) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1143, are…

• YELLOW: COMMAND: CAPTAIN, DIRECT, HEAD, LEAD
• GREEN: HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES: EMPIRE, FUJI, GALA, HONEYCRISP
• BLUE: SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C": CAMPER, CLARKS, CONVERSE, CROCS
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH PALINDROMIC NAMES: ANNAPOLIS, BOBSLED, EVEREST, OTTOMAN

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

I knew that HONEYCRISP and GALA were apple varieties, but I struggled to find the other pair and made a mistake picking CAPTAIN instead of FUJI.

In my defence these are unavailable in the UK, where I am based, where we are all about the Granny Smith and the Golden Delicious. HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES? Very much, actually.

After munching my way through this troublesome quartet the remaining three groups came together relatively easy, with the SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH "C" appearing ahead of COMMAND — both of which remind me of the Clarks Commandos shoes I coveted as a small child, largely because they came with a compass in the sole; very useful for a six-year-old.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, July 27, 2026, game #1142)

• YELLOW: GYMNASTICS APPARATUS: BEAM, HORSE, RINGS, VAULT
• GREEN: LONG TAPERED THINGS: CARROT, ICICLE, KNITTING NEEDLE, STALACTITE
• BLUE: KINDS OF SHIFTS: DOPPLER, GRAVEYARD, PARADIGM, STICK
• PURPLE: ICONS ON A SHOPPING SITE: BELL, CART, HEART, MAGNIFYING GLASS

My day usually starts with a scan around major retailers, specialist sites, and deals aggregators to get a snapshot of the best tech offers that are available - and then I share the very best with you. Results can be mixed, depending on the time of year and whether there’s a major sale on, but there’s been one consistent theme lately: the deals on most PC components are atrocious.

If you’re a regular in this space, then you’re probably already well aware of the situation with RAM and storage prices over the past few months. It’s got to the point where I’ve all but given up on finding any good deals in this space, especially when there are no signs that it's improving.

Where did all the deals go?

There’s no clearer evidence of just how dire the situation is with this Samsung SSD ‘deal’ that’s currently live on Amazon. This Samsung 870 EVO is advertised as a whopping 62% off. But that’s from the current list price of, um, $1,039.99. With that price cut, it’s now down to $399.99. Almost $400 for a 2TB SATA SSD? One that has been as low as $79.99 in the past? And this counts as a deal?

That’s just a snapshot of how bleak it is shopping for PC gaming components in 2026. Worst of all, there doesn’t seem to be any positive news on the horizon. You have SSD controller manufacturers saying that “the retail SSD market has almost disappeared”, RAM prices have increased by at least 400% in some regions, and now one chip maker says its production costs are set to increase by 10% next year - so CPUs are potentially next up for price hikes.

It puts into perspective just how lucky I was when I chose to upgrade my PC towards the end of 2025. There were rumblings of price increases and stock shortages in those few months towards the end of the year, but it hadn’t reached the disastrous depths we find ourselves in now for wannabe PC builders.

I did have to wait a few months for my RAM to arrive, after the manufacturer I was about to buy RAM from completely shut down, but the cost didn’t make up nearly 50% of my entire budget like it would in today’s prices.

And my PC is very much a mid-range device with a Ryzen 9600x, a 9060XT, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB NVMe SSD, which is about all I wanted given I mostly use it for work. I do like to play the occasional game on PC that I can’t get on the PS5, or if there’s one I would prefer to play on that platform, or when prices make the PC version a more sensible choice. Those specs cover my needs nicely at a reasonable budget.

Calculating what the spend would be these days for the same spec is a terrifying exercise. It’s over £1,600 now, when I was comfortably under £1,000 at the end of last year.

What does the future hold?

With everything pointing to similar or increasing prices for a long time ahead, anyone looking for a PC upgrade has no choice but to put up with these prices for the foreseeable future. Yes, there will be a chance for some savings during Black Friday in November, but we are still looking at a significant markup compared to the savings of old.

In fact, and I usually wouldn't recommend this, but with the way component prices are lately, I'd actually lean more towards buying a pre-built PC if you're shopping around now. Sure, these companies are still suffering from the same price increases, but you can actually find some good value rigs.

Most recently, for example, the Presidents' Day and 4th of July sales at iBuyPower had some strong discounts on high-end gaming PC, with extra savings of up to $350 available on PCs with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, an RX 9070 XT, and 32GB of RAM.

That would be my advice based on the poor quality of deals that are available on many PC components. Yes, there are still a few genuinely good offers out there that I've seen on the likes of CPUs and GPUs, but storage and RAM are certainly beyond saving right now — and I'd move quickly if there's anything good on the former, as those deals may be disappearing before long as well.

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1142) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CART
• HORSE
• CARROT
• STICK
• KNITTING NEEDLE
• MAGNIFYING GLASS
• BEAM
• GRAVEYARD
• BELL
• ICICLE
• RINGS
• HEART
• PARADIGM
• STALACTITE
• DOPPLER
• VAULT

NYT Connections today (game #1142) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Equipment used by Simone Biles and co
• GREEN: Thin and skinny
• BLUE: A word that rhymes with “lift” in common
• PURPLE: As seen whilst making a purchase

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1142) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: GYMNASTICS APPARATUS
• GREEN: LONG TAPERED THINGS
• BLUE: KINDS OF SHIFTS
• PURPLE: ICONS ON A SHOPPING SITE

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1142) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1142, are…

• YELLOW: GYMNASTICS APPARATUS: BEAM, HORSE, RINGS, VAULT
• GREEN: LONG TAPERED THINGS: CARROT, ICICLE, KNITTING NEEDLE, STALACTITE
• BLUE: KINDS OF SHIFTS: DOPPLER, GRAVEYARD, PARADIGM, STICK
• PURPLE: ICONS ON A SHOPPING SITE: BELL, CART, HEART, MAGNIFYING GLASS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

I managed to get through today’s game without making any mistakes but I am still classing it as a tricky game.

The reason for this is that I got extremely lucky once the game got down to eight tiles; unable to find a group, I just went with the four tiles that were in a line.

GRAVEYARD shift and PARADIGM shift I may have got, but DOPPLER and STICK needed a Google. Meanwhile, perhaps I do not do enough online shopping but CART aside the other three icons didn’t trigger me to connect them.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, July 26, 2026, game #1141)

• YELLOW: BABY MILESTONES: CRAWLING, FIRST WORDS, ROLLING OVER, SOLID FOOD
• GREEN: OUTMODED CONSUMER TECH: BLACKBERRY, DISCMAN, DVD PLAYER, PLASMA TV
• BLUE: EXPRESSIONS FOR RAIN: APRIL SHOWERS, LIQUID SUNSHINE, SCOTCH MIST, WET WEATHER
• PURPLE: WHAT "SHELL" MIGHT REFER TO: CARAPACE, GAS STATION, PASTRY CRUST, ROWING BOAT

GameSir G8+ Bluetooth: One-minute review

The GameSir G8+ Bluetooth is the wireless mobile controller in the G8 family and bolsters compatibility from being simply mobile, to the Nintendo Switch, tablets, and PC. The same full-size grips, Hall effect joysticks and triggers, and programmable back buttons that made the wired versions of the G8 so impressive remain, and at $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$129, so does the price.

On paper, you’d think it’s a no-brainer to go wireless, particularly with the addition of a six-axis gyroscope adding to that strong core experience, but the wireless freedom you gain comes with meaningful trade-offs. Noticeably, the lack of passthrough charging and the lack of a headphone jack, both obvious casualties of the move to Bluetooth.

More importantly for iPhone gamers, the GameSir iOS app doesn't recognize the controller, which means the stick calibration, dead zone tuning, hair-trigger configuration, and back button mapping that make the G8 Plus so compelling as an option on other platforms go completely to waste. The Bluetooth connection itself also feels less locked-in than the wired experience on iPhone, with small stick movements occasionally getting lost along the way.

On Android and PC, the experience is significantly better. The app works, the back buttons are configurable, and there’s haptic feedback on offer as well (albeit with patchy support, particularly on mobile). For the first time, you can even use the G8 Plus with your Nintendo Switch. But if an iPhone is your primary device, the wired GameSir G8+ MFi delivers a more complete, more reliable experience for the same money.

GameSir G8+ Bluetooth: Price and availability

• List price: $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$129
• Available from GameSir and major retailers
• Same price as the rest of the G8 range

The middle sibling, the GameSir G8+ Bluetooth launched in mid-2024 at $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$129, matching the rest of the G8 family.

Each variant has pros and cons, so the consistent price puts the onus firmly on the buyer to decide which set of trade-offs works best for their setup. GameSir has also released a couple of special edition color variants in some regions, including a Hulk and a Thanos Edition, which will set you back slightly more.

At this price, it remains highly competitive against the Backbone One 2nd Gen and is significantly cheaper than the Razer Kishi Ultra, though the Bluetooth limitations on iPhone mean it's not the straightforward recommendation the wired models are.

GameSir G8+ Bluetooth: Specs

GameSir G8+ Bluetooth: Design and features

• Comfortable, console controller-like ergonomics shared with the rest of the G8 range
• Bluetooth versatility across five platforms, but mode switching is a hassle
• Special edition designs are only available in certain markets

The G8+ Bluetooth is the first and only member of the G8 family that cuts the cord entirely. Wireless freedom and the versatility it brings are the entire pitch, and it helps broaden the G8’s platform compatibility too.

Unlike the original G8 Galileo and the G8+ MFi, which are limited to mobile only, this controller works with iOS, Android, the Nintendo Switch, PC (via wired USB-C or Bluetooth, with a wireless dongle sold separately), and macOS. Console gaming aside, in theory, that means the G8+ is ready to follow you anywhere on your gaming journey.

The reality, unfortunately, is a little more complicated. Each platform requires its own Bluetooth pairing mode, triggered by holding different button combinations on the controller. If you're a one-device person, this is a simple pair-once-and-forget situation, and you can skip to the next paragraph.

If you're hopping between platforms, as I was during testing, it gets tedious fast. Switching modes caused regular reconnection failures with devices the controller had previously been paired with, and keeping track of which mode goes with which platform isn't intuitive. It's workable, and we’re in first-world problem territory here for sure, but it's not the seamless experience it should be.

On the plus side, turning it on couldn’t be simpler because stretching the controller open automatically powers it on and letting it close fully again powers it down. This isn’t a life-changing feature but certainly a nice convenience that worked reliably throughout testing.

A 1000mAh battery sits split across both grips, charging via USB-C. The GameSir app tracks each side independently, which is how I discovered the left and right grips drain at slightly different rates despite charging as a single unit. I saw a couple of percent drop over half an hour of active use, and the rated eight-hour battery life seems about right based on that.

The black colorway is a clean, classic look that feels more like a traditional controller than the grey and grey-and-white of its wired siblings. GameSir has also released rather jazzy Hulk- and Thanos-themed special editions in some regions, making this the only G8 variant with cosmetic variety, though they’ll set you back a little more for the paint job.

The build quality and overall shape match the rest of the family; it’s well designed and well built with the same full-size, Xbox-like grips, textured backs and a solid chassis. It’s comfortable to hold for extended sessions, and while at 11oz/314g it's the heaviest of the three on paper, the balance is good, and the weight didn't register during testing.

Case compatibility is a mixed bag, as is often the case with mobile controller grips. Without a USB-C connector going into the phone, there's no port angle to stress about, thankfully, but the physical cradle can still be tight.

My iPhone 17 Pro fit with a slim case on but sat at a noticeable angle towards the left side, which saw it protrude more than I’d like. There is a rubber pad on the phone deck that appears to serve the same purpose as the G8+ MFi's removable magnetic panel for camera bump clearance, but this one is glued down rather than magnetically attached.

GameSir’s marketing suggests this is still meant to be removed to accommodate camera bumps, but it really didn't feel like it wanted to come off, and I wasn't willing to force it. If you do take it off, don’t expect it to go back on neatly and expect to trap plenty of dust in the residue.

The D-pad shares the same feel as the rest of the G8 family: slightly mushy initial movement but with a clicky, short-travel feel once you commit to an input. Swappable ABXY caps and thumbstick caps carry over, too, as do the three alternate stick options, and they’re easily adjusted by popping off the magnetic faceplates.

Once again, however, GameSir only includes one of each of these replaceable sticks, so you can’t run the same option on both sides. One annoyance that cropped up here for the first time on any G8 I’ve tested: on iOS, the controller connects as a DualShock controller, so all on-screen UI elements in compatible games display PlayStation button labels.

GameSir doesn't include any PlayStation-legended alternative keycaps in the box, so you’ll need to remember that triangle is Y, for example.

GameSir G8+ Bluetooth: Performance

• Hall effect inputs are excellent and responsive, but Bluetooth feels a step behind wired
• iPhone users lose app support, back buttons, and customization entirely
• Vibration motors remain largely a spec-sheet feature with no real-world use

As you’d expect, the core gameplay experience with the G8+ Bluetooth mirrors the other options in the G8 range. The Hall effect thumbsticks and triggers are smooth and precise with a high level of sensitivity.

Resistance in these is just right for my taste; I found I was able to confidently hold the sticks at a midpoint for fine adjustments without the sense that the stick was itching to return to its starting point. The triggers offer full analog travel with a responsive hair-trigger mode (assuming you can enable it, more on that shortly). In analog mode, I felt like I had a nice level of control and was able to modulate the throttle in Forza Horizon 6 with plenty of detail.

That said, the Bluetooth connection introduced a subtle but noticeable difference in feel I hadn’t experienced before with a GameSir G8. I couldn’t quite quantify it, but I didn't feel as locked-in using the G8+ Wireless as I did with the wired equivalents.

It's not consistent, obvious latency, or any kind of genuine stutter or interference; it's more that small thumbstick movements occasionally felt like they were getting lost along the way. Everything was perfectly playable, and my skill as a gamer is certainly not high enough for this to be a make-or-break thing, but if you're serious about your gaming, the wired experience is definitely tighter.

The biggest issue I came across, and the one that separates this controller from the rest of the G8 family, is the iPhone experience. It’s somewhat lacking. Because iOS sees the controller as a DualShock 4, the GameSir app doesn’t recognize the G8+ Bluetooth. That means no stick calibration, no deadzone adjustment, no hair-trigger toggling, and no back button mapping.

The two rear programmable buttons, labeled M1 and M2, ship unbound by default, and there's no way to configure them on iOS. They don't appear in the iPhone's native controller settings either because iOS thinks this is a DualShock 4, which doesn't have back buttons. On macOS, I was able to rebind other buttons through native system options, but back button mapping wasn't available there either for the same reason.

On Android, the picture is much better. The app recognized the controller (though admittedly it took a couple of attempts at first), and once connected, all the usual calibration, deadzone, hair-trigger, and back button configuration options were available. Gaming on the POCO X5 Pro was a smooth experience, with Fortnite and Call of Duty Mobile both running well after the usual game-side controller recognition quirks.

PC gaming was the most pleasant surprise. Connected via either USB-C or Bluetooth, the controller was recognized immediately as a PlayStation 4 controller and was fully mapped out of the box for both local and cloud gaming. Gyro tracking worked here too, which is a nice bonus for games that support it. On macOS, things were less smooth.

The controller initially tried to connect as a "GameSir G8" which required manual Steam configuration and then wasn't recognized in-game. Reverting to DualShock mode fixed the issue, and games worked with automated mapping after that.

Shoudl you buy the GameSir G8+ Bluetooth?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider...

Trying to work out if the GameSir G8+ Bluetooth is the one to get? Here's how it compares to other, similar controller grips.

How I tested the GameSir G8+ Bluetooth

• Tested with multiple devices
• A wide variety of games tried
• Compared to other mobile controllers

I spent several days testing across iOS, Android, PC, and macOS, with a focus on comparing the experience to the wired G8 and G8+ MFi I'd previously reviewed.

I tested on an iPhone 17 Pro and POCO X5 Pro 5G, playing Fortnite, Call of Duty Mobile, and Forza Horizon 6 via Xbox Cloud Gaming on mobile, and Stardew Valley via Steam on PC. I evaluated Bluetooth connectivity, app compatibility, back button functionality, latency feel, vibration motors, and cross-platform mode switching.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed June-July 2026

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1141) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• SOLID FOOD
• PASTRY CRUST
• ROLLING OVER
• LIQUID SUNSHINE
• PLASMA TV
• SCOTCH MIST
• BLACKBERRY
• GAS STATION
• ROWING BOAT
• FIRST WORDS
• APRIL SHOWERS
• DISCMAN
• WET WEATHER
• CARAPACE
• DVD PLAYER
• CRAWLING

NYT Connections today (game #1141) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: A little one’s achievements
• GREEN: Outdated electronics
• BLUE: Getting soaked
• PURPLE: Connected by a word that rhymes with “well”

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1141) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: BABY MILESTONES
• GREEN: OUTMODED CONSUMER TECH
• BLUE: EXPRESSIONS FOR RAIN
• PURPLE: WHAT "SHELL" MIGHT REFER TO

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1141) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1141, are…

• YELLOW: BABY MILESTONES: CRAWLING, FIRST WORDS, ROLLING OVER, SOLID FOOD
• GREEN: OUTMODED CONSUMER TECH: BLACKBERRY, DISCMAN, DVD PLAYER, PLASMA TV
• BLUE: EXPRESSIONS FOR RAIN: APRIL SHOWERS, LIQUID SUNSHINE, SCOTCH MIST, WET WEATHER
• PURPLE: WHAT "SHELL" MIGHT REFER TO: CARAPACE, GAS STATION, PASTRY CRUST, ROWING BOAT

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

If you’re like me then tiles such as today’s — mostly made up of two words – make you feel confused and discombobulated.

However, once the brain has calmed these types of games tend to be far easier than the appear at first sight.

That said there were several tiles here that were new to me — LIQUID SUNSHINE seems like an odd way to describe a rainy day, although, my goodness there are plenty of them (I like mizzle, which is misty drizzle) and I thought CARAPACE was an Ecuadorian cyclist, but I now know it’s the word for a tortoise shell.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, July 25, 2026, game #1140)

• YELLOW: SPANISH RELATIVES: ABUELA, HIJO, MADRE, PRIMO
• GREEN: START TO CRY, WITH "UP": CHOKE, MIST, TEAR, WELL
• BLUE: AFRICAN CURRENCIES: KWANZA, LEONE, NAIRA, RAND
• PURPLE: STRIP____: CLUB, MALL, POKER, STEAK

There’s nothing I like more than playing a game that lets me switch off entirely. Mundane tasks that require minimal brain power are my greatest escape (apart from a good book) and it’s even better when I’m able to gain a deep sense of achievement from completing them.

I’ve played countless hours of The Sims 4 and Stardew Valley over the years, or more recently Starsand Island. These titles earn their impressive ratings and big sales for providing exactly what cozy gamers like me want – a place to unwind, relax and tick boxes. But, I’m always on the hunt more. Little did I know that an evening scroll on TikTok was about to kick up my next cozy obsession that almost went Under the Radar.

As if by magic, videos were appearing on my feed of a library littered with thousands of books, all out of place. The players gaze over the chaotic collection with a visual aesthetic akin to Harry Potter saying things like: “You’re seriously telling me I have to put all these back away where they’re supposed to go” and “Oh my god, there’s a second floor.” And that’s when I got really intrigued.

Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library! is exactly as the name suggests, a game where you become the librarian and must tidy everything up.

Serenely sorting shelves

It’s a big, big mess. Huge. There are books strewn everywhere, piled on tables, disordered in corners like some massive puzzle you need to solve. The task is simple, really, even if it does require you to sort out over 3,000 books. But, with a cozy vibe and a lot of time on my hands, I was so utterly ready to get stuck in.

What Tidy Up the Arcane Library! wants you to do is place all the books on the correct shelves, in the correct order, before you’re allowed to leave. There’s a couple of maps on the walls explaining which category of book belongs on which shelf and to start, you just need to, well, get going.

Don’t get me wrong, I was a little worried that the sheer mess would unsettle any promise of coziness. It’s not quite the same as tending to your crops or gathering resources, but it was the kind of task I get a kick out of – and I’m hopeful comfort gamers will agree.

It reminds me of silly little tasks I’ve always loved to do like sorting out coins or writing addresses on a tower of envelopes, but no-one ever threw all those coins or envelopes haphazardly across a room and asked me to tidy them up. Fortunately, my worries were quickly cast aside when the game began, offering me the chance to play a specifically-made cozy mode with no time restraints, just chilled out sorting.

Every time you put a book on the shelf in the right place, it glitters gold and I almost felt like I was shimmering with satisfaction. The dopamine rush in games like these are hard to beat, especially when it’s so simply gained.

But, if you put a book in the wrong place, there’s no glimmering reward, only a desperation to figure out where it goes instead. But, no bother, I told myself, there are always more books to sort.

List-slaying

Now, it’s worth mentioning here that book-sorting isn’t something you have to take on alone. No, you can also harness a little bit of magic. As you begin to fill up shelves correctly, you level up, unlocking points that can be spent on different magical abilities.

From illuminating the correct shelf for the top book you’re holding to placing the book onto said shelf without you having to lift a finger, it’s entirely up to you if you want to tackle Tidy Up the Arcane Library! without using any magic. But, if you want to protect your peace, I strongly recommend you do.

It’s also entirely up to you whether you spent your points on all the abilities. I didn’t. While Sort automatically arranges the books in your possession in numerical order, I actually quite liked just taking my time over it, rifling through my books like a proper librarian. But, I did lean heavily on the other abilities to make sure I didn’t go crazy.

I even ended up using those TikTok videos that led me here in the first place to teach me about the hidden keys that transformed me into a much more efficient librarian – carrying more books, moving faster and even jumping.

I’ve worked in a library, I’ve also worked in a bookshop, but I can safely say that the calmness and magic of Tidy Up the Arcane Library! makes it a far cozier experience than real life, especially with absolutely no customers.

I’m still clocking up hours in the game taking my sweet, sweet time because I know once it’s over, I’ll miss it. If you're interested in playing too, you can pick it up on Steam.

Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2: One-minute review

The Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2 is far from being one of the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers, but it gets a lot right, and in my testing I found it to be a solid—if unremarkable—stand-in for the official Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller.

After I reviewed the frankly terrible Horipad for Steam, I didn't have high hopes for the Wireless Horipad Turbo. I've been rendered pleasantly surprised, as there is plenty to like about the brand's latest Nintendo-facing controller. There are a decent number of features for the price, and build quality is generally solid. It's just a shame that a few limitations and design quirks stop it short of an outright recommendation.

Let's frontload the review with the good, though. Hori has opted for anti-drift thumbsticks that feel great and ensure longevity. That's something the Wireless Horipad Turbo has over the Switch 2 Pro Controller, which utilizes traditional analog sticks and is thus more likely to develop stick drift over time.

Build quality is generally nice, too. While larger than the Pro Controller (and thus better suited to big adult hands), it feels solid enough, and a selection of colorways is always really nice to see.

I'm a fan of the feature set, too, with the Wireless Horipad Turbo offering a robust Turbo button option, as well as two remappable rear buttons and a button lock switch that disables utility buttons like Start, Select, Home, and Capture (for taking screenshots). There's even a GameChat button for quick access to social gaming sessions.

It's a shame, then, that the Wireless Horipad Turbo doesn't quite stick the landing in a few key areas. Battery life is paltry, falling well short of the Switch 2 Pro Controller's 40- to 50-hour gold standard. The d-pad and triggers, specifically, aren't the best—feeling incredibly mushy during play, which really isn't something you want for digital triggers in particular.

Lastly, a lack of PC compatibility means this is strictly a Nintendo Switch 2 controller. That's not necessarily a bad thing if that's solely what you're after (and it's likely a result of this being an officially licensed Nintendo product). But it does make it a less versatile controller than the likes of the 8BitDo Pro 3.

Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2: Price and availability

• Costs $64.99 / £54.99 (around AU$93)
• Available to buy now at Hori's store page, Amazon, or local retailers
• Cheaper than the Switch 2 Pro Controller, and offers several colorways

The Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2 is available to buy now, and you've got options as to where you purchase it from. You can get it directly from Hori, Amazon, or local retailers based on your region, such as Best Buy in the US and Argos in the UK.

It'll run you $64.99 / £54.99 (around AU$93), which is a good deal cheaper than the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller ($89.99 / £74.99 / AU$119.95). You'll also find a healthy amount of colorways to choose from. Hori sent me the standard Black and Frost variants for review, but there's also an Aqua model, as well as special liveries based on Nintendo properties like Kirby and Super Mario.

Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2: Specs

Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2: Design and features

• Eye-catching translucent design
• Handy Turbo and button lock features
• Generally solid build quality

One way for a controller to win me over is if it sports a translucent design. It's a style I'm happy to see come in vogue again over the last few years, at least when it comes to controllers, and it helps the Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2 really stand out. I'm a huge fan of the crystal-clear Frost colorway, especially.

It doesn't just win out in the looks department, though. Build quality is really solid here; a huge step up from the listless Horipad for Steam, which I reviewed prior to this. It's not as premium as the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller, but the Wireless Horipad Turbo feels really solid and secure in the hands, with just the right amount of weight to it.

The titular 'Turbo' feature is niche; not everyone will find a use for it, but it's a nice-to-have for retro games or ones that require frequent, rapid button presses. Holding down the central Hori logo button in tandem with 'A' will then let you assign a button for the Turbo input. You can also press the Start and Select buttons to adjust the speed of the Turbo setting by three increments, too.

Another feature I quite like (but again, it is probably quite niche) is the button lock switch. It's off by default, but one setting completely disables the Hori, Home, and Capture buttons, while another turns those off in addition to Start and Select.

I know I've accidentally hit the Home button instead of Start more times than I care to admit on the Pro Controller, so this is a thoughtful addition. The button lock switch doesn't extend to the pair of remappable buttons on the rear, but you can just leave these unassigned if you prefer.

Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2: Performance

• Performant TMR thumbsticks
• Poor battery life
• Weak-feeling triggers and mushy d-pad

Controllers that make use of TMR (that's tunneling magnetoresistance) thumbsticks are a dime a dozen in today's gaming hardware marketplace. It's more common to find them than not now, but this is the first time I've tested a Hori controller with TMR. And I'm glad the brand has opted for them with the Wireless Horipad Turbo. They feel fantastically smooth during play, and as it's a form of Hall effect technology, it should ensure the pad's longevity for years to come.

Otherwise, this is a fairly unremarkable but inoffensive controller purely from a play standpoint. It lacks things like HD Rumble, an NFC touchpoint for amiibo scanning, and 'press to wake' functionality for the console itself. However, as these are niceties reserved for Nintendo's own hardware, it's hard to leverage this as a complaint at Hori. The lack of a 3.5mm port for wired headphones does irk me, though, because wireless audio via Bluetooth on Switch 2 is shoddy at best.

I'm also not a big fan of the controller's d-pad. It feels rather mushy to press, which at worst can often lead to inputs very occasionally not registering. Much the same is true of the triggers, which are supposed to be digital, but kind of feel like they're made of sponge.

Thankfully, connectivity isn't an issue. The controller paired immediately to my Switch 2 console, and I never experienced dropouts or noticeable input delay. And that's for the best, as this is a wireless-first controller.

You can still plug in the controller via the included USB-C for charging purposes and carry on playing. And you might be doing that frequently, as the Wireless Horipad Turbo tops out at just 10 hours of charge. That's not much better than PlayStation's DualSense Wireless Controller, and falls well short of the Switch 2 Pro Controller's monster 40-hour battery life.

Lastly, it is unfortunate that the Wireless Horipad Turbo can't be used for PC gaming. The Switch 2 Pro Controller can't either, so I suspect this is a Nintendo-issued requirement, as the Turbo bears the company's seal of approval. It just means that it's not as versatile as third-party pads from the likes of 8BitDo and GameSir.

Should I buy the Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider...

If the Wireless Horipad Turbo has a few too many issues for your liking, consider the following alternatives.

How I tested the Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2

• Tested for one week
• Tested on Nintendo Switch 2 with a variety of modern and retro titles
• Used features like the Turbo functionality and button lock switch

For this review, I tested the Wireless Horipad Turbo for Nintendo Switch 2 on the console of the same name for about a week. I played a good mix of modern and old-school titles with the controller, including Star Fox, Street Fighter 6, Rhythm Heaven Groove, as well as Ridge Racer 64 and Super Mario 64 via Nintendo Switch Online's N64 library.

During testing, I made use of the Turbo functionality to enable easier, rapid button presses in classic titles like Metal Slug 3. Meanwhile, I went back and forth with the button lock switch, and I can confidently say it stopped me from accidentally backing out to the Home dashboard on a few occasions. I'd love to see this feature make a comeback for future Hori products.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2026

Valve Steam Machine: Two-minute review

It's finally happening! Valve's long-awaited Steam Machine has landed at last, promising to bring gaming-PC-level performance to an ultra-compact console-style device ideal for couch gamers who want to dip their toes into PC gaming for the first time. This is Valve's second run at the console-style PC market, and the gaming giant seems a lot more committed this time around.

And... well, I'm not entirely underwhelmed by it, but it's also not overwhelmingly impressive. I guess you could say I'm distinctly whelmed by the Steam Machine; it's a lovingly crafted piece of hardware that arguably achieves what it sets out to do, but falls down in two extremely important areas.

As you might have already guessed, those areas are performance and pricing. At the default 1080p resolution, it's a capable little machine that should be able to give you a good gaming experience with minimal fuss, but anyone expecting beefy 4K performance on par with the existing slate of top-tier home consoles is going to be disappointed.

Of course, this boils down to what sort of games you want to play. If you've got a 4K TV in your living room and want a compact PC specifically so you can enjoy older games, or the sort of indie game experiences that aren't so freely available on consoles – I'm talking the low-budget viral titles that so frequently dominate TikTok and Instagram Reels – then the Steam Machine might actually be an excellent choice.

Another key aspect of Valve's new console-PC hybrid is SteamOS, the recently updated operating system designed to provide a more console-like experience than conventional platforms like Windows and macOS. It's already available for anyone to put on their own PC, and of course powers Valve's own Steam Deck handheld. In a break from tradition for PC reviews, I've added an extra section to this review to specifically discuss SteamOS, but for now all I'll say is that it gets the job done well.

Moving on to pricing, it's painfully clear that the ongoing RAM crisis has taken a toll on the Steam Machine's value proposition. Starting at $1,049 / £879 / AU$1,609, it's a fair bit more costly than the PS5 Pro, which my esteemed colleague Rob Dwiar already noted was "too expensive" for the average gamer in his review here on TechRadar - and that was before Sony hiked the price of its home consoles earlier this year.

Considering that the Steam Machine was widely expected to represent an accessible path into the world of PC gaming for those who have previously not ventured beyond the confines of the console market, that price tag is sure to upset some gamers who were eagerly awaiting Valve's return to the console market. Hell, you might even be better off building your own Steam Machine killer.

But it's important to remember that the Steam Machine was probably never going to live up to the price-to-performance ratio of modern home consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X, even though it is ostensibly using newer, better hardware. This is due to the game development process and how developers implement platform optimization; if you're making a game for PS5, you're just making a game for PS5. You'll have to take the Pro model's specs into account now too, but at the end of the day you only need to optimize your game's performance for a specific set of hardware components with clearly defined limitations.

On the other hand, optimizing a game for PC means optimizing it for the uncountable millions of possible hardware configurations that exist across pre-built and custom gaming PCs, plus every gaming laptop on the market, plus handheld gaming PCs, and now plus the Steam Machine. It's a wildly different ballgame, and while some developers might skimp on good PC optimization, it's borderline impossible to get a game running consistently well on PC versus a specific console.

Does this entirely excuse the lackluster bang for your buck the Steam Machine offers? No, probably not. It's a mitigating factor that I have taken into account for this review – but quite frankly, I think Valve's second attempt at bringing PC gaming to the masses has slightly missed the mark.

Valve Steam Machine review: Price & availability

• Starts at $1,049 / £879 / AU$1,609
• Available now in the US, UK, and Australia
• Steam Controller can be added as a bundle

As I mentioned already, the Steam Machine starts at a rather steep $1,049 / £879 / AU$1,609, which gets you the standard configuration with no controller and 512GB of high-speed SSD storage. The actual performance spec doesn't change if you upgrade to the 2TB SSD model for $1,349 / £1,149 / AU$2,109, so you're essentially just paying for the extra storage – and even by current component pricing standards, that's an expensive upgrade.

Whether you pick the 512GB or 2TB model – and despite the price, I'd definitely recommend the latter if you play triple-A PC games, since install sizes have become frighteningly bloated as of late – you get the same semi-custom AMD Zen 4 CPU and discrete AMD RDNA 3 GPU, along with 16GB of RAM and a separate 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM.

Both models can also be bundled with Valve's Steam Controller (which also comes with a charging 'puck' and USB cable), which adds $79 / £59 / AU$119 to the base price of either model. This is actually a pretty decent add-on, since the Steam Controller is a genuinely good gamepad and normally costs $99 / £85 / AU$149 direct from Valve if you buy it separately. Unless you already own one of the best PC controllers, I'd strongly recommend getting the bundle.

It's also worth noting that pre-orders for the Steam Machine sold out almost immediately, so if you want to get your hands on one, you'll have to sign up for the waitlist directly through Steam.

• Value: 2.5 / 5

Valve Steam Deck review: Specs

Valve Steam Machine review: Design

• Compact, cubic design
• Tidy internals and front lightbar
• Somewhat limited port selection compared to most PCs

For a product that I found a little disappointing overall, I have to say that I have very little to criticize when it comes to the physical design of the Steam Machine.

Simply put, it looks great. The whole unit is a neat black cube of matte metal measuring roughly six inches along each edge and weighing a little under six pounds, with a thin indentation near the base on the front side, inside which nestles a bright LED lightbar. Beneath this, there's a power button with an additional LED (which stays illuminated while the Steam Machine is in sleep mode) along with two USB-A ports and a microSD card slot for easily adding extra storage. The cube sits atop four small rubber feet, which feel quite durable.

The 17-LED lightbar is more than just a simple power indicator, which I quite like. If your Steam Machine is downloading a game, it 'fills' from left to right to indicate the download's progress, and you can customize it with extra colors and functions in SteamOS too.

It's significantly smaller than any current-gen home console and the vast majority of pre-built gaming PCs, and certainly a lot smaller than any custom desktop PC the average system-builder could assemble - you'd need to be seriously confident with graphics card disassembly and custom cooling to even get close to something this small.

In fact, it's immediately reminiscent of the Nintendo GameCube I treasured in my teenage years, though I promise I haven't let nostalgia cloud my opinion here. The closest you're likely to get to this sort of compact gaming PC now is probably the Asus ROG NUC that I personally reviewed last year - and while that offers far superior performance, it's also so eye-wateringly expensive that it makes the Steam Machine look cheap.

The front panel is removable and can be easily swapped out with magnetic faceplates. If you spring for the 2TB model, you get two of these included: a red felt fabric one and a rather nice wood-effect one that matches my TV stand perfectly... it looks right at home there, actually. Wink wink, nudge nudge, Valve.

The power supply is (somehow) built into the breathtakingly compact chassis, meaning there's no chunky adapter brick here either - just a regular cable with a two-pin power connector. This is included in the box, along with an HDMI cable (though the rear I/O also features a DisplayPort 1.4 output, which may be preferable if you're connecting it to a desktop monitor rather than a TV).

That rear I/O is where you'll find the rest of the ports: the aforementioned HDMI and DisplayPort, along with an RJ-45 Ethernet port, two USB-As, and one USB-C. I'll confess that as a fan of physical connectivity, I find this port selection a little lacking, but it's realistically going to be plenty for the target audience of the Steam Machine. It might be less than a fully-fledged desktop PC, but it's comparable to any modern home console. Wireless connectivity uses Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 – I would've liked to see Wi-Fi 7 here, but it's not a dealbreaker.

The internals are very tidy, with a large air intake grille behind the magnetic faceplate behind which sits the mainboard. A single large upright fan draws air through and out of the rear exhaust. This is (surprisingly) an upgradable system, though it's more along the lines of a gaming laptop than the average desktop PC; you can swap out the M.2 SSD and the RAM, but that's it.

Lastly, I'll briefly touch on the new Steam Controller. We reviewed it separately here, so I won't go into too much detail, but it's certainly good (if overpriced, like the Steam Machine itself). Pairing the pad and the 'puck' that doubles as a wireless transmitter and charging dock is a seamless process, and the controller itself feels good to use in games. The lack of an audio jack, as seen on other mainline console controllers, is a bit of a shame, however.

I have to admit that I really, genuinely love the design of the Steam Machine. My only real criticism here (and the only thing stopping me from giving it a perfect score in this section) is that it only has one single USB-C port, and it's on the rear. This is a minor gripe, though; for the most part, this is a very well-designed piece of hardware.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Valve Steam Machine review: Performance

• Strong gaming performance at 1080p
• Cracks start to show at 1440p; falls apart completely at 4K
• Runs quietly and doesn't get too hot

Benchmarking the Steam Machine was... interesting, to say the least. I had hoped to mostly stick to our usual suite of tests used for benchmarking the best gaming PCs and best gaming laptops, but the vast majority of those systems are running on Windows 10 or 11. SteamOS, while a very solid platform these days, simply doesn't have the same degree of flexibility as Microsoft's flagship operating system.

For starters, the Steam Machine locks itself to a maximum framerate based on the refresh rate of the monitor it's connected to, which meant I had to seek out a different high-refresh-rate display to get accurate results. Notably, the Steam Deck does something similar with its built-in 60/90Hz screen, so I suspect that this is a SteamOS quirk rather than any hardware-imposed limitation, but I wasn't able to find any way to disable it.

Then I got to the compatibility issues. Half the tests we usually run (most pertinently Geekbench and 3DMark) simply can't be installed and run natively in SteamOS's default Big Picture Mode, so I had to cut down my testing selection fairly significantly. To compensate (and to provide a better idea of how well the Steam Machine can actually handle gaming), I expanded my gaming tests to include more graphical configurations than usual.

Furthermore, you have to dig into the settings of SteamOS itself to uncap the resolution, which is set to FHD 1080p by default. Eagle-eyed gamers clocked prior to the Steam Machine's release that Valve had quietly lowered expectations by adjusting the language used in the product's store page from "4K gaming at 60 FPS" to "Up to 4K gaming with FSR", crushing hopes that it would be a true competitor to the likes of the PS5 Pro. Clearly, 1080p is the ideal target, which will no doubt be a disappointment for some potential customers.

Anyway, let's talk about the actual performance. At 1080p with graphical settings maxed out, the Steam Machine can handle almost anything you throw at it; the discrete semi-custom AMD RDNA 3 GPU inside this little black box was able to crack 60fps in most games I tested at FHD resolution (sometimes requiring the use of AMD's FSR upscaling tech, though this had virtually zero impact on visual fidelity), with the exception of titles that use ray tracing.

With ray tracing turned off, you'll be fine; turn it on, and you can expect framerates to tank even if you also switch on FSR. Cyberpunk 2077 looked and played great at 1080p Ultra settings with no upscaling, but switching to the Ray Tracing Ultra preset (with AMD FSR 3 set to Balanced) saw my average framerate drop to a little over 30 in the built-in benchmark, while actual in-game performance was even choppier.

Annoyingly, some games don't seem to properly support the most recent version of FSR on SteamOS; while I've been able to use it in games like Civilization VII and Shadow of the Tomb Raider while testing Windows-based gaming laptops and PCs, FSR 3 was conspicuously absent from the settings menu of both games on the Steam Machine - Civilization would only let me select FSR 1, while Shadow had no upscaling options available at all.

Once I started to crank things up to 1440p and 4K resolution, though, the cracks started to show. Older titles (and 2D games, like my current obsession, Slay the Spire 2) largely run fine at higher resolutions - but unfortunately, I could probably say the same about any home console and plenty of cheaper desktop PCs.

Modern triple-A games start to struggle a little at 1440p, but remain playable provided you're willing to tone down the settings a bit. I've only included the full suite of 1080p and 4K results in the results box above, but to give you a few quick examples: Cyberpunk 2077 remained playable with an average framerate of 68fps at 1440p Ultra with FSR 3 set to balanced (no ray tracing), while Total War: Warhammer III dropped to 45fps at Ultra - but could be salvaged to a stable 63fps with the Medium graphical preset.

At 4K, don't expect to be playing the latest hit games at high framerates; at least, not without some very significant graphical tweaks. The now eight-year-old Shadow of the Tomb Raider was the only game I tested that made it above 60fps at 4K resolution, and that was with the graphical settings turned down significantly.

As for more demanding titles, just don't bother. Total War: Warhammer III barely made it above a 30fps average at Low settings, with frequent drops into sub-30 territory, while Cyberpunk 2077 gave abysmal benchmarking at anything above the lowest possible graphical settings, even with FSR upscaling turned on, and struggled heavily to maintain a consistent framerate during actual gameplay. Turning on FSR frame generation did technically give a stable 30fps at 4K Ultra, but with the added issue of some visual tearing and artifacting, especially during busy scenes.

I also experienced a small number of crashes during my testing process, specifically in Total War: Warhammer III and Marathon. It's possible that these were merely down to game instability rather than any specific fault with the Steam Machine or SteamOS (I've personally had Marathon crash at least once on my Windows 10 gaming desktop), so I won't mark it down for this, but I've opted to include it for the sake of comprehensiveness.

Lastly, I'd like to briefly discuss the thermal performance of the Steam Machine, which is a shining beacon amidst the otherwise fairly underwhelming overall performance. The large cooling fan at the rear of this little cube was whisper-quiet throughout all my testing, and the casing barely got more than a little warm. Whatever thermal wizardry Valve pulled off here, it clearly works.

• Performance: 3 / 5

Valve Steam Machine review: SteamOS

• SteamOS 3 is a very solid operating system
• Accessible for newcomers, but still packs advanced features
• Optional Linux desktop mode

A bonus section appears! Yes, I'm going to take a moment here to discuss SteamOS, since it's arguably the linchpin of the Steam Machine's whole 'console rival' mission statement. Does it really make PC gaming more accessible? I'm pleased to say yes, it certainly does.

An Arch Linux-based operating system, SteamOS is now in its third main iteration, and it's improved greatly from its humble beginnings as the full-screen version of the Steam desktop app. It's easy to set up and offers a pleasingly straightforward interface that even a gaming rookie should be able to navigate, while also packing the full suite of settings found in the Windows desktop version of Steam.

One nifty feature is the optional Linux desktop mode. It's quite effective, if basic, letting you install Linux-compatible programs like LibreOffice and the Firefox browser. It's neat, but it's a feature that will likely only be used by a small subset of buyers since it doesn't really offer anything for pure gaming users.

Naturally, you can connect a keyboard and mouse as well as a controller, which is useful for games where typing is necessary, but it turned out to be even more vital. I wasn't actually able to complete the SteamOS setup without first connecting a mouse to select the system language, and when playing some other games after my initial benchmarking process, I found that I couldn't complete the initial setup for Forza Horizon 5 using just the Steam Controller, which was annoying.

As effective as SteamOS is, compatibility issues are an inevitability when dealing with a Linux-based system. While the vast majority of games on Steam are fully compatible, there will be specific outliers, and there are plenty of non-gaming programs that aren't available. And of course, you can't play games from other storefronts like Epic and GOG, unless you decide to go the whole hog and install Windows 11 on it instead - which is an option!

Should I buy the Valve Steam Machine?

Valve Steam Machine: Scorecard

Buy the Valve Steam Machine if…

Don't buy it if…

Valve Steam Machine review: Also consider

How I tested the Valve Steam Machine

• Ran multiple PC game benchmarks
• Connected to my TV to use for 'couch gaming'
• 8+ years of experience reviewing dozens of laptops and PCs

My review process for the Steam Machine was a little different from how I'd usually approach a gaming PC or laptop review, due largely to SteamOS's Big Picture Mode not supporting our non-gaming tests.

Still, I ran the Machine through all the usual gaming tests, then took it downstairs to my living room and set it up on my TV stand to use it for some good old-fashioned couch gaming. As someone who was raised on Nintendo consoles but made the jump to PC gaming in my teens, I was keen to get the full intended experience out of the Steam Machine.

In addition to our usual game tests, I played a bunch of other games over a full weekend spent rigorously testing (read: having lots of fun with) the Steam Machine. These included Marathon, Warframe, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and the frighteningly addictive Slay the Spire 2.

I've been testing and reviewing computer hardware for almost a decade, and I've been a gamer for much longer than that. Before joining the TechRadar team, I worked at the PC-building hobbyist magazine Maximum PC, so you can trust that I'm putting every ounce of knowledge and experience at my disposal into bringing you high-quality, insightful, and non-biased reviews.

• First reviewed: July 2026
• Read more about how we test

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1140) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• STEAK
• LEONE
• PRIMO
• MALL
• MADRE
• MIST
• POKER
• CHOKE
• CLUB
• RAND
• TEAR
• NAIRA
• HIJO
• KWANZA
• WELL
• ABUELA

NYT Connections today (game #1140) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Family members in another language
• GREEN: Sob
• BLUE: Money on the second largest continent
• PURPLE: Begin with a word that rhymes with “dip”

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1140) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: SPANISH RELATIVES
• GREEN: START TO CRY, WITH "UP"
• BLUE: AFRICAN CURRENCIES
• PURPLE: STRIP____

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1140) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1140, are…

• YELLOW: SPANISH RELATIVES: ABUELA, HIJO, MADRE, PRIMO
• GREEN: START TO CRY, WITH "UP": CHOKE, MIST, TEAR, WELL
• BLUE: AFRICAN CURRENCIES: KWANZA, LEONE, NAIRA, RAND
• PURPLE: STRIP____: CLUB, MALL, POKER, STEAK

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

Well this was annoying. As I was submitting AFRICAN CURRENCIES I couldn’t help but think to myself “I bet this bit of knowledge is worth a purple”, but no.

Sadly, knowing that KWANZA is used in Angola, the RAND in South Africa, LEONE in Sierra Leone, and NAIRA in Nigeria was only worth a blue. So where was the purple?

The answer came in the form of, in my view, the far easier thread of STRIP____.

I ended without any mistakes on what felt like a tricky game, so I’m not that annoyed really.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, July 24, 2026, game #1139)

• YELLOW: TALK AT LENGTH: BABBLE, DRONE, RAMBLE, YAK
• GREEN: OUTCOMES FOR A BATTER: HOME RUN, SINGLE, STRIKEOUT, WALK
• BLUE: BRING TO MIND, AS A MEMORY: JOG, PROMPT, REFRESH, SPARK
• PURPLE: HOMOPHONES OF RELIGIOUS ROLES: CANTER, FRYER, LLAMA, NONE

• The Star Wars Zero Company cast has been revealed
• The player character Hawks will be played by Jonathan Freeman (masculine) and Erica Luttrell (feminine)
• The Clone Wars stars Matt Lanter and Dee Bradley Baker will also return to voice Anakin Skywalker and a new Clone Trooper, Trick, respectively

Bit Reactor and Lucasfilm Games have revealed the stacked cast for Star Wars Zero Company, featuring some very familiar, fan-favorite voice actors from The Clone Wars.

Announced ahead of San Diego Comic Con on StarWars.com, it's confirmed that the player character, Hawks, will be played by Goliath actor Jonathan Freeman (masculine) and Erica Luttrell (feminine), who has also starred in another Star Wars game in the past, Squadrons.

"As the leader of Zero Company, an unconventional outfit of professionals for hire from across the galaxy, which includes a Clone Trooper, a Mandalorian, a Jedi Padawan and more, players must hunt down and stop Kundri Fathom (Rekha Sharma), the ruthless leader of the Separatist-aligned cult known as the Infinite Coil," a press release informs us.

In Zero Company, players will meet a collection of characters beyond their team members, and they're all played by some amazing talent.

Some of these characters include Kabb Uppercut, played by Arcane's JB Blanc; Jae Mordant, played by Judy Alice Lee of Marvel Rivals; and Neesh Renark, played by Marvel's Spider-Man 2's Jim Pirri. There's also D.C. Douglas, best known for Mass Effect 2 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, who will play M-3VO ('Meevo').

The game will also feature two veteran Star Wars voice cast performers, Matt Lanter and Dee Bradley Baker. Lanter played Anakin Skywalker in the hit animated series The Clone Wars and will reprise this role in Zero Company.

Baker is best known for voicing the Clone Troopers in the show, including Captain Rex and Commander Cody, as well as others in The Bad Batch, but will star in Zero Company as the Clone Trooper, Trick.

You can read the full cast list below:

• Hawks (Masculine): Jonathan Freeman
• Hawks (Feminine): Erica Luttrell
• Kundri Fathom: Rekha Sharma
• Trick: Dee Bradley Baker
• Anakin Skywalker: Matt Lanter
• Runa Blask: Vic Michaelis
• Kabb Uppercut: JB Blanc
• Jae Mordant: Judy Alice Lee
• Cly Kullervo: Alex McKenna
• Bennic Halloren: Leo Howard
• Visser: Dylan Kenin
• Tel-Rea: Nicole Rainteau
• Neesh Renark: Jim Pirri
• M-3VO / Meevo: D.C. Douglas
• Typhon: Hunter Smith

Star Wars Zero Company launches on August 27 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Series S.

Bit Reactor has confirmed that the turn-based tactics game will take 30-40 hours to beat, "depending on your difficulty level and experience with the strategy genre," and it won't feature a New Game Plus mode.

• Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot says Sony's plan to end physical game disc production won't have a major impact on the industry
• Guillemot says there are pros and cons to the decision
• He says, "I think it will not disturb the industry too much"

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot doesn't think Sony's decision to retire the production of physical game discs will have a considerable impact on the industry.

Guillemot's comment comes from an earnings call following the release of its first-quarter 2026-27 sales (via VGC), during which the CEO was asked if Sony's plan to end disc production starting January 2028 could have a positive or negative effect on the future of the games industry.

While many disagree with Sony's decision, and some analysts predict it will endanger the $7.2 billion second-hand game market, Guillemot doesn't believe it will have a major impact on the industry at large.

Bold statements

"What we saw on the PC is that it helped to grow the market," Guillemot said. "There’s also some pressure for the future on the cost of machines, and being able to be only digital will help to have a more accessible machine, I would think.

"As you said, there are pluses and minuses, but I think it will not disturb the industry too much."

Sony announced its plan earlier this month and saw overwhelming backlash from fans. According to Wedbush Securities managing director of strategic planning Michael Pachter, Sony's plan to phase out discs in two years is now a threat to the used game market.

"Realistically, at least one-third of games have been sold historically as used, and the games that were sold also provided currency to the gamer who traded them in as cash to pay for new games," Pachter said. "Brick and mortar game retail is doomed."

Sega president Shuji Utsumi has also addressed the controversy and said that while the digital shift is "crucial," the company still understands the importance of physical media.

Similarly, former Nippon Ichi Software CEO Sohei Niikawa understands the decision "from a purely business perspective" but says physical editions are still "very important" to fans.

"If they’re going to go as far as eliminating physical packages, they may as well eliminate the hardware too," Niikawa said. "A television would be enough. Why would you need the console? If you’re going to get rid of physical games, you may as well go all the way."

• Sega president Shuji Utsumi has addressed Sony's decision to end the production of game discs
• Utsumi says, "We still value the culture of physical media," but "a digital shift is crucial"
• He adds, "It is important to strengthen our digitalisation" in the current market

Sega president Shuji Utsumi has addressed the controversy surrounding Sony's decision to end the production of game discs in 2028, acknowledging the importance of physical media but that the digital shift is "crucial."

In a recent interview with Japanese publication Famitsu (via Eurogamer), Utsumi explained that the digital market needs to be cultivated and Sega believes in bolstering digitalisation.

"When it comes to titles we call 'full games' for consoles and PCs, we believe that a digital shift is crucial," Utsumi said. "Of course, consoles are important, but the proportion of people who play on PCs is steadily increasing. Even in areas where consoles are not widely available, there are many people who say, 'I can play it on PC.'"

He added, "In order to cultivate that market, we believe it is important to strengthen our digitalisation. We tend to think from a physical perspective, so I think we need to be more digitally conscious and become more global."

Utsumi then touched on Sega's hardware history, saying that while it isn't in the console market anymore and now primarily publishes games, the company hasn't forgotten its roots and the importance of physical media.

"We were originally a platform provider, and of course, we still value the culture of physical media," the president said. "Rather than completely abandoning that, we are currently challenging ourselves to shift so that we can think about and act on the important aspects of digital media in parallel."

Sony announced its plan to retire new physical discs earlier this month, explaining that the transition to all-digital games "will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today."

PlayStation fans continue to push back against the decision, but analysts believe the company won't change its mind.

It's also said that the $7.2 billion second-hand video game market could be in danger as a result of Sony's decision, with Wedbush Securities managing director of strategic planning, Michael Pachter, reporting that "Brick and mortar game retail is doomed."

Elsewhere, Former Nippon Ichi Software CEO has objected to the plan, saying that while he understands it "From a purely business perspective," Sony doesn't "understand the feelings of those fans."

"If they’re going to go as far as eliminating physical packages, they may as well eliminate the hardware too," he said. "A television would be enough. Why would you need the console? If you’re going to get rid of physical games, you may as well go all the way."

• Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has defended the company's recent remakes, like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• He says remakes allow younger gamers to experience older titles that aren't accessible anymore
• Miyamoto says remakes lead to "future developments"

Nintendo executive and representative director Shigeru Miyamoto has defended the company's recent remake releases, suggesting they'll lead to sequels.

After launching Star Fox, a remake of Star Fox 64, on Switch 2 last month, Nintendo is scheduled to launch another remake for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time sometime this year.

While many fans are excited for a modern version of the beloved Zelda game, Nintendo has been criticised for frequently re-releasing old, classic titles for its current hardware; Ocarina of Time was first released on N64 in 1998, then received a Nintendo 3DS remaster in 2011, which makes the upcoming Switch 2 title its third iteration.

Now, speaking in an interview with Famitsu(via Nintendo Everything), the Mario creator has addressed concerns that Nintendo is releasing too many remakes, explaining that the projects allow younger gamers to experience older titles that aren't accessible anymore and that the games will eventually lead to "future developments."

"Some people might say there are a lot of remakes, but after five years, a lot of people have outgrown games and stop playing them," Miyamoto said. "Young people today don’t have the opportunity to play games from 10 years ago, so remaking them to be more playable and releasing them again is a good way to meet the demand."

He added, "Letting people know the original games also leads to future developments, so we’ve been actively pursuing that recently."

It's this last comment that suggests Nintendo is actively working on projects that will follow these remakes, but whether they'll be direct sequels or projects within the same franchise, we'll have to wait and see.

In 2021, Nintendo released remakes of two games in the Famicom Detective Club series, The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind, which were then followed by a brand new Switch sequel, Emio - The Smiling Man.

It also released a remake of Metroid on 3DS, which led to Metroid Dread on Switch, as well as a The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening remake, followed by the spiritual successor in 2024, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

• Someone may have ported Grand Theft Auto 5 to Nintendo Switch
• Performance appears poor and reaches 22FPS at most
• It makes me wonder what Grand Theft Auto 6 could look like running on Switch 2

While we wait for Grand Theft Auto 6, someone has seemingly managed to port Grand Theft Auto 5 to the Nintendo Switch.

The port was apparently created by M0jso and posted to Reddit, where footage apparently shows a native v2699 (2023) version of the 13-year-old game, running on the original Switch, albeit rather poorly.

The performance overlay shows that the frame rate reaches 22FPS at most, and declines to 11FPS in some places, but it does appear to be playable.

A user explained that the footage had been taken down a while ago, but it looks like the project is in progress again. M0jso showcased more videos on X, explaining that rendering can be broken in some places, crashes are frequent, but they have seemingly managed to play GTA 5 on a real Switch console.

However, overall, performance appears poor, and the odds of the game reaching console or PC-level quality seem slim. It made me wonder what GTA 6 could look like running on the Nintendo Switch 2, a more advanced system that boasts 4K and 1440p resolutions and 60FPS.

For now, Rockstar hasn't shared any plans to port the game to Switch 2 - a PC version hasn't been announced either - but we've seen demanding games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy functioning on the console with minor frame rate issues.

That being said, GTA 6 will be a massive game, with a map possibly even bigger than Cyberpunk 2077 and GTA 5's. Not to mention the dense locations and level of detail that PS5 and Xbox Series X will also need to contend with.

While the game's performance features haven't been revealed yet, reports have claimed that it's likely to run at 30FPS on PS5 consoles due to CPU limitations, which could make the likelihood of a Switch 2 port rather slim.

According to Digital Foundry, GTA 6 running at 60FPS on current-gen might be pushing it, but a 40FPS mode could be possible.

There's still just under five months to go before the game launches on November 19, so we could learn more about performance, potential graphics modes, and even get a third trailer soon.

• The official story trailer for Marvel's Wolverine has been released
• The trailer features Jean Grey, Team X, and a multitude of villains
• It looks like The Last of Us actor Troy Baker will also star in the game

Insomniac Games has revealed brand new story details for Marvel's Wolverine alongside an official story trailer, featuring bloody battles, mutants, and a ton of villains.

Revealed at San Diego Comic-Con, the trailer kicks off with Logan, aka Wolverine, confronting Jean Grey in what looks to be the aftermath of a battle. The pair clearly share a lot of history in this story, and Jean can be shown accompanying Logan on missions as they rescue mutants and investigate threats as part of Team X.

"New allies and formidable adversaries emerge in the clash for mutant survival," the new story description reads. "As Wolverine, unite with Jean Grey to protect those most vulnerable. Fight alongside Team X to confront the world’s deadliest villains in the caliber of Bolivar Trask, Omega Red, and Deathstrike, and stand against oppressive forces like The Reavers and The Hand."

We also get a look at more members of Team X - the X-Men don't exist in this story - which includes Sabretooth, Mystique, and Sunfire. At one point, we also see a quick glimpse of another unnamed character, who appears to be played by The Last of Us actor Troy Baker.

There are plenty of shots of Logan in different cities around the world as he takes on enemies like Deathstrike and, notably, The Hand, which you might be familiar with because they're one of the major villainous organizations of the Daredevil TV series and the upcoming movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Insomniac also dropped some brand new artwork for the game as well, showing Logan taking on The Hand, and it looks awesome.

In addition to a new story trailer, the studio also announced a collaboration with Arc System Works to bring Wolverine’s suit from Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls to Marvel’s Wolverine, as well as revealed a digital prequel comic book that takes place before the game.

It was also confirmed that award-winning composer David Fleming crafted the music behind Marvel’s Wolverine, which will be released on August 28, but fans can listen to the first track, "Logan," on available platforms like Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and Amazon.

Marvel's Wolverine launches exclusively on PlayStation 5 on September 15.

• Square Enix just released Final Fantasy 10 and Final Fantasy 10-2 for Nintendo Switch 2
• The bundle now runs at a higher resolution with improved textures and some quality of life additions
• There is no upgrade path for existing owners of the original Switch version, however

Square Enix just released new versions of its iconic role-playing games Final Fantasy 10 and Final Fantasy 10-2 for Nintendo Switch 2, but there's some bad news if you own the existing Switch editions.

The two games come as a combined HD Remaster bundle, which is currently available on the Switch 2 eShop for $49.99 / 44.99 / AU$79.95. There's no upgrade path if you bought the same remasters when they released for the original Nintendo Switch back in 2019. This means if, like me, you have a copies for Nintendo Switch, your only option to get your hands on these new ports is to buy them again at full price.

It's a huge shame, especially considering the fact that the Nintendo Switch 2 ports do look better in my experience.

The publisher provided a copy of the Switch 2 game earlier this morning and, weirdly, it turns out that it does not offer a save transfer feature — so I've only been able to compare very early sections in Final Fantasy 10.

Still, as you can see from the images above (captured in handheld mode), the Switch 2 port has a noticeably higher resolution picture (even with the Switch 2's handheld mode boost option enabled) and much better looking textures — especially if you pay attention to the background terrain while characters are speaking.

Unfortunately, it seems like the game is still locked to 30fps, though that shouldn't come as much of a surprise as every version so far has had the same restriction.

The Switch 2 edition also comes with some quality of life features that were previously added to the PC port of the games but absent on the original Switch. This includes the ability to speed up the game, turn off annoying random encounters, give yourself loads of items, and so on.

It's the kind of extra content that you would want from a $10 upgrade, but certainly does not justify paying full price. If you haven't played Final Fantasy 10 and Final Fantasy 10-2 this new port is likely to be a more tempting option, as these small changes still mean that it is the best version on Nintendo platforms right now.

First released in 2001 for PlayStation 2, Final Fantasy 10 sees protagonist Tidus as he navigates a fictional world inspired by the tropical islands of Southeast Asia in a quest to defeat a powerful evil creature.

Despite its age, it's considered one of the best RPGs with fans praising its distinctive art direction and emotional narrative. Its sequel, Final Fantasy 10-2, dropped in 2003 and continues the story in the same setting.

• Former Nippon Ichi Software CEO Sohei Niikawa has criticized Sony's decision to end the production of game discs
• The Disgaea creator says the company doesn't "understand the feelings" of physical game fans
• He adds, "If they’re going to go as far as eliminating physical packages, they may as well eliminate the hardware too"

Former Nippon Ichi Software CEO and creator of the tactical role-playing video game series Disgaea, Sohei Niikawa, has objected to Sony's plan to end disc production, saying the company might as well eliminate hardware too.

Sony announced its decision earlier this month, calling it a "natural direction" for the company that will come into effect by January 2028. It means that in the future, PlayStation owners won't be able to purchase discs for new games.

Fans have been vocal about their anger at the decision and have called on Sony to change its mind. Even Former PlayStation Worldwide Studios boss Shawn Layden has called the plan to move all-digital "a fairly dramatic decision."

Now, speaking to Noisy Pixel at Anime Expo 2026, Niikawa has also criticized Sony, saying that while he understands the plan "From a purely business perspective," it will hurt PlayStation fans.

"I think physical editions of games are very important," Niikawa said, explaining that fans who buy physical copies can hold a "great deal of value" and memories, and can even be taken to events to be signed by their creators.

"Physical games are important because they can carry that kind of meaning," he said.

"I can understand why the people at Sony would make that decision. However, the executives who decided it have probably never experienced coming to an event like Anime Expo and having someone approach them with a physical game to ask for an autograph.

"I don’t think they understand the feelings of those fans, and they may never have considered what physical editions mean to the people who value them."

He added, "If they’re going to go as far as eliminating physical packages, they may as well eliminate the hardware too. A television would be enough. Why would you need the console? If you’re going to get rid of physical games, you may as well go all the way."

For now, Sony appears firm in its decision, and analysts have determined that it won't change its mind, despite the backlash, arguing that "Digital is just too lucrative," in the current business.

Circana's Mat Piscatella also believes that Sony is taking advantage of the current digital market, and recently reported that only seven PlayStation games have sold more than 100,000 physical units year-to-date in the US.