Back in 2022 I went to a preview event for The Callisto Protocol in London to write an article for the gaming magazine that I worked for at the time. Shortly after shaking hands with director Glen Schofield, he watched in stunned silence as I repeatedly died in the corner of an intense enemy encounter, awkwardly failing to swerve incoming swings with its incredibly unwieldy directional dodging system.

“Have you tried using the gravity gun?” he eventually suggested. “I literally can’t find the button for it,” I replied. I looked over my shoulder and saw his head in his hands. Back then I thought that I was struggling because I had been tossed late into the game with no tutorial. Of course, when the game finally released, I, along with tens of other players around the world, realized that, no, it's actually just hellish to control.

I bring this up because I couldn't help but recount the episode as I walked away from my brief hands-on time with some of Stranger Than Heaven’s combat encounters at Summer Game Fest 2026. To be clear, I don’t think its mechanics are quite that rough—but even when I fully understood its many idiosyncrasies, I wasn’t exactly having fun.

Heavenly? Not quite

Just like The Callisto Protocol, directionality is at the core of brawls in Stranger Than Heaven.

The left-hand side of your controller represents the left-hand side of the player character’s body, while the right-hand side is the right. It sounds simple enough. You tap the right bumper to swing with your right fist. Pull the left trigger, and you get a left kick. You’re meant to alternate between sides as you beat up thugs—rely on one too much and they’ll soon cotton on and block.

Fair enough: switching between mashing buttons on both sides sounds like it might have a good rhythm to it. Unfortunately, Stranger Than Heaven is far from a button masher. Encounters, especially those against large groups, play out at a snail’s pace. Swings are slower than you would expect, and you’re clearly meant to think about each move carefully. If you’re too aggressive, you’ll get knocked down and summarily beaten to a pulp.

Enemies deal a Dark Souls level of damage, and if one of them grabs you, they can easily whittle your health bar down to a slither in just a few hits. When you do find yourself in a baddie’s grip, your first instinct is probably to mash the dodge button to escape, but you actually need to work out which side they’re grabbing you on and send out some attacks from the opposite one in order to knock them off. It goes against basically everything that other action brawlers have ever taught you, and feels clumsy as a result.

Don’t even think about using a health item either. For some reason, the protagonist takes what feels like an hour to scoff a single rice ball in an animation that you can’t seem to interrupt, even in the face of imminent danger. You’ll barely have a chance to swallow before a foe unleashes a special katana attack that cleaves you in half.

You do at least get some melee weapons of your own to even the odds, and I got to try three. My favorite was comfortably the knife, finding it often hilariously unbalanced. Sprinting up to a goon while frantically mashing the attack button seemed to catch them totally off guard, causing them to freeze up and take a few hits before actually starting to fight back.

There was also a moment where I used my swings to push a powerful boss enemy, the supposed climax of my hands-on, into a doorway in the background of the combat arena—which he immediately became stuck on, giving me the opportunity to mince his torso into steak tartare. It felt like some well-deserved payback for the handful of times my own attacks inexplicably failed to connect throughout the encounter.

I was, of course, playing an early build, so a lack of polish is to be expected, but watching your fists simply pass through someone's chest with no visible reaction lent the fight a real sense of sloppiness that was hard to shake. It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to sample any of the activities outside of the fights as well, or even see any of the narrative beyond a few out-of-context voice lines before getting stuck in.

The idea of an epic story that spans five whole eras is certainly intriguing, and I hope it will be able to make up for any combat awkwardness that might remain when Stranger Than Heaven releases for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC on January 15, 2027.

• Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is getting a massive update on May 19
• It overhauls core mechanics like victories and introduces Time-Tested civs that can be played as for an entire game
• Other additions include balance changes and a free new leader

If you weren't a fan of all the ways that Sid Meier's Civilization 7 departed from the long-running strategy franchise, then developer Firaxis Games is cooking up the update for you.

The Test of Time update drops on May 19, 2026, and is a massive overhaul that seems like it's designed to address the complaints that many players had with the game. The most significant addition is the ability to play as a single civilization for an entire game.

Known as Time-Tested civs, these civilizations can use a new Syncretism mechanic to adopt unique units or infrastructure from others, or choose to strengthen their existing traits with Affirmation. Rather than replacing the existing civ-changing mechanics, which let you switch things up between ages, this will seemingly exist as an option alongside them.

Victories are being entirely reworked, too, with a new system that is intended to offer more viable paths to success. Alongside this, the legacy path system, which gave you distinct objectives to pursue in each age, is being replaced with the more dynamic Triumphs.

These challenging tasks are entirely optional and tie into the game's six attributes: Militaristic, Cultural, Scientific, Economic, Diplomatic, and Expansionist.

These big mechanical changes are being joined by a slate of new content, including a new map, updates to map generation, a selection of new narrative events, biome updates, and a wealth of balance changes, plus interface updates. Players will even be getting a new leader for free!

More information about the update is set to be released in the coming weeks, with a developer stream set to take place on May 13.

Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is available now for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.

• Fortnite's Star Wars Day celebrations have officially begun
• Three new game modes made by Epic and Lucasfilm have been added, alongside hundreds more made by creators
• New Star Wars cosmetics and events will be released throughout May

Epic Games has released the roadmap for its month-long Fortnite x Star Wars Day celebrations, which includes a "galaxy of new Star Wars games" and more to keep fans busy.

While Star Wars Das officially begins on May 4, three new game modes made by Epic and Lucasfilm, along with hundreds of islands made by creators using the official Star Wars toolkit, are available in Fortnite as of today.

"After years of creating Star Wars experiences with Disney and Lucasfilm, we gave Star Wars’ heroes, worlds and assets to Fortnite creators so they could build the experiences they’ve always dreamed of playing. It’s now possible to create a limitless variety of games in the Star Wars universe that anyone in Fortnite can play," said Adam Sussman, president of Epic Games.

The three designed by Epic and Lucasfilm are Galactic Siege, a Battlefront-like mode featuring large-scale, PvP class-based battles with 10v10 combat across iconic Star Wars planets.

Then there's Escape Vader, a four-player co-op game where you need to hide, run, and survive against Darth Vader, and lastly Droid Tycoon, where players build and customize droids using authentic Star Wars blueprints, manage their workshop and factory systems, and unlock rare components and special missions.

"Interactive entertainment is rapidly becoming one of the defining forces in how audiences experience stories, and Disney is fully embracing that evolution," added Sean Shoptaw, executive VP of Disney Games and Digital Entertainment. "Games offer a uniquely powerful way to deepen engagement, expand our worlds, and connect with fans in real time. As this space continues to grow, we see extraordinary potential to elevate Disney storytelling in ways that are innovative, social, and built for the way people play today."

With the release of these modes also comes new Star Wars Quests, with more to come every week in May, all offering free rewards upon completion.

New The Clone Wars skins and accessories for Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker have also arrived in the Item Shop today, along with the return of more Star Wars Outfits, and players can unlock a free Carbonite Fishstick Back Bling for linking their account to MyDisney.

On May 14, Lego Fortnite Odyssey will get its own Star Wars update with a new Hover Bricker, hover vehicles, the Mandalorian and Grogu, and Star Wars enemies.

Additionally, on May 19, players can log in and join the The Mandalorian and Grogu Watch Party Island to see a special message from creator Jon Favreau and get a 10-minute sneak peek of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu ahead of the theatrical release on May 22.

However, players must first collect bounties and defend the city against waves of enemies, find Grogu, and spend 20 minutes exploring Nevarro to unlock the exclusive Mandalorian Sanctuary loading screen.

Finally, on May 26, players can visit the island’s amphitheatre to watch a Q&A with Favreau about the film and making of The Mandalorian and Grogu Watch Party Island.

After a little taste of the upcoming Forza Horizon 6 in a recent preview session, I've been desperate for even more of the series' arcade racing action.

I've had my fill of 2021's Forza Horizon 5 dipping in and out of it over the last few years and, having sold my old physical copies of the rest of the series years ago and with none of them still available to purchase on digital storefronts, I hauled myself down to my local second hand game shop where I found an irresistibly cheap copy of Forza Horizon 3.

Originally released in 2016, this game dropped when I was just 14, and I have plenty of fond memories messing around in it — first camping at an in-store demo kiosk, and then a few months later at home, sitting on the carpet in front of the living room TV.

Down under

Being pretty young at the time and quite new to racing games, I obviously didn't progress very far and mostly remember making my way around in its massive open world, awestruck by its sheer scale and the many representations of real-world landmarks littered around.

Going back to the game a decade later, I have to say that this is still my favorite way to experience the game. Of course, the driving mechanics themselves are excellent, being incredibly approachable and delightfully arcade-like yet still offering plenty of complexity and depth for the die-hard racers willing to turn off assists, but the same is true of every Forza Horizon.

It's the settings that really make these games special, with each exploring a different global region. Forza Horizon 4's cozy rendition of Britain is still close to my heart as a UK native, and there's nothing else quite like the uniquely grimy tone of Colorado in Forza Horizon 1, but Forza Horizon 3's Australia is simply in another league compared to the rest.

The map encompasses most of southwestern Australia, with a few areas moved around to condense it down and make the layout a bit more exciting than real life. The game begins down at Byron Bay, a picturesque coastal town with rows of little bungalows and massive, stretching beaches that practically beg you to slow down and watch the sun set every time the opportunity presents itself.

The first few races take you north, up through the rugged terrain of a lush rainforest that's filled with muddy tracks, exciting natural ramps, and little pools of water that are oh-so-satisfying to splash through in a beefy off-road buggy.

As more events unlock, you find yourself venturing into the scorching hot outback with its bright red sand and scattered bushes providing a lovely backdrop for even more exciting off-road races. It's broken up by the odd industrial site, including the massive Redstone Airport with its colossal runway ideal for impromptu drag races against friends online. And yes, although the game has been delisted, the servers are still up right now, which was a very pleasant surprise.

There's an incredible environmental variety here that's sorely missing in the later games, but all of it pales in comparison to what I consider the real pinnacle of Forza Horizon 3's map: Surfer's Paradise. A trendy suburb in Gold Coast, Queensland, that's dominated by massive skyscrapers and lively streets.

The scale still feels impressive today, and with other games almost exclusively focusing on historical towns and villages, there really wasn't anything like it in the Forza Horizon series up until the reveal of Forza Horizon 6 and its rendition of Tokyo.

Bathed in bright sunlight, everything just feels so modern and clean — like the rose-tinted memory of a childhood summer holiday. You can see its biggest buildings from across the rest of the map too, always inviting you back for more.

With its seemingly limitless supply of races and unlocks, I genuinely don't think I'll ever finish Forza Horizon 3. Honestly, though, I think that's the way I prefer it. I never want to leave this beautiful world behind.

• Former Obsidian creative officer Chris Avellone says Bethesda doesn't have the "engineering know-how" to create a Fallout: New Vegas remake
• Avellone says the studio doesn't have the source code
• He adds that they may have "aspects of the code" but "they had no idea how to reassemble it"

Obsidian Entertainment co-founder and former creative officer Chris Avellone has said a Fallout: New Vegas remake may not be possible because Bethesda lacks the "engineering know-how."

In a recent interview with YouTube channel TKs-Mantis, Avellone, who also wrote for New Vegas, said he doesn't think the company would be able to create a modern version of the 2010 role-playing game (RPG), like last year's The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, which was co-developed by Bethesda and Virtuos (via GamesRadar).

"Just really simply, I don’t think Bethesda has the engineering know-how to make a remaster of New Vegas at all," Avellone said, adding that he knows people "enjoyed some of the visuals" of Oblivion Remastered, but overall it seemed the reception was kind of negative."

TKs-Mantis brings up the rumors about a Fallout 3 remake, suggesting Bethesda once again use the game's Gamebryo engine and Unreal Engine 5 for visual enhancements, like Oblivion Remastered, and that fans want the same for New Vegas.

Avellone explained that "just pragmatically, it would make more sense to try out that process with Fallout 3 before going to New Vegas, just to see what all the problems and issues are as a result," but there is "one reason" it would be impossible.

That reason being, he claimed, was that the studio head, Feargus Urquhart, didn't give Bethesda the game’s source code after development ended.

"The very last milestone for New Vegas was ‘please deliver all the source code and the ability to make the build, and we’ll pay you, like, $10,000 for that milestone,’" Avellone said. "Now, what that milestone really meant was if all those assets are given to Bethesda, that means they can recreate the game at any time. So, for reasons unknown to me, but I have suspicions, Feargus decided not to cash out that milestone and did not deliver it."

He continued, saying, "It’s not a strange decision if you feel, which would not be out of the realms of possibility, that he felt that the New Vegas experience cheated him out of X amount of money, in which case cutting off the revenue stream from that product for a time would be a possibility. I could certainly see that, and I’m not saying that’s the case."

When asked to clarify if Bethesda has the source code, Avellone said, "They may have aspects of the code, but everyone that I talked to after that period of time said they had no idea how to reassemble it."

In September 2023, it was reported that Microsoft court documents showed plans to remaster Oblivion and Fallout 3. While Oblivion Remastered did in fact turn out to be true, Bethesda has yet to announce any new remake projects.

Oblivion Remastered, although leaked ahead of time, was shadowdropped, so if a Fallout 3 remaster is in the works, there's always the possibility of that happening again.

For now, the studio is developing The Elder Scrolls 6, which was announced back in 2018. Fallout 5 is also expected to launch after The Elder Scrolls 6.

• The Xbox Game Pass titles for April have been announced
• The collection includes 18 titles that begin rolling out today
• The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered and Hades 2 are among the big hitters for the month

Xbox has unveiled the latest batch of Xbox Game Pass titles for the month of April, and it includes some absolute bangers.

This month's selection has 18 games across the Game Pass tiers and kicks off with the addition of the classic role-playing game Final Fantasy 4 for cloud gaming, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC today.

Throughout the month, the remaining 17 games will roll out. This includes the popular survival game DayZ on April 8, Football Manager 26 for both PC and console, Planet Coaster 2, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The adorably cozy indie game, Tiny Bookshop, will also be available, alongside the Vampire Survivors roguelike deckbuilder spin-off Vampire Crawlers. This is on top of the day one release of Kiln, "a pottery power‑fantasy celebrating both creativity and destruction."

The biggest hitters for this month, however, have to be two of the best games of 2025,:The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered and Hades 2, the latter of which I absolutely adored.

Supergiant Games announced that its award-winning Hades sequel would finally launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X and Series S on April 14 alongside its Xbox Game Pass debut.

The developer confirmed that the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions will run at "an ultrafast 120 frames per second" and arrive alongside brand new "bonus content and quality of life improvements."

"Roguelikes are usually a hit or miss for me, but like the first game, Hades 2 has managed to hold my attention and keep me coming back even after hours of battling through the underworld," I wrote in TechRadar Gaming's Game of the Year 2025 list.

"Its unique characters and compelling narrative, inspired by the great Greek myths, and dynamic gameplay accompanied by a diverse replayability structure and challenging boss fights, will keep you on your toes and reward you for your efforts."

Xbox Game Pass titles for April 2026

• Final Fantasy 4 (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) - Available now
• DayZ (PC) – April 8
• Endless Legend 2 (Game Preview) (PC) – April 8
• FBC: Firebreak (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) – April 8
• Planet Coaster 2 (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) – April 9
• Tiny Bookshop (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – April 10
• Football Manager 26 (PC) – April 13
• Football Manager 26 Console (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 13
• Hades 2 (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – April 14
• Replaced (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) – April 14
• The Thaumaturge (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) – April 14
• The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, and PC) – April 16
• EA Sports NHL 26 (Cloud and Xbox Series X|S) – April 16
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 17
• Little Rocket Lab (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 21
• Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – April 21
• Vampire Crawlers (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – April 21
• Kiln (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S, Handheld, and PC) – April 23

The addition of these 18 games also means Game Pass will lose some titles. Grand Theft Auto 5, Ashen, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery, and Terra Invicta will leave the service on April 15, so check them out while you can if you're eager to play.

• A character model for Rockstar Games' canceled game, Agent, has been found
• A dataminer discovered the mode within GTA 5's leaked source code
• The character model appears to be a remix of GTA 4's Niko Bellic

A fan has discovered what appears to be the early model for the main character for Rockstar Games' canceled project, Agent.

In 2023, the source code for GTA 5 was leaked, leading to all sorts of discoveries over the years, but this week, a fan shared a new discovery that shines some light on Rockstar's PS3 spy game Agent, which never saw the light of day.

User XanaBax shared their findings on the GTA Forum (thanks, Kotaku), which included assets and character models for an unknown character, suggesting that one in particular was the main character of Agent.

XanaBax explained that three of the four models were from GTA V and weren’t related to Agent, but suspects the fourth, which shows a man wearing army fatigues, wasn't a GTA 5 asset.

The dataminer claims the model was buried within a folder titled 'Jimmy', which was reportedly the codename for Agent and was also under the hierarchy list labeled 'Player', suggesting that this character was the playable protagonist.

The filename also included the mention of "NorthRig", which could be Rockstar North, the studio that was originally developing the game.

What's more, it appears that the character is a kind of remix of Grand Theft Auto 4's Niko Bellic. XanaBax explained that "some parts of the model are taken from/edited versions of Niko Bellic" and the head model "has more or less the same UV map (excluding the hairline)."

The boots pictured are Niko's boots, and the camo pants are an edited version of Niko's.

The model has never been used in GTA 5 or GTA Online, and XanaBax claims it has a 2009 date attached, which would be two years after Agent was first mentioned by Rockstar.

"Agent takes players on a paranoid journey into the world of counter-intelligence, espionage and political assassinations during the height of the Cold War at the end of the 1970s," Rockstar teased at the time.

The project was first teased at E3 2007 in partnership with Sony, but was officially announced at E3 2009. The game was slated to release in 2010, but after a long period of radio silence, the trademark finally expired, and in 2021, Agent‘s official website was taken down.

A former Rockstar developer shared that both Agent and GTA 5 were being developed simultaneously, but more resources and people were eventually moved onto GTA 5, leading to Agent's apparent cancellation.

In other related news, fans have uncovered a collection of hidden Grand Theft Auto 4 assets on a second-hand Xbox 360 that turned out to be a Rockstar Games development kit.

• The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road is now available for free on PS Plus
• The game is also coming to PC Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere in June
• New content will be released in early 2027, taking players back to the Skyrim setting

Zenimax Online Studios has announced huge plans for The Elder Scrolls Online, including a PC Game Pass release.

During the 2026 Seasons Direct today, alongside new playable content coming to the game next month with Season Zero: Dawn and Dusk, the developer revealed that players will return to Tamriel's frozen north of Skyrim to explore an "iconic region" not previously seen in The Elder Scrolls Online.

This update will also introduce the game's first-ever Excursion Zone, as well as dynamic blizzards that "affect the gameplay of the zone itself."

What's more, The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road, which includes the base game and all major Chapter zones (including Morrowind, Summerset, Elsweyr, Greymoor, Blackwood, High Isle, Necrom, and Gold Road) is available for free right now if you're subscribed to PlayStation Plus.

The offer is included in the PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for March and ends on April 6. It is playable on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, so be sure to grab it while you still can.

On top of this, The Elder Scrolls Online is coming to PC Game Pass on June 2. It will also be added to Xbox Play Anywhere, so owners will be able to dive in on a range of Xbox platforms at no additional cost.

Earlier this year, Zenimax announced the game's very first event zone, the Night Market, which arrives on April 29. A limited-time player-versus-environment (PvE) zone described as "new, experimental content".

Two new story content updates are also on the way, and are each focused on the Thieves Guild and Sheogarath.

Chill, walking simulator-cross-traveling painter game Eastshade has been in my backlog for a while now. If memory serves, it’s because I found mention of it having wonderful virtual landscapes during a time when I was writing about that aspect of games.

Now, years on, I’ve finally made it into the world of EastShade and have fully embraced my role as a visiting painter for hire, intent on fulfilling some last requests by their late mother.

It’s a simple game in a small world, but its gentle chillness has been perfect to discover, seven years after its initial release. After a frantic and action-filled playthrough of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Eastshade has been a welcome change of pace to relax and soak up a wonderful world while painting its beauty.

An artist in residence

Playing as an artist who travels to the island country of Eastshade, you set out with an inauspicious beginning, shipwrecked in a cave with only your easel to show for yourself.

However, you have made it to where you wanted to be and soon find yourself in the small settlement of Lyndow having gentle chats with strangers, teaching children to paint, staying in the inn, as well as building up a purse of money through selling feathers, collecting quests, and, importantly, getting your artist's eye in by painting some vistas.

You’ll travel to a few different areas of the map, each with some small locations to fast travel between, inhabited by the anthropomorphic Eastshadian animal folk, and the gentleness carries on throughout your journey, although you can spice it up with some passive-aggressive or sarcastic answers in conversation if you wish.

Oh, to be a travelling painter

A small map on the whole, but that soon opens up to something that’s a little larger, but that can still be traversed on foot. And doing so is more than worth it, too, as the land is filled with some of the most pleasing landscapes and use of natural planting and landscape elements that I’ve enjoyed in a long time. So much so that I couldn’t help but take some of my own screenshots of the game.

And that’s at the core of what Eastshade does well: it makes taking screenshots the main mechanic of the game to progress, but also to capture moments, places, views, people, chickens, hot air balloons, and complete tasks.

What came out of this simple act, though, was a deep level of care in getting the right, or best, and most fabulous painting composition right for my mysterious commissioners. I would spend ages adjusting the on-screen view to make sure a tree was on the third, or that I’d capture some color from some plants, or get the best view of the daily eclipse to ensure the composition was top-notch.

It’s a charming little game, and I’m very pleased indeed to have found the time to get it out of my backlog and now, with a platinum trophy achieved to boot, in my completed library. It’s not perfect by any means, and is a little buggy here and there with environments that won’t load, or soft-locking save screen, but its undeniable chill factor, and slow pace was just what I needed at a time when life can feel loud, busy, and complicated.

• A new Fortnite Unreal Editor update has been released
• The update adds all-new Star Wars-inspired assets and tools
• Creators can design their own Star Wars islands and publish them from May 1

Epic Games has released a huge Fortnite Unreal Editor update that lets players create their own Star Wars islands.

As of today, Fortnite developers can access a curated collection of assets and tools from Epic Games' "largest IP toolset to date" and build Star Wars-inspired maps in Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) and Fortnite Creative.

The toolset includes all-new Star Wars templates and gameplay features, which also means players get access to all available Star Wars characters, like Luke Skywalker, Rey, Princess Leia, and The Mandalorian's Din Djarin, several locations, licensed music, vehicles, and 25 weapons from past Fortnite Battle Royale seasons.

The trailer demonstrates just how creative fans can get, and it looks like you can even go as far as creating a worthy Star Wars Battlefront 2 successor if you know what you're doing.

Four UEFN starter islands are currently available to start with, including the planets Hoth, Tatooine, and Nevarro. Two new Star Wars flat grid islands are also available for Fortnite Creative.

"Bring your island to the next level with Niagara-powered visual effects, making it easier to create large-scale moments from dogfights in asteroid fields to dramatic hyperspace entrance and exit sequences," Epic said.

Developers can also expand environments by adding iconic Star Wars locations, like the Death Star, Tatooine Cantina, and Resistance Base, and use background assets like a Star Destroyer to add scale to their scenes.

You can also customize lightsabers with Scene Graph and access Force powers for gameplay abilities like Push, Heal, and Mind Trick by using a special crafting workbench where players can modify their characters’ Force powers, as well as the appearance of their lightsabers.

There are also Team Conquest and narrative roleplaying templates to try out before building your own island.

Although the tools are available now, creators won't be able to publish their designs until May 1. Until then, Epic Games will continue to introduce more functionality to the toolkit, including first-person support for weapons and custom items and inventories in Beta.

• Epic Games is increasing the price of all Fortnite V-Bucks Packs
• From March 19, a standard $8.99 Pack will now give 800 instead of 1000 V-Bucks
• The V-Bucks featured in the Battle Bundle and Fortnite Crew will also be lowered

Epic Games has announced that it will be raising the prices of Fortnite's V-Bucks this month.

Starting from March 19, the company said it will be offering fewer V-Bucks per Pack, meaning in a standard $8.99 Pack, you'll now receive 800 V-Bucks instead of 1000 V-Bucks. The full V-Buck Pack changes can be viewed below.

"The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot, and we're raising prices to help pay the bills," Epic Games said in a blog post.

Fortnite's Battle Pass will also now cost 800 V-Bucks instead of 1000 V-Bucks, and will now award 800 instead of 1000. The additional 500 V-Bucks in Bonus Rewards are also being dropped from the new system.

"You can earn 800 V-Bucks when completing the Battle Pass, which is enough to get the next one. There are no longer V-Bucks in the Bonus Rewards of the Pass," Epic explained.

Additionally, Fortnite's Battle Bundle, which includes the Battle Pass and the first 25 levels of the pass already unlocked, is going down from 2,800 to 2,600 V-Bucks.

Fortnite Crew, the monthly subscription service which is now included with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, is also lowering its V-Bucks rewards from 1,000 to 800 V-Bucks.

Like the main Battle Pass, the OG Pass, the Music Pass, and the Lego Pass are also seeing changes:

• The OG Pass will cost 800 V-Bucks (previously 1,000). 
• The Music Pass will cost 1,200 V-Bucks (previously 1,400).
• The LEGO Pass will cost 1,200 V-Bucks (previously 1,400).

Fortnite players aren't too excited about this change, because although the general price of the Packs isn't increasing with real-world money, their value is.

"Bro changing the battle pass vbucks amount from 1500 to 800 is literally game breaking. This season was already kinda bad but now I’m just uninstalling," one player said on Reddit, while another announced they were "Cancelling my crew tonight. Good job Epic!,"

Another criticised the way Epic announced the news, saying, "'The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot, and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills'. Such a crazy way to deliver that news. I mean at least attempt to sugarcoat it."

Last month, Epic Games announced that PC players spent $1.16 billion on the Epic Games Store, up 6% year over year, while Statista reports that the company generated an estimated $6.21 billion in gross revenue in 2025 compared to $5.81 billion the previous year.

There’s an awful lot of schadenfreude in the video game industry at the moment. Players have long been skeptical of live-service titles, and one only needs to take a peek at Highguard to see just how bizarre the culture has become, as some beg for a title to fail.

Whether it wanted to or not, developer Bungie certainly got that ball rolling with the original Destiny and its lofty (if somewhat misguided) plan for a decade of support. Destiny 2 followed not long after, but Marathon marks the studio’s first non-Destiny game since Halo: Reach in 2010. It’s also a return to a franchise not seen since 1996, yet another live-service title, a punishing extraction shooter, and the first game to come out since the studio’s acquisition by Sony.

That’s a lot of Swords of Damocles loitering in the air, but not unlike one of the game’s Runners, Bungie might just have squeaked out of the other side with a compelling new title to match its rivals in the space.

Not a Sprint

In many ways, Arc Raiders was the breakthrough extraction shooter for lots of players because, at its core, it’s a storytelling engine in the same way that Helldivers 2 worked for PvE players. It’s a powder keg ready to blow at any minute, even if you or another player declines to light that fuse yourselves, and many of the same positives can be levelled at Marathon.

It’s a combination of desperation and a desire to survive, with relatively aggressive AI enemies in the creepy UESC bots that hover about the place and a limited amount of supplies. Where it differs from its genre ‘rival’ (we’ll come to why it’s not quite that cut-and-dry shortly) is that Marathon has that almost indescribable gameplay feel that Bungie does oh-so-well.

If you’ve played Destiny or its sequel for any amount of time, or even the classic Halo titles, you’ll know that the studio just never misses (pun intended) when it comes to making weapons feel lethal. Whether it’s the Retaliator LMG that cuts robots and runners to ribbons, a Combat Shotgun that feels equal parts Arnie and Doom to wield, or the Halo battle rifle-esque B33 Volley Rifle, every weapon feels unique, powerful, and like you never want to let it go.

Therein lies the rub, however: as an extraction shooter, weapons need to feel powerful but impermanent, because it’s not long before you’re gunned down in Marathon’s Tau Ceti locales.

Make no mistake, the time to kill (TTK) is fast (possibly too fast), and playing a Bungie game with a Kondo-esque mindset of letting your guns and gear go (albeit without your consent) after years of players hoarding Destiny 2 items is enough to give you whiplash.

Quests, at least in the server slam beta, were relatively straightforward, bordering on the mundane, with objectives like breaking windows around the maps like some kind of holodeck hooligan.

Permanent upgrades are plentiful, though, and doled out relatively swiftly between matches. As great as it is to earn a new weapon, grenade type, or just about anything else, I found myself more drawn to the lore tidbits: What happened on Tau Ceti? What’s the UESC hiding? Why are all the factions so weird?

While I could’ve done without a checklist of menus to open (more on the UI in a moment) after each run (Destiny 2 players, imagine having to tick off your Triumphs after every mission), I did appreciate that Bungie is weaving a web which, at the time of writing, just a few days ahead of launch, has no centre.

As fun as Marathon is to play, I’m desperate to learn more about its world and major players.

Shell shock

While each of the game’s character classes (or Shells) feel archetypical in the genre, there’s no denying that they’re an awful lot of fun to play.

I got plenty of mileage out of the Assassin, slipping in and out of invisibility while flanking and using smoke grenades to exfil safely, but it was tough to leave the Destroyer and its rocket launcher behind.

As I played, I noticed that almost all of the friends I played with began to drop into my squad with a different Shell. One buddy delivered clutch healing in one instance with the Triage Shell’s handy healing drone, while another used Recon’s Echo Pulse to spot enemies behind walls.

Finally, no extraction shooter should be without a more casual mode. Playing as Rook is just what the Triage Shell ordered, letting you slip into a no-name, factionless character whose only job is to ruin someone else’s day.

Forgive me, when talking about Marathon, for bringing up Concord. PlayStation’s ill-fated live-service shooter was shuttered just weeks after launch, and arguably had a problem with personality - or lack thereof.

In Marathon, however, Bungie might have the opposite problem. Elements of the game’s art style were subject to their own controversies, but it’s striking in every which way. On the one hand, you can identify Marathon from nearly any screenshot taken from any of the game’s locations. On the other hand, the commitment leads to some undeniable UI shortcomings, like menus feeling unintuitive.

Thankfully, those gripes are minimized the more time you spend with Marathon, as you find yourself navigating between contracts, factions, and swapping out your loadout, but if the opinionated art style doesn’t gel with your sensibilities, it might be a hurdle you can’t quite get over.

Marathon is angular, but never brutalist. It’s colorful, but never playful. It makes the maps of Escape From Tarkov and even Arc Raiders feel flat in comparison, at least from a visual standpoint. Every time I loaded in, I was able to orient myself by a landmark that was instantly recognizable, even in earlier runs - such is Bungie’s commitment to its art style.

Extraction fatigue?

I enjoy Arc Raiders more than any other extraction shooter because, in many ways, it’s shorn of the cruft of managing complex inventories and dealing with vague questlines, which have plagued the genre since Escape From Tarkov burst onto the scene.

It’s a game I can play for 20 minutes and feel as though I’ve accomplished something, and I think the same will be true of Marathon once players get over the initial feeling of being very fragile in its beautiful, dangerous world.

Like Coke and Pepsi, I truly believe there’s a world where Marathon and Arc Raiders coexist, offering sci-fi and post-apocalyptic takes on the genre with their own quirks and idiosyncrasies, positives, and negatives.

Much of that depends on how compelling a package Marathon shapes up to be at launch, but with so much riding on it, perhaps the highest praise I can give it is that I’m sad the server slam is over and I want to be back on Tau Ceti again.

• Modder Fandera has released a new Witcher 3 mod that adds a new questline for Ciri
• The 'Dawn on Kovir' mod acts as a prelude to The Witcher 4 and took Fandera approximately 800 hours to create
• The ambitious questline takes between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours to beat and takes place in Kovir and Poviss

A new mod for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been released, adding a brand new questline for Ciri that takes place before the events of The Witcher 4.

Created by Alexander Fandera-Maslov, aka Fandera on Nexus Mods, the 'Dawn over Kovir' mod follows Ciri and takes place after the main Witcher 3 campaign and acts as a prelude to The Witcher 4.

Speaking to PC GamesN, Fandera-Maslov said the project took roughly "800 hours, from initial concept to final testing" to create, and even introduces the new regions of Kovir and Poviss for players to explore, which is where CD Projekt Red's next game will take place.

"While hunting monsters, Ciri increasingly finds them not in the forests, but in people," the mod description reads. "Disillusioned with humanity, she balances between compassion and rage. Will the witcheress be able to master her anger and avoid becoming a monster herself?"

If you're waiting for The Witcher 4, Dawn over Kovir may be up your alley.

All you'll need to play the questline is the latest version of The Witcher 3 installed, that's the next-gen version, as well as two additional mods to run it: Community Patch - Shared Imports and Custom Player Characters.

Fandera said the questline should take between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours to complete, and since it was created before the release of The Witcher 4, "the questlines may overlap or be enhanced by the new Ciri game."

The questline is also balanced for the 'Pain and Suffering difficulty,' and the modder also hopes to implement full voice acting in the future, along with improved animation and gameplay.

"My preferred direction is working with real people, potentially professional actors or experienced members of the Witcher fan community," Fandera said.

The full 1.0 update is planned to be released "before the end of 2026", Fendera told PC GamesN.

I installed the mod myself, but unfortunately couldn't get it to run due to a scripting error. It seems to be an issue for a few other players, but not all, and is something Fandera is looking into.

Hopefully, an updated version will be released soon so I can finally dive in and scratch that Witcher itch.

• Overwatch 2 will be rebranded to just Overwatch
• A year long narrative titled "The Reign of Talon" will start next month and will be told throughout the year across six seasons
• 10 new heroes will be added during this time, alongside brand new skins, events, and game features

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that it's dropping the "2" in Overwatch 2, alongside major year-long plans for the hero shooter.

During the latest Overwatch Spotlight livestream, the studio revealed that less than four years after launching Overwatch 2, the title will be reverting back to simply "Overwatch" when its very first year-long narrative kicks off next month.

"Overwatch is more than just a digit: it's a living universe that keeps growing, keeps surprising, and keeps bringing players together from around the world," Blizzard explained in a press release. "This year marks a huge turning point in how the development team envisions the future of Overwatch, so we are officially dropping '2' and moving forward as 'Overwatch'."

The storyline, titled "The Reign of Talon", will begin on February 10 with Season 1 and will be told across "a multi-faceted, fully-connected story across the entire year" through to Season 6. The arc starts with a new cinematic and will unfold through motion comics, in-game events, new voice lines, animated hero trailers, and short stories.

After The Reign of Talon concludes, a new story and Season 1 will then launch in 2027.

To tell the upcoming story, Overwatch will receive 10 new heroes throughout the year, with the first five dropping when Season 1 begins next month.

They include three characters from the antagonist Talon faction, Domina (Tank), Emre (Damage), and Mizuki (Support), while the Overwatch team will get Anran (Damage) and Jetpack Cat (Support). New heroes are expected to be added between Season 2 and Season 6.

Alongside a UI/UX overhaul, a Competitive Rank Reset, Stadium Hero, Vendetta, and other system and match improvements, Blizzard will add new sub-roles divided between the three existing roles, each with their own specific skills.

Tanks will get Bruiser, Initiator, and Stalwart. Damage is divided into Sharpshooter, Flanker, Specialist, and Recon, and Support will be consist of Tactian, Medic, and Survivor.

A Conquest Meta event, which will offer new missions tied to lore and a plethora of rewards across five weeks, will also be added next season, as well as a new Japan Night map in Season 3, and new collaborations and hero skins to look forward to.

From February 10 to February 23, Overwatch will team up with Hello Kitty & Friends for a crossover that will introduce six themed hero skins for Juno, Kiriko, Mercy, D.Va, Widowmaker, and Lucio.

Reign of Talon will have faction-themed skins, alongside new bundles, regular shop updates, and a new Mythic Hero skin every season, starting with Mercy’s Celestial Guardian and Juno’s Star Shooter in Season 1. Mei will also receive her first Mythic mid-season.

Last but not least, Overwatch will also be coming to Nintendo Switch 2, with the existing Overwatch 2, which is already playable on both Switch platforms, getting a Switch 2 upgrade edition in Spring.

• Tom Clancy's The Division: Definitive Edition is now available for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC
• The bundle was leaked last month after advertisements were spotted in the wild
• This latest version has replaced the Gold Edition on all console storefronts

Ubisoft has officially released Tom Clancy's The Division: Definitive Edition for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

While it may look like the company didn't formally announce the latest edition of the 2016 game, it in fact did via a Twitch stream last week, but it clearly flew under the radar.

The announcement comes after advertisements for the package were spotted in Japan in early January, along with brand-new merchandise.

The Definitive Edition has been released to mark the game's 10th anniversary, and while many fans speculated that it would be a remaster or remake, unfortunately, that's not the case.

The Division: Definitive Edition is now available for $49.99 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, and doesn't appear to feature any new content or graphical updates for current-gen platforms. However, Ubisoft does mention that 60FPS is available on PS5 in the Twitch VOD.

The edition includes the base game, Season Pass and its exclusive outfits, the Underground, Survival, and Last Stand expansions, along with a bunch of extra weapons and outfit packs that have already been available for some time.

"Get the complete The Division experience in this Definitive Edition! The base game, all three Season Pass expansions, and multiple cosmetic packs await you," its description reads on the Xbox store.

"The Definitive Edition also includes gear sets, weapon skins, and customization options, everything you need to stand out as an elite agent."

Aside from the aformentioned 60FPS for PlayStation, the description makes no mention of any upscaling, frame rate improvements, or visual upgrades for current-gen.

"So the Definitive Edition is just a new bundle? Here I was thinking that 'definitive' might mean 'improved' or 'remastered' (in some sense) and not just 'stuff you can buy regularly for $10 plus cosmetics that now costs $50'," one fan wrote on the game's subreddit.

Some fans are also pointing out that this latest version is a replacement for the already existing Gold Edition, only with extra cosmetics that have been available separately.

After some investigating, it looks like the Gold Edition has already been removed from storefronts, including the Ubisoft store.

Last month, Ubisoft announced layoffs at Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft Stockholm, which affected 55 jobs, as part of a restructuring effort.

The company has confirmed that The Division franchise will remain a priority, as work on the next iteration in the series, The Division 3, continues, along with updates on The Division 2 and the game's Survivors extraction mode.

• UK retailer Game is closing the last of its stores and will now operate as concessions in 200+ Sports Direct and House of Fraser stores
• This comes after the Frasers Group-owned business entered administration last month
• Managing director Nick Arran is also stepping down from the company after nine years

UK retailer Game is officially closing the rest of its standalone stores, after entering administration in late January, as managing director Nick Arran steps down after nine years.

Last week, it was reported (via The Business Desk) that the Frasers Group-owned business had filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators (NOI) through law firm RPC, which gave it a 10-day protection from creditor action while it considers next steps for its UK operations.

The filing came after the company reduced its physical footprint following a series of store closures last year, which saw six outlets shut down in August 2025, following its major downsizing plan first announced in 2020 to reduce the network by 30 stores.

Now, according to a report from The Game Business (via VGC), the long-running video game retail chain has decided to close its three remaining stores, putting an end to its standalone business.

Game's online store will continue to trade products, such as hardware, accessories, and software, but the store will only operate as concessions within 200+ Sports Direct and House of Fraser stores across the UK.

After taking charge of the chain in 2020, it was also confirmed that Nick Arran will be exiting the company after nine years.

The former managing director spoke to GamesIndustry.biz in 2023, stating at the time that the retailer was moving away from the games business to focus on selling other products, like toys.

"Gaming is our core business and we will be last man standing selling physical video games," Arran said.

"We see our place in the market as proving that there is a place for physical, whether that be the collector's editions, which we see as the vinyl of video games, or the gifter who doesn't want to wrap up a download code for Christmas. But we need to be realistic. We have a business to run and the expectation is this will decline. So we need to fill that gap."

The retailer has been slowly moving away from its standalone stores for a few years now, but not before it entered administration for the first time in 20212, which saw the closure of 300 stores before it was bought by Frasers Group in 2019.

In April 2024, staff were laid off and moved to zero-hour contracts after it halted all trade-ins in its stores to phase out its pre-owned stock.

The following month, Game announced it was discontinuing its Xbox All Access offer and permanently shuttered its reward scheme and Elite membership tier.

• Epic Games has tweeted a teaser for an upcoming collaboration with The Office
• Official details are currently scarce, but rumors point to the update arriving soon
• Chapter 7 continues on, with South Park being the latest major collaboration

Epic Games has teased a Fortnite collaboration with The Office, sharing an image with the words "Builds. Beets. Battle Royale." – a reference to a quote from the show.

The latest teaser was posted on X (see below), showing a picture of some beets. This is a nod to Dwight Schrute from The Office, who is a beet farmer in the show. While we're yet to hear more on a potential The Office crossover from Epic Games officially, there have been some rumors circulating amongst popular Fortnite leakers.

Fortnite leaker @ShiinaBR recently shared a leak suggesting that The Office, Space Jam, and other tie-ins were planned for release in Chapter 7. So far, Epic Games has seemingly confirmed The Office via the aforementioned teaser. We're yet to hear anything about the other leaks, which also include Ed, Edd, and Eddy.

Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 1: Pacific Break is currently underway. For all the latest updates, including the release date for the next season, be sure to check out our Fortnite Chapter 7 guide.

The anticipated Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag remake is perhaps the worst-kept secret in gaming right now. News of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced (rumored to be the official title) has been surfacing regularly over the last year or so, and with developer Ubisoft having now re-uploaded the game’s entire soundtrack for no apparent reason, it’s essentially a foregone conclusion that a remake announcement is imminent.

And while I’m certainly happy at the prospect of jumping back into one of the best Assassin's Creed games ever made, I’m not entirely convinced that Black Flag is in need of a remake, certainly not over older games like Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed 2.

Ubisoft has yet to announce anything official about the Black Flag remake, though rumors point to some significant changes being made to the original version of the game. Here’s what I’d like to see changed in a potential redo, and some things that I absolutely, under no circumstances, want Ubisoft to include.

The tempest

I’ve not quite been sold on the last few Assassin’s Creed games, finding both Valhalla and Shadows to be lacking in the parkour, story, and world design departments. That doesn’t mean that a potential Black Flag remake shouldn’t ignore the modern games entirely, however.

Shadows, in particular, is an absolute industry leader in weather and environmental effects. The seasonal changes, the heavy rain, snow, and sleet – the dynamic weather in Shadows is brilliant in how it ties into gameplay, and it would be absolutely stunning when applied to Black Flag’s West Indies.

Black Flag’s setting was really ahead of its time, especially with regard to its large oceans and water effects. Now imagine how a proper dynamic weather system could tie into sailing, exploration, and more.

Tempestuous storms and rolling fog would seriously up the ante for ship combat, as would more modern particle effects for cannon-fire and sea spray. If I could choose one thing for a Black Flag remake to plunder from Shadows, it would absolutely be the dynamic weather.

Hardcore parkour

Modern Assassin’s Creed titles approach parkour in a completely different way than the first six games in the franchise.

I loaded up Black Flag recently, and spent half an hour or so running just around the rooftops of Havana. Parkour still feels surprisingly good. It’s lightning fast, dynamic, and most importantly, it leaves plenty of control in the hands of the player.

You see, parkour is too heavily automated in recent games. The animations are better than they’ve ever been, but the actual moment-to-moment flow of the movement is more restrictive, and you don’t really have all that much control in how you move from point A to point B.

I’m worried that Ubisoft might be about to crowbar modern parkour systems into Black Flag. They actually did something similar already with Assassin’s Creed Mirage.

That game, despite being an homage to the first Assassin’s Creed, features parkour that’s secretly just a tweaked version of Valhalla’s. This does not work at all in the confines of Baghdad, a city that is supposed to evoke the bustling locales of the first three Assassin’s Creed games. The result is a slow and far too streamlined system that pales in comparison to the parkour of games that came out nearly 20 years ago.

Post-launch updates to both Shadows and Mirage have improved things significantly, but it’s all made one thing very clear to me: Black Flag’s parkour does not need replacing, it just needs updating and refining.

Cleaner animations and an updated control scheme are all that a remake of Black Flag really needs to have.

Freedom Cry

I look back quite fondly on Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag - Freedom Cry, though I’ll be the first to admit that it’s nowhere near the best DLC we’ve had in the Assassin’s Creed universe. A potential Black Flag remake does raise the question as to whether Freedom Cry needs to be brought along for the ride. I’m going to be somewhat controversial and say that no, it really doesn’t.

Now, having replayed Freedom Cry recently, I’m here to tell you that you probably do not want to play a straight-up remake of it as much as you think you do.

The story is great, the blunderbuss and machete weapons are fun enough, but the actual structure, the gameplay, and feel of the DLC are seriously lacking. The majority of the missions are tailing ones (more on that later), and the ship combat is really just more of the same from the base game. I would much rather see Freedom Cry protagonist Adéwalé’s role expanded and folded into Black Flag.

While the events of Freedom Cry do take place after Black Flag has ended, Adéwalé could have a much larger, more prominent role in the Black Flag remake.

Give Adéwalé his own missions that borrow from the Freedom Cry playbook and plot, and have the story side of Freedom Cry play out as post-game content. I’d love to see some of Freedom Cry be incorporated here, but simply tacking on a remade Freedom Cry onto the Black Flag package? It’s just not going to be worthwhile.

It’s worth noting here that we have never seen an Assassin’s Creed remake before. We have no idea whether Ubisoft intends to follow the plot and structure of the original, or do something like the Resident Evil series and establish a completely new version of events. I’d quite like to see the latter, as it’d allow for characters like Adéwalé to be fleshed out and given more prominent roles.

Chasing its tail

Many of us look back on games like Black Flag through rose-tinted glasses. It is an undoubtedly fantastic game, and one that really stands out in the series for being something completely unique when compared to what came before.

The problem is that broader memory of Black Flag, the one that evokes snapshots of thrilling ship battles, hair-raising stealth, and larger-than-life supporting characters, isn’t quite the full picture.

Black Flag does not feature the mission structure we’ve come to expect of modern AC games, and it’s particularly plagued by tailing missions. These are a much-maligned part of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and fairly so. Black Flag, and Assassin’s Creed 3 before it, are the worst offenders for having players slowly tail a target for the duration of a main mission. It’s always dull, and during a replay, it’s quite surprising just how often it crops up.

Black Flag has possibly the worst implementation of a tailing mission in the entire series, as well as one where you tail a ship while sailing the Jackdaw in a swamp.

These either need to be reworked completely or taken out of the game. Modern entries like Assassin’s Creed Shadows handle tailing quite well by giving players more stealth options when approaching a target, or by giving them the choice to kill a tail early and track down the info they’re hiding later on.

This is one area of Black Flag that I think needs modernizing entirely, and please, don’t make me do ship stealth, it simply doesn’t work.

That’s quite enough loot

According to a particular Black Flag remake rumor, the game will lean into loot and gear stats for Edward Kenway’s arsenal, likely in the same way as we’ve seen in the modern games.

Personally, I cannot stand constantly picking up slightly higher-level loot items of the same kind, and I much prefer the older AC games’ approaches to bespoke weapons and simple upgrade trees.

Black Flag does not need the same role-playing game (RPG) treatment first utilized in Origins, nor does it need bloated enemy healthbars and damage numbers. The combat in Black Flag is fast, brutal, and simple, though it definitely fits the protagonist better than having a slew of legendary swords and pistols constantly thrown into a player’s inventory.

This is a pirate game, however, so a better loot variety would be welcome. What I really don’t want to see is the same loot system as employed in Shadows, where I have 20 katanas of varying levels, each one as forgettable as the last.

It’s very likely that Ubisoft will incorporate some of the more RPG-heavy systems seen in recent games when designing a Black Flag remake. A skill tree could be great, and expanding crafting would fit with the treasure-hunting setting. All in all, however, turning Black Flag into a full-on RPG would be a mistake, one that would introduce a whole heap of the very issues that have made modern Assassin’s Creed games so uneven and sometimes even difficult to recommend.

Ubisoft needs to walk a very fine line between old and new here, especially with a game as beloved as Black Flag. The trick will be to modernize aging control schemes and world design while preserving the original’s focus. Easing off on the urge to fill the remake with sprawling RPG loot systems will be key.

We’ll have to wait and see whether Black Flag is indeed getting a remake. All signs point to yes, but it’s important to note that Ubisoft has never acknowledged the remake’s existence, nor has it commented on the recent rumors and leaks.

Hopefully, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced sticks closely to the original game, as it’s still a fantastic entry into the Assassin’s Creed series, and one that inspired countless games in its wake.

• Anthem's servers have officially been shut down by EA
• Players of BioWare's 2019 online shooter are sharing their farewells online through final gameplay clips, memes, and memories
• Other players are hopeful the game will see a revival one day

After almost seven years online, EA has officially shut down Anthem's servers for good.

At some point on January 12, 2026, Anthem servers officially went offline, making BioWare's 2019 online sci-fi shooter no longer playable to those who own a copy of the game.

Unfortunately, dedicated players who have spent years roaming Anthem's world as Freelancers are forced to say goodbye, and the fond memories, farewells, as well as the 'Press F to pay respects' memes, are already rolling in online.

"To my last squad in my last strong hold, it's been an honor," one player shared on the Anthem subreddit.

"Thank you Freelancers. Remember: Strong alone. Stronger together," another wrote.

Many players have also been sharing footage of their "final flights" within the game, commemorating their last play session ever. Meanwhile, others, who heard the news that the servers were due to be shut down, shared their PlayStation Platinum Trophy achievements after purchasing the game this week.

"All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain." from r/AnthemTheGame

However, some players are remaining hopeful that the game could one day make a comeback.

"Here's to some, REALLY wishful, thinking that this game gets revived one way or another," said user Renegade888888.

Another redditor responded, writing, "One thing would be nice is if they took the game down to work on the 2.0 because they are re doing the game engine and can't have it running while they do it. So they just decided to take it down so they can work on it. But yeah wishful thinking."

Anthem was released in February 2019 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but didn't soar into success, unlike BioWare's other popular franchises, Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

EA announced that the game's servers would close on January 12, 2026, last July, after "careful consideration", leaving players with only 180 days of playtime left.

"We deeply appreciate your dedication, passion and support over the years and we’d like to thank you for that," EA said in a blog post at the time. The company also confirmed that Anthem's shutdown hasn't led to any layoffs.

• Microsoft could unveil new hardware this year, according to Windows Central
• The publication says it's heard "credible rumors" that suggest that an OEM "Xbox" PC could be revealed in 2026
• Windows Central cautioned that "time will tell" whether this reveal will happen

A new report suggests that Microsoft is planning to unveil the first look at new Xbox hardware this year, which would include its OEM Xbox PC.

According to Windows Central, there's a chance we'll see more "Xbox" branded OEM hardware in 2026 that will take advantage of the Xbox Full Screen Experience on Windows, like the recently released Xbox Ally.

The publication claims that it's been "working through some credible rumors" that we could see Microsoft unveil an OEM "Xbox" PC this year, despite the company's poor Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S sales in 2025, but didn't divulge any further details about this hybrid device's features.

It's also important to note that while Windows Central has heard "credible rumors", it cautioned that "time will tell" whether this reveal will pan out.

In addition to an OEM Xbox PC, Windows Central also said that, per sources, the Xbox Elite Controller Series 3 will be revealed in 2026, along with new, potential controller revisions.

Rumors about the next Xbox console have been circulating for a while now, and in October, Xbox president Sarah Bond said that the next-generation Xbox will be a premium piece of hardware, suggesting it will be more like a PC-console hybrid.

While Windows Central claims new hardware could be revealed this year, additional rumors suggest that the Xbox, as well as the PS6, is targeting a 2027 launch.

• South Park is coming to Fortnite on January 9 with a free mini pass
• The crossover will introduce Outfits for Cartman, Kenny, Stan, Kyle, and Butters
• Players can also enjoy a brand new 5-person playlist called Quints until February 5

Epic Games has revealed that its next Fortnite crossover will be with the popular animated TV series South Park.

Although the collaboration was leaked ahead of time, the latest Born in Chaos trailer confirms that South Park's Cartman, Kenny, Stan, Kyle, and Butters will be headed to Fortnite and the new Cartmanland on January 9.

In addition to these new additions to the Item Shop, players will also be rewarded with free items from the free Born in Chaos mini pass, as well as take part in a limited-time 5-person playlist called Quints, which will conclude on February 5.

This is a first for Fortnite, allowing teams of five to queue up together in Battle Royale or Zero Build in games consisting of 20 teams per match.

The South Park ensemble won't just be joining the battle as themselves, though. As showcased in the trailer, Butters, dressed in his Professor Chaos costume, uses the Stick of Truth to turn the South Park school bus into a Fortnite Battle Bus.

Butters, Cartman, and the rest of the gang are then revealed to be donning personal mech suits that will give the little guys a fairer advantage in matches to come.

Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 1: Pacific Break is currently underway. For all the latest updates, including the release date for the next season, be sure to check out our Fortnite Chapter 7 guide.

Xbox is so hard to predict that looking ahead to another year feels like an impossible task. I’m not sure anyone expected Microsoft to make major layoffs and shut down entire studios, not least its ‘AAAA’ Perfect Dark one, but here we are at the end of 2025, wondering what’s going on.

Microsoft has already started to talk about hardware, but with prices of consoles and the Xbox Game Pass subscription service climbing, can it really convince players it’s still a player, and that they should invest in its ecosystem?

Despite it feeling near-impossible, here’s our look ahead to 2026 and what’s to come for Xbox.

Are exclusives A Thing anymore?

It feels a lot like Microsoft is ahead of the curve with exclusives in some ways. Games cost a fortune to make, so why recoup that cost from just one segment of the market? With Sony’s Helldivers 2 likely to be a first salvo of PlayStation games on Xbox, we might look back at it as the decision that saved the brand. We might also look at it as the choice that doomed it, with Xbox hardware harder to recommend than ever - especially at its current price point.

The next title seemingly hopping the fence from Team Green to Team Blue is Starfield, with various suggestions that Bethesda and Microsoft are planning a major overhaul of the game in conjunction with its release on PlayStation. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but it certainly feels likely as a way to generate more income for a game that was in development for a long, long time.

On the topic of jumping ship, this year will see Halo come to PlayStation — something that would’ve been absolute sacrilege not too long ago. Halo: Campaign Evolved only includes the single-player portion of the original, but we’d be very surprised if the Master Chief Collection doesn’t follow in crossing the border in time to give PlayStation players a chance to catch up.

Elsewhere, Forza Horizon 6 is slated for this year and will take the series to Japan after years of fan requests. We’ve not seen a lot of it yet, with just a tone piece trailer and no gameplay so far, but given how well-received the series has been since its inception, we’re expecting good things.

Another title we’re expecting a lot from is Playground Games' Fable reboot. The role-playing game (RPG) has been delayed multiple times, and still looks to feature the very British humor of the Lionhead originals, but we’re yet to see a gameplay blowout as we’ve seen from Clockwork Revolution (which, to its credit, looks great).

Gears of War: E-Day will bring back Marcus Fenix for a prequel story, and Diablo IV is getting its second expansion, Lord of Hatred, but perhaps what we’re most curious about is Call of Duty. The long-running first-person series will still get annual releases, but not in the same sub-franchise each time, so Black Ops looks to be on hiatus for a while. In its place, expect Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 if the leaks are correct.

Sticking with Activision Blizzard, consider 2026 a big year for Microsoft’s shiniest new acquisition. Alongside Call of Duty and the Diablo expansion, more eyes will be on World of Warcraft with its Midnight expansion, and while Overwatch 2 has been winning players back, the return of BlizzCon is a chance to get all eyes on the legendary publisher.

On the third-party front, Xbox is still competing, but Sony has locked down the marketing rights for GTA 6. That could be a blow when it comes to console sales for lapsed gamers and more casual players who see the PS5 logo at the end of a TV ad and get right to ordering one.

Pragmata, Resident Evil Requiem, and 007 First Light are all big launches, but perhaps Microsoft’s biggest hurdle involves Xbox Game Pass and third-party releases. When the company hiked its prices, it promised more day-and-date launches from first- and third-party developers. 2025 saw big critical hits like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight: Silksong, but can it keep that up across a whole year to the tune of 75+ yearly games? We’ll soon find out.

You need an Xbox, honest!

Microsoft has already begun talking up the next console generation, only it doesn’t sound like it’ll really be much of a console at all. With suggestions suggesting it’ll feature multiple storefronts, we could (in theory) get a more PC-like console that has access to PC titles across multiple launches and even Sony’s PC output.

While we don’t expect Microsoft to start its new generation in 2026, it’s clear it considers this current one over. The cheapest, ‘entry-level’ Xbox Series S will now cost you around the same amount as the base PS5, despite being less powerful and having fewer exclusives. Microsoft, despite being on the bleeding edge last generation with the Xbox One X, didn’t look to rival the PS5 Pro, either.

After two price jumps within months for its hardware, Microsoft needs to do more next generation (or for the remainder of this one) to convince potential customers they need an Xbox or Windows PC. It’s already promised more gamer-centric improvements to its desktop operating system in the coming months, but given it’s still down an AI rabbit hole, which feels more and more misguided every week, that could take some time. It also needs to cool it with the price increases for a while.

As for the hardware we could see in 2026, we wouldn’t bet against an Elite Controller refresh. Rumors have swirled about a haptic pad that takes at least some cues from the DualSense, but that one launched in 2019 before the ‘Core’ version arrived in 2022. Expect fresh colorways for the standard pad, too.

Haven’t we been here before?

Microsoft was expected to throw in the towel multiple generations before, notably after the original Xbox and the disastrous Xbox One launch in 2013. This time it feels different, not least because of the money spent to acquire studios and publishers, as well as demands for a 30% profit margin. Will the next generation be Xbox’s last in any way, particularly hardware? That remains to be seen, but you wouldn’t want to bet either way.

If the company does go third-party, it’ll likely do so by pushing Xbox Game Pass wherever it can, but the service faces an uphill struggle to prove it’s worthy of the major price hike this year - and I don’t think Ubisoft Classics or Fortnite Crew is the answer.

Will publishers and developers lean away from Xbox and into Sony and Nintendo’s platforms if the install base gets too small? It’s a worrying thought considering that upstart spirit that kicked off Microsoft’s gaming efforts in the first place, but make no mistake - 2026 is crucial for the Xbox brand.

Of all the older games getting a reboot, refresh or remaster lately, I didn’t have 2009’s Plants vs. Zombies on my bingo card or wish list. In its original form, it’s a fantastic puzzle-meets tower defence game, where sentient and weaponized plants are used to protect an unseen dweller (the player) of a simple suburban house against an expanding variety of zombies.

With cartoon-like visuals and a simple presentation, there wasn’t much more I wanted out of the original PvZ. It also works very well in mobile form on both Android and iPhone.

But along came Plants vs Zombies: Replanted anyway, and I simply had to give it a go to see if it has stood the test of time, albeit with a lick of paint.

Starting with those visuals, from what I can see support for higher resolutions and HD textures do make this version of PvZ look cleaner and sleeker that the 2009 one. But that arguably comes at the cost of a little charm and art direction, with the bold lines and shadows that helped lower-res assets stand out, somewhat flattened and dulled with an HD sheen. This gives the impression of the graphics looking both more and less refined in certain cases, with mild inconsistencies between the seed packets of plants and how they appear when planted.

This extends a little into the menus too, which seem to mix elements from different versions of the game over the years. In general this is fine but they occasionally felt like something was off with them, perhaps throwing too much into the mix compared to the purity of the original PC version.

A lack of precise refinement might be a bit of a theme here, as various bugs and glitches initially popped up around the release of Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted. Not many stood out to me other than the odd placement of an asset or two (see the screenshot above), but subsequent patches seem to have paved over a suite of these issues; obviously not ideal, but at least PopCap is taking action.

Art style choices aside, in motion PvZ: Replanted looks fantastic in my eyes. The way the ‘peashooters’ – a cute sentient pea plant that fires, you guessed it, peas – bop to the game’s fun, light and a little jingly music still brings a smile to my face. As does the huge creativity of all the other plants at the player’s disposal.

Unlocked as you advance through the game's levels, which take place on from the front and back lawns, and escalate from there, these plants vary from offensive, defensive, support and augmenting variants. All have a unique design that shows off the creative and left-field ideas that smaller developers had a bounty of, and the scope to explore, in the noughties.

The same applies to the zombies, which start off with that classic Shaun of the Dead shambling style and evolve into all sorts of fun, and challenging, variants. Developer PopCap’s sense of humour extends from just the design to a virtual almanac that describes the plants and the zombies, along either their individual personalities, in a very wry and quirky way.

Tower defence with brains

All this means Plants vs. Zombies is a lot of fun today. Not only is the idea of beating back a zombie invasion of a lawn or back yard amusing, it’s rather in-depth too.

Having played PvZ on multiple platforms I’m well-versed at forming established patterns of vegetable, spore, or fruit throwing plants, supported by defensive walls of nut plants, and paid for by carefully laid out grids of sunflowers – sunlight is the main currency of PvZ battles, and needed to fund the deployment of your selected plants.

So far this is all very much the same as the original. And maybe to a fault, as there are the occasional difficulty spikes amid a normally very balanced progression, which I recall being present in the original game.

As an experienced PvZ-er, I’m not against these, and I do enjoy some of the levels that change up how you tackle your defence, such as being given random plants on a conveyor belt rather than pre-selecting them. This injects a dose of chaos, but can fall foul of randomization not landing in one’s favour.

Small changes, like being able to speed up the game’s action can up the challenge, and help speed past the odd slow section where you’re left waiting a wave of zombies but have already got your core defensive lines and sunlight economy sorted. Equally, the light and fun music and just general pleasant vibe of Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is so nice, I never felt like I wanted to hurry through it.

The meat – or should that be marrow – of Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted lies in how it’s combined all of the content from other versions of PvZ into one. There’s the co-op and versus multiplayer modes of console versions, the option to maintain a plant garden that came with the original, and all manner of mini games.

The latter shine, with one offering bigger sums of sunlight falling from the sky, which means a turbocharged economy and thus a lot more scope to mix up your defences with a host of plants that might be too expensive to use in volume in the standard game mode.

Another mode introduces cloud cover that can reduce the output of your sunflowers or put them to sleep, meaning you need to economise for such eventualities or make use of plants that aren’t directly reliant on sunlight to produce sun. It’s a fun mode that offers a nice challenge for PvZ veterans.

All these modes and mini games will keep your attention well after the main adventure part is completed. Some are better than others, but all are worth a quick spin and make Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted a great game to dip into, especially as it even works reasonably well on a Steam Deck.

I still reckon the core adventure mode remains the true highlight, with its charm, style, creativity and well-paced progression on enemies and plant powers.

Part of me wishes PopCap hadn’t played it so safe with a few more fresh nuances to the adventure to really pull back players well-versed in Peashooter placement, even if that extended to refining the visuals that little bit more.

Nevertheless, I think Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is easily the definitive version of a left-field game that I’ve sunk plenty of time into. And even putting aside nostalgia, it’s a fantastic puzzle and tower defence game that’s so very much worth your time today.

Should you play Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

There’s no dedicated accessibility menu in Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, but you can tweak a few settings like lowering the game’s speed to half speed and opting for a high contrast viewing mode.

As the game is available on multiple platforms, you have the option to play on the platform that most suits you, with PC and mouse control being the one I’d recommend.

How I reviewed Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted

I played some five hours of Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, getting through most of the adventure mode, which I’ve already finished in previous versions of PvZ, and trying out various mini-games.

I’ve not flirted with the multiplayer options, but they follow the form of previous console releases. I played PvZ: Replanted on my Steam Deck and on my desktop gaming PC, and over that time the game received several updates, which appeared to squash some bugs and refined the remaster. As such, my review covers what I’d consider to be the most complete version of the game.

First reviewed December 2025

• Hardware and physical software unit sales in November 2025 were the worst they've been in the US since 1995
• Circana reports that 1.6 million units of video game hardware were sold in the US last month, which was the lowest since the 1.4 million units that were sold in the US in 1995
• The PS5 was November's best-selling console in both units and dollars and Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game of the month

Video game hardware and physical software sales just had their worst November in the United States since 1995, despite the holiday season.

According to the data from Circana's latest report from executive director, Mat Piscatella, who writes on BlueSky that there was a decline across hardware, console spending, and accessories in November 2025, making it the worst November for games in terms of hardware units and physical software sales in the US in 30 years.

Piscatella reports that 1.6 million units of video game hardware were sold in the US last month, compared to 3.9 million units in November 2019, and that last month's results were at their lowest ever since the 1.4 million units that were sold in the US in 1995.

Monthly spending for hardware last month was $695 million, a 27% drop compared to November 2024, and also the lowest hardware spend in the same month in the US since 2005.

The average price paid for a new unit of hardware last month was also $439, compared to $235 in 2019, and also 11% higher than last year, but physical software spending fell 14% when compared to a year ago, which Piscatella said is an all-time low for a November month since 1995.

Content - Sensor Tower reports the top 10 mobile games by U.S. consumer spend in Nov and rank chg from Oct as: MONOPOLY GO!, Royal Match, Last War: Survival, Candy Crush Saga, Clash Royale, Kingshot, Gossip Harbor, Whiteout Survival (+1), Pokémon Go (+5) and Township.

— @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-12-18T14:15:53.483Z

It's also said that total projected spending across video game hardware, content, and accessories fell 4% when compared to a year ago, to $5.9 billion, and that monthly hardware spending dropped by 27% when compared to a year ago, to $695M.

"This is the lowest video game hardware spending total for a November month since the $455M reached during the November 2005 tracking period," Piscatella said.

Still, the PS5 was November's best-selling hardware in both units and dollars, which is "the first time this has occurred since the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2", while the Switch 2 ranked 2nd place.

Interestingly, the NEX Playground ranked 3rd in hardware units sold during November, with the Xbox Series placing 3rd in dollars.

In terms of software and despite the bad month overall, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game of November, making it the 7th best-selling game of 2025 so far. However, Piscatella said the Call of Duty franchise "experienced a double-digit percentage full game dollar sales decline when compared to November 2024."

The game was followed by Battlefield 6, which has been doing exceedingly well in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre this year, beating out Black Ops 7 in terms of concurrent players on Steam.

• The latest Sid Meier's Civilization 7 update has arrived
• It adds a new wave of content for Tides of Power Collection owners plus a new map type and the usual fixes
• The DLC is still available to claim for free

The latest update for Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is here and it includes a wealth of content for the recent Tides of Power Collection DLC - an expansion that's available to claim for free right now as part of a limited time offer!

Tides of Power Collection owners can now play as the new leader Sayyida al Hurra. A famous historical figure , she was the wife of the Moroccan king and governor of the city Tétouan. In-game, her abilities are catered towards diplomacy and military strength, with a unique ability to reward a free Naval Unit for each completed Espionage Action.

Two new civilizations have arrived too: Iceland for the Exploration Age, and Ottomans for the Modern Age.

Players on all platforms can add the Tides of Power Collection to their libraries for free until January 5, 2026. After this date publisher 2K says that it will be made available for purchase, so make sure to get it for free while you still can.

It also includes the pirate leader Edward Teach, the Republic of Pirates and Tonga civilizations, and four new wonders that were released back in November.

In addition to this, the update introduces a new Shattered Seas map type. It seems like the perfect fit for those that crave naval combat, with loads of large islands and plenty of ocean to explore.

This is on top of a wealth of improvements to biomes, some strategic balance changes, and plenty of fixes that you can see in full via the official patch notes.

Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is available now for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.

• Bethesda has shadowdropped the Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
• This version, which includes the base game its three expansions, also offers enhanced resolution, optimised performance, and better load times
• Switch Anniversary Edition owners can upgrade their game for free and play it on Switch 2, while Skyrim base game owners will need to pay an extra $23.97 / £17.99

Just as Bethesda Game Studios shadowdropped Oblivion Remastered, the studio has today announced that The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is now available on Nintendo Switch 2.

14 years after the game was first released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, and many remasters and modern ports later, Bethesda's much-loved fantasy role-playing game (RPG) has now made its way to the Switch 2 with additional improvements.

This version takes full advantage of the Switch 2 hardware and offers enhanced resolution, optimised performance, and boosted load times, as well as Joy-Con 2 mouse support, motion controls, and Amiibo support.

What's more, the Switch 2 version will also include exclusive Nintendo content from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, allowing players to get their hands on the Master Sword, Hylian Shield, and Champion’s Tunic.

Owners of the Anniversary Edition will also have access to hundreds of Creations Club items, such as quests, weapons, armor, spells, dungeons, and more.

The Anniversary Edition, which was released in 2021, features the base game and three expansions to get lost in, including Dawnguard, Dragonborn, and Hearthfire, and will cost $70.59 / £52.99.

For players who already own Skyrim: Anniversary Edition on the original Switch, they can upgrade their copy and download the game for free on Switch 2.

Alternatively, for those who own the base edition of Skyrim on Switch, the Anniversary Upgrade will cost $23.97 / £17.99 to play on Switch and Switch 2.

• Fortnite OG will return on December 11 with Chapter 1 Season 7
• The retro battle royale mode will bring back the overpowered Infinity Blade
• The update will also include new map changes and a new loot pool

Epic Games has confirmed that the overpowered Infinity Blade will return in Fortnite OG this week.

Players will once again be able to jump into Fortnite OG, a nostalgic mode based on the game's original battle royale, when it makes its return in Chapter 1 Season 7 on December 11.

In a new social media post, Epic teased the upcoming update with a look at what to expect, including map updates that feature Polar Peak, Happy Hamlet, and Frosty Flights, a new Christmas-themed OG Battle Pass, new gliders, and loot pool items.

What's got players most excited, however, is the confirmation that the Infinity Blade will arrive "later in the season," after seven years. It's a Mythic weapon that spawns once each match and gives the wielder special bonuses to their movement and health.

It's a controversial weapon, mainly due to its stats (via Fortnite Wiki) that offer 200 Health and 200 Shields for a total of 400 HP, as well as its ability to grant 1 Effective HP per second and 50 Effective HP after eliminating an opponent.

It also boosts the player's movement speed significantly and has a wide attack radius that deals 75 damage per hit. Overall, it's a pretty overpowered weapon that is sure to help you secure a Victory Royale.

Epic hasn't revealed whether it has nerfed the Infinity Blade for the upcoming season, but if not, players will once again be able to wreak havoc.

In the meantime, Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 1: Pacific Break is officially underway. You can check out our Fortnite Chapter 7 guide for upcoming updates and what to expect from the current Chapter 7 season, including map changes, new skins, and more.

• Fortnite Zero Hour is scheduled to kick off this weekend on November 29
• The live event will close out Chapter 6 and will be followed by the premiere of Quentin Tarantino's unfilmed Kill Bill short
• The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge premieres in Fortnite on November 30

Epic Games has shared new details ahead of Fortnite's exciting weekend of events, which kick off with the Chapter 6 grand finale, followed by the premiere of Quentin Tarantino's unfilmed Kill Bill short.

Fortnite Zero Hour, the game's biggest event of the year, will officially close out Chapter 6. This live spectacle begins on Saturday, November 29, at 2PM ET / 11AM PT / 7PM GMT, and players can prepare by loading into the game up to 30 minutes beforehand.

In this event, legends assemble to save reality from the Dark Presence, and fans can look forward to many pop culture figures to appear, including Godzilla and King Kong, a giant Homer Simpson, Star Wars, Kill Bill's Beatrix Kiddo, and many more that will be revealed at the time.

The following day, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge premieres exclusively in Fortnite on Sunday, November 30 at 2PM ET / 2PM ET / 11AM PT / 7PM GMT. Like Zero Hour, doors open 30 minutes before the show starts.

Yuki's Revenge is a cut chapter that never made it into Tarantino's Kill Bill, and now, 20 years later, the story has been reimagined in Fortnite.

Starring Uma Thurman as The Bride once again, and built with Unreal Engine and Fortnite character models, the animated tale follows Yuki Yubari, who travels to the US to take down The Bride for killing her sister Gogo Yubari in the movie.

"Quentin Tarantino had a dream of a Kill Bill chapter that never made it to the silver screen, a chapter known as 'Yuki’s Revenge.' Over 20 years later, Tarantino and Epic have come together to bring the story to life in Fortnite," Epic Games teased.

The teaser trailer for 'Yuki's Revenge', which looks chaotic, to say the least, also confirms that players can claim the Yuki Outfit by logging into Fortnite from November 27 to December 9.

For more, check out our guide for Fortnite's next season release date and what to expect from Chapter 7, including map changes, new skins, and upcoming updates.

• YouTuber 'Moore’s Law is Dead' says Microsoft may be forced to increase the cost of Xbox consoles due to a global RAM shortage
• He explained Sony "planned ahead" so there likely won't be an increased to PS5 consoles
• The cost of Xbox consoles could increase "very soon", making it the third time since May this year

Microsoft will reportedly have to increase the price of Xbox consoles yet again "very soon" due to a potential global RAM shortage.

That's according to tech YouTuber 'Moore’s Law is Dead' in his new 'OpenAI RAM Hoarding Leak' video (via TGP), who spoke to multiple sources at retailers, memory makers, and partners.

They claim that because of the soaring cost and OpenAI's new deals with Samsung and SK hynix to secure a significant part of the world's DRAM supply for the foreseeable future, Microsoft may be forced to up the price of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

"[Microsoft] didn't plan ahead at all, apparently," they said. "If you still want an Xbox for some reason at their current pricing, those prices could go up soon, or supply could just entirely dry up because multiple sources of mine have apparently been warned by sales reps at Microsoft that this is going to affect the Xbox Series consoles very, very soon. Sooner rather than later."

Though there does appear to be a RAM shortage that could affect Microsoft, MLID said Sony will be saved from increasing the price of its PS5 consoles because it "planned ahead".

"From what I've heard, Sony planned ahead, bought up gobs of RAM near the bottom of the pricing, and thus they should be fine for months," the YouTuber added.

"They have plenty of GDDR6, at least that’s what I'm told. Prices could go up eventually; I could see that happening next year… but there is a reason Sony is cutting PlayStation 5 pricing for Black Friday. They aren't just doing this as some extreme move or because sales are bad. They can afford to do it; apparently, they are not worried about the RAM shortage, at least in the short- to mid-term."

If Microsoft is forced to increase the cost of its hardware for the third time, prices could skyrocket. It first increased the cost of its consoles in May this year, which saw a $100 hike on all Xbox Series X and S models, then again in September with an up to $70 increase.

It's been a tumultuous year for Microsoft. Just last month, it also announced major changes to Xbox Game Pass, which saw three upgraded plans and a massive price hike for the Ultimate membership.

Now, Ultimate costs $29.99 / £22.99 / AU$35.95 a month, up from $19.99 / £14.99 / AU$22.95. There's also currently no option to buy a 12-month subscription.

• Epic Games has released a teaser trailer for Fortnite Chapter 6's finale event
• Fortnite Zero Hour will go live on November 29 at 2pm ET / 11am PT / 8pm GMT
• Epic Games has also announced its Quentin Tarantino collaboration for Chapter 7, which will feature an unfilmed chapter from Kill Bill, titled The Lost Chapter: Yuki's Revenge

Fortnite Chapter 6 is coming to a close, and Epic Games has teased the finale event that will see new characters coming together, as well as a glimpse at Chapter 7's Kill Bill collaboration.

Epic has revealed that the one-time live Fortnite Zero Hour event will go live on November 29 at 2pm ET / 11am PT / 8pm GMT and it's sure to be a spectacle.

From the trailer, it's confirmed that some of cinema's most iconic characters will be featured, including Godzilla and King Kong in an explosive battle, Kill Bill's Beatrix Kiddo, as well as Star Wars X-Wings and a gigantic Homer Simpson?

"Legends assemble in the final endgame to save reality," the description reads.

The official website also teases, "Heroes, villains, and worlds collide in the final endgame to save all reality."

Speaking of Kill Bill, during the Fortnite Chapter 7 event (via FandomWire), it was announced that Quentin Tarantino's collaboration with the ongoing game will feature an unfilmed chapter from Kill Bill: Vol 1, titled "The Lost Chapter: Yuki's Revenge".

Tarantino wrote the unfilmed scene in 2003, which featured a revenge story focused on Yuki Yubari, who goes after Uma Thurman's Beatrix Kiddo for killing her sister Gogo Yubari in the movie.

Yuki's short never made it to the big screen due to Tarantino choosing not to shoot it for pacing reasons, but it will be featured in the upcoming collaboration in Chapter 7's battle pass, which will also include Gogo as an obtainable skin, according to leaks.

A new poster teasing the event has also been revealed, which showcases the first official look at Yuki in a pink car, wearing a school uniform and pigtails, and wielding a submachine gun.

Yuki's Revenge will seemingly be the main event of Chapter 7, which launches on November 30.

• Two Hitman developers have discussed how the team chose some of the locations featured in the franchise
• Each location will "typically have an event that is special"
• The developers also wanted to mirror different types of spy fantasy

In a recent interview with TechRadar Gaming, two Hitman developers discussed how they chose some of the global locations that have appeared as levels in the series.

"It always starts with 'wouldn't it be cool if 47 went somewhere?' If you take a step back and look at the different locations and what goes on, [...] we typically have an event that is special in that location," explained Jacob Mikkelsen, legend level designer at series developer IO Interactive.

He went on to pinpoint the first major level from 2016's Hitman as as example. "In the case of Paris, Michael the writer had this setup where we have this Russian oligarch who owns a fashion company, and then his partner in crime is selling off these spy secrets at a secret auction that takes place at the same time under cover of the fashion show."

"I spoke with Martin, the art director at the time, about where this should all take place and then he said, 'I think it should be a palace in Paris' and I was like, 'okay, cool, but they are kind of big, right?' and that was like 'I need a courtyard for the fashion show' so then I went location scouting in Paris on Google Maps," he continued.

"I found the different palaces they have in Paris, and I ended on Palais de Luxembourg and I chose [to base the map on] that one because of the shape of the building allows for ledges around it, so it would actually work really well for agility all around the building on the outside."

According to Christian Elverdam chief creative officer and director of multiple Hitman titles, the central question is always "what's the most complex social event we could imagine at the time?"

The next question is then "how can 47 have a disguise that makes him part of that? You know, be on stage." Then of course, it's "what's the biggest chandelier you crash on someone?"

Jack of all trades

Elverdam also explained that very careful attention was paid to fulfilling different types of spy fantasy with each level.

"In Paris, Diana has been contacted by MI6 to secure a NOC list of agents and stop this auction of secrets. It's basically what James Bond would be doing if he was in the universe," he said.

"We were flirting with agent fantasy. We then wanted Sapienza to feel a little bit more like a Mission Impossible plot, with this DNA specific virus. I will say it's funny that then later that became the plot of No Time to Die [...] but that was actually something we felt could be in a Mission Impossible movie. We wanted Marrakesh to have some of those gritty newer vibes, like Jason Bourne."

These ideas paired with the different locations that the developers wanted to include like "a marriage", he argued. "It's fairly organic."

Hitman: World of Assassination, a compilation of all three recent Hitman games, is available now for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, and PC, or as Hitman World of Assassination – Signature Edition for Nintendo Switch 2.

This month marks 25 years since the North American release of Hitman: Codename 47, a little stealth game from Danish developer IO Interactive that starred a genetically modified assassin called Agent 47.

With a focus on using your wits and equipment like sniper rifles and deadly fiber wire to take out specific targets undetected, its sandbox levels felt more like little puzzle boxes that you had to explore and put together piece by piece than a traditional sneaking level.

There was nothing else quite like it at the time, and despite being somewhat bashed for its brutally punishing difficulty and abundance of bugs, the game proved popular enough to spawn a series of sequels, with Hitman becoming a franchise of eight mainline entries, a handful of spinoffs, and two whole movie adaptations so far.

Bringing the vision to life

The latest instalment, 2021’s Hitman 3, was released to critical acclaim, with countless reviewers praising its sprawling open-world environment, all populated by impressive numbers of dynamic non-player characters (NPCs), endless opportunities for experimentation, and the resulting high degree of replayability.

Not every entry has been such a beloved hit, however, so I sat down with two series veterans to take a look back at the ups and downs in 47’s storied journey so far.

“My first Hitman was Hitman: Contracts,” revealed Jacob Mikkelsen, who holds the special title of ‘legend’ level designer as an employee with more than two decades of experience at the company. “For me, when I look at Hitman throughout the years, it's turned into the game that it was in my mind back with Contracts.”

“Where we are now, we've realized all of that potential, because back in the day, fidelity was lower, performance, and all sorts of things [got in the way],” he added. “Having been on many Hitman games throughout the years, seeing that vision becoming more and more real has been a lot of fun. Those ideas that were already there in Contracts are still at the core of the game, but now we’re just really pulling it off.”

“I think there are different stages, almost,” said chief creative officer Christian Elverdam, who has directed multiple Hitman games. “I think with Hitman: Absolution, it was about making the game playable more than anything else - just from a personal perspective. We talked a lot about level design back then. We talked a lot about how the game plays on controllers, making it feel much more modern, reliable. Great locomotion, better, predictable takedowns, and that stuff.”

Learning the right lessons

Despite being well-received by contemporary critics, Hitman: Absolution was a disappointment to die-hard fans when it released back in 2012, mainly due to its more linear structure and prominent narrative elements. Even still, the learnings from Absolution, alongside other past games, were a key component of the modern Hitman trilogy, now dubbed Hitman: World of Assassination.

“I got the opportunity to re-imagine Hitman, with the World of Assassination,” explained Elverdam. “Back in 2013, we created a pitch we called ‘Hitman and the World of Assassination’, which was basically trying to see the future of what Hitman would become, which was obviously, looking back, inspired by Blood Money and Contracts.” According to Elverdam, this pitch combined the “freedom and approach” and level design of those two fan-favorite entries with the “the playability of Absolution” and the newfound desire to create an “ever-expanding live game”.

“We learned a lot from Absolution, being honest,” he continued. “I think it's lamented from a fan perspective because it broke from the freedom of approach formula, the more extreme version of that, and I think the story was a little uneven. I feel sorry for Absolution in some ways, because you didn't get the best of both worlds. We sacrificed all this stuff to really tell a story, but then the story didn't hit the high water mark it was supposed to.”

In addition to the updated controls, one of the biggest innovations of Hitman: Absolution was its Contracts Mode which allowed players to create their own objectives in a number of levels and share them online.

“Jacob did something remarkable for Absolution: he came up with this concept of Contracts Mode,” Elverdam revealed. “When I joined the game, I was like, 'I would love something that celebrated replayability,' and my first question was, 'Why don't we do some multiplayer, some co-op, or something?' Back then, everyone was like, 'No we can't do that!' Then Jacob actually said, 'yeah, I have an idea,' and so, long story short, we introduced Contracts Mode.”

It was an instant hit, though the team was soon frustrated by the inherent limitations of Absolution’s format as a one-and-done release. “When Absolution shipped, we had 50,000 or 100,000 players every month, playing Contracts Mode, just enjoying the game as a sandbox,” said Elverdam. “We could do absolutely nothing about it, because it wasn't a live game, so it felt like the players were showing us how they want to play the game, but we couldn’t react, we couldn’t change the levels. We couldn’t do anything. That was also a big part of the inspiration behind [the 2013 pitch] and what eventually became what we have today.”

Slimming down

Under this clear sense of direction, there were still plenty of challenges in the development of 2016’s Hitman, particularly when it came to settling on the right scope. “I don't know if we can say this, but the early version of Paris was three times bigger, at least, than the one that shipped,” said Mikkelsen. “We were looking at all this space, at some point we were like, 'okay, this is huge' and internally, people were also beginning to question whether it needs to be that big.”

Originally, that opening Paris level would have featured a sizable surrounding area, including a fully modelled restaurant that still lives on in a different form in the final game.

“We built this old building, and on the bottom floor, you had a restaurant with a kitchen in the back and all that stuff, and then obviously would have a palace next to it,” began Elverdam. “It gives you a little bit of an impression of just how big the level was originally. Then later, we needed a location for Thailand, and we figured that we could build in a French colonial style - I hope you can see where this is going.

“By duplicating the old building from Paris, we created this two-wing building for Thailand. And in one wing, you will find a restaurant on the ground floor, and that restaurant was the very first thing that got built in Paris. That was the very first thing we did, and that thing still exists, albeit, and on a completely different continent with a completely different story and setup.”

Elverdam argued that this process was “a good example of the connection between us as game developers and the fans.” He added: “We all felt the pain of some of the more linear segments, the smaller segments, of Absolution. I think maybe in pre-production we overcompensated a little bit with Paris.”

“Another big thing was to go back to the live aspect and the Contracts Mode,” Mikkelsen chimed in. He recalls being sat in a meeting room, facing the daunting task of “figuring out how to build this game so we can keep on expanding it forever.” The answer was apparently plenty of "tech development” which he said “then allowed us to do the Elusive Targets, all the Escalations, all the Featured Contracts,” and all the other content that’s still being added to Hitman: World of Assassination today.

The content is going to slow down either, with Elverdam saying that “the fans are really, really happy” with recent additions, with “a lot of people jumping in and playing them”. In addition to the tantalizing prospect of “some quite remarkable announcements soon” regarding new Elusive Targets, the studio has previously announced a new co-op mode that is on the way.

It’s clear that IO Interactive has really found its stride with Hitman: World of Assassination, and even as attention turns to its upcoming Bond adventure 007 First Light, there are plenty of reasons to consider checking it out for the first time or diving back in today.

Hitman: World of Assassination is available now for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, and PC, or as Hitman World of Assassination – Signature Edition for Nintendo Switch 2.

• Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser thinks the studio will make Red Dead Redemption 3
• The Red Dead Redemption 2 writer says since his work on the first two titles was a "cohesive two-story arc", he would be sad not to be involved
• He says, "That might be more sad to hear someone working on that. But again, that will probably happen too"

Rockstar co-founder and Red Dead Redemption 2 writer Dan Houser believes a third game will eventually be made, but has admitted he would be sad not being involved in its development.

Speaking in a recent interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, Houser, who also has writing credits on almost every Grand Theft Auto game, shared his thoughts on not being a part of the highly anticipated GTA 6 and any potential Red Dead Redemption sequel having left the company.

The developer agreed that it would be bittersweet, but he's also pleased with doing other stuff at his own studio, Absurd Ventures.

"Of course, letting go of something I worked on in one way or another for like 20 odd years, and wrote on them for the last 10 or 11 that came out, wrote all of them, or you know, lead writer on all of them, whatever it was… letting go of that is a big change. And sad in a way," Houser said.

Speaking more on Red Dead Redemption, Houser explained that since his work on the first two titles was a "cohesive two-story arc", he would be sad not being involved with the continuation if a third game was in the works.

Either way, Houser believes Rockstar will make Red Dead Redemption 3 one day.

"Because each of the [Grand Theft Auto] games was a kind of standalone story, it’s not quite the same as I think probably it would be in some ways sadder if someone continued on Red Dead, because it was a cohesive two-game arc. That might be more sad to hear someone working on that. But again, that will probably happen too.

"I don’t own the IP. That was the sort of part of the deal. It’s a privilege to work on stuff, but you don’t necessarily own it."

Rockstar hasn't shared any plans for a third Red Dead game, but we know it's currently focused on Grand Theft Auto 6, which launches on May 26, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

In the same interview, Houser explained why there is so much hype surrounding Grand Theft Auto 6, arguing that it's due to how Rockstar has handled the evolution of the IP.

• Fortnite gets a fresh Item Shop update starting today
• Krusty the Clown arrives as part of a bundle
• More Sidekicks are set to be added, including a Velociraptor, a pug in a hoodie, and a tiny Cuddle Team Leader

Fortnite's latest Item Shop update arrives later today (November 6), adding more The Simpsons skins and Sidekicks. This follows the launch of The Simpsons Fortnite, a month-long season that has completely switched things up with a new map called Springfield Island.

So far, we've seen a Bart Simpson bundle hit the Item Shop, but today we'll get the next tie-in skin in the form of Krusty the Clown. In the Tweet embedded below, we get a look at the skin, which appears to feature a clown car emote.

There's more set to be added to the Fortnite Item Shop this week as well, including more Sidekicks. Lil'Raptor, Doggo Jr., Cuddle Team Jr., and Flopsticks will be available on November 7.

Sidekicks were added alongside the new Fortnite season and are essentially pets that follow you around in-game. They can be customized once, and multiple versions of the same Sidekick require separate purchases.

Fortnite The Simpsons is set to end on November 29, the same day there's going to be a live event ushering in whatever comes next.

For more, check out our guide for Fortnite's next season release date and what to expect from Chapter 7, including map changes, new skins, and upcoming updates.

• Fortnite Chapter 7 is set to launch at the end of November
• Creators have received a cryptic tease from Epic Games featuring a set of co-ordinates
• These point to Hollywood in North America, and fans think there might be a Kill Bill tie-in

Fortnite Chapter 7 has started to be teased, with a handful of creators having received a cryptic teaser containing a set of co-ordinates, as well as the letters "Q&U".

As revealed by @NickEh30 on X, the top Fortnite creator received an official Chapter 7 teaser, which you can view via this unlisted YouTube link. The short transmission mentions Zero Hour, Chapter 7, and Fortnite After Dark With Q&U.

The co-ordinates in the teaser (34.134117 N, 118.321495 W) correspond to Los Angeles and more specifically, Hollywood. I've verified these co-ordinates using a latitude and longitude map, and it does indeed look like Fortnite's next Chapter will be based on the United States, specifically the West Coast. Now onto that "Q&U" mention.

As spotted by Fortnite leaker @ShiinaBR on X, Q&U is what Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman credited themselves for Kill Bill. Given that a re-release of Kill Bill Vol 1 and Vol 2, combined as Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, is set to arrive in theaters on December 5, it would all tie in very nicely with the launch of Fortnite Chapter 7, and the teased Hollywood setting. We'll have to wait and see whether these rumors line up with the eventual reveal of Chapter 7.

Fortnite The Simpsons is set to end on November 29, the same day there's going to be a live event ushering in whatever comes next.

For more, check out our guide for Fortnite's next season release date and what to expect from Chapter 7, including map changes, new skins, and upcoming updates.

• Fortnite is getting Sidekick companions on November 1
• The update will arrive with the next season, and players can unlock the first Sidekick in the Battle Pass
• Sidekick Appearances are permanent and can't be duplicated, meaning players will have to purchase Sidekicks multiple times if they want to use a different Appearance

Epic Games has announced Sidekicks for Fortnite, a new pet companion feature that will follow players in-game.

Sidekicks will officially join Fortnite's Battle Royale mode, Lego Fortnite, Fortnite Save the World, and Fortnite Festival on November 1, alongside the release of the next season, which is set to feature The Simpsons.

Players will be able to unlock the game's very first Sidekick, Peels, in the next Battle Pass, with more set to arrive in the Shop on November 7, including Bonesy, Spike, and Lil’ Raptor.

Epic Games has also teased "something for all the cat people out there" that will come later.

Players who already own the Bonesy Back Bling will be granted the Bonesy Sidekick on November 7, too, so they can be on the lookout for that when it hits their Lockers.

It's also confirmed that these adorable pals don't provide any gameplay advantage and don't take damage from enemies, and are simply "friendly cosmetics that stay by your side".

As Epic Games explains in the latest blog post, players can customize the Appearance of most Sidekicks one time only in their Locker after obtaining them.

"Your choices are permanent, so make sure to preview the Appearance before locking it in," the studio said.

This means that players must purchase a Sidekick multiple times if they want to use different Appearances.

In the FAQ section, Epic Games explained, "Yes, you can purchase a Sidekick multiple times and give them different Appearances. However, each Sidekick customization you own in your Locker must be unique. Duplicate Appearances are not allowed."

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 4 is set to end on November 1, the same day The Simpsons join the game as part of a Fortnite live event.

For more, check out our guide for Fortnite's next season release date and what to expect from Chapter 6 Season 5, including map changes, new skins, and upcoming updates.

• Resident Evil Requiem will be coming to Fortnite next year
• Players who pre-order Requiem on the Epic Games Store will receive a special Fortnite skin based on Grace Ashcroft and more
• The Fortnite goodies will be distributed after Requiem's February 27, 2026 release

Capcom has announced that Resident Evil Requiem will be coming to Fortnite next year.

The publisher shared the collaboration in a social media post today, confirming that players who pre-order Resident Evil Requiem on the Epic Games Store will receive a special Fortnite outfit based on protagonist Grace Ashcroft, along with other as-yet undisclosed items.

"Resident Evil Requiem is coming to Fortnite," Capcom said. "Order Resident Evil Requiem on the Epic Games Store to get a Grace Ashcroft Fortnite skin & more. Stay tuned for more info."

The studio also noted that these pre-order goodies "will be distributed after Resident Evil Requiem's release", which means players will receive their rewards after the game launches on February 27, 2026.

Fortnite featured a Resident Evil crossover back in 2021 with the addition of Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, and later Leon S. Kennedy and Clair Redfield in 2023.

It's unclear if these characters will make a return alongside the Requiem collab next year.

Resident Evil Requiem is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

Pre-orders for Resident Evil Requiem have officially gone live. The Standard Edition is available for $69.99 / £64.99, while the Deluxe Edition is $79.99 / £74.99 and also comes with a costume based on Resident Evil Village's Lady Dimitrescu for Grace.

• The Simpsons is coming to Fortnite on November 1
• The previously leaked mini-season is set to feature The Simpsons' alien invaders, Kang and Kodos
• The mini-season will begin as Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 4 ends

The rumors were true! Epic Games has confirmed that The Simpsons is officially coming to Fortnite for the very first time as the game's annual Fortnitemares Halloween event draws to a close.

In a post shared to X / Twitter, Epic Games shared new artwork teasing the leaked crossover showing Fortnite's Jonesy and Hope facing off against The Simpsons' alien invaders, Kang and Kodos, in the long-running TV show's iconic art style.

The Fortnite account's header image also appears to have been vandalized with graffiti by Bart Simpson, suggesting the character will also make an appearance in the new mini-season.

But when can players expect to play the new collaboration? Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 4 is set to end on November 1, the same day The Simpsons mini-season will seemingly kick off.

"Kang and Kodos have arrived in Fortnite with a message for all of you humans, be sure to tune in-game on Nov 1 at 11AM ET," Epic Games said.

The official Instagram account for The Simpsons also shared a video teasing the mini-season, which shows Kang and Kodos turning Fortnite character Fishtick into a plate of fishsticks before abducting Jonesy and Hope.

If you jump into Fortnite Battle Royale currently, you'll notice Kang and Kodos flying in their UFO alongside the battle bus at the beginning of matches. You can see how this looks in the image below:

There are still a few days left before Fortnite Shock 'N Awesome wraps up, as well as its Halloween event, Fortnitemares, which added Scooby Doo and the gang, real-life popstar Doja Cat, and a bunch of horror icons like Ghostface, Jason Voorhees, and more.

For more, check out our guide for Fortnite's next season release date and what to expect from Chapter 6 Season 5, including map changes and upcoming updates.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite: one-minute review

If you’re someone who craves the best in gaming audio and the most performant gaming accessories, then the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite is the only wireless gaming headset you need to consider buying - it is the best I have ever tested, and probably the best gaming headset, period.

While its price tag means it’s more expensive than most of the best gaming consoles, if you’re someone who strives to build the most performant gaming setup, or someone who craves the highest-quality audio for gaming, then the Elite is for you - and boy does it prove to be worth it for that audience.

Its design and build are something I’ve never experienced before, and I simply have no complaints here. The headset is extremely robust with its all-metal frame, and is as comfortable to boot with its super plush leatherette ear pads. All controls and buttons are intuitively placed and a joy to use, with genuinely satisfying motions to the volume wheel and microphone.

The feature set is even more impressive. First and foremost, it really is the first certified Hi-Res (96kHz/24bit) wireless gaming headset on the market, and it’s such a joy to use in all its premium quality audio goodness. This is in no small part provided by its 40mm carbon fiber drivers that are stretched over a brass surround ring inside each cup, and supported by a brilliant GameHub DAC unit, which also offers multiconnectivity and even multimedia play - simultaneously. The brilliant SteelSeries’ Infinity Power battery system returns, and the microphone is now dual-fold with a brilliant boom mic supported by a beamforming built-in mic – taking over automatically whenever the boom one is retracted.

The performance of the Elite is otherworldly when it comes to gaming audio. It’s rich and detailed, with zero harshness or muddiness, and only the best, most rounded and fulsome profiles being directed down your ears at all times. It is relentlessly good. Throw in the fact that you can make it your own audio-wise with the Sonar PC app, or the mobile Arctis App to change things on the fly, and it’s elevated further.

Whether you're looking for a PC gaming headset, PS5 headset, Xbox headset, or even a Nintendo Switch headset, this is the ultimate one to strive for, and one that all other premium gaming headsets should now be measured against. In a similar vein to how I described the Garmin MARQ Golfer (Gen 2) premium golf watch I reviewed recently, if you want to go once, go hard, go premium, and go big on a gaming headset, then this is the one.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite: price and availability

• List price: $599.99 / £599.99 / AU$1,349
• The most expensive gaming headset I’ve tested, and nearly twice the price of the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless
• Offers its own premium, audiophile-grade vision of value

There’s no denying that the SteelSeries Arctis Elite is expensive. At the above price, it’s more than a PlayStation 5 and not that far off a PlayStation 5 Pro either. You could also get two 512GB Xbox Series S consoles for the same price or almost three DualSense Edge controllers. Anyway, it’s expensive, but where does it sit in the market?

In terms of direct competitors at the price point, in the gaming headset market, there are basically none. SteelSeries’ own Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is generally my pick for a premium gaming headset with its $350 / £330 sticker price (though it is often discounted now) - but the Elite comes in at nearly twice the price of that now. Similarly, outside of the SteelSeries ecosystem, it’s also comfortably more than the likes of the audiophile-focused Audeze Maxwell and Beyerdynamic MMX 300 Pro, too.

To find direct competitors pricewise, you’re looking to the core audiophile headphone market and products like the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2, Focal Bathys, and the Elite is still even more expensive than the Sennheiser HD 660S2 as well - and they all, of course, do not feature any gaming headset features or enhancements.

However, and hopefully this review shines light on all the reasons why, I genuinely believe that there is robust value in the Elite if you are the precise audience it is targeting. If you are that ultimate setup gamer, or an audiophile gamer who wants the best gaming audio money can buy above all else, then the Elite is absolutely for you, and you will see and hear the benefits and boosts.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite: specs

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite: design and features

• Every part of the build is premium and of superb quality
• A host of first-ever premium features built into its DNA
• Two great colorways and a robust but comfortable build, epitomized by the metal frame

Starting off with the obvious, yes, this is another headset cut straight from the same SteelSeries Arctis Nova cloth as many others - at least, in terms of overall aesthetic, shape, and form. Which is fine - if it isn’t broken, why fix it? Instead, enhance it, as the Elite does, by offering a metal frame and hinges made of rolled steel and aluminum for starters.

However, elsewhere, literally every part of the Elite’s design and build looks and feels premium. This includes the volume wheel, which is incredibly satisfying to use, offering a lovely click with each notch you reach. The trademark retractable mic extends and rolls away with a new level of smoothness that I haven’t felt on any headset before, let alone a SteelSeries one, and the comfort of the plush leatherette earpads is something like never before, too.

It also comes in two distinct colorways, with the sage and gold combination being particularly striking and very evocative of the luxurious lifestyle device that SteelSeries is keen to describe the Elite as being. The other obsidian colorway is more familiar on a gaming headset, but the shine of the metalwork of the build gives it a chic edge. The dial on the accompanying GameHub DAC unit matches the gold or obsidian, respectively, of each colorway, too.

Ensuring we cover the necessities, on the left cup, we have the retractable bidirectional, 32KHz ClearCast Gen 2.X boom mic, the mic mute button, the power button (which also acts as the ANC and transparency mode button), the volume wheel (which can also be pressed in to remotely control the GameHub’s function), and audio jack port. On the right cup, we have the Bluetooth button (which controls media on your connected devices too, with a range of different presses) and the secondary beamforming mic, a ClearCast on-ear microphone, to be precise.

Both earcups have the swappable metal plates on the outside that SteelSeries fans will know and love, and they both hide something important, as they do on other headsets from the brand; on the right, it’s the replaceable battery, and on the left, it’s the USB-C port.

As with Nova Pro headsets, the Elite comes with a DAC unit that connects to your device. The version with the Elite is called the GameHub with OmniPlay and is a beefed-up version of the ones that accompany the Pros, which still offers the way to charge your removable batteries and tinker with settings, but has a trick up its sleeve.

This time, you can connect to all types of consoles or platforms from this one unit, from PC to PlayStation, and from Switch to Xbox - on top of the added Bluetooth connectivity the headset has too. The result is that you can connect up and listen to the audio of four different sources all at the same time - hence the term, OmniPlay. And it really is magic.

Underneath the physical features is where the real magic lies, and one of the most unique things about the Elite, which makes it truly different among its peers. First and foremost are its brand-new drivers: custom-designed 40mm carbon fiber drivers with a brass surround ring. These offer a frequency response of 10-40,000Hz and are at the core of the Elite’s bona fide, certified Hi-Res (24-bit/96kHz) audio offering - a first in gaming headsets.

The ANC onboard is formed of a four-mic hybrid active noise cancellation that features a transparency mode, and complementing that is the mic’s AI noise rejection tech, which is also witchcraft, given how much noise it can block out when in chaotic environments like busy streets and when trains scream past. You’ve also got the brilliant multi-faceted Infinity Power system (two removable batteries, one of which can always be charging in the GameHub, while also offering a USB-C port for quick charging), so you’ll likely never run out of battery, and a convenient method of charging the headset. Plus, Bluetooth codec support is excellent, with the 5.3 version supporting LC3 and LC3+.

I think the only feature missing from such a premium headset package would be a hard case, or at least something more protective than the leatherette one included.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite: performance

• Simply the best gaming audio from a headset I have ever experienced
• Seamless and abundant connectivity, with a brilliant mic
• Brilliantly comfy and easy to use, and perfect for all other media

Where do I start? The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite simply excels in every single audio manner, on every platform, and for every media and genre of game you can throw at it. That’s it, I could leave it there.

But I won’t, naturally. In practice, the audio is incredible on the Elite. I can immediately hear a difference from other sets I have to hand, like a SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 or the also excellent Drop + Epos PC38X, and it’s almost certainly better than my Sennheiser HD 550 headphones, which I put above many gaming headsets.

Across all my testing on PC, console, and mobile, the Elite excelled. The world of Ghost of Yotei was alive through audio alone; the chaos of hectic scenes in the Battlefield 6 campaign on PS5 was incredibly bombastic and rich, without ever being muddy or boomy; and the details of Control and Frostpunk 2, to name but two, on PC were a sheer delight.

Technically, the Elite is fully unleashed as a PC gaming headset due to the PS5 and Xbox Series X, sadly, not being able to output at the highest res - though you’ll also need to manually change a setting or two in Windows to ensure your PC outputs in Hi-Res too. Given that Hi-Res edge that the Elite has on PC, it does leave me wondering whether it’s an equally wise investment for someone who exclusively games on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or Nintendo Switch. It feels almost like a disservice to the headset - and the money you spent on it - to leave it tied to any single platform, and maybe more so a console that can’t unleash the full power of the Hi-Res headset.

However, that really isn’t to say you’ll not be having an awesome, spectacular time on console, so don’t let that put you off either, especially if you’re an audiophile who plays on PS5, for example. As previously mentioned, I still had a breathtaking time on console with the Elite, so you’ll still have a super quality headset for console, and the Elite’s other premium qualities will make it shine.

Away from gaming, as a pair of bona fide enthusiast audiophile headphones, the Elite absolutely holds up. They certainly sound just as good as my Sennheiser HD 550s, and perhaps better, after testing them across a range of music and video. Basically, if you’re at all concerned about how the Elite transposes its gaming audio prowess to other media, don’t be. This was echoed by my time using the Elite out and about as a set of contenders for best headphones on walks or travel; the audio never failed to impress, and the ANC is impressive too.

As with other modern SteelSeries audio devices, you can get even more out of the Elite with the companion app on mobile to give you flexibility and customization options on the fly - great when playing on console. And on PC, you can tap into all the SteelSeries GG and Sonar have to offer to tailor the Elite even more acutely to your preferences if need be.

Should I buy the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite: Also consider

If the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite is either not what you’re after or a bit rich for you, then here are two competitors that might hit the mark.

How I tested the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite

• Tested almost daily for nearly five weeks for work, gaming, and on the go
• Used on PC and PS5 Pro on a wide variety of games, and work and home tasks
• Compared directly to a set of Sennheiser HD 550 headphones, as well as other gaming headsets

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite has been my daily gaming headset for work and play for around five weeks for review. I have integrated them into both my gaming PC and PS5 Pro setups, as well as used them out and about as a pair of audiophile headphones.

On my RTX 3090 gaming PC (a machine teamed with an Acer Predator X32QFS gaming monitor), where I was able to test the Hi-Res audio after changing a setting in Windows, I played a host of games, including the Titan Quest 2 Early Access build, Frostpunk 2, Control, and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3. I also used them extensively for work and video calls.

On console, I primarily tested the Elite with my PS5 Pro, but also with my office setup’s PS5 Slim for good measure. On PS5, I tested the Elite with almost my entire playthrough of Ghost of Yotei, as well as some of Death Stranding Director’s Cut, Battlefield 6, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (the PS5 version) and the Claws of Awaji expansion for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and for multiplayer testing I used the Elite for finishing a Ghost Recon: Breakpoint playthrough with my buddies as well as an Aliens: Fireteam Elite playthrough.

As well as using the Elite as headphones while on dog walks, I also tested them with music and entertainment. I used them as I normally would with the likes of Spotify and YouTube, but also hi-res audio providers like Tidal. During my testing, I was able to compare the Elite to my set of HD 550 headphones as an audiophile headphone reference point, as well as a Drop + Epos PC38X headset, and a SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 headset.

First reviewed September-October 2025

Read more about how we test

• Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition has been announced and will include all six expansions and over 150 Creation Club items
• A Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the game is coming in 2026
• Fallout 76 is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S in 2026

Fallout Day is here, and Bethesda is celebrating with a slew of new game updates and announcements that include a Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition, Fallout 76 for current-gen consoles, and more.

It's been 10 years since Fallout 4 launched, and to mark the milestone, a new Anniversary Edition that compiles the base game and all six expansion packs and over 150 Creation Club items is set to launch on November 10, 2025.

A Nintendo Switch 2 Edition has also been announced and is set to arrive in 2026.

In addition to a new version of the game, Creations are also coming to Fallout 4, which means more downloadable content is coming to the game, thanks to a new Creations menu that will be added to the console and PC versions.

Fallout 76's next major expansion, Burning Springs, releases in December, and Bethesda has shared a brand new trailer detailing the content set to star actor Walton Goggins' the Ghoul from Amazon Prime's Fallout.

The expansion will also feature some nods to Fallout: New Vegas as the game celebrates its 15th anniversary, which players will be able to discover across the wasteland.

While players can currently play Fallout 76 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, or PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S via backwards compatibility, Bethesda has also announced that a native version of the game will be released for PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S in 2026.

In addition to some Fallout Shelter updates, Bethesda is also releasing a Fallout: New Vegas 15th anniversary bundle, which includes a physical copy of the Ultimate Edition on PC, a Victor statue, Vault Boy Pin, Evaluation Cards, and some cool-looking patches.

• Mojang CEO Jens Bergensten says Minecraft's Creeper probably wouldn't be included in the game today because it would be "so controversial"
• He says, "If you were to follow the rules that we have today, we would probably not add the Creeper"
• The CEO explains that when adding something destructive to Minecraft, it needs to be tested with the players first

According to Mojang CEO Jens Bergensten, Minecraft's Creeper probably wouldn't be included in the game if it were made today, because it would be "controversial".

Speaking in a new behind-the-scenes developer video titled 'The Biome That Broke Minecraft', Bergensten talked about what he calls the "iconic" Creeper, one of Minecraft's many enemies that can blow itself up and destroy anything within its reach, but believes that the game wouldn't be able to feature the monster today.

"Even to this day, it's one of the monsters in gaming that I'm still a little afraid of," Bergensten said.

"If you were to follow the rules that we have today, we would probably not add the Creeper. Because it would actually be so controversial to have a monster that would show up and destroy what you built."

Earlier in the video, Bergensten explained that it's important to make sure Minecraft's destructive elements weren't too off-putting to the player, touching on the Enderman and its ability to remove any block in the game and destroy anything the player created.

"It's very important that whenever you add something destructive to the game, you need to test it with the players and make sure it finds the right level of destruction," he said.

Suffice to say, Minecraft wouldn't be the same without the annoying presence of the Creeper, because like it or not, it does make the game's survival mode more of a challenge.

If you're new to Minecraft, be sure to check out our guide to the best Minecraft seeds of 2025, which can truly enhance your time with the game.

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• Fortnite's annual Halloween event, Fortnitemares, has returned
• The seasonal event adds Doja Cat, Scooby Doo and the gang, and several horror movie and video game skins
• A new Nitemare Island map is being added on October 10

Epic Games has released the details and first trailer for Fortnitemares, Fortnite's annual Halloween event, revealing the crossover characters who will be added to the game.

Fortnitemares officially returns today, October 9, and like last year, the seasonal event arrives with an exciting new collaboration to celebrate, this time starring Scooby Doo and the gang.

The trailer confirmed that Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Daphne, Fred, and Velma will all be featured in this year's Halloween event, and likely be available as skins in the Item Shop.

They'll also be joined by this year's main event boss, Mother of Thorns, and real-life popstar Doja Cat.

"Fear gets a new face. Meet the Mother of Thorns, Doja Cat, who’s twisting Battle Royale into her haunted kingdom and unleashing chaos with a wild cast of characters," Epic Games teased.

Those characters include horror icons like Scream's Ghostface, Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th, Wednesday Addams, the Grabber from Black Phone, and Art the Clown from Terrifier.

There will also be some skins inspired by some video games, including those from R.E.P.O. and Huggy Wuggy from the survival horror game, Poppy Playtime.

Players can also look forward to the all-new Nitemare Island that will debut in Fortnite Reload on October 10, which transforms the map into a Halloween-inspired spectacle.

The new event arrives amid Chapter 6 Season 4, which recently added a K-pop Demon Hunters collaboration.

For more, be sure to check out our full Fortnitemares 2025 article and our guide for Fortnite's next season release date and what to expect from Chapter 6 Season 5, including map changes and upcoming updates.

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• Assassin's Creed Mirage: Valley of Memory DLC arrives in November as a free story DLC featuring a new region, quests, and additional improvements
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• Microsoft has insisted that rumors that it has canceled its future hardware plans are false
• An alleged insider claims that "the future of Xbox is software publishing"
• Microsoft has now issued a statement, saying, "We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered, and built by Xbox"

Microsoft has denied rumors that it has canceled its next-gen hardware plans, reaffirming its commitment to Xbox consoles.

As reported by our pals at Windows Central (and then at the likes of IGN after the initial report), the rumor originated from an alleged insider who claimed on NeoGAF that "the future of Xbox is software publishing" and Microsoft will turn all its focus to "profitable IPs" such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Candy Crush, and Forza Horizon.

They also claim that Cloud gaming will be the home of the "Xbox platform", and Xbox Game Pass will become "the point of entry subscription for xCloud access".

However, since then, Microsoft has issued a statement to Windows Central, insisting that the rumor is false and that it is fully invested in its hardware plans.

"We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox. For more details, the community can revisit our agreement announcement with AMD," Microsoft said.

The rumors come amid massive changes at Microsoft. Last week, the company announced major changes to Xbox Game Pass, which saw three upgraded plans and a massive price hike for the Ultimate membership.

Now, Ultimate will cost $29.99 / £22.99 / AU$35.95 a month, up from $19.99 / £14.99 / AU$22.95. There's also currently no option for a 12-month subscription, which could potentially offer the plan at a cheaper cost.

In addition, Microsoft has confirmed that it has removed discounts on all game and downloadable content (DLC) purchases from Xbox Game Pass in favor of reward points.

Initially thought to be limited to Call of Duty DLC, Microsoft has since stated that the change reflects all games and DLC purchases, saying Ultimate and Premium subscribers will now receive 10% and 5% worth of rewards points instead.

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• Assassin's Creed Mirage's free DLC, Valley of Memory, has been revealed and launches on November 18
• The expansion adds new story content and takes place before Mirage's finale
• New improvements to the game will also be added, including a manual jump ability, replayable missions, and more

Ubisoft has revealed the details for Assassin's Creed Mirage's latest story expansion, Valley of Memory, a free downloadable content (DLC) launching next month.

Valley of Memory will arrive on November 18, 2025, just in time for the game's second anniversary, and will offer up to six hours of new story content that takes place before Mirage's finale.

"Valley of Memory kicks off when Basim learns that his long-lost father might still be alive in AlUla," Ubisoft explains in the announcement post. "Basim decides to go on a journey to see if the rumors hold any truth, only to discover that the valley of AlUla is threatened by a dangerous band of robbers and his father is missing."

With new story quests also comes a new region and map to explore, along with additional assassination targets, side quests, contracts, and Basim can now also play the oud at certain locations once players track down music sheets through parkour missions.

Speaking of parkour, the DLC will arrive with a series of major improvements, including new features in gameplay that "will strengthen our parkour experience" with a manual jump ability, which can be toggled on in the settings.

A new control scheme will also be added alongside manual jump, and players will be able to customize side and back ejects, which could previously only be performed when Basim had a clear landing spot or handhold.

All black box missions and contracts in Mirage and Valley of Memory will become replayable after players complete them once and will be accessible through "Animus Sequences". Each replayable mission will also offer new challenges that will unlock exclusive in-game rewards.

A new skill called Engineer 2 has been added to Basim's skill tree that allows him to equip all level modifications to his tools, while a new level 3 modification has been added to all tools.

Finally, players can also expect two new, customizable difficulty levels. More details are expected to be revealed in the upcoming update's patch notes.

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The next Fallout 76 update will be one of the largest yet, expanding the online game’s already massive Appalachia map with a whole new region set in a post-apocalyptic alternate history version of Ohio.

Titled Burning Springs, it’s the very first time that the series has ventured into the area, and production director Bill LaCoste argues that this presents the team with a unique opportunity to expand its lore. “We've always said as a team that the main character of this game is the world,” he begins. “Ohio was a blank slate. There are maybe four or five references to Ohio in all of Fallout, so this was a good opportunity to build on something and add something to the Fallout universe.”

Creative director Jon Rush echoes a similar sentiment. “We've never really talked much about what happened to Ohio post-war,” he says, “so that seemed like a fun place to explore.”

Movie magic

The update will coincide with the second season of the successful Amazon Prime Fallout TV show, which is set to premiere in December and returns to the fan-favorite setting of New Vegas. The developers of Fallout 76 are very keen to imbue the Ohio wasteland with the key characteristics of that Vegas locale.

“We saw where Season One ended. It ended in the desert of Vegas. You got Vegas in the background, you’ve got a big Deathclaw skull, and when we saw that we decided we wanted to make a new region,” Rush reveals as he explains that the team distilled everything down into “three pillars” so that the map expansion would be “very much in line with the tone that people experience in Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas.”

“We want there to be a lot of desert, we want there to be a lot of Deathclaws, and we want there to be a lot of raiders,” he continues. “Desert, Deathclaws, and raiders - those were the three guiding factors in shaping this new region. Even though geographically, it is a different part of the United States, tonally it's going to remind people very much of those earlier games.”

The influence of the show extends further than just the map, though, with one of its major characters appearing as a non-player character (NPC) in one of the new cities. Voiced by actor Walton Goggins, The Ghoul is an integral part of the update’s new bounty hunting mechanics, and players will frequently need to visit him in order to collect these highly repeatable quests. Nailing the feel of his dialogue was something of a two-way process, requiring input from both the actor and the writing team.

“He's an absolutely wonderful actor and he's great to collaborate with,” says Rush. “We had writers on the game side who were writing the dialogue for the character, and we had a writer on the show side doing dialogue for the character as well. Then, when presented with those dialog options, of course, Walton, being The Ghoul, had adjustments to make on his side, too, but then once he was in the booth, he became The Ghoul and just knocked it out the park. It was pretty amazing.”

“I don't think those scripts should ever be looked at as a blueprint,” he adds. “It's more of a suggestion, and the real magic happens when an actor like Walton Goggins comes in and makes it that character; that's when it truly comes to life.”

Just getting started

Bounty hunting quests involve tracking down a certain NPC somewhere on the map, drawn from a large roster of potential targets. “What's randomized is the location,” Rush explains. “We do have a roster [of targets], and what's great about that feature is that it's been made to where we can expand upon that pretty easily, both in terms of the targets that you're hunting and the locations you're doing them in. So we already have more plans for bounty hunting down the road with that in mind.”

Aside from these tasks, players will also have two new live events to contend with: Sinkhole Solutions and Gearing Up. Both have been designed to be repeatable and give players the chance to obtain rare legendary items with each run. “As fans of the game and avid players of 76, when we're testing these new features we're always asking ourselves, ‘Why would I want to do this again? What's going to keep me coming back?’” says Rush.

This is all on top of some new story content, countless fresh locations for those eager to go wild with the expansive building mechanics, and plenty of hidden secrets waiting to be uncovered. It’s a gigantic heap of content, but after years of steady new additions, the developers show no signs of slowing down.

“Seven years in, I feel like we're just getting to the point where it's a base game,” remarks LaCoste. “We’ve got all the systems in place now, we've redone a lot of the combat, we’ve rebalanced the perks because systems that worked back at launch sometimes need to be revamped to fit the mood of the current vibe of the game.”

The result is a robust experience that’s just waiting to be rediscovered by lapsed fans or those hot off the heels of the show. “I think Fallout 76 is a great place to start,” declares Rush. “You can hop in and play it solo, or if you want to team up with other people or your friends, you're more than welcome to do that. There's hundreds and hundreds of hours of awesome Fallout storytelling, a huge map to explore, and there's never a shortage of things to do while you're in there.”

If you’re keen to give Fallout 76 a try in the build-up to the Burning Springs update, the game is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One or PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S via backwards compatibility.

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• KPop Demon Hunters is the latest Fortnite collaboration to join the game
• Skins and accessories inspired by the HUNTR/X members, Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, are now available
• Players can also take part in Demon Rush, a new version of Horde Rush, until November 1

KPop Demon Hunters, one of the biggest animated films of the year, has officially arrived in Fortnite as the game's latest collaboration.

Starting today, players can get their hands on skins inspired by the HUNTR/X members, Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, in the Fortnite Item Shop, along with a selection of accessories and emotes from the Netflix hit that will also be available in the HUNTR/X Bundle.

The limited-time Horde Rush also makes a return as the revised Demon Rush, which will be available as a month-long game mode from October 2 to November 1.

"Recruit Rumi, Mira, or Zoey as you fight endless waves of faceless demons, while also loading up on Kpop Demon Hunters inspired perks between each Survival Phase," Epic Games said.

In addition, players will be able to complete quests from Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, and earn new items in Battle Royale, Reload, and Blitz, including Rumi’s Empowered Sword, Mira’s X-tra Spicy Ramyeon, Zoey's Golden Bubble Shield, and the Derpy Teleporter Mask.

Alongside these new additions to Battle Royale and Blitz, creators will also have access to KPop Demon Hunter-inspired assets, signature gameplay items, demon enemies, and the members of HUNTR/X.

"Whether it’s slashing through foes with Rumi’s Empowered Sword or orchestrating KPop street showdowns, developers can build melee-focused islands or remix their existing islands," Epic Games said.

After building their own experiences, creators can publish them right away with the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) and Fortnite Creative.

Unfortunately, the KPop Demon Hunters collaboration doesn't feature any Jam tracks for Fortnite Festival, so there won't be any jamming sessions to the film's popular 'Golden' or 'Soda Pop' songs. Here's hoping another update will arrive in the future to add these features, along with the Saja Boys!

Fortnite is currently in the middle of Chapter 6 Season 4. For more, check out our guide for Fortnite's next season release date and what to expect from Chapter 6 Season 5, including map changes and upcoming updates.

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The next Fallout 76 update, Burning Springs, is set to be the biggest content drop the game has seen in its almost seven years of expansive post-launch support. Releasing alongside the premiere of Amazon Prime Video’s highly anticipated Fallout season two in December, it’s shaping up to be the perfect accompaniment for fans of the TV show.

It represents the game’s second map expansion since the Skyline Valley update last year and fleshes out the Appalachia wasteland’s western region with a massive new area based on Ohio. That’s not everything, though, as this fresh environment is crammed with activities ranging from more story quests, two bombastic public events, and plenty of little secrets to discover.

Most exciting of all, however, is the addition of The Ghoul. Voiced by none other than Prime series actor Walton Goggins, he looks ripped straight from your TV screen and is an integral part of the update's biggest and most enjoyable new mechanic: bounty hunting.

Gun for hire

Picking up a bounty is as simple as heading to the newly added settlement of Highway Town, a strip-like city perched on top of a decimated overpass, and making a beeline for the shadiest bar you can find. The Ghoul stands menacingly in the corner in all his glory and, after a quick chat, offers you the chance to pick up some low-level contracts called Grunt Hunts.

While the final version of the update will feature plenty of Goggins' voice acting, it was unfortunately absent from the early build I played. Still, all of the dialogue was still present in a generic text-to-speech voice, and it provided enough to get at least a decent flavor of how it all might sound.

Grunt Hunts are repeatable tasks that are designed to be replayed time and time again, providing you with a steady stream of experience, items, and a generous amount of Caps. Although they can be tackled solo, I soon found that they really shone with a friend. Walking to the location of each target gives you the perfect chance for a little chat and to explore all of the new terrain. I bumped into a few little collectibles and even found a handful of items connected to the latest story quests on my travels.

Of course, simply fast-travelling to somewhere close to the target is always an option, but I’d recommend taking the extra time to really soak this new area in - at least in the first few weeks while the update is still fresh. When you reach your destination, finding your target is pretty simple, and while they might have a few goons on hand as backup, they’re all relatively easy to dispatch.

Far more challenging are the Head Hunts - server-wide contracts that cost a few Caps to access. Anyone in the game can join these, and you’ll likely need the assistance as they’re meant to be seriously difficult. In my time with the build, I went head-to-head with everything from a Power Armor-wearing psychopath flanked by waves of heavily armed US flag-themed foot soldiers to some random rifle-wielding old lady called Granny Grail.

For the purposes of the preview event, every participant was given a ridiculously high-level character and an arsenal of seriously overpowered weapons, so Granny Grail and her entourage of fellow golden oldies, all amusingly called ‘Tough Granny’ in-game, were obliterated in a matter of seconds. Was it a little anticlimactic? Sure, but the absurdly gory sight of all her limbs exploding practically instantaneously as four level 300 players showered her with rifle bullets had me howling with laughter - so I can’t really complain.

She’ll presumably stand more of a chance against my regular account, so I look forward to receiving a significant beating in our next encounter once the update is live.

Interestingly, the developers told me that these encounters are not procedurally generated as you might expect, but rather drawn upon a large list of hand-crafted enemies that can show up in any one of twenty possible locations, and I can’t help but chuckle at the mental image of a developer crafting a deadly old woman for players to defeat.

Vegas vibes

Ohio is nowhere near Las Vegas geographically, but that doesn’t mean that the developers haven’t tried to imbue this setting with a distinctly desert vibe to help match the new setting of the show. It’s a very sandy, red wasteland that looks far more like the world of Fallout: New Vegas than anything that we’ve seen in 76 before.

Radscorpions, a constant pest in New Vegas, are absolutely everywhere and a key part of the new Sinkhole Solutions public event. It’s a neat little horde survival challenge that has you fending off increasingly deadly waves of Radscorpions as a team, occasionally taking out nests as you go, for high-level rewards. The other new public event, Gearing Up, is then all about collecting scrap and leading a friendly Deathclaw through waves of bandits. It seems less repeatable than Sinkhole Solutions, but it is still a decent change of pace.

Highway Town is an impressively unique destination, but there are still lots of other locations well worth a visit throughout the map. The real-life city of Athens is represented in the middle of a charming Halloween celebration, the streets littered with plastic skeletons and other seasonal decorations. Make sure to snag the novelty witch’s hat that’s perched on the mannequin in the middle of the town plaza when you visit for some serious style points.

As a free update that also drops alongside a new season pass filled with a fresh wave of unlockable goodies, the quality and quantity of content on offer here is undeniable. If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to dive into the world of Fallout 76, this is it.

The game is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, or PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S via backwards compatibility.

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• A new Fortnite collaboration with Daft Punk has been announced
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Epic Games has announced a special Fortnite collaboration event with the electronic music duo Daft Punk, set to take place this weekend.

The Daft Punk Experience is described as a new immersive tribute to the iconic Grammy-winning duo, which will take players on a cosmic voyage from the world of Battle Royale to the world of Daft Punk.

Unlike previous musical collaborations, this crossover will also feature a "fully interactive playground" that includes multiple rooms with different ways to experience the band’s music.

The grand opening is scheduled for September 27 at 2 PM ET / 7 PM BST / 11 AM PT, but doors open for the pre-event lobby 30 minutes early at 1:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM BST / 10:30 AM PT.

"The Daft Punk Experience gives fans and players a chance to enter into this retro-futuristic realm celebrating the band’s legacy, reimagined for the virtual world," Epic Games said.

"Remix Daft Punk’s previously released music and create mashups of Daft Punk’s songs within Fortnite at Dream Chamber Studios, blast hordes of robots with a soundwave laser in the Robot Rock Arena, make a LEGO music video at Around the World, or hit the Daft Club to dance ‘til dawn. You’ll also find furniture from longtime Daft Punk collaborators Hervet Manufacturier throughout the experience."

In addition to the main event, a new Daft Punk Bundle will also be available in the Fortnite Shop on September 25, which features Daft Punk's GM08 helmet, outfit, and accessories, the TB3 helmet, outfit, and accessories, as well as instruments and a "Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers)" Jam Track. All outfits and accessories will be available in Fortnite and LEGO styles.

Epic Games has also teased an "afterparty," but more details will be revealed later. More details about the upcoming event can be found on the official blog here.

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Yes, you read that title right. I am here to reveal some brilliant but bleak, magnificent but melancholy, stunning but sad, and divine but depressing video games.

It’s a strange niche to inhabit, but I love these kinds of games, and have realised in the past five years or so that a bunch of my favorites fit perfectly into this category – and they’re often brilliant because of that, not despite it.

I think a lot of my fascination comes from the fact that sadness and melancholy are the kinds of emotions that games can really tap into, encouraging the player to immerse themselves by living out these emotions through stories, characters, worlds, and atmospheres. I welcome that immersion, and the feeling in touch with my own emotions that these games can evoke.

Now, before you say “this guy must be fun at parties,” I’m not going to intentionally turn this article on incredible video games into some form of video game-shaped therapy – but it may seem like it at times as we go. This might not be the happiest of places for the next few minutes – but still a deeply interesting and gripping one.

And remember, these are just some of my favorites - let me know some of yours in the comment section.

The Last of Us Part 2

Not a surprising first hit on this list, perhaps, but it’s one of my all-time favorite games from one of my all-time favorite series.

Ellie and Abby’s combined tale of endless violence, revenge, and cyclical darkness – complete with PTSD and torture in a world of relentless danger and doom – is gripping, intense, and, yes, downright bleak and miserable. But it works, and the story is so powerful for it.

I can see The Last of Us Part 2's misery so clearly in my mind's eye when I think of it; I can replay the emotional cutscenes and angry quotes; perfectly visualise heart wrenching scenes when I hear music from the game; and I have relived its atmosphere, over and over again since it was released in 2020.

Couched in a landscape of dilapidated, crumbling buildings and torn up lands and with a climate of relentless rain and dark clouds, the bleak experience is all-encompassing. And what an absorbing, gripping one it is, pulling you on to every next moment and narrative beat with great intensity.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

If it wasn’t already a contender for such a list, the recently released Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced release of the game settles it; this is one of my absolutely favorite games of this generation – and it’s grim as anything.

Exploring the depths of complex mental health conditions is a deeply compelling and interesting premise, and Senua’s experience with it (building upon the excellence of the first game) makes for a deeply gripping, dark, and brooding journey across Iceland’s barren lands.

Not only is it Senua’s own past, experiences, and mind that transports directly into her bleak boots and misery, but there is a host of stories within Hellblade 2's narrative that are beautifully tragic, too.

The giants and their origins, from the tale of a desperate mother abandoning her child to mythical beings, to a good man who suffers the pain and consequences of betraying a friend; these stories are beautifully sorrowful, and pull you further into the shadowy and oppressive world of Dark Ages Iceland and Senua’s journey.

A Plague Tale: Innocence

Spoilers, but you know you could be in for a bleak time when the opening section of a game has a pet dog die.

And that’s exactly what Innocence does, setting a tragic tone for the rest of the game. Playing as a child in Amicia de Rune, you and your younger brother have to travel 14th-century France in one of the darkest periods of history while fighting for survival against soldiers, rats, and the plague.

The latter two’s prominence across the game’s environments and landscapes emphasizes the deep struggle, and every time you remember that Amicia is only 15 years old, you get a stark reminder of how bleak this game is and the experiences she is having to go through.

Littered with dead bodies, angry soldiers, and millions of rats, environments where blood literally runs down the streets, and moments where you have to clamber through bloody messes under buildings and across battlefields mean there’s not much to feel cheery about here.

Throw in the fact that Amicia can turn dark with some bleak actions of her own – like using soldiers as bait or taking out light sources to see them overrun by ravenous rats, and the depths of depravity are plundered further by your own direct input.

Shadow of the Colossus

Perhaps more melancholy and lonely than bleak or depressing, Shadow of the Colossus and its solo adventurer’s journey has stayed with me for a long time.

Its landscape and atmosphere are what I’d call mournful rather than bleak, in a way; there’s life in the landscape, and sunshine too. But it’s totally empty and devoid of anything apart from you, your horse, and barren – albeit beautiful – space between you and the colossi.

This mournful undertones perfectly mirror the meta-narrative and concept of the game’s colossi encounters, too: each one is a little morally ambiguous, lamenting music rings out after each battle, and after all colossi are defeated, there’s still a tragic ending to deal with, too.

It’s a sad game filled with sorrowfulness, yes; though its beauty and time to think as you cross the landscape alleviate it a little for some. For others, like me, it all works together to make for a haunting, beautiful adventure that tugs at the melancholy within.

Hell is Us

I’ve only played a tiny bit of Hell is Us as of the time of writing this, but I can already see what reviewer Christian Gutyon meant when he described the game’s world as “bleak but fantastically realized” and that the “the world you inhabit feels dark and dangerous, poised to collapse into unmitigated chaos at any moment, with only small glimmers of hope left.”

The despair and bleakness of Hell is Us – in what I’ve experienced so far, at least – is two-fold. First, there are the often deeply miserable tales and circumstances you stumble across in the world: abandoned people hiding for days in dungeons, the grim remnants of a terrible civil war and the crimes against humanity it brought, and even death by your own actions if you fail to bring medicine back to someone in time, for example.

The second part of the bleakness is in the very feel of the landscape itself. Also scarred by the civil war, the land is torn deeply; ruins abound, and it feels like the end of days at times.

Plus, some delightful pathetic fallacy as the land is pounded by wretched weather, too, with relentless rain and mud adding to the overall gray and grim tones. The pain and bleakness can be felt in the very land itself, almost.

Metro 2033

The Metro games have long stayed with me for their ability to evoke such a strong sense of place in a post-apocalyptic world. A man-made apocalypse, at that, too, which itself only heightens the prevalent sense of darkness and futility that humans are destined to ruin the world.

After a violent ending to said world, the game perfectly portrays what’s left behind. The world is filled with danger and oppression, and even the air wants to kill you when you get brief moments on the outside.

With the majority of Metro 2033 taking place in the Moscow subway system, though, the atmosphere is deeply claustrophobic and dark, with barely any flashes of light or hope. While you do get some human contact, thankfully, life in the tunnels is grim, with people living in dank and dark conditions and barely having enough food to make it by.

There’s dread, terrible human factions, and monsters around every turn, and even the scarcity of resources and supplies amplifies the bleakness of your situation. However, wherever you go, it’s this very atmosphere that brings you back to the adventure and its sense of place, desperation, and destruction.

Dead Space

While Isaac’s journey through the Ishimura dangles hope just before your eyes, moment to moment, it’s challenging, void of light, and deeply, darkly atmospheric.

Every turn and corner in Dead Space could be Isaac’s last due to the terror that has befallen the crew members, with monsters out to gut Isaac. Plus, there’s also next to no human contact or sightings throughout, which makes it feel like all hope is lost on board the USG Ishimura.

It plunges you into literal darkness at times, which definitely helps it feel atmospherically oppressive, but it’s not just the blindness that makes the Ishimura feel so bleak; it’s the way that darkness moves around the ship and the scarce light sources that really enhance the feel of the place.

Having only the deep void of space beyond the windows reminds you further of Isaac’s isolation, insignificance, and the futility of his efforts, only deepening the bleakness further.

Dear Esther

It wouldn’t be a bleak video game list without Dear Esther. This is an extraordinarily interesting game, and one that isn’t action or gameplay-focused at all. It’s a slow and steady but deeply atmospheric trek across a Hebridean island, and is one of the most interesting glum games I’ve played.

The setting of the haunted, barren, and wind-carved landscape is the perfect place for a sombre story, and the sadness in the story combines with the environment beautifully to acutely encapsulate tragedy and desperation.

The slow pace also immerses you further in the game, meaning you soak up all its melancholy and have plenty of time to dwell and ruminate on what you find and see, but also what it all means in the end.

And there you have it: a smattering of my favorite bleak, miserable, and immersive and atmospheric games.

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• A Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 reference may have been found in Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Players find text that reads, "...For those who come after..."
• The phrase is repeated throughout Expedition 33 and is the name of a song on the soundtrack

Fans think they've discovered a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 reference in Hollow Knight: Silksong, and I do hope it was a deliberate move from Team Cherry.

The long-awaited Hollow Knight sequel has been out for less than a week, and as players make their way through the metroidvania game, new discoveries are bound to crop up online, whether it be a secret boss or a unique way to take down an enemy.

Now, it seems that fans have come across what they think to be a nod to one of this year's best games, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

As one user pointed out on X / Twitter, players can come across a statue in the game that will reveal the words "...for those who come after."

If you're familiar with Expedition 33, you'll know that this phrase is the name of an iconic song from the game's soundtrack and also uttered countless times throughout the story, symbolizing the expeditioners' continued struggle against the Paintress.

After a bit more investigating (thanks, RockPaperShotgun), players can come across an area in the game called the Weavennest Karn where they'll need to play their musical instrument, the needolin, to uncover the ghostly text.

The interaction can be watched in a separate clip shared by the original poster, which features the full sentence. It reads, "...Through ages...Bound...Forgotten...Faded...For those who come after..."

Whether this was a deliberate easter egg on Team Cherry's part or just a simple reuse of the same phrase, we can't be certain, but Sandfall Interactive has shared its support for the game in a recent post alongside some lovely crossover fan art.

Elsewhere, Team Cherry has announced that the first post-launch Hollow Knight: Silksong patch will arrive next week and address the early game difficulty complaints.

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