As the gaming world watches and waits, Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone says he's feeling the pressure to ensure that the follow-up, Haunted Chocolatier, meets everyone's expectations.

Speaking to GQ in a wide-ranging interview, Barone touches on how the creative process differs this time around and that it hasn't been an easy adjustment. While he had all the time in the world to create Stardew Valley, the fans that game has amassed over the years are now eagerly awaiting Haunted Chocolatier.

"I've been struggling with that," he says, "because I really want to recapture that feeling that I had when I was making Stardew Valley. Back then, there was no audience, there was no precedent. Everyone's watching me, and if I don't do things a certain way, it might disappoint millions of people."

Further reflecting on Stardew Valley, Barone says it was initially a "dumb little project" he used to get better at programming while he "couldn't find a job." Now? A phenomenon.

"It's kind of hard to fathom just how many people have played it, and the impact it's had," he says. "It was not part of the plan."

Regardless, now five years since its initial announcement, Haunted Chocolatier is slowly taking shape at a pace Barone is setting for himself. Pressure or not. Thankfully, it looks to be shaping up nicely. Elsewhere in the interview, Barone describes it as a game for Stardew Valley players who yearn for the mines, which sounds quite ideal and worth the wait.

ConcernedApe says sorry Haunted Chocolatier is taking so long: "I won't compromise on the quality of the game by rushing it or releasing it too early."

A few months removed from its launch into early access, the lead developer of witchy action game 1666: Amsterdam says the team creates dozens of builds every day.

1666: Amsterdam released into Steam Early Access back in August after what can generously be called a troubled development. First being thought of in 2011, the game was started at THQ in 2013, before Ubisoft bought the studio, firing its lead director Patrice Désilets, and acquiring the rights to 1666: Amsterdam. Following legal proceedings, Désilets acquired the rights to the game, with it being his second title after leaving Ubisoft in 2010.

Speaking to PC Gamer magazine in issue 428, Désilets – creative director of 1666: Amsterdam and creator of Assassin's Creed – explains the development process for the game as it works towards its full release. "We do between 15 to 20 builds a day," explaining that "it's an iterative process at Panache. Progression is more important than perfection."

1666: Amsterdam was caught in some heat earlier this year following AI generated assets being discovered in the demo for the action adventure game, however, the developers swiftly apologised, and made the commitment to remove all AI generated content from the game ahead of its release. Désilets explained to GamesRadar+ earlier this year that the tech was used "in conception and pre-production" but that the team "won't be using any AI anymore."

While an exact launch game hasn't been detailed just yet, the game's Steam page offers some details about the development of the game, with the developers explaining, "We expect the process to see 1666: Amsterdam through to completion to take approximately 1 year, with multiple major updates adding new content to the game at regular intervals." So far, in the first month and change the game has been out, the developers have released two major updates with the second having "over 200 fixes" for the game.

1666: Amsterdam is a witchy body-hopper made by Assassin's Creed's creator, but it has more in common with Hitman.

Insulation Roll in Arc Raiders is a new crafting resource material added as part of the Frozen Trail update, and while it has no use on its own terms, it's used for high level crafting recipes and materials. However, as an Epic-level item with no clear location to search in its description, finding Insulation Roll isn't easy to do. Fortunately having located it myself, I'll lay out where to look in Arc Raiders to find it.

Arc Raiders Insulation Roll locations

I found an Insulation Roll in the Railyard in Pendola Pass, the snowy map added as part of the Arc Raiders Frozen Trail update, specifically inside the train carriages, resting on the seats and countertops out in the open. However, as an Epic Rarity item, it is not guaranteed to show up, and this was only on one occurrence out of several.

Others online have reported seeing it in all the High-Level Loot locations in Pendola Pass, usually in containers associated with high value items like Security Breach lockers. Though I can't personally confirm that yet, there does seem to be broad consensus on this: Insulation Rolls are highly rare items that appear to be somewhat location-neutral, hence why no specific kind of environment is highlighted in the description to narrow down the search.

Out hunting robots? Find out how to profit even more via the Arc Raiders Trophy Display project! Or alternatively, check out where to find the various Arc Raiders blueprints so you can build anything and everything.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Huss Valley codes can be used to give yourself a considerable boost in this game based on tag, where you need to either evade your opponents as the Hero or stop them in their tracks as a Chaser. In either role you'll need to keep running, while using your unlocked special skills to stay one step ahead of the others.

There are a couple of early promos available, giving periods of boost to increase your Gem and Coin balances, as well as cosmetics such as a random Emote and an exclusive Title for initial players of this fast-paced Roblox experience. If you're ready to run, then here are the codes for Huss Valley and how to redeem them.

If you're looking for some more general promos with rewards that apply to all experiences, then check out the latest Roblox promo codes.

All Huss Valley codes

The following Huss Valley codes are available to be claimed:

• FIRSTCODEEVER – A random Emote, 2x 15m Gem Boost, 100x Gems
• HUSS4CODE – 2x 15m Coin Boost, 2x 15m Gem Boost, 'First' Title

While there are only a couple of initial codes for Huss Valley, the provide a decent selection of rewards, including various boosts to help you stock up on Gems and Coins. There's also the cosmetic 'First' Title to claim, which will no doubt become sought after as this experience continues to gain in popularity, so make sure other players know you were here from the start.

How to redeem Huss Valley codes

To redeem Huss Valley codes, all you have to do is hit the MENU button on the left side of the screen, then from the options that appear select the CODES button. This will take you to the CODES screen, where you can use the ENTER CODE text box to type in a promo before pressing the REDEEM button to collect your rewards. Codes for Huss Valley are not case-sensitive, so you don't have to use all-caps as long as your spelling is correct.

Expired Huss Valley codes

• No expired codes

There are currently no expired Huss Valley codes, as they have only recently been added to the experience. However, we all know that this situation can change rapidly once a game increases in popularity, so make sure you've claimed the rewards from the current codes while you still can.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Now that the World of Warcraft: Forever beta is in full swing and Blizzard's public release is quickly approaching, it comes as no surprise that fans are wondering where the MMO might take us in Azeroth – and the possibilities sound endless.

Speaking to Holly Longdale, executive producer and vice president for World of Warcraft, and associate production director Clay Stone, content creator JackedIQ learns more about what Blizzard has in store for us regarding zones and the like – you know, whether we'll ever see Northrend or Pandaria – and the developers' answers are exciting, to say the least.

"I mean," Longdale says first, "broadly speaking, nothing is off the table." And, yes, she means nothing.

"It's more what the team decides to do, where they want the narrative to grow." Much of this will come from what Blizzard gathers from us as players, but "another piece of this is the original continents too can change in and of themselves."

As the lead puts it, "You could spend a lifetime in the two continents as they evolve." However, once again, she reiterates that "everything is on the table at this point."

As it stands, Blizzard is simply focused on "the best story to tell," which does mean "there's plenty of opportunity." Longdale jokingly concludes, "We just wanted to see if anyone was going to play it first."

Considering how well the beta is going – so well, in fact, that senior game designer Josh Greenfield said he's witnessing "the craziest numbers I've seen in 17 years working at Blizzard" – I'd argue we can hold our breath.

Stone echoes Longdale's teases, too, adding, "Azeroth is a big place – and this time period that we get to play with is a really cool time period, basically staying in that first year of World of Warcraft…"

And, with all of the available lore, "there's some really cool creative ideas that the team has for how we can play in that space." Stone repeats that "Azeroth is a big place," perhaps filling me with too much hope now.

All in all, though, I'd wager we'll see a lot more of Azeroth than we may have initially gone into Forever thinking we'd see, and I'm thrilled to hear it. How will Blizzard pull it off while remaining faithful to its 2004 MMO? Well, that's for time to tell… not us.

World of Warcraft: Forever patch notes leave fans asking Blizzard "why" and hoping for more class adjustments.

The former Burnout developers behind Star Wars: Galactic Racer reckon it's important to challenge players, because they're going to tune out otherwise.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a tough game. Intentionally so, with Fuse Games CEO Matt Webster saying "we are asking way more out of players" this time around compared to the Burnout games that a majority of the team used to develop, because "modern gamers can manage a greater amount of cognitive load."

Not only is the racing extremely fast, but you have a slate of aggressive racers trying to ram you off the track, and the slightest hesitation on a turn can cause you to launch into a corner and explode. And given that you only have a finite amount of crashes before you're forced to forfeit, it's likely that some may take a significant amount of time before they even reach act 2.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Webster explains plainly: "Games should challenge players." With the Burnout series, he says, "we used to throw rewards at you – dopamine hits of reward, reward, car, car, car! Eventually, if that's just one note, then you start to tune it out."

He adds, "But this game should challenge you. We wanted to front that up so you feel like, 'a hard fought fifth place – yeah I'll take it.'"

Webster describes a need for what he calls "light and shade," calling the segments where you play as Shade when you reach a new planet an "important aspect." He says: "You've got the light and shade between the super high intensity racing and the lower intensity immersion in Star Wars."

How former Burnout devs came full circle for Star Wars: Galactic Racer to bring the edge back into racing games: "'Arcade' is not the absence of depth."

Dead Space creator Glen Schofield's 2022 survival horror game The Callisto Protocol might have been met with lukewarm reviews, but the director says this came after he was "forced to ship the game" three months earlier than expected, prompting him and the other devs to release a whopping 86 patches after launch.

In a new interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Schofield discusses The Callisto Protocol's troubled development, noting that the devs at Striking Distance Studios had been working on the game for around six months when the COVID-19 pandemic kicked off, which was "a real pain in the ass," to put it lightly.

As well as struggling with remote work – with Zoom meetings replacing the ability to speak to devs face to face in the studio – there were also apparently some management issues with publisher Krafton. Specifically, Schofield alleges, he'd previously been promised three extra months to work on The Callisto Protocol to make up for the disruption that COVID had caused, which would have seen the game launch in March 2023. However, it's claimed that the publisher then decided it wanted it to launch in December 2022 regardless.

"I was forced to ship the game. I'm mad at myself, there's no doubt. I was so stunned by that decision, because we had fucking COVID," he states. "A million people died in America. I lost one of my best friends. Every single month, four to six people in my company were getting sick. There were times our small team in Spain was shut down; it goes through a small place like that and you lose your rendering team for a while. The main thing you're concerned about, not that you aren't normally, is the health of your team. Making a game just became secondary because this is about life. This is about humanity."

As you'd imagine, all this saw parts of The Callisto Protocol change from what Schofield originally had in mind, with certain levels, bosses, and enemies removed from the game altogether.

And, alas, The Callisto Protocol wasn't the success that Striking Distance Studios or Krafton were hoping it would be. "They thought Callisto was a complete failure," Schofield says of Krafton. "What they didn't know while all they were doing was complaining, we were doing patches. I waited until I finished all the DLC and put out 86 patches. That was a lot of fucking work. Every day you're going in, you're making changes. Some are little, others are massive. That was all to get it back to where it needed to be."

After all that, it's not exactly a shock that Krafton wasn't interested in a Callisto Protocol sequel, either. Schofield says it would have been a bigger game – about a whole plague rather than an outbreak – set in a "giant junkyard" of spacecraft docked in a massive space station. "We had a lot of drawings and a lot of some of the stuff that didn't get in the first game was going to be in this one," he reveals. Unfortunately, it seems we'll probably never see this vision brought to life.

While you're here, be sure to take a look at our roundup of new games coming this year and beyond.

Stop us if you've heard this before, but the No Man's Sky team has yet again been cookin' up a new release for its 2016 survival game – and this time, it's a mobile launch.

That's right, No Man's Sky is indeed coming to iOS over a decade after its initial release, with Hello Games planning an October 28 launch – but it hasn't come easy.

Sean Murrary says as much in a new letter regarding the exciting mobile launch, explaining that the developers first considered porting it over after bringing No Man's Sky to Mac in 2023. "Someone on the team said, 'I reckon I could get this running on an iPhone,'" as he recalls.

"I honestly didn't believe it until I played it myself for the first time," Murray continues. "A little like when we brought the game to VR or Nintendo Switch players, it started with a seemingly impossible technical challenge we wanted to disprove." And boy, did they do just that.

Witnessing No Man's Sky's universe generation working on a mobile phone remains a core memory for the studio lead – and how could it not?

"There was something magical about seeing that universe being generated on a tiny device," as he puts it.

Considering technical limitations, though, how will it work? Well, Murray assures "this is not No Man's Sky Lite."

It boasts the "full universe to explore," including the Cosmos update and every other major patch Hello Games has dropped over the years: "It even includes our most ambitious updates like Voyagers from last year."

The game won't have multiplayer or settlements day one, though, much like it didn't on the Switch at first – but it's all coming.

It'll be available on every iOS device from the iPhone 11 and third-generation iPad Air up. Hello Games hasn't cut corners here, either. Murray details how the studio has "rebuilt touch controls from the ground up to make No Man's Sky feel totally at home on mobile" and "put tons of work into battery life and thermodynamics."

And, if you can believe it, the file size of the mobile No Man's Sky is under 5GB – you hardly need any space on your phone, it seems. Pre-orders are live today, too, but you don't need to commit if you're not sure just yet. "In an effort to welcome as many new Travellers to the universe as possible, it'll be free to try at launch."

I personally can't wait to see how it runs on mobile devices myself, honestly… but knowing Hello Games, it'll be good.

Searching for more to look forward to this year and beyond? Browse through our roundup of the best new games coming to wishlist.

From the moment developer Fuse Games was founded in January 2023, the intent for the studio was to make a Star Wars racing game. CEO Matt Webster tells me that roughly three weeks into the studio's life, the team were on a plane to visit Lucasfilm Games and pitch the idea – "Galactic Racer".

As a studio founded by former Criterion Games developers (Criterion Games previously helmed the Burnout series and later worked on EA's 2015 Star Wars Battlefront and its sequel), fusing the team's arcade racing pedigree and previous experience working on Star Wars titles, as Fuse's creative director Kieran Crimmins says, was "a no-brainer"). While 'Burnout but Star Wars' is certainly an intriguing pitch on its own (I was absolutely hooked on the concept from its first reveal in December 2025), the team at Fuse wasn't content with just going back to familiar territory when you need to stand out amongst a galaxy of games.

Burnt out

With series like Forza Horizon and Gran Turismo dominating the triple-A racing space, the focus has shifted from arcade action to realism and scale that makes the most of modern hardware. More cars, more tracks, vast open worlds, and endless rewards, for anyone and everyone. Even Mario Kart, one of the last mainstream bastions for arcade racing, followed suit with Mario Kart World's core feature being an open world.

With their heritage and expertise from the arcade racing of the 2000s, the developers at Fuse Games were never going to follow the crowd when making Star Wars: Galactic Racer. "I think these guys at Fuse could've absolutely made just a killer arcade racing game," says Craig Derrick, executive producer at Lucasfilm Games. "But there was always the intention, I think from the very beginning, of "how do we push the genre forward?"

It's not the first time the founders of Fuse have pioneered the genre either, with their previous work at Criterion Games partly shaping modern racing games too. 2008's Burnout Paradise – while not the first open-world racing game – undoubtedly went on to influence the first entries in the Forza Horizon and The Crew series, thanks to a map that lacked defined tracks and acted more as a driving playground.

Crimmins describes this post-Burnout Paradise shift as a "sea change" but feels that there hasn't quite been another one in the racing genre since, despite there being plenty of polished racers across the triple-A and indie space. Specifically, he believes that consequences are "sorely missing" in big racing games, with Webster adding that some feel a bit toothless: "I think there's been a bit of a burnishing off of, I suppose, the edge in [racing games]. You put a car in the wall and what's going to happen? And if it's nothing, then it just falls a little bit flat from an emotional perspective."

Rogue One

So, looking to make waves by bringing back consequence with Galactic Racer and after a lot of prototyping, the team at Fuse Games determined that the runs-based, roguelike-inspired format was the way to go. As I noted in my Star Wars: Galactic Racer review, I couldn't believe that this racing-roguelike hybrid had never been attempted before by a mainstream studio because it's a natural fit.

Applying a runs-based structure to an arcade racer fights against "a bunch of racing game conventions", explains Webster. As well as facing little to no consequences, players are also conditioned to win all the time in a lot of modern racing games, which is something that the roguelike mechanics in Star Wars: Galactic Racer vehemently oppose. "This game should challenge you, and we wanted to front that up, so you feel like 'a hard-fought fifth place? Yeah, I'll take it'," Webster says.

Hurtling around Galactic Racer's circuits and inevitably obliterating your speeder means winning your first few events is unlikely, and it's an oddly refreshing humbling experience. Those crashes are also where Burnout's DNA shines through most in Galactic Racer. It also feels like classic Star Wars, which makes sense as Webster says that, in a full-circle moment, they were inspired by The Phantom Menace back in the day.

"When we were making Burnout, the podracing sequence in Episode One was a massive influence in terms of the drama and the excitement and the sheer speed and power, and the visceral nature of those crashes was a big inspiration," he says. Bringing those back in a true Star Wars setting with a roguelike structure means each crash serves as a "learning moment" too, and, indeed, I quickly learned that survival is the priority, not victory.

Bring balance

However, Galactic Racer was once a lot more punishing. Going over previous iterations of the wrecking out loop, Webster and Crimmins share that there was a version where you could crash only once instead of three times, and another where you had to finish in the top three every time – the latter lives on as the Eliminator event. Webster also says that Galactic Racer asks a lot from its players in terms of cognitive load.

But it also went the other way, as Crimmins explains there was a version that was much more straightforward. "It felt like it lost all its teeth, and now it feels trivial, and my decisions don't matter," he says. "Getting that balance right is incredibly important to give you that emotional high when you do win but also give you that impetus to move forward when you don't."

That's a doubly difficult balance to strike when a chunk of your audience might also just be in it for Star Wars with little to no experience with racing games. As Derrick explains, that meant making the game accessible without pulling back from what Fuse wanted to do, with the game's narrative and Shade's journey being crucial.

"We onboard you through a fun racing story," Derrick says. "Then we put you in the paddock, and now you have a place where you've decreased the pace for just a minute, so that you can kind of get a sense of the world and feel where your place is. And then we start to amp it up and then push the challenge. Then it's rewarding because it's not punitive."

Despite Galactic Racer being challenging at times, making an accessible and true arcade racer was core to Webster's philosophy. "'Arcade' is not the absence of depth. It's how the game presents itself to you, making it super approachable," he says. "I can get in, have an amazing experience really quickly, but it wants me to carry on. And I think that's really what we've done [with Galactic Racer] is embrace that and modernize it in a way that keeps its heart but also begins to add some contemporary game aspects."

Those peaks and troughs of intensity, difficulty, and strategy from the runs-based format are what make Star Wars: Galactic Racer so engaging to me. Rather than being a dopamine stream of first-place finishes and prizes that eventually ring hollow, or getting bogged down in realistic simulation, it forces you to get used to fighting for every position and taking great risks in a way that most modern racing games don't. For that reason, Galactic Racer could represent another sea change for the genre.

Galactic Racer is easily one of the best Star Wars games if you're feeling the Force. And its runs-based twist means it's also one of the best racing games you can play right now!

With these Morioh High codes, you'll have plenty of chances to reroll for new Stands since they grants heaps of rerolls and Arrow Shards. While you can earn Arrow Shards in-game by completing Occult Club cases, it can't ever hurt to get more for free, especially since it takes ten to get one reroll.

Based on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Morioh High uses a Stand-Based combat system - so no, this isn't just a cosy high-school sim. Combat is rife here among the bizarre goings on you'd expect from a Jojo-inspired Roblox adventure, so getting the best Stands possible is the best way to stand out in battle. With that in mind, here are the latest Morioh High codes.

For some more general account rewards that you can use across multiple experiences, check out the latest Roblox promo codes, too.

All Morioh High codes

These are the Morioh High codes you can redeem right now:

• GAUNTLET - 10x Rerolls, 15x Arrow Shards
• WHITESNAKE - 10x Rerolls, 15x Arrow Shards
• DELAYMBALL - 5x Rerolls, 20x Arrow Shards
• WEHEARYOUGUYS - 10x Rerolls, 15x Arrow Shards
• THANKYOUFORLIKES - 10x Rerolls, 15x Arrow Shards
• RELEASECSBKZM - 50x Rerolls, 100x Arrow Shards
• PLAYERS5MVBYT - 10x Rerolls, 30x Arrow Shards

So far, all Morioh High codes have awarded players with a combination of rerolls and Arrow Shards, both of which equate to Stand rerolls in-game, with Arrow Shards being used up first. If you're desperate to get a better Stand, then, hopefully these promos get you there.

How to redeem Morioh High codes

To redeem Morioh High codes, you first must join the Not a Stand Game group on Roblox. Unfortunately, you have to close the game to do this, but once you've done it once, you won't have to do it again.

Once you've joined the group, click on the Menu button on the left-hand side of the screen, then select the Settings menu, before clicking on the Codes tab. Here, you can enter active codes and even see which codes you've already redeemed.

Expired Morioh High codes

• There are currently no expired Morioh High codes.

Since Morioh High is a relatively new Roblox game, none of the current codes have expired so far. I don't expect that to last long though, so make sure you redeem codes as soon as possible. I'll move them down here as soon as they're invalidated.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Valor Mortis is an easy game to like, and an even easier game to fantasize about kicking down a flight of stairs. It's a perfectly functional Soulslike based around swordplay and parrying, which is about as novel in 2026 as having a pause screen. It's also got terrible scripted parkour sequences that will make you wish you could snap off the lead character's legs. It even has a frikkin' sewer level.

Yet, it keeps nearly winning me back. Its combat can be exhilarating, the pulpy writing charming, and its puppydoggish "look ma! I'm making my first Soulslike! I am, I am!" enthusiasm is contagious. How can you hate a game that has a boss fight against a sentient windmill? Well, that boss fight being a finicky slog certainly helps…

You died

You're William, a loyal soldier of Napoleon Bonaparte with such low life expectancy that William dies on the battlefield before the game even starts. William somehow recovers from that setback, rising from the grave with a classic case of videogame protagonist amnesia. He's now in a nightmarish version of Europe where everyone has succumbed to a horrible plague that makes them want to draw swords and turn William into a shish kebab.

William may not remember what's happened to him but you'll be able to get by on muscle memory if you've played anything even vaguely Souls-y before. Brutal combat that's all about parrying blows and striking at the perfect moment. No map screen. Shortcuts steadily unlocked. If you die you get one chance to get your level-up currency back, yada yada yada.

If you don't like learning to parry then go play something else (also, my deepest sympathies, gaming in 2026 must be miserable for you). Valor Mortis demands precise sword-tennis right from the start, with even rank-and-file enemies taking multiple parries to finally break their guard. If you bounced off Sekiro and Ominusha: Way of the Sword, I'd recommend running away screaming from this.

You also have a gun and the power to shoot flames from your fingers, and it's nice to see these treated not as mere bonuses but as valid strategies. I finally got through the game's first boss when I realized that I wanted him on fire as much as possible. And once you get the blunderbuss, it's great fun cutting swordsmen off by just blasting them in the face, Indiana Jones-style.

Still, being able to shoot fire from your hands is a videogame idea so ancient it might actually predate man discovering fire. The other powers you gain aren't that imaginative either. The ability to stop time is used for seen-it-all-before-puzzles, like freezing a cog in place so you can get through a gate before it drops.

Another power creates platforms and walls you can run on, but only in predetermined areas. The final power is a shield which deflects attacks, which rewards you spending the last twenty hours of mastering the parry with the power to, er, no longer have to worry about it as much. Eh?

Witch is Familiar

Valor Mortis is made by the developers of Ghostrunner, the fun but also incredibly infuriating parkour game. That makes this the first time in human history a studio has pivoted to making a Soulslike and actually made a game that's less frustrating. But, as it goes on, Valor Mortis increasingly plays like it wants to be Ghostrunner 3.

Wall-running and swinging off poles works fine for a while. It's even somewhat liberating to play as someone so acrobatic in a genre that usually roots you stubbornly to the ground. But Valor Mortis occasionally demands perfect parkour from you in scripted set-pieces. This was around the point I debated throwing my gaming laptop into a roaring fire.

These feel like irritating memory tests rather than fun platforming challenges, and seem to forget I have access to a sprint button. Occasionally I'd leap on a platform only to be insta-killed because tsk tsk the game had plans to dramatically destroy that platform before I reached it, and my naughty sprinting ahead had spoiled the fun. Instant death for you.

A pity, because Valor Mortis does have a few nasty surprises (complimentary). I love how the 'dog' enemies are actually human soldiers who've horrifically twisted themselves into a canine shape. They then chase you, barking like bloodthirsty hounds. That's a stroke of evil genius. Please get it the hell away from me.

And there's a reason parrying is gaming's verb of choice at the moment. It feels great and jammy as hell to pull off, and that's still true here. The first person camera gives it a brutal you-are-there immediacy that a traditional third-person camera could only dream of.

The game's best boss fights, brutal parry-offs where you're only a few minor mistakes away from the grave, are immensely satisfying, even if a slightly wobbly power curve meant that the first boss was by far the most trouble I had.

Fair warning that jank currently runs through it like a French blade through a whiny British videogame critic (er, hopefully not?). Crashes to desktop, a framerate that's all over the place, and one boss suddenly not attacking me presumably because they're aware I'm on a tight review deadline – thanks again, The Orphan! I played this on a PC that ran Gears of War: E-Day without a hitch, so I'd recommend seeing how the launch day patch holds up across PC and console, which we're told addresses many of these issues.

As William explores, he occasionally hears the voice of Napoleon Bonaparte in his head, offering some unsolicited combat philosophy. Alas, Napoleon's hilariously banal insights wouldn't make the cut for an office motivational poster, let alone the battlefield. This is meant to be one of the greatest military strategists of all time? I'd be amazed if this chump could win a game of tiddlywinks.

Fortunately, other characters are a lot more fun. Like the mad scientist who keeps sending you out on deadly research expeditions, and whose understanding of ethics is up there with the Umbrella corporation. One village is praying to a mysterious deity, and learning whether she's a God, a myth, or a real person is one of the game's best reveals. Shockingly, several unseen children might just steal the entire show. They narrate and guide you through a destroyed city, covering the walls in adorably crap drawings of the monsters you've faced. Awww.

Valor Mortis is not without its charms. For the most part it's a perfectly playable Soulslike with combat that's satisfying to master. But I've seen all its tricks before, executed better, and a shift to first-person isn't enough to make this truly stand apart. Soulslike imitators really need to learn that FromSoftware didn't get where they are today by copying someone else's homework.

Valor Mortis was reviewed on PC, with code provided by the publisher.

In the mood for more-tis? Check out our best Soulslike games ranking, and games like Dark Souls recommendations!

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii is touting his new game which he claims took him about 30 minutes to make using generative AI.

Despite being one of the most prolific game creators of all time, the Dragon Quest creator has fallen head over heels for the slop machine like your elderly uncle on Facebook. Developers like Hideo Kojima have spoken critically about using it as a replacement for creative aspects of game development, but Square Enix is working with Google on a chatbot for Dragon Quest 10, and Horii has generally been very positive about the tech, claiming it can make JRPG characters "feel even more human" and claiming that the tech known for hallucinating info "hardly ever makes things up."

And now, Horii has released a new 'game' titled Interrogation Room Komiya (via VGC). The developer went to Twitter recalling the development of his 1983 adventure game The Portopia Serial Murder Case – a game which he wrote, programmed and created art for all by himself – while now, he can just write some words into the machine, allowing him to make something in about 30 minutes.

Of course, the question is whether Horii's enthusiasm for the tech will carry over into Dragon Quest 12, which has been in what could be described as development hell, given that the entire concept was reworked and development was restarted. The game is confirmed to have artwork and characters from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama and series composer Koichi Sugiyama, both of whom have passed away since the 12th entry was announced.

I'm a creature-collecting sicko, and going hands-on with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World made me realize how much I've been missing out on this spin-off.

These Pixel Blade codes grant a few varying rewards, including Class Dice and Coins. It's always tough to roll the rarest - and usually best - classes in these games, and if you're still looking to luck your way into something more powerful, then you'll need all the Class Dice you can get.

Even if you love the class you have, you still shouldn't sleep on these Pixel Blade codes. You can also grab some coins, wishes, and chests if you're lucky. So, whichever camp you fall into, read on for the latest promos and how to redeem them in this RPG Roblox adventure.

If you're after some more general rewards that can be used in all of your experiences, then we've got the current Roblox promo codes covered too.

All Pixel Blade codes

These are the Pixel Blade codes you can redeem right now:

• FISHINGSTASH - 1x Golden Cod, 500x Coins
• FULL RELEASE - 5x Class Dice, 500x Coins
• CHRONOS - 1x Wish

As you can see from the list above, Class Dice aren't the only reward you can get, with the likes of Coins, Wishes, and other valuable items up for grabs.

Unfortunately, Pixel Blade codes are case-sensitive, so make sure you enter them exactly as they appear above - or just copy and paste them from our list if you can.

How to redeem Pixel Blade codes

To redeem Pixel Blade codes, click on the Shop icon from the lobby and scroll right to the bottom, where you'll find the codes redemption box. Enter a code from the list as it appears above, click Claim, and enjoy your rewards.

You must join the Frost Blade Games community on Roblox before you can redeem codes, but if you haven't already done this, you will be prompted to do so from the codes redemption screen without having to close the game.

Expired Pixel Blade codes

• DAILYTRACKER
• CHESTS
• COMINGSOON
• COMETWASHERE
• DAILYDAILY
• JUICYLOOT
• FUDGE
• STOPS
• NEVER

Pixel Blade codes have been available through early access, so there are plenty of expired promos already. This means those at the top of the page will follow soon, so be sure to redeem them as soon as you see them.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Good news if you yearn for the mines in Stardew Valley – creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone says his long-awaited follow-up game Haunted Chocolatier is for you.

In a new interview with GQ, Barone doubles down on an explanation he previously gave of Haunted Chocolatier – even though "it is still what I call a town game," we can expect this one to be "more of an action RPG."

He's previously spoken about it having "a greater focus on combat," and he now elaborates: "The main focus is more about adventuring, finding equipment and getting more powerful. There are monsters, there are boss fights."

It's the Stardew Valley comparison he makes that really speaks to me, though, and it sounds like Barone and myself have had a very similar experience with his first game. "It's for the people in Stardew Valley that go into the mines," he says. "That's what I do, honestly."

There's still absolutely no word on when we can expect Haunted Chocolatier to launch. Back in August, he apologized that the game is taking so long, but said: "I won't compromise on the quality of the game by rushing it or releasing it too early. Then all my time would be wasted, anyway."

This is a sentiment he's doubled down on now, too, saying: "No one's playing the game until I'm ready to show it. If you have a turkey in the oven. You're not going to pull it out halfway and have the guests taste it, right? It needs to be done." So, no Haunted Chocolatier food poisoning for us.

Haunted Chocolatier is "way bigger than Stardew Valley," says ConcernedApe: "Everything is cranked up."

If you've been taking on the Locust horde in Gears of War: E-Day lately, you might have noticed some disruption in online play. The servers have been subject to DDoS attacks, but The Coalition is on the case and normal service is expected to resume in the near future.

The developer posted about the incidents on social media. "Earlier today, some players experienced intermittent disconnects, login issues, or other service disruptions in Gears of War: E-Day," a post on Twitter says. "These issues were due to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting our online services."

Repairs are underway, and the tweet notes the devs are keeping an eye on things. "Our teams are continuing to monitor and mitigate this activity," the post continues. "We’ll provide updates if there are any significant changes."

The tweet ends by thanking fans for being patient and understanding. It's unclear how much damage the attackers caused or how badly the systems were impacted, but it was likely fairly noticeable and widespread if it necessitated an official response.

This is a frustrating turn since the game only came out last week, on October 6, and it's the big return for one of Xbox's flagship series. Many have likely already finished the campaign, and are now getting stuck right into the multiplayer - or they glossed over the single-player elements in favor of blasting and chainsawing others online.

Now, those plans have been delayed. In the responses, some users are noting they've been waiting a number of hours for servers to stabilize again, indicating it's been stop-start the last while. You can probably expect that to persist throughout today, before The Coalition managed to completely firewall the DDoS culprits.

Nobody said taking on the Locust would be easy. Sometimes it just takes a little more patience than you'd like. Remain steadfast.

Gears of War E-Day sold just 62k copies on Xbox versus 1.7 million Game Pass players, analyst estimates: "The $70 premium SKU is – functionally – dead on Xbox"

After months of decline, Arc Raiders has seen an enormous resurgence in players thanks to its new Frozen Trail update and recent free trial, but while things are suddenly looking a lot healthier for Embark's shooter, one dev knows it "won't last."

Although Arc Raiders was undoubtedly a massive hit when it launched last year and maintained an extremely strong player count on Steam for months, as with any live service game, things eventually began to dwindle. Until recently, the game hadn't seen a concurrent player count on PC above 100,000 since May, with numbers dropping as low as the low 30,000s in September.

Things changed since October 8 and the release of the big Frozen Trail update, though. That Steam concurrent number flew past 125,000 on the first day of the patch, and this past weekend, went even higher, reaching 185,443 yesterday according to SteamDB. That's still a ways off its all-time record of 481,966, but an enormous improvement on what we've been used to seeing these days. In fact, it's not seen numbers that high since March. But despite it all, even one dev knows this is fleeting, too.

Sharing a screenshot of Arc Raiders' concurrent player count on Steam when it hit 150,000 again, Embark full-stack engineer Leon San José Larsson writes on Twitter: "It won't last forever, of course, but it's great seeing so many people back again after almost a year." As one player suggests that perhaps the number could go higher when Embark implements PvE – it's testing a matchmaking toggle for this for a week starting tomorrow – the dev says: "One can always hope."

It might sound a bit pessimistic, but truthfully, he's not wrong. It's only natural for the player count in live-service games to decline over time as people decide they've had their fill and move on to new things. Big updates like Frozen Trail, as well as things like free weekends, will cause a surge in interest but ultimately just restart the cycle; that doesn't mean a game is dead, either, however.

Palworld dev and Pocketpair Publishing boss John "Bucky" Buckley has been shrugging off the "dead game" comments aimed at the hit survival game for years, but as it continues to hold steady interest, it's clear he has a point.

Will PvE mode split Arc Raiders in two? "It's very possible," says executive producer.

We regularly report on individual games breaking their concurrent player records on Steam, but this time the focus is on Valve's storefront itself. This month, October 2026, the marketplace hit a new all-time record for concurrent users, safely leapfrogging the previous benchmark.

Per SteamDB, Valve's platform had a ridiculous 43,505,724 people using it at once during October 11. That's a significant amount of accounts to be active at once, to say the least.

The last record, a similarly beefy 42,686,616, wasn't actually that long ago, occurring in March of this year. 2026 is turning out to be a good lap around the sun for Gabe Newell and his cohorts. I'm sure he'll be buying more yachts to celebrate.

For comparison, the current number is more than the last recorded populations of Canada, Poland, and Mozambique. I'd joke about Valve founding its own sovereign state using fans of Steam, but I wouldn't put it past them to do it for a meme.

The service has enjoyed an increased uptick this decade compared to the last. Starting with a surge while we were all in lockdown, Steam crossed the 40 million threshold a good deal quicker than it did the 20 million line.

Even without hard data, there are accelerants we can point towards here. The diversity of games available, since Steam offers a huge amount of indie and lower-specced releases alongside all the triple-A stuff, and more live-service projects such as Wardogs and Deadlock that start off in early access or are simply preferable on PC.

But mostly I think this just makes it clear more people than ever are enjoying video games in some form or another. Which is great for everyone, but especially those of us who're still hoping for Half-Life 3. Someday, comrades.

Steam on track to earn a record $20 billion this year thanks to games like The Witcher 3 Remastered and Wardogs, analyst says after a massive September.

Rockstar Games created an entire team dedicated to what some might consider "background noise" for GTA 6.

The tidbit comes from GTA 6 developers who recently spoke to Love magazine about the open-world epic. Rockstar's senior vice president of narrative, Rupert Humphries, says there's "an amazing team of writers and creatives" focused on creating the "'background noise' that makes the city and the world come to life."

According to Humphries, that includes a "specific team of pedestrian dialogue writers in LA and then a team of advertising and comedy writers across New York, LA, and London." He adds: "It's a team from all sorts of backgrounds and walks of life, but we all share a sense of humor and a desire to have a bit of fun with the ridiculousness of humans and the media and advertising. And none of us see it as background! It's all part of the tapestry of the game and creates the experience of living in this wild world."

Open world writing director, James Horton, says the studio apparently "dreamed a lot bigger this time around," building entire teams for details that might be after thoughts in other open-world games.

"There are no shortcuts when it comes to building a world like this: it's a question of giving the right people the resources they need to build something that's not only vast and varied as a whole, but where every part rings true no matter how small it is, or how closely you look at it," Horton explains. "It needs to wash over you when you're sprinting down the busiest street in the city, hearing snatches of a hundred different conversations as you go; and it needs to be totally convincing if you decide to stop and pay close attention to any one of those conversations."

Horton even argues that, in some ways, there's "no background" in GTA 6. The difference between "background" and "foreground" simply depends on whatever the player is paying attention to at any given moment. Focus on a random NPC, and you might find a character with their own interesting inner life. "No one you meet is an extra; they're not only full characters, everyone you meet is the main character in their own story," Horton continues.

GTA 6 radio stations revealed, Rockstar says "for the first time" in Grand Theft Auto history there are also in-game podcasts

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is welcoming four new playable superheroes in its Year One DLC - Spider-Man's frenemy Venom, X-Men's Jubilee, Jane Foster's Mighty Thor and a version of Cyclops who's been taken over by Phoenix are all joining the fighting game's colorful roster.

Publisher PlayStation announced the full lineup earlier today, a few days after revealing Phoenix Cyclops as its first post-launch character coming on November 2.

Developer Arc Systems chose to add a "Phoenix version of Cyclops" because the frequent X-Men leader has appeared in so many fighting games over the years that the team wanted to "challenge ourselves to explore whether there was a way to present him in a style that felt different from what players had seen before," according to a blog post penned by producer Takeshi Yamanaka. "This became a major topic of discussion within the team."

"We felt this interpretation would allow us to create fresher visuals and a more exciting fighting style while offering something unexpected for players," Yamanaka says of the character, who was inspired by an Avengers vs X-Men storyline. "Cyclops is designed as an all-rounder who excels at both long-range combat and close-range strikes through his versatile use of Optic Blasts."

Up next is Jane Foster's Thor - as seen in the Mighty Thor comic run - who looks awesome in a first-look trailer (above). She's coming as a Year One fighter sometime this winter, and unsurprisingly "wields the legendary Mjolnir" to unleash the "electrifying power of the God of Thunder."

Venom heads to Marvel Tokon next spring, alongside a post-launch stage called Klyntar, which is an artificial planet hosting the alien symbiotes in some comic book incarnations. X-Men mainstay Jubilee is the final Year One character, coming sometime in summer 2027.

Marvel Tokon's Year One pass costs $35, though it's also included with the game's Deluxe and Ultimate editions.

Marvel Tokon sold 485,000 copies in a week but it could have been "closer to 1M" with a better PC port and Steam reviews, analyst says

Any job worth doing in Watch Dogs 2 is worth doing to music. And so, the best mechanic in Ubisoft's hacker-action sequel is Marcus Holloway's earbuds. Equippable at any time, they pump an eclectic stream of on-demand tunes, from Dizzee Rascal to Anti-Flag, KC & The Sunshine Band to Run The Jewels and more, into your ears. You can freely soundtrack any mission (attempting grand larceny while blaring Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is one moment we won't forget in a hurry) or simply wander the streets of San Francisco to your favourite songs.

One particular track so perfectly captures the philosophy of Watch Dogs 2, it almost feels as if the game was formed around it. We blast Get Stupid as we have Holloway ride on top of a car like it's a skateboard, driving it remotely via his phone. "Get stupid, it's what we do good," Mac Dre raps. "Ghost ride the whip while we dancin' on the hood." Virtual Californians look on in bewilderment, and we laugh uproariously. Even Dre seems to admire our efforts, crooning his approval: "Boy, we go dumb, dude". Credit to Ubisoft, then, for a tonal U-turn of such epic proportions that it singlehandedly saved a series. Watch Dogs got stupid. And it worked.

Bright lights of play

After the 2014 release of Watch Dogs, something had to be done. It suffered as a result of a now-infamous E3 2012 reveal that, on the cusp of a new generation of consoles, made promises beyond the actual graphical capabilities. The ‘downgrade', as it was dubbed, was apparent to anyone playing the final game. But on top of that, Watch Dogs didn't endear itself to players. Its Chicago setting was designed to be cramped and dark, a representation of a city riddled with surveillance cameras and made paranoid under the all-seeing eye of Big Tech. And its lead, Aiden Pearce, had all the charisma of wet cardboard.

Sunny San Francisco is a breath of fresh air in comparison. It's a riot of colour and sound, where all-glass offices sit around the corner from pastel Victorian houses, and perverse wealth brushes past crippling poverty. Artists and entrepreneurs roam the streets, each convinced they're a little more like the other. It's a place that, in art as in life, more accurately encapsulates the tech industry, a sphere infinitely more ridiculous than it is terrifying.

Holloway, too, is a fresh take on a well-worn theme: he's a young, Black, brilliant hacker who has the sense of self to recognise his own oppression as one part of a much bigger problem. He's also likeable enough that he can make some friends who'll help him do something about it. Your mileage may vary regarding the core crew, who often express themselves via corny LED emoji masks and outdated turns of phrase (2010 called, Ubisoft, and it wants its ‘Y U NO' meme back). But their exuberance was a welcome shot in the arm coming off the back of Watch Dogs: these people are not only not about to take this shit lying down, but they have a sense of humour about it, too.

In turn, it makes it easier to accept many of the game's flaws as part of its precocious personality. There are, of course, precisely zero realities in which San Franciscans are bombing around on mopeds bumping a playlist clearly composed by someone Googling ‘songs about the Bay Area'. It's an improvement on the first instalment's soundtrack, however, which Edge once described as "songs by artists from Chicago, that once lived in Chicago, that have Chicago in the title or are by the band Chicago". And as part of a fantasy in which you can drain bank accounts at the press of a button, and five kids can afford to rent a hackerspace in the middle of San Francisco? It somehow feels in keeping with the bombastic tone to strut around your home turf, insisting to the seals at Pier 39 that "in the Bay Area we dance a little different".

Happily, sightseeing is something of which much is made in Watch Dogs 2. This is a developer known for pouring a huge amount of resources (although very few of them human, if the recent stories of abuse coming out of the studio are anything to go by) into its recreations of famous locales, and yet it took until Watch Dogs 2 for it to openly acknowledge the proportion of players who enjoy these games mainly as an excuse to partake in virtual tourism. The ScoutX app on Holloway's phone flags up several of Frisco's best-known – and even some lesser-known – landmarks for you to hunt down and photograph, which widens DedSec's online reach.

Even SongSneak, Watch Dogs 2's Shazam equivalent, encourages you to get among it all in pursuit of new songs. If you're within 25 metres of a song playing over a bar's sound system, being blared from a boombox or a car radio, you can press a button to add it to your phone playlists. Ubisoft hit on something essential with this particular implementation, taking a realisation that GTA maker Rockstar had long ago and pushing it that little bit further: the fact that our love of music is so often about the context in which we first hear it, how it's threaded through the very fabric of cities and cultures, and bound so strongly with memory. It's not a reward doled out randomly upon you completing a load of laundry or getting a new job; you hear it somewhere, pick it up and take it with you.

Still, the whole thing is largely enjoyable caricature; while it's not perfect, its flaws do tend to work in its favour. Ubisoft's NPC AI in Watch Dogs 2 leaves much to be desired, with its ambitious interlocking systems often bumping awkwardly against each other. But when they come off in ludicrous ways, it feels only appropriate for this exaggerated vision of San Francisco, in which AirPod-wearing trust-fund babies call the cops on each other over an argument about latte foam, and taking a selfie in front of a marriage proposal sets off a chain of events that ends with a fistfight between the two lovers. Few games since have sported a world that feels so systemic, most likely because it is so loud about it. As a result, whatever you're doing has a visible impact, a feeling surely top of any young revolutionary's wishlist.

Indeed, DedSec's ability to draw in others (represented by the idea of ‘followers' as an in-game currency earned through completing missions and posting photos to your fictional social media accounts) plays a key mechanical and narrative role in positioning it as an organisation by the people, for the people.

And it's that – not the one-button ‘quick hacks', or the suggestion that bonking someone on the head with a billiard ball on a bungee cord is a non-lethal pursuit – that's the real fantasy in play here: that you can stick it to the man, if only you've got a laptop and enough energy. And that it can be fun.

Plugged in

One of the earliest, pettiest and most memorable missions has you steal what is essentially KITT from Knight Rider because Holloway reckons the ‘Cyberdriver' film makes hacker culture look childish. To which his response is to remote-drive the car across a pyrotechnic-laden assault course through the city while Judas Priest's Turbo Lover plays on the speakers, before crashing it through a promotional billboard. Quod erat demonstrandum, mate.

But we have the pleasure of watching Holloway and the gang gradually mature. And we do mean gradually – the skewering of a Martin Shkreli-esque pharma bro being another laugh-out-loud moment placed front and centre of the campaign. As the story unfolds, we see DedSec mobilise more effectively, sniffing out corruption among law enforcement, politicians, and a tech corporation monopolising and weaponising the world's data. A final mission in which you switch between playing as every one of the core group underscores the idea that collective effort is the key to standing up to the most untouchable of establishments.

It's a concept that follow-up series entry Watch Dogs: Legion tries to run with, but fails to communicate. In attempting to showcase that rebellion is a collaborative affair, its ‘play as anyone' tech ends up robbing London's inhabitants of any sense of individuality beyond randomly-generated character descriptions. And this is what, for all its occasional clumsiness, Watch Dogs 2 got so right back in 2016, just as a megalomaniac celebrity was stepping into his role as US president: power struggles are a personality contest, and with the advent of the Internet, they are even more so.

We look to leaders who outwardly represent our values, people we can relate to, and believe in. In Legion, every possible wrinkle in every playable character has to be ironed out to fit the exact same vague template. It's difficult to get invested in the fates of people who don't feel real – furthermore, any attempts at retaining some of Watch Dogs 2's good-natured clownery ring hollow without anyone believable to attach it to. And when your firearms are lethal, it feels a lot less like mischief and more like murder.

By contrast, Holloway – along with most other things in Watch Dogs 2 – does feel genuine. Ubisoft surely felt it had little to lose by abandoning the stifling self-seriousness of the first Watch Dogs, and instead headed in the opposite direction to embrace the actual hacker fantasy. It feels like a creative team hanging out the sunroof, doing what it wants to, as Mac Dre puts it; in doing so, it uncovers fundamental truths about why so many people really dream of having some control over the world they live in. It may be a work of fiction, but there's a lot of truth in the way it portrays one possible view of a revolution – with an emphasis on earnestness, connection, and even a little fun. Sometimes you have to get stupid to be taken seriously

This Watch Dogs 2 article was first published in issue 354 of Edge Magazine. To get more like this delivered straight to your doorstep (or digital device) consider subscribing to Edge.

Risk of Rain 2's Hallowed Concepts DLC is another hit for one of the best roguelikes around. Years after a shaky start, Gearbox seems to be doing a much better job with the genre icon.

The Borderlands maker bought Risk of Rain 2 back in 2022, as the original developers soon went to work at Valve. The beloved roguelike then found itself in troubled waters. Gearbox's first major update to the game post-buyout, Seekers of the Storm, was hugely divisive with series fans, but the publisher has since turned things around with last year's Alloyed Collective and this week's Hallowed Concepts.

Risk of Rain 2's newest expansion is already a hit on Steam, with 84% of user reviews giving it the thumbs up on the platform.

"Hallowed Concepts blows every other DLC out of the water," one positive review reads. "The DLC is so fresh and does so much to reinvigorate the lategame that it feels like the devs read my mind… There's so much intentional and clever design in how these new systems are implemented and overlay themselves on top of the core game. So much of the new content is geared towards making the lategame matter again… It's lovely. Truly."

"Easily the best DLC from the new team. Seekers was fine after it got patched from launch, Alloyed Collective was also fine, but this blows the others out of the water. I'd say it's on-par with Void. Not to mention the free update it came with was huge, adding 4 new skills and challenges for them (even if Acrid's is cruel). Good job," another says.

Hallowed Concept isn't totally flawless, however. The negative reviews that do exist draw attention to the expansion's bugs, and not the creepy crawly kind. "Great expansion, fun items and bosses, but in one day, two runs died to bosses spawning outside of the map and becoming impossible to attack, until that's fixed I cannot recommend this expansion, but otherwise amazing," a negative review says.

Regardless, it's a good step forward for the roguelike icon.

Risk of Rain 2, now under Borderlands house Gearbox, vows to take "full responsibility" for AI art it calls a "mistake" – "We are sending the designer to the Void Fields as punishment"

One of the big criticisms leveled against Starfield at launch was its lack of seamless planetary landing. Spacefarers can essentially pick a landing zone and go through a glorified loading screen to reach their destination, but they couldn't fly into a planet's atmosphere and land directly themselves a la No Man's Sky.

A Starfield modder is now working to change that, and their results are already super impressive. Frederik Wessberg today posted a clip of the "Seamless Landings" mod that's still in-progress, showing how a Starfield ship can go from the void of space to the surface of a planet "without any loading screens."

"I've worked on this thing for roughly half a year at this point, and finally it's starting to look and feel ready enough for me to show it to you," Wessberg writes in the video's description. "I'm bringing Seamless Landings on planets and moons without any loading screens to Starfield."

Wessberg explains that the seamless landing works whether you're flying the ship manually or putting letting autopilot do the work, so you can leave the captain's seat and enjoy the view stress-free.

"You can even land on water! If you ever wondered how it would look if you were allowed to select a spot in the ocean in vanilla Starfield, here's your chance to see that for yourself," he adds. "And during your trip to the surface, you'll be flying through real 3D layers of volumetric clouds, driven by climate data and weather systems, thunderstorms and lightning, auroras around the poles, airglow above the night-side horizon, physically-based atmospheric scattering based on the actual atmospheric composition the game data provides."

Wessberg initially thought the mod would be a "fun, small project," but quickly ran into some trouble because "planet rendering in space in vanilla Starfield is very limited: A planet is represented by a texture, maybe a moving cloud layer, and maybe an atmosphere." Trying to land on a planet would essentially be akin to landing on a "flat texture."

To get the job done, Wessberg "had to completely reimplement Starfield's planet rendering in space in 3D," but "thankfully, Starfield is actually amazingly physically accurate, and in many ways a true space simulator - it just doesn't ever reveal this to the player."

Starfield's seamless landing mod will be completely free on NexusMods when it's eventually ready.

"I don’t think Starfield was anywhere near successful enough to do a Starfield 2," former Bethesda dev says

A former Naughty Dog veteran who worked on The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 is more excited about the idea of shorter games rather than "monolithic" blockbusters like GTA 6 or The Elder Scrolls 6.

Matt Radford was a visual effects artist on some of Naughty Dog's biggest hits before opening his own studio called 5th Corner, and he recently spoke about the merits of shorter games in an interview with Kiwi Talkz (embedded below).

"I'm 38 years old," Radford says. "And I think that there's also something intimidating to me about a GTA 6 or, you know, another Elder Scrolls. I, personally, am really looking for shorter experiences that are focused [and] that I have a great time with. That excites me probably more."

Part of his reasoning is the time available to him and other players. A game that runs for upwards of 50 hours can be a huge time sink that's simply not feasible for a huge portion of people to complete, while shorter campaigns can be enjoyed in a weekend or two.

"Even The Last of Us 2, I thought, was so long… I really loved those earlier Uncharted games when they were like 6 to 8 hours," he adds.

The other part of the equation is the ballooning budgets of video game development. Modern AAA games can cost over $200 or $300 million to produce, but those costs might be able to come down if studios focused on tighter experiences.

"GTA 6 is gonna be awesome, I'm sure," he continues. "And I think collectively as an industry we want it to succeed. No gamer will be happy if it failed because it would not be a good sign for the business."

GTA 6 shows Jason nude, and fans are wondering if Rockstar will go full Red Dead Redemption 2: "Those horse balls physics gotta go somewhere"

Sonic Racing: Crossworlds already has a pretty hectic lineup of characters, but Sega's Year Two DLC roadmap takes things one step further. The Final Fantasy 7 Remake series, Persona, Godzilla, Hello Kitty, Bayonetta, Evangelion, the Dreamcast itself, and much more are all coming to the well-liked kart racer before the end of 2027.

Sonic's most recent and surprisingly great take on kart racing is no stranger to bonkers crossovers. The game's first year of post-launch content welcomed everybody from Spongebob Squarepants and Minecraft Steve to Yakuza's Ichiban Kasuga, but Sega's one-upped itself with Year Two.

Year Two includes free content drops throughout 2027, alongside a paid Season Two Pass with exclusive goodies. The free content starts with monster-spanking icon Bayonetta joining the roster, alongside a kart inspired by McLaren and Persona 3's Aigis coming between November and March of next year.

The paid Season Two kicks off with a Godzilla collaboration on day one (November 3), bringing karts based on popular kaiju and a track that features our beloved, radioactive 'zilla causing chaos throughout a city. Evangelion is up next with playable characters Asuka Shikinami Langley and Rei Ayanami, plus new karts and a track.

Sometime after, we can look forward to playing as Hello Kitty and Kuromi in a course that's inspired by the wider Sanrio universe (if you have a favorite friend, there's a good chance they've been hidden somewhere in the background of the track.)

Taking a break from crossovers, the Segaland pack goes back in time with a course that pays tribute to Sega's entire history, arcade classics and home consoles included. Sega's also introducing three karts based on classic arcade cabinets (Outrun, After Burner, and Super Megalo) and three karts based on its consoles (Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast), alongside a bonus Super Shadow racer for owners of both Season Passes.

And, finally, the Year Two Season Pass ends with two big hitters. A Final Fantasy 7 Remake collaboration is on the way, but all Sega had to show was Cloud's Buster Sword sitting alongside a generic ring from the Sonic series. No word on what this collab includes, exactly. The other pack comes from the Reload Revival Royal pack, which presumably features characters and/or stages from all three modern Persona games.

Despite Sega's Mario Kart World shade, rival racer Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has "fallen short" of expectations, and compared to Nintendo's sales I can see why

Co-op games can go one of two ways: they are either a bonding activity that brings you closer together, or a catalyst for a screaming match.

Ghost Town Games is very familiar with both, thanks to their award-winning title Overcooked becoming a go-to 2016 co-op game where duos work against the clock to prepare meals together. Some pairs crack like an egg under pressure as they frantically toss ingredients at each other, leading to…Well, it is dubbed "Divorce Kitchen" in China for a reason. Regardless of the different outcomes, though, 10 years later, there's no denying Overcooked's impact and success in the co-op space, which is why I've kept my eyes firmly on the studio's next game, Stage Fright.

I'll admit that I did expect the upcoming game to have elements similar to Overcooked when it was first announced back in 2024. But after witnessing the title's latest trailer at Nintendo's 2026 Direct, I caught up with Ghost Town Games co-founders Phil Duncan and Oli De-Vine to learn what makes Stage Fright a completely different kind of experience.

A night together

Ghost Town Games isn't afraid to try something new. While Overcooked focuses on time-based levels, stressful environments, and food-prep challenges, Stage Fright is a narrative-driven title where you'll follow three protagonists through a coming-of-age story, communicating with each other to solve escape-room-like puzzles while exploring a very cute but spooky world.

"What we didn't want is to create a purely chaotic game this time around. We wanted this to be something that brings people together. It sounds a bit obvious, but let's talk about Overcooked breaking people apart," Duncan explained when I asked what prompted the decision to move away from Overcooked's wildly popular time-based gameplay.

"This is the one that we want you to get together on a Friday night with your partner, draw the curtains, order a pizza, and sit and play this game together, and hopefully get closer," he continued.

Overcooked may have a vague overarching plot, but let's be honest: you don't stay for the story. You stay for the culinary carnage. On the other hand, each trailer for Stage Fright so far feels akin to watching an animated movie, which makes sense, as De-Vine explains that the new game was built "around this mystery seaside coming-of-age story." This shift to an overarching narrative is something Ghost Town Games has only touched on before, but Stage Fright promises a linear, more structured experience than the fast-paced, characterless avatars of Overcooked days.

"A lot of what you experience with Overcooked or with any cooperative game is how you communicate with the person who's next to you, and we thought, well, let's try and tie that into the story as well," says Duncan. "So a lot of what the characters are having to deal with and the characters that they're meeting is to do with how they interact and what their relationship is like and how it changes over time."

No player left behind

Even as someone who is a massive fan of narrative-first co-op games such as Hazelight Studio's titles like It Takes Two and Split Fiction, the move toward a narrative experience is a complete swing away from the arcade-like levels of Overcooked's kitchens. Stage Fright also seems to have a pretty unique setup for the co-op genre in general, with the team choosing to have us follow three characters instead of two, despite Stage Fright being a strictly two-player game.

De-Vine and Duncan reveal that players won't choose the character they play for the entire experience. Instead, you will be "hopped" into different roles throughout the story. This not only adds variety for all players but also ensures no one feels like they are being "dragged around".

To explain this point, Duncan describes a section that involves a spotlight "that one player is controlling and the other player has to stay inside of while there's dangers all around them." The job of who controls the spotlight doesn't stay the same the whole level, though.

"Variety is important to us, not just in terms of keeping the game exciting, but also playing to different types of players' strengths as well," Duncan explains. Stage Fright has undergone some playtesting already, and the team is mindful that each player should have something to do in a section. "You find one player who's really good at word puzzles; say someone else is much more spatial; someone's more into the skill side of things. It's another way to make sure one player isn't solving everything, trying to keep it fresh."

Split reality

One of my biggest pet peeves in co-op games, having grown up with a brother and now having a longtime partner, is that some titles feel like they could have easily been single-player games instead. But Stage Fright's decision to use split-screen gives each player a different experience while also promoting teamwork, as they will need to communicate with each other to solve puzzles.

The constant split-screen, whether you play online or in couch co-op, is all about perspective. "It's trying to put the players in different locations a lot of the time, or if they're in the same location, maybe they see different things from each other," says De-Vine. "You're going to miss stuff that the other player sees, and then they're going to have to bring you in on their thought process. Otherwise, the game is impossible for you if you don't communicate, and it's also not possible for one player to basically play the game for the other."

The challenge is still here.

The split-screen choice, story focus, and art style of Stage Fright are all vastly different from Overcooked. Instead of another game defined by "communication in chaos", Stage Fright ticks nearly all my co-op boxes while giving us a chance to breathe.

Duncan tells me that you can pause during the aforementioned spotlight section: "One player can just stop moving the controller, and the other person can just stand in the middle of the spotlight," he explained. There is chaos in the game, but you can disengage without worrying about the clock.

Of course, that may set off alarm bells for some about Stage Fright being too accessible and Ghost Town Games losing too much of its bite. Luckily, De-Vine and Duncan have assured me that Stage Fright isn't without challenge. Without going into specifics, both tease that players can get each other killed "in a playful way".

"It's about sort of balancing those moments of adrenaline and then cooling you down a little bit," Duncan says. "We're not making a game that's going to punish players a lot, but we're making a game that should be difficult if you aren't communicating well, and if you are communicating well, it should be satisfying," De-Vine continues.

Stage Fright's more cerebral approach might sound worlds away from Overcooked's fast, frantic loop, but it's very much an evolution of its core idea.

"It's connected in the sense that we're still trying to make games for gamers and non- gamers, and it's still very geared around communication and accessibility and the like," De-Vine tells me. "But we want to do something original and different."

After 10 years of couples gloriously devolving into Gordon Ramsay screaming matches with Overcooked, Stage Fright's more narrative-first approach looks to be filling the co-op game void for pairs who just didn't click with the chaos-filled kitchens. It's clear that Stage Fright won't be another "Divorce Kitchen," from everything that I have seen so far. Instead, its more methodical approach and emphasis on overcoming a charming mystery together might mend those fractured friendships at long last.

Stage Fright is set to release sometime in 2027. While we wait, check out our list of the best co-op games to play today. Or look ahead to more 2027 releases with our round-up of all the new games on the way.

If you're playing Hytale in early access via the premium Cursebreaker Edition, you might want to keep an eye out on your account inbox the next time a new chapter releases on the long road to 1.0.

Simon Collins-Laflamme, founder of Hytale studio Hypixel, announced on Twitter that he's giving away a single copy of the Standard Edition of Hytale early access to everyone with the fancy Cursebreaker Edition – for every time a new chapter releases until the game gets its 1.0 update, whenever that might be.

Don't believe me? Hold on, let me fetch the tweet. Ah, here it is.

"For every Hytale early access chapter we release, Cursebreaker Edition owners will get 1 extra game copy to give away," reads a tweet from Hypixel Simon himself, who clarifies that, yes, "If we release 6 chapters before 1.0, that's 6 extra standard copies to give to friends and family!"

Still don't believe me? Think I just pulled those words straight out of my you-know-where? Wrong! I pulled them from a genuine tweet from Mr. Hytale, which I've embedded below for proof:

We're obviously having fun on this late Friday evening, but in reality, longtime Hypixel fans probably aren't terribly surprised by Simon's latest hijinks. Simon takes his work seriously, but he's also a CEO that likes to have fun, as evidenced by promotions like this one as well as his offering $15,000 to the first person who can beat a ridiculous challenge in the upcoming Out of the Breach update. And speaking of which, that update is out October 12, at which time Cursebreaker Edition players should find a code for Hytale early access in their inboxes, which they can use to spread the word.

If you, like me, are wondering who in the world to gift your potential six copies of Hytale to, well, one Twitter user asked Simon that exact question, and they received an admittedly pretty great response: "get more friends bro."

Here are the 35 best RPGs we recommend playing right now.

We live in a heavy world right now, with stressors like AI, layoffs, and political crises seemingly around every corner with no signs of slowing down, which is why, even in the spooky month of October, I'm leaning into the cozy gaming space more than ever. Animal Crossing is still my go-to home away from home, but I'm always on the lookout for some place else to escape the real world.

"We wanted our game to feel like The Lord of the Rings x Animal Crossing," reads the caption on a YouTube short for new indie Kickstarter smash hit, Humblets. I'm intrigued.

"Have you ever wanted to become a rock?", asks developer Berry Bite in another video. Uh, sure?

"Sheep petting!!" says the dev in another short. Getting warmer.

"Card battles!" "Cozy meals!" "Plants wiggle!" OK, I'm thoroughly sold.

"We don't use AI!"... say more.

"Every part of our indie game is hand-made," says Berry Bite. "And we commission human artists for every single card. We'd rather support real passion than prompt a machine."

Take. My. Money.

Actually, with more than $135,000 in crowdfunding at the time of writing, Berry Bite probably doesn't need my money, but I'm compelled to back this ridiculously charming indie game nonetheless.

There's a lot going on here, with Lord of the Rings and D&D influences in its enchanting world, Minecraft building mechanics, cooking and fishing inspired by Animal Crossing, card collecting and battles, and even Zelda: Breath of the Wild DNA in its gliding and campfire cooking system, but having watched every gameplay video I could find, it all seems like a miraculously cohesive package all centered around "relaxed exploration, collection, and crafting."

It sounds like there's a deep level of customization in Humblets that'll let you personalize your avatar, your mobile campsite and tent, and thank goodness, your adorable pet companion you get assigned via a personality test and who helps you find and collect resources as you explore the world.

The only thing I'm somewhat hesitant about is Humblets' procedurally generated world. I'm generally a proc-gen skeptic, but find it a useful tool in generating massive amounts of playable space and variety in games like Hades, Diablo, and Minecraft where you need that sense of scale, but I find its less useful in something like a cozy game where it's more about moment-to-moment discovery in a smaller, well, cozier space. Berry Bite says the proc-gen world is mixed with "hand-crafted landmarks," but I'd definitely rather have everything be handmade. That said, everything else about Humblets has created enough goodwill for me that I'm happy to look past that element of the game.

Humblets has an estimated alpha delivery date of October 2027, and it's set to fully launch on Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X.

If you want cozy board games for Fall, some of my all-time favorites just got major discounts

Gears of War: E-Day sales topped 230,000 across Xbox and Steam following an October 1 launch, according to estimates from analyst firm Alinea.

Market analysis head Rhys Elliott reports the Xbox player base is larger than it appears, even if premium sales were dominated by Steam. An estimated 62,000 people bought the game outright on Xbox consoles, with 168,000 buyers on Steam.

SteamDB ownership estimates, which are always fallible and are especially volatile shortly after launch, support this figure, estimating 171,000 to 195,000 owners at the time of writing.

How did a new, highly rated entry in a flagship series sell just 62,000 copies on Xbox in launch week? (Our Gears of War: E-Day review also awards it high marks.) Elliott notes that while Xbox Game Pass is "cannibalising much of the premium revenue," with some 1.7 million estimated players playing E-Day through the subscription service, over 722,000 Game Pass subs also paid for E-Day's premium upgrade.

"So '230K copies' undersells the paying audience," Elliott writes. "Including the 722K upgrades, nearly 950K people actually paid something for E-Day." This brings the game's total estimated sales revenue to around $37 million.

Nevertheless, "The $70 premium SKU is – functionally – dead on Xbox," Elliott argues.

I've reached out to Microsoft for comment on these figures, which remain unconfirmed estimates, and its expectations for E-Day.

As Circana games analyst Mat Piscatella points out online (not in direct response to Alinea's report, but certainly in its orbit), "it isn't straight cannibalism if a person paying for Game Pass plays an offered game through the service."

Many game developers, including several who've worked with or under Microsoft, have criticized the effects Game Pass can have on full-fat sales or the value of games. This year, Microsoft removed new Call of Duty games from the service's day-one offerings, though it stopped short of admitting it was losing too much money on the deal as Game Pass growth failed to meet expectations despite a significant bump from CoD.

However, the assumption that, in a world without Xbox Game Pass, the sales of games like Gears of War: E-Day would be directly boosted by however large their Game Pass audience was doesn't hold up.

"Not every person who plays a game via a sub service would buy that game were it not included in that service," Piscatella notes. We don't, and can't, know exactly how many Game Pass players, or even Game Pass premium upgraders, would've paid full price in this case, but it certainly wouldn't be all of them. We also can't separate the value of any Game Pass subscriptions purchased by people enticed by E-Day – that is, the value-add.

E-Day was once on track to become another multiplatform Xbox game before Microsoft shelved a reportedly near-finished PS5 port to prioritize its home console, even if that means limiting its audience.

Gears of War: E-Day studio reportedly fears post-launch layoffs, "wouldn't put it past" Microsoft to withhold bonuses.

How long it takes to beat Star Wars Galactic Racer varies a lot, but rolling the credit can certainly be done in under 30 hours. The reason for the variation is its runs-based structure, so how long it takes you to beat ultimately depends on your skill and the number of tours you do. With that in mind, I've laid out some estimations for how long it might take you to beat Star Wars Galactic Racer as well as how each Act is structured so you know what lies ahead.

How long is Galactic Racer?

Star Wars Galactic Racer should take you roughly 20-30 hours to complete all three Acts and roll the credits.

That's obviously quite a broad range but, as I've said, it's down to how many tours you do. If you're a gifted racer, you might get through each Act in only a few attempts, which will mean you might even complete the game in under 20 hours. Conversely, if you have some absolute stinkers, you'll be closer to or exceeding 30 hours. Using the best Star Wars Galactic Racer speeder and my Galactic Racer tips might help you win more races, but you've still got to make good choices on every tour all the way through to Derven Acos to move onto the next act.

If you're looking to unlock and even upgrade everything in the campaign, such as Galactic Racer Favors, you can add several more hours onto your completion time. You'll be relying on random chance for some unlocks so this can take a while. Factor in all the Scenarios, Arcade time trials, and multiplayer and you're easily looking at spending 50+ hours in Star Wars Galactic Racer. I rolled the credits after about 27 hours but have continued playing for another 20 or so due to all the non-campaign extras.

How many Acts are in Galactic Racer?

As mentioned, Star Wars Galactic Racer has three Acts. I won't go into the story specifics to avoid spoilers but here's how they look structurally:

• Act 1: Jakku > Lantaana > Ando Prime > Derven Acos Qualifier event
  • Every planet besides Derven Acos has four regular events for a total of 13 events in a single Act 1 tour.
• Act 2: Sentinel I > Jakku > Crait > Ando Prime > Derven Acos Galactic Gauntlet and final race
  • Every planet besides Derven Acos has four regular events for a total of 18 events in a single Act 2 tour.
• Act 3: Lantaana > Sentinel I > Ando Prime > Jakku > Crait > Derven Acos Galactic Gauntlet and final race
  • Every planet besides Derven Acos has four regular events and ends with a Podracing Challenge, for a total of 27 events in a single Act 3 tour.

If you've got a Prime subscription, you can stream Star Wars Galactic Racer on Amazon Luna.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Arc Raiders' Frozen Trail update is the talk of the town, but an even bigger change could be on the horizon. From October 13 through October 20, developer Embark will test something that some players have wanted from day one: a pure PvE mode. Executive producer Aleksander Grøndal tells me this test is an essential step toward answering a question that even the devs have had since launch, even if it ends up splitting the game in two one day.

Originally, Arc Raiders was a pure PvE game about fighting giant robots. It only pivoted to a PvPvE mix very late in development. The devs also ditched the free-to-play structure and put everything they had into the extraction shooter basket, and miraculously, it paid off. As a result, going back to pure PvE feels like a huge risk.

"Naturally, we were a bit like, 'Are we gonna open this door? What does that mean?'" Grøndal says. "We had that question ongoing for a long time, maybe even too long, to be fair."

An Arc Raiders PvE mode is just a limited test for now, but Grøndal suggests there's potential for much more. I asked if he can imagine a world where Arc Raiders is essentially split into two games – the game we've known, and a pure PvE version – and he reckons "it's very possible."

"I mean, the community is already split along those lines," he continues. "If the game eventually will represent that? Quite possibly. I think it's important to respect how the players want to enjoy the game, even if it doesn't necessarily fully gel with what we thought the game was initially or how we designed the game to be initially. It's possible. Of course, it creates some challenges on our end. We need to figure out what we really mean by that."

For all the demand for it, there are also concerns around what a PvE mode could do to Arc Raiders and how it will feel to play. Will it ruin the game's tension? Will it undermine that beloved camaraderie when you aren't choosing to be friendly? Will it warp the economy or split the player base?

"I mean, all of these are valid risks, right?" Grøndal responds. "Which is one of the reasons why we wanted to run a test which is somewhat limited around some of the higher-end stuff. It will affect, or it has a chance of affecting, the overall experience. This is also why we wanted to just get it out there, look at the data, look at what the feedback says, and then really figure out what the best way forward is.

"I think there's a lot of valid concerns, and internally at the studio, that has been expressed, both sides of that coin. It's not like everyone was high-fiving Aleks when we introduced this idea to do this test. That's not the case. There were some real concerns there too. But at the end of the day, I really feel like we need to answer this question, at least to ourselves, and of course also to the players."

Arc Raiders Frozen Trail patch notes are full of sentences that players have dreamed of for a year: "You can now open the map while downed."

Marvel Rivals developer NetEase is taking extra care to make sure it doesn't leak anything about Avengers Doomsday as it plans a crossover with the MCU film.

2026 has been a big year for the Marvel Rivals team as the developers have been celebrating the four Avengers MCU themes with new cosmetics and modes throughout the year on the Path to Doomsday. This kicked off in April with an Avengers themed event that had a 6v1 asymmetrical mode in which you team up against a single Loki, while this week marks the Infinity War event which will introduce a 2v2 mode in which two teams of 6 players can battle with the Infinity Stones in round robin bouts. Then later this month a PVE mode based on Endgame will drop, in which 50 players have a scrap with Thanos and his army.

Naturally, this is all set to culminate with Avengers Doomsday in December, but all of Marvel Studios barring 2018 Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo take spoilers very seriously. But for Rivals to have Doomsday-themed content, it'll need some insider info.

Speaking to FRVR, Marvel Rivals game director Guangyun Chen assured "We are doing everything we can to prevent any leaks for this important event." Unfortunately, this is somewhat undercut by supposed leaks for Marvel Rivals season 11 which pegs Nightcrawler and Dr Doom – both of which are set to play a big role in Doomsday – as the new characters set to be added next season. Not to mention Season 10's Gorr the God Butcher was leaked ahead of time too.

Granted, I don't know that Marvel Rivals' crossover will necessitate too many full-blown spoilers about the upcoming movie, least of all the "surprising ending" Joe Russo is hyping up. I'd be shocked if the film's ending – which features Beast transforming into Frasier Crane in a Dragon Ball Z-like sequence in which he one shots Doom – will be crucial to the new season. But let's hope no leaks happen, just to be safe.

Marvel Rivals hasn't managed to beat Overwatch's stats yet, but Disney boasts it's still "attracted 40 million players worldwide."

Video games have gotten large, and quite expensive, both to make and buy. Some might argue, myself included, they are generally a bit too big for their own good, and the bloating budgets aren't helpful for the industry. Former Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios CEO Shawn Layden agrees, and he believes if publishers focus on smaller releases, it'll help everyone.

He provided his views during an appearance on the Expansion Pass podcast. "I've been involved with plenty of games that are 80, 90, 100 hours of gameplay," he starts. "And I'll be the first one to say they're not all quality hours. You know, some of that is running across the desert to get the red key to open the red door when you come back."

He believes development more broadly should circle around to projects that are contained and captivating. "So I would rather see a world where we have good 20 to 25 hour games that are just action-packed like a John Woo film that you just, you can't put down the controller," he adds.

One need only see how many games, especially in the triple-A space, have sandboxes to see his point. Your Assassin's Creeds and Final Fantasy games and the likes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - they all require a considerable amount of time and energy to complete, and there's a certain amount of faff in each.

I say that with love, too. The first two installments of the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy are among my favorites of this decade thus far, and the same for all three of Insomniac's Spider-Man games. But they all have their share of side-quests or cookie cutter design I didn't enjoy.

Layden believes some part of the roots here lay in rental culture in the '90s, where devs would try and make sure a game couldn't be beaten in one weekend if you rented it. My mind immediately jumped to the stampede level of The Lion King on the SNES and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive for a prime example of making sure you'd be a repeat customer.

Such bloat became a design tenet. "Keep it tight and keep it banging, that's where I like to see it go," he says. "If we can make those smaller scale games and have an idea that what we're building to is that kind of template, I think a lot of the costs associated with game development will start to, if not decrease, at least stop increasing."

Estimates place the costs of Battlefield 6, Hideo Kojima's Physint, GTA 6, and many more well into hundreds of millions. When you look at widespread layoffs, one certainly appears to beget to the other. Hopefully, as the industry rights itself, it'll re-approach some of these structural ideas and aim for something more sustainable.

Sony is still selling tons of the discs it plans to kill off: Marvel's Wolverine launch sales were reportedly 35% physical, showing a huge appetite for a non-digital future

Although Bloodborne isn't officially available on PC – and at this point, might never be – a good few fans have worked to port it over themselves… including those behind The Hunter's Dream, a multiplayer emulation that might not be as ambitious as it seems.

The PlayStation 5 is seeing various emulation projects take off, finally allowing PC players access to Sony exclusives – but Bloodborne's own The Hunter's Dream might not really be that.

As per its official website and posts over on Twitter, it supposedly supports quite a lot, from multiplayer to keyboard and mouse controls and much, much more. Heck, it apparently works on both Windows and Linux (Steam Deck included), with all bells and whistles included.

While it sounds impressive on paper, there's a chance – like, 100% – that the Bloodborne port was made using generative AI… and, a whole lot of it, too.

We're living in the (unfortunate) era of AI-powered crossovers and such, so it's not all that surprising, but still. If you take a look at the creator's GitHub page, you'll see that Claude, as in the AI bot, is credited as one of the "people" who worked on pretty much every single aspect of the project.

It's understandable, then, that many comments on the social media post unveiling the project aren't exactly positive. "It's not really a native port btw," reads one. "AI just slopped stuff from the emulator." Another declares, "NOT PLAYING THIS AI SLOP I WILL JUST USE THE EMULATOR MADE BY HUMANS!"

Further down, the sentiment remains the same, with folks warning The Hunter's Dream stems from "fucking Claude."

There's also the fact that, as one person points out, "you still fucking need the original copy of Bloodborne and an e-boot from your PS4" – but that makes sense as it'd be *cough* illegal *cough* otherwise (not that it's totally clean now by any means, for what it's worth).

All in all, I'd personally advise perhaps giving this one a miss, but if you're hoping for something more official, I'm sadly not sure it'll ever happen.

Heck, even former PlayStation chief Shuhei Yoshida doesn't know why Bloodborne hasn't been remastered or released on PC, having called it "a complete mystery" – and that checks out. I'll forever look forward to one myself, but… I wouldn't hold my breath.

Bloodborne movie producer Jacksepticeye admits "80% of the responses were critical" of his involvement, as he reassures fans he's "trying to honor the universe."

Wardogs Season 2 sees developer Bulkhead address imbalance in the game's teams, with notorious blue loser Lonestar receiving targeted bonuses to entice players to join up as part of a "social experiment" in game balance.

The Season 2 patch notes take a swing at "faction balance," with Bulkhead acknowledging that "Wardogs is a game that isn't supposed to be always perfectly balanced." The running gag with blue team, however, bolstered by legitimate gameplay concerns, has started to materially affect many matches.

"One team had a notoriously lower win rate than the other two teams," the devs admit. "There are valid complaints around Lonestar's uniform visibility and certain spawn positions which we have been watching and addressing. However – sentiment around the blue team is the largest driving factor for players not wanting to play on that team."

Bulkhead is tackling this team imbalance the old-fashioned way: by injecting a bunch of cash into the weak team. For Season 2 only, playing as Lonestar will net you bonus cash and XP on win, as well as teamplay action cash and XP multipliers. You know a team is bad when the devs are literally paying people to support them.

Additionally, Lonestar uniforms will be "more desaturated to stick out less compared to other factions." This is the tragedy of being blue – an extraordinarily rare color in nature, rare in part because it's so bleeding obvious.

Similarly, to help offset spawn imbalances, "all faction spawns have moved on Bakurani."

If you do find yourself on the losing team – specifically, at least 40 points behind second place – you'll get access to a new 20% vendor discount. "Relevant to all teams, not just Lonestar," Bulkhead clarifies. You know a team is bad when it's the de facto loser in hypotheticals.

Simultaneously, Season 2 will introduce new team switching restrictions. "To stop late switching from deciding matches," Bulkhead says, "once a team is more than 10 points ahead" you won't be able to switch teams for 15 minutes after joining one.

"If you switch teams or join a match in progress, your map stays obscured until you reach the control zone for the first time," the patch notes add. What's more, "you cannot use the spawn vehicle until you reach the control zone for the first time."

Bulkhead may be running a social experiment and defending imbalance, but the devs still want to maintain some semblance of fairness. "These changes are intended to increase friction for team switch abusers, whilst still allowing for you to join the team of your friends if needed," the studio says.

For similar reasons, "community server hosts being seen to exploit the faction bonus" added to Lonestar "will be punished."

Wardogs has already made over $100 million on Steam, analyst says, but the new shooter couldn't beat Arc Raiders and Helldivers 2's launches.

Membrane gaming keyboards are some of the cheapest available, but they often have a hard time defending themselves against the budget end of the mechanical market. The Corsair Skiff 100 Plus sits at the usual $59.99 / £59.99, but its typing experience, extra macro keys and vibrant RGB lighting combined with a healthy propensity for discounts falling at around $49.99 / £39.99 mean this deck really can give some of those cheaper mechanical clackers something to think about.

It's only going to make sense if you're looking for a super silent gaming keyboard, and the best gaming keyboards at the top of the market have nothing to worry about, but even if you're on the fence about losing that thwack sound the smoothness of these rubber domes is enough to keep those with tired hands coming back.

I always find membrane keyboards troublesome on the old fingers. Their caps often need far more pressure than mechanical options to actuate, often with a mushy, almost-stuck, feeling to them. While I haven't exactly been dancing across the keys during my time with the Corsair Skiff 100 Plus, it's certainly the best membrane gaming keyboard I've tested so far from a typing feel standpoint.

Corsair Skiff 100 Plus design

Corsair isn't doing anything revolutionary with the design of the Skiff. This is an all-black plastic chassis illuminated by a bold set of bright LEDs. Yes, there's a little flex when pushing particularly hard on that top plate, but the plastic underneath feels sturdy and durable and hammering down on the keys themselves never presented a single bounce in my testing.

ABS keycaps can feel a little sticky under the fingertips, but are par for the course at this price. It should be noted, though, in the race against Amazon's collection of budget mechanical decks, that these clackers can't be replaced. Once they shine up, you're stuck with them.

That's one of the main drawbacks of membrane keyboards, though one the Glorious GMBK 75% manages to overcome particularly well. If only the Corsair Skiff 100 Plus combined its far preferable typing feel with Glorious's swappable caps.

Otherwise, we've got a full-sized layout here, with comfortable spacing between the main deck keys and plenty of space in the top right corner for that volume dial. Corsair hasn't skimped on this aspect either, while it's seemingly plastic on the top it still has that brushed aesthetic regularly threaded through this brand's keyboards.

My only real gripe with the design here is in the cable. It's permanently plugged into the deck and it's that old cheap rubber material that keeps its kinks no matter how flat you try and straighten it out.

The permanent connection will make travel a little squeakier and that cable construction makes for a pretty messy desktop experience before it's properly managed or tucked away.

Corsair Skiff 100 Plus features

Corsair uses standard rubber dome switches under each of its ABS keycaps, which means you're not getting the speed or smoothness of a mechanical clacker or the additional actuation controls of a Hall effect keyboard. Still, you're paying less than you usually would for a mainstream brand's gaming keyboard using either of those clackers, and getting more additional features in the process.

Membrane keyboards may sacrifice typing feel but they're still loved by players on a budget for their sturdy feature sets compared to comparably priced mechanical options. You're getting six additional macro keys lined up along the left side of the chassis here, for example. While they can only be configured with recorded macros, rather than system features, it's certainly more than you'll find from most budget mechanical options.

The volume dial on the top right also has other membrane keyboards like the Roccat Magma beat, though dedicated playback controls can only be accessed when holding the function button at the same time. That's neater than having to squeeze extra buttons onto the deck, but some may prefer track skips to have their own controls.

Surface-level customizations like basic RGB lighting effects and macro settings can be configured in Corsair Web Hub, but you'll need to download iCue to go deeper into each of those ten lighting zones and configure Win-Lock conditions. PS5 and PS4 compatibility mode can also be toggled with Fn+Windows, held for five seconds.

The Corsair Skiff 100 Plus also comes with a wrist rest in the box, which is always appreciated. In this case, the pad isn't quite as plush as you'll find on other, more expensive, models, but it's perfectly raised to provide a more comfortable angle for the keyboard itself and keeps the brand's soft-touch covering as well. It handles temperature particularly well, staying cool to the touch after longer sessions unlike some of the more pillowy options out there.

There's one 'but' here, and it's a little hidden in the spec sheet. The Corsair Skiff 100 Plus doesn't feature full N-key rollover, instead we're back to 12-key selective rollover here. That's not going to hurt most of us too much, though.

Corsair Skiff 100 Plus performance

Onto how the Corsair Skiff 100 Plus actually feels to use, and I will say I was surprised here. I'm normally warming up the hands when I prepare for a membrane keyboard review. Those heavier switches can take their toll on the joints.

While there's still more actuation force required here compared to a mechanical deck, though, the Corsair Skiff 100 Plus feels relatively breezy. Only the hybrid mecha-mechanical SteelSeries Apex 5 beats this one for typing feel among its peers. Every keystroke is smooth, and even manages to maintain a nice sense of tactility at the bottom of each press. Some keys feel a little lighter than others; main alphas are a little heavier, while larger keys like the backspace, space, and enter have a little more give to them.

In-game, repeat keypresses feel a little sluggish compared to a mechanical deck, but side by side with heavier switches that don't have this level of smoothness they're nearly sprightly. I was still able to zip across arenas in Doom: The Dark Ages, even if my CS:2 performance was a little more cumbersome than usual.

Crucially, keypresses are recorded as quickly as casual players will need them, and feel comparatively comfortable when they are.

Should you buy the Corsair Skiff 100 Plus?

Casual gamers looking for a keyboard to run their everyday Steam library will be happy here, while I'd still recommend typists opt for something more mechanical under the hood. That $59.99 / £59.99 full price is set a little awkwardly against cheaper mechanical decks, but if you value additional macro controls and a wrist rest more than a lighter typing feel the Skiff 100 Pro is well worth keeping an eye on. With discounts settling early in this keyboard's life, I'm hopeful this one will find itself at $40-$50 soon enough - and that price it's an easy recommendation for membrane keyboard fans.

How I tested the Corsair Skiff 100 Plus

I used the Corsair Skiff 100 Plus for all my daily work and play for a period of one week, while testing alongside some alternatives for a second week. That was a busy few weeks of typing, but I also took the Skiff out for a spin in my usual roster of Doom: The Dark Ages and CS:2 as well as some Planet Coaster 2 and High on Life 2. For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

We're also rounding up the best hot-swappable keyboards and the best wireless gaming keyboards for more options.

A new patch for the World of Warcraft: Forever Beta is upon us, bringing everything from the new City of Dalaran dungeon to various class changes – but it's not exactly landing well with all of the MMO's early players, it seems.

The World of Warcraft: Forever patch notes outline a lot, and that's a bit of an understatement – we're entering the fourth week of the Beta, after all.

You'll find them over on Blizzard's official forums, beginning with bug fixes and leading into a plethora of class changes which are, unsurprisingly, stirring quite the storm in the community. The first point of contention has to do with looting, however.

As the WoW: Forever patch notes read, "This build reintroduces Classic looting behavior, where creatures that dropped no loot can still be interacted with." In other words, enemies are now professional time wasters as you can interact with them whether or not they have loot.

To say the least, it's pretty annoying – and I'm not alone in thinking so. Over on a Reddit thread on Patch 5.01, one person simply asks, "Why?"

They continue: "I mean, what purpose does this have beyond 'it's how it was?' Is it just masochism from thinking you got a quest item?"

Honestly, I get it. It's already confusing folks, too, with another commenter saying, "I found it mildly annoying/confusing at first when I killed a mob and I couldn't loot it. Took me a bit to realize what was going on." Perhaps this is one thing they should've axed from the original game.

Players are also unhappy with the new World of Warcraft: Forever class changes – and lack thereof. It's looking especially rough for Rogue fans specifically, with one reply joking, "Sick Rogue changes" (spoiler alert: there are none).

Caster classes like the Druid, Priest, and Shaman do see tweaks – but they're apparently, uh, not the greatest. "They're committed to making casters feel bad at low levels," as one fan amusingly puts it.

For example, Blizzard has adjusted the Shaman's Lightning Bolt and its "base points and points per level of ranks 1-5" so as "to make the growth rate of ranks 1-6 more consistent, and new ranks always an upgrade" – but it feels like a non-change.

As one fan writes, there are "0 meaningful changes" in reality. All in all, it feels like the developers opted to nerf lower, currently preferable ranked skills than "making the higher ranks better."

It's worth a browse through the full World of Warcraft: Forever patch notes to see it all for yourself if you're interested, but something tells me Blizzard might be delivering even more changes following fan feedback soon.

World of Warcraft: Forever is "simplifying" Blizzard's usual PvP but also adding a controversial weekly grind as MMO fans beg "please don't do the weeklies thing."

Dragon's Dogma 2 : Dark Arisen is out, and true to the developers words, it's proving a lot harder than the original version of the RPG.

Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen's lead dev said the friction is key to the experience, and promised that the new expansion of Capcom's 2024 RPG has been designed to "offer battles with an even greater sense of tension and challenge than the main game." Ahead of launch, Capcom said the new Lost Rites dungeons are to be challenged at level 20, while Forsaken Dominion – the main questline featured in the new region of Norgan – is recommended for level 40.

I started Lost Rites and Forsaken Dominion at level 80 and got absolutely decimated countless times.

And I'm glad to report it's not just a skill issue on my part, as one glance at the Dragon's Dogma 2 subreddit shows that Arisen all over the globe are getting battered. One post accuses returning Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen director Kento Kinoshita of being a liar, saying, "Bro said something like level 50 is a good starting point for this DLC and i went in on my lvl275 character," adding, "Bro this shit is still hard I'm getting 4 shot by random mobs and the trailer dragon is currently fucking me up severely."

Elsewhere on the subreddit, there are a number of meme posts and videos recounting how the snowy tundra of Norgan is beating them down mercilessly, with others sharing tales about how they hoarded relics only for a snow ogre to steal them all.

That being said, these aren't really complaints. Everyone seems super pleased to be getting their butts kicked by Dragon's Dogma 2 after a two-and-a-half year wait. One players says "the new DLC is everything I wanted," praising enemies that are much smarter and harder than before. It went down a treat with reviews, too, as Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen nabbed a higher score than the first game's DLC.

Dragon's Dogma 2 update finally gives the RPG the performance boost it desperately needed, and it's so good that it's even lowered the PC system requirements.

I recall many things from my 140-hour initial playthrough of The Witcher 3, but taking in the scenery is not one of them. Between monster contracts, heartbreaking questlines like The Bloody Baron, and far too many games of Gwent, the position of the sun in the sky was never of concern to me.

But The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered has put all that on its head. I wanted to hone in on a specific quest for this first instalment of October's RPG Club, exploring how White Orchard's griffin-slaying contract feels with the new combat and reworked skill tree now in play thanks to the new update. So tell me why I've just spent almost five hours treating The Witcher 3 like an open world photo op, seeking out the best sunsets in town?

Quest Log

Heavens above

Aside from all the half-naked bodies (which have always been there in this dream sequence), the first thing I notice upon starting a new save is how jaw-droppingly vivid, colorful, and vibrant it is.

Shadows are richer, the contrast between Geralt's bare chest and the marbled oak furniture behind him starker than Yennefer's state of undress. I walk out onto the balcony and can almost feel the sun's golden warmth pouring over Kaer Morhen, setting aflame the emerald and sage and every other fancy word you can think of to say "green" in its lush surrounding wilderness.

It boggles the mind. I'm playing The Witcher 3 on my six year-old gaming laptop. Yes, I updated my graphics card drivers especially for this occasion, but I was prepared to miss out on the best of the remaster's visual upgrades given the age of my rig. Turns out that even without ray-tracing and occlusive lighting, The Witcher 3 has never looked more magical.

When I'm let loose in White Orchard, I try to stay on track. Well, as on track as you're supposed to be in a game like this; White Orchard is the starter town for a reason, offering a snapshot of the game's many systems and mission types in one handy place as Geralt sets out to find Yennefer with witcher mentor, Vesesmir. Wraith in the Well is a great introduction to the planning that goes into each monster hunt. For a taste of The Continent's political landscape, Twisted Firestarter sees me tracking down an arsonist who burned down the local forge after the blacksmith supplied arms to invading Nilfgaardian forces. Elsewhere, I help a sweet old dear get her prized frying pan back from the home of a dead man. You know, just normal things.

I have to admit that since it has been some time since I last played The Witcher 3, some of the combat enhancements might be lost on me. If anything, I find myself running into more bugs than before – Geralt refused to dive to fetch some herbs once, forcing me to reload, while he petulantly decided that dodging is for losers and massively showed me up in a brawl outside a tavern. But at least I can stop and snap some pretty pictures in Photo Mode when I'm not reloading to fix said bugs.

To griffin-ity

By the time I get around to the griffin-slaying contract, I've reached Level 3 and completed all nearby side quests. It took a bit of time; White Orchard is not for level grinding, since there's a whole game and two DLC (soon to be three when Songs of the Past launches next year) to do that in. But it does mean that I can start exploring the reworked skill tree nice and early – thank god.

I have no shame in admitting that my first Witcher 3 build was utter chaos. I had no idea what I was doing, assigning random mutagens here, mismatching them with other-colored abilities there, never properly upgrading skills after they were first unlocked. But CDPR has made it far more visually intuitive, doing away with the need to blow all your points in a specific category before you can unlock higher-tier skills.

They branch out more naturally now – I'm going for an Igni build at this early stage, since few things can shrug off a bunch of sparks in their faces, which smoothly branches out into the Aard ability tree to let me skip the lower levels outright. It's a far smarter, more user-friendly rework compared to the original – though given how much I struggled with Cyberpunk 2077 at first, maybe I've just gotten used to the developer's flair after all.

Going up against the griffin is easy, if a little daunting. You never feel truly ready in The Witcher 3; some high-level enemies go down surprisingly fast with the right oils rubbed on your silver sword, while others (cough Detlaff cough) give me far more stress than I'd care to rehash here.

It also doesn't help that after fetching herbs and finding the abandoned griffin's lair – RIP griffin wife – all I want to do is take photographs of everything. I'm so consumed with documenting my new Witcher 3 journey like a photojournalist, taking time framing each shot just so, that when Vesemir hands me a crossbow, I panic. Uh, how do I use this again?!

After downing three accidental potions and casting Igni at my horse (sorry Roach), I finally work out how to equip the blasted thing. It's pretty useless, if I'm honest; I'll stick to using the Igni special attack, a stream of continuous fire that reaches a surprising distance, to stun the beast and bring it crashing down to earth for some melee attacks.

It's on toward Vizima now that the brute has been slain, and time to meet Yennefer. But not before I snap another juicy shot of Geralt and his winged prize. I'm sure that there's more I'll appreciate about the remaster update later down the line – I haven't even experienced the new missions that came with the next gen update, after all – but for now, I'm quite happy playing The Witcher 3 in a state of awe and wonder. Each new sunset brings another exciting rush to snap a picture before it's too late, even if Geralt's hair looks startlingly blue or blonde in certain lighting. CD Projekt Red's bold enhancements of The Witcher 3's color palette has turned it into a true fantasy for me, and at this rate, it'll take me a very long time to leave Velen.

So it's just as well that next week, another member of the GamesRadar+ team will take you on an adventure into one of their favorite sections of this big, beautiful game! Until then, I'll see you on The Path.

Gears of War E-Day might be restricted to PC and Xbox, but that doesn't mean you can't consider playing it with your friends on those platforms. Even better, the latest instalment includes that near-lost, increasingly rare mechanic that is couch co-op, so charge those controllers, get comfy, and lock in for the Gears of War E-Day co-op campaign.

Is the Gears of War E-Day campaign co-op?

Yes! The Gears of War E-Day campaign does have co-op, both online and local. You can continue your journey from any chapter you've already started, or your most recent save, and friends will be launched straight in with you.

All multiplayer and single-player campaign options are reached from the same screen. To invite friends to join you in the Gears of War E-Day campaign online, launch the campaign from the main menu, and you'll automatically be assigned to play as Marcus Fenix. Scroll across and click on any of the buttons beneath the three remaining characters to open your friends list. Choose the friend you want to play with to send an invite.

If you want to play the Gears E-Day campaign in couch co-op, press the menu button on the second player's Xbox controller add select the player's account or log-in as a guest.

I've missed couch co-op in most modern games, so it's nice to see it as one of the Gears of War E-Day campaign co-op options. Whether you're playing alone or with a friend, make sure you've got the best Gears of War E-Day mods for your weapons, armor, and tactical equipment, and prepare yourself by checking out the average Gears of War E-Day campaign length.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Whether you're thinking about checking off the campaign before tackling Horde Siege or you want a break from the multiplayer mode, you're here to answer the question of the Gears of War E-Day campaign length.

Based on a few playthroughs, we've got the approximate answer below, and while it's longer than any other Gears campaign so far, it's far from a long game, meaning you'll have plenty of time to complete it once or more and get into Horde Siege, too.

What's the Gears of War E-Day campaign length?

Based on a few playthroughs, the approximate total playtime for the Gears of War E-Day campaign is:

• Story Campaign: 11-13 hours.
• Standard Playthrough (Story + major side quests): 13-15 hours.
• 100% Completion: 15+ hours.

As you can see, even with finding all collectibles and completing side quests, you'll be able to complete Gears of War E-Day in less than 20 hours, making it a very reasonably sized game. Previous Gears of War campaigns usually last under 10 hours, with Gears 5 - the longest before E-Day - tipping the scales slightly over that amount. This makes E-Day the longest Gears game by far, but it never feels too long thanks to an engaging and moving story from start to end.

Even if you're not a completionist, I certainly recommend looking around for Hardcases, which is made much easier by using the clever Tac-Com mechanic, as these contain Gears of War E-Day mods for your weapons and armor. You'll also be able to get mods from completing side quests, too, so keep an eye out for yellow icons, indicating a nearby side quest.

You could also speed things up a bit by bringing in a friend to help you through the Gears of War E-Day co-op campaign.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

High-end VR brand Pimax is making big strides to combat Valve's re-entry into the XR market. The creator of the classic Crystal and more recent Dream Air headsets has announced new hardware, including the Pimax Crystal Pro, a new VR headset that targets a lot of the appeal of Valve's Steam Frame. Alongside it are controllers that magnetically snap into a full gamepad, a mini PC that looks just like the Steam Machine, and to top it all off, the brand has swapped its green and black color scheme for a Valve-reminiscent black and blue.

The Pimax Crystal Pro is a standalone VR headset running on Snapdragon's XR2 Gen 2 processor, but it also has a DisplayPort connection for true, lossless PCVR gaming. That said, its wireless mode is where the focus clearly is, because Pimax is dead set on solving the wireless VR image compression problem.

"Every single wireless headset in the world compresses the image," says Japp Grolleman, brand and communications manager at Pimax.

"Each frame gets squished through a codec to fit through wireless connection, and you pay for that squeeze... that's not a flaw of any one product; it's just how wireless VR has always worked. So we asked, what if it didn't have to?

"That question is the reason this headset exists."

The Crystal Pro, like the Steam Frame, will come with a dedicated Wi-Fi 6E dongle for a unique channel connection to a PC you want to stream games from. The difference is that it'll utilize a 60G AirLink, which is a bandwidth that "nothing else" utilizes. The trade-off with this type of connection, which Pimax has experimented with before, is that it won't pass through walls, so Pimax is offering a $599 AirLink kit that sports two USB-C antennas that attach to the back of the headset. Both of these send and receive a signal to ensure blockages don't disrupt the flow of data.

Using Pimax Play, the brand's dedicated software home for its devices, you can tilt and position them for the best connection in your gaming room or house.

For even further reassurance that the connection is uncompressed and not disrupted, Pimax is utilizing beam aiming using infrared signals in the antennas and USB dongle to ensure the signal is being sent directly to the headset.

The Crystal Pro will also feature what Pimax is calling "native foveated streaming" - a concept which Valve has coined with the Steam Frame but has since been adopted by Virtual Desktop. By narrowing down the focus area of the user using 10 infrared emitters per eye polling at 120Hz, the Crystal Pro can sharpen the image quality even more where it counts.

The rest of the headset's specs only bolster all of this innovation. It uses aspheric lenses as opposed to the pancake lenses that have proven popular after the Quest 3's arrival. Pimax says they give more accurate tracking, a cleaner view of your eye, and better viewing angles.

To save weight but add comfort, the Crystal Pro will give you a separate battery puck that you can keep in your pocket, like the Apple Vision Pro. Unlike the Steam Frame, it'll have a fixed headband to distribute weight. It'll also sport a magnetic, snapping facial interface.

Tracking is done via Pimax's SLAM software, which has now been improved to work better in dark surroundings, but different faceplates can provide different functions like full-color passthrough and base station tracking. There are three microphones on the headset, two for your voice, and one for noise cancellation. Valve Index-like audio speakers are available separately, but the integrated ones will likely do the trick for most gamers.

In a departure from Pimax's previous Mini-OLED devices, the Crystal Pro will feature 2880 x 2880 QLED panels per eye with a 110° FOV and refresh rates up to 120Hz. The ringless VR controllers are very reminiscent of Valve's Steam Frame controllers in that they're a full gamepad split in half. Conveniently, they can snap together with a magnetic centrepiece that turns them into a traditional gamepad for flat-screen gaming.

At the same time, Pimax is launching Spation, a desktop-class mini-PC specifically built around VR play, supporting Windows and SteamOS. There hasn't been a price announced for the Spation, but the Crystal Pro will set you back $1,399 (or $1,899 with the 60G AirLink kit bundled in).

In reference to Valve, which got a lot of mentions in Pimax's full-length announcement video, Jaap Grolleman said, "We admire what Valve has built in the same way we admire what the Quest 3 delivers at its price. These two share real common ground."

For more on VR, take a look at the best Meta Quest accessories.

Video games have that unique ability to make you feel reflected in a way that nothing else can, so it needs to include the things that we feel self-conscious about. Otherwise, it just becomes a perpetual youth simulator, or beauty simulator, in a way that I don't think is actually constructive for kind of mental health or just how diverse we all are.

The power of a great character creator is that it can make or break a game, especially a game where you consistently see your character in cutscenes or in conversations.

That's the topic for this week's episode of G+RLS, where Heather Wald, Rosalie Newcombe, and I discuss all the character creators we've loved of late, and what's still to be improved to truly reflect the diversity of humankind. From Dragon's Dogma 2 to the character representation in Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, there's certainly a few surprises that pop up in between.

You can watch the brand-new episode above, and do let me know what you think are the best character creators, especially if it's not one we've mentioned!

If you're new here, G+RLS is the GamesRadar+ podcast that tells the stories of women who game and the games they play. We release a new episode every other Friday, alternating between team chats on the games industry and interviews with creators, developers, voice actors, and more.

Join us for a new episode every other Friday and let us know what you'd love to hear us talking about. We're available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, and Amazon Music.

You can also watch episode 7 on YouTube below!

It's not so bad, I thought. What could it cost? $150? $170? Nope.

The Corsair Vanguard 99 Air is a wireless optical mechanical keyboard with a nicely quiet low profile typing experience, but a key piece of software that I couldn't get working. And it costs $259.99.

That's the price of some of the best gaming keyboards on the market, decks tuned with high-end typing experiences, feature-full magnetic switches, or luxury build materials. It can't be the price of the low-profile clackers I've had on (and off) my desk for the last few months.

Corsair has been flying high with recent releases like the Vanguard Pro 96 and Galleon 100 SD shooting to the top of my recommendation lists. The Corsair Vanguard 99 Air may serve you well if you're after a low profile option with silent keystrokes, but it's going to be difficult to fully get behind in 2026.

What I like about the Corsair Vanguard 99 Air Wireless

Compact 99% layout

Squished gaming keyboard layouts are becoming far more popular as folk push toward more compect designs while still keeping their number pads intact. That's certainly a trend I can get behind, especially with the Vanguard Air 99's additional strip of macro keys running down the right hand side as well.

It's a little longer than a 96% offering, and still suffers slightly from the squished arrow keys in the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96, but ultimately you're getting everything you need here without having to load a behemoth onto your desk.

Slick design

From the semi-transparent accent keys to its subtle RGB lighting, the Corsair Vanguard Air 99 gets a lot right with it aesthetic. Even the slightly rounded keycaps offer a nicely comfortable landing spot with just the right amount of visual interest to keep the board looking slick on a desk.

That extends through to the typing experience as well. These are notably quiet clackers, but it's impossible not to be impressed with the sound dampening underneath as well. Every keystroke feels cushioned but sounds it as well. Rather than the echoes, pings, and thocks of a chunkier mechanical deck, all I can hear is the tippity taps of particularly light optical clackers.

Good key travel

Once thing that generally puts me off about low profile keyboards is their lack of, to put it obviously, depth. I know I know, a low profile deck is all about light touches, speed, and soft pressure, but I prefer a tactility that few slimline decks can accomplish.

Corsair has nailed it here, with a suitably satisfying feel to each keystroke that manages to keep everyday typing and gaming rich and interesting while still keeping that silent low profile DNA.

Meaningful screen updates

Since the launch of the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 and its pretty boring display / glorified digital photo frame, Corsair has added more screen options to its iCue-supported devices. Now that the Vanguard Air 99 is among them, you've got a good supply of options to keep tucked away in that top right corner. Media information, FPS, weather, and calendar displays are all available... as well as your photos.

What to consider

Some typing... quirks

Unfortunately, the first major problem I encountered with the Corsair Vanguard Air 99 was its chatter, and it was a problem that presented itself almost immediately. Multiple inputs are regularly detect off a single keystroke and it's pretty frequent.

This was ultimately solved with a later firmware update on a new unit, but it should be known that the original device I received suffered pretty heavily.

Concerning Stream Deck functionality

Finally, we get to one of the most frustrating parts of the Corsair Vanguard Air 99 experience. Those seven macro keys lined up along the right side of the deck are designed to work with the brand's Stream Deck software for a greater degree of flexibility in your extra controls. The key word there being 'designed' to.

In reality, I couldn't get the Stream Deck software to recognize the keyboard once, no matter how it was connected, how up to date both the keyboard and software were, and even with a completely fresh second unit at my disposal. Corsair supplied me with a brand new retail device after I got in touch around this issue, but unfortunately it was never resolved in my testing.

Should you buy the Corsair Vanguard Air 99?

I wouldn't recommend the Corsair Vanguard Air 99 to anyone initially drawn in by the promise of that Stream Deck integration and, considering the price point, I'd be wary recommending it to those just looking for a low profile keyboard. It feels solid in the hands, but with early chattering and this level of software volatility, it's difficult to call the Air 99 a reliable piece of kit.

If you're after a silent-as-possible low profile keyboard and don't mind potentially missing out on one of the advertised features, there's still a nicely designed deck to be found here. Smooth typists and light-handed players will be delighted with the overall build and feel and that boosted screen works a lot harder than previous iterations as well. Ultimately, though, this isn't an easy recommendation to make - especially at this price point.

The competition

How I tested the Corsair Vanguard Air 99

I've had the Corsair Vanguard Air 99 on my desk for a total of four weeks (and in my possession for a few months). That's because I spent two weeks putting the deck through all my usual speed, durability, and typing tests before trading my device out for a new one following chatter and connectivity issues. With a fresh unit in hand, I tested for a further two weeks afterwards.

I primarily tested across Apex Legends and CS2, with additional gameplay in Planet Coaster 2, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Farming Simulator 25, while using the keyboard for everyday productivity at the same time. For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm rounding up plenty more of the best wireless gaming keyboards as well as the best hot-swappable keyboards on the market as well.

The Witcher 3 Remastered is impressing fans all over again following CD Projekt Red's new patch targeting the revamped RPG's visuals and more.

In case you missed it, The Witcher 3 Remastered saw the release of patch 5.01 yesterday – an update that does everything from fix boats moving "uncontrollably" to adding Bloom, Light Shafts, and Depth of Field as options to the game's settings on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

You may not think much of those if you're on PC, but console users are practically convinced they're playing something different with how much of a difference there is. The PC tweaks are nothing to scoff at, either.

Over on Reddit, one player explains how they were "worried that the update wouldn't solve my problems with the game," but it turned out better than they thought: "I didn't expect it will look this good."

Comments show fellow fans agree, with an especially amusing reply saying, "Mine is so improved that I've been just slowly moving around on my horse too just taking in the scenery." Valid, honestly.

Other threads elsewhere echo this sentiment, with a side-by-side comparison on Twitter showing how much better The Witcher 3 Remastered looks after patch 5.01.

"CDPR released an update for The Witcher 3 Remastered that massively improves the visuals," it reads. "They fixed the brightness and color tonemapping and the shadows look way punchier now. It honestly looks like a proper remaster now."

The top response is similar: "That's so good!!! The remaster really felt off to me compared to the beautiful contrast of the original game."

Put simply, patch 5.01 is finally putting the "Remastered" in The Witcher 3 Remastered – and retaining the original RPG's beauty to boot. As another post comparing the post-update game states, colors "are now far more accurate to the intended art style" than they were prior to the patch.

And, honestly, I'm in agreement here. Sure, it's already the top-scoring game of 2026 on Metacritic – but there's always room for improvement, and CD Projekt Red knows it.

The Witcher 3 Remastered leads to new Steam player peak of nearly 140,000 as CD Projekt Red celebrates its 11-year-old RPG's resurgence: "Much love."

RTX Spark laptops are now available for pre-order ahead of an October 16 release date, though anyone hoping Nvidia's new SoC would prove cheaper than its dedicated GPU gaming laptops might need to think again. These aren't your budget-friendly rigs; they're the first wave of machines designed to offer high-powered creative, professional, and gaming with AI at the core. That means the cheapest rigs still start at $2,599.99.

That's about the average going rate for an RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop these days - machines that can run the latest releases in QHD+ without qualms. Why so expensive? These machines need a lot of memory, and anyone in the business of upgrading in 2026 will know RAM shortages have caused chaos in these prices. Considering Nvidia compared its Spark performance to an RTX 5070 at its announcement, these laptops are going to have to pull their weight in other ways.

What's new for gamers? The win here is size. Even the best gaming laptops can bulk out a backpack. The first roster of Nvidia RTX Spark laptops packs that power into a much thinner chassis, the kind of razor-thin designs typically reserved for creator productivity machines. There are also a few more 4K options in this mix, typically a far more expensive upgrade for traditional gaming laptops.

Just how well that RTX Spark can really run demanding games at smooth framerates (DLSS is going to be running this show) remains to be seen. Gamers should also note that Arm-based operating systems like the RTX Spark still rely on a certain degree of emulation, so it's not exactly going to be plain sailing for all.

Still, we've got Microsoft, Asus, MSI, HP, Lenovo, and Dell in on the action today. Most RTX Spark pre-orders are happening over at Best Buy, but some brands are also splitting their time across Amazon, Costco, and B&H Photo as well.

Split across eight laptops and a total of 18 different configuration options (there's even an 18-core and 20-core version of the Spark causing price differences), any early adopters looking to dive in at the deep end have a few different options.

You'll find the cheapest RTX Spark laptop pre-orders from each brand alongside their different configuration options just below.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra

Asus ProArt

HP OmniBook

MSI Prestige N16 Flip AI

Lenovo Pro 9n

Dell XPS 16 Creator

We're also rounding up all the best Alienware laptops and the best Razer laptops on the market, or check out the top Black Friday gaming laptop deals we've found so far.

After dipping his toes into gaming with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Daredevil star Charlie Cox says he's working on an upcoming Sega game.

After over 20 years of acting, Cox finally made his game debut in 2025's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as lead character Gustave. And despite only spending four hours working on the French JRPG (or J'RPG if you will), the game blew up and unexpectedly became one of his most beloved roles in the long acting career. On top of that, the Cox noted that the game "has seemingly opened a new avenue for my professional work" as he confirmed he was working on another game earlier this year.

At New York Comic Con 2026, Cox spoke to IGN (below) and revealed a little more about his upcoming game, explaining, "I did another one, it doesn't have a name yet," and revealing that "I did a Sega one." He adds: "It hasn't come out yet but it was fun to do."

Cox continues, "It's hard. It's a whole different job," explaining, "I had to do, like, 40 hours," which is obviously a bit more intensive than his four hours on Clair Obscur.

With it not even having a name, naturally details are scarce, but Cox shares an amusing anecdote that maybe shines a bit more light on the game. "I showed up for the first day, and I was like, 'Hi guys, nice to meet you! How are you?' And all of them went, '...oh, he's English.'" He adds, "they wanted him to be American, but like, now I've got to do 40 hours of lines I've not prepared in an accent."

It being so early that it doesn't have a name yet means it's probably something we don't even know about; which is to say RPG fans hoping for Cox to bless Persona 6 with a performance are probably out of luck. Given how much RGG Studio loves casting celebrity actors, I can imagine the studio casting Cox in an upcoming game. With Cox having an American accent in Daredevil, a TV show where he plays a lawyer, I'd maybe have to speculate that perhaps a return of the Judgment series could be in the cards?

A year later, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Daredevil star Charlie Cox has finally played the hit J'RPG: "I'm not very good at it."

To streamline killing enemies as quickly as possible, you're going to need the best Gears of War E-Day weapon builds, so you'll need to find the best mods. As soon as you enter Act 2 Chapter 2, the E-Day map opens up to you, and you're relatively free to explore as you wish.

In doing so, you'll discover weapon mods and upgrade caches, and I'm sure you'll immediately want to know the best Gears of War E-Day weapon mods to hunt down as soon as possible, just as I did. Since weapons mods and extra slots are obtained from Hardcases found around the map and for completing side quests, it can be hard to know where to start, so, here are the best weapon builds and where to find the mods and slots you'll need to craft them.

Best Longshot build

The best Longshot build consists of:

• Full Metal Jacket
  • Default
• Skeleton Frame
  • In a hardcase to the south of Monroe Library
• Forged Barrel
  • In a Hardcase under the Gears Statues in Act 2 Chapter 3
• Mod slots
  • In a Hardcase near the bloody fountain in Act 2 Chapter 2
  • TBC

The Longshot is a one-hit kill sniper rifle that excels at both wiping out enemy snipers and more nearby foes with the Forged Barrel. There's no need to use any scope on this as the default is perfectly suitable for any use. Since you need to reload after every bullet, accuracy is key here, which we've got with this build, but if and when I find a mod that increases mag capacity, I'll be adding that, too.

Best Prototype Lancer build

The best Prototype Lancer build consists of:

• Full Metal Jacket
  • Default
• Chainsaw Autoloader
  • Obtained during the 'Gear Up' campaign mission early in the campaign
• Holo Sight
  • In a Hardcase on the first floor, across the street from Carter's Place
• Cover Brace
  • Found in the Hardcase to the west of the Courthouse
• Extra mod slots
  • Found in the Hardcase to the west of the Courthouse
  • TBC

The iconic chainsaw gun is back and there are some excellent mods to stick on the Proto Lancer as soon as you have them - not least the Chainsaw Autoloader, which has great synergy with the Full Metal Jacket mod. From here, Holo Sight is essential given it's toggle zoom, meaning you only have to use it when you need it. Plus, since you'll almost always be using your Proto Lancer from behind cover, the Cover Brace is another no-brainer, leading to the perfect full build ones you've unlocked all three slots.

Best Snub build

The best Snub build consists of:

• Full Metal Jacket
  • Default
• Aim Stabilizer
  • In a Hardcase to the south of the Bank of Tyrus.
• Extended Mag
  • Default
• Extra mod slots
  • TBC
  • TBC

You're unlikely to get much use out of your Snub, but it can come in handy in short-range combat or when you're out of bullets, so don't overlook these mods. For the best build, you're just going to need to make it more accurate and with a larger mag capacity, with the Aim Stabilizer and Extended Mag, of course with the default Full Metal Jacket in there as well.

Best armor mods

These are the best armor mods to equip:

• Hardened Cover
  • In a Hardcase outside Amberstone Storage
• Rock Steady
  • In a Hardcase outside Amberstone Storage
• Proximity Regen
  • In a Hardcase under the flyover at the south of the Chapter 2 map (where a very dark cutscene takes place, but no spoilers)

When you get your armor slots, the build above gives you increased resistance against incoming fire while behind cover, but also allows you to automatically regain health when killing enemies at close range. Rock Steady, meanwhile, improves your accuracy when firing, so it's a great all-round build.

Since you're searching Hardcases and completing side quests to collect these mods, prepare yourself by checking out our guide to the Gears of War E-Day campaign length. We've also got a guide to getting your friends involved with Gears of War E-Day co-op, so don't forget to let them in on the best mods, too.

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Now that the World of Warcraft: Forever Beta is entering its fourth week, Blizzard's got some new content in store for us – like the exciting new City of Dalaran dungeon.

Yes, that's right… we're finally heading to Dalaran, and we'll get to test a new dungeon, too – one that's already managing to stir up some chaos, it appears.

If you're familiar with World of Warcraft, then you likely know that Dalaran belongs to the Alliance and not the Horde. Well, it seems that the latter is somehow able to enter the city regardless after the dungeon's introduction to WoW: Forever, as per Wowhead.

Apparently, Horde players just need to complete the City of Dalaran, accompanying dungeon quest "Heart of Disruption," and get the Dalaran Sewer Key – the item that grants us entry to Dalaran. It's at that point that folks are then tasked with bringing the loot they got from the dungeon into Dalaran, in fact, through a new quest titled "Shrewd Negotiations."

Whether you're Alliance or Horde, you'll be safe in the city following this sequence.

All of the guards that should be hostile will act neutral toward you, should you be a Horde player, and offer safe passage (as long as you defeat the Archmage in the City of Dalaran and so on, so forth).

What's more, you can freely explore the city after completing everything, much like an Alliance player – but although you can stock up on supplies, you won't be able to access every NPC's services, apparently.

As Wowhead amusingly points out though, you can fish for coins in the Dalaran fountain – heck yeah. Not everyone is pleased with the Horde being in Dalaran, however.

Over on Reddit, players find it so mind-boggling they say it's "probably just a bug." Others argue that, as it's tied to a quest, it "doesn't sound like a bug." Nonetheless, it's stirring up some lore-related discussions, which aren't exactly new to World of Warcraft: Forever.

There's the whole controversy surrounding the new Skyborne race, from its $30 price tag to its lore implications, and the fact that Blizzard has just revealed it's changing the elves to better fit the rest of the MMO, for example.

It's never easy dealing with source material that's this old and beloved, I suppose, but I do think Blizzard's well aware of this and how fans feel about the legendary 2004 game that started it all.

World of Warcraft: Forever is "simplifying" Blizzard's usual PvP but also adding a controversial weekly grind as MMO fans beg "please don't do the weeklies thing."

Use the latest Survive a Million Monkeys codes for Gems so that you can save up for powerful weapons and skilful classes, to help you defeat even more angry monkeys as you're stranded on the island alone (or with a few teammates).

This popular Roblox game is a survival experience, so the goal is, obviously, to survive as long as possible. To do so, then, you're going to need to upgrade your gear as soon as possible, while different classes improve your stats like health and damage. All of these cost Gems, so redeem these generous Survive a Million Monkeys codes now.

If you're after some more general rewards that can be used in all of your experiences, then we've got the current Roblox promo codes covered too.

All Survive a Million Monkeys codes

These are the Survive a Million Monkeys codes you can redeem right now:

• SURVIVE - 1,000x Gems
• MONKEYS - 1,000x Gems

Survive a Million Monkeys codes are for Gems, with thousands up for grabs. Since you can also earn a lot by beating waves, you should have enough for the next best class or gun in no time.

It's worth noting that Survive a Million Monkeys promos aren't case-sensitive, so you only have to ensure you spell the codes right, but you can always copy and paste from above to be sure.

How to redeem Survive a Million Monkeys codes

To redeem Survive a Million Monkeys codes, simply click on the Codes button in the top-right hand corner of the screen, enter a code into the box, then hit the green check mark to claim your rewards.

The codes button appears in the lobby and the post-match screen, but you can't redeem codes during a match.

Expired Survive a Million Monkeys codes

• There are no expired codes.

Since the experience only just launched, there are currently no expired Survive a Million Monkeys codes. I would expect these release promos to expire at some point though, so don't miss out.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The clash of blades pulses through my being. My hulking opponent repeatedly swings a rusty greatsword with menacing purpose, demanding I dodge or parry with perfect timing to avoid calamitous damage. It's a challenge I relish, stepping to this monstrous humanoid and returning strikes when the gaps emerge.

The blows are dramatic and satisfying, and the victory is mine. Phantom Blade Zero is without a doubt one of the most enjoyable action-RPGs I've sampled this year.

Got Soul but a Soulslike?

Phantom Blade Zero's wuxia influence is immediately present, with characters gracefully leaping to rooftops, twisting beyond the reach of incoming attacks, and delivering jaw-dropping finishing moves.

Playing on the game's normal difficulty, I'm stunned to find Phantom Blade Zero is fairly forgiving, at least initially. Parry windows are reasonably long, and player character Soul can take a few hits before needing to heal. It's also not too hard to overwhelm average field enemies with combos, although take larger foes for granted at your peril.

Sure, there may be bonfire-esque bells for resting, fast-traveling and so on, but any Soulslike comparisons must be made with the caveat that PBZ is not out to punish unnecessarily.

That's not to say a game needs to be ruthless to be rewarding. The combat here is scintillating, with a variety of weapons and fighting styles available as you progress through the horror-tinged world of Phantom Blade Zero. Whether you want to dual-wield daggers with agile aggression, or swing a large blade with the poise and rhythm of a drunk fighting solely for the love of the game, I'm sure you'll find your ideal method within.

The early section of Phantom Blade Zero consists of open areas offering impressive verticality. After an initial skirmish on a horse-drawn carriage, Soul must journey up through a deep ravine, negotiating winding, enemy-infested paths and occasionally encountering walls of red thread that block the way. The red thread is a constant theme throughout, with an ethereal one guiding the protagonist to the next point of interest, often leading to a boss encounter.

After running across walls, swinging on chains and climbing ladders (an action-RPG staple), I guide Soul out of the ravine and into a village of friendly NPCs. It's at this point that the scale of Phantom Blade Zero hits home, with the area proving as immersive as it is inviting. It makes me wonder what other bastions lie ahead in the full game, but the contemplation is cut short by an array of corpses leading to a boss arena.

Phantom Edge, an additional weapon triggered with R2 that serves up a spectacular axe swing capable of doing impressive damage to a foe, proves to be the real star of this boss fight. I'd previously just been using it to break barriers that restrict progression which, while handy, is nowhere near as fun as dropping the blade on a cocky opponent trying to obliterate me. It's here, with the boss fight obliterated, I finally start to get a sense of how Phantom Blade Zero's combat systems work together.

Even so, there's still plenty of traversal to come, with the end of my two hour demo seeing me climb atop a castle after overcoming keen-eyed archers and molten-monsters, all the while checking every corner and crevasse for items to enhance my gear. After all, what's an RPG without enhanceable weaponry that turns the player into a magpie?

Not quite my tempo

I spend my last 30 minutes of game time butting my head and my blade against Flame, the Mask-Bound Lion Dance Grandmaster. This enormous boss resembles Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree's Divine Beast Dancing Lion. As someone who prefers battling monsters over people, I'm instantly at home with this flame-wielding entity, dodging and parrying blows before hitting back with delicious combos.

As I deal damage, the reply attacks become more troublesome by setting fire to areas of the arena, limiting my movement like Laurence, the First Vicar does in Bloodborne: The Old Hunters. I eventually dispatch it, or so I think…

Turns out Flame has a phase two and the vibe switches up, with another humanoid striding onto the battlefield. It may still wear the lion's head, but it's faster and fights more like a martial artist with a point to prove than a wild beast, meaning I have to lock in if I want to win before time runs out out. Dear reader: I did not. Sadly, my session ends just as I ready for round two, leaving me eagerly awaiting a rematch when Phantom Blade Zero launches October 29

While it isn't what I expected, I'm delighted that Phantom Blade Zero is even more interesting and engaging as a result. The vertically-rich open areas are a joy to fight through, the wuxia-inspired combat is as gorgeous as it is fun, and the boss variety during the short preview helped maintain a sense of excitement throughout. It's no exaggeration to say Phantom Blade Zero is shaping up to be a big hit in 2026.

There's nothing phantom about our best Soulslike games ranking, and we've got plenty more games like Dark Souls recommendations to take your fancy.