EA has closed BioWare, canceled the next Mass Effect, and, most importantly, upended the lives of even more game developers in a tumultuous time for the industry. In response, developers are paying tribute to the legendary RPG studio online, with many calling its games pivotal to their own creative paths.

17-year BioWare veteran and longtime director Michael Gamble shared the studio's news post. "Your support has meant everything to me over the past 17 years at BioWare," he writes.

New Bungie head Josh Deane replied to Gamble's post, saying, "Thank you and to everyone at Bioware who has built worlds that have been such an important part of our lives." In a separate post, Deane adds, "This studio is magical and an existential part of my favorite gaming memories, I refuse to believe this..."

CD Projekt Red veteran Paweł Sasko, a face of the studio to many fans of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher, says "Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 shaped my imagination and the desire to create games. I would have never been here without BioWare igniting the fire in my heart. It inspired me, formed me, enriched my imagination, and for that I will be forever grateful. I will always remember you."

CDPR co-CEO Michał Nowakowski adds, "Bioware has been a massive part of CDPR history. We befriended them when localizing and selling Baldur's Gate games in Poland, Czech, and Slovakia. And later they were [a] great help when lending us their engine for Witcher 1, sharing their wisdom and even giving us a spot at their booth at E3.

"I had [the] pleasure to visit them a few times in Edmonton and also host them in our Warsaw office. Very sad for the people affected, but also sad to see a legendary brand go down. Not a great day in the games industry."

Gamble responded to Nowakowski's post, saying, "Thanks Michal. We've always been fans of you guys. Always will be."

InXile Entertainment head Brian Fargo also commented on the original Baldur's Gate games. "We saw the promise in what they could do," he says of BioWare's days on Shattered Steel, "and they went on to create Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and become legendary. A sad day indeed. My thoughts are with everyone there today."

Mortal Kombat's Ed Boon is of a similar mind. "Very sorry to hear. They made some amazing games," he says of BioWare's shutdown statement.

Comms director Thomas Puha of Control and Alan Waker studio Remedy sums up the thoughts of many: "RIP BioWare. This was coming but so sad to read. The growing problem for large publishers is that smaller AAA games won’t bring enough money so can’t take the risk on them, but not doing original games? We need those, need new franchises."

"Really sad outcome for a studio that helped define an entire genre," reckons Del Walker, an artist known for his work on The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Walker suggests the studio's closure is "the result of about 15 years of problems piling up," including consecutive commercial failures, mismanagement, and increased scrutiny from an EA team staring down billions in debt post-buyout.

Veteran games writer Emma Kidwell calls the shutdown "a massive fucking failure on EA's part."

"What a waste of skill and institutional knowledge. Mass Effect means so much to me personally, I wouldn't be a dev if I never played the trilogy. my heart goes out to everyone, we deserve better," she says.

"End of an era," says Caves of Qud's Brian Bucklew.

"Truly this is a terrible time," Xbox founder Seamus Blackley writes.

Original Mass Effect composer Sam Hulick was among the first to speak out. "Absolutely heartbroken over the end of an era," he says. "I hope all the talented and wonderful folks at BioWare land on their feet and keep working on incredible games. I loved every minute of working with you on the Mass Effect trilogy."

Many other former BioWare devs have also weighed in. Several of them are now at North Mist Studios, writing on Bluesky, "Very heavy news as our former studio, BioWare, closes its doors today. It was a formative place for many. However, many former BioWare devs are scattered around the industry. Find them, support them. Like, follow, comment and help us prove there is still support for the types of games we make!"

One current EA contractor, narrative designer Jarrett Poole of the Skate team, touched on the broader cuts at EA: "My contract will run its course, so I'm still employed. But seeing many of my amazing coworkers and friends shown the door today has been devastating. Each one deserves better than this. Every dev deserves better than this."

Standing on BioWare's grave, EA says "we should be proud" to be "the number one publisher in Western HD gaming."

The Splinters of Evil are some of Diablo 4 season 15's rarest drops, but once you get your hands on a specific type – Hatred, Terror, or Destruction – that's all you can hold of that type at once. Blizzard seems to have intentionally designed this specific seasonal drop to not stack, meaning you can only have one splinter of each type in your inventory at once. That might seem like a pretty niche problem applicable only to endgame players in the highest Torment tiers, and it is, but for those players it's a major issue precisely because splinters are so rare. Imagine having to walk away from one of the game's rarest drops simply because you already have one in your inventory, and then you can understand why endgame grinders have rallied for a homebrew solution, and found one.

As detailed in a new video from prolific Diablo creator Rob2628, there's a fairly simple – but tedious – workaround you can do if you really want duplicate splinters in your inventory. As Rob2628 points out, you'll need at least one friend who's leveled enough in Diablo 4 to access Torment tier 10 where you can farm Splinters of Evil from Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal.

Once you've successfully bribed your buddy with delivery pizza – ideally the good stuff from your local Italian joint and not just some fast-food slop – you'll need to invite them to your party once you've got your duplicate splinter to drop. Next, have them hang out near the splinter while you switch to another character that doesn't already have that same splinter in its inventory, and then have your friend invite your alt to the server with the dupe so that you can pick it up.

In Rob2628's words, your friend is essentially "holding the instance" so that the duplicate item doesn't despawn when you log out as your primary character, which makes it very important that they decline the prompt to return to their own world.

I haven't tested this trick out myself yet, and frankly I wouldn't be able to because I only have one character that can get into Torment 10, but I see no reason it wouldn't work. It's just bound by so many limitations and requirements tied to other players that I'd be much more likely to just close the game and play something else. Rob2628 adds in his video, "many of you don't have friends" anyway.

One of Diablo 2's most coveted items surprise-drops in Diablo 4, and it's just as overpowered as it was 25 years ago

Now-closed RPG legend BioWare is a mere footnote in a new message from EA's top brass communicating the company's next chapter following a buyout deal led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. COO David Tinson and CSO Cam Weber maintain that "we should be proud" of what EA has become.

"Today, we're the number one publisher in Western HD gaming," the executives' joint statement, first shared with EA employees, reads. "That's an extraordinary position to lead from, and one we should be proud of. Yet our industry is changing quickly. Players have more choices than ever for their time and attention, competition is intensifying, and some of our biggest opportunities for growth are beyond the markets, platforms, and business models where EA has traditionally been the strongest."

It's unclear by what metrics EA is measuring the curiously specific market of "Western HD gaming," though there's no disputing the company's massive reach and sales. Equally, there's no disputing its collection of shuttered studios.

The end of BioWare, a load-bearing pillar of RPGs since 1995, gets one short paragraph in this statement.

"As we focus on these larger opportunities, we've had a small team at BioWare working on early-development for Mass Effect," it reads. "We've made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace. BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly."

EA spends much more time explaining its plans to double down on EA Sports, shooters to be overseen by "our Respawn and DICE studios" in collaboration, and action-adventure games like upcoming releases Marvel's Iron Man and "the next Star Wars Jedi game."

The Sims and Skate are also mentioned, but with little or bad news. The Sims' mystery release "Project Lotus" is "pausing development," and Skate's development studio is "making changes" to create "a more focused, smaller team," which sounds like yet more layoffs.

EA describes this plan as the result of taking "a hard look at our business, how we operate, and what it will take to lead in this next era of interactive entertainment." Its goals are summed up in three strategic pillars: "Deepen Our Core, Expand Our Reach, Transform Our Business."

In so many words, EA wants to refocus on its biggest series, make headway in new markets and business models ("regions as dynamic as Asia," for example), and create "entirely new ways for fans to engage with the teams, athletes and sports they love."

"Saying no to some things we're passionate about allows us to focus our teams and resources so we give our biggest opportunities everything they need to succeed," EA leaders insist. I wonder if EA employees would agree.

EA tells employees worried about layoffs after $55 billion buyout that there will be "no immediate changes" to your jobs, and I think "immediate" is the key word here.

Mass Effect and Dragon Age maker BioWare is closing down after more than 30 years as an RPG powerhouse.

In a statement posted online today, studio leadership confirmed that BioWare "is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending."

The announcement comes not long after EA was acquired by private investors led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in a deal that sparked concerns of closures and layoffs exactly like this.

"There is nothing easy about writing those words," BioWare's statement reads. "Our focus right now is on our incredibly talented team who put their hearts into these games, and supporting one another through this transition."

The post singles out some of the series that modern fans, who might know BioWare as the house of Dragon Age and Mass Effect (and Anthem that one time), may not be familiar with: "Baldur's Gate. Neverwinter Nights. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic."

"What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember," the statement continues. "These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with the characters, and made these worlds your own."

Bloomberg reports that around 400 people will be laid off as a result of new cuts. Internal remarks from EA COO David Tinson and CSO Cam Weber reportedly indicate that the publisher will look to cut additional people and projects in the near future.

BioWare had been in a slump for years, and Anthem, a mech suit live-service shooter, was only part of it. The studio's latest release, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, fell short of EA's expectations by "nearly 50%" after a protracted development process complicated by internal pivots and reboots that notably saw BioWare, a single-player specialist, briefly forced into live-service territory. Anthem, a colossal failure both commercially and critically, also siphoned off staff during production.

In a similar vein, former BioWare lead Mark Darrah attributes The Veilguard's failure to unreasonable expectations put on the studio by EA.

Last month, it was reported that EA's new owners are considering merging the publisher into a new corporation that would front games for Saudi Arabia, attached to previously acquired mobile giant Scopely.

Xbox is reportedly planning three waves of layoffs between now and January as part of its plan to cut 3,200 jobs by the end of the fiscal year.

Rather than any one game, this Steam Next Fest, Valve's latest game demo extravaganza, has been dominated by generative AI and discussions around it. A record 8,000 demos, many of them plainly or proudly marked by AI, have made it more difficult for game developers to cut through.

If previous Steam Next Fests were noisy, this one is cacophonous. But there are, as ever, plenty of promising games coming out and coming up. To that list of games, let's add Probably Stolen, a job sim that feels named for the times and is, in part, a game about how to "stop rampant AI" in a cyberpunk city. At the time of writing, it's also the biggest single-player demo on Valve's SNF charts.

If you told me that I would wake up tomorrow as an NPC in CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077, I would probably spend the rest of my day playing Probably Stolen to get some practice in. "Craft, trade, and smuggle goods of questionable origin, navigate faction loyalties, and stop rampant AI by killing those it controls," developer Questing Goose Studio says of the game's demo. (The publisher is tinyBuild, which is on a record run including the likes of Graveyard Keeper 2 and ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs, another shop sim.)

I would call this a shopkeeper sim with a shot of Papers, Please, the still-talked-about immigration desk sim from designer Lucas Pope that challenged players to filter out perceived threats to their motherland. In Probably Stolen, we're told, "You never really know who’s on the other side of the counter. Today’s customer could be a security fisher for evidence, a revolutionary seeking leverage, or a fallen elite testing your usefulness. Every sale is a gamble. Approve it, refuse it, report it, or look away; someone is always taking notes."

Where many shopkeep sims lean into the coziness of existing in the margins of a fantasy world, passively becoming a pivotal part of 1,000 stories by stocking bright-eyed adventurers and so on, Probably Stolen looks granular and gritty, and proudly endorses crime. "You can cut the product’s quality, relabel counterfeit products as genuine, or fence discounted, stolen goods if you believe Security won’t reach you," its Steam description adds.

You've got rent to pay, laws to ignore, clients to fleece, and police to avoid. You've also got a shotgun close by, because you never know when a synthetic human, part of a legion overseen by "a sentient AI chip," will roll into the shop.

A quick run of the demo proves that there's an RPG somewhere in this game's family tree. Your starter perks and specialization affect the options available to you. A Rat Wrangler, for example, can raise rats for meat. Lovely. Organ Dealers get an organ storage container and blood transfusion set. Gunsmiths start with guns, mods, and ammunition in stock.

With 10 specializations and a neutral Apprentice option (more starting cash and some default household goods and food), your shop could look pretty different between playthroughs. That's before we get to 25 perks like nighttime robbery prevention, faction reputation bonuses, and counterbalancing negative perks like increased rent or a smaller base inventory. On my first day, my kind mentor warned me of the risk of robberies, so I can already see one of those perks being useful.

The demo for Probably Stolen currently has exactly 2,000 user reviews sitting at 98% positive. My first run – rich pixel art, snappy interface, and immediate stakes – had me so quickly and thoroughly hooked that I missed meeting reminders from my boss, so you can put me in the positive camp. Probably Stolen is out in full on October 28.

The Steam store goes down as Valve seemingly joins the whole internet struggling amid PHP vulnerabilities.

While development is currently ongoing for Cyberpunk 2, Cyberpunk 2077 is still getting updates from CD Projekt Red. Amid conversations around the latest, Edgerunners-themed addition, the lead developers champion how prominent mods are, to the point that a significant amount of the current team have been plucked from the modding scene.

As part of one of the company's RedStreams, the discussion turns to modding and how it's helped leadership sculpt both Cyberpunk 2077 and its follow-up. The company has partnered with mod.io, major creators have been consulted on various ways to improve the RPG, and Pawel Sasko, the current Cyberpunk 2 associate game director and former quest design lead on Cyberpunk 2077, reveals that many of his colleagues came straight from making mods.

"A lot of modders, they were players who actually first played and actually got experience with customizing the game with the mods," he explains.

"For me, this is a foot-in-the-door technique, and a gateway into game dev," he continues. "You can see, and you can learn how things are made, how things can be built. We actually hired so many modders. I would say, at this point, half of the quest team is all former modders."

I'm not surprised in the least. What better talent to draw from than those who have intimate knowledge of playing the game, and literally building things for it? The ingenuity and understanding required for mods can't be understated - these are truly educated fans who not only understand something can be improved or added, but learn how to do it through making it themselves.

The depth of the Cyberpunk 2077 mod community speaks for itself; you can find everything from visual upgrades to whole new missions if you search through fan-made creations. CD Projekt Red is following the likes of Valve and Krafton here by hiring these people. Don't forget Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2 and PUBG all started as mods, then became their own respective creations.

CD Projekt Red hasn't gone as far as publishing original games by these people yet, but they're definitely making Cyberpunk 2077 and its follow-up better. If you fancy working on The Witcher 4 or Cyberpunk 3, this might be the way you manage to do that.

Big RPGs like The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 have CD Projekt Red in a "dangerous place," warns BioWare veteran, with costs and sales expectations exploding

Resident Evil Requiem reportedly made more money from physical sales on PlayStation than it did on Xbox overall, making Sony's decision to kill discs look even more questionable.

Resident Evil Requiem is probably the biggest game of 2026 – at least until something comes out in a month's time – and Capcom's game has naturally become quite the hit, having sold 8 million copies the last time Capcom checked in, and was the fastest-selling game in the series to date.

Sony is planning to stop manufacturing new PlayStation discs starting in 2028, but Capcom doesn't seem too worried about it, though reports on the sales breakdown of Requiem may tell a different story.

As reported by Alinea Analytics' Rhys Elliott, Resident Evil Requiem sold 1.3 million copies on PS5 through Physical copies, making up about 15% of the game's revenue, as well as 30.2% of the game's revenue on PlayStation overall. However, the 1.3 million physical copies sold on PlayStation also made Capcom 1.8 times the revenue than the entirety of copies on Xbox across physical, digital, and Xbox PC sales.

PlayStation selling more than Xbox obviously isn't surprising, given there are seemingly far more PS5 consoles in homes than Xbox Series X|S consoles, and, on top of that, Resident Evil is a series that has been strongly associated with PlayStation throughout its life.

But this does make Sony's decision to kill off physical disks a bit more questionable, as one of the tentpole releases of 2026 is clearly still bringing in the numbers from physical game purchases. And while they are selling more physically now, being 100% digital doesn't necessarily mean those physical buyers would move over.

You can check out our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to play the horror game yourself, or our guide to Resident Evil Requiem's safe codes to help you through it.

CD Projekt Red has detailed some of the new features coming to Cyberpunk 2077 for its 2.5 update, including a new quest that serves as a prequel to Cyberpunk Edgerunners 2.

In a new episode of REDStreams, the developers at CD Projekt Red teased what's coming in this week's new update. The highlight – which the team didn't shed much light on to avoid spoiling it – is a new quest that will be a prequel to what you're watching in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2, created alongside members of the show's team. Notably, it follows the last job of Weak Kingsley's team and will feature voice actors from the show – which presumably means Mr. Krabs himself, Clancy Brown, will be in Cyberpunk 2077.

On top of that, a new radio station for Edgerunner fans is being added, featuring 16 songs from both seasons of the Netflix series. There's also a Night City Tours activity, with Richard Night narrating a tour of the city, and the devs teasing some mysterious happenings throughout.

Aside from the new quest, the biggest news in this patch is Mod support coming to consoles – namely PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 – in the vein of The Witcher 3 Remastered. This will be done through Mod.io with Paweł Sasko noting that yes, the new mod menu will be "including the adult mods."

And as teased earlier this week, dual-wielding is being added to the game. These are featured as new skills in the "Cool" skill tree and allow you to use pistols and revolvers together; however, they're locked to these two weapon types, so you cannot dual-wield shotguns or sniper rifles. The devs note that any bonuses attached to the weapons that work on their own will carry over to dual-wield mode, but there will be some form of downside that wasn't elaborated on.

Extra player customization is also being added with the ability to alter your Cyberware, with the developers saying there will be 40 new looks for the tech. Plus, five new characters have been introduced into the world as "Glamdocs," with "new mocap, new voice over" and different styles attached to them.

There are also a number of technical and bug fixes, with the addition of a FOV slider on consoles arguably the most significant on the technical front. CD Projekt Red will undoubtedly post the full list when the update releases tomorrow on October 22.

Check out our Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 review here!

Last year was not a good one for the Football Manager series. In a display of confidence in this year's course correction, FM27 is going live for a limited time ahead of launch to ensure everyone understands that things are different now.

The move was announced on social media by Sports Interactive. This limited preview period will start on October 29, and it'll last until November 3, putting it right over Halloween weekend. The best part? It's completely free for everyone.

Hopefully, nobody will wind up frightened by what they discover; instead, it'll be the comfort people want during the scariest few days of the year. "From October 29 to November 3, experience five free days of Football Manager 27 across Steam, Epic, Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass," says the official blurb.

As you can tell, this spans all the major PC gaming platforms, which is handy. Regardless of where you were planning to pick up the game, you can get involved. Should you take part, the demo ends exactly one week before the full release, giving you time to get in your pre-order if you wind up enjoying it.

Sadly, some kind of damage control was absolutely necessary about FM26. Although the transition to Unity was seen as a worthwhile move overall, a longer-than-usual development cycle - wherein FM25 was skipped - resulted in a glitchy game, missing features and mechanics that had long been part of the series.

It now holds the distinction of being the lowest rated entry on Metacritic. Not something anyone wants to talk about. But that was then, this is now, and it seems FM 27 will treat all of that like a bad dream.

EA finally says the words PS3 gamers have waited 15 years to hear: "Fight Night is coming back"

Is DMZ free to play? The return of the multiplayer mode in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 has been drawing a lot of attention, as part of the current trend of Extraction shooter gameplay, with many looking forward to this particular return to extraction combat. Call of Duty has also previously released certain modes for free, separately from the larger games that they're released with (such as Warzone) so there was always a chance that DMZ was going to be free to download and play. But is it?

Can you play Modern Warfare 4 DMZ for free?

No, you cannot play MW4 DMZ mode for free, you have to buy the full game of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4, in which the multiplayer DMZ mode is part of the larger package.

The only thing that is marginally comparable is that players can download the individual files for DMZ mode without having to download the whole of MW4, but you still do have to buy it, sorry to say.

There's also been no indication from the development team or publishers that they plan to make DMZ free to play in the future, so don't get your hopes up thinking you can just wait out the clock until it's given to you. I'm not saying it can't happen, but right now there's no evidence to suggest it will, especially with the MW4 being largely well-received by critics and audiences so far.

For more info about the game, check out all the Modern Warfare 4 Mastery Camos, or find out the best weapons and guns in MW4! Or if you've already got DMZ in front of you, find out how to uncover the Modern Warfare 4 Counting Room Vault location for an early source of great loot!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The Casino Counting Room Vault in the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 DMZ is something that players are told about after completing the Silent Ledger story mission, which rewards them with a Counting Room Vault Key that they can use… Only it's not clear exactly where to look to find it. Fortunately I've found the Casino Counting Room, and can show you exactly where you need to look to use this key and get the rewards.

Counting Room Vault location in Modern Warfare 4 DMZ

The Counting Room Vault is found on the ground floor of the Heavenly Luck Casino, the building where the "Silent Ledger" mission takes place. It's marked on the map above, but to find it yourself, do the following:

1. Enter the Casino by the main doors at the front.
2. Take an immediate right turn into the corridor with the cages inside.
3. Take the door going left before you enter the main slots area to enter a computer-filled security room.
4. At the end of this room is the Counting Room Vault (shown below), which will require the key to open (there is no other known method at time of writing).

The inside room will be full of loot, but be careful: with this being an area tied to one of the earliest missions in the game, and a well-known vault location, you're highly likely to have other players swarming the area, either to secure the same vault, to pick off those who are going for it, or simply doing the Silent Ledger mission itself.

For more info about the game, check out all the Modern Warfare 4 Mastery Camos, or find out the best weapons and guns in MW4!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The Steam store went down earlier today. Game downloads and library functionality seem stable, but, smack in the middle of the big Steam Next Fest demo blowout, the store itself was unavailable in both the client and web versions of Steam.

Instead, you'd run into error "E502 L2 - We were unable to service your request. Please try again later," with a sad little blob expressing discontent. Tag yourself: I'm the purple blob blinking in bewilderment.

Fortunately, we at GamesRadar+ were still able to download games, make updates, and launch games, including online games. (Slay the Spire 2 and Arc Raiders both worked without issue for me.) This outage would, however, block you from finding and therefore downloading new Steam demos.

Valve hasn't given any sort of reason for this brief Steam outage. Down Detector affirmed widespread issues.

It's possible that Valve's PC gaming emporium joined the countless other websites and online shops in an emergency response to newly discovered web vulnerabilities.

In an October 21 security advisory, CERT-EU, "one of the most mature cyberdefence entities in Europe and a central cybersecurity cog of the EU," warned of "Critical Vulnerabilities in PHP" that could enable remote code execution. Per Reuters, many government websites were also urgently taken offline.

"CERT-EU strongly recommends identifying PHP-based applications and preparing to patch as soon as fixed versions become available," the organization wrote. "Where immediate remediation is not feasible, organisations should consider isolating internet-facing applications from public networks until a fix can be applied."

Sites and tools across the web have buckled in direct or indirect response to this PHP wave, so I wouldn't be surprised if Valve had some spot-cleaning to do as well. Fortunately, the store seems to have been restored in short order. Now we can all get back to sifting through 8,000 AI-infested game demos.

Palworld lead calls Steam Next Fest a gamble that's "still worth taking" despite the "AI slop era" we're in - because "the vast majority of it sinks to the bottom and rots almost immediately."

Candy Kingdom Defense codes will help you to get a head start in this tower defense game based on the world of Adventure Time, as you journey across the Land of Ooo with Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline, and the rest of the gang. An invasion is coming from Candy zombies, Snow Golems, and Lemongrab's sour army, and you are the last line of defense!

The promos for this game will provide you with Gems and Trait Crystals, so you have more to spend on developing your crew, along with Units of Juice and XP Candies to deploy in this mathematical Roblox experience. If you're all set to lead your heroes into action, then these are the codes for Candy Kingdom Defense and how to redeem them.

If you'd prefer some more general promos with rewards to use in all of your experiences, then we have the latest Roblox promo codes covered.

All Candy Kingdom Defense codes

The following Candy Kingdom Defense codes are currently active:

• HALLOWEENSOON – 1,000 Gems, 15x Trait Crystals
• THANKSFOR100CCU – 500x Gems, 20x Trait Crystals
• THANKSFOR200LIKES – 1,500 Gems, 10x Trait Crystals
• ALGEBRAIC – 3x Trait Crystals
• MATHEMATICAL – 100x Gems, 3x XP Candies
• RELEASE – 1,500x Gems, 15x Trait Crystals, 5x Units of Juice

So far, all of the codes for Candy Kingdom Defense have provided an amount of Gems and/or Trait Crystals to top up your balances, while the initial promos also add some additional Units to your set up alongside some XP Candies.

How to redeem Candy Kingdom Defense codes

To redeem Candy Kingdom Defense codes, all you have to do is approach Jake in the main lobby area and follow the TALK prompt to interact with him. Use the TYPE A CODE text box that appears to enter a promo, then hit REDEEM to collect your rewards along with a brief explanation of what you're getting from Jake. Codes for Candy Kingdom Defense are not case-sensitive, so just concentrate on getting the spelling correct.

Expired Candy Kingdom Defense codes

• No expired codes

There are no expired Candy Kingdom Defense codes at the moment, though this is likely because the experience has only launched recently. Promos will no doubt start moving down here at some point, so claim all of the active codes while you can.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Playing Stranger Than Heaven, I see obscured police officer reflections through the well lit high-fashion storefront windows. They shout "Where the hell did he go? You're not gettin' away with murder! Just give up!" as an unknown man covered in dirt and grime emerges into a back alley, clearly on the run. A loud foghorn blares in the distance, signaling a ship departure and the man stumbles through the alleyway in the direction of the horn. This mystery man donning a ratty blonde wig and big pink bow in his hair slowly makes his way through the alley as jazz music swells to fill every crack in the brick lined walls.

He approaches the quiet and foggy docks only to catch more police officers lying in wait. The only way onto the boat is through them, and so they duke it out. Back up against the ocean with nowhere else to run, a seemingly impossible opening presents itself and the man makes a break for it, leaping into the ocean to chase after the boat, to leave America behind, and start again. Those are my opening moments with Stranger Than Heaven's protagonist Makoto Daito, Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's latest project, a game that finds ways to blend familiar ideas of found family with new and ambitious storytelling structures.

Finding home

Stranger Than Heaven posits the question of what it means to belong in this world, to have a sense of home. Daito is of blended American and Japanese heritage, ceaselessly wrestling with not being enough of either nationality to find acceptance amongst his peers. This thread carries through the early hours of my hands-on, eventually coalescing into a powerful moment shared between Daito and a companion, where he is welcomed home for the first time in his life. He sits there, pondering the words over a drink, quietly muttering "welcome home" to himself, realizing it's the first time he's ever felt like he belongs.

This somber moment of reflection helps paint the larger picture of Stranger Than Heaven's bigger ideas of self identity, taking the concepts often found in Yakuza that deal in identity as it relates to group roles and dynamics and pairing it down to focus on an individual. Putting the emphasis on the life of Makoto Daito through multiple different eras of his life and the ever-changing landscape of Japan, we get to see a whole life lived.

1915 Kokura, Kyushu island's castle town, is the first of many stops in my preview. While this section sees high-stakes action in the form of a warehouse raid to free a kidnapped love interest, it's also juxtaposed with comedic relief. International smuggler and Makoto's mentor Orpheus (Snoop Dogg) takes time to teach Makoto how to roll a cigarette, which acts as a moment of levity while also showing how to create an item that boosts both attack and defense.

Kokura in this era is a large town with small village vibes. Numerous storefronts line the dirt roads I walk. I visit an apothecary to stock up on healing medicine, I drink straight from a water faucet in the ground to sober up after having one too many drinks, and of course, I pick a fight or two.

Combat is drastically different from anything RGG Studio has done before. Attacks are mapped to the shoulder buttons and triggers, meaning the left and right bumpers swing each matching fist while the triggers control my kicks. It's a system that takes some getting used to, especially as I attempt to weave in more complicated inputs like grabs and parries.

Stranger Than Heaven's combat feels more akin to the flow of a fighting game rather than a traditional beat 'em up. I find myself getting better with each fight, becoming more confident in each swing. I can feel Makoto getting more knowledgeable through the eras as well.

"Once you start using the same weapon, for example, Daito will start to learn a lot of skills based on that weapon," says director Mikinobu Abe. "So, it's more like you can customize Daito's life to your preference of what weapon you want him to master. If you want to use a knife throughout the 50 years of his life, of course Makoto himself will get good at the weapon, and that triggers making him do more move sets and more combos."

Later, Abe makes an announcement that there is a dangerous samurai near the river, advising against fighting him too early. So, naturally, I head straight for the katana wielding madman by the river.

Under the moonlight we clash steel. I learn to parry his seemingly never-ending combo strings. Constantly switching between my left and right arm to block his multi-directional strikes, trading heavy blows back and forth, I finally stagger him. This provides my opening to get a few good hits in. Using both triggers I grab and toss him to the ground and begin slamming him with everything I have until he rises to his feet again.

We swap hits back and forth again until he knocks me onto my back. Slashing down at me I roll out of the way so it misses me by a hair. It's like a choreographed action movie sequence, but one that feels natural and intuitive to unfurl during play. Plenty of other side activities I encounter have this same sense of flair, space between missions always have a sense of absurdity and danger.

Jumping ahead 14 years to 1929 Kure, Hiroshima, Daito is older, a little more established, and growing in confidence. As I approach alongside a trolleycar while walking Kure, Daito hops up and grabs the side, hanging off of it as it carries me down the street. Despite it being my first time in Kure, it's clear Daito has been around the block a few times. The way he enters shops, takes part in the underground fight clubs, and enters his home presents a more mature version of the man I knew nearly fifteen years prior.

There's a liveliness to Kure in the daytime. People dining in the streets, old men playing Menko along the river, and hooligans looking for a street brawl. I spend most of my time in an underground fight club, defeating a rotating cast of difficult enemies for pocket change and bragging rights as I master challenges under special conditions ("no weapons", for instance).

Make some noise

Fast-forward to 1943 Minami, Osaka and things have changed quite a bit again. The low hum and bright glow of neon signs seep color onto the streets below. I hop into the first building I see, a small theater venue looking to put on a performance. At this moment I learn about Makoto's involvement in show business, and how deep those systems go.

Everything in Stranger Than Heaven feeds into a system that allows Makoto to gather music inspiration. Colorful bubbles populate the screen during combat, when Daito hears a small tune from a nearby radio, or the sound of dice rattling in a cup before being thrown. The world is filled with little bits and bobs for Makoto to grab. Focusing one of those bubbles and clicking a button lets you hone in and obtain the inspiration for later use.

After collecting a few different inspirations from local storefront radios I make my way to where this all comes together, my base of operations – marked with a house icon on the map – going upstairs to where the upright piano is. Here I talk to pianist Takashi to begin composing music. Each song has different moods that can be tweaked and changed to alter the way it sounds. Taking a piano backing that's tagged as relaxing and swapping it for a more intense sound changes how people respond to it when played live.

After changing out the instrumentation of the song I head over to a nearby desk where I begin selecting ticket prices, hiring musicians and singers, and customizing the stage lighting and attire in order to ensure the show is profitable. It's reminiscent of the Yakuza 0 cabaret minigame, but blown up to be much more detailed.

Music plays a massive role in Stranger Than Heaven, not just as a tool for Makoto to make money, but as a way of connecting to people. "He finds the joy that music is something that needs no explanation with a race or a language barrier," says Abe. "And that was something that was really important for Makoto to progress, having motivation within his life, as well as something that he could connect with people."

There's still so much more to uncover in Stranger Than Heaven, but after this relatively small slice of the game, I'm excited to see what's waiting for Makoto Daito through the rest of his life.

Wondering what heavenly gaming experiences will tide you over while you wait for Stranger Than Heaven? Look no further than our best Yakuza games or best ARPGs rankings for what to play next!

Lanterns codes can help you boost your character, unlock more Constructs, and collect bonus Lantern Coins in this superhero-inspired adventure. Whichever ring you choose to bond with, your task is to protect the world from threat, and you can only do that by increasing your loadout, power, and stats.

The great thing about Lanterns is that you can play as part of any of the Lantern Corps included in the Roblox experience, keeping your progress with all of them, switching freely whenever you wish. Since they level up separately, though, XP and items are specific to the ring you currently have activated, so keep this in mind when redeeming the Lanterns codes below, as the rewards will apply only to your current loadout.

Elsewhere, if you want some more general rewards that can be used across all of your Roblox experiences, then we've got the current Roblox promo codes covered too.

All Lanterns codes

These are the Lanterns codes you can redeem right now:

• LANTERNS - XP
• BRIGHTESTDAY - Double XP (15 minutes)
• WILLPOWER - 500x XP, Double XP (10 minutes)
• TREASURE - 1x Uncommon chest
• MYTHICLANTERN - 1x Mythical Chest (level 75 required)
• LUCKYLANTERN - Double Luck (15 minutes)
• SORRY4SHUTDOWN - 1x Legendary Chest
• SPACE - Double XP (15 minutes)
• THX4SUPPORT - Double Luck (15 minutes)
• 100LIKES - 1,000x Lantern Coins
• 10KVISITS - Double XP (15 minutes)
• HALLOWEENSOON - 1,000x Lantern Coins
• THANKYOUALL - Double XP (30 minutes)
• 500CCU - 1x Free Spec Reset
• UPDATE! - Double Luck (15 minutes)
• 800CCU - 1x Legendary chest
• SPOOKY - Double XP (15 minutes)

As you can see from the list above, most Lanterns codes grant XP, meaning you can level up your character quickly. As I've mentioned above, you can use these codes and this XP boost on any Lantern Corps you want, so if you've already considerably levelled up your favorite ring, you can always choose to try out a new one.

How to redeem Lanterns codes

To redeem Lanterns codes, click on the Settings button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Then, scroll to the bottom of the setting screen to find the codes redemption box, where you can enter any of the codes above, click Redeem, and claim your free rewards.

Expired Lanterns codes

• There are no expired codes.

All previously released Lanterns codes are still valid at this time, but there will likely come a time when they expire, so redeem them while you can. If and when they do expire, I'll move them down here so you don't waste your time.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Pearl Abyss has released a new overview trailer for Crimson Desert's upcoming Charting the Unknown DLC expansion, and it sure is a lot.

Crimson Desert has had a bit of a wild year. It launched and was immediately quite beloved by fans, but it garnered criticism for lacking a good story – something the studio's CEO even admitted – and for a few other bits and pieces along the way.

However, Pearl Abyss has been updating the game as if it were a live service, with near-constant updates throughout the year to tackle some of the biggest criticisms and add new features to the open-world game, culminating in a massive Enhanced edition update. However on top of that, the studio announced Crimson Desert: Charting the Unknown a massive DLC expansion is on the way.

After a short two-week delay, the DLC is set to release next week on October 29, and to get people hyped, the developer has released a new overview trailer to let people know what to expect from the DLC; and in true Crimson Desert tradition… It's a whole lot.

Charting the Unknown is based around, well, charting the unknown, and thus you'll be taken to the seas in search of new islands. These islands will feature new missions, enemy factions, and can eventually be turned into strongholds that Kliff can establish. Naturally, sailing is a big part of the DLC too, with the ability to create your own custom ship and take part in naval combat. And underwater, you'll be able to ride around on stingrays, turtles, and orcas while searching for treasure.

On top of that, Kliff's home is now more customizable, continuing Crimson Desert's being 100 games at once, with new house customization that looks ripped out of The Sims. On top of that, you'll be able to romance companions and get married. In the vein of the main game, there's a lot to do here, so if you were holding off on starting it, maybe now is the time.

Crimson Desert reviewed worse with critics than players because critics didn't have enough time to play the game, suggests CEO at the company that gave critics less time

It's not even fully out yet and we have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 patches. Of course, early access necessitates such things, especially when you're one of the biggest franchises in the industry, and on this occasion, the devs are looking at DMZ, Call of Duty's spin on an extraction shooter.

Those who pre-ordered Modern Warfare 4 have been playing the mode for a few days, and things need to be tightened up. Enemy AI is altered in a couple of cases where it's overreaching, in one instance where they could bowl players over while infilling, and in another where they can get into places they shouldn't while you're downed.

Both are quite annoying in motion, I'm sure. Some foibles around progression are ironed out as well. One problem involves players being told they earned a whopping zero experience after their first match - a slightly disappointing impression, to be sure. Now rectified, it seems.

Another issue is more specific, where only the person who actually killed a Commander gets the relevant experience for the 'King Slayer' calling card even if you're in a squad. That's just rude!

There are numerous smaller problems addressed, like visual issues and little mechanical wrinkles and such. Remember, this game isn't actually publicly out yet, so expect more of this in the coming days to make sure everyone's getting what Activision and Infinity Ward want out of the sequel.

A single campaign fix rounds out the patch notes. Progression was apparently being stifled during Counter Attack, specifically in the hotel part. All sorted now, it seems. I'm not sure I'd have noticed, to be honest, but that probably says more about me than anything else. This patch is available now, while the full game is out October 23.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 campaign launches to 94% positive Steam reviews, way ahead of Black Ops 7 and Modern Warfare 3

"Shrek 2 Remastered." The words keep echoing in my head like a half-forgotten memory of a sick dream, but somehow they're real. The 2004 movie tie-in game is getting a full remaster courtesy of Aspyr later this year, and folks, now that the rumors have proven true, I think it's time for us all to admit that gaming nostalgia has finally gone too far.

Shrek 2 Remastered will launch for $30 on November 10 across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC. This new version promises improved graphics, a photo mode, cheats, and 4-player co-op both online and locally, all of which sound like reasonable upgrades over the original.

But come on, man. It's Shrek 2. We all have our nostalgia for various middling licensed games – I still like the Super NES Jurassic Park game, personally – but Aspyr's use of the word "classic" in the remaster's Steam page makes me feel like I'm losing touch with reality in a way that I haven't since Destroy All Humans got remade a few years ago.

Look, I love digging into the lower tiers of the PS2 library, but this is the kind of thing bargain hunting at your local retro shop or deep dives into emulators were made for. Do we really need remaster studios putting their resources into run-of-the-mill licensed games with Metacritic scores in the low 70s?

I say all this, but moments ago our senior entertainment writer Lauren saw me use the words "Shrek PS2 game" and simply started repeating "OMG" over and over again, so maybe I'm just not the target audience here. Maybe I'll head over to eBay and grab the original game on Xbox in a bit…

At the very least, Aspyr has generally done good work in its previous remasters, which have included the likes of Tomb Raider and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – both genuine pillars of video game history. The studio was, at one point, set to lead the KOTOR remake, though those plans have long since changed. I guess the studio is at least getting work, even if that work's occasionally unglamorous.

These are the best PS2 games of all time.

New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is reportedly planning some huge Game Pass changes, including a full-blown pricing overhaul that would have users pay for subscription add-ons "ala carte," according to a new report.

This comes from Fortune (paywalled), which published an exhaustive conversation with Sharma covering some of the broad strokes of her plan to make Xbox "the No. 1 entertainment company." Part of that plan is a multi-stage downsizing that'll see 3,200 cut jobs by the end of the 2027 fiscal year, but it also includes the new Project Helix home console that is reportedly due to release in time for the 2028 holiday season and could cost as much as $1800, as well as a handheld system expected to launch in 2027.

The reason we're here, however, is this reported plan to fundamentally change how Microsoft's Game Pass subscriptions are priced. The current structure allows users to pick from various pre-determined tiers with various features based on price, but according to this new Fortune report, Sharma and co. are hatching a new plan to introduce paid add-ons for things like cloud gaming, multiplayer, and console-only games. So, in theory, you could be subscribed to the cheapest plan with the fewest benefits and still add on features that are important to you for additional monthly charges.

This is all far from confirmed and heavily dependent on pricing specifics, but I don't hate this idea fundamentally. If I can save myself a few dollars on a subscription by opting out of stuff like online multiplayer and cloud gaming, and just tack-on benefits like day one releases, that could increase the value proposition enough for me to resubscribe. But again, it's far too early to say how consumer friendly this potentially revised Game Pass plan will be in the end.

Xbox business manager says devs not using AI shouldn't "be in the business of being a business" – because he "vibe coded a bad but improvable game in 2 days"

The discourse is swirling around Steam Next Fest. This fall's event has just started, and it's chock-full of AI-assisted releases and such, raising questions about its usefulness for promotion. One of the lead developers on Palworld has weighed in, speaking on the reality of what such a platform offers to developers.

On Twitter, John 'Bucky' Buckley, the head of publishing and communications at Palworld studio Pocketpair, went long on Next Fest and its ultimate role for devs. "The number of Next Fest games that get almost no attention has always been very high," he points out.

"Even long before this AI slop era," he continues, gesturing towards the rise in gen-AI. "Steam randomizes the games heavily for the first few days, but even then Next Fest typically settles into a rhythm after the first 24 hours where all the discourse tends to be about the same 25-ish games."

In his mind, one constant is that "the cream rises to the top," meaning if your game is the right confluence of good and trendy, it'll find its audience. Sage wisdom, with some element of truth. Debut games and clever releases are consistently finding communities on Steam, whether through Next Fest or other channels, because people are always looking for fun new experiences.

"Next Fest five or six years ago was a much more niche event," he says. "There were fewer games, but there were also fewer players. I think players back then were the sort who enjoyed playing demos, offering feedback, submitting bug reports, and actively digging around for hidden gems."

This is the intended purpose of Steam Next Fest. People play, wishlist the game, and provide lots of valuable data to the team, who can make appropriate changes before launch. It's a more open forum kind of early access. Since it started in 2021, the environment has changed.

You have a stronger influencer culture and a greater number of players overall. People now look at Next Fest as a place to window shop, thus they gravitate to the most popular and polished games. There are problems here, but they don't all stem from AI technology, Buckley argues.

"We want to blame AI, and sure, Next Fest does have a lot of AI slop, but are gamers really that dumb? Is anyone actually playing this stuff?" he muses. "I suspect the vast majority of it sinks to the bottom and rots almost immediately, just like low-effort games did long before AI existed."

He's got a point - asset-flips and meme games have been part of Steam for years now. The vast majority get zero traction, no players, and die on the brittle vine they sprang from. We're just seeing another layer of that, amid ongoing concerns over how to break through in the industry.

"I’m not saying that discoverability isn’t getting harder, or that AI slop isn’t a problem," he continues. "It absolutely is. But I do think we’re far too quick to brand every disappointing result on the number of games joining Next Fest."

He finishes with some encouragement. "I know it seems discouraging, and I know it might feel like you should give up, but don’t," Buckley states. "Next Fest has always been a gamble, and it’s a gamble I think is still worth taking."

Ultimately, all you can do is keep trying. This fall's festival runs all this week.

Palworld: Side by Side is the survival game's next big update, and it releases in Winter 2026

Now that Arc Raiders PvE playtest has come to an end, Embark Studios has acknowledged some of the early feedback and knows it hasn't been a win in everyone's eyes.

In a post on the Arc Raiders website, Embark noted that the PvE matchmaking toggle test has ended, thanking players who completed over 30 million PvE rounds during the testing period. This post then urged players to join the Arc Raiders Discord and complete a survey coming out soon to make their voices heard on how they felt about the test and how it should be factored in going forward.

Embark notes "we need a bit of time to understand what the data is telling us, and what our community is saying," before it can take the next steps with the mode, saying that "our decision on how to proceed will prioritize the overall health and enjoyability of the game." But the post notes that "On a surface reading, we know that the test has been polarizing."

This was seen throughout the week-long test, too, with early reactions to the mode ranging from it making Arc Raiders feel "bland, soulless" and ruining the game's tension to others saying it's the game they wanted all along. But between the two extremes is a lot of people who find the lowered stakes kind of boring. Arc Raiders streamer Loochy says, "The reality is Arc Raiders doesn’t have a strong enough endgame to support a meaningful PvE experience," calling the mode "hollow," but at the least that's something the developers can target.

As for when we'll hear more about the PvE mode and what the developers have found from the data, Embark says, "We don’t yet know what the outcome of the data analysis will be, but we expect to be able to follow up with further information in November."

Arc Raiders devs had the same debates players are currently having over PvE mode, but the "dad gamers" pushed them to try it anyway

Anime Dimensions Simulator codes provide the quickest way to get ahead in this long-standing action RPG, which has recently been given a revamp and overhaul. Fight as your favorite anime hero as you battle your way across dimensions, while taking out waves of enemies and huge bosses that stand in your way.

By redeeming the promos listed here you'll stock up on a significant number of Gems and Raid Tokens, which can be spent on modifying your character and accessing fresh content, while also stacking plenty of boosts to level up faster in this Roblox experience. If you're all set for battle, then here are the codes for Anime Dimensions Simulator and how to redeem them.

If you're searching for some more general promos that provide rewards for all of your experiences, then check out the latest Roblox promo codes.

All Anime Dimensions Simulator codes

The following Anime Dimensions Simulator codes can be claimed for rewards:

• HALLOWEEN2026 – 500x Gems, 500x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (60 mins)
• DEATH – 200x Gems, 100x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (20 mins)
• MINIUPDATE – 200x Gems, 100x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (20 mins)
• M2OC2HI0 – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• U2T2A7 – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• YZ226EN – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• DIME2NSI2ON4 – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• 2C2U2T – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• AN2IM2E3 – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• TH2AN2K1S – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• REA2PE1R8 – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• AL219TER – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• S2AG2E9 – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)
• LUC2K2Y8 – 100x Gems, 75x Raid Tokens, All Boosts (30 mins)

As you can see from the list above, there are currently plenty of codes for Anime Dimensions Simulator available, and they all offer similar rewards. By redeeming them all you'll rack up a huge amount of Gems and Raid Tokens to spend, along with many hours of activating all Boosts to speed up your progress.

How to redeem Anime Dimensions Simulator codes

To redeem Anime Dimensions Simulator codes, you first need to reach Level 10 in the game, which you should be able to do with a few runs of the opening level, and you should also favorite the game as certain codes depend on this before you can claim them.

With those requirements met, you can hit the small CODES button on the left side of the screen, then use the Enter Code text box that appears to type in a promo before tapping Go to receive your rewards. Codes for Anime Dimensions Simulator are not case-sensitive, though some are a mixture of letters and numbers so enter them with care or copy and paste if unsure.

Expired Anime Dimensions Simulator codes

• HU1MA93
• D1EM92ON
• O19NE6
• 1WI9NT1ER
• 2AL17IS
• 2MIK1A6
• S2OL1O5
• 1SUN2G9
• 2FIE12ND
• AQ2U1A3

There have been plenty of expired Anime Dimensions Simulator codes while this experience has been around, so the most recent ones are listed above for reference only. Make sure you've claimed all of the active promos, before they move down to this section and their rewards are lost.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Roll a Stickman codes generously award players with a range of rewards, and you'll need each and every one of them to build the best stickman army possible and progress through various bases.

As you work your way through each Roll a Stickman base, you'll need increasingly powerful stickmen to take down the resident bosses, so the combination of potions, rolls, trait rerolls, and stat rerolls available from these promos will be essential. Meanwhile, you can look forward to the odd Base Key, which can be used to unlock new background stats in the Roblox simulation game, no matter who's fighting on your side.

If you're after some more general avatar rewards to use in all of your experiences, then we've got the current Roblox promo codes covered too.

All Roll a Stickman codes

These are the Roll a Stickman codes you can redeem right now:

• 6KLIKES - Instant rolls, 21x Potions, 6x Crates, 25x Card Tomes, 20x Trait Rerolls, 4x Base Keys, 1x Stat Reset, 1x Grow Potion (stage 100 required) new!
• GEMSFORDAYS - 50x Gems new!
• 3KLIKES - 17,000x Instant Rolls, 6x Crates, 6x Luck Potion, 5x Haste Potion, 5x Gilded Potion, 5x War Potion, 20x Trait Rerolls, 25x Card Tomes, 4x Base Keys, 50x Gems, 1x Stat Reset
• 1KLIKES - 14,000x Instant Rolls, 6x Crates, 6x Luck Potion, 5x Haste Potion, 5x Gilded Potion, 5x War Potion, 20x Trait Rerolls, 25x Card Tomes, 4x Base Keys, 50x Gems, 1x Stat Reset
• 500LIKES - 12,000x Instant Rolls, 6x Crates, 6x Luck Potion, 5x Haste Potion, 5x Gilded Potion, 5x War Potion, 20x Trait Rerolls, 25x Card Tomes, 4x Base Keys, 50x Gems, 2x Stat Reset
• 200LIKES - 9,100x Instant Rolls, 4x Crates, 5x Luck Potion, 4x Haste Potion, 4x Gilded Potion, 4x War Potion, 15x Trait Rerolls, 20x Card Tomes, 3x Base Keys, 1x Stat Reset (stage 100 required)
• GRINDER - 3,300x Instant Rolls, 3x Crates, 4x Luck Potion, 3x Haste Potion, 2x Gilded Potion, 3x War Potion, 10x Trait Rerolls, 15x Card Tomes, 2x Base Keys (10,000 rolls required)
• 50LIKES - 3,600x Instant Rolls, 3x Crates, 4x Luck Potion, 3x Haste Potion, 3x Gilded Potion, 3x War Potion, 12x Trait Rerolls, 15x Card Tomes, 2x Base Keys, 1x Stat Reset
• 20LIKES - 2,200x Instant Rolls, 2x Crates, 3x Luck Potion, 2x Haste Potion, 2x Gilded Potion, 2x War Potion, 8x Trait Rerolls, 12 Card Tomes, 1x Base Key
• RANKED - 1,400x Instant Rolls, 2x Crates, 3x Luck Potion, 2x Haste Potion, 1x Gilded Potion, 2x War Potion, 5x Trait Rerolls, 10x Card Tomes
• BREW - 180x Instant Rolls, 3x Luck Potions, 2x Haste Potions, 1x Gilded Potion
• RELEASE - 1,100x Instant Rolls, 1x Crate, 2x Luck Potion, 1x Haste Potion, 2x Trait Reroll, 5x Card Tomes

As you can see from the list above, there are plenty of Roll a Stickman codes available, and tons of rewards with them. You'll have to roll for a long time to get through all of the instant rolls available through redeeming these promos, and those crates will fill your stickman inventory out even further.

Roll a Stickman codes aren't case-sensitive, so you only have to ensure you get the spelling right, but you can always just copy and paste from above to be sure.

How to redeem Roll a Stickman codes

To redeem Roll a Stickman codes, first navigate to the menu button in the top right-hand corner of the screen before clicking on the Codes button at the bottom of the drop-down that appears. Next, enter a code from above into the box and hit Redeem.

At this point, your codes will be sent to your mailbox, so you can collect your rewards whenever you're ready. To find them, click on the envelope button at the top of the screen. You'll need to both Open your mail and Claim you rewards.

You must also join the Ultrain Studios Roblox group before you can enter any codes, and you'll need to close the game to do this.

Expired Roll a Stickman codes

• There are no expired codes.

Since Roll a Stickman is still relatively new, there are currently no expired codes, so you can currently claim every reward available. I don't expect that to last forever, though, so do redeem them as soon as possible.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The campaign for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is now available for those who pre-ordered, and PC players in particular seem pretty taken by it. The single-player mode has debuted to a strong rating on Steam, indicating this particular installment could be a big one for the franchise.

Although Modern Warfare 4 isn't fully out until this coming Friday, October 23, pre-orders come with early access to the campaign. During the beta, this was relegated to a single mission, but now you can knock out the whole thing if you'd like.

You'd think this would be a questionable move by Activision and Infinity Ward, but it might just be quite shrewd. If you go on the game's page on Steam, you can see the rating is currently riding extremely high.

At time of writing, Modern Warfare 4 is sitting at Very Positive on Valve's marketplace, based on 94% of reviews. That's a strong opening for any game, and it's especially good for Call of Duty.

We don't have hard data on the first weeks of many individual entries of the long-running FPS, but this definitely outdoes the initial feedback on Black Ops 7 and Modern Warfare 3. You can see charts of their reviews going back to launch weeks, and neither were anywhere close to that amount.

Whomever came up with the bold move to simply make the campaign part of the perks for being an early adopter, they were onto something. It helps that apparently Infinity Ward's made a good one, which includes 16 missions spread across several locations around the world. Call of Duty campaigns have tended to be a little forgettable over the last ten years or so, since the multiplayer modes and Warzone took prominence.

As someone who loves a good solo FPS, it pleases me to see that Modern Warfare 4 is bucking the trend. You can pre-order now if any kind of FOMO is setting in.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 narrative lead says Denis Villeneuve's Sicario is an influence "I'm always checking against," but John Wick "has some obvious presence" too

The concept of overwhelming pleasure has always fascinated me. Craving sensation is primal and civilization has built much to better that, from fine dining to VR gaming. This deeply human pursuit is a core part of both Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, and my favorite Warhammer 40,000 faction.

Thrill seekers

Saber Interactive's new horror game explores sensation from the off, beginning with a BDSM-tinged sex scene before introducing the franchise's iconic Hell Priest Pinhead and his cohort of fellow Cenobites, who tear the protagonist's partner Sunny to shreds. The violence is gruesome, but the recipient doesn't seem to object, even if our protagonist Aidan does.

Aidan soon finds himself breaking free from a torture den before arriving at a sex club, both of which belong to a Cenobite-worshipping cult called the Scarlet Church. As our hero is about to leave this world behind, the disembodied voice of Sunny calls out, luring Aidan back in the name of liberating her. Here, I start to see connections to Warhammer 40K.

The Emperor's Children legion are a group of Space Marines – enhanced human beings who are now full-time thrill seekers in the name of the Chaos deity Slaanesh, pursuing pleasure and sensation above all else, and their origins may sound familiar.

The superhuman soldiers found themselves in a temple of hedonism, surrounded by creatures known as the Laer in the throes of ecstasy, when a siren song called to their hearts. Much like Aidan, they responded with violence as a natural instinct, while the whisperer in their ears pulled them further along the pathway to something beyond their comprehension.

Stepping into Hellraiser: Revival's Labyrinth, Aidan could just as easily be one of the Emperor's Children. The otherworldly sights before me are fear-inducing but also alluring. The leather-wrapped enemies that lash out when I interrupt their enjoyment respond just as the Laer might, using violence as both a defense mechanism and conduit to sensation.

Even back in the human realm, the home of Scarlet Church feels ripped from the pages of Warhammer 40,000's grimdark universe. Mutilated corpses hang from ceilings and painted canvases stand proudly upon easels, matching the imagery from the Horus Heresy novel Fulgrim and its Emperor's Children spaceship featuring similar levels of violence and artistry. We even see an apparently high-ranking member of Revival's cult carrying out a sort of surgery on a living person, much like the Emperor's Children character Fabius Bile is infamous for.

It's impossible for me to delve into Hellraiser without thinking of Warhammer. Both the Cenobites and worshippers of Slaanesh represent an obsession that has seen them go beyond the accepted limits of society, and the result is as harrowing as it is intoxicating. I turn the corners of Revival's in-game world with the same cautious curiosity as I do the pages of Fulgrim, enraptured by the sights both stories have to show me.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival review: "Pinhead's return is glorious – this is a true love letter to the original movies"

Palworld is getting a new update called Side by Side, and it's due to release in Winter 2026.

That comes from a new press release by Pocketpair, which confirms the news without revealing much else. At the time of writing, all we have to share is an image with three different Pals blacked out. Pocketpair, meanwhile, asks you to "stay tuned for further updates on what this new content will bring."

Amusingly, in the same press release, Pocketpair also reveals the results of a recent popularity poll. I don't need to tell you who won that one, because I'd wager you already know, but for the sake of completeness, Sekmet came first, while Solene and Chillet came after. There were 280 Pals and in-game characters to vote on, and the resulting lists were split between Pals and non-Pals. If you're curious who the most popular non-Pals are, that'd be Zoe, Auri, and Saya, in that order.

While we know little else about what's to come for Palworld, head of publishing and communications John "Bucky" Buckley has been doing the media rounds of late to talk about the developer's overall approach to content. Just recently, he said that the team isn't going to "release 100 new Pals with the next update" as the belief at the studio is that "every Pal should have something" memorable. As such, I wouldn't expect Side by Side to feature heaps of new pocket pals. No wonder the image only features the three of 'em.

Oh, and if covering Palworld over the years has taught me anything, don't expect any underwater biome action. It isn't happening, as Bucky is often keen to stress.

Oh, and Palworld picks spin-offs over a Fortnite-style metaverse because "maximizing revenue as quickly as possible isn’t what drives our creative decisions," says Pocketpair lead.

Mini PCs haven't been shielded from this year's price increases, but the GMKTec K8 Plus still manages to pose a serious threat to Valve's $1,000+ Steam Machine. The AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS box launched a good few years ago, but has nevertheless risen to fame among those looking for a lightweight gaming experience. Its sturdy 1080p performance across some of the most demanding games on the market keeps it fiercely competitive with both cheaper alternatives and more expensive mainstream devices, even if the days of a $500 price tag are long behind us.

The K8 Plus used to be a steady $400 - $500 device, but the 32GB RAM version I've been testing is now more likely to be found between $750 and $900. If you spot it on a good day, though, it could be one of the few last bastions of entry-level PC gaming - assuming you're happy rolling the dice on its WiFi card.

With the best gaming PCs running you thousands of dollars and the best gaming laptops seeing their own inflations, many are looking to integrated GPUs to see them through these troubling years. The GMKTec K8 Plus does much more than its Radeon 780M would suggest, though. With easy upgradeability, a rare Oculink port for additional eGPU access, and a cooling system equipped to deal with gaming's larger challenges, the K8 Plus could give the Steam Machine something serious to think about.

Configurations

This far into the GMKTec K8 Plus's lifespan, there are only two configurations that sit with consistency on the shelves. Both use the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, an octa-core processor with 16 threads and a 54W TDP, partnered with the brand's Radeon 780M integrated graphics. However, the 16GB DDR5 5600MHz RAM model is often available for a couple hundred bucks less than the 32GB version I've been testing.

As it stands, the model sat on my test bench will run you somewhere between $750 and $950 depending on sales (note Amazon's listings generally drop you down to 512GB of storage), whereas the cheaper alternative can drop things down to around $600.

Design

The GMKTec K8 Plus keeps the same compact form factor you'd expect from a mini PC, with a 58mm height and a pretty square 127 x 132 mm depth and width. It's small enough to sit neatly under a monitor or to one side, though its port placements might get in the way of such a neat setup.

I was initially nervous about the transparent plastic top floating just over the top edge of the main chassis. The twist-off cap provides easy access to four top screws for entry into the main compartment, housing the system's main fan right up top. You'll either love it or hate it.

I can see how those going for a cleaner, more professional look might balk at the plastic hat, but the convenience it brings to the table is undeniable. Plus, anyone bored of the homogeneous box aesthetic will be glad of the more unique design choice here.

Twisting the lid counter-clockwise provides a satisfying snap as it lifts away from the main body of the device, and replacing it is as simple as lining everything up and twisting in the opposite direction.

Everything around that lid also feels solid. A metal casing keeps things looking premium on the desk and in the hands, while that bold green power button provides a little relief from the all-black design. My only concern is the printed 'GMKTec' logo positioned diagonally across the top right edge, which cheapens the aesthetic a little.

Features

The GMKTec K8 Plus has three main weapons in its arsenal: its ability to host a whole bunch of external displays, its Oculink port, and its upgradeability.

Ports aren't plentiful here though; you'll find similarly-sized options with more USB-As on offer around the back. You're still getting two USB-A 2.0 connections for more permanent accessories as well as two USB 3.2s at the front for easier access as well. On paper, those dual USB 4 slots are holding their own as well, and we haven't even mentioned the twin RJ45 Ethernet slots.

Tallying those connections with the HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort, you've got space for up to four external displays to run here - perfect for those building a more substantial workstation from a smaller device.

That's not all, though. The front of the device also plays host to an Oculink connection, a rarity even across mini PCs designed more specifically around gaming. It allows you to (probably later down the line, looking at current GPU prices) attach an external GPU for a boost in performance should you require it. It's also a boon for those building a home NAS server, allowing for additional SATA connections.

Port placement could present some concerns here. The USB 4 required for that final fourth external display is positioned around the front, next to the Oculink. It's a small gripe, but that's going to make for a slightly messier setup when everything's firing on all cylinders. I would have loved to see at least the Oculink's more permanent connection situated out of sight towards the back.

Finally, that aforementioned twist-off lid provides easy access to RAM and storage upgrades. Once you've got those four screws holding the fan down away you're in to swap out for up to 96GB of SODIMM memory and up to 4TB of M.2 2280 storage.

Performance

The GMKTec K8 Plus can hold its own in lighter games, speeding through Restory, Stardew Valley, and Islanders with only a little stutter here and there. It's a perfectly playable experience for these less demanding games, often at a lower price than you'd find elsewhere on the market.

Putting the K8 Plus to the test against something a little meatier shows its limits, though. It still holds its own in full Triple-A releases, as long as they're a little older, slimmer, or offer additional optimization tools.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and Cyberpunk 2077 hold their own in the 40-fps range when under Medium settings here. That's not the super smooth 60fps many aim for, but it's running - and with prices the way they are, I'll certainly take it.

Yes, things fall off a cliff slightly when we get to High graphical settings - though Tomb Raider manages to hold its own here much better than the heavier titles in my benchmarking roster.

Suffice to say, the GMKTec K8 Plus will run a sturdy Steam library, but you'll need to be taking advantage of additional FSR tools baked into that Radeon 780M GPU to reach the kinds of speeds you'll find in more expensive machines. If you just play lighter indie titles, though, you're pretty set.

The GMKTec K8 Plus doesn't just want to play your games, though. This is a compact mini PC designed to power through day-to-day productivity as well. AMD's components scored 2,218 in their single core Geekbench 7 benchmark here, with 13,410 in multi-core performance. Considering the size and price point, that's certainly a result in GMKTec's favor.

Unfortunately, there's one glaring issue I ran into almost every day when running the GMKTec K8 Plus. This thing's WiFi card is fried. While it can hold its own in day-to-day web browsing, downloads represent a particular challenge for the out-the-box connectivity, often requiring me to leave it running overnight for a job that would take most other machines an hour or so. The K8 Plus allows for WiFi card upgrades, and it's not an expensive part to replace, but I'd factor the cost into this rig's price tag before checkout.

Should you buy the GMKTec K8 Plus?

If you're willing to roll the dice on those internet speeds, or swap out your WiFi card straight from the off, the GMKTec K8 Plus actually represents solid value in today's market. It's going to hold its own against the Steam Machine in day-to-day 1080p performance, while coming in remarkably cheaper (especially on its best days). You'll also enjoy the benefits of a full Windows productivity suite for your cash, as well as that easy-access upgradeability - not to mention the flexibility of that Oculink port later down the line.

How I tested the GMKTec K8 Plus

I've had the GMKTec K8 Plus on my desk for two weeks, running the mini PC for all my work and most of my play during that time. Aside from a few Doom: The Dark Ages and Planet Coaster 2 skirmishes, this hub has been my destination for lighter gaming across Stardew Valley, Islanders, and Restory, with in-game benchmarks tested at both high and medium graphical settings in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and Cyberpunk 2077. The CPU was also tested using Geekbench 7. Each of these benchmarks was performed three times, with the final result representing an average of all runs.

For more information on how we make our recommendations, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

We're also running through the best gaming handhelds for something even more portable, as well as the best mobile controllers and best gaming tablets.

Final Fantasy Resonance is at once a nostalgia-laced antidote for the longtime fans who have felt alienated by the recent 3D iterations turning their backs on the series' turn-based traditions as well as Square Enix giving its trademarked HD-2D style a much needed shot in the arm. While I've been enamored by this retro-modern style since its introduction in 2018's Octopath Traveler, over time it's been losing its charm, as the same presentation had been wheeled out in successive nostalgic outings, though at least Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined had the good grace to try something different.

Nonetheless, its legacy of pixel-based classics like Final Fantasy 6 meant it was only a matter of time before a Final Fantasy title would receive the HD-2D treatment while also finding ways for the aesthetic to feel fresh again. Ironically, it's done that not through a brand new game but with an adaptation of mobile spin-off Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

Crystal clear

Square Enix reworking its mobile catalog to console may not be new, as it has done successfully with Octopath Traveler 0, and less so with Various Daylife, but Final Fantasy Resonance is more significant as it excavates a since discontinued mobile game. The work from Square Enix Creative Studio 5 and Lancarse is even more extensive than just an act of preservation or removing the gacha elements that had been why Brave Exvius passed me by when it was available. While its story and characters remain intact, the whole presentation and experience has been overhauled to feel like a very classic yet fresh Final Fantasy adventure that stands on its own two feet.

Just about everything in Final Fantasy Resonance harks back to the series' classic hallmarks, from turn-based battles with a party size of four characters to the explorable overworld of Lapis peppered with towns, dungeons, random encounters, and – of course – a story that revolves around crystals. As a knight of the kingdom of Grandshelt, your protagonist Rain finds himself setting out on a journey to find the legendary crystals before each can be destroyed by a mysterious group of elite armored warriors calling themselves the Sworn Six.

There's plenty that follows a largely conventional structure – visit a new region, discover a problem the locals are having where one of the characters end up joining your party, and a dungeon that culminates in a fight with one of the Sworn Six – but it's not really a criticism when the execution of this formula is done so well. Sure, there are some familiar characterizations, from a leading man obliviously caught in a love triangle, to a feisty mechanic who's often butting heads with the sleazeball of the group, but these are fun characters to spend time with. Even the game's villains are written with pathos, while the series' recurring Espers have their own personality as you fight for the right to summon them in battle.

It's all bolstered by the presentation that's a substantial level-up from past HD-2D games. While Final Fantasy Resonance does make use of voice-acting as well as having dialogue text accompanied by expressive character illustrations – the latter introduced in this year's The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales – its biggest improvement comes from the spritework, which are bigger and feature more animations than what would have been feasible for a 16-bit Final Fantasy.

Another subtle yet meaningful shift seen early on is how it's not presented with the same top-down medium-wide camera but actually leverages the fact that the game is made up of 3D environments. It's not that Final Fantasy Resonance strives to be cinematic, but a simple change of the camera to a close-up, more dynamic angles during a boss encounter, or one of your party member's show-stopping Limit Bursts, does a lot to make HD-2D feel fresh again.

It's only undermined by the occasional use of CG sequences when you're summoning Espers or Visions, the latter including manifestations of characters from the numbered Final Fantasy titles. Given how their CG sequences are taken straight from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, I imagine they looked far more spectacular blowing up on your smartphone back in the day. I personally found these transitions at odds with the HD-2D style, and it's perhaps weirder if playing the game with English audio since the CG Visions are only voiced in Japanese.

Vision quest

Visions are nonetheless a core component in Final Fantasy Resonance and are significantly overhauled from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, where they were unlocked through a gacha system. This remake has just 26 from the hundreds of the mobile title but nixes any monetization or rarity randomization. Each is unlocked either by visiting their respective shrine or completing a side quest, while awakening more of their abilities is done by using magicite found as you go through the campaign.

Obviously, it's wish fulfillment having the likes of Final Fantasy 7's Cloud fighting alongside Final Fantasy 13's Lightning or Final Fantasy 14's Y'shtola, though they are more comparable to the skill-wielding summons from the likes of Persona 5 than true party members. They also have the added function of being like jobs, giving more abilities and attack options for the party member who's equipped them, while keeping them paired up for longer also levels up mastery, unlocking more benefits. There's also incentive to master multiple visions, since some of these perks become equippable, and you can mix and match different abilities, like a more flexible form of Octopath Traveler's secondary jobs.

Indeed, while there are many familiar Final Fantasy elements – such as Phoenix Downs for reviving fallen party members, or using tents as save points for fully recovering – I can't help but think how much of Octopath Traveler's design sensibilities permeate throughout. Mostly, it makes for a smoother experience, like the ability to run making dungeon traversal snappier, and the mini-map acting as a red-flashing radar helping you anticipate random battles.

It's also evident in the presentation of the battles themselves, with a timeline on the top displaying the order of turns while icons next to enemies also indicate which elemental properties they are weak, resistant, or immune to after a respective attack or spell is used on them. That said, the battles flow differently to the break and boost systems of Octopath Traveler.

While staggering has become a core mechanic since Final Fantasy 13, in Final Fantasy Resonance, your abilities also show their effectiveness in dealing damage to an enemy's HP and stagger gauge, handily color-coded in the same respective red and yellow. Instead of raw damage, it's often more important to focus on attacks that bring down the stagger gauge faster, especially when those abilities tend to cost less MP, before saving the strongest attacks for when their guard is down.

The more satisfying strategy comes from coordinating an attack where you stagger all the enemies during the same turn. Not only do you have the next turn free for everyone to pile on, but it's also how you get to finish the turn with a powerful Resonance attack from one of your equipped visions, in other words, the CG special ability mentioned previously.

Admittedly, the power of these bonus attacks in earlier field battles almost feels too much, prompting that The Simpsons 'Stop, he's already dead' meme to spring to mind after my party has wiped all but one enemy out whose HP is also already at zero, before unleashing a Resonance attack. But then it's also encouraged since you can gain an Overkill bonus at the end of a battle. Bosses are spongier and don't go down as easily, but there's a great sense of relief when you manage to stagger them just before the timeline indicates they're about to dish out a devastating attack on the whole party.

Finite Fantasy

The cozy familiarity of Final Fantasy Resonance does mean that at times it has almost too predictable a rhythm. It's not that the boss battles, or optional monster dungeon challenges, won't occasionally put you in a tight spot, but there is less friction in mind. For example, if the boss' weakness isn't already obvious from appearance, once you spend the first couple turns figuring this out, it's easy to hit pause, load your last save, quickly reassemble your party and visions, and skip any cutscenes to get back to that same fight at an advantage with minimal fuss.

With access to an airship by the game's midpoint, you might say it opens the world up a bit too soon, such as being able to reach one region several chapters before its relevance to the story even kicks in, or access monster dungeons that indicate you're far below its recommended level but you might as well go in so that you can fast-travel to it once you are ready. In that sense, there's almost little in the way of surprise.

Yet, while it might feel a little too breezy at times, it also feels a comforting counterpoint to the unfathomable bloat of the modern JRPG – looking at you, Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy.

There's a generous amount of side quests on offer that unlock at a manageable cadence where the rewards are usually upfront, while dungeons never outstay their welcome, although side quests do have a knack for backtracking to earlier locations that's at least mitigated by fast travel. Even the endgame convention of ascending a huge towering dungeon is smartly broken up so that you can always go and explore the rest of Lapis and mop up other side quests without worrying about how far the next save point is.

Final Fantasy Resonance may only cover the first story arc of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, which might make it seem less complete than the multi-arc epic of Octopath Traveler 0, yet that may also be the point. If this beautifully enhanced remake does as well as it deserves to, then I'm hopeful its subsequent arcs will also get the same restoration treatment, with even bolder design choices.

Final Fantasy Resonance was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2, with a code provided by the publisher.

Don't make this adventure final. Check out our best Final Fantasy games, best RPGs, and best JRPGs rankings for loads more to keep you busy. Our new releases calendar has plenty on the horizon too!

CD Projekt Red has confirmed a new Cyberpunk 2077 update is releasing this week, with content based on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2.

In the vein of No Man's Sky, CD Projekt Red has turned Cyberpunk 2077 from one of the most disastrous launches in gaming history into one of the most beloved games ever made. And just like No Man's Sky, this is partly thanks to the developers seemingly being unable to simply stop updating the game. One of the biggest free updates came along Cyberpunk Edgerunners' first outing, which added a number of new weapons, gear, and some new gigs, and four years later, CD Projekt Red is repeating the trick.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 released today, and the Studio Trigger Netflix anime series introduces a brand-new cast of characters and tells an entirely new story in Night City. So, since the Edgerunners content in the game won't be applicable, CD Projekt Red has confirmed there's a new update based on Edgerunners 2 coming later this week, on October 22.

In a post on Twitter, the Cyberpunk account advertised the 2.5 update with new key art showing V standing alongside one of Edgerunners 2's quartet of protagonists, Weak Kingsley, ammid a shootout. Alongside this news, in a post on the Cyberpunk website, CD Projekt Red confirmed a new episode of REDstreams will air tomorrow on October 21 at 5pm CEST (4pm BST | 11am ET | 8am PT).

While details are scarce at the moment, the website does drop two tidbits of info, namely, "cyberware customization" and "a new dual-wielding playstyle" coming to the game. Based on the first Edgerunners update, I have to imagine some new gigs are part of the package, or at the very least, some cosmetics based on the characters leading the new anime series.

Check out our Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 review here!

If you're in the mood to try new games, the Steam Next Fest is here now. There's just one catch - there are a lot of demos this year, way more than when this event happened in June, and a lot of them involve a heavy amount of AI assets.

Steam Next Fest is Valve's twice-annual digital preview event, where developers put up demos of their games in hopes you'll check them out and add a few to your wish list. Since it started in summer 2021, the number of early builds you can access has increased dramatically, from hundreds to thousands.

That's what you want, because it proves that people enjoy the concept and that it's serving its intended purpose. But AI ripoffs are now ruining the fun for everyone. There are 7,017 demos publicly listed for this Steam Next Fest, a little under twice what we saw in June, and current trends dictate a lot of them are just vibe-coded clones of existing projects.

The Needle In a Haystack debacle mere weeks ago demonstrates the issues: devs make a game centered on a particular conceit, and then numerous copycats show up, all clearly using AI-generated assets and put together extremely quickly to cash in on a trend. One developer, Alliance Arts, decided to back out of Next Fest because of fears Drunken Goddess Reflux would be copied in a similar fashion.

It feels like we're watching the dead internet theory in motion, where digital stores are just slush pits of generative AI releases copying each other ad nauseum. This is unhelped by perspectives like that of Brandon Stirrup, a business development manager at Microsoft, who believes he can vibe code a game that could eventually be marketable in mere hours.

Even browsing through just now, I found several games from developers that appear to have been listed only recently, and whose assets, whether the cover art or in-game, certainly look like they've been AI-generated. I would rather not have to wonder if what I'm about to play is generative slop, but for now, it seems like we all have to. Be careful out there, but do have a look through the fest if you have the patience.

"Elon Musk disagrees with me. This means I am onto something": Legendary game artist calls out AI billionaires, Tim Sweeney responds "this is bulls***" with Musk's support

Arrowhead Studios has confirmed that Helldivers 2 will transition to Easy Anti-Cheat this week and acknowledged what that means for mods.

In a post on the Helldivers 2 Steam page, Arrowhead says that at some point today, October 20, the game will transition from GameGuard to Easy Anti-Cheat "with additional security tools in place to enhance its effectiveness and improve game integrity protection," as well as implementing "additional security measures" to target cheating mods that have been circulating around the game's community. The post explains, "The implementation of GameGuard for Helldivers 2 wasn't as effective as it could have been, and in the end we decided to take another path with EAC."

This post also sees the Arrowhead team comment on the Helldivers 2 modding community. While the studio notes that it has mostly refrained from doing so, this update gives it an opportunity to do just that.

"We know mods are part of the DNA of PC gaming and gaming communities as a whole," the post reads, adding, "we appreciate the creativity behind cosmetic and non-gameplay mods, which players can enjoy without negatively impacting those who play alongside them." However, Arrowhead notes, "Where we need to improve is how we protect players against modifications that create unfair advantages or negatively impact others."

Arrowhead explains that those gameplay modifications may no longer function; however, this also extends to "some non-malicious cosmetic mods," which the team notes "may require updates from their individual creators in order to keep working."

The update hasn't exactly gone down well with the community, as many note that they are using gameplay mods to fix lingering issues in the base game, such as stratagem bouncing and hitbox issues.

Be sure to check out our guide to everything found in the new Helldivers 2 Scope of Authority Warbond.

Anime Adventures codes have been around a long time, but there haven't been any for a while. It might be a little disconcerting to log into the game right now and be faced with a combination of Holiday festivities and April Fool's events. However, the developers recently announced that Anime Adventures Update 21 is on the way, and hopefully there will be some new codes with it!

As we wait for the rebirth of Anime Adventures, there are some old codes that are still working in the Roblox experience, so take a look at them below and check whether you've already reaped their rewards or not. As soon as Update 21 and any new promos are released, I'll add them right here.

In the meantime, get your hands on some more general Roblox promo codes that can be used across all experiences.

All Anime Adventures codes

These are the Anime Adventures codes you can redeem right now:

• DUNGEONS - 1x Dungeon Run Key
• UPDATESOON5189 - 500x Gems
• APRILFOOLS (level 20 required)
• MILLIONFAVES (level 20 required)
• 2BILLIONAA (level 50 required)

Anime Adventures codes reward players with the likes of Gems and reroll tokens. So, whether you want to upgrade the team you have or get a better one, you'll be able to advance your wishes with these promos.

How to redeem Anime Adventures codes

To redeem Anime Adventures codes, you must first locate the Codes area in the lobby, which is in front of the Raid zone. Walk into it to open the codes redemption box, then enter a code from above, before finally clicking Redeem to claim your rewards.

Anime Adventures codes aren't case-sensitive, so you only have to make sure to spell your promos properly, but you can always copy and paste from above to be safe.

Expired Anime Adventures codes

• UPDATE20RELEASE
• UPD20INCOMING
• ASSASSIN
• UPDSOON
• SHUTDOWN1230
• MERRYCHRISTMAS2

There have been plenty of codes that have expired over the years, and those that are still valid will probably follow suit soon, so be sure to redeem promos as soon as you see them.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Rumors are picking up pace that Star Wars Battlefront 3 will soon enter development, though who will lead the project has apparently not yet been decided.

Chatter has been building since earlier this week, stemming from Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb pointing to a report in an Electronic Gaming Monthly column claiming Disney has "big plans" for the Star Wars Battlefront series. Reportedly, Lucasfilm is looking for a development partner, and two studios are emerging as favorites: DICE, which wouldn't be surprising given their work on Battlefront 1 and 2; and Bungie, which would be surprising given what they have on currently. While Bungie is familiar with a galaxy far, far away, alongside turning Marathon around, the Halo creators have somewhat pivoted to calling it quits on Destiny.

Now, as is typical within media, you usually anticipate the next step by reaching out for comment and waiting for further reports to solidify what has been put out there. The latter is typically other reputable outlets or "insiders" with track records too good to ignore. What is less common, though, is the CEO of another studio throwing weight behind a claim. That's what happened here, with the boss of Wardogs developer Bulkhead, Joe Brammer, throwing in what he knows.

"DICE and from what I’ve heard Respawn are working on Battlefront 3," he says. "Not sure what that means for Battlefield."

And, as a bonus in case you're wondering, he does think "Star Wars Wardogs" sounds cool. Can't argue there.

While it does sound promising that something about Star Wars Battlefront 3 is at least being discussed, it's worth keeping a few things in mind. Nothing is confirmed, and chatter doesn't always lead somewhere.

The timing sure is something, though. It was only the other day that we reported that Lucasfilm, hot on the heels of Star Wars: Zero Company and Galactic Racer, said it will "continue to surprise folks" and is "more flexible" with the franchise. Whether that leads to something for Star Wars Battlefront 3, though, remains to be seen.

Here are the 10 best Star Wars games to play right now while you wait.

Warner Bros.' nemesis system is easily the cleverest innovation from its Middle-earth open-world action adventure series, turning an otherwise fairly mindless orc slaughtering party into something much impactful and lifelike. And while Red Dead Redemption 2 certainly doesn't need to learn any lessons from Shadow of Mordor or Shadow of War, a new mod adds the nemesis system to Rockstar's open-world Western opus, and I have to say, it sounds like a wildly good time.

As showcased in a wonderful Rockstar-style trailer with narration from Sarah Kempton, the enRAGE mod (available via Nexus Mods) makes it so that "everyone you cross in the West can become your nemesis.

"Rob a man, beat him or insult him, and he may not forget. He gets a name, a temper, a life story and a grudge, and one day he comes looking for you," reads the mod's description.

For the uninitiated, in the Middle-earth games, the nemesis system organizes Sauron's army into a hierarchy where each soldier has their own name, rank, strengths and weaknesses, and even personality traits. Individual orcs can climb through the ranks by killing you, and they'll remember their fatal methods for your next encounters, bragging and mocking you for your previous failure. Likewise, they'll hold grudges against you if you fail to kill them, bearing battle-accurate scars and pursuing you with vigor. It's a lot more complex than just that, but that's the gist of it, and you can incorporate that same system in Red Dead Redemption 2 with this mod from nicklovin99.

"Every NPC gets a name, a temper and a mind shaped by a life lived before you rode in. They remember what you did and will cross your path again. Some will like you, some will fear you, some will want you dead. Outfits feud and go to war with or without you, changing the people you know," says the mod creator.

I have yet to test out this mod and thus can't vouch for it, but it is described as being in "early access" and prone to bugs, which the developer asks you to report so that one day this can be "a polished (native Red Dead) feeling mod." Still, even in its current state, it sounds incredibly ambitious.

"Greet a stranger and you learn his name. From then on he is a real person in the world: a temper (Hothead, Proud, Cold, Coward, Greedy, Loyal or Drifter), traits, quirks, a trade, a faith, a family and a life story dated back years before he met you. His temper decides how he fights, whether he backs down, whether he talks and whether he forgives. People you meet turn up again in the same towns with the same face and the same grudge."

According to the mod author, tensions can rise to the point of faction wars "with goals, front lines, roadblocks and battles you can hear in the distance. Kill a side's officers, burn its supplies or rob its treasury, and watch its war collapse."

My hat's off to mod writers with the know-how to weave such an incredibly complex system into an already intricate network of systems in a game as massive as Red Dead Redemption 2. I haven't seen enough to be satisfied that the whole thing is interwoven seamlessly, and it sounds like in its early access state it isn't all totally seamless, but my interest is piqued nonetheless.

Not even Rockstar heads know everything that's in GTA 6 because devs will just add stuff – which is also how Red Dead Redemption 2 got its absurd horse testicle physics

Blizzard's Diablo series is what most people think of when they hear the term ARPG, but Path of Exile is without a doubt the closest runner-up. Itself directly and explicitly inspired by Diablo 2, Grinding Gear Games' free-to-play ARPG has an extremely dedicated and sizable player base all its own, and it's not hard to find genre enthusiasts who consider it their favorite for all sorts of reasons. The example we're here to talk about is Joe Ziegler, the game director best known for leading Riot's competitive shooter Valorant and later Bungie's extraction shooter Marathon, who says he has a staggering 3,437 logged in Path of Exile because of the unparalleled depth of buildcrafting it offers.

"ARPGs to me are [about the] buildcrafting and the cleverness of putting things together," Ziegler tells PC Gamer. "And I think Path of Exile is the most freeform version of that. The level of experimentation you can get in that game is so wide in terms of thinking about how you can make builds.

I play a variety of builds. I have a fondness for playing Totem builds, and then second to that is, when I'm feeling really lazy, I like one-button builds, like Whirlwind builds … that's the fun part of Path of Exile, to be honest, is that it's just such a Rube Goldberg machine of effects and things that you can make, and you're just trying to figure out how to deal the most damage and kill things the fastest."

You don't have to read a whole lot of my work to know I'm a lifelong Diablo nerd, and while I've tried so, so many times to get into Path of Exile, I always find myself lumbering back to Sanctuary. I don't know if it's just the nostalgia that's baked into my bones from 30 years of familiarity—it's probably that—but frankly, it's silly of me to even think I have the time for another ARPG obsession. Ziegler, meanwhile, can't move past the original Path of Exile even with glowing reviews for Path of Exile 2 Early Access.

"I think I've changed my expectation around ARPGs because of Path of Exile," he says. "It's funny because I've played Path of Exile 2, and it's a little bit more limiting, and it totally makes sense because it's built around more of an action environment. But I definitely feel like Path of Exile 1 was more meant for me."

The reason I've been explaining my own ARPG history is basically to say there are a million different reasons people play these types of games, and they can be extremely specific to each player. For me, I still play the original Diablo and Diablo 2 even more than Diablo 4 because they're extremely comforting worlds for me, and the simplicity makes them great for turning off my brain and idly playing while listening to my favorite podcasts.

When I was a kid, I played Diablo almost exclusively for PvP, but now it's just about returning to a familiar place, soaking in the immaculate vibes, and giving myself something to do when I don't feel like thinking. For those reasons, the complexity and focus on build theory in Path of Exile actually makes me a little less interested in investing the time in another massive game I don't have time for. To each, as they say, their own.

Path of Exile co-creator is "tentatively hopeful" Diablo 5 will stick the landing

Malls, in pop culture at least, are inhabited by three main groups. Zombies, the monster-battling kids from Stranger Things, and teenagers in Avril Lavigne music videos. Stupid Never Dies’ Davy is somehow all three at once: a hoodie-wearing defector from the zombie horde, facing off against other monsters in the hope of saving the life of – and winning the heart of – the cheerleader he’s crushing on. Even though they've never spoken, because she's in a kind of accidental cryostasis, in an ice-cream shop's storage freezer.

So, in short: he was a boy (before he died and rose again), she was a girl (before she gave herself the Walt Disney treatment). Can I make it any more obvious?

This ‘00s pop-punk vibe really does bleed into every part of Stupid Never Dies, from Davy’s baseball-cap-hoodie-&-kicks dress sense through to the game’s theme song (actually kind of a bop), which has a music video you can watch from the start menu. And, most striking of all, its zine collage aesthetic. Every cutscene, collectible, and bit of UI is composed of marker-pen scribbles, stickers, and images apparently torn out of a magazine, like a mixed-media shotgun blast to the eyeballs.

As for the mall? In Stupid Never Dies it’s a House Of Hades-style hub, with a host of friendly-ish faces – who include a were-chihuahua, a gargoyle in a shopping trolley, and the aforementioned icy crush – all waiting for Davy to return from adventures so they can sell him upgrades. Much like in Hades, once you’ve done all your admin it’s off to the underworld to see how deep you can go this time. Unlike Hades, the way you enter it is by flushing Davy down a toilet.

Get stupid

GPTRACK50 was founded by veteran Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi and Stupid Never Dies, the studio's debut, is basically a greatest-hits mashup of his back catalog. The maximalist punk style and fondness for toilet humor are a reminder that Kobayashi worked with Suda51 on Killer7. And once you’re in the dungeon, the combat mixes the aerial hack-and-slash and combo grading of Devil May Cry with the ridiculous crowds of enemies found in Sengoku Basara.

Not content to be purely a tribute act, though, Stupid Never Dies does throw a few new fresh ideas into the mix. And, in classic Capcom fashion, a whole new vocabulary of terminology to go along with them. There’s Davy Burst, Stupid Parries, Heat Attacks, Instant Skills, Style Eat, Metaphitic Miasma Layers… at this point, I admit, I’m pulling names from the in-game tips guide just to make a point. But let’s translate the important ones.

Stupid Parry, for example. This is an action game made in the 2020s, and so the inclusion of a parry is basically mandatory, but this is an unusual take on the idea. It’s called ‘Stupid’ for a reason: Davy dashes into the attack, and is guaranteed to take damage, even if there’s nothing to be parried. If it does connect, though, you’ll reduce the hurt Davy would have received, and convert it into chip damage that can be recovered later on.

And, if you parry into a gold-flashing Heat Attack, it’ll trigger a ‘Stupid Impact’. This stuns your assailant and exposes their glowing core so that Davy can do what zombies do best: take a big old bite of their innards.

This is how you offset all that damage you’re voluntarily taking, but it’s also how you tap into the game’s defining feature, the Style Eat. Not content with just being a pop-punk teen zombie monster hunter, Davy is also a kind of undead Kirby.

Eaten mess

For every core you chomp down, you’ll steal an ability from your victim. If it’s a rank-and-file monster, like one of the hordes of skeletons and lizardmen, this will be a single-use Instant Skill that shoots out a blast of bones or lizard-claw scratches. Useful enough, if not especially exciting.

But if you’ve just taken a bite of one of the elites – a werewolf, a vampire or, why not, a fairy – then you’ll perform a Style Eat transformation. Davy is able to shapeshift into their form, or at least a version of it topped off with a baseball cap. (The character designs for these transformations are an absolute delight, and maybe the best reason to Style Eat your way through the game.)

So, with a tap of the D-Pad, you can now turn into a werewolf, able to bound through the dungeon on all fours, attack with speedy flurries of claw strikes, and – classic lycanthropy stuff, this – backflip off walls to reach high ledges. Plus you get one random ‘Style Skill’, pulled from a pool of possible powers.

Including your default zombie state, there are 11 Styles on offer, each with its own move set and playstyle, and a choice of five possible special abilities to augment that. The necromantic lich, for example, can summon skeletons to do the fighting on your behalf; its Style Skills include a giant scythe swing, sapping the health of your skellies to boost its damage, and one that turns you and your bony minions into spinning tops that hurt anything they touch.

This is a remarkable amount of variety, but it’s also a lot for any developer to take on, let alone one as small as GPTRACK50. Not every Style here is created equal, and it’s hard not to conclude that the studio might have – ahem – bitten off more than it can chew.

Creature features

While becoming a werewolf makes Davy more agile, this is very much the exception to the rule. Most are really slow and ungainly, something that makes sense for a hulking tank form such as the golem or cyclops, but less so for the floating will-o’-the-wisp or fairy. Meanwhile, the merfolk Style allows you to swim underfoot like one of Splatoon’s Inklings, but just for a couple of seconds at a time. Then you have to waddle around on land like your Speedos are chafing, waiting for the swim bar’s cooldown to complete its agonizingly slow refill.

Traversal isn't a huge part of Stupid Never Dies, however: it's just how you get from one arena fight to the next. So the much bigger problem is how many of these Styles feel ineffective in combat.

Sticking with the merfolk for a moment, you’re intended to stay underground and close in on prey before popping out for a powerful uppercut. Cool in theory, but just not especially practical when you need to chew through enemies by the dozen. It’s a similar story with the snow fairy, which grows more powerful for every enemy you freeze, and the will-o’-the-wisp, which can immolate itself to hurt anyone who touches it. There is no shortage of ambition in the design of these transformations, but that's frequently undermined by their execution.

This problem plagues almost every part of Stupid Never Dies’ combat. It’s not just that hits lack the sense of connection that makes Devil May Cry’s melee sing – that would be an unreasonable standard to hold this game to, even given their shared heritage – but that, often, they don’t connect at all. There’s no lock-on targeting, which makes sense given the quantities of enemies the game throws at you, but that means you can never quite rely on your hit landing where you want.

Your foes seem to be suffering from the very same issues. They’ll often stand around idle for seconds at a time, before charging forward with some powerful attack that misses you by miles. And if this initially sounds like a blessing, remember Stupid Parry’s vital role in the combat loop. There’s an awful lot of chasing after Heat Attacks, trying to throw myself in front of them so I can line up a Style Eat – and hoping that it doesn't simply sail past the intended victim and chomp down on thin air instead.

Meanwhile, there’s always a ticking clock at your back. There's a time limit on how long you can spend in the dungeon before the game… well, it doesn't immediately kill you, but it nerfs Davy so hard that, honestly, you might wish it did.

So, with all that in mind, why bother wrestling with the intricacies of any Style that leaves you waiting on a cooldown for an attack that might just miss, when it’s so much quicker to slash your way through the hordes at werewolf speed?

And so, that’s the way I end up playing Stupid Never Dies. Relying on the same two or three Styles (the werewolf, the lich, the vampire at a push), hammering Stupid Parry for all it’s worth and just kind of hoping for the best. Occasionally, I’ll even turn on the Go Nuts Mode, which makes you – quoting the menu directly – "strong as shit", just to chew through repetitious segments quicker.

I do feel bad for throwing out most of the game’s more interesting ideas but, honestly, they’re necessary for a functional experience. And the more I play, the more I realize that combat finesse isn’t really the deciding factor in success or failure. This is first and foremost a game about leveling up: every run at the dungeon boosts the amount of XP collected, so that by your hundredth attempt you might be able to do 20 level-ups within the first minute.

It’s an RPG on fast-forward, the numbers going up over and over again. And as long as that number is higher than the next layer you enter, it’ll be a cakewalk. Try to reach beyond your assigned level, though, and you’ll find yourself throwing punches at a brick wall.

Leveling up at this ridiculous speed, with visual fireworks that go off every single time, does have a certain dopamine-loop satisfaction to it. That makes it easy enough to pour time into these dungeon runs. But for all the color, and the cool visual flourishes, and the poppy soundtrack, I find myself playing Stupid Never Dies with my brain only ever halfway engaged, not really feeling much of anything. For hours at a time, I’m just as much of a zombie as Davy.

Stupid Never Dies was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher.

Never die, and never stop playing, with our best ARPGs ranking that bring you even more action. Keep an eye on our new releases list for what's coming next!

You might not have heard of the town of Skövde, Sweden, but if you spend much time staying abreast of Steam's biggest hits, you've probably heard of some of the titles its improbably large game development community has built. The town of roughly 58,000 people has created so many viral hits – particularly in the survival genre – that it's now got its own Hollywood-inspired "Walk of Game" celebrating them all.

Skövde's Walk of Game is open to games that have sold at least 3 million copies (or reached 15 million downloads, for free titles) and had at least 50% of development hours completed in the town. The games enshrined in the city's sidewalks include Goat Simulator and Satisfactory from Coffee Stain Studios, V Rising from Stunlock Studios, Valheim from Iron Gate, and Raft from Redbeet Interactive.

The latest game to be enshrined in the Walk of Game is RV There Yet, a notable hit in the post-friendslop boom where you've got to work together with your buddies to get a massive RV home along an absurdly dangerous road. It was developed in under two months and sold over two million copies in the space of a week – another big win for Skövde's game dev community.

How does the town keep doing it? "The university offers a game dev course and an incubator helps the graduates start companies," the RV There Yet devs offer on Twitter. "That combo creates a mega-dense game dev-per-capita ratio!"

Whatever the reasons why, Skövde has clearly built a game dev hub worthy of celebration, and I'm looking forward to finding out what the next hit from its developers will look like.

These are the best survival games to play in 2026.

In January 2023, one Old School RuneScape player made history by rocketing to 200 million experience in the MMO's laborious Agility skill in under one minute by cashing in eight years worth of collected minigame tickets. It was unprecedented – a 'see it to believe it' moment, like watching someone topple a chain of dominoes as large and complex as the Taj Mahal.

On October 16, 2026, another OSRS player, Vollshtandig, reached 200 million Agility experience at the end of a 3,475-hour grind that is somehow even worse.

A few months ago, Vollshtandig announced his plans to reach 200 million experience in every skill – something that only 73 people have done in the history of OSRS, or just 60 accounting for the new skill Sailing – by training them one at a time. Once he chooses a new skill, he can't gain a level in anything else until he reaches max experience in that chosen skill. Note that to reach the max level in a skill, you only need about 13 million XP. The rest is just for glory.

Vollshtandig started with Agility, which is mostly used to access terrain shortcuts around the game world, and is primarily trained by running courses with simple click-to-pass obstacles. Agility has gotten better over the years and does have its fans, but a lot of players still dislike training it because there's not much material reward to a lot of the most efficient methods, those methods are repetitive even by OSRS standards, and it's a fairly slow skill to train even at max efficiency.

Despite all of this, per the in-game account tracker shown on a recent stream, Vollshtandig spent 3,475 hours clicking on digital obstacle courses and nothing else. This is, to me, orders of magnitude worse than maxing a skill while also enjoying the wider game in between training sessions.

The official high scores from developer Jagex confirm that Vollshtandig's account was the 224th to reach 200 million Agility experience. He's now moved onto Thieving, which is at least faster to train, as his next target skill.

It's like watching someone spend months in a sensory deprivation chamber, walk out, crack his neck and knuckles in the sunlight, and then walk smiling into the next in a line of 24 chambers. When you earn the concern of the OSRS subreddit base, you know you've really gone to an extreme.

One MMO player spent 6,572 hours setting a new world record – which is about 30% of the last 4 waking years.

Veteran game artist Kenney Vleugels, known fondly to some as "Asset Jesus" for his enormous library of ready-made game assets, recently joined the chorus of devs standing against AI and the billionaires pushing it – and in doing so, managed to thoroughly piss off AI-first billionaires Tim Sweeney of Epic Games and Elon Musk of SpaceX and xAI.

On October 18, Vleugels chucked a fairly innocuous message into the sea of Twitter. "Don't let billionaires convince you slop is the future," he argues. "They're used to managing [and] directing, not making things themselves. Of course they can't see the difference. They don't understand your love for the craft. Keep making personal, beautiful games."

Vleugels' post followed a vocal pivot to AI-led development and vibe coding from Epic Games, which proudly boasted of using AI to help assemble a new storefront launcher that has not yet solved the problem of categorically losing to Steam. Evidently reading the post as a slight against him or others like him, Sweeney was quick to reply.

"This is bullshit, Kenney," Sweeney counters. "I’m the same tech tree following optimist who moved from C to C++, from 2D to 3D, and from closed source to open source. I run a company. I write code. I contribute to published papers. I’ve upped my expectations of AI. Up yours!"

Vleugels informed Sweeney that Epic Games employees "are liking my post" and "reach out to me all the time," and stressed that the "'adapt or die'" messaging around AI tools is exhausting and unfair. "We want to choose our own paths just like you did yourself," he told Sweeney.

Later that day, Musk responded to Sweeney's initial reply, saying, "Tim Sweeney is right (obviously)."

Sweeney's final counterargument is that "the velocity of development of it is the force to be reckoned with here. It really is becoming a race between cars and rockets, and there’s risk that convincing devs to abstain from the new way leaves them behind."

Vleugels wrapped things up by noting that "we're both trying to offer guidance to the next generation. The thing is, speaking as an artist, we've been force fed NFT's, metaverse, blockchain, and now AI. Let these things naturally take its course, they'll find their place (or not)."

This exchange centers much of the controversy over gen AI in game development. The unprofitable technology cannot survive in its current shape without widespread adoption or untenable subsidies, and it has been praised by some as the second coming of Prometheus. AI has broader support as a coding assist and is more readily embraced in the eastern hemisphere, yet many creators oppose it because they care more about the work than the output; they do not want to outsource their critical or creative thinking, don't care to risk stunting their long-term growth, and do factor in AI's ethical failures and environmental costs.

This has also given Vleugels a rare feather for his cap. After seeing Musks' reply, Vleugels wrote on Bluesky, "Last I'll post about this, but Elon Musk disagrees with me. This means I am onto something, and I feel more valid in my opinion than ever."

The same day, Xbox business strategy manager Brandon Stirrup argued that devs who aren't using AI should not "be in the business of being a business," saying gaming is "the only industry pretending to not use AI."

As we've seen here, many game companies, like Sony and Ubisoft, are vocally pro-AI, but many game devs are also plainly against it, or at least its current forms, for several reasons. We continually see two truths treated as mutually exclusive by AI's biggest proponents, when in reality they can coexist just fine: good and successful games can be made without gen AI, but some games will be made – are being made! – with AI assistance. Why AI supporters are furious that people aren't following them down the rabbit hole isn't always clear.

Nintendo, the biggest first-party game powerhouse in the industry and, to many devs, a North Star creatively, appears neutral at best on AI. Former Nintendo of America boss Doug Bowser said in 2025 that, "If developers choose to use AI, and it is a discussion right now at Nintendo, it's not the only method of developing games." In 2024, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said the company doesn't need gen AI, both because it knows how to make games and it's wary of the legal risks attached to AI.

Konami president Hideki Hayakawa more recently claimed that gen AI won't have a "significant" effect on game development because "people and creators" are the most important factor.

Palworld studio Pocketpair avoids gen AI for many reasons, a big one being "gamers don't want it," as comms and publishing lead John Buckley told us.

Devs are canceling their demos to stop AI users from stealing their games – creator of one of Steam's most-wishlisted is "concerned" it may be ripped off and beaten to its own launch.

As a huge fan of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I found Resident Evil 7 appealed to me on a carnal level. The fact that it was a course correction from the glossy, over-the-top theatrics of its predecessor helped too. According to a producer on the sequel, we can thank The Last of Us for the indirect inspiration.

Over on BlueSky, Miguel Corti, a former senior manager of global production at Capcom, went long on the circumstances leading up to the seventh mainline entry of the storied series. "It may surprise you to learn that the originally planned Resident Evil 7 went through a few iterations," he writes.

"Instead of taking cues from Call of Duty, they were all coming from The Last of Us, with even a mandate to focus on narrative, since that seemed like the only rationale to make a single-player game anymore," he adds.

It may surprise you to learn that the originally planned RE7 went through a few iterations. Instead of taking cues from CoD, they were all coming from The Last of Us, with even a mandate to focus on narrative, since that seemed like the only rationale to make a single-player game anymore.

— @miguel-corti.bsky.social (@miguel-corti.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-10-19T16:42:32.632Z

He mentions Call of Duty because the FPS franchise's zombies mode had grown a formidable community by the early 2010s, making it a worthwhile touchstone for what people want from experiences involving the undead. However, Naughty Dog's dystopian parable very much absorbed a lot of that attention once it arrived.

The fact The Last of Us was both a commercial and critical darling was deeply appealing to the team on the ground, even though execs were happy with how Resident Evil 6 performed. "The devs wanted the critical acclaim other games were garnering, especially since many of them were obviously influenced by Resident Evil," Corti says. "So, Resident Evil 7, not only would it be narrative-driven, it would have even more lore connections."

The general approach of 6 was messy - it featured multiple characters, in a confusing story that didn't make clear additions to the mythology. 7 went through many iterations, but, in my view, wound up cleaner, more dialed in, and, to be frank, scarier, making it a win all around.

Sales were lower than The Last of Us, but most games come up short compared to Joel and Ellie's journey across the cordyceps-torn US. Resident Evil 7 re-invigorated the community, leading to 8 and this year's Requiem, and making 6 seem like a distant memory.

Resident Evil 7 dev says a lot of the horror game's flaws were "vividly present" during development – "and roundly ignored"

Anime Galaxies codes are here to give you a head start in the latest anime tower defense experience, as you assemble your dream team from the cast of legendary champions you can summon forth. There are rotating banners to pull from, with units ranging from Secret and Shiny to Mythic rarity for you to seek out.

Using these promos will give you a ready supply of Gems and Trait Crystals, which can be spent on unlocking fresh units to add to your collection, along with Stat Tokens and Stat Locks to modify how they operate in this strategic Roblox experience. If you're ready to start building an anime army, then these are the codes for Anime Galaxies and how to redeem them.

If you're looking for more general promos with rewards that apply across all experiences, then we've got the latest Roblox promo codes covered.

All Anime Galaxies codes

The following Anime Galaxies codes are available to be claimed:

• 100KVIS – 2,000x Gems, 100x Trait Crystals, 20x Stat Tokens
• 1KFAV – 1,500x Gems, 100x Trait Crystals, 20x Stat Locks
• RELEASE – 1,500x Gems, 50x Trait Crystals, 10x Stat Tokens
• 1KCCU – 2,500x Gems, 100x Trait Crystals, 20x Stat Tokens

We already have a handful of codes for Anime Galaxies for you to claim, which so far offer varying amounts of Gems and Trait Crystals plus with Stat Tokens or Stat Locks. Naturally these rewards all stack, so claim everything to build up your balances.

How to redeem Anime Galaxies codes

To redeem Anime Galaxies codes, all you have to do is walk up to the CODES Fountain in the main lobby area, and this will automatically pop up a Codes menu screen. From there, use the Enter a code... text box to type in a promo, then hit Redeem to collect your rewards. Note that codes for Anime Galaxies are case-sensitive, so you need to enter them exactly as written, though you'll get a warning reminding you of this if you forget.

Expired Anime Galaxies codes

• No expired codes

I don't have any expired Anime Galaxies codes to inform you about at the moment, but this isn't surprising given the recent launch. It's likely promos will start moving down here in the future, so make sure you've claimed any active codes while you can.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

PATCH NOTES v19.10.2026 – As the latest Resident Evil film gets turned back into a video game and early Edgerunners 2 reviews suggest great things ahead, video game worlds have become the stars of the best adaptations – and it's a blueprint for the future.

What's going on this week in gaming?

• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 reviews are in and largely positive.
• Zack Cregger's acclaimed Resident Evil movie has come full circle after a fan turned it into a classic PS1 survival horror game.

Why is this happening now?

• Game adaptations are more successful when they build on the source game's universes instead of delivering exact retellings.

Meta Shift

• Edgerunners 2 and Resident Evil prove that game worlds, not characters, offer the best opportunities for adaptation.

Turning a beloved video game into a film or TV show has always been challenging, but Zach Cregger's Resident Evil and Edgerunners season 2 proves it can be done if the respect is mutual. By taking the respective circumstances or settings of the source material – Cyberpunk 2077's Night City and Resident Evil's Raccoon City – and shaping them around new characters, both adaptations retain the spirit of the games while telling a new story.

It's a departure from what we usually see when we think of a game being adapted into a show or film. 2026's Return to Silent Hill beat-for-beat rehashes legendary survival horror game Silent Hill 2, but its 18% score on Rotten Tomatoes proves something was lost in translation. Paul W.S Anderson's slew of Resident Evil spin-off flicks acquired cult status for how famously silly they are, though lined up with more recent adaptations like Return to Raccoon City, are looked back on more kindly these days. The Witcher TV series saw moderate success due to actor Henry Cavill's genuine love of the games and book series, but audiences have been divided since his departure from his role as Geralt of Rivia.

A large part of this is down to audience expectation versus reality. Video games bring us some of the most powerful characters in entertainment, and we get to know them through a specific lens and perspective. Recasting those characters and giving them new faces, voices, or storylines as they cross over to new mediums is tricky because there is already something to compare it to.

The makers of Edgerunners 2 and Resident Evil 2026 understand this. Both feature locations, iconography, and situations that will be familiar to fans of the video games – Edgerunners even features the same HUD players see in Cyberpunk 2077 when calling someone on the holophone – but never to the detriment of new viewers.

Writing new characters into well-defined, preordained worlds also sets firm parameters for the action that can take place there without risking a retcon of canon events as seen in source games. It creates a believable place to tell relevant stories, which has proven a magical combination for Edgerunners and Resident Evil. I hope the directors of the Zelda movie and God of War movie adaptations are taking notes!

Feedback Loop

• The success of Edgerunners and Zack Cregger's Resident Evil reinforces the power of intertextuality.

By writing new stories in familiar worlds, Edgerunners and Resident Evil are adding to a canon universe and have been accepted as a part of it – both by gamers and game developers alike.

To incorporate Edgerunners into the game's own canon, Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red added new items, music, and mission chains that reference characters and events from the anime. Resident Evil was already self-referential, but as a movie about the experience of playing survival horror video games, it now has an extra layer of metatextual irony after being turned back into a PS1-era fixed camera-angled video game. These are just two examples of the different ways games and their adaptations can find confluence with one another when they aren't fighting to breathe the same air. It proves that adapting games into film and TV shows doesn't have to be hard when directors adapt the right things, adding value and layers instead of reshaping what was already there.

Patch Notes summary

Continued hype around the Resident Evil movie and Edgerunners 2's promising reviews are setting a new benchmark for game adaptations in 2026. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each medium and avoiding debates around story reinterpretation, these adaptations are proof that game worlds are far more flexible than the characters that inhabit them.

Related stories:

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis' lead developers say that the moments that elicit the strongest emotional response in the original were non-negotiable to tamper with in the remake.

With Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, the developers are going down the Resident Evil and Final Fantasy 7 school of remaking a game. Rather than a near-1:1 remake like Metal Gear Solid Delta or The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Legacy of Atlantis uses the setting and story of the 1996 classic and builds something unique from it. While this has garnered some criticism for adding modern AAA mechanics like crafting and skill trees, the developers believe they have gotten the important parts right.

"Imagine you just finished the first Tomb Raider, then you close your eyes and you imagine a playthrough in your head," Michał Kuk, creative director at Flying Wild Hog, tells Edge. "Your brain remembers the things that generated the most emotions for you." He explains, "These moments, locations, vistas, objects that stick in your memory, these are the things that have to be in the [remake] almost untouched."

As for what can be messed with, Jeff Adams, experience director at Crystal Dynamics, explains, "As we bring the level of realism up, there are some things from the original we struggle to justify."

He specifically points to "finding a med pack in a tomb that's been concealed for 10,000 years," as one of these points that don't really make sense in this game where you shoot dinosaurs with guns.

These are the best Tomb Raider games of all time.

Palworld has seen its fair share of new Pals since Pocketpair first launched its Pokemon-like survival game into the wild, with 1.0 adding 72 just over the summer – but that doesn't mean that the developers are in a rush to add loads more.

Speaking in a new interview with MP1st, Pocketpair head of publishing and communications John "Bucky" Buckley explains as much when asked how the studio plans to keep the game's roster "fresh," so to speak.

"We try not to think of new Pals as simply adding another number to the roster," the lead admits. "Rather than saying, 'We need to release 100 new Pals with the next update,' we try to add Pals in a meaningful way."

The devs aren't trying to add new Pals willy-nilly. They want each Pal to be memorable, and that means giving each one's conception a good bit of thought.

"Ideally, every Pal should have something that gives players a reason to remember it," as Buckley says, "whether that is its design, abilities, work suitability, combat role, personality, or sometimes just something strange or funny about it."

Not to mention what more Pals means for the roster. With each new Pal comes an adjustment to the overall game's balance, if you think about it – they all bring new abilities to the table, after all.

As Buckley describes, "Of course, balance becomes more complicated as the roster grows, so we continue to look at player data and feedback every time we release new Pals." In other words, Pocketpair keeps a close eye on fans' thoughts following the addition of any Pals.

The last batch was quite a hefty one as well, and, yes, balance patches followed close behind. An update in early September saw various Pal adjustments, battle changes, item tweaks, and much more.

It's evident that the work for Pocketpair doesn't simply end at the addition of new Pals, and it's a more well-thought-out process, as Buckley details. Will I still wait around hoping for some pastel pink, fairy-themed Pals, though? Yes.

Palworld picks spin-offs over a Fortnite-style metaverse because "maximizing revenue as quickly as possible isn’t what drives our creative decisions," says Pocketpair lead

Dan Houser – former writer and creative director of the Grand Theft Auto series – says GTA 4 was so tonally different from what came before because Rockstar Games felt that doing the same old thing risked obsolescence.

GTA was riding high going into the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, with the trilogy of GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas all releasing to mass acclaim, selling millions, and becoming some of the most influential and beloved games of the era. San Andreas, in particular, felt like the natural culmination of the style established in GTA 3, so the idea of that continuing on more powerful hardware was certainly exciting. However, GTA 4 turned out to be a somber story, with a more realistic world and a far darker tone overall.

Speaking to IGN, Houser explains, "There was a belief that San Andreas had taken that kind of 'pop' energy as far as it could go." Given that San Andreas was so "massive" and "successful," Houser notes "that for GTA to stay relevant it had to reinvent itself."

While GTA 4 isn't quite as popular as the two games that surround it, Houser points out "it felt cohesive. The game, the art direction, the moody lighting, the nature of the missions, they all felt tonally consistent."

He notes that with the darker take on the series "we found a level of tonal consistency that we'd not had in the previous games," even if that could be seen as a risk given the success of the PS2 games.

Houser recalls that with Rockstar, "I think there was more [of] a perception that the risk was the opposite," he explains. "The risk was if you don't reinvent yourselves and don't do something new and fresh, you're going to become obsolete." GTA 5 then did become a bit more lighthearted and silly compared to 4 and proved to be a juggernaut both in sales and popularity, but Rockstar's more somber tone in hindsight feels somewhat like a precursor to the Red Dead Redemption games, so really I think both takes were for the best.

GTA: Vice City's writing was "awful," Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser says, but acting icon Ray Liotta "made it sound good"

This hasn't been the strongest year for Bungie. On the back of ending updates for Destiny 2, the studio released Marathon to a more muted and mixed response than anyone would've liked. Layoffs followed, and an ex-lead from the FPS has given some insight into what it was like behind the scenes.

In an interview with PCGamer, Joe Zeigler, former game director on Marathon, discussed the challenges in getting the project over the line. "I found this project was - it had some areas where there were definitely some ideas about where we were going, but there were a lot of disagreements across the place," he says.

"So part of where I was advising was trying to bring those all together and be like, 'Hey, what is the cohesive place you want to go to? And how do we get there?'," he continues. "And then when we landed on that, I could help them drive that."

Zeigler initially joined the company in an advisory role before a leadership position at Marathon opened up. Coming from years directing League of Legends, he knows a thing or three about keeping a live-service game on track. As a big fan of the studio, dating back to Myst, he was eager to step into the infrastructure, and he notes that the company operates in two distinct lanes.

"I'll say this about Bungie, which I really like, and it's still very true about Bungie: it lives in two worlds," he states. "One is this world where there's a lot of legacy to live up to, which is a lot of pressure. But there's also this other side of it, which is that it's a very egoless company."

The team "are always looking for some way to improve, and the way they do that is, oftentimes, by bringing in people who are new to help them figure out what they are missing," he adds. Which is how he wound up working there for almost four years, exiting after Marathon came out.

Sadly, things are murky for Bungie at present. Marathon's not doing the expected business and Destiny 2's purely on support. Given the state of Xbox's restructuring right now, it's a case of seeing what happens in the years ahead. For now, Zeigler's working on an unannounced new project.

Bungie admits Marathon "did not reach as many players as we had hoped," shares plans to evolve the game for "a sustainable future" while committing to Destiny

While Roblox has been in the headlines plenty due to brainrot, doomscrolling games, and so on – other projects are catching a different kind of attention. Mainly because they don't look much like Roblox at all.

When I think of Roblox, I think of LEGO-shaped people with ridiculous smiles reminiscent of emojis – and children begging their parents for Robux, of course. I don't think of racing games that look closer to AAA titles, but perhaps I should.

Over on X, a Roblox creator is sharing their in-progress project (that, yes, they're making on Roblox itself), and it's downright wild, from the lighting to the textures to the audio design, and you name it.

Dubbed Nightshift, it almost looks like Grand Theft Auto 6 or something – until you look at it more closely, that is.

I've had a quick look around the project's official Discord, too, and the screenshots are just as incredible. It's all stunning supercars, left, right, and center, with folks helping shape the game via playtesting and the like.

I'm not alone in thinking it's very cool, especially for a from-scratch Roblox-created project, either.

Comments show as much, with one person simply asking, "How is this even possible?" Another says they "can't believe this is Roblox," which seems to be the common sentiment here.

As a different reply puts it, "What the fuck, is this Roblox?" Indeed, it is, anon. Indeed, it is. Roblox has grown a good bit over time, evidently transforming into a sufficiently (and then some) capable tool for aspiring developers.

And, for fans questioning whether Nightshift will work on mobile devices seeing as it's, uh, quite ambitious, they don't need to worry.

The poster, who is one of the developers heading the project, writes, "Mobile players will definitely be able to play this game!" Not only that, but "it's been a priority above PC since the very beginning of this game's development." A W for Roblox players using their phones and tablets, I suppose.

After 18 years, GTA 6 might finally fix a graphical bug that's plagued Rockstar's games since Grand Theft Auto 4

The predecessor to Arc Raiders is bringing in some dynamic commentary through the power of AI. The Finals, the multiplayer FPS Embark Studios released before its mammoth extraction shooter, is introducing a way to recognize players in real time through in-game play-by-play.

The team revealed the feature in a short video, explaining the idea and how it'll work. Essentially, now Scott and June, the two voices you hear while playing The Finals, will start mentioning people's nicknames whenever they do something cool.

So, instead of just hearing, "And that's a good headshot," you'll get, "[Player] just scored a good headshot." A small, but noticeable change that can help make gameplay feel more exciting.

Initially, the list of ways you'll hear this will be relatively short, to help the devs test the technology in motion. "Keeping it narrow means we can curate what he actually says," Carl Strandberg, audio director on The Finals, explains. "Make sure it sounds good, and like the Scotty we all know and love."

This is all powered through AI, since the voice is essentially performing an automatic text-to-speech function. The commentary already uses this technology, and Embark took some flak when the fanbase learned about that a few years ago.

It appears the team on The Finals weren't deterred. I'm curious about how this goes down. In theory, it could be fun, but it seems likely it'll be switched off because players set up accounts with naughty words to hear them out loud.

It's disappointing to see Embark double down on gen-AI as well. I'm not convinced this is a necessary use of the technology, but I'm open to being proven wrong. It arrives in the Prime Time update on October 20.

Arc Raiders TV and movie adaptations can do what the game doesn't: "We feel like we have created a world that's fertile ground to tell all kinds of different stories"

Ex-Capcom producer Miguel Corti says that Resident Evil 7's flaws were apparent during the game's development but were ignored.

In a thread on Bluesky, Corti says "It's great to see this game still generating critical discussion some 10 years later," and that while its flaws stand out compared to the remakes and sequels that followed over the years, he explains, "I can say a lot of the flaws were vividly present at the time, and roundly ignored."

Kicking off a long thread, he says a lot of Resident Evil 7 can be traced back to the critical and fan reception of Resident Evil 6.

"Capcom higher-ups were more than happy with RE6," Corti explains, "but the devs wanted the critical acclaim other games were garnering, especially since many of them were obviously influenced by RE." Notably, The Last of Us, with "a few iterations" taking inspiration from Naughty Dog's title. Corti notes that despite how convoluted the plot of Resident Evil 6 got, the original plan for its sequel was more convoluted nonsense: "It was so all over the place, I lost track of the versions."

Corti notes that a major reorganization at Capcom is how we got the Resident Evil 7 that released: "A mandate came down to redo RE7 from scratch," and, as such, a new dev team and director were attached. One that Corti describes as "very hands-on with the development" was ultimately the one who gave the team the "bombshell of an idea" to make the game first-person. He adds, "A lot of the crazier ideas in RE are just random things that someone on the dev team cottons onto."

While Resident Evil 7 revived the series in the hearts of many, it initially underperformed – at least compared to the panned duo of Resident Evil 5 and 6. Corti notes, "RE fans were confused by it, and non-fans either didn't want to touch horror or weren't sure what to make of it. Capcom was disappointed." And in fact, it was actually "Village and all the memes it generated" that helped the game earn "an RE4-level of reputation."

This prolonged development is also "One of the reasons I'm against genAI in games," Corti notes, saying "If the art director and EP could've had everything they envisioned out the gate, it would have been a terrible game" and that it was the back and forth around the game that made it what it was in the end.

A Resident Evil fan is remaking Zach Cregger's film as a PS1-style survival horror game with fixed camera angles

The Helldivers 2 Scope of Authority Warbond is out now, bringing multiple sniper-themed gear and weapons that generally push players towards long-range and stealthy combat. It's a warbond that comes with three different sniper weapons, including the massive Apex belt-fed anti-materiel rifle. There are also two armor sets that come with a passive that makes long-range shooting much easier and comes with a fancy adaptive camouflage system too – the first of its kind in Helldivers 2. I've laid out everything in the Scope of Authority Warbond below and what you need to know.

All Helldivers 2 Scope of Authority Warbond gear

The Scope of Authority Warbond went live on October 20, 2026, available on the Superstore for 1,000 Helldivers 2 Super Credits or one Helldivers 2 Warbond Token if you've got one. Here's everything you can get for that Warbond:

• PAGE 1
  • Weapons:
    • R-40 Sightliner (Primary) (35 Medals): Bolt-action sniper rifle that fires powerful armor-piercing rounds for some serious long-range precision fire, with Heavy Armor Penetration.
    • G-11 Caltrops (Throwable) (35 Medals): A mine that scatters smaller submunitions when deployed. These submunitions are proximity-detonated and both damage and stun enemies hit by them.
  • Armor
    • SS-33 Mimetic Marshal (45 Medals): Light armor with the Stationary Shroud passive. Reduces weapon sway when moving and reduces enemy detection range while stationary, crouched, or prone.
    • SS-33 Mimetic Marshal Helmet (30 Medals).
  • Cosmetics
    • Mimetic Mesh Cape (8 Medals)
    • Mimetic Mesh Player Card (2 Medals)
  • 100 Super Credits (7 Medals)
• TOTAL PAGE COST = 162 Medals

• PAGE 2
  • Strategems
    • Apex (Support Weapon/Backpack) (50 Medals): A massive backpack-fed anti-materiel rifle made for taking down heavy foes at long-range. If you've got a Helldiver spotter nearby, they can provide a reload assist too. Rounds have Anti-Tank capacity, despite being listed as Heavy Armor Penetration. Requires a Stationary Reload. If you fire the weapon from standing, you're knocked back, so make sure you're crouched or prone!
  • Armor
    • SS-15 Focal Point (55 Medals): Medium armor with the Stationary Shroud passive. Reduces weapon sway when moving and reduces enemy detection range while stationary, crouched, or prone.
    • SS-15 Focal Point Helmet (45 Medals).
  • Cosmetics
    • Boundary Banner Cape (25 Medals)
    • Boundary Banner Player Card (7 Medals)
  • 100 Super Credits (12 Medals)
• TOTAL PAGE COST = 194 Medals

• PAGE 3
  • Weapons
    • P-44 Mist (Secondary) (65 Medals): A one-handed SMG/machine pistol with light armor penetration.
  • Strategems
    • Nova (Support Weapon) (110 Medals): An energy rifle with a scope that has to be charged briefly before each Heavy Armor Penetrating shot.
  • Cosmetics
    • Manual Ballistic Projection Protocol Emote/Victory Pose (20 Medals)
    • Longshot Title (20 Medals)
  • 100 Super Credits (32 Medals)
• TOTAL PAGE COST = 247 Medals
• TOTAL COST OF ALL REWARDS = 603 Medals

Helldivers 2 Scope of Authority Superstore gear

Though not tied officially to the Warbond, there is also a new page of Superstore Gear for the Scope of Authority update. That gear is as follows:

• SS-500 Pale Prosecutor (250 SC). Light armor with the Stationary Shroud passive
• SS-500 Pale Prosecutor helmet (125 SC)
• Arctic Decree Cape (100 SC)
• Arctic Decree Player Card (35 SC)

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