Ahead of Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, Capcom has announced the removal of the game's widely hated character edit vouchers, which force players to spend real money in order to re-edit their character's appearance.

"With the launch of Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance in 2027, all players will be able to re-edit the appearance of their hunter and Palico as many times as they like, free of charge and without the need for a Character Edit Voucher, which will be removed from the game," a post from the official Monster Hunter account reads.

Character edit vouchers will be removed from sale on December 3. It goes without saying that, now more than ever, you should not buy them. In their place, 10 character and Palico edit vouchers will be given to players to tide them over on customization until Ascendance arrives in 2027 (probably, but speculatively, in March).

The ability to repeatedly customize your character has been a premium feature in Monster Hunter for some time. Monster Hunter Wilds, in particular, is absolutely lousy with DLC, so it's almost impressive that these vouchers stayed among the most-hated forms of microtransactions. It just plain sucks that, if you find that your character doesn't look as you'd hoped or you suddenly have an idea for a new look, you have to break out the credit card. (On PC at least, you could thankfully bypass this with mods.)

Capcom framing the option to have unmonetized fun with a core game system as some fabulous reward is a bit strange. Stranger still is the planned release of "a token of our appreciation to everyone who has previously paid for Character Edit Vouchers."

If you've purchased the three-voucher character, Palico, or combo pack, you'll receive a "Special Thank-You Pendant Set." Look, it's hard not to read this as: thanks for tolerating our invasive monetization, here is a shiny thing, and hey, if you do want the shiny thing, you've got a few more weeks to buy soon-to-be-deprecated vouchers.

But good news is good news. Character edit vouchers are dead, may they rest in pieces. Monster Hunter players, to whom Capcom's growing microtransaction library has not gone unnoticed, are practically dancing in the streets after the news.

"If a game gives you the option to change how your character looks they should not take money from you for changing it," reads the top reply to a Monster Hunter Wilds subreddit post sharing the news. "Still great to see that we do that now."

"They don't deserve a goodbye," says another user. "Into the trashcan and that's it."

"This is nice but these never should've been a thing to begin with," adds a third.

The question now is whether Capcom will stick to this approach with the release of the next Monster Hunter game. If character edit vouchers return, expect to see Monster Hunter fans put some feet to some fire.

After playing Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, this huge expansion is the second wind the game needs.

Although The Blood of Dawnwalker only launched this month, fans are already waiting to see what the former CD Projekt Red masterminds behind the vampire RPG have in store – and it looks like it'll be New Game Plus.

Now that we know The Blood of Dawnwalker will have sequels of some flavor in the future, fans have been wondering whether the current game itself will perhaps get a New Game Plus – and yes, yes it will... much like The Witcher 3 did after its own launch.

Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz confirms as much in a new stream on YouTube, casually admitting, "New Game Plus? Yes, it's coming." It's only something folks have had on their mind since The Blood of Dawnwalker's release, you know.

He then doubles down that, yes, "it's coming" – but Rebel Wolves isn't ready to share when exactly that'll be. As Tomaszkiewicz throws in, "But I won't tell you when."

It's likely to be part of some free update later down the line, of course, although there's no real way to tell when said update (if it turns out to be part of one) will drop. The Blood of Dawnwalker recently got a little patch, after all, which proves the studio is actively working on it.

What will New Game Plus entail, though? Could it axe the controversial time mechanic that the game's biggest mod reworks, giving us a bit more leeway in what we do and how we experience the RPG's story?

Maybe – I mean, Tomaszkiewicz did also just state that upcoming sequels might scrap the feature altogether, or at least change how it works. There's no knowing what New Game Plus looks like until it's here, of course, however.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a tad more freedom, personally, come New Game Plus – but I'll be happy to see any new content or difficult come to The Blood of Dawnwalker either way, whether we lose the time limit or not.

CD Projekt Red fans stay loyal: About 58% of The Blood of Dawnwalker's Steam player base also played The Witcher 3

Only last year, around the launch of the fantastic Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, did I say I was drowning in gaming remakes. Now, as Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter releases – also a sublime remake that manages to add extra detail beyond its predecessor – we're more inundated than ever. Even so, developers and players alike can't seem to agree on what they most want from remakes: vast reimaginings, or dedicated faithfulness? Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter offers the best approach by balancing both, and other developers – RPG studios especially – should take note. This is how you modernize a classic.

In another year crammed with remakes, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter sneakily became the highest-scoring new release of 2026 overnight for how it revitalizes The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC. It's starting to feel like Gungho's work on modernizing the Nihon Falcom's PC and PSP chibi-style JRPGs is becoming a barometer for measuring the quality of remakes going forward. The second part of a trilogy (which itself forms the first part of a wider ongoing saga well worth playing), this is a luscious reimagining that feels like I'm being sucked into the more abstracted, top-down world of the original, now with a chance to explore it at a truer scale.

Trail as old as time

While Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter wisely, like the original sequel, sticks closely to the first game, improvements to character animations and a tighter script make this aspect shine all the more. That latter change has also been applied through an update to 1st Chapter, creating goodwill by addressing some weaker moments and ensuring that by the time the whole trilogy is remade, it'll be an impressive, cohesive work.

Unlike the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, which splits its pseudo-sequel approach across three entries when the original was just one, Trails in the Sky has always been told across three full-length games that have their own complete story and character arcs. In terms of scope, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter might add loads more detail by bringing the action closer, but it accurately recreates almost every act and scene from the original (while adding some additional bits as well). I'm reminded of Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined from earlier this year which, though we quite liked it, made the baffling choice to cut out a vast amount of its side-stories, which are some of the strongest parts of the PS1 original.

So far, my favorite moments playing this RPG have been playing scenes side-by-side just to revel in how much more personality has been added in 2nd Chapter's renditions of iconic moments. While the chibi-graphics are no more, this JRPG isn't shy about its anime roots, absolutely dripping with vibrant colors and unafraid to still use shorthand anime expressions as characters emote. It gives interactions a lively feeling, even if at times there's an awful lot of yapping between the action as characters constantly re-state the same things. To be honest, they're personable enough here that I mind it less when getting to see full scenes unfold before me rather than watching from above.

Ironically, these also make for some of my favorite moments in the likes of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The whole Wall Market sequence feels unreal in how large it makes the antics of the original, and my deep knowledge of Cloud's dress-shopping experience made me fist-pump all the harder when it was reimagined in the shape of a musical number.

But, so many other parts of the game diverge so significantly – and feel so split up having been retooled into a trilogy – that while I love Remake as a spiritual sequel, I can still feel disconnected as an original fan. It's one reason I sweat so much whenever Square Enix hints at giving the likes of Final Fantasy 9 or Final Fantasy 6 the same remake treatment across multiple games. They work well enough as one game as it is! Cease this!

On the other end of the spectrum, something like this year's Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, despite offering higher-fidelity assets, can feel so close to the original that it's sometimes uncanny. How you feel about it comes down to whether you like the muckier-looking characters in the original or the 10% more handsomified models. In my Black Flag Resynced review, I called it "far from smooth sailing, even though I love the original" because of how it struggled to find its balance in this regard.

There's no mistaking Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is a new, distinct take on what I'm already familiar with, while simultaneously having deep reverence for the classic. One of the benefits of remaking an older RPG that's heavy on a birds-eye view perspective and transitioning into random battles arenas is how clear that distinction can be by simply making the world more contiguous.

Still, despite being so respectful of its source material, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter isn't above making massive changes to how you experience the RPG. To me, that's the core appeal for why this remake works as well as it does. The more abstracted original still exists with its strictly turn-based combat, while 2nd Chapter provides a new way to experience that journey by dashing about its blue-sky, green-grass, gorgeous world.

The biggest change is, of course, hybrid real-time and turn-based combat that offers some of the best battles this surprisingly tactical RPG series has ever had. The original is completely turn-based. Enemies can be battered to pieces on the field, and stance-broken to give you an advantage when you initiate a turn-based battle. This in turn allows for potential bonus strikes like team-up attacks as your party and enemy monsters scrabble into place.

Plenty of foes can be felled purely by cannily dodging and attacking in real-time, though you'll be able to more effectively blast apart health bars by using the command abilities and magic spells only usable while in the turn-based mode. It's a fluid hybrid that feels less delineated than the similar approach in Metaphor ReFantazio (which, for the record, came out after Trails first embraced this system in Trails Through Daybreak).

Several abilities in battle are determined through each character's orbal device. Akin to materia, these are individual powers that, combined into connecting slots, can boost elemental affinities that cumulatively unlock new spells. Connect a bunch of blue ones together and you'll get healing spells, for instance, while red ones (believe it or not) unlock fire spells.

But, plenty of orbments have different amounts (or a mix) of affinities, and can be boosted by character-specific slots. It's easy enough to set and forget tough upgrades, but offers a real chin-stroking layer for those who want to meet Trails' hardest challenges. In recent entries, I've felt this has been flattened down a bit, but Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter manages to embrace the original spirit of this battle system while still remaining friendly to get to grips with.

Despite me constantly saying Final Fantasy 9, with its fairytale art style, doesn't need a remake, that doesn't stop multiple leaks, rumors, and Square Enix themselves from teasing that a proper Final Fantasy 9 remake is seriously on the cards. I'm a chipper sort of fellow, but the prospect has been making me on-and-off grumpy for a while. But, being wowed once again by Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter really does go to show that you can get it right. If Final Fantasy 9 Remake can take some pointers from how elegantly 2nd Chapters modernizes a classic through a remake, by matching it in scope, reviving its spirit, and adding plenty of depth, I can see myself getting with the program.

The real genius of Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is how it avoids the remake pitfall that lies beneath the tightrope between being so faithful you wonder what the point is, and a reimagining so different it feels off. It accomplishes this by removing my worries entirely. I'm simply whisked away to the world of Zemuria, lost in its vibrant world once again – that's the real magical potential of a remake when done right.

Check out our best RPGs and best JRPGs rankings for more adventures!

The Ghostrunner developer's upcoming first-person soulslike Valor Mortis is launching for $40 because the release schedule is simply too busy.

September going into October 2026 is one of the busiest release windows in recent memory. GTA 6 – which publishers don't want to launch against – being in mid-November meant that before Onimusha: Way of the Sword pushed its release to earlier in September, it would've been launching alongside Control Resonant, Valor Mortis, Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, Dragon Quest 11 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, and Silent Hill: Townfall in the same two days. Then the following week would see Ace Combat 8, the now-delayed Rayman Legends Retold, Gears of War: E-Day, and Star Wars: Galactic Racer.

Valor Mortis got out ahead of this, with Lyrical Games boss Blake Rochkind revealing by the time its original September 24 release was announced, the team already knew the game was being delayed. But it's still very busy, something that Rochkind – speaking to The Game Business – says factored into its newly revealed $40 price point.

"This is something we've really agonized over," Rochkind says, with his "biggest concern" being that the lower price point would "send the wrong message about the game." However, he says "this decision is made out of confidence.

"We find ourselves as one of the only new IPs launching in what is objectively the craziest fall in the history of this business," Rochkind notes, citing some of the previously mentioned titles alongside GTA 6 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, which are sure to be two of the biggest games later this year.

Rochkind acknowledges the uphill battle against Valor Mortis as a new IP but isn't intimidated by it. Instead, the publisher is pushing it as being a companion to whatever massive title you pick up: "The worst thing we could do is not push our chips in and say, 'We want this to be a game that you can pick up alongside these other great games.'

"A developer I spoke to recently had a lot of success with a game priced at $30," Rochkind recalls, adding, "One thing they said that really stuck with me is: 'We never regretted being an 'and' game. We never regretted pricing our game as something that you can pick up alongside other games.' Going with this price point will help us be an 'and' game." And based on our hands-on with Valor Mortis earlier this year during Steam Next Fest, it sounds like it'll definitely be worth checking out.

The AA games industry needs "a few more Expedition 33s" before publishers stop seeing smaller games as a major financial risk, says Valor Mortis director.

Aniimo codes can be used to get the best start in this open-world RPG, as you explore the continent of Idyll, rounding up creatures to add to your collection. As you encounter and capture unique Aniimo you can utilize their abilities to travel further and reach new areas, as well as battling against others in exciting completions. To find out more, here are all of the gift codes for Aniimo and how to claim them.

Note that while Aniimo is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X, it doesn't launch on mobile for Android and iPhone until September 23 – but when it does your character and any rewards you have already redeemed can be transferred between platforms through cross-progression.

All Aniimo codes

The following Aniimo gift codes are available to be claimed:

• ANIIMOGIFT – 10x Glimmer, 20,000x Credits, 10x Growth Flower, 5x Aniipod Pro
• Aniimo2026 – 20x Glimmer

Right off the bat there are a couple of Aniimo codes available, providing Glimmer and Credits to increase your balances alongside other handy items such as Pro Aniipods for capturing those elusive creatures.

How to redeem Aniimo codes

To redeem Aniimo codes, hit Esc or Options to bring up your in-game phone, then select the Cog icon down the right-hand side to reach the Settings menu. From there, scroll down to the Account section, before selection the top option for Gift Code Redemption. On the next screen use the Enter redeem code text box to type in a promo, then hit Redeem to unlock your rewards.

Note that gift codes for Aniimo are case-sensitive, so you need to enter them exactly as they are shown on our list. Also bear in mind that although you can redeem codes almost as soon as you start the game, you need to progress through the initial missions to unlock the mailbox function before you can actually receive your rewards.

Expired Aniimo codes

• No expired codes

There are currently no expired Aniimo codes to report, which isn't surprising as the game has only just launched. However, initial promos often expire quickly to reward early adopters, so it may not be long before active codes start moving down here.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

I guarantee you'll want to redeem these Mini War codes since they award players with Gems, a valuable currency you can only spend at the in-game Black Market on exclusive units and buildings.

You can't always access the Black Market in this Roblox city-builder and management sim, in fact it only appears for 20 minutes every hour, so you need to ensure you have enough Gems saved up to spend when it does open. So, redeem these Mini War codes while you have the chance, and keep an eye out for the special vendor's arrival.

If you'd also like some rewards that can be used in many other experiences as well, then we have all of the current Roblox promo codes too.

All Mini War codes

These are the Mini War codes you can redeem in-game right now:

• GENERALS - 50x Gems

Most Mini War codes award players with Gems, which you can spend in the Black Market on special factories, buildings, units, and more. If you don't already have Gem mines, that's what I'd recommend spending your Gems on first, as you'll get more in the long-run, and those earned for free from codes help boost your balance.

How to redeem Mini War codes

To redeem Mini War codes, you just need to click on the Shop button on the left-hand side of the screen indicated by a basket icon. Scroll to the bottom of the shop window to see the code redemption box, enter a code from above, then click Redeem to claim your rewards.

It's worth noting that Mini War codes are case-sensitive, so you must ensure you enter codes exactly as they appear above or they won't work. It might be worth copying and pasting from the list if you can, to ensure the code you're entering is definitely accurate.

Expired Mini War codes

• tungtungsahur
• NOLAGPLZ
• MINIWAR
• DISCODOGTOPSECRETMEGAHIPERULTRACODE

A few Mini War codes have expired already, and those in the list at the top of the page will likely join them, so redeem any active promos as soon as you see them.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick had a quibble to pick during the company's annual virtual shareholder meeting GamesRadar+ attended on September 17. Sounding like bajillions of GTA 6 fans around the globe, an investor expressed frustration with Take-Two’s growing history of delays – but Zelnick squashes the suggestions that Take-Two is incompetent.

Zelnick reads the following offending question out loud during the shareholder meeting: "Many shareholders have tolerated years of delays, missed expectations, and continued dependence on a small number of major franchises. If these issues persist, does the board believe that the current management team remains the right group to lead the company, or is prepared to replace senior executives if operational performance and shareholder value creation do not improve?" The CEO agrees that if Take-Two's management team were found lacking by its board, then yes, that team would be replaced.

"I would, however, quibble with your characterization in the question," Zelnick continues. It's true that GTA 5 released in September of 2013, exactly 13 long years ago. And sure, GTA 6 has been delayed twice since it was officially confirmed in 2023, but its latest release date, November 19, is now looming. Zelnick doesn't think investors quite understand what Take-Two management had to do to get to this point.

"When this management team took over the company in March of '07," Zelnick says, "the revenue of the company was under a billion dollars. The company was under investigation by at least four government entities, had not filed annual reports in 13 months, and had not scheduled an annual meeting, despite obligations to do so. They had one major franchise in GTA. The rest of the business was losing money, and the company was very nearly bankrupt."

Take-Two's current managers pulled the company back from the edge, Zelnick argues, leading us to our current reality where "the company's revenue is guided to be between 8 and 8.2 billion dollars this year." Later, the CEO makes a point to mention "that GTA 5 launched in 2013, and unlike most titles, remained a top five selling title for 13 years. So GTA is a different kind of experience." Get with it, or get over it.

GTA 6 on PC sounds even more inevitable in Take-Two CEO's latest comments.

Rockstar has finally announced discs for GTA 6 – just not the kind you were probably hoping for. A soundtrack release called Grand Theft Auto 6: The Album will drop on November 20, just after the game itself, on CD and vinyl. The album features "34 original tracks" from a wide array of artists, including everyone from Travis Scott and Rauw Alejandro to Keith Richards and Morgan Wallen.

Grand Theft Auto 6: The Album is currently available to pre-order straight from the official site in an array of formats. You can get a two-disc CD for $20, or a vinyl collection on two transparent discs for $50. It seems Best Buy and Blood Records will each have a unique color pattern for the $50 vinyl collection, and an additional colorway will be sold through independent record shops.

There's also a $125 limited-edition vinyl collection that includes "two transparent magenta discs filled with blue liquid" and "exclusive new artwork and packaging designs that echo the iconic style" of GTA 6.

The soundtrack will, of course, also be available on streaming services, and you can already listen to six of the tracks across platforms including YouTube. I've gotta say, hearing Morgan Wallen's modern country ballad sharing space with Keith Richards' old-school blues riff and an array of hip-hop and R&B tracks is absolutely bizarre, but hey, I guess that means there's something for everyone here.

Unfortunately, while physical music sales are soaring, game publishers are backing away from physical media, and Rockstar is giving GTA 6 a deluxe physical soundtrack release while refusing to give game collectors the same sort of treatment. I guess it's nice, at least, that we'll have some portion of GTA 6's content archived on disc for posterity.

The death of physical media is having the opposite effect on me – I've fallen back in love with my disc drive in 2026.

The latest Physint poster may have given us our first bit of plot details about Hideo Kojima's upcoming Metal Gear spiritual successor.

While Bill Skarsgard's casting was the main draw of Kojima's Physint update at the latest Xbox Tokyo Game Show, there's more than initially meets the eye. We also got some artwork consisting of a photo Kojima took of the duo, with a tagline that reads: "The next Cold War begins."

Based on that tagline, we can assume that Physint is about espionage in a time when nuclear war could break out at a moment's notice, while the world powers are engaged in a giant game of chicken. To me, that sure is a Metal Gear Solid game right there. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, Peace Walker, and The Phantom Pain all took place during the Cold War, with it being a major plot point in the first two.

Given that Snake Eater is considered one of the best Metal Gear games, it's not a surprise that Kojima would return to a formula that works. However, "the next Cold War" seems to imply that the game will be set closer to modern day than the actual conflict.

Another interesting detail about the marketing for Physint is Kojima's unofficial theme song for it – "Here Comes the Feeling" by Asia – which he has attached to Instagram posts about the game and is also on the original poster.

Having had the song on rotation since last week's PlayStation debacle, I've found the lyrics have definitely struck me. Many see Death Stranding's themes as a metaphor for Kojima coming to terms with the loss of Metal Gear; however, the Asia song focuses on reunion. "All through the winter, I thought I'd never see you again" is how it kicks off, while the chorus consists of "Here comes the feeling. Here comes the same old feeling," which certainly feels like a 'we are so back' declaration from Kojima.

OD is "progressing smoothly," Hideo Kojima says, teasing it as a "completely new kind of game that tests the thresholds of fear"

A GTA 6 PC port is all but a matter of time, new comments from Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Rockstar owner Take-Two, suggest.

At a short investors' meeting convened earlier today, September 17, Zelnick fielded a question about Take-Two's release strategy for GTA 6. Seemingly in reference to price and production issues, one stockholder asked: "Is the shortage of PS5 Pros causing changes in delivery of PC gaming?" (As it happens, PS5 Pros all but vanished after the GTA 6 Extended Look reveal, seeming as a result of anticipation pushing many players to splurge on a beefier console.)

"I assume this is a question regarding the cadence of PC launches," Zelnick responds. "The strategy of the company is, over time, generally speaking, to launch for any platforms for which there's a meaningful audience. But that isn't always the case, and certainly, if platforms were no longer viable, we could change that strategy."

Here's the key line: "And I would note that the PC platform is becoming more and more important to our company over time."

GTA 5 certainly had a meaningful presence on PC. On Steam, GTA 5 Enhanced has over 210,000 user reviews (83% positive) and, to this day, regularly ranks in the top 20 for the store's daily active users.

This enhanced release replaced GTA 5 Legacy, which has been delisted from Steam but can still be viewed online. It has nearly 1.9 million user reviews (88% positive) and peaked at over 1.1 million concurrent players years ago, which would put it in Steam's top 10 for all-time peaks.

Between the two editions, SteamDB trackers estimate GTA 5 has sold 50 to 90 million copies on PC – a very meaningful slice of the 230 million copies sold to date, even with conservative assumptions.

GTA 5 Legacy was released on Steam in April 2015, a few years after the game's September 2013 console launch. Speculatively, GTA 6 may see a similar gap, upwards of 12 to 18 months, before a presumed PC port – long enough for console players to be happy to buy it again, you might argue. Not me, though. I'd never argue that.

Previously, Zelnick stressed that GTA 6 is skipping PC at launch to focus on the "core consumer" on consoles, not because of a rumored PlayStation exclusivity deal. "Historically, Rockstar's gone to console first," he said.

Zelnick's stopped just short of confirming a PC release for GTA 6, but a man leading a company that loves money surely isn't going to leave that much of it on the table, especially at a time when PC gaming is showing more growth than other core platforms.

GTA 6 isn't coming to PC at launch, but not because Rockstar doesn't "care about PC," says GTA 5 producer: "If you're working on that, you're not working on something else."

Did Dracula ever complain about vampirism? He didn't – and neither will I, after merrily guzzling my way through The Blood of Dawnwalker. In last week's RPG Club, I kicked off our quest with an impromptu training montage, spending our first days in Vale Sangora learning to fight as a vampire on the game's hardest difficulty.

Now, it's time to sink our fangs into the main quest – and a few misadventures. When we last spoke, I was preparing to hike into the mountains with Coen's friend (and, dare I say, love interest?) Anca, chasing a lead on the Font of Life. With three weeks left before the deadline to save Coen's family, I'm keen to make a real dent in vampire sire Brencis' plans – and become the gnarly bloodsucker he dreams of being.

Quest Log

Thirsty work

As part of this month's RPG Club rules, I have to take every opportunity to make Coen a stronger vampire. In week one, that meant fatally draining a bunch of Brencis' soldiers – no non-lethal lunches for me – and raising my vampiric corruption to unlock higher-tier perks. But as we scour the mountains, untangling cryptic riddles to locate buried ruins, my carnal commitment is tested.

It takes a full in-game day to find the Font of Life. The ruins are infested by draugr-like undead and appear to be a sacrificial chamber for Vale Sangora's ancient ancestors, depictions of blood rituals painted on the walls. The process promises to grant the strength of Achilles, which poses a problem: Anca wants to use the Font to heal the glyphs carved into her body, which grant magic at the cost of something from the other side getting a foothold in her mind and spirit. Coen, on the other hand, wants to be as strong as possible to face Brencis – but wouldn't you know it, there's only enough in the Font for one.

As much as I want to give Anca the drink, it can't be. The rules of RPG Club explicitly say to "take every opportunity to make Coen a stronger vampire," and sipping an ancient brew that promises power falls firmly under that remit. Bottoms up!

Good news first: Anca accepts my choice like a champ, agreeing that Coen's plight is the more pressing of the two. The bad news is that the reward, while powerful, isn't exactly fitting for a creature of the night. It's a unique perk that enables passive health regeneration… during the day, which is as useful as suncream on Dracula. Still, power is power, and with my skill points spent mostly in the vampire tree, the Font should help make fighting in daylight more forgiving.

Leaving the ruins at night, I take the opportunity to further weaken Brencis' court by striking at their blood-tithing operation. But my last week of vampire vigilantism hasn't gone unnoticed.

I shadow-step into an outpost ready for a challenge, but behind its wooden palisade, there are only a handful of soldiers still breathing. A message left for Coen directs him to more crucified corpses in a nearby village, where a gruesome invitation is pinned to one of the crosses. Ambrus, the youngest vampire in Brencis' court, has grown tired of my attacks and challenges me to a duel at night, promising to kill more civilians for as long as the challenge is unanswered.

Before I can respond to Ambrus' summons, his reluctant servant Lulian stops me. Ambrus drinks blood before a battle, he reveals, and wouldn't it be a hoot to poison his supper? The ingredients are in a nearby swamp, and so is Lulian's co-conspirator herbalist – or what's left of her, having run into an unseen monster. Not connecting the dots, I help gather the ingredients but decline to wait with the scheming servant until dawn in favor of running off for some last-minute preparation.

I wait as close to dawn as possible before meeting at Ambrus' appointed location and ringing a bell to accept his summons, but when the vampire's entourage arrives, Lulian is nowhere to be seen. Then it hits me: we never did find that swamp monster, did we?

Instead of fighting Ambrus at his lowest, he's hydrated (on another servant's blood) and thriving.

He's quick, weaving shadow-steps and sword thrusts together at a speed that puts Coen to shame. I see a bit of myself in Ambrus' vampiric shithousery – so this is what it's like to fight a teleporting bloodsucker – but not for long. Playing on Duelist difficulty demands needlepoint precision when fighting even the lowliest foes, and the same principle – fight perfectly – works against bosses. Plus, by this point I've heavily invested in the vampiric skill tree. Ambrus' flashy sword techniques aren't enough for my souped-up claws, and after several minutes of trading lightning-fast parries, the first of Brencis' spawn falls.

With Ambrus bested, I choose to drink his blood, rightly seeing it as a way to further Coen's own vampirism. There's just one catch: when he dies, I'm wracked by visions of Ambrus in another realm, where he begs Coen to invite him in – lest the same mysterious entity that Anca fears consumes his soul. I agree on a whim, and when Coen snaps out of his strange blood trance, Ambrus is a permanent (and chatty) passenger in his mind. I'm left with a nagging concern – for all the powers I'm getting from vampirism, is it going to cost me something?

Two fangs are better than one

Having whipped through several days in the blink of an eye, my next stop is the capital city of Svartrau. Ambrus proves surprisingly helpful, tipping me off to a rogue vampire set against Brencis in the city. After exploring last week's corrupted convent, I also want to dig around beneath Svartrau's cathedral to find the sword of Saint Mihai – supposedly a powerful weapon against the undead.

Finding my fellow vampire proves easy. A trail of blood and debris leads me to a safehouse, where Lacra – another of Brencis' spawn – is interrogating one of Brencis' lumbering uriashi soldiers. Stepping in to play good cop, I convince the uriashi to tell us where to find his village, where Lacra believes we'll be able to find Brencis' own sire. I agree to meet her in the mountains at night, and spend the rest of the day investigating Saint Mihai; questioning cathedral-goers to find the hidden catacombs below.

The search is fruitful, leading me right up to Mihai's tomb. There's just one catch: Mihai is a Dawnwalker like Coen, still alive (in the loosest sense of the word) and very pissed. After our clash with Ambrus, Mihai proves simple enough to beat. In his dying breath he points me in the direction of his shattered sword and warns me of the same presence that Ambrus and Anca fear. It's probably nothing!

It's nightfall when I leave the musty tomb, so I transform into a dog (I! Love! Vampirism!) and run full-pelt to meet Lacra.

It takes all night, but we find the uriashi village – doing everything in my power to keep short-tempered Lacra from killing them – and as dawn breaks, I agree to head back into the city to find the village elder's wayward daughter, Ocha. She's made quite the life for herself with humans – hearing her use the word "besties" gives me whiplash" – and I spend most of the day digging Ocha out of trouble with Svartrau's criminal underbelly.

It doesn't quite go to plan as I ultimately kill a crime boss that Ocha wanted to deal with non-lethally, and although we part happily, she decides to adventure instead of going home.

Though I return to her mother empty-handed, she still points me in the direction of Isbrand. Joining Lacra to search a nearby cave where Brencis has imprisoned his sire, we find the vampire chained up; kobolds treating his regenerating flesh as an endless buffet. He's technically our Vampire Granddad, so after clearing the way of Kobolds, we haul him to nearby ruins where Lanca gets to work healing him. There's not much more I can do here, so I leave Lancra with pop-pop and head back to the city.

Prodigal son

Ambrus isn't the only person to notice Coen's chaos. My reputation with Brencis is now 'notorious', which means the rebels I met last week are now open to working with me. It's not glamorous work: while Coen is a bloodsucking killing machine, the resistance is painfully mortal, and my first task is to find out what happened to a slaughtered unit.

In the slums of Svartrau, largely abandoned after being devastated by the Black Plague, I get my answer: a human baked in clay; now a golem-esque monstrosity of grafted flesh and blades. Even after taking down Ambrus and Mihai, I don't fancy my chances if these things become commonplace around Vale Sangora, and make investigating their source my priority.

Our search takes us once more below Svartrau, which is unfortunately where we'll leave this week's journey. I set my controller down with a heavy heart – this week went by far quicker than the last, and The Blood of Dawnwalker's story really has its hooks in me. Next week, I plan to get to the source of Svartrau's clay-monsters, help the Manumit rebels, and hopefully take down at least one more of Brencis' court.

Frankly, I can't afford not to: we're entering the penultimate week, and Brencis still feels untouchable. There's also the small matter of my spiritual corruption to address – but what's an otherworldly entity amongst fanged friends? Catch you next week!

While your instincts may tell you to escape, the main objective as a civilian player in Halloween the Game is to detain Michael. To do this, though, you need to meet some specific requirements and get dangerously close to the killer himself.

It won't be easy to detain Michael, and it certainly helps to have a team of friends playing together, for which you might need my Halloween the Game crossplay guide. However, you can utilize proximity chat if you need to (just don't forget Michael is also listening!) and, if everyone knows what they're doing, it is possible to detain Michael in Halloween the Game in a random lobby, as long as you follow these instructions.

Player characters who die or escape have the option to return as a police officer, provided the level of police presence is high enough. Before you escape, then, make sure you call the police as much as possible, and ask NPC residents to do the same. Then, after you have escaped, complete the mini-games for a chance to return to the game. Once complete, you'll be shown three perk cards, one of which can be the Police Reinforcements card, which instantly respawns you into the game as an officer. However, this isn't guaranteed, so just keep trying until you get lucky. And keep an eye at the top of the screen to ensure that police reinforcements are available.

Before taking on your role as Loomis or law enforcement, or if you're helping them out as a resident, you should make sure you're equipped with one of the best Halloween the Game civilian characters. And, for some other, less specific, advice, check out my Halloween the Game tips.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Capcom's long-running Monster Hunter series has seen many changes in recent years that have evolved the franchise in intriguing ways. While 2025's Monster Hunter Wilds was an ambitious swing, bringing a more seamless, systemic open world to explore, it also led to missteps that didn't make for a smooth launch of the franchise's next phase.

Nearly 2 years after release, developer Capcom has been steadily refining its flagship entry with new events and improvements that realign the core challenge of a Monster Hunter game. With the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance expansion on the way, the studio aims to upgrade and raise the stakes of its beast-slaying adventure even further with a new super-charged campaign and even spicier battles to dive into. I got some early hands-on time with Ascendance during the week of Tokyo Game Show 2026, exploring the new Skybound Eyrie zone and facing off against new and returning monsters that will shake up tactics and push hunters to adapt.

Back to the Hunt

Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance jumps ahead several years after the defeat of elder dragon Gogmazios in Wilds' main story. The Hunter's Guild faces a new threat with the return of the elder dragon Lao-Shan Lung, who destroys the guild's stronghold. Years later, the guild is more experienced and better prepared to take down the massive monster, they venture to a new region in the forbidden lands known as the Skybound Eyrie. Faced with new monsters to slay and the return of the tar-based affliction spreading through the Windward Plains and its ecosystem, the Hunter's Guild aims to defeat Lao-Shan Lung and stop the corruption's spread.

This first major expansion for Monster Hunter Wilds is very much in the vein of other big updates from previous games – like Monster Hunter World: Iceborne – focusing on adding more locations, gear, and monsters to fight. However, Ascendance and its added scope aim to refresh Wilds by pushing a realignment toward more intense, high-stakes action. For starters, the new Skybound Eyrie location is by far the most vertical zone in the game, even by Wilds' standards. It also boasts the most visually impressive and varied level design that the series has seen yet. I'm immediately taken in by the aerial islands, which remind me of the Avatar films. It's a really exciting change of scenery from the Windward Plains.

But, Ascendance really focuses on updating the core combat. As a post-main story campaign, it's geared toward experienced players, spicing up battles and noticeably increasing battle intensity. I get to play two hunts during my hands-on, with the first focused on defeating the Alpha Araketa, which leads a smaller group of minions that it can coordinate with. This is a great sampling of the upgrades coming to Ascendance. Not only is the new location an interesting battlefield to learn, with Skybound Eyrie's more vertical locations lead to serious pitfalls during fast-paced action – I fell off the map in a couple of instances – but it also showcases how much of an upgrade monster behavior and tactics have gotten.

The Alpha Araketa hunt is incredibly dynamic, requiring a lot of coordination with my team. As both a ground and aerial monster, the Araketa and its minions can attack in unison, group-rushing hunters on the ground and launching into the air to deliver synchronized dive-bombs against the squad. It's impressive to see in action, but it's also quite intense to be on their receiving end. Like other Monster Hunter games, it's all about the chase in these battles, and navigating the dangerous terrain of the Skybound Eyrie adds so much tension. My squad takes two attempts to fell the Alpha Araketa, and during that time we learn its varied attack styles and rhythm – such as one particular combo attack that uses its wings, which have natural gases in them that can create a jet-powered-like impact. It's already one of my favorite new monsters to fight in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Fortunately, Ascendance adds a new edge for hunters to employ in a fight. One of the biggest new additions for the expansion – which will likely inspire some debate among fans – is the Boost Bracer system. Unlocked once you enter the new story, it lets you activate a powered-up state that unleashes a new super attack for each weapon and grants temporary access to powered-up combos during your boosted phase. As you attack foes, you build up a meter with three maximum charges. When you have a charge ready, you can dish out a super attack that's either a combo or a heavy one-hit strike.

I personally find the Boost Bracer to be a really fun and satisfying combat skill to unleash on enemies. My favorite moments come when my squad is unleashing anime-style super moves on a staggered foe, and seeing the chaos of the fight jump up several degrees gives us the shot in the arm we need to keep pushing forward. That said, I imagine this skill might spark debate among long-time fans of the series, especially regarding the perception that Monster Hunter Wilds was already overly generous in its balancing. However, the Boost Bracer takes time to build up, and you can easily waste it if you aren't careful. It's painful enough to miss a standard charged strike, but I actually face-palmed when I whiffed a super attack. Very much like the items in your inventory and the time you have, the Boost Bracer skills are a resource as well, and one that has to be used at the right time.

The other hunt available in my demo is against the elder dragon Teostra – a returning super boss from earlier games that's now powered up in Ascendance. Unfortunately, this hunt doesn't go well at all with my squad. Along with dealing with Teostra's powerful flame attacks and heavy strikes, the battle zone also has quicksand, which makes traversal a serious challenge. I sense a rematch in my future.

So far, Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance makes a strong case for revisiting Wilds. That's not to say Wilds wasn't a worthwhile Monster Hunter game on its own, but this expansion brings a much-needed refresh with a more interesting, better-developed top-level endgame that adds a new skill ceiling for combat. It's been really exciting to get reacquainted with the game, explore its new locations, and get to grips with souped-up weapons that feel fierce and satisfying to use against some of the series' meanest beasts to date.

Hopefully, the full suite of upgrades coming in Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance will make for a well-earned comeback story that can cap off the series' most ambitious entry yet.

Hunting for something else to play while you wait? Our best Monster Hunter games and best open world games rankings have more for you to enjoy!

The short history of MindsEye, a game headed by former Rockstar Games veteran and Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies, has been quite a shaky one – but it all might be coming to an end now as reports of Build A Rocket Boy's closure circulate.

MindsEye launched to a very negative reception last year, standing as 2025's worst-rated game just six days after its release. It wasn't just the game itself that faced scrutiny, however.

The studio behind it – Build A Rocket Boy – and its alleged "unbearable levels of overtime" and other areas of poor management did, too… from both players and former developers alike, as there were sadly plenty of layoffs stemming from the entire debacle.

It seems the layoffs aren't over, though – and a studio closure might be following them, as anonymous sources tell outlets like Kotaku. That, and a LinkedIn post from principal talent acquisition partner and HR operations lead Dan Hawkins, which implies that Build A Rocket Boy is indeed coming to an end.

"With a very heavy heart I raise my green banner, along with the rest of my colleagues at Build a Rocket Boy," he writes.

Hawkins goes on to say he "will be seeing BARB through till the very end, helping wrap things up here in the HR department" as well – which, yeah, doesn't make it sound as though this is just another round of layoffs and layoffs only.

Hawkins isn't the only person from Build A Rocket Boy to discuss the situation, though he's the only one to imply the studio's closure in its entirety. Technical level designer Robert Meek is, too.

"Hi everyone, much like others at BARB, I find myself once again raising the green banner looking for new opportunities," the dev's own post reads. "My time at BARB, while not as long as I'd have liked, is an experience I will never forget, helping me rapidly grow as a designer and gain valuable experience that I hope will lead me into my next adventure."

And, again, he's one of very many to announce their departure from Build A Rocket Boy. Production QA analyst Cameron Deaves, senior QA analyst Elizabet Tyaneva, and release manager Michaela Emslie have all posted similarly on LinkedIn.

It's a disappointing situation all around, but I suppose it doesn't come as a huge surprise. After all, we are talking about the studio that supposedly forced monitoring software on devs as Benzies wanted to find the "saboteurs" he blamed for MindsEye's lack of success and… yikes.

Here's hoping that the devs affected by the layoffs – and potential closure of Build A Rocket Boy – are able to land on their feet.

GTA 6 still needs marketing even if everyone's heard of it, Take-Two boss says: "Take awareness and turn it into excitement"

Shape of Dreams, probably the closest any roguelike has come to the Risk of Rain experience, is coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch 2 thanks to console ports shadowdropped during today's Xbox Tokyo Game Show showcase.

Billed as an action roguelike with combat inspired by MOBAs, Shape of Dreams launched on Steam last September and quickly became one of the biggest success stories for Neowiz, best known as the creator of Lies of P and publisher of other indie hits like DJMax Respect 5, Sanabi, and Skul: The Hero Slayer. (The Lies of P team itself has rebranded as Studio Nough, and seems to be working on a sequel called Wonders of O.)

Now one year old, Shape of Dreams is coming to consoles with full crossplay support just in time for an anniversary update packing a new playable character – the ice leviathan Cetus – as well as additional story content and new options for existing characters. All platforms will get the new content simultaneously.

Shape of Dreams has sold over 1.5 million copies, plays well with a controller, and always gave me a comfy Diablo vibe, so it seemed destined for a multiplatform release. I was smitten from its very first Steam demo release, which also ended up becoming much bigger than the creators anticipated.

The similarities between Shape of Dreams and Risk of Rain, which sits near the top of our list of best roguelikes, are no coincidence, as members of the dev team were heavily inspired by the series before and during development. But the overlap runs so deep that it almost feels like fate: like Risk of Rain, Shape of Dreams was made by two college kids who weren't expecting to stumble into a very successful career. Coincidentally, I've also interviewed both them and Risk of Rain makers Duncan Drummond and Paul Morse repeatedly.

Ahead of Tokyo Game Show, I spoke to CEO Eunseop Shim of Korean developer Lizard Smoothie about the game's runaway first year. He says the small studio, which has grown to five people, is still "very chaotic," but now they have more wind in their sails thanks to all the love and feedback from players. "I think we shifted to a generally healthier direction of concerns," he says, no longer worrying if the game will flop.

"I am not letting this game go," Shim says when I ask if he's also dreaming of Risk of Rain 2-style update and expansion support. "There are so many things that players have been asking, and so many things that we want to do. We want a whole new game mode that I probably shouldn't go into. The players are giving us love, so we should keep working on.

"Even without that, we all have a direction on the game. We have a future view, the ideal view of what Shape of Dreams should be going for. It's not yet reached it in our opinion, so we are not letting go."

With some distance from launch, Shim reflects on the hard-won knowledge that he really could've used two years ago. "If I could go back, I would tell myself and our team that you cannot prove a game is fun through internal logic and thought experiments alone," he says. "No amount of experience and confidence will do that. You have to put it in our hands, or players' hands, to know it. Much earlier than what date feels comfortable.

"Especially in the months before launch, we had to make many compromises because we simply didn't have much time to apply all the insights we’d held, and that kind of backfired in spectacular ways. We released the game without enough extensive playtesting. Players had major concerns about the progression and the way we steered our game towards perfection in balancing and a stable experience, rather than the frantic fun that is the very essence of our gameplay.

"We were frantically working overtime to put out the fire. Our intentions were misinterpreted and undermined by so many obvious mistakes we've made that could've been prevented. I still think our launch went great with so many copies sold, but I don't think it was perfect."

Neowiz, members of which joined our call, and Shim don't see an end in sight for Shape of Dreams. "Being so new in the field, it can feel like we work in wonky ways, but I think there is still a charm in that," Shim says. "We'll keep doing our best to learn and to listen to our players."

Worms Galactic Tactics is such a good strategy roguelike that I can't believe it didn't already exist.

The first decade of Grand Theft Auto's 3D reinvention, from 2001 to 2011, brought four full-length releases (not counting handheld instalments or DLC expansions) across two console generations: games that reshaped the videogame landscape in their open-world image. In 2023, as GTA 5 enters its tenth year, it remains the series' only release of the period. A single game following in those footsteps couldn't, surely, hope to have the same seismic effect. And yet.

When Sony revealed the PS5 lineup in a 2020 event promising the 'Future Of Gaming', the very first title it showed was GTA 5 – a game that had first released on PS3. This enhanced edition would bring the game to its third generation of consoles, across the span of which it has sold over 170 million copies. Few games have ever remained in the conversation for so long. But for those who haven't held onto their citizenship over that time, what's it like to revisit Los Santos after a few years away?

Old stomping ground

Visually, GTA 5 has grown old with remarkable grace. In close-ups the game occasionally shows its age, but in the sweep of transit, it still convinces. Of course, it's had rather a lot of work done over the years – what else would you expect from a game set, more or less, in LA? The cosmetic enhancements include cleaner textures and sharper resolutions, naturally, while on PS5 these changes also extend to the hands, the DualSense haptics improving the sense of the city beneath our tyres and pulsing in time with the thick bass of a nightclub.

Most startling, though, are the changes to the quality of light itself. From the searing neons of Vice City to the haze of San Andreas, light has always been a tool Rockstar leverages to establish a sense of place, but here the combination of HDR and ray tracing pushes it further than ever before. Brittle morning sunshine at one end of the day; at the other, Pacific sunsets that bleed out into pink; after darkness falls, the twinkle of lights catching in newly reflective skyscrapers and chrome paint jobs. On a gloomy British day, it's truly transportive.

Along with the odd newly introduced detail – including stray cats that scurry into alleyways as you drive past – and a first-person mode to appreciate them better, everything works together to evoke the feel of a real city, in a way that's still unmatched after all these years. Spider-Man's New York may have the edge in fidelity, but it never feels alive in quite the same way Los Santos does. In part, perhaps, because where the former game posits a city that (for all its supervillain inhabitants) fundamentally works, Rockstar's game is more honest.

The enormous wealth disparity of the region makes for a virtual world that can be navigated by a sense of altitude and affluence alone. For all that cutscenes might try to sell the cultural chasm between protagonists Franklin and Michael, it's never realised better than in the climb required to pick up quests from your new mentor, up from South Central's tightly bunched bungalows and scruffy unused lots into the rarefied air of Rockford Hills, with its playgrounds of the rich and famous. And then, eventually, over the spine of the mountains, the sparsely populated back-country that Trevor calls home, every bit as wild as its inhabitant.

The result is a place as beautiful as it is ugly, where rolling vistas are pocked with billboards crude in graphic design and innuendo, where as much effort has been put into rendering the litter as the architecture. This, at least, helps to explain why – for a world that remains so brilliantly inviting to the player – every character you meet seems to hate living in it so much. This aspect of GTA 5 has aged significantly less well: if its caustic nihilism could be a little wearing at the time, it can feel exhausting now, a relic of '00s attitudes that prized saying the unsayable and disdained anyone stupid enough to care about anything.

This seems in part to have been a reaction to the reaction to GTA 4, a game that was stupid enough to care about things. The tale of Niko Bellic, with his regrets and tragic backstory, was an early step towards the kind of more mature, prestige storytelling that characterised The Last Of Us, GTA 5's 2013 contemporary, and then the Red Dead Redemption series.

The early movements of the plot here are roughly in line with those examples. Michael is established as a man out of time, plagued by a kind of American Beauty suburban ennui and a nostalgia for his younger criminal days, while Franklin steps into the classic GTA role of felonious up-and-comer with just a hint of reluctance about that life. Most venom is reserved for what Michael sees as the soft indulgence of modern west-coast American life, and for the supporting cast. Franklin's cohabiting aunt is faddy and promiscuous. Michael's daughter is starry-eyed and promiscuous. His wife is ungrateful, unfaithful and, yes, promiscuous. The limited roles available to women were among the few sour notes raised in our review at the time, and it's only curdled with time. It's no surprise that Rockstar seems set to address this with GTA 6.

But there might be no character for whom the plot has less respect than Jimmy, Michael's son, who is introduced screaming slurs into his headset while playing a Call Of Duty-like shooter. To his father, Jimmy represents the ills of the next generation. To Rockstar, he seems to represent the gamer, the worst caricature of its own audience – the same ones, perhaps, who rejected the more sombre storytelling of GTA 4.

Talking Trevor

The introduction of third protagonist Trevor is held back. When he arrives, though, he's immediately established as an avatar for the player's ugliest desires, and an embodiment of that rejection – something enacted, in his very first mission, through the application of his boot to the skull of Johnny Klebitz, star of GTA 4's The Lost And Damned. Development of the 2009 add-on coincided with the height of media discussions about ludonarrative dissonance, and Trevor comes off as the response: a raised middle finger, sticky with blood.

Which brings us, inevitably, to the notorious torture sequence, in which Trevor aids federal agents in the 'interrogation' of a seemingly innocent man. It's as uncomfortable to participate in now as it was then, choosing between electrocution and waterboarding, then tugging on a thumbstick to enact the torment. This discomfort seems to be the intent, something underlined by the speech given by Trevor – rarely the voice of reason or conscience – which concludes that torture is "useless as a means of getting information". But he also admits to relishing the violence for its own sake. Sometimes it's hard not to suspect the game does, too.

The moment is indicative of GTA 5's approach to satire in general, which is often to take real-world topics and give them the Nelson Muntz treatment: point, laugh dismissively, move on. The advantage of this broad-brush approach, though, is that when it picks a target that resonates, it's easy to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Grand Theft Auto has always been built on a fundamental distrust and distaste for the authorities and the wealthy – timeless themes that have only gathered a wider audience in recent years. We'll confess, too, to finding a little catharsis in the blowing-up of Jay Norris, CEO of Facebook stand-in Life Invader, much as we did in the downfall of Glass Onion's own tech-billionaire analogue. It could be called prescient – remember that this was years before the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and Zuckerberg wasn't quite the public enemy he has become – but for the game mainly being interested in making jokes about hipster workers and offices that look like creches.

Still, it's a little terrifying how relevant its concerns – which stem, primarily, from the ugliest excesses of American capitalism – remain today. Once again, this has only gained from the nips and tucks that GTA 5 has received since launch. In 2022, players noticed that some of the game's transphobic content had been removed, while new radio stations have been accompanied with adverts and talk-radio segments that skewer more recent topics. The biggest additions, though, have come through GTA Online's new story missions. 2017's Doomsday Heist update found a fine successor to Jay Norris in the form of Avon Hertz (an obvious play on Elon Musk, another example of Rockstar being a little ahead of the curve of public sentiment), while in July last year Operation Paper Trail introduced a lethal heatwave and an energy crisis to GTA's world just as real life faced its own equivalents.

Ultimately, most of these are topical reskins stretched across existing mission structures – aspects of the game that have started to creak, as you shuttle between checkpoints and engage in wave after wave of shootouts – but they're indicative of the kind of fuzzy eternal present in which Online allows Los Santos to exist. New music, coming out of the car radio, in nightclub sets from real DJs, and in the form of an entire new Dr Dre EP. Stories of supporting characters from the singleplayer campaign, picked up years along the line.

Nowadays, Grand Theft Auto 5 essentially means GTA Online. It's what greets you on the starting menu, the singleplayer campaign tucked away in a tab. It's what has driven all those sales, and the game's longevity – a second world built atop and now considerably bigger than the one that launched ten years ago. GTA 5 didn't invent the concept of a live-service game or multiplayer concerts or virtual hangout spots, and it might not have remoulded the shape of action videogames in the same identifiable way as GTA 3, but it's hard to deny that it fits perfectly into the modern landscape, even after all this time.

Check out our best GTA games ranking for which to play next!

Hideo Kojima has revealed that John Wick 4 and Nosferatu actor Bill Skarsgård will be the lead in his upcoming Metal Gear spiritual successor Physint.

Appearing at the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2026 Broadcast, Hideo Kojima gives development updates on both of his upcoming titles for Xbox Game Studios. OD is "steadily taking shape" as performance capture continued this year following the SAG-AFTRA strike. As for Physint – which only last week it was announced Xbox acquired after Sony decided it wanted to cancel the game – Kojima says "the project continues to make steady progress."

Kojima calls Physint "the culmination of more than 40 years of my career: a project that will redefine 'action espionage,' unbound by any existing genres in digital entertainment." Kojima claims he realized he should make a game like Metal Gear Solid while he was sick during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While we already knew Charlee Fraser, Don Lee (also known as Ma Dong-seok) and Minami Hamabe had been cast in the game, Kojima reveals that the game's lead character will be portrayed by Skarsgård. Kojima explains, "we are both long-time fans of each others' work, and we've decided to embark on this new adventure together."

Kojima also acknowledges the game's new home, saying, "I would also like to thank our partners at Xbox for believing in our vision and walking this path toward the future alongside us." He adds, "We are incredibly excited about the road ahead and look forward to sharing much more with you in the future."

Given Kojima said last year Physint is "another five or six years" away, and things likely slowed down a bit while the game was without a publisher, we've probably still got a while to go before we get our hands on it, or even see gameplay for that matter.

Hideo Kojima says his pitch for OD sounded "crazy" to every publisher except Xbox.

Hideo Kojima says development on his mysterious horror game OD is "progressing smoothly," and he can't wait to tell us more about it.

During an Xbox broadcast at this year's Tokyo Game Show, Kojima provides some quick updates on OD and Physint, which are now both being published by Xbox Game Studios.

On OD, he says: "Performance capture and ADR recording, which had been paused during the SAG strike, resumed this year, and production is proceeding on schedule. Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and the team have delivered intense and outstanding performances, which I can't wait for you all to see.

"OD is a completely new kind of game that tests the thresholds of fear," he continues. "Through constant experimentation and iteration, the project is steadily taking shape. We look forward to sharing more information later down the line."

There's still plenty we don't know about OD – its release window, for a start, is still a complete mystery. Kojima previously said that he'd like to "scan a ghost" into the game, which could take time. Then again, he also suggests that there could have been a ghost accidentally recorded into it already, so he might have ticked that box without even knowing it for sure. Don't worry, though – "that's why we went to the shrine together with Microsoft to make sure that we have a safe build of the game," he said at the time. That's reassuring… I think.

At Tokyo Game Show, Kojima also revealed that John Wick 4 and Nosferatu actor Bill Skarsgård will be Physint's lead actor, with him and the star both being "long-time fans of each others' work."

Physint goes from PlayStation to Xbox as Sony "unexpectedly" drops Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid spiritual successor.

The Blood of Dawnwalker has been largely well-received by most fans, much to the delight of the former CD Projekt Red masterminds heading the vampire RPG – but there's one controversial mechanic that's brought up time and time again: uh, literally time.

In case you're out of the loop, time is core to The Blood of Dawnwalker. You're given 30 days and 30 nights to save protagonist Coen's family and complete the main story, and everything in the world between then can cost you time slots.

How you choose to spend your time is, however, largely up to you – but the stress and sheer fear of missing out is undeniably real. So much so, in fact, that the game's biggest mod reworks the cycle altogether.

Now that we know The Blood of Dawnwalker will have sequels of some flavor, it comes as no surprise that folks are wondering whether they'll employ the same time mechanic – and, well, the answer is maybe.

Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz tells Eurogamer as much in a new interview, explaining that Rebel Wolves – the studio comprised of veterans with credits on bangers like The Witcher 3 – isn't quite sure what it'll do yet.

"We didn't decide it, to be honest," he says. "We will play with it. If we will have parts of the story, or the whole story, to which it fits, then we will use it. If we will have stories where it does not fit, we will not force it. We will play with this system and we will try to use it to boost the urgency of some events in the game. But I'm not saying that in every game we will have the same scheme or loop – it's not like this."

That's not all, though. Tomaszkiewicz drops a bit of a teaser, too: "We are also considering and researching some other crazy ideas which can make the RPG genre different to surprise people in the future."

Color me intrigued – the day and night cycle (as well as the whole 30 days and 30 nights thing) are already very unique to the genre… what more could Rebel Wolves have in store? I personally can't wait to find out.

So, there you have it – The Blood of Dawnwalker sequels (whenever they may come) might feature a similar time mechanic as their predecessor… or they might not. We'll just have to see when Rebel Wolves is ready to unveil any future projects.

CD Projekt Red fans stay loyal: About 58% of The Blood of Dawnwalker's Steam player base also played The Witcher 3

GTA 6 marketing is now rolling out in full force ahead of the game's November launch, which some might question the necessity of for what's easily one of the most highly anticipated games of all time. But Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick says it's not just about building awareness – it's about building hype.

When GTA 6: An Extended Look arrived on Netflix last month, it racked up a whopping 31.1 million views on that platform alone in its first four days. At the time of writing, it has also accumulated 27 million views on YouTube since its publication. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that that's a lot of views, but how many of those do you think were from people who were newly introduced to the concept of GTA 6 with that showcase? We can safely assume that a massive amount were already well aware of the game when they watched it, but that doesn't make the marketing a waste of time.

As Zelnick says in a chat at GameBeat's Insider event, this is a concern that investors have raised before, too. "Well, obviously everyone's heard of Grand Theft Auto 6. So why are you wasting money on marketing? Shouldn't you just put it out there? That is the question," he recalls being asked. However, he explains: "I think in launching broad-based entertainment properties, you don't have a choice. You always have to go out and create enthusiasm. So, awareness is one thing; enthusiasm is another thing."

Zelnick looks back on his time working in the movie business, during which time he found that "if the thing is no good, you can market the living shit out of it, and people will still not notice the marketing." Beyond that, "If the marketing's terrible, you can turn people off, and if the marketing's great, you can create more excitement."

He reiterates: "The whole goal that we always have, whether it's this upcoming launch or any other title, is to take awareness and turn it into excitement, and take the lack of awareness and turn it into awareness."

Would GTA 6 have done well if Rockstar had gone completely silent after its first trailer and then randomly shadowdropped the full game at some point? Of course – it'd also set the internet on fire in the process. But working on fans over time, rolling out new screenshots, footage, and information via interviews – it's like shaking a cola bottle vigorously before finally taking the cap off. Even for fans who've been planning to buy the game from the start, the marketing spurs conversation online, potentially helping convince those who weren't already sold, too.

It's safe to say that Rockstar and Take-Two know what they're doing, anyway – it'll be interesting to see just how many copies of GTA 6 are sold at launch after all this.

Parts of GTA 6 are "a bit outdated and weird," says former Rockstar dev, but "like GTA 5" it will "perform really well" and keep fans busy for a decade.

The 1994 JRPG The Legend of Heroes 3: The White Witch, which you might know by another name (more on that below), is being revived by Neowiz, the publisher behind the acclaimed Soulslike Lies of P.

If you haven't heard of The Legend of Heroes 3 until now, that might be because you're not a giant JRPG sicko and simply haven't encountered it until now. After all, the English localization released in North America in 2006 on the PlayStation Portable, and it remains exclusive to that platform to this day. The Japanese version is available on the Nintendo Switch eShop via publisher D4 Enterprise's EGGCONSOLE series of retro ports, but again, that's just the Japanese version with the option for English text in menus. That means the only way to play the official English localization is on PSP, and online discussion around that version is far from encouraging.

I promised I'd explain why the game is known by another name, so let me do that quickly. As is the case with a lot of Japanese games that are part of wider series that eventually come to the West, they aren't always released perfectly sequentially. The Final Fantasy series is notoriously confusing for this reason, but in this case, The Legend of Heroes 4 released in North America in 2005 as just The Legend of Heroes, so when its predecessor was localized the following year, it was titled The Legend of Heroes 2, a complete reversal.

It seems the remake, or remaster, or whatever it is (Neowiz calls it a revival and recreation), is sticking with the original Japanese naming convention and releasing it as The Legend of Heroes 3: The White Witch, on "PC and console" at an undisclosed date. Not much is known about the project, but Neowiz says it's aiming for a polished, updated adaptation.

"The White Witch has been cherished by RPG fans worldwide for over 30 years," reads a statement from a Neowiz spokesperson. "We want to bring a polished experience that recaptures the emotional experience of the original game, while inviting new and old players to immerse themselves in an updated adaptation. With this agreement, we are looking forward to building a strong partnership with Nihon Falcom." 

You also might know The Legend of Heroes series by its more well-known association, the Trails series, which spawned from the former with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky in 2004. Coincidentally, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, the second release in a remake series of the whole Trails series, is launching this week to fantastic reviews putting it even above critical darlings Resident Evil Requiem and Pokopia.

With that extremely nerdy history out of the way, here are the best JRPGs you can play right now.

Destiny is not being merged with Marathon in a bid to revive the series after the end of development on Destiny 2, Bungie has confirmed as rumors make the rounds.

Bungie veteran Julia Nardin, now Marathon creative director but also known for myriad Destiny releases, addressed this rumor on Twitter in a post shared by principal community manager Cozmo.

"As someone who’s worked on both Destiny and Marathon, I can confirm that the 'leak' about us merging the two IPs is fake," she says. "They share a lot of the same Bungie DNA, but like siblings they’re also their own independent entities. Please don’t believe everything you read online."

Nardin seems to be shutting down a detail pulled from a lengthy post (shared to the Marathon subreddit) from a user or group claiming to have insider knowledge of upcoming Marathon plans.

"There has been some vague testing the waters internally to rework Marathon and Destiny into a single IP with Marathon representing the beginning of Mankinds Golden Age and to foreshadow more threats to be used in a future Destiny project," it reads.

"Expect many ideas in Marathon that were planned for the many Destiny 3 preprod vertical slices [former CEO Pete Parsons] kiboshed and shut down," the post adds.

The problem with this purported leak, of course, is that a majority of the people who made Destiny have been laid off. Never mind just how ridiculous the Golden Age tie-in would be, and the fact that this post is originally from famous knowledge bastion 4chan.

The far-reaching post also claims that Marathon "is going F2P in December," adding a PvE mode called Investigations with "Destiny raid style bosses," introducing Destiny-themed cosmetics, getting a new runner called Shrike, dividing stored loot between PvE and PvP modes, and at this point, let's give everyone a free car too.

Bungie ends Marathon's seasonal schedule, delays a September update to December, and makes it more like Destiny 2.

A few weeks ago, we learned that Terranigma would finally get a modern re-release, bringing the classic Super Nintendo JRPG out in North America for the very first time. Today, remaster dev Clear River Games has confirmed that the new edition of Terranigma will launch on January 14, offering a host of details on the in-game updates and the first look at a super-deluxe $200 collector's edition.

Terranigma was originally developed by Quintet, a now-defunct studio responsible for numerous SNES classics like ActRaiser and Illusion of Gaia. Like many of those games, Terranigma was published by Enix – now one half of Square Enix – and has seemingly been trapped in some kind of licensing limbo ever since. Now it's finally coming out of the vault in style.

The Terranigma remaster launches across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC via Steam and GOG on January 14, with physical editions available for all current console platforms. You can put $200 into the Gaia Edition, if you're so inclined, netting you a Yomi figure, music box, art book, cloth world map, soundtrack CD, and more. Pre-orders are available through Limited Run Games in the US or straight from developer Clear River Games in Europe.

But for me, the real news today is the remaster itself. Terranigma will feature an "original mode" offering "untouched balance" and the "original save system" for the classic experience. Even in this mode, however, there's a new sidebar alongside the 4:3 game window that shows your current money and experience, as well as a new set of quick access controls letting you quickly swap equipped items.

You can also swap to the "arranged mode," which promises "enhanced progression" and "adjusted difficulty," along with modern retro gaming conveniences like quick saves and rewinds. Best of all is a new minimap that shows your position in the current location.

These are the kinds of features I wish Square Enix itself would invest in for games like the OG Final Fantasy titles. The Pixel Remasters have turned out to be decent ways to play the originals, but those games have aesthetic and gameplay "improvements" that are questionable at best, and even the upgrades don't go as far as Terranigma's minimap and new inventory controls do. Getting the option of going back to the original experience and game balance offers the best of both worlds.

I'd be happy enough getting an official US release of Terranigma in just about any condition, but the remaster devs here are clearly going above and beyond to make sure this will be worth the three-decade wait.

These are the best SNES games of all time.

It's only just settling in that GTA 6 is actually coming out this November. After 13 years, the sequel will actually be here, and we have the extended look on Netflix to prove it. In light of this preview, a former Rockstar animator has shared his perspective on what we've seen and what it could lead to.

Mike York worked at the studio for a number of years, contributing to GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, and his first impression is the duality of the two leads, Jason and Lucia. "Rockstar usually gives us a bunch of neat characters who are funny and have their own flair," he tells TechRadar.

"I don't know if we're going to see that with Jason, but I hope we do," he says, before adding Lucia is a contrast to Jason's stoicism. "There's that moment in the trailer where they get in an elevator, and he says, 'Sometimes I'm just more comfortable when I have to use a gun.' She replies: 'Just be charming!' Lucia's got this attitude where you can tell she's trying to break him out of his shell. She's the one that probably goes into missions gung-ho, all guns blazing."

That seems like what Rockstar wants us to believe. He's more of a strategist; she wants to go for it and figure it out as they do. Missions might involve both skill sets in different ways. In discussing the level of secrecy, York mentions that Rockstar operates under a complete information lockdown, to the point that having social media can feel like stepping out.

"They try to instill in all their employees that you don't say anything anywhere," he explains. "If you look up most of the people at Rockstar, they don't have any social media presence because they're scared to. I was. When I worked there, I didn't say anything ever."

As impressive as the showcase was, some parts didn't land especially well for him. Certain aspects are "a bit outdated and weird" and demonstrate shifting internal priorities. "The whole UI doesn't really match the style of game and what we're used to. Rockstar has a big and very talented team. If they wanted, they could go in and change those elements before a final release," he comments. "Will they do that? That's another question because there’s probably a lot of other stuff they're sweating about."

Ultimately, what comes out will be updated and patched for years afterward, and any niggling problems will likely be ironed out. "It will perform really well and become something we'll be able to play for a decade later like GTA 5," York adds. "Online will come out and probably be an ever-evolving metaverse which will carry the franchise forever."

Rockstar boss says GTA 6's police "can be harder" to shake off than before, "but it's fun" because it forces you "to think more"

Aniimo, the stunning open-world creature collector unveiled at Summer Game Fest 2025 as part of the Xbox Games Showcase, is finally available to play on PC and consoles – but it's not proving too popular just yet.

Many of us Pokemon and Palworld fans were downright blown away by Pawprint Studio's adorable little creatures and vibrant visuals when Aniimo first came to light – heck, it's been on my wishlist since. The reviews so far, however, aren't exactly stellar.

As of right now, the free-to-play game sits with a "Mixed" rating overall on Steam… and, yes, much of the more negative feedback has to do with microtransactions, purchases, and the like.

"Behind all the flashy visual flair is a mind-numbingly easy, boring gameplay loop built solely to push you toward aggressive monetization," reads one such review. "The sickening amount of predatory gacha mechanics and aggressive pay-to-win walls completely ruin any sense of genuine progression. Don't waste your time or money on this hollow cash-grab."

Oof – and there are countless others like it, disappointingly enough.

One person writes, "It's very much a gacha game. When I see that you're able to spend money to obtain rare items and end-game Aniimo, it turned me away from the game. I don't mind paying for cosmetics or features that don't affect gameplay but it's disgusting how you're pushed to spend money here, so disappointed."

Others slate Aniimo for its awkward writing and "hand-holding" – a complaint many modern games are no stranger to.

Not everyone finds Aniimo a disappointment, however. There are plenty of positive reviews, with fans celebrating the creature collector as an especially "cute" gem.

I see quite a few comparisons to Infinity Nikki as well, with one review noting how Pawprint Studio's debut game is "giving Palworld x Infinity Nikki vibes." I'm personally sold on that, honestly… even if the whole microtransaction and gacha thing has me a bit wary.

Thankfully, Animo is free to download and try out. Furthermore, it's topping the charts even if its reception offers a mixed bag of negative and positive reviews – in fact, it's currently the sixth-most-played game on Steam, as per Valve's charts… so, yeah.

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

Balatro creator LocalThunk has leaked a few substantial details about his poker deck-builder's upcoming 1.1 update, which he admits has gone way past its initial 2025 due date, assuming one can truly leak information about their own beloved game.

Let LocalThunk have this, though – "I'm going to give a real honest to goodness leak," he announced to Discord on September 14, "a proper 1.1 leak." Highlights include more Jokers, more vouchers, and a new voucher system fine-tuning how often Tier 2 vouchers appear. The developer apparently has "the current iteration of 1.1" downloaded on his phone, so he should know.

"If people will indulge me," he begins to say about his new voucher system. The current version of Balatro includes 32 total vouchers, half of which are considered strong Tier 1, while the other half is an even stronger Tier 2 that corresponds to the first type of card. So, "if you take a tier 1 vouchers in ante 1 (say, paint brush)," says LocalThunk, "you would have a 1 in 16 chance of finding the corresponding tier 2 in ante 2 (palette)."

But, "If I were to add 32 more vouchers (not a leak, for arguments sake)," the developer continues, "you'd have a 1 in 32 chance of finding palette in ante 2"

"NO BUENO," he continues. "So what if there was a system that kept track of all the tier 1 vouchers you’ve taken and it rolls an N in 16 chance (N being the number of tier 1 vouchers you have without their corresponding tier 2) to spawn the upgraded tier 2 voucher? That way, if you take paint brush in shop 1 you still have a 1 in 16 chance to get palette shop 2." Hm, what if!

As for what new Tier 2 vouchers will be available, LocalThunk gives only a tiny leak – a sprinkle. The developer shares art for the new Tier 2 voucher called Lunker, whose card is emblazoned with a powerful green fish flapping its tail while fighting off the hook stuck in its mouth.

"This fish is my proof of life, yes I'm still working on 1.1!" LocalThunk says. "I'm not leaking the effect btw." Similarly, the developer reveals a new blue stake – currently, the difficulty modifier enforces -1 Discard – but, "Dw I'm not leaking it."

Except, LocalThunk can't help himself from teasing, "It's pretty interesting, and there are some weird implications I would love to break into a blog post. I had to use the quadratic formula ona whiteboard to solve something to implement it." Ah, yes. I'll pretend to understand the implications of using the quadratic formula here.

More straightforward is the new "when card is drawn to hand" mechanic, which "also applies when you open tarot or spectral packs," says LocalThunk. There's a 1.1 content checkbox you can toggle so that 1.0 modders can retain their work, and LocalThunk says he'll "add a new branch on steam well ahead of launch for current 1.0 version."

This last piece of information made everyone on Discord freak out – "I thought [the] lunker was the big ticket item," says a confused LocalThunk – but LocalThunk has one more announcement before taking his last bow: "at least 4 new jokers in 1.1," he writes in a September 15 Discord post.

By now, you're probably frothing under your Joker mask with anticipation for the long-awaited 1.1 update, but you should grab a handkerchief and prepare for more sitting around. LocalThunk says, "I'm happy the leaks are going over so well," but "I never should have given a release window."

"I don't want this to be half baked and wreck Balatro," LocalThunk continues. "I love the game too and I want to play a fun game not a rushed botch job." At the moment, he can only promise more progress updates and the occasional leak or 15, and let you know he's grateful.

"This past year of dev has been probably the most fulfilling work I've ever done," LocalThunk concludes.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 adds Balatro's Jimbo in a surprise new quest with a huge addition to the RPG's best minigame.

An Xbox rep has reportedly addressed rumors that it will remove day-one releases from Game Pass, but hasn't denied them either.

Earlier this week, a rumor posted by ResetEra moderator Slayven reported that Microsoft is set to change Xbox Game Pass next year. They report that there will be a tier with ads costing $12.99 a month, while the tier without ads will run players $19.99 a month. This is a $3 discount; however, it will reportedly be at the expense of a few things. Notably, they report that starting sometime between February and April, the day-one releases won't be included, and that cloud streaming will be removed from the service, which will cost $5.99 for 25 hours.

This was an unsourced rumor posted by the moderator, and thus was absolutely worth taking with a major grain of salt. However, Forbes' Paul Tassi reached out to Xbox about this rumor, and posted their reported response in a Tweet.

The statement reads: "We regularly test different Game Pass offerings and look at what works best for players in different markets. We don’t have any changes to announce today or plans that have been finalized. There are no changes to previously announced games coming to Game Pass Ultimate on day one."

A pretty standard statement, but the final line is fairly eye-catching; specifically calling out "previously announced games" seems to imply that bets are still off for future releases. So something like Fable, which is already being advertised as a game you can "play day one on Game Pass," will be safe, but perhaps the recently acquired Physint will not be a part of this.

Frankly, as convenient as it is for players, day-one releases on Game Pass have never felt sustainable, as Xbox has conditioned players to think their games have the value of a monthly subscription. However, once that band-aid is ripped off, I'm not sure it's one you can put back on either, because the type of person who will play Clockwork Revolution because it's on Game Pass may not be the type of person to pay $70 for it. I just hope whatever Xbox does doesn't result in even more layoffs for the studios under its banner.

Xbox Game Pass is "extremely poorly managed" and Doom should never have been part of it, says former producer

The 9-year-old boy behind YouTube channel Mighty Mike Plays has allegedly been forced to make some budget revisions after his dad noticed $118,000 in charges on his company credit card, which, the dad claims, was used without his knowledge to promote Minecraft, Roblox, and other Let's Play videos in comically long advertisements.

An increasingly viral video titled "Message from Dad...Mighty Mike Plays is Over" sees an exhausted father take the microphone to explain what happened here. Now ranked seventh on YouTube gaming trends, the video has gained nearly 400,000 views in a day.

On August 7, Mighty Mike (as I'll call him) began uploading videos, mostly from Roblox but with an occasional Minecraft snippet. As the dad, Dave, explains, the videos didn't get much traction, as you'd expect of the hobbyist clips of a kid thrown into a sea of Roblox. So, Dave says Mighty Mike, likely eager to stand among the YouTubers his generation adores, asked about ways to reach more people.

This led to a small advertisement campaign for the Mighty Mike channel: $20 just to get his videos in front of some eyeballs via YouTube ads. Unbeknownst to Dave, his payment and login information were saved to the Mighty Mike YouTube account, granting his son access to a unified Google account linked to a credit card.

That payment information, tied to Dave's business credit card, was then used by Mighty Mike to push Minecraft video ads in front of hundreds of thousands of people. The ads appear to have included a 34-minute video in its entirety.

You might be wondering how this wasn't caught sooner, how a parent could leave a credit card in the hands of a Roblox-happy kid, or whether this whole thing might be a (successful) bid for virality to drum up the channel. How did the company card get folded into this? Why would you ever use a company card on this account? How did the company, payment controllers, bank, and YouTube overlook what looks to be weeks of blatant fraud? Is Dave just an AI-generated voice?

There's reasonable doubt here, but this wouldn't be the first time a child spent a fortune online while their parent wasn't looking, and there is evidence orbiting this case. A separate video from NeverMyFault, a Minecraft YouTuber with 2.1 million subscribers, was uploaded several days ago. It captures one of these Might Mike video ads in the wild, lending credence to this whole arc. "It's just a kid playing Minecraft for 30 minutes straight," NeverMyFault says. This, in turn, inspired a response video from Mighty Mike.

Several Minecraft videos on Mighty Mike Plays do have unnaturally high view counts for such a fresh, amateur channel. Some of those views were surely a knock-on effect from this newfound virality, but the view spike is centered around three videos: "Minecraft part 1 {new series}," "Minecraft ultra starter guide," and "Minecraft Hardcore part 1 wait for end."

"Minecraft part 1 {new series}" is 34 minutes long and was the target of the wholesale ad shown in NeverMyFault's video. The comments on Mighty Mike's video are filled with users saying they found it through an ad, and I doubt Mighty Mike has the kind of pull to enlist a massive network of bot accounts.

"Apparently my son has been running some high-budget campaigns on YouTube that I was pretty much unaware of," says Dave.

"We just thought he was having fun, playing video games, uploading them to YouTube," he continues. "But basically, today I got called into the office at work. I walk in and we got the corporate manager, we got people from finance. They pull up a laptop, show me some tables on the screen, and basically ask me to explain why there's $118,000 missing from the company card that was assigned to me."

Dave's comments suggest he did intentionally use his company card for that first ad, limited campaign: "I put in the card information myself. Figured that was that. End of story. What I didn't think about, not even for a second, was that saving my company's card meant it was just going to sit there afterward, ready to go, pretty much available anytime he opened an app on his own."

The dad says the situation is nowhere near as funny when it's happening to you, but he stresses he isn't blaming his son for just doing 9-year-old things. "He didn't fully understand what a company card meant or that a large number on the screen represented real money," he says.

NeverMyFault estimated that one Mighty Mike Minecraft ad could run upwards of $6,000. "Not quite, brother," says Dave. "Six figures."

Nevertheless, "this is not a haha funny story, everything worked out fine kind of situation," Dave adds. "I mean, not yet at least. There's a real, genuine chance that I end up personally having to pay some of that, or all of that, back out of my pocket." This, you can imagine, would be a crushing expense.

While Dave sorts this out, he says Mighty Mike will be pausing his burgeoning YouTube career, and probably "mowing lawns until he's 18" to help pay for this.

He also says the magic words: "Moving forward, for anyone who's been asking in the comments already, we're going to set up some real, actual parental controls, spending caps, no more saved payment information on any accounts."

The next Minecraft update, Wilderness Bound 26.3, is here.

As The Blood of Dawnwalker sinks its fans into the community, I've been keeping an eye on player sentiment. Some, like me, have been transfixed by the plethora of choice available. I love how the vampire RPG's open world unfolds at your own pace despite the 30-day timer – which isn't as punishing as I thought it would be. Others have bones to pick with its design elements, from wrestling with awkward camera angles in combat to the curious lack of proper stealth.

While I find it an impressive effort from a non-triple-A studio like Rebel Wolves and am more than happy to forgive its maiden voyage a few teething problems, there is a more simple reason many players might expecting something different to what they get. Namely, I think some were expecting more than just Witcher 3 vibes in The Blood of Dawnwalker.

Twinsies?

Ever since the game was first revealed in January 2025, discussions around The Blood of Dawnwalker inevitably bring CD Projekt Red into the conversation. Reddit is still awash with very similar questions today: how much like The Witcher 3 is The Blood of Dawnwalker, really, and does liking one mean you will love the other?

Well, the answer really depends. As a project created by ex-Witcher 3 developers – a tagline that, admittedly, has been done to death by myself and fellow games journalists in the leadup to the game's launch – it does share some DNA. By that, I mean both Geralt and Coen exist in medieval high-fantasy worlds, and that dialogue choices shape the story you will experience.

The game director himself is "really comfortable" with the comparisons, but having played both The Blood of Dawnwalker and The Witcher 3 to completion, let's be real. The two RPGs are mechanically and tonally alien to one another.

While playing Dawnwalker for the first time, I thought back to the closed-doors Witcher 3: Songs of the Past demo I was privileged to attend at Gamescom 2026.

Watching Geralt run barefoot through the leafy countryside town of Letten before punching a dude in the face to get his best friend's lute back, all in time to swan into a mansion wearing last night's gladrags – it's the kind of lighthearted opening fodder Coen of Laslea couldn't dream of. We never get a glimpse of a happy Coen; the game starts in a black plague fever dream throwback, and things never get better for the unlikely hero.

Even when Songs of the Past's mysterious drama starts unfolding – companion Dandelion has vanished, and it's up to his sister and Geralt to search for him – there's a warm, almost self-aware familiarity about it. There are tough decisions to be made in The Witcher, but this world is as much a campy fairytale as it is imperiled. Case in point: Geralt gets so stoned in one mission that his horse can converse with him.

That tonal balance can be seen in Geralt's new-and-improved combat capabilities coming in the DLC. Not only does he still have his trusty steel and silver swords at his back, for man and monster respectively, Geralt will have a silver hook on a chain for fancy ranged attacks. It'll be a new stand-in for the crossbow come the expansion's 2027 launch, a throwback to the source novels that gives Geralt even greater combat diversity and shows off his status as a tried-and-true battle master.

But then, there's Coen in The Blood of Dawnwalker. Anyone who comes to Rebel Wolves' RPG expecting a Witcher 3-like combat experience will be sorely disappointed. Without his witchcraft or vampire abilities, Coen is all melee, all the time. The directional blocks and dodges are another fresh challenge, requiring keen reflexes and even greater dexterity since Coen cannot simply dodge-roll around the battlefield and buttonmash to success. So why are we all comparing Dawnwalker to The Witcher 3?

Separate ways

I'd say the exact same thing even with combat put aside completely. Coen has a time constraint. Geralt does not. Coen's actions in the open world get punished by edicts, increasing pressure on the player as you fight back against vamp lord Brencis. Geralt's are not.

When I see prospective Dawnwalker players asking how lively or dense the open world of Vale Sangora is compared to Geralt's Continent, I wince. Coen's world is not the size of a literal country. It does not have the enemy or mission variety of The Witcher 3, which had a book series and two games to draw upon, and as the first game in a would-be saga, nor did I expect it to.

I feel partly responsible for the constant hat-tipping to The Witcher 3 that set The Blood of Dawnwalker up for these comparisons. It was a way into the new IP that, at the time, created an immediate touchstone for players to better understand the overall vibe and style of the game before we knew much about it.

But now that Dawnwalker is out in the wild, hear my plea: It's time to leave Geralt alone and appreciate Coen on his own merit. Comparing the first in a potential saga to a soon-to-be four-part video game series sets up unrealistic expectations for everyone. I wonder if the comparisons will hold up when The Blood of Dawnwalker closes in on its modern day timeline, or if Cyberpunk 2077 will be the new chosen one?

Check out all the upcoming RPGs for 2026 and beyond if you've had your fill of Vale Sangora.

While these Bloxnote codes might not award you with anything that will provide a competitive advantage, it's always handy to have some fresh emotes to communicate how you're feeling or perhaps show off when you're playing well.

Inspired by Deathnote, Bloxnote is a social deduction game in which you have to figure out who's killing people as Kira - or play the notebook owner yourself as you try to avoid detection. Either way, you can see how emotes might come in handy. Most of these Bloxnote codes give Apples (iykyk), which you can use for emotes or titles in this Roblox Among-Us-like.

While you're not writing in the Bloxnote, check out our list of the current Roblox promo codes for more general rewards that can be used across all experiences.

All Bloxnote codes

These are the Bloxnote codes you can redeem right now:

• ABASAIYANWALK500K - 1,000x Apples, Saiyan Walk Emote

As I've mentioned, and as you can see from the list above, most Bloxnote codes grant apples, with a few bonus codes sometimes offering special emotes. While you can spend apples on emotes and titles, you could also save up for the Rem skin if you're willing to put in the time.

Bloxnote codes aren't case-sensitive, so you only have to worry about spelling them correctly. You can always copy and paste them from above to be safe, since some codes are complex.

How to redeem Bloxnote codes

To redeem Bloxnote codes, click on the Settings button in the top left-hand corner of the screen, then scroll to the bottom of the Settings window to find the redemption box. Enter a code from above and click the green Redeem button to claim your rewards. You can do this during a game at any time other than in the meeting room - but you probably shouldn't.

Expired Bloxnote codes

• VISITS200K - 1,000x Apples
• SORRYFORSHUTDOWN - 500x Apples
• SRRYFORSHUTDOWN - 500x Apples
• RELEASE - 500x Apples

There are already some expired promos since Bloxnote launched in September 2026, so we can expect codes to come and go very quickly, meaning you should redeem any valid codes as soon as possible to avoid missing out.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

No video game is perfect, regardless of how popular or enduring they are. The Witcher 3 is no exception, and on the back of the upcoming remaster, one lead developer makes it clear he'd revisit quite a bit of the massive RPG.

"For me, The Witcher 3 is not a monument and is not untouchable. It is still vivid in my memory, and it is still something that is not maybe a point of reference, but something that still may be improved," Marcin Blacha, lead writer on The Witcher 3 and now vice president of narration at CD Projekt Red, tells PC Gamer.

"When I'm playing The Witcher 3, I still find some places that I think maybe nowadays, I would do it differently."

I can understand this mentality. There's a lot to do in Wild Hunt, and since it's been over a decade, Blacha's now got the value of hindsight in what could've been more efficient or better.

Not only is the base game about to get a sizable lick of paint, but there's an expansion coming too, Songs of the Past. They provide a decent amount of changes and additions to the 11-year-old game between them, and Blacha found the whole process to be invigorating creatively.

"Adding a new expansion is not such a huge deal," he explains. "In fact, discovering we still have it, you know, we have this thing, and we are still able to create a story that fits not only vanilla Witcher 3 but also Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. It is still a very uplifting feeling – a time machine that brings me 10 years back, when I was younger and maybe more passionate and more enthusiastic."

To compound what he's talking about, the chain weapon Geralt uses in Songs of the Past was an idea for the base game the team couldn't figure out in time. It seems like the devs still have more to say in The Witcher 3, and more power to them for making good on those opportunities still.

And it helps that Songs of the Past will take the edge off waiting for The Witcher 4.

The Witcher 3's Songs of the Past expansion wouldn't be "possible" without the RPG's remaster, says CD Projekt Red: "The stars had to align."

Bad news if you live in Europe and you're still without a PS5 Pro ahead of the release of GTA 6 – stock issues have sent prices skyrocketing, as it appears everyone has had the same idea of grabbing the console before the launch of Rockstar's blockbuster this November.

As reported by Heise Online, asking prices for the PS5 Pro have increased significantly over the last few weeks, coinciding with the GTA 6 Extended Look. A price tracking chart on the site shows a major upward trend in prices in Germany, with things remaining steady at the €899.99 recommended retail price in early August before jumping up at the end of the month into the thousands around and beyond the big GTA 6 showcase.

The site currently lists asking prices for the console from sites like Notebooksbilliger going as high as €1,399.99. Many of the inflated listings come from third-party sellers on eBay, and there's a seemingly good reason for that – a lack of stock elsewhere. The PS5 Pro is listed as unavailable on PlayStation Direct in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the UK. In Germany specifically, reports from late last month show this has been the case for weeks.

Is this really GTA 6's fault? Well, we can't prove it for sure, but there's certainly a correlation if nothing else. And it makes sense – Sony and Rockstar previously proclaimed that GTA 6 "plays best on PS5," and, well, the PS5 Pro is the better PS5. It'd make sense that GTA fans would want to prepare for launch by buying the strongest available platform.

This demand-driven price surge is even more unfortunate than it could have been as it also comes after an official price hike from Sony earlier in the year. In Europe, the PS5 Pro jumped to €899.99 this April – a €100 increase from its €799.99 launch price. That'd be a significant enough surge as it is, but to see the consoles now go for hundreds more than that as folks become desperate to get their hands on one? It's rough out here.

GTA 6 teasers keep popping up on celebrity social media as Travis Scott, Morgan Wallen, and more hint at Rockstar collaboration.

Diablo 4's 15th season, Season of Hell's Legacy, is officially live following a brief delay apparently caused by server issues.

Blizzard fully lifted the lid on Season of Hell's Legacy during BlizzCon 2026, showing off a nostalgic seasonal questline celebrating the entire history of the Diablo series coinciding with its 30th birthday—and confirming a September 15 release date. It's definitely one of the meatiest seasons so far for Diablo 4, so it's not a huge surprise that players had been reporting server issues all day today, leading Blizzard to delay it altogether without confirming a new time/date. Well, thankfully that turned out to be a brief delay, as Blizzard has announced that Season of Hell's Legacy is officially live "now."

I have also logged in and created a character in the Seasonal realm without issue. It is worth noting, however, that Solo Self Found mode has been temporarily disabled and there's no known timeline for its return.

In advance of the new Amazon class next year, Diablo 4 is whisking players off all the way back to the series' roots with a new seasonal activity called Waking Nightmares, which are essentially quests recreating the most iconic boss fights in the series' history. Longtime players will appreciate the return of beloved characters like Deckard Cain as well as some less beloved but equally familiar faces like Mephisto, Baal, and at long last, Diablo himself as Diablo 4's long-awaited final, final boss.

There is something of a horned elephant in the room with Diablo 5 having been announced at BlizzCon and the implications for Diablo 4. And yes, Blizzard has confirmed there will be no more full-blown Diablo 4 expansions as it turns to focus on Diablo 5, but it has also confirmed that seasonal updates like this one will continue to drop for the foreseeable future.

Diablo 5 goes back to a pre-Diablo 4 world of "constant discovery" and procedural dungeons: "The only thing beyond the fog of war is more questions"

Destiny's Taken King expansion is officially 11 years old, and former Bungie studio vice president Mark Noseworthy marked the occasion by saying what many Destiny players have thought a million times: this game is so good, but it could be so much better.

In a post on Twitter, Noseworthy, who left Bungie in 2024 along with some other senior staff amidst layoffs, describes The Taken King as his personal pinnacle.

"Of all the parts of Destiny I’ve worked on, this remains my personal favorite as a player and the one I’m most proud of," he reflects. "We knew Destiny 1 was so close to great; it was just missing some ingredients and a different preparation. 'I love playing Destiny. I hate that it’s not better' was our mantra while making [The Taken King]."

The early days of Destiny were some of the series' messiest, with players and Bungie both unsure of what the game was meant to be. The Vault of Glass, the first raid, helped crystallize the vision and, frankly, resuscitate the game, but it was The Taken King – a blast of new content, an immeasurably stronger story, added buildcrafting options, and improved progression and endgame pursuits – that really pushed the game over the top. This is what Destiny can be.

The Taken King is still remembered as one of the best expansions in Destiny's history – to some, the best, though I personally put it behind The Witch Queen and, at the top, The Final Shape. (It's no coincidence that most of the best expansions are Hive-themed, as the Hive have the best lore.) It also cemented a pattern that would come to define much of Destiny's life, and a slightly meaner mantra that many players adopted: I hate Destiny, it's my favorite game.

Throughout its life, Destiny has often felt like it's about to turn the corner, with only its finest expansions actually delivering on everything expected or imagined, and avoiding systemic missteps that another expansion would have to fix.

Looking back, a lot of Destiny expansions really were fixers. Destiny 2's Forsaken, for example, was a near shot-for-shot replay of The Taken King: after a troubled launch, Bungie stepped in to correct a bunch of errors. That became my acid test for expansions: how much of this is fixing Destiny, and how much of this is celebrating or expanding it? Is the game great now, or could it be great later?

The final update for Destiny 2, stuck in stasis after Bungie ended active development and began to really prioritize digging Marathon out of its rut, left it in arguably the best place it's ever been, with FOMO removed, loot updated, and many events available. But with the end of development, the game also stopped chasing those new horizons. We'll never turn the corner now.

Bungie ends Marathon's seasonal schedule, delays a September update to December, and makes it more like Destiny 2.

Upcoming Mass Effect-like RPG Exodus takes romance seriously, which means you'll need to get comfortable with the idea that serious romance requires sacrifice, and, sometimes, a pig pen of mess. You'll be able to date around, but not without consequence.

Exodus narrative director – and Mass Effect's lead writer – Drew Karpyshyn tells Game Informer that romance was mandatory for the sci-fi drama because "it would feel almost hollow" without it. "Romance is a huge part of the real world," Karpyshyn adds, and Exodus encourages you to be reasonable when you feel a familiar spark in-game.

So while "you can have multiple romances going at the same time," Karpyshyn says, "eventually, there might be some issues with that, depending on which companions [you choose]."

It's like any other situation where one partner wants to discuss non-monogamy and the other wants to throw their copy of The Ethical Slut into a funeral pyre. Basically, "Not everybody is comfortable with that," Karpyshyn says, "and as the story develops, your romance might go from something like a casual relationship, more of a fling, to something much deeper."

"In that case," the writer says, "most of the companions would not want you to have a very deep emotional connection with somebody else as well." You may choose to ignore your lovers' wishes if you'd like to live your life in space as an evil bachelorette, but keep in mind that Exodus' romance is connected to its affinity system. So, the more you risk your tires getting slashed – or whatever the intergalactic equivalent of that is. Your rocketship will get keyed.

Even mission scenarios can risk pissing off your partner. Karpyshyn explains, "You might get into a situation where you think, 'Well, for this mission, I actually agree with this character, but I've been romancing this character. Should I just back them anyway?"

"If you do," the writer continues, "that'll obviously get you more affinity with that character." But "if you decide not to back the character," he warns, "you might get yourself into a situation where they are not very happy with you. I'm sure anyone who's been in a relationship has experienced that."

Karpyshyn explained to GamesRadar+ in February that playing as the main character doesn't give you magic heartthrob status. Its approach to relationships, as I'm sure you've been starting to pick up on, is more realistic than that. The narrative lead said at the time, "There are some games where, literally, you can just romance anyone, because you're the hero, and you just get it." Exodus doesn't waste its time with something so easy.

"We want it to be a little bit more than that. We want these relationships to feel real, which means there's sometimes conflict, there's sometimes push and pull. Sometimes you've got to earn it" – something you should keep in mind for your time both in space and on Earth.

Exodus steps out of Mass Effect's shadow with combat that builds on BioWare's RPG and a galaxy that I'm itching to explore.

Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons ditches the quest and objective waypoints seen in many large games, and even lets you disable its small compass, to prioritize organic exploration. It's music to my ears.

General manager Dominic Guay of Warlock developer Invoke Studios spoke to IGN about the game's approach.

"We wanted them to engage with the world, to figure things out and feel that when they found things, it was based on their actions and not just blindly trusting a waypoint,” he says.

Guay, like the other former Watch Dogs developers at Invoke, speaks from experience. With a "heavy-handed guiding approach," he says, "a lot of players will just blindly follow the waypoint, and then you lose that agency, you lose that feeling of curiosity."

Before the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2, players gathered around a rumor that Rockstar had added pro-exploration settings that would disable waypoint-like hints and add additional, grounded clues into the game's world, like NPC comments or map details. Warlock uses a system that sounds a little bit like that.

As Guay explains, "Mysteries" can be uncovered through exploration and various interactions. "Not only are there multiple entry points, but depending on how you stumble upon them, it might change how you interact with them," he says. My read is that it's sort of an inverted tree structure: lots of branches to find, all leading back to the core.

This discussion on player agency and direction comes as Marvel's Wolverine, the latest from Insomniac Games, fields criticism of overdone guidance. Amidst the discussion, Insomniac says "we have been 100% listening" and "cooking hard today in response to some of the feedback." (Our own Marvel's Wolverine review mostly docks the game for messiness in its story and features, with combat never becoming good enough to carry the experience.)

Last month, we got a fresh, extended look at Warlock gameplay. Very different from D&D standard-bearer Baldur's Gate 3 and with hints of Dragon's Dogma 2, the game is shaping up to be, if nothing else, interesting.

Warlock escapes Baldur's Gate 3's long shadow with a very different take on D&D that I'm happy to roll my dice on.

It seems to me that no one is ever convinced that Game Pass deserves an oxygen tank while it's dying, not even Xbox executives. Having experienced what it's like to actually have your game on the sickly subscription service, Doom veteran Andrew Willis – who was impacted by the enormous job cuts at id Software in July – suggests a simple reason for all the confusion.

The former producer candidly tells Kiwi Talkz in a new interview that Game Pass is "poorly managed. Extremely poorly managed." He adds, "I think it was executed with so little foresight and so little attention to detail or understanding of the consumer market."

"So little sight there," Willis continues to say about Microsoft. "I think they just got caught in the trap of, 'Well, let's just make everything Netflix.'"

Microsoft could never decide how to measure Game Pass' success, Willis thinks. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma herself said in May that lowering the service's price to $23 was simply "a good first step" in improving it, and that Xbox staff would otherwise "have to outwork the problem in front of us in our path to restore durable growth." We know now that Microsoft's plan to "outwork the problem" includes a total of 3,200 layoffs at Xbox and, I guess, opportunistically deciding to publish another Hideo Kojima game.

Still, Sharma said as recently as July that "our business today is not healthy," partly because, "To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content."

"While those businesses have created meaningful value," Sharma added at the time, "they did not grow at the pace we expected."

Willis could have predicted this. He says, "When you start making decisions about commercial art that are investor-driven rather than consumer, or even developer driven, you're eventually going to make some pretty big mistakes. And I don't think Microsoft was ever able to figure out exactly how to measure the success of Game Pass."

"Was it hours played?" Willis wonders. "Was it games installed, was it user retention? I and many of my colleagues certainly never heard anything, like, metrics that we needed to hit. Is this a game you just want people playing in perpetuity? Do you want it to be super long? Do you just want people to see it and, like, want to install it right away, and you don't care if they play?"

This is why Doom: The Dark Ages had no business being on the platform. Willis says, "Doom should not have been on there. That was a stupid idea." While he was never explicitly told that its underwhelming commercial success contributed to id Software getting bludgeoned during Xbox layoffs, Willis wonders anyway if the game would have sold better had it not been available to Game Pass subscribers to play for free.

After The Dark Ages' 2025 launch, IP holder Bethesda was glad to tell fans, "Thank you for making DOOM: The Dark Ages the biggest launch in id's history - 7x faster to 3 million players than DOOM Eternal." But The Game Business reported at the time that a huge chunk of those 3 million players were on Xbox – over two million of them, actually – compared to just half a million fans on PS5.

"I know that sales didn't do as well as they were expected to," Willis says, "but I would suspect that's probably a huge part of Game Pass. And I guess whatever tradeoff from buying the game outright, to being on Game Pass, and whatever that metric was – installs, playtime, whatever – I guess maybe that wasn't good enough."

"I can only speculate why id was treated the way it was," the veteran producer adds. "I don't really have a good idea as to why id got chopped in half."

Unpopular and underperforming, Xbox doesn't have any answers, either.

Id Software dev says Microsoft's layoffs prove "they fundamentally don't understand" art, games, the entire business, or the destruction they just caused.

Rockstar seems to be doing something with celebrities like Travis Scott, since they keep releasing cryptic GTA 6 teasers.

The somewhat notorious Travis Scott posted art of two glittering pleaser heels leaning against a stripper pole on his Instagram, where he writes, "Phase 1. NOW ITS TIME. MY RETURN TO GAME GOTTA COME WITH RAGE AND ALOT OF DANCING LETS RIDE

"J… O. H….. to be continued. See yall soon." Travis Scott already suggested he would be involved in GTA 6 in his 2025 music video for the song "2000 Excursion" with Don Toliver and Sheck Wes, as a GTA 6 fan on Reddit noticed.

So far, joining Travis Scott in ruining GTA 6 fans' days with speculation is Morgan Wallen – the seriously controversial country star – who suggested on Twitter he was a part of GTA 6 with an image of a crumbling poolside in GTA 6's typical pink and pulp-y art style. Then, the rapper Future, producer Metro Boomin, Yung Lean, who is one of the great loves of my life because I was weird in high school, as well as Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, Latin music star Raúl Alejandro, and Argentinian trap group CAR7IEL & Paco Amoroso also have all hinted at a GTA 6 collab.

"Wtf is going on lol," frets a popular Reddit comment in a thread about Future's teaser.

My personal conspiracy is that there's a difference between the musicians who have posted the same picture of a shiny, sunset-colored Corvette (Future, Metro Boomin, and Yung Lean) and those with unique images.

Keith Richards, for example, got to release a GTA 6 teaser of an iguana looking pensive in yellowish light. I'm inclined to think that this means that he, and the others with special images, like Travis Scott, will have character roles, while those who are posting that Corvette will be featured on GTA 6's radio. The GTA games have never been too modest for a celebrity cameo, after all, and they've hosted a huge variety of artists – like Twin Peaks actor Kyle MacLachlan in GTA 3, model Cara Delevingne in GTA 5, and late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, who played himself in GTA 4.

But the real point of GTA 6 marketing is to push fans to the fine edge of the cliff leading to a mental breakdown, so Rockstar hasn't yet offered any peace with an official explanation for the open-world game's latest blast of teasers.

King of '00s nightclub music T-Pain previously revealed his involvement with GTA 6 in 2024, and Widow's Bay actor Stephen Root just confirmed he'll appear in the game. So Rockstar is definitely unrolling a 1,000-foot red carpet for GTA 6, but we don't know why yet.

Rockstar boss says GTA 6's police "can be harder" to shake off than before, "but it's fun" because it forces you "to think more."

Sometimes, developers like to have a little fun with cheaters. Valheim developer Iron Gate Studio has decided to throw people who use console commands a bone by still allowing them to log achievements – if they enter another, comically long cheat code, that is.

Prior to an update on September 11, players using developer commands in-game relegated them from getting any of Valheim's achievements. A simple, but effective way of accepting this is how some fans choose to play, and making ramifications clear.

Valheim recently entered 1.0, bringing 50 new awards people can gather, and what seems like a review of the community policies regarding those who use these exploits. Now, there's a way to re-enter the arena of in-game trophies, and it's hilariously on the nose.

If you have devcommands turned on, enter the following: "yesiuseddevcommandsbutiwantmyachievementsanyway". All that, no full stop or quotation marks, and you're back achievement hunting like normal.

I mean, what other phrase would you use? Might as well be straightforward about it. Funnily enough, I wouldn't guess this if I were trying to figure it out, because it seems too obvious, which just makes it more fun.

"The fixes include a function to let you opt into using achievements even though you have been blocked from doing so because of previous usage of devcommands," read the patch notes. "We will leave it to your own judgement whether or not to activate this function – Oden will surely know if you use it dishonourably."

Your path to Valhalla is in question here, just be cool and all will be well.

Palworld studio calls Valheim "an inspiration to everyone in the genre" as devs of the survival game drop their own 1.0 update.

The developers of Fable are confident that they have stuck the landing when it comes to the ending of the upcoming RPG.

The Fable series is home to some fairly beloved games when people get past the perhaps overhyped pre-release comments about everything you can do in them, with Fable 2 generally being the favorite of many. However, Fable 2 simultaneously has one of the worst endings ever put to a game. Spoiler alert: the final boss confrontation against Lucien, who you have been chasing the entire game, boils down to you playing a music box, shooting him once, and him falling off his pedestal dead – or with someone else shooting him if you let him talk too long. It's comedic for sure, but given all the horrible stuff your protagonist went through at his hands, it's a bit too anti-climactic.

Thankfully, Playground Games co-founder and Fable (2027) game director Ralph Fulton seems to be assuring an ending that bad won't be repeated. Speaking to The Guardian, Fulton explains that the main quest won't feel quite as urgent, to push players into messing around in the world, and to allow more meaningful player choice. He adds that the finale is the only time a player will be locked into the story, and promises that "most importantly, we stick the landing.

"It's easy to look at industry metrics saying 100% of people start a game and only 25% finish, and decide not to invest heavily in the finale," Fulton explains, adding: "We relentlessly pursued quality here."

What that ending is remains to be seen when the game releases next February, but Fulton teases that "in great Fable fashion, it culminates in a choice that really challenges you to think about who you are, with a real personal cost to weigh against the outcome."

Amid relentless layoffs at Xbox, Fable lead says "so many people" at the company see the RPG as "vital to the DNA of the platform," which "protected us over a long development cycle."

The Helldivers 2 Ironclad Democracy Warbond looks to be a spiritual sequel to Democratic Detonation, with even more explosive and incendiary power (and if you saw the trailer go live early, no you didn't). If you choose to spend your hard-earned Super Credits on this Warbond, you'll be able to unlock five weapons for your loadout, including a pump-action grenade launcher and an assault rifle with an underslung shotgun – lots of Helldivers 2 firsts. It all sounds pretty fun, so here's a breakdown of everything we know about the gear in the Ironclad Democracy Warbond.

Helldivers 2 Ironclad Democracy Warbond release date

Ironclad Democracy releases next week on September 22 at the usual time of 9AM UTC – that's 2AM PDT / 5AM EDT / 10AM BST. From then, you'll be able to buy the Warbond for the usual 1,000 Helldivers 2 Super Credits or one Helldivers 2 Warbond Token if you have one. I'll be adding it to our list of the best Helldivers 2 Warbonds in the days following, and it looks like it could be one of the best ones yet.

All Helldivers 2 Ironclad Democracy Warbond gear

The Ironclad Democracy Warbond is one of the most packed Warbonds we've ever seen. It holds a ton of stuff for you to spend your Helldivers 2 Medals on, including a whopping five loadout weapons and two Helldivers 2 Boosters. Here's the full list and what we know about each item so far:

• Weapons:
  • AR-11 Arbitrator: A rapid-fire assault rifle with an underbarrel shotgun, letting you switch between two firing modes.
  • GL-15 Evictor: Explosive power in the form of a primary weapon grenade launcher with a single-round reload and pump action.
  • P-34 Breacher: A missile pistol that fires a sticky incendiary payload – it's essentially a thermite pistol!
  • G-60 Anti-Tank Seeker: Exactly what it says, an anti-tank grenade that can seek towards enemies. After deploying, it hovers near you before flying to a nearby target.
  • G-8 Immolation: A Molotov-style firebomb grenade that carpets an area in fire.
• Armor:
  • BFM-220 Ironclad heavy armor and helmet: Comes with the Blunt-Force Mitigation passive which provides a higher armor rating, makes you more resistant to being knocked over when under attack, and reduces damage taken from impacts and collisions by 30%,
  • BFM-16 Ironclad light armor and helmet: Also comes with the Blunt-Force Mitigation passive.
• Boosters:
  • Integrated Extinguishers: Reduces the time to extinguish flames if you catch fire. Handy if your team is going all in on incendiary weapons and explosives.
  • Surplus EAT Allocation: Provides two uses of the Expendable Anti-Tank support weapon Stratagem in your current mission. With two rocket launchers per Hellpod, that works out as one launcher per player in a full team of four.
• Cosmetics:
  • Standard of Rapid Evacuation Cape
  • Shroud of the Juggernaut Cape
  • Standard of Rapid Evacuation Player Banner
  • Shroud of the Juggernaut Player Banner
  • Verdant Camouflage Tank Pattern
  • Glacial Polymer Tank Pattern
  • Executive Onyx Tank Pattern
  • Helmet Durability Check Emote
  • Treadhead Player Title

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Wardogs isn't quite like anything else that I've ever played. It is, at first glance, nothing more than your standard multiplayer FPS. It has the same guns that you've seen in Call of Duty or Battlefield. It has many of the same vehicles, even. Then you play it a little bit, and then a bit more, until the differences become entirely obvious.

Above and beyond winning matches or killing foes, your aim in Wardogs is to earn cold, hard cash. You're a mercenary, explicitly so, drafted into one of three Private Military Companies (PMCs) vying for control over the map. There are many different ways to make your daily bread. That's good, since you'll need money for almost everything from progression to buying your loadout each time you respawn. You could opt to go to the frontline along with most people, directly battling your opponents and netting a tidy sum in the process. The gunplay is satisfying, and the time-to-kill/time-to-die is rapid enough to make it an exhilarating experience. You can also make a heap of cash up on the frontline as a medic.

But if you don't fancy that, there's an almost Foxhole-like bevvy of support roles that you can step into.

All about the Benjamins

From flying helicopters full of newly-spawned players to the combat zone, driving trucks laden with supplies to your team's Forward Operating Bases, or putting those supplies to good use by constructing defences, there's no shortage of lucrative possibilities in Wardogs.

You're ranked on the scoreboard by how much cash you've made, so it's not unusual to see top-ranked players with no kills; they're probably working as a dedicated air taxi service and getting paid well for it

The maps are large enough that you really do depend on these non-combatants, too. It reminds me of MAG back on the PS3, or the sprawling landscapes of the Arma/Operation Flashpoint series. You don't always have to wait for a taxi, though, as a vehicle parked in your FOB can be spawned at once your team racks up 20 points. To get those points – 100 of which wins your team the match – you need to have more players in the circular Control Zone than either of the other teams. Every 30 seconds, a point is awarded to the team with the most players in the zone.

It's strange, really, that in two of the best games of Wardogs I've played so far, I've not actually been playing offensively. In one, I was a driver, ferrying supplies back and forth to keep my team stocked up on ammo, building supplies, and fuel. In the other, I was technically playing recon, but spent most of my time with a virtual eye glued to the spotter scope, keeping watch rather than using my rifle.

Scoping it out

There are definitely issues with the game as it stands. The lack of Linux support is a big one, and is particularly frustrating since Linux users are able to play earlier playtest builds from before the anticheat software changed.

Another issue is tied to the game feeling unnecessarily harsh for your first few levels. You can't buy body armor or a helmet right from the get-go, so your lives tend to be as nasty, brutish, and short as any envisioned by Thomas Hobbes. It's immensely discouraging. The fact that your starter weapons, while technically lethal, feel as effective as a peashooter doesn't help. Luckily, you'll likely be able to buy such essentials after an hour or so of play. The vehicles feel pretty wonky on keyboard, too, giving the impression that you're sliding around an ice rink.

Having 100-person servers split into three teams is also a little odd, resulting in two teams of 33 players and one of 34 given that the science of making one person take up a third of a player slot yet evades us. Short of the developer just upping the server count to a number more easily divisible by three, this slight imbalance is just one of the game's many quirks right now.

Playing with friends or a clan is probably the best way to go. But once you dig into Wardogs, especially if you're happy using a mic and joining random squads, you'll find a generally very pleasant community even going in solo. There have been a few of the inevitable exceptions, but I've felt more welcome than not so far.

Players come here for different purposes, because Wardogs really is a mishmash of genres. Depending on your role, you could be playing it like a stripped-back survival game, a truck simulator, flight sim, or an FPS. You could quite easily dedicate your entire playtime to becoming a fantastic driver or pilot, saving lives on the frontline while barely firing a shot. You could also become a saboteur, a sniper, or special forces operator. Whichever roles you choose to take on, there's always a way for you to make money as a mercenary.

Time will tell if its diversity will be enough to keep players coming back for more. But since Wardogs launched into Early Access, I've struggled to play anything else.

Load into the best FPS games to play next if you were hoping for a first-person shooter with, well, a little more shooting...

It's no secret that the video game industry isn't exactly being kind, even to the best of folks – including Kurt Kuhlmann, Bethesda Game Studios veteran and legendary Elder Scrolls "lore master" who worked on gems like the original Oblivion and Skyrim.

Although Kuhlmann hasn't been at Bethesda for quite some time now, having reportedly left over Bethesda's "bureaucratic" baggage, in his own words, and broken promises from Todd Howard about leading The Elder Scrolls 6.

He landed on his feet after leaving the company, however, moving on to work as a principal world designer at AAA studio Lightspeed LA… only to lose his role following a wave of layoffs earlier this summer.

Kuhlmann discusses his situation in a post on LinkedIn, putting into perspective just how difficult the industry is for developers right now – old and new.

"Along with most of the Last Sentinel team," he writes, alluding to his job at Lightspeed LA, "I was laid off in July, so I am back on the job market." He then flags potential employers: "If you know of anyone looking for a senior/principal/lead designer, please let me know or pass them my information."

It hits hard, honestly, seeing an industry veteran of his measure with literal decades of dev and leadership experience seeking work – but it's sadly not surprising.

Heck, just take a look at what's been happening all over, from the relentless layoffs at Xbox (which are ongoing, with Microsoft's plan to cut 3,200 employees at Xbox having commenced in July) to those elsewhere, even at indie companies, things aren't easy… anywhere, it seems.

And, as Kuhlmann proves, nobody is immune. He's got loads of know-how in the industry, and then some, as he lays out in his thread: "I spent the majority of my career at Bethesda Game Studios (BGS), and I've done pretty much every design-related thing for BGS games – narrative design and writing, world-building, combat balance, character systems, minigames, crafting, gameplay scripting, etc."

All of this and his time at Lightspeed LA. Kuhlmann concludes that he's "prioritizing jobs that allow remote work but I'm open to any opportunities that are a good match for my skills and experience" – and I sure do hope some come his way soon.

Fallout co-creator tells new devs terrified of layoffs they're "wrong" to expect making games to be a "stable job": "Art itself is inherently unstable."

Last Stop codes are a great way to increase your chances of survival while you're on the road, fighting zombies and bandits in this apocalyptic experience. It's not only you that's need to be powered up with the best class, weapons, and gear, but you bus also needs to be kitted up to defend.

Fortunately, these Last Stop codes give you tickets to unlock new recipes, which can be used to buff your bus, making you stronger against the enemies you'll meet on the road in this Roblox game. Alternatively, you can spend them on a new class for your character. Whatever you want to spend your tickets on, here's the latest Last Stop codes.

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

All Last Stop codes

These are the Last Stop codes you can redeem in-game right now:

• FRED - 500x Tickets
• UPDATE1 - 250x Tickets

Last Stop tickets so far have generally rewarded players with Tickets, and these can be used to unlock crafting recipes or buy a new character class. You can only spend tickets in the lobby, so make sure you kit up before heading out on the road.

Codes aren't case-sensitive, so just make sure you've got the spelling right, or copy and paste from the list above.

How to redeem Last Stop codes

To redeem Last Stop codes, you must first reach level 5 by completing a few rounds and some quests. Once at the right level, you can redeem codes by clicking on the Codes button in the top-right corner of the screen. You can then enter a code from the list above into the box, then click on the green check mark to claim your rewards.

The codes box is at the bottom of the settings menu, so you can also navigate to the redemption box via the settings cog in the top left-hand corner.

Expired Last Stop codes

• There are no expired codes.

Given the recent creation of Last Stop, there are currently no expired codes to list here, but it will only be a matter of time before the current codes become invalid, so redeem them now.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

A new Metal Gear Solid 5 mod has been released which aims to bring back the feeling of the series' classic games by allowing you to go in with nothing.

Metal Gear Solid changed pretty drastically with its final entries. Metal Gear Solid 4 sowed the seeds with the Drebin shop, but Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker and 5 took the series in a different direction.

The original MSX2 games and Solid trilogy had you infiltrating enemy bases with only the clothes on your back (or very little supplies) and every important item and extra weapon had to be found during your mission. Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain, on the other hand, feature the Mother Base, which allows you to develop your own weapons, meaning that every single time you went into a mission, your bag was packed to the brim.

Well, clearly someone longs for the good old days of stealth, as modder mohtalgear has released Metal Gear Solid 5's "definitive subsistence" mod. The big focus of this mod is On-Site Procurement (OSP) , a concept introduced in Metal Gear Solid 1, where Snake must secure his equipment at Shadow Moses. However, to launch a mission in Metal Gear Solid 5, you need to have some weapon equipped, so this mod removes that hurdle while reworking the game itself to make the experience work.

Crucially, every base weapon in the game will now be available to find on-site, whether that be from enemies or found on the map. This includes re-introducing concepts from earlier games, like having enemies drop their equipment or looting them when they are down and out. This extends to MGS 5's suite of extras too, as it introduces radios that allow you to call in support from your buddies like D. Dog, D. Horse, or Quiet.

On top of that, the mod introduces new bionic arms and weapons that were previously unavailable for main missions, and allows you to play as multiplayer-exclusive characters like Ocelot and Quiet in the open world. And, of course, you are able to still dispatch with your developed weapons with no issue.

Hideo Kojima intentionally designed Metal Gear Solid's box art to look confusing and grab attention, but stores ruined his plan by "trying to be helpful."

Fable has been a long time coming, with its development spanning several waves of layoffs at publisher Xbox, as well as the cancellation of high-profile projects. But the RPG's director suggests that the RPG has been unscathed because it's viewed as "vital to the DNA of the platform."

A new interview with The Guardian really puts into perspective how long Fable has been in the works, with production apparently starting as far back as 2016. We wouldn't see Playground Games' reveal trailer until 2020, but even then, fans have been waiting over six years for the RPG, during which time there have been major changes at Microsoft and Xbox, as well as across the industry as a whole.

We've seen thousands of layoffs at the company over the last few years – only in July, a further 1,600 roles were eliminated, with another 1,600 to come throughout the 2027 fiscal year as part of what CEO Asha Sharma called "the most significant restructure in Xbox history." A number of games have also been scrapped – last year, the Perfect Dark reboot was canceled as developer The Initiative was closed down amid a different wave of layoffs. ZeniMax Online Studios' new MMO, Project Blackbird, was also lost at this point, which led to former Elder Scrolls Online boss Matt Firor leaving the company.

Needless to say, there's been a lot of instability at Xbox, but thankfully, Fable is still set to release next year. "I genuinely think Fable is an important game. What has protected us over a long development cycle is that so many people within Xbox view Fable as vital to the DNA of the platform," says Playground Games co-founder and Fable director Ralph Fulton.

"I would go a step further and say it's important to video games as a whole," he continues. "It offers a combination of elements that simply doesn't exist anywhere else."

It's appropriate, then, that this Fable game isn't just releasing on Xbox Series X|S and PC; it's also coming to PS5 – a plan that's not changed since Xbox outlined its recent plan to "reevaluate our approach to exclusivity" after its prior move to let more of its titles fly the nest to competitor platforms.

Unfortunately, the RPG was also recently delayed – avoiding GTA 6, it'll now be launching on February 23, instead.

Fable is "15-20 hours" long, Xbox confirms, but you can "literally play it forever" if you treat it more like a life sim than an RPG.

Grand Blue codes can give you an advantage in this epic pirate adventure, as you travel the lands searching for Cursed Fruits to add to your collection and increase your abilities. There are also rare weapons and equipment to discover and craft, as you increase your strength through battles so you can defeat the tough bosses standing in your way.

While this experience is still in Early Access there are plenty of promos being released, offering free Trait and Race Rerolls to modify your character along with other useful items to get a boost in this role-playing Roblox experience. If you're setting sail for adventure, then these are the codes for Grand Blue and how to redeem them.

If you'd prefer some more general promos with rewards that apply to all of your experiences, then take a look at the recent Roblox promo codes.

All Grand Blue codes

The following Grand Blue codes are currently active to be claimed:

• DevilsBounty – 30x Trait Rerolls, 3x Race Rerolls new!
• AnchorsUp – 15x Trait Rerolls, 13x Race Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest
• StarShower – 15x Trait Rerolls, 10x Race Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest
• LuckOfTheSea – 10x Trait Rerolls, 10x Race Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest

There are currently a few Grand Blue codes available, offering a selection of Trait Rerolls, Race Rerolls, and Fruit Chests, while previous promos have also included Celestial Coins. Keep in mind that these benefits are often split into items that are awarded immediately and pending rewards that unlock after a certain amount of time, so you may not receive everything listed above all at once.

How to redeem Grand Blue codes

There are two different routes you can use to redeem Grand Blue codes, with the first being to access the Customize Character option from the main menu and then use the Enter code... text box at the bottom of that screen. If you're in the game itself then you can also hit the Settings button to bring up the menu, then select the Codes tab before using the Enter code... text box there. Codes for Grand Blue are not case-sensitive, so just make sure you use the correct spelling.

Expired Grand Blue codes

• OmegaCode – 1,000x Celestial Coins, 15x Trait Rerolls, 15x Race Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest
• RollWithIt – 30x Trait Rerolls, 5x Race Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest
• PocketOfStars – 15x Trait Rerolls, 10x Race Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest
• GrandBlueCode – 1,250x Celestial Coins, 15x Trait Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest
• NewYouNewCrew – 20x Trait Rerolls, 5x Race Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest
• CelestialBlessing – 3,000x Celestial Coins
• FruitBasket – 10x Trait Rerolls, 5x Race Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest
• 10KCCU – 4,000x Celestial Coins
• SorryForBreakingGame – 20x Trait Rerolls, 10x Race Rerolls
• HappySunday – 15x Trait Rerolls, 20x Race Rerolls, 2x Fruit Chests
• TwitterGoalReached – 20x Trait Rerolls, 5x Race Rerolls, 1x Fruit Chest
• Release! – 10x Trait Rerolls, 5x Race Rerolls
• WorldBossBroke – Rewards

Although the experience is still in Early Access, there are already plenty of expired Grand Blue codes on this list. That means they don't tend to stick around for long, so make sure you've redeemed any active codes as soon as you can.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Don't expect dealing with the police in GTA 6 to be a walk in the park, one Rockstar lead warns, as law enforcement has been given a significant upgrade in the upcoming entry to keep you on your toes when you've been up to no good.

A deep-dive video from content creator TGG (below) explains the changes made to the police system in GTA 6. Notably, police will no longer have such a short memory when it comes to recognizing you after a crime, meaning you'll have to put a bit more effort into staying undetected.

"We wanted to get past that thing we used to have where you could lose the cops instantaneously, and then they forget about you instantly," explains Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson. "And we wanted them to have a bit more persistent memory."

To enable this, Rockstar has introduced a new mechanic called 'heat.' Several icons may appear below your wanted level, indicating what information about you the police know and can recognize. For example, they might be aware of what clothes you're wearing or what vehicle you're using, so even if you manage to get out of their line of sight during a chase, then they're still going to spot you later on if you've not addressed those factors – even after your wanted stars have disappeared, according to TGG.

Speaking of breaking the police's line of sight, though, another big change has been made here. On your mini-map, you won't see the police show up on your radar when you're being chased.

"It can be harder, but it's fun, depending on the wanted level," Nelson says. "You have to think more. You can't just play the game and avoid their little vision cones anymore. [...] So, they don't show up on the radar, they show up when you use Focus."

TGG notes that Focus lets you see the cops through walls, so you'll definitely have options up your sleeve for detecting and avoiding the law, but you won't be able to rely on the mini-map as much.

As you'd expect after so many years of development, GTA 6 has seen lots of tweaks and refinements compared to previous entries in the series. You can't so easily stroll around the city carrying guns anymore, either – NPCs will now react accordingly depending on what weapons you're swinging around, with Nelson noting that they're "more nuanced than before."

Rockstar wants GTA 6's Jason and Lucia to inspire the same sort of "emotional connection" that Red Dead Redemption 2 fans had with Arthur.

TCG Card Shop Simulator took Steam by storm when it hit early access back in 2024, offering players the thrill of collecting Pokemon-style cards without the burden of actually buying packs and keeping binders full of colorful cardboard. Now, after attracting millions of players and garnering overwhelmingly positive reviews, it's finally gone 1.0.

"TCG Card Shop Simulator was made because I was bored out of my mind after burning out from solo mobile game development back in 2023. I felt aimless and wasn't sure what to do with my life," developer Ding Shen Sia explains in a Steam news post. Having already built a TCG-themed game on mobile, the dev decided to expand the concept with a Steam game.

"From then on, I was a madman. I worked on it everyday and spent at least 90 hours every week for 6 months. And on 15 September 2024, I managed to launch TCG Card Shop Simulator on Steam Early Access, a month earlier than what I've planned. I had no big expectations or plans for it other than making the Steam Trading Cards work, but I would have been really happy if it sold 100,000 copies in a year (it somehow sold that amount in just 3 days!)"

As confirmed in a press release, the game has now reached 4 million players, and they've clearly found something to love. TCG Card Shop Simulator has nearly 50,000 reviews on Steam, and 96% of them are positive. Broadly, it seems that players are taken by the cozy vibes of running a small business – but some of the top reviews also thank the game for helping them kick their pack-ripping habits, so maybe there's a benefit there, too.

The biggest news in the 1.0 update is the launch of PS5, Switch, and Switch 2 versions of the game, alongside the existing Steam and Xbox Series X/S editions. But for existing players, the important part is that Tetramon TCG is no longer just a Pokemon-inspired theme for the products you're selling in store. It's now a real TCG that you can actually play in-game.

Nearly 2,000 new cards have been added in the 1.0 update, bringing the total up to 4,436, so there's at least plenty of variety to be found in the TCG. We'll see how much depth the game-within-the-game has soon enough, but for now, well… I bought my first Pokemon card packs in decades recently. Maybe I should check out TCG Card Shop Simulator myself before this new hobby gets out of hand.

Here are the best simulator games you can play right now.

Once Final Fantasy 7 Revelation comes out on April 8, 2027, the entire Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy will likely total at least 150 hours of Cloud being tormented – assuming the final installment is as long as the two before it. That's already a lot of Final Fantasy 7 remake, but Square Enix company director Yoshinori Kitase might be craving more, and he wouldn't rule out a spin-off, or 12.

He had the same open approach to the original Final Fantasy 7 game in 1997, Kitase tells Malaysia-based games news site GamerBraves. That RPG was meant to be a one-and-done experience until fans' sleepless enthusiasm led to years of related games, like the popular Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII from 2007, which also got remastered in 2022 as Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core Reunion.

Kitase says, "In terms of the remake series with [Final Fantasy 7], we really wanted to feel like, and we really have put so much work into this to feel like we've done everything we possibly can to make this [newest] title have the best quality it possibly can have." At the moment, that assessment seems honest – GamesRadar+ senior producer James Daly writes in his recent Final Fantasy 7 Revelation preview, "I wonder how Naoki Hamaguchi and Square Enix so masterfully manage to weave nostalgia into something so obviously new in so many ways. Maybe I'll never truly understand."

At the risk of sounding cynical, I think it helps that Square Enix developers are so willing to squeeze every single molecule of inspiration from Final Fantasy 7 until it's dry and crackling. The developer learned this approach 30 years ago. "When we created the original Final Fantasy VII," Kitase says, "we really thought like, 'Okay, we're done now. We can move on.'"

But fans of what many consider to be one of the best Final Fantasy games of all time weren't ready to let go. "The characters were so popular and so lasting," Kitase recalls. "The fan reaction to these characters really is what brought on the spinoff games as well like Advent Children and Crisis Core.”

Now, Kitase says about Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, "We can confidently say it's the end of the series." But there's a giant, shining asterisk assigned to that statement. Square Enix is fine with walking away from its remake trilogy, but the overall concept of Final Fantasy 7 might still be holding a few cups worth of spin-off ideas.

"Who knows what's going to happen with fan reaction and how people come to enjoy this series and this finale," Kitase says. The door is open.

After countless memes, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation boss confirms that, yes, Fortnite partly inspired jumping out of the Highwind.