Ubisoft has announced that this week's Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced update will be its "final major content update."

Last week, Ubisoft broke its months-long silence on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced by revealing a forthcoming New Game Plus mode, and at the time I questioned whether that would be the only thing in the update. Now we have all the answers, with Ubisoft's patch notes detailing a higher difficulty mode, hidden community chests, new takedowns, new cosmetics, and a host of bug fixes. Not bad at all for the revamped pirate game's final sendoff.

The New Game Plus mode is pretty standard, letting you play through the main quest from the beginning with everything you picked up in your previous playthrough, and with an increasing world difficulty for every new playthrough. Same goes for Nightmare difficulty as the game's hardest challenge with the "deadliest" enemies. Specifically, all of your foes will deal 1.8x their normal damage, parries will be trickier to pull off, and crucially, the one-shot kill safety will be disabled, meaning any stray bullet will have the potential to take you out even if you're full health. Meanwhile, stealth will be more tilted in your enemies' favor, all ships will do more damage to your own, and even sea creatures like sharks and jellyfish will be more dangerous than before.

There isn't a whole lot of information on the new community chests, but Ubisoft says they'll be "more challenging" to find and will include "special community requested rewards."

In a nice little throwback to 2013's Black Flag, the final Resynced update will add new takedowns from the original game, including hidden blade, unarmed, single sword and gunblade takedowns. Why these weren't in the remake to start with, I have no idea, but better late than never. Rounding out the update are a bunch of new cosmetics including new outfits, new pet skins, and trinkets, which you can uncover by playing the New Game Plus mode, as well as a treasure chest full of bug fixes.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced version 1.0.8 releases on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 27.

Find out where Black Flag ranks on our list of the best Assassin's Creed games ever.

After years of waiting, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 arrived last week, and it's every bit the bright, vivacious exploration of Night City I hoped it'd be. One of the more memorable characters is Weak Kingsley, a well-built mercenary, and after someone managed to replicate his stats in Cyberpunk 2077, it's clear he's just a tad overpowered.

A former hotshot in the dystopian metropolis, Weak was eventually knocked off the food chain of violence and became a Solo who exists on the fringes. Regardless, he's managed to keep himself well-equipped, no easy feat considering most of his body is cyberware.

The YouTuber KhrazeGaming decided to explore what Weak is actually bringing to the table by piecing together his full loadout from when he was at the peak of his powers. Spoilers: things go a little too well.

Weak's main weapon is a special revolver that unleashes lightning with each bullet. This gun, called Coronation, is a highly upgraded version of the Burya, using multiple mods to create the desired firepower.

You sacrifice some overall damage, but the combination of bullets and electricity you can chain between enemies more than makes up for it. Khraze points out in his video that once you get the hang of the exact amount of charge you need, you'll see lightning bounce across groups of adversaries in a glorious display of destruction.

Who needs secondary weapons when you have 'Dan' and 'Ger' built-in; gorilla arms are the backup, and you can use those to chain takedowns and wallop whomever you're facing. These are built by focusing on blunt damage in the skill tree, complemented by the Quake ability, which is bolstered by AfterShock and Ripple Effect.

The video outlines the specifics of the Cyberware and such that help tie everything together. The result is ludicrous. Quite literally barreling through enemies like they're nothing. Weak was once called King, and that version clearly still exists in him. Going to be tough for Edgerunners season 3 to top this.

Cyberpunk 2077 lead says it's been a "hell of a weekend" as the RPG hit its highest Steam player count in 3 years thanks to Edgerunners 2 and 2.5 update

26 people at Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei developer Sucker Punch have been laid off, according to a new report. Sony had previously spoken in glowing terms of Yotei's financial success, and the developers had just launched a major new expansion in Echoes of Sekigahara a few weeks ago.

"After carefully observing the challenges in the market and reviewing the team needs for our next project, we've decided to make some staffing reductions," Sucker Punch leadership says in an email to staff published by Aftermath, which first reported the news. "Several positions across Sucker Punch will be eliminated as a result."

The email insists that studio leaders "did not make this decision lightly" and "have given this a lot of attention and worked to support our affected colleagues during this transition as well as we can." Employees will apparently be given "more details about the future" next week.

Ghost of Yotei sold 3.3 million copies within its first month, performing better than Ghost of Tsushima did in the same period. Sony was keen to brag about how the game "significantly contributed" to its financial results in the period. Sucker Punch even managed to make the game for a much cheaper price than many of PlayStation's other massive PS5 games.

But we've seen again and again how little a game's success has to do with the fortunes of the developers who made it, despite how billionaire publisher bosses might suggest otherwise. Xbox offered a stunning example with Hi-Fi Rush in 2023, which the company described as a success "in all key measurements" and shut down the studio that made it a year later.

The Hi-Fi Rush devs would eventually get a second chance, and it doesn't sound like Sucker Punch as a whole is going anywhere. But if critical acclaim and financial success aren't enough to keep the Sonys and Microsofts of the world from laying off their developers, it's tough to imagine what criteria devs can now look toward for success.

PlayStation creator says games have stagnated, urges developers not to lose their "curiosity" as the industry reaches a major turning point ahead of the "next stage."

Sony is reportedly investigating an apparent PS5 security issue as users report unauthorized "child family members" being added to their PSN accounts.

That's according to a machine-translated statement sent to The Sankei Shimbun, which notes that the child accounts in question have apparently been able to bypass both passwords and two-factor authentication, as reported by affected users.

Essentially, it seems, hackers have been able to set up a PlayStation Family on unsuspecting users' PSN accounts, adding themselves as a child family member. Depending on which parental controls are enabled, child accounts may be able to play games and, more concerningly, buy items from the PlayStation Store using linked payment methods. Users have also expressed concerns that hackers could see account information and personal details, such as their full names, through this method.

What's worse is that shutting this situation down once a child family member account has been added isn't exactly straightforward, which is almost certainly why hackers are posing as children even though I'd guess most of them probably aren't. As Sony details on its own family management help page, "child members cannot be removed from your family" – you can remove an adult family member, but a child account can't be turned into one unless they've been upgraded once eligible, based on their birth date. It's a frankly baffling restriction, and has caused problems for folks facing similar problems before this recent wave of issues.

Just take this Reddit post from three years ago documenting one user facing the exact same sort of problem: a mysterious child account making purchases with their credit card and being unable to remove them. They were able to change the hacker's account settings to prevent further purchases, but it's hardly an ideal solution.

For now, it seems that many Japanese users in particular are experiencing this, but the issue isn't Japan-exclusive. "I just woke up, and I had my email to my PSN account change from this stupid child family management exploit where unauthorized accounts are added to your family management where they can see your account information. FUCKING FIX IT," one affected user writes.

Another responds: "Dude i have the same thing on my account right now, it doesnt even let you remove them at all its actually fucked."

While Sony investigates, it's a good idea to remain vigilant about two-factor authentication, review your account to make sure there aren't any family members you didn't add yourself, and contact PlayStation Support to have them removed if necessary.

Another PS5 jailbreak has seemingly arrived ahead of GTA 6, and Sony and Rockstar's worst nightmare could be on the horizon.

Razer launched the Barracuda V2 Pro on October 15, noting on its official blog that the newest addition to the lineup is designed with "versatility in mind" and, as it turns out, the marketing spiel has plenty of truth to it.

From its foldable form factor, dual-mic design, great sound, and understated look that doesn't scream "gaming headset", the Barracuda V2 Pro has managed to take priority in my backpack no matter if gaming or music-listening is on the agenda.

There was nothing stopping me from digging out any other Razer headset to use for both gaming and in lieu of a pair of headphones, but not all the brand's past pairs are suited for the outdoors. As much as I adore the Kraken Kitty lineup, I don't feel comfortable donning the RGB-powered cat ears to listen to the latest Troye Sivan album while running to the Big Tescos for the food shop, no matter how cute I find it. However, I've done just that with the Barraduda V2 Pro, and its versatility is entirely to thank.

Key specs

Design

Much like the black Barracuda X (2022), the V2 Pro is a closed black over-ear headset with oval-shaped cups. RGB haters (couldn't be me) will be happy to learn that the Chroma-powered logos of the Barracuda X Chroma haven't stuck around, and instead the three-headed snake branding is nothing but subtle, glossy, 3-dimensional-to-the-touch images on the exterior of each cup and nothing more.

The design differences of this new pair are so minor that you'd barely be able to spot the difference unless you're someone who spends far too much time in the land of headsets - which is undoubtedly me. What's new is that the foam padding on the underside of the headband now travels from the left yoke to the right yoke. The padding of the 2022 X release just sat in a small section in the center, but it's been extended to provide more optimal comfort. Comfort must have been on Razer's mind, as the fabric-coated ear cups are now made of a leather-like material too.

Features

The Barracuda V2 Pro is an over-ear, closed-back 285 g headset with 40mm Triforce Bio-cellulose audio drivers and THX Spatial Audio+ support. Unlike the existing pairs in the Barracuda lineup, the V2 Pro is holding a very neat (and handy) secret - its left earcup can be opened to reveal its HyperSpeed 2.4GHz wireless dongle.

This may not seem like a big deal, but for someone who constantly misplaces wireless dongles, it's been a bit of a lifesaver. Unfortunately, this lucrative hidden storage doesn't provide enough space to also store the adapter that's packaged with the pair, but I'll take any storage ingenuity over none at all.

Besides the storage, this headset is rocking some serious premium upgrades over its predecessors. The V2 Pro is equipped with simultaneous Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless, so you can answer phone calls between gaming sessions, and it sports ANC - both of which can be selected through the pair's manual onboard controls. The ANC includes an ambient mode, so you can be more aware of your surroundings, and makes the V2 Pro handy for more than just gaming.

Using gaming headsets for day-to-day music listening can be awkward, particularly if there's a large microphone in the way. The V2 Pro has a solution as the HyperClear Full Band Mic is not only detachable, but the "dual-mode mic system" allows you to switch to using a dual hidden beamforming mics for chatting when you're out and about.

Performance

Testing Razer's Barracuda upgrade happened to coincide with my favorite time of year, Halloween. The smell of freshly carved pumpkins and dusty old spider decorations had fully enveloped my house by the time the headset arrived at my door, and so it felt entirely fitting to first test out Disney Dreamlight Valley with the pair on PC while its spooky-themed events were in full swing.

While I usually prefer to run around my Disney-themed valley on the OLED Steam Deck so I can multitask with a Netflix binge, being able to focus on the game's audio for once was a treat with THX Spatial Audio+. I occasionally find myself overwhelmed with the life sim, as there's always a myriad of Disney characters roaming around, and finding who you want can be a challenge even when you have fast travel to rely on. Thanks to the combination of the crystal-clear audio from the can's bio-cellulose audio drivers and spatial audio, I could easily pinpoint any approaching pal - whether it was Scar with a new sarcastic quip, or the Fairy Godmother about to check in. It was neat, as this game is already my happy place for when life gets a bit too much, so the extra level of immersion was a welcome experience, and one that's got me playing more on the PC than my Valve pixel-pusher ever since.

Of course, you don't need to be able to hear Goofy's cheeky laugh in a 3D soundscape in order to be a good Dreamlight Valley player, so I stuck on Counter-Strike 2 to put the "ultimate immersion" properly to the test. With the ANC and THX Spatial Audio+ working together, I was more than able to get absorbed into the game, so much so that I missed deliveries at my door on multiple occasions despite people both knocking and ringing my door. That may not sound like a good thing, but being able to entirely drown out the real world for a moment definitely proved Razer's "ultimate" marketing spiel.

While I'm not a fan of beamforming tech, I do love the V2 Pro's dual-mic setup. In this day and age where a cost of living crisis still affects so many of us and determines how we enjoy our hobbies today, I'd hope that a piece of tech that costs $200 would be able to be helpful for not just gaming, but everyday use too, and this is.

You didn't have to stroll uptown feeling a bit silly with a microphone dangling next to my face or wearing a gadget that looks and feels designed purely for gaming in mind. Instead, I was able to easily detach the HyperClear full-band mic and leave it at home, while being able to depend on the beamforming mics for incoming calls. I'd not recommend using the latter for streaming or podcasts, but they are decent enough where a quick call with your mum is entirely doable, and she won't be exclaiming "what" or "huh" every two seconds.

The main microphone was also great for playing Repo with friends and was enough to record my screams without sounding like a muffled, peaking mess. But what pleased me the most about the V2 Pro was that versatility, as it was just as formidable for music as it was for gaming. Its 285g weight was light enough to make long journeys across the city of Glasgow less of a strain on my ears, and its foldable design took up less space than my go-to JLab JBuds Lux ANC cans.

While switching from one pair to another left me feeling a bit glum (I really adore my JLab cans), it was nice to only have to worry about charging one device at a time. Although its 70 hours were enough to cope with a weekend of blasting out Wolf Alice and Florence Road, while keeping the pair on my head for weekdays, divulging in fun Repo madness with friends without having to pick up a USB-C charging cable once.

Should you buy the Razer Barracuda V2 Pro headset?

This is the most premium Barracuda headset the line has seen so far, but nabbing all of those juicy high-end upgrades and its versatile ways comes at a $199.99 / £199.99 cost that not everyone is going to afford. Especially at a time when the hobby has already become an expensive minefield.

The thing is, that price point is pretty much what you can expect when it comes to gaming headsets of all shapes and sizes that incorporate both simultaneous wireless audio and ANC into the mix. The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 also launched for $199.99 / £179.99 and had a similar simultaneous wireless and ANC combo. Whenever those features are key, you can expect to be paying upwards of $150 / £150, but you don't have to stick with it if you don't want to.

If you're just a fan of the V2 Pro's design and feel, the Barracuda X still remains a great multi-platform headset, and it's regularly found under $99.99 / £99.99. You'll have to forgo the dual wireless and noise-canceling, but it sports the same look and still sounds fantastic for its age. There's also the Barracuda X Chroma available for $129.99 / £129.99 if you love your RGB lighting.

If it's more of the premium trifecta of the dual wireless, ANC, and an impressive battery you're after, that's when the Barracuda V2 Pro feels hard to beat. Sure, alternatives like the aforementioned Stealth 700 exist with even an additional 10-hour battery life, but it's missing ANC. Meanwhile, my other go-to option, the Sony Inzone H9 II (which has dropped to a similar $200 price in recent sales) has the wireless and ANC covered but not the battery chops.

How I tested the Razer Barracuda V2 Pro headset

The Razer Barracuda V2 Pro became my one and only headset for two weeks, in order to see how it matched up against all other pairs I've tested to date. In that time, I used the wireless pair to play Counter-Strike 2, Marvel Rivals, and Disney Dreamlight Valley on the PC, while switching over to play Marvel Rivals, Doom Eternal, and Silent Hill Townfall on the PS5.

When I was in a gaming-on-the-go mode, I stuck the USB-C dongle into the Switch 2 and played everything from Marvel Kart World, Pokemon Pokopia, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave while taking breaks to watch Party Down on Netflix and catch up with some Halloween movie offerings, including Hocus Pocus on Disney+. The headset was also perched on my head as I listened to Wolf Alice, Florence Road and Troye Sivan via Spotify.

For more information on how we test gaming headsets, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Not a fan of the Barracuda V2 Pro? Check out our guides to the best PC headset for gaming, the best PS5 headset, and the best Xbox Series X headset for more options from Razer and our personally picked brands.

Ariadne in Cyberpunk 2077 will call you out of nowhere with the offer to become a brand ambassador for some clothing she's sent you, but it's not clear exactly what she wants and what she's hoping to get from out, nor how to progress with this secret quest. In fact, what you need to do is incredibly easy, and if you can do it, you'll get some money and some Witcher themed gear to wear around Cyberpunk 2077 as a reward!

Want some more help with the 2.5 update? Find out how to dual wield in Cyberpunk 2077, or all the best Cyberpunk 2077 mods you can now get on console!

What to do for Ariadne in Cyberpunk 2077

After Ariadne messages you in Cyberpunk 2077 to become a brand ambassador, all you need to do to complete her request is the following:

1. Head back to V's original apartment in Megabuilding H10.
2. By the front door, as you go in, you should see a new crate on the left (see above).
3. Inside are three pieces of clothing and two weapons. Equip all three pieces of clothing, including the sunglasses!
4. Once all the clothing is equipped, open your message chain with Ariadne again, and there should now be an option to "Take Picture".
5. This will open photo mode, though you don't actually have to take a picture, it will act like you did.
6. Ariadne will thank you for the picture.
7. Later on, Ariadne will contact you again telling you that your sponsorship deal is over. However, she will also send you 4300 EDs, and tell you that you can keep the clothes.

This marks the end of this unlabelled quest, but what's more important is that the clothing and weapons inside the chest are all easter eggs and references to The Witcher series, the other major gaming franchise by CD Projekt Red.

The full list of items Ariadne gives you is as follows:

• Ursine Jacket (Outer Torso): This coat shares some aesthetic similarities to the Ursine armor from the Witcher series, which was associated with the School of the Bear.
• Ursine Pants (Legs): Same as above.
• The Professor's Spectacles (Face): In The Witcher 3 DLC "Hearts of Stone", Geralt could acquire an identical set of sunglasses with the same name, which themselves were an easter egg referencing the movie "Leon The Professional".
• Sihil (Sword): A blade that does extra damage to drones, mechs and robots, as well as enemies affected by quickhacks. This is a fantasy-style sword that references a blade with an identical name in the Witcher novels.
• Boar Carver (Knife): A fantasy-style dagger. In The Witcher games, Geralt uses a similar blade to carve trophies from his kills.

© GamesRadar+. not to be reproduced without permission.

Hark, today is October 26, and that means it's Liberty Day, the greatest celebration in Helldivers 2. For democracy, etcetera and so forth. This year, players are getting a special gun, which would be nice if many can't play the game due to anti-cheat protections.

Arrowhead Game Studios has revealed the goodies you can avail of if you care about intergalactic justice. There are special decorations from your Super Destroyer, of course – what's a party without banners, branded rugs and other bits and pieces strewn across the vessel?

There's merch too, including a shirt, a plushie, and a replica medal. I'm choosing not to look at how much the t-shirt is because I need to stop buying them but I like the color. Anyway, the top addition will be the weapon: the AR-23L Liberator Legacy.

An old school gun, with a new school aesthetic. It'll be unlocked once Liberty Day ends, and to get it, you just need to complete the special missions that'll be going on. It's a daily with extra pizazz, and I've never had much trouble sorting out the checklist for this most democratic of days.

There are a number of minigames as well, but the fun is unfortunately being sucked out of this shindig because PC players aren't able to log in properly. Easy Anti Cheat is blocking people's access indiscriminately, bringing up an error message when they try and drop in.

The supposed protections were only added last week, and now many members of the community are stuck sitting around, waiting for a fix to roll out. "Turns out the freedom in freedom day is freedom to play something else I guess," comments a frustrated player on Reddit.

The thread is full of others who're just as annoyed. I'm always down to toast the glory of Super Earth, but it'd be nice if everyone could relish in the annual reminder of our battle against the insect and robot scourge.

Valve veteran says Steam is "overwhelmed with slop and AI crap" in Next Fest event, fears PC becoming more like mobile: "This is the thing that I'm worried about more than anything."

Updated Phantom Blade Zero PC system requirements affirm a 145GB install size, which is about on par with today's storage hogs (derogatory). The truly scary part is the 300GB that developer S-Game reserves for pre-loading and installing the dang thing.

In a recent Twitter post, S-Game shared Phantom Blade Zero's final PC specs along with a few scary words of advice – update your GPU drivers, install the game on an SSD, and so on. But then the hammer falls: "The game is approximately 145 GB. Please reserve at least 300 GB of free disk space for the pre-load process."

Even accounting for compression and install hurdles, 300GB is a terrifying volume of storage for a studio to recommend. The good news is that the other system requirements are pretty tame – 16GB of RAM, an Intel i5-10600k or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, and an Nvidia 3060 or equivalent are recommended for 1440p – and Phantom Blade Zero is worth a significant portion of your drive.

Our Phantom Blade Zero review calls this kung fu epic "a GOTY contender with combat that looks as good as it feels." We're in good company: Phantom Blade Zero's Metacritic score puts it ahead of Capcom's Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Koei Tecmo's Nioh 3, which are both fabulous new action games in their own right. Like many others, we reviewed the PC version of the game, so we can also confirm that it goes in the coveted 'good PC port' jar.

I was spared the review grind, so I'm only about 12 hours into Phantom Blade Zero myself, but I can already tell that it's going to rank highly on my own Game of the Year list. All of those hours were logged this weekend (on PS5, where it also runs well), and I was reluctant to put the game down come Sunday night. I was able to sample Phantom Blade Zero multiple times thanks to demo and developer interview appointments leading up to release, and I always had a good feeling about it. It's a relief that the full game is as good as I'd hoped, even if it does demand a harrowing percentage of your SSD.

The Golden Joystick Awards 2026 are open, so vote for your own Ultimate Game of the Year now.

The best games of 2026, so far.

Silent Hill Townfall director Jon McKellan says Konami did not let the dev team know about all of the other Silent Hill projects that were in the works concurrently.

After about a decade in the bin, with the wound of the Hideo Kojima-led Silent Hills being cancelled still fresh on the minds of horror fans, Konami decided it was back. This happened in a single stream announcing Silent Hill 2 Remake, Silent Hill f, Silent Hill: Townfall, and the duo of things we didn't know would be awful at the time – Silent Hill Ascension and Return to Silent Hill.

While the Bloober Team collab on Silent Hill 2 was long-rumored, the announcement of three other Silent Hill games (if you can call Ascension a game?) was a total shock for a franchise that had been as dead as whatever James Sunderland most recently bashed with a big stick.

Speaking at MCM London Comic Con (via VGC) McKellan – the founder of Screen Burn – revealed how he and the development team first found out that there were other Silent Hill games in the works alongside Townfall, saying, "We found out about a lot of those projects when everyone else did. When they announced them." He adds, "we were kind of kept in the dark, which was kind of exciting as a fan to not see behind the curtain too much."

Even after the cats were out of the bag, Konami didn't give the team much insight into what the others were doing either. McKellan says, "[Motoi] Okamoto-san, who's the series producer, was very keen to not let projects influence each other, and not compromise too much." Even without the knowledge of other games in development, if there was too much crossover, the Konami team would step in, he explains.

"They'd not necessarily tell us what it was, but just be like 'there's another thing that's doing something similar, so maybe veer off from that direction.'"

Despite Konami's wishes to keep the three games unique, McKellan stresses it wasn't a restrictive environment either, saying, "It wasn't like a Marvel phase where it would be like 'know your slot and stay within that.'" He adds, "We got to be very creatively free, just with the knowledge that Konami and the team there would step in if they felt they had to."

So what did get changed through this process? Not much from the sounds of things. "I think only once did we have a thing," McKellan explains, "they felt 'this is maybe a little too close, you may want to pivot and just go in a different option' for one of the enemy designs."

The '90s are a "perfect time for horror," says Silent Hill: Townfall dev who wants the game to make you feel technologically vulnerable.

We'll never know exactly what BioWare was going for in Mass Effect 5, since the studio's now been shut down by EA. A former lead on the sci-fi RPG has spoken about the ideas at play, especially concerning the title, Mass Effect: Universe, and I'm not sure I want to hear any more because it just makes the disappointment worse.

After it was announced that BioWare was closed, a trailer leaked online for Mass Effect: Universe, which has since been confirmed as the actual fifth installment. The collective fandom is now a-flurry with questions about the aspirations and ideas behind this brave new frontier, and Romain Toutain, ex-technical director on the franchise, has shed some light on them in a livestream on Twitch.

His comments were made in French, but a Bluesky user was able to translate portions and put subtitles on a clip. There were a number of insights, but the biggest and most fascinating was the reason behind the title – you had the power to create and manipulate timelines in the game to some extent.

So earlier, my brother was watching Octobinz (Romain Toutain)'s livestream on Twitch. He was the Technical Director on Mass Effect Universe, so I wanted to share some bits he discussed.As he speaks french, I added subtitles to make it more accessible for everyone!#MassEffect #MassEffectUniverse

— @loustica-lucia.bsky.social (@loustica-lucia.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-10-26T14:59:37.491Z

"One of the reasons why it was called Mass Effect: Universe is that you had so many choices that you could plug your saves together to create parallel universes," he says. "To keep it simple. It's not exactly how it worked. You had different timelines, basically."

He adds players would've had the ability to "almost generate timelines," similar to Zero Time Dilemma. That's a relatively obscure puzzler from Spike Chunsoft where you play through missions in a non-linear fashion and the characters lose their memories every 90 minutes.

I get the impression BioWare was dancing with a multiverse of some kind, but not to the extent of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart where you could jump between realities. Knowing BioWare, it would've been more existential and grandiose, and possibly going the Starfield route where every endgame is technically an alternate timeline.

Toutain confirms previously reported details, such as hand-to-hand combat and a customizable main character. "All the choices made in the first Mass Effect games were taken into account," he mentions, suggesting Universe would've explored every possible way you could screw up the original trilogy.

I would very much like to play this game, if only to see how things could've been if Mordin didn't – well, you know. Somewhere out there is a dimension where we get Mass Effect: Universe. I hope the me that lives there knows how good he has it.

"EA never actually sells anything," former Mass Effect 5 dev says – so don't expect the RPG to be saved as "they just shut things down and sit on their licenses."

With these Dragon Generations codes, you can help to reshape or improve your current character, so you can perfect it exactly the way you want to. As an RPG adventure based on Dragon Ball, you'll be tasked with hunting down Dragon Balls as you complete other quests for NPCs.

In order to reach further locations and complete more challenges quests, you'll need to level up your character in the Roblox RPG, spending Mastery Points on different skills, whichever race you choose to play. That's where these codes come in handy.

If you're looking for rewards with a wider use across all of your experiences, then we've got all of the details on the current Roblox promo codes.

All Dragon Generations codes

These are the Dragon Generations codes you can redeem right now:

• MAJINRESET - Path Progress reset (Majins)
• BOJACK - Path Progress reset (Bojacks)
• BadBalancingSorry - 50x Mastery Points
• onemoredelayLDevs - Stat Reset

As you can see from the current Dragon Generations codes, these promos grant a range of rewards, all of which revolve around character creation. Whether it's a stat reset you're after or a few more Mastery Points, these promos are what you need.

How to redeem Dragon Generations codes

To redeem Dragon Generations codes, first open the Menu on the left-hand side of the screen. Next, click on the menu button two up from the bottom, indicated by four dots. Scroll to the bottom of this menu to find the Codes button, click this to open the codes redemption box, enter a code as it appears above, then click anywhere outside of the box to redeem your code.

Keep in mind that Dragon Generations codes are case-sensitive, so you must enter codes as you see them in our list, or simply copy and paste them to be sure.

Expired Dragon Generations codes

• PATHSPART2CCPLS - Character Redesign

Dragon Generations codes expire after some time, so be sure to redeem promos as soon as you see them to avoid missing out. When codes do expire, I'll move them down here so you're not disappointed.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Alix Wilton Regan, aka Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider Catalyst, and most recent guest on our G+RLS podcast, will be the host for the Golden Joystick Awards 2026.

Alix will be joined by guest presenters from across the gaming industry when the event happens on November 11, which is both an in-person event and live streamed across YouTube, Twitch and X, as well as Future Games Show, PC Gamer, and of course right here on GamesRadar+.

"I’m absolutely thrilled to be your host," said Alix. "We’re celebrating the greatest games of the past 12 months - and, more importantly, the incredibly talented teams who made them happen. The people who put in thousands of hours creating virtual worlds for us to get hopelessly lost in. Get ready for an evening of special guests, spectacular games and plenty of silly jokes. If you haven’t cast your vote yet, now’s the time to vote for your Ultimate Game of the Year. See you on November 11th when we will unveil your winners!'

Which is excellently timed, Alix, because the vote for the Ultimate Game of the Year category just went live!

The nominees for Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards 2026 are...

• 007 First Light
• Big Walk
• CONTROL Resonant
• Crimson Desert
• Dispatch
• Forza Horizon 6
• Phantom Blade Zero
• Pokémon Pokopia
• PRAGMATA
• Resident Evil Requiem
• STAR WARS: Galactic Racer
• The Blood of Dawnwalker

The voting for the Ultimate Game of the Year for the Golden Joystick Awards 2026 will run until 5pm PT / 8pm ET / midnight GMT on Friday, October 30, 2026, so you've only got a few days to decide which of these games is your number one this year.

"This year’s shortlist offers a fascinating cross-section of our industry in 2026, with the work of small teams of indie developers sitting shoulder to shoulder with titanic gaming franchises like Pokémon and Resident Evil, as well as huge IPs like STAR WARS and James Bond," adds Daniel Dawkins, Content Director on the Golden Joystick Awards. "The Golden Joystick Awards are the only games awards show chosen by the players - and we can’t wait to see who the public vote for as their Ultimate Game of the Year."

Owlcat Games, the developer of Mass Effect-inspired RPG The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, has joined the calls to save Mass Effect.

Last week it was announced that BioWare is closing down and development on the next Mass Effect game is cancelled. This was followed by the leak of a trailer for a game titled Mass Effect Universe. Naturally, binning off one of the most beloved RPG series of all time has caused outcry from fans, with a petition campaign to save the franchise currently sitting at over 210,000 signatures.

In a post on Twitter, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn account shared a fan petition to save Mass Effect, noting that, "The Expanse show was saved by fans in the past. So the #SaveMassEffect movement has our full support."

The Expanse debuted on Syfy in 2015, but after its cancellation and massive fan outcry, the series was subsequently picked up by Amazon Prime Video for its final three seasons.

Unfortunately, Romain Toutain – who served as technical director for Mass Effect 5 – isn't too confident about the campaign. Toutain recently said he believes it's unlikely that a revival will come to pass, saying, "EA never actually sells anything" and "they just shut things down and sit on their licenses."

This has been seen before with the likes of American McGee's Alice series, with the former Doom developer saying EA has "no desire to see the Alice franchise continued." Which is to say nothing of the landfill of dead EA franchises – which, at the very best, get a remaster or mobile spinoff nobody wants – like Command and Conquer, Dungeon Keeper, Burnout, Dead Space… the list goes on.

Mass Effect 5 lead says outpouring of support following BioWare closure "means so much to us," but is looking on the bright side: "At least I don't have to call in sick when GTA 6 comes out"

Mass Effect fans got horrible news last week with the announcement of BioWare's closure as well as the cancellation of Mass Effect 5 – or, as it apparently would have been called, Mass Effect Universe. And just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, one former dev now suggests that EA isn't likely to sell the project to another studio to finish it off, either.

The next Mass Effect game was revealed in 2020, and in the years since, we have learned very little about it. That was until shortly after BioWare's closure, when an apparent trailer for a game titled Mass Effect Universe was posted online and looked, upsettingly, good.

Romain Toutain served as franchise technical director for Mass Effect at BioWare since early 2022, and in a recent Twitch stream reacting to this trailer – which he describes as an internal trailer rather than one we were ever meant to see – he responds to a fan asking if EA could have sold the studio and its project in order to save them (translated by Bluesky user loustica-lucia and verified using machine translation).

"But EA never actually sells anything," he replies. "They just shut things down and sit on their licenses."

So earlier, my brother was watching Octobinz (Romain Toutain)'s livestream on Twitch. He was the Technical Director on Mass Effect Universe, so I wanted to share some bits he discussed.As he speaks french, I added subtitles to make it more accessible for everyone!#MassEffect #MassEffectUniverse

— @loustica-lucia.bsky.social (@loustica-lucia.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-10-26T12:46:10.178Z

The publisher's apparent reluctance to sell any of its IP is something that former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah previously acknowledged after plans for its $55 billion acquisition were first announced last year. At the time, he suggested that this was "in large part because the individuals who would be responsible for making those decisions, for looking for those opportunities, are actually incentivized to not take risks. They are incentivized to not be the person who sold an IP that then turned into a billion-dollar franchise."

Even so, he suggested at the time that EA might look to its "huge repository of dormant IPs" and consider selling them to help with the enormous debt it's taken on as part of the acquisition.

"You might even see them toying with the idea of shutting some of their existing studios. Maybe they shut them down, but maybe they look for opportunities to sell off entire studios or entire groups," he said.

Now, following BioWare's closure, he suggests that Mass Effect and Dragon Age's fate could go either way. With no one working on the series within EA, that "might make them more likely to sell off those IPs," but equally, "it might also make them more likely to try to forget that they ever existed and bury them in the vault," he says.

None of this is stopping the Mass Effect fanbase's determination to save the series, though. A petition has now surpassed 200,000 signatures, and the actors who played Commander Shepard, Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer, have both publicly expressed their support.

Mass Effect 5 lead says outpouring of support following BioWare closure "means so much to us," but is looking on the bright side: "At least I don't have to call in sick when GTA 6 comes out."

Alix Wilton Regan discussed the realities of filming high-octane action scenes as Lara Croft for Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis during her menstrual cycle.

Speaking as a guest on the GamesRadar G+RLS podcast, Alix addressed the confidence required to play the iconic hero while wearing skin-tight motion capture catsuits, shifting the conversation to a topic rarely, if ever, discussed by action stars in the gaming space: menstruation.

"Occasionally I’m on my period the week that we film," she shared candidly. "And you know, that’s okay. And then I was thinking about it and I was like, my God, of all of Lara's adventures, if we imagine her as a real woman. She’s also been on her period at points."

The Cyberpunk 2077 and Dragon Age actor didn't mince words regarding the awkwardness that often meets the subject in professional settings, pushing back directly against the stigma. "You can just imagine people going like, 'don't say the P-word.' And I’m like, well, guys, it's a natural bodily function of being a woman. It's what has gifted you humanity. So the correct answer is thank you."

She explained that at the times when her cycle leaves her feeling less than her best, she relies on physical anchors to tap into Lara’s legendary swagger. "On weeks where you do feel like, 'I'm on my period, or I'm not as confident, or I'm not feeling as sassy or as cool,' it's just something about Lara that gets you there.”

Lara's iconic weaponry certainly helps. “You put those dual pistols on, because on the PCAP stage, I get to put the holster on. And instantly you feel confident and you feel really grounded, which is why I ask for it in scenes, even when I'm not using it, because it adds weight and bulk to your thighs. So it lowers your center of gravity, which just kind of roots you to the earth, and it does make you feel more confident. It just makes me feel stronger, you know?"

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

Stop us if you've heard this before, but No Man's Sky and Hello Games lead Sean Murrary is yet again posting cryptic emojis online with zero context or explanation – cryptic emojis that have notably always led to updates in the past.

Remember the cocktail emojis that had folks buzzing about the Cosmos update a few months back? Or, how about how Murray teased the Remnant patch, which launched with a Garry's Mod-style gravity gun in February, with hi-vis vest emojis?

And you can't forget the stadium emojis, which were teasing the big Xeno Arena additions, or the The Swarm update, which was hinted at via bee emojis and nothing else. It's a pattern, to say the least. Now, Murray is back with more, having just left a post with naught more than a decaying rose emoji – you know the one – over on Twitter.

The Hello Games boss has put the same emoji up on Facebook and other social media platforms, meaning that this probably isn't a drill and is, much like past vague emoji-posting, some sort of mysterious teaser about… well, something. There's no telling just what it could be pointing toward, however.

Comments see folks speculating about seasons on planets, spooky expeditions, and, perhaps most amusingly, the death of No Man's Sky to finally make way for Light No Fire (probably not happening, y'all, sorry).

As one fan jests, "Hey Sean… So when can I get some Light No Fire news?" Others are simply mindblown at the prospect of yet another No Man's Sky update, considering how many we've witnessed this year alone.

There's also the fact that we just got the mobile launch of the space game, which was a bit mind-blowing in itself, seeing as Hello Games had to somehow manage to compress No Man's Sky into less than 5GB.

It's clear to me that these developers are always hard at work on one thing or another (even if the one thing we want most, ahem, Light No Fire, is being kept tightly under wraps for the time being, sadly).

I'd wager we'll see a few – or more – decaying rose emojis from Murray and Hello Games later today before we finally learn what they're supposed to be teasing, so I'd advise keeping a close eye on their official social media channels.

"If people weren't playing No Man's Sky, I don't think we would want to do updates," says Sean Murray, but he'd probably try to sneak in more content years later anyway.

Wuxia action RPG Phantom Blade Zero's Metacritic score has the game looking likely to be one worth adding to your backlog's ever-growing list of 2026 bangers.

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there's been a lot of good games this year. And while the early months were filled with some pretty substantial hits like Mewgenics, Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata, and Pokemon Pokopia, the last couple of months have been non-stop thanks to the impending GTA 6 launch leading developers to drop everything as soon as possible.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, and Star Wars: Galactic Racer all dropped within a month of each other; and I'm both happy and sad to announce it looks like another banger has dropped into the backlog.

Phantom Blade Zero's Metacritic score has debuted at 88, which places it at 21 in the overall top games of 2026 list – although that top 20 is also filled with Switch 2 ports like Elden Ring, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and the Resident Evil Remake trilogy, as well as some DLC, so in reality it's closer to 13th. Meanwhile on OpenCritic, the game sits at a 91, tying it with Forza Horizon 6 and Mina the Hollower as the second-highest rated game of the year behind Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter remake.

This score also has it beat out Nioh 3 (86) and Onimusha: Way of the Sword (85), making it the top dog of sword fighting this year – at least as far as review scores go, it'll have to be something special to beat Onimusha in my eyes.

In the GamesRadar+ Phantom Blade Zero review, freelance writer Luke Kemp gives the game four-and-a-half stars out of five, saying, "With fights that feel great and flow smoothly, Phantom Blade Zero proves itself as one of the best action-adventures of the year." Elsewhere the game received full marks from the likes of TheGamer, But Why Tho, and PCGamesN, with only two reviews being dubbed "Mixed" by Metacritic's standards.

PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not.

Cyberpunk 2077 is soaring the charts on Steam once again after a good three years thanks to a healthy mix of update 2.5, the second season of Edgerunners, and a whopping 70% off sale to boot – and CD Projekt Red has noticed.

With Cyberpunk 2 still underway, it's nice to see the original RPG continue to get love from fans and developers alike.

The recent 2.5 update introduced everything from a new quest as a prequel for Edgerunners 2 to support for, erm, adult mods on consoles, for example, proving that the game is very much active in both players' minds and CD Projekt Red's own.

The big patch (and second season of the Netflix series) has brought folks back to Night City, too.

A quick look over at SteamDB shows that, over the weekend, Cyberpunk 2077 hit a peak player count of 187,215 – its highest since October 2023, when it reached 274,526 after the release of its massive Phantom Liberty DLC and 2.0 update.

It's not all that surprising, then, to witness a similar spike following 2.5 now and all of its additions, and, of course, the Netflix series' new season, which dropped last week.

This isn't the first time the animated television show has helped boost the RPG's players, either – heck, way back in 2022, the same happened with the first season of Edgerunners. It probably also helps that the game's got a nice 70% discount on Steam currently.

What is especially notable, however, is CD Projekt Red's response. Over on X, Cyberpunk 2 associate director Paweł Sasko highlights the new rise in players.

"It's been hell of a weekend," he writes. "Peak of 187k concurrent players on Steam alone, a lot of hilarious threads and meme clips, it all fills my heart with joy."

He then looks to what more CD Projekt Red could do to make Cyberpunk 2077 even better after all these years: "Chooms, give us feedback, what we can improve, where we have missed the mark with 2.5? Your perception is everything." Talk about dedication.

Comments see fans commending the devs for their hard work (and, unsurprisingly, asking for more expansions and other additions) – but I'm honestly personally just looking forward to hearing more about Cyberpunk 2… whenever that may come.

CD Projekt Red has "hired so many modders" that Cyberpunk 2 co-lead says "I think half of the quest team is all former modders"

Final Fantasy Resonance has gotten off to an excellent start on Steam, with Square Enix's first HD-2D game in the series now also the franchise's most popular single-player game based on its concurrent player peak on the platform.

Shortly after its launch, Final Fantasy Resonance reached a Steam peak just short of 28,000 concurrent players – a number that made it Square Enix's second-largest launch for a turn-based RPG on the platform behind Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake. However, that peak has now grown even more – yesterday, according to SteamDB, Final Fantasy Resonance hit 42,885 concurrent Steam players, which is a huge deal for a Final Fantasy game.

That's because it just barely beat Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth for the largest concurrent Steam player peak among the series' single-player games. The second installment in the FF7 remake trilogy hit a peak of 40,564 back when it launched.

Of course, the big difference there is that Rebirth arrived on PC almost a year after its PS5 launch, so many of the most hyped players would likely have already played it by the time it broke free of its console exclusivity. Resonance, on the other hand, launched simultaneously across PC and consoles, so it could take full advantage of that initial wave of hype on Steam.

You probably won't be surprised to hear that it's not the single most-played Final Fantasy game on Steam either, thanks to a certain critically acclaimed MMORPG. Final Fantasy 14 more than doubled Resonance's Steam peak almost five years ago when it hit 95,150 concurrent players around the Endwalker expansion's release, but obviously, it'd never be fair to compare an MMO and single-player game's player counts in the first place, so this is still a notable achievement for Resonance.

Despite its success, though, I suspect this won't be a record Resonance is going to hang onto forever. Next April will see the release of the third and final part of the FF7 remake trilogy in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, which will also be releasing simultaneously across PC and consoles. Considering the hype that's built up for that, I'd be surprised if it wasn't able to snatch Resonance's crown.

"Too good to become unplayable": Final Fantasy Resonance exists because a JRPG veteran was "frustrated" players ignored their game the first time.

Phantom Blade Zero is not a Soulslike. This needs to be the first thing that I tell you, because you need to wipe away any such preconceptions in order to fully appreciate what it is (and is not) doing. The intricate combat and hostile land come instead from wuxia storytelling traditions, and a supernatural martial arts world that can be traced back to the director's first game Rainblood: Town of Death. While "very, very good" is not a genre, it's certainly an accurate description of this game.

Following the events of a prologue I'm not allowed to tell you about, our hero Soul is left with just 66 days to live. This doesn't mean a Dead Rising style time limit – in-game time only passes after specific story beats – but it does mean that anybody feeling particularly brave can opt for a hardcore difficulty that wipes your progress after 66 deaths. That could potentially mean losing dozens of hours of play, so if you opt for that, consider yourself warned.

Developer S-Game is keen to celebrate what it calls a "kungfupunk" aesthetic. It's an appropriate turn of phrase. As I explore the Phantom Realm, meeting new people and chopping them up, I find characters and locations that subtly fuse nature, supernatural horror, Chinese history and mythology, and a hint of the modern world. I fight faceless warriors wielding blades, phantoms playing pipas, deformed monstrosities that could never be mistaken for human, and much more. All this across locations including cliffs, a lake, fields, villages, caverns, and a lavish estate.

Phantom Hiddelston

Combat is at the heart of it all. And what combat! Every time I start a fight – which happens a lot – it's with a smile on my face. Every clash is a deadly dance between my opponent and I, and we both look like masters of the craft. Together, we weave graceful tapestries of blocks, swing, parries, lunges, dodges, and violently flamboyant strikes. Avoid button-bashing (which will usually see you punished anyway), and Phantom Blade Zero offers that rarest of things; combat that looks as good as it feels.

Visually, the combat owes much to S-Game's commitment to motion capture, including a number of martial artists. Hong Kong movie legend Donnie Yen (who you may know from the Ip Man series, or as Caine in John Wick: Chapter 4) is credited as Creative Consultant, and he even took part in some motion capture himself. It's not all relentless flailing, either, as enemies (particularly some of the tougher bosses) will sometimes size you up or wait for you to approach before striking.

Scraping away the impressive visual flourishes, I still manage to find one of the best combat systems I've come across in a long time. From the first few fights right up until the final boss, I sometimes catch myself thinking this just works so damn well. Yes there are parries, yes there are unblockable red-flash attacks, and yes weapons are upgradeable; but it doesn't quite feel like anything else in the best possible way. I block a series of attacks from a boss, yet can still get in a few hits of my own before they're finished. Failing a parry or a dodge, I'm punished ruthlessly. Next time, I just… stay out of range, then dive in with fists full of vengeance. Too often in other games, that's not even an option.

Then there are the weapons themselves, another stroke of genius. There are a total of 30 regular ones, most of which are entirely missable in the expansive world. Each and every one has some kind of unique trait, and gains even more as they level up (you equip two weapons at a time, switching between them instantly refilling the Sha-Chi depleted by blocking and strong attacks). An early one I stick with for over a dozen hours builds up bleed status in human enemies, while another comes with a jug of booze to induce Tipsy and Drunk states (don't drink and dice, kids). Some excel at breaking through shields, others can counter enemy attacks, and not a single one is a match for any other.

Then there are the many Phantom Edges to find and use, limited-use weapons that might do anything from strike enemies from a distance to temporarily summon minions to your side. A small number feed into the light brush of Metroidvania to the experience, in that they can (without cost) be used to traverse or open up new routes in the world. On rare occasions this will be compulsory to advance the story, but usually, it simply allows me to sate my curiosity for a previously inaccessible area.

Finding where to use my new blocker-cracking goodies is nice and simple, as relevant areas are marked on the map automatically; and turn a pleasant shade of green when you have the corresponding Phantom Edge. In fact, despite the often challenging combat, Phantom Blade Zero does a lot to smooth your progress. Save/respawn points are (usually) placed very generously, medicines are refilled each time you come back to life, and – this is a biggie, and may prove a point of contention for some – enemies almost never respawn. Like I said, it's important to remember that this isn't a Soulslike.

Although Phantom Blade Zero has a huge map with multiple regions, it doesn't quite feel right to call it open world. For one thing, it's tightly designed and tightly paced, with almost no wasted space. Whenever I uncover a new area or decide to wander off the obvious path, there's always something to find (usually including something, or several somethings, that want me dead).

The main story drives me forward, with no doing laps of the same area or regular backtracking to well-worn paths. Nonetheless, I find exploring irresistible, and make a habit of wandering down routes that lead away from my next objective. I'm regularly rewarded for doing so. There's some traditional "collect four X to increase your Y", and in addition to this, the more I explore the more weapon upgrade materials I find. I stumble on many hidden bosses this way, too, laying my hands on powerful weapons I would have otherwise missed. Curiosity is, quite literally, good for my Soul.

I find the combat fantastic, exploration compelling, and the storytelling… inconsistent. There's quite a lot of it. There's in-game dialogue, traditional cutscenes, and a few more experimental approaches that I heartily applaud. There are also seemingly hundreds of notes scattered about all over the place, which I'm less a fan of. I'm usually happy to read in-game text, but there are far too many bits and pieces here, especially for an action game. I quickly adopt a habit of picking them up and then instantly exiting the text screen.

Bloke Zero

The worst offenders, for me, are the Memory Flowers. These contain some of the most crucial story details and are, in addition, tied into HP increases and unlocking some of the more powerful character skills. Whenever I Interact with one, Soul stands perfectly still, staring down at a blue flower while voices play in his head for a few minutes. I have the option of skipping through lines at least, but I stubbornly refuse. Doesn't that kind of defeat the point?

The storytelling ranges from the great to the weak, and while it's mostly pretty straightforward, some of it goes over my head a bit. It's more of a minor annoyance than anything else though, and so it says something that this is my greatest criticism of the game. I do run into a few bugs – two boss fights see me getting stuck on the scenery, resulting in me taking unavoidable damage which makes me say very naughty words – but these are relatively small ones that can and, hopefully, will be patched out on or shortly after launch.

After 30-35 hours, I reach the final boss and – eventually – emerge victorious. Of course I do. Look at how much I've buffed up Soul and his weapons! After all that time, and a great deal of chasing down sidequests and digging out secrets, I am rewarded with what is very definitively the Bad Ending. It's abrupt, and unsatisfying on a few different levels. Nonetheless, I'm surprised to find that I'm not too bothered. There's so much of the map I have yet to explore – including an entire region – I immediately dive back in, eager to see what I'll find next.

One of the things I find is that some secret bosses crucial to the True Ending represent a stratospheric difficulty increase. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. I was doing so well up until then! But in the end, I decide I'm OK with it. After all, there's so much still to see and do, and I can't wait to see and do it.

Phantom Blade Zero was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher.

In the week since BioWare's sudden shutdown and Mass Effect 5's cancellation, fans of the RPG series have rallied around a petition to "Save Mass Effect" that's gained nearly 200,000 signatures. Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale (who voice the male and female versions of protagonist Commander Shepard, respectively) are both on board with the community's efforts, too.

"Mass Effect holds a special place in the hearts of millions of players worldwide," the petition's description reads. "Its rich and immersive sci-fi universe, with Commander Shepard leading the iconic crew aboard the Normandy, has captivated gamers for years. However, recent revelations have cast a shadow over its future. The decline in dedicated resources and ambiguous development plans from Electronic Arts (EA) threaten to leave this beloved series at a standstill, jeopardizing its incredible legacy."

The petition doesn't call for publisher EA to reverse course on BioWare's fate, specifically, but asks the company to take "decisive action by committing to continued development of Mass Effect" with "proper funding, adequate staffing, and time allocation to maintain and advance the high standards the franchise is known for."

Should EA be unwilling to spend millions producing another new Mass Effect - separate from the leaked Mass Effect Universe - the petition suggests the publisher could instead license the franchise "to another studio that shares the passion and vision to keep it alive and allow it to flourish anew."

"Both solutions offer a way forward. By ensuring the ongoing expansion and enhancement of the Mass Effect universe, EA would not only preserve a cherished piece of gaming history but also continue to contribute to the cultural and emotional impact it has on gamers worldwide," the petition continues.

Famed FemShep actor Jennifer Hale jumped online to say she wants to think about a world in which a fan Kickstarter campaign, a game studio, and a group of investors could work together to restore the series. Matt Meer posted a similar video, asking people to "hold the line" and "save Mass Effect" – before encouraging fans to also sign the petition.

Mass Effect Universe supposedly featured "Hitman-style freedom" and a "galactic Cold War," according to BioWare insider

Vorp! With a simple sci-fi sound effect, BioWare tore apart the gleaming hull of the Normandy SR-1, scattered a great deal of what came before to the void, and split its burgeoning action-RPG series clean in two. Save files from 2007's Mass Effect might have brought with them an XP bonus or credit dump as well as the player's established continuity, but rarely before or since has the reset button been pressed so swiftly, or so heart-wrenchingly.

It was exactly what the series needed. One-time Xbox 360 exclusive Mass Effect had been a bright spot of promise for the console, buffed to a lens-flare-spilling sheen by being billed as a franchise that would move beyond binary morality and deliver a meaningful, ongoing space opera – one that wasn't Star Wars for a change. (Many studios now promise episodic gaming, but BioWare was crafting series-spanning narrative arcs long before that buzz-phrase was coined.) The opening part of the trilogy was certainly grandiose and epic in scope, yet somehow austere, a feeling compounded by a glut of anodyne shootouts and awkward driving filling the time away from its much-admired conversation wheel. It wasn't Star Wars, but nor had it found an identity among all its copious lore. As a concept piece, a pilot, it was tantalising enough, but more of the same would not do, especially when the world was then drowning in third-person cover shooters thanks to 2006's punchy, hyperviolent Gears of War.

Oh the horrors

And so millions watched the SR-1's malady in horror, took brief control of malleable returning protagonist Commander Shepard for a spot of eye-searingly beautiful Dead Space homage heroism, and then shaped a 4-billion-credit rebirth. This wasn't just a sequel, it was a reinvention, and BioWare made sure everyone knew it.

Even if the point hadn't been hammered home, returning players would have noticed from Shepard's first woozy steps across a Cerberus lab. The Commander, once stately and tank-like under the sticks, now moved with a fluidity uncommon in the recently deceased, sliding into cover across Teflon floors on Vaseline-smothered boots. Even your starting pistol could dominate early combat spaces with a snap, crackle, and mechhead pop that flash-vaporised expectations of another 20-plus hours of drab, feedbacklight gunplay.

But the real revelation would come when you fired up the power wheel for the first time and unleashed one of the new biotic or tech abilities. Mass Effect's array of buffs, debuffs, and crowd-control powers had hewed close to BioWare's RPG roots, though yoinking enemies out of cover and into the path of a sniper rifle was quite the trick in 2007. The sight of Shepard dashing across no man's land in a haze of roiling blue fire to explode into the enemy and shove a shotgun up their nostrils, however, promised a very different kind of combat interstitial between conversations. If Mass Effect games were Luc Besson movies, the original had been Lucy, all big ideas but little convincing peril, and 2 was The Fifth Element: an intergalactic excuse for daft, glorious carnage.

Daft, not stupid. Players didn't even have to wait for the introduction of creepy new Reaper lackeys, the Collectors, before they started having to manage enemy damage, with a separate bar each for tracking shields, barriers, armour and health. Of all the combat system's renovations, this was perhaps the most crucial, a gentle subversion of the RPG's long-in-the-tooth type-based attacks that meant the series could jettison the notion of a tough fight as one where health bars are hidden behind multiple blocks of blue shield and bullet-sponge powers. Mass Effect 2 wouldn't ask you to face ice monsters that were weak to fire, but shields did melt away under the sustained pressure of an SMG, while biotic power Reave stopped health regenerating so you could put down tough organics such as the Krogan or nightmare-imp newcomers, the Vorcha. And you'd have to control space as well as damage output, since enemies were as aggressive as you, flanking, setting up kill boxes, invading your personal space or flushing you out with flamethrowers.

BioWare could afford to bury the needle north of hectic, because any Shepard, regardless of gender or class, had a secret superpower: the ability to freeze time. While others have made entire games out of frozen moments, here they elegantly and invisibly support tactical play, as you let the stale air in your lungs seep from your lips, read the situation, and adapt. Yes, Shepard may have been able to make enemies hilariously pinwheel in slow motion through the air, then biotically dash them to oblivion – kudos to whoever worked out how to really get some use out of Unreal Engine 3's physics simulations – but on the higher difficulties, Mass Effect 2 became as much the thinking man's cover shooter as a heady power fantasy.

Whizz bang pop

The shooting brought the game in line with the best of its peers, but the series' newfound sense of personal drama is what makes it unforgettable today. BioWare's genius was to add a generous extra glug of soap opera to its po-faced space opera mix, producing something all its own as a result. Where else in games can you assemble a team that consists of a dying part-monk, part-hitman seeking absolution in your noble suicide mission, a none-too-stable tatted-up psychopath who looks like Natalie Portman circa V for Vendetta, and an unflappable sentient machine construct housing 1,183 digital minds, much less bicker with or seduce half that crew? You may have to put the old band back together, but damn if you haven't pulled in an orchestra's worth of exotic new instruments along the way.

Indeed, the reason Mass Effect 2 still stands as the high point of the series is that it is fundamentally a game about people, not concepts. Every Shepard is different, and so will their interactions be, but those are simply the filling between layers of rich character drama. Every principal cast member has something to say. Miranda has to deal with the pressures of being engineered for perfection, putting up an all-too-human wall of ice after years of dealing with a pushy father. Garrus and damp squib Jacob are takes on feeling ineffective in their work, though the former gets a chewy revenge subplot, too. The list is too long to recount here, and loyalty missions double down on the character development – success in the final act, where the entire galaxy is threatened, is dependent on solving personal crises, changing inner universes.

Forget fetch quests, strip mining and moon caches – helping Jack get some closure after her time as Subject Zero at the hands of Cerberus felt like it mattered. It is these stories, these little moments of pathos and reconciliation, where BioWare finally grounds its big questions about life. Gradually, you begin to feel as if it might be a tragedy to lose this universe, this diversity of damaged characters trying to find their way in the uncaring vacuum, to the Reapers. In providing robust inner lives for its alien-packed cast, BioWare finally found the window on humanity it had been seeking.

Shepard's uneasy alliance with Cerberus is the smouldering fuse that regularly threatens to detonate all of these volatile personalities, but it is also an excuse to let the player deviate from the virtuous Paragon path if they so wish. Anecdotal evidence suggests that when given the choice, many will opt for video game good over video game evil. But so often in games, the evil path is simply the stupid one where you act like a dick to others for no good reason. Human civilisation is founded on social imperatives, so it's little surprise many struggle to shrug off their conditioning without incentive. By casting Shepard not as the white knight of humanity trying to earn our place in the stars but as an agent of a pro-human terrorist group that cares more about results than ramifications, the Renegade options finally made a little more narrative sense.

Which isn't to say Mass Effect 2 delivered nuanced morality – that takes more tallying up good and bad actions on separate scales – but it did at least make roleplaying meatier. Would you taser an engineer to sabotage the gunship of a telegraphed later boss to make the fight easier? Or are you the sort of person who leaps in to defend a Quarian from racial harassment at the hands of a pompous Volus and a bent cop? You might feasibly be both, assuming you're not gaming the system to max out one type of conversation-wheel option. Getting the player involved in everyday strife as well as world-ending crises lent the series an intimacy it had lacked. Anyone can be a hero when the only criterion is that all the bad men are dead at the end, but how you played Mass Effect 2 had the power to say something about you as a person.

It's easy to forget, in the wake of Mass Effect 3's reductionistic endings, how much Mass Effect 2 felt like a realisation of the series' promise to respect your choices. Entire missions winked into existence or out of it based on your Mass Effect playthrough, old faces appeared in unexpected places, and you could alter the texture of the galaxy, even if the artifice involved meant the core structure had to be much the same. To replay Mass Effect 2 now is not just a chance to pursue new combat options and morality; it is a reminder of what the most ambitious ongoing saga in video games set out to achieve, and how choice-centred the universe it provided was, even when it fell short.

Perhaps most importantly, it is proof that just because something's a sequel, that doesn't mean it can't be a total reinvention, at least given a studio at the height of its powers and a silly sound effect.

This Mass Effect 2 article was first published in issue 273 of Edge Magazine. To get more like this delivered straight to your doorstep (or digital device) consider subscribing to Edge.

A24 and Alex Garland's Elden Ring movie is supposedly the studio's most expensive production of all time with a reported budget of $200 million. FromSoftware's RPG adaptation ain't cheap.

The figure comes courtesy of a recent Wall Street Journal report that states A24 is spending "nearly $200 million" to adapt the landmark dark fantasy game, not including marketing costs, according to sources in the know. Earlier in the year, the reported figure was closer to $100 million - still A24's biggest movie at the time.

A $200 million budget would make Elden Ring far and away the studio's priciest feature yet. To put things into perspective, the arthouse company reportedly spent around $70 million on last year's Marty Supreme, starring Timothee Chalamet, which was previously its most expensive big screen flick. Before that, Alex Garland's Civil War carried a $50 million price tag.

A24 is essentially dropping blockbuster cash on one of its first major blockbuster bets - at $200 million, the cost of adapting Elden Ring is closer to the budget the Marvel Cinematic Universe normally plays around with.

But it's not necessarily a hugely risky bet. Elden Ring is one of the generation's most popular and defining games - analyst Rhys Elliott recently reported the game of the year winner had sold over 36 million copies, bringing in more than $2 billion in revenue. There's no guarantee that the Elden Ring movie can repeat the game's success - it still needs to be good first - but the name awareness could definitely help it become a box office hit.

The Elden Ring movie hits theatres on March 3, 2028. Kit Connor (Heartstopper) and Cailee Spaeny (Beef, Alien: Romulus) are starring in the fantasy picture, which wrapped filming earlier this summer. George R.R. Martin is on board as a producer after helping FromSoftware create the game's lore.

"The biggest L From Soft has taken in a long time": Emergency Elden Ring patch stops players from getting the new $5 DLC items for free

New gameplay details from the canceled Mass Effect game have emerged, following developer BioWare's abrupt demise. Mass Effect Universe was reportedly set to feature a galactic Cold War between the galaxy's remaining factions, espionage mechanics likened to the Hitman series, and, of course, romance.

The new tidbits come from YouTuber Dantics, who was supposedly on the Mass Effect player council composed of community members and content creators who gave BioWare feedback during production. IGN has backed up some of his comments and even reports that "every major [alien] race" was working in an in-production build, citing an anonymous development source.

A leaked trailer for Mass Effect Universe already gave us a small taste of what could've been, but Dantics now has more concrete details. The game, set more than 600 years after the events of the original trilogy, would've had three major factions caught up in a Cold War conflict with a mysterious threat lurking in the background. The story would've been a departure from the Reapers and their galactic invasion.

As for how this Mass Effect Universe would play, BioWare apparently wanted players to step into the boots of an N7 agent who was a "cross between John Wick and James Bond" - think up-close melee takedowns, gadgets, hacking, experimental tech implants, and more potentially stealthy options. Instead of large open-world environments, the scrapped Mass Effect would've also featured handcrafted linear missions "with Hitman-style freedom in how you complete them."

Deep romance options and "squadmates who can clash with each other" are also said to have been in development. We had previously seen series mainstay Liara in the game's debut trailer, and with the passage of a few hundred years, she had reportedly become an "incredibly powerful Asari Matriarch."

"Not to rub salt in the wound, but they were a lot further in development than their statement suggested. and we were going to get something truly magical," Dantics claimed.

Mass Effect 5 was "something special", dev says – it was BioWare's response to what Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 devs "were bringing to the table"

The developers behind Peak have finally launched their viral co-op climbing game on consoles, but the long-awaited port also had the side effect of tripling the game's file size on Steam. Why? Well, Team Peak explains that it's because there's now 208 maps in rotation, rather than the usual 30.

More than a year after the game's swift ascent on PC, Peak has now - ahem - peaked on PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox PC. The new ports also introduced cross-play across all platforms, as well as a new 10GB update that brought the game's total size to about 15GB.

"Why is it so big? So, the way daily map rotations work is we upload about 30-ish new maps in a Steam patch, which means every few weeks we've had to keep patching just to swap out the game with new maps that we have to manually generate on our side every god damn time," Team Peak explains in a recent video.

"So, since we're wrapping up development on Peak, we wanted to make sure there was still re-playability for players. Instead of the same 30 daily maps rotating forever, you get 208 maps rotating forever. That's why the update was so big," the dev added.

As huge new updates begin to slowly wind down, it's understandable that joint developers Aggro Crab (Another's Crab's Treasure) and Landfall (TABS, Haste) wanted to somewhat future proof their 'friendslop' mainstay. Still, the devs are hard at work to clean up any remaining bugs.

"Steam specific users might also encounter a bug with joining lobbies where the lobby created is in a different region to you… We actually fixed this bug, so it's actually live right now… You don't even have to worry about it," the video continued. A Switch 2 bug that causes layers to clip through the floor when jumping too high is also being fixed, as are some reported framerate drops on Xbox.

Team Peak also warned that PlayStation players in different regions, such as Brazil, might be affected by unusually high regional pricing: "We're fixing that, so feel free to wait a few days before purchasing."

Peak co-dev says games like its iconic friendslop hit "wouldn't exist" if the studio tried to turn everything it makes "into the next Fortnite" with endless content updates

After weeks of outcry, Blizzard has seemingly caved to pressure from the ever-vocal Diablo 4 community and increased stacking on Prime Evil Splinters from 1, which means no stacking, all the way up to 99, a 9900% increase. That's not just a compromise, that's a full-blown reversal seemingly based on feedback from the players.

"WE GOT A SPLINTER STACK SIZE INCREASE," reads an excited Reddit post featuring a screenshot from the latest Diablo 4 patch notes, which confirm, "The stack size for Prime Evil Splinters increased from 1 to 99" starting October 28. Unfortunately, the reaction at least on the Diablo 4 subreddit hasn't been as positive as Blizzard is probably hoping. In fact, the vast majority of comments, including those with the most upvotes, are from players who feel the change is too late, if not too little.

"Nice. Wait until the bulk of the playerbase has given up in disgust," reads the top comment on the post. I very much doubt "the bulk of the playerbase" has really given up on Diablo 4 because of this, and in fact I'd argue the majority of players don't give a damn about stackable Splinters, but it seems the subreddit is in agreement that it simply took Blizzard too long to make this change.

Season 15 has been out for a few weeks now, and this whole time the seasonal Prime Evil Splinters you use to grant yourself Prime Evil powers have been locked to one per inventory, meaning you could only have one of each type on you at any given time. Diablo 4's endgame grinders hated that so much that they came up with an incredibly fussy and demanding workaround, but now Blizzard has made that technique obsolete by letting you stack up to 99 of the suckers, which seems excessive to me.

Regardless, Diablo 4 players aren't letting Blizzard off the hook for this one.

"Too fuckin late," says another disgruntled denizen of Sanctuary.

"I’m good. Too little too late!" says another, and so on...

Although unstackable Splinters have been seen as a season 15 bug by many, I'm convinced Blizzard was being very intentional when it limited players to just one per type. The wording in the new patch notes to me suggests a reversal rather than a bug fix, which makes this yet another example of Blizzard's willingness to make significant design changes in response to feedback from players.

Diablo 4 PTR 3.3.0 confirms Season 16 is "carrying forward" some features by popular demand, and Blizzard is taking Druids back to school to address broken tags

Arc Raiders streamer aimkey wondered, in an October 20 Twitter post, "how am I not banned yet" as he posted a gameplay clip that some viewers interpreted as a sure sign of aimbotting given the unusually fast and accurate reticle work. Today, October 23, he confirmed that he has been hardware banned from Arc Raiders for aimbotting.

"I've been falsely banned from ARC Raiders for aimbotting," reads a recent post from aimkey. "I've dedicated my life to this game since release, streaming thousands of hours of my gameplay publicly. I'm willing to FLY OUT to Embark HQ and play in front of the developers to prove I'm 100% legitimate. My reputation and career are being destroyed, and I've even received death threats over this ban."

False positives do happen with anti-cheat systems, but for future reference, offering to play the same game on a different computer is not a great defense against cheating accusations. That's like an accused shoplifter saying, "Put any item in front of me right now and I won't steal it while you're watching, officer."

A shared message from Embark support agent Alan reads: "Our investigation has identified a consistent pattern of abnormal behaviors that are evidence of aimbotting, which constitutes a violation of Section V (Code of Conduct) in our Terms of Service and End User License Agreement."

On his Twitch stream, aimkey also shared a longer exchange with Embark that confirms he has been banned from Arc Raiders at the hardware level, preventing him from playing the game at all on his system.

Ahead of the game's big Frozen Trail update, which has brought a lot of life back to Arc Raiders after several dull months, Embark announced sweeping anti-cheat reforms which would see offenders permanently banned rather than slapped with temporary limitations or escalating warnings.

Over on the Arc Raiders subreddit, many players are celebrating as though the local house egger was finally caught, thrilled to at least see the new anti-cheat leading to decisive action. "With a name like aimkey... that's ironic," observes one user.

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

Ahead of GTA 6, Rockstar veteran Obbe Vermeij marked the 25-year anniversary of Grand Theft Auto 3 with a lengthy retrospective examining its difficult development.

GTA 3 was a pioneering open-world game and a landmark release for Rockstar, but in a recent Twitter post, Vermeij says, "For most of development, GTA 3 was in a sorry state."

Vermeij says "it crashed frequently, the frame rate was terrible and the map was full of holes. Only in the last six months did everything come together. For the longest time, it looked like the frame rate was going to be 20 fps. Only in the final months did we manage to hit 30."

This sort of late assembly is pretty common in game development, particularly among large teams who may have siloed disciplines handling projects of larger scope. In the messy intersection of art and technology, the heart of a game may be hard to see until it's relatively close to release. For example, Bethesda boss Todd Howard said in 2023 that it took seven years for Starfield to become something that's actually fun to play.

Vermeij notes that the beginning of GTA 3 was messy, too. Rockstar North, then operating as DMA Design, had just been snapped up by Take-Two Interactive, "and a satellite office had opened in Edinburgh. Space Station Silicon Valley for the N64 had been finished in 1998, but there was no new project lined up. Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut started working on GTA 3. Unprompted. Meanwhile, the original GTA 1 and GTA 2 team had started work on GTA 2.5, set in Miami. It was called 2.5 because it used the 2.5D (isometric) perspective."

What would have been GTA 2.5 was canned in 2000, that Dundee office closed, and GTA 3 was finally officially greenlit by Take-Two and Rockstar, Vermeij adds. "Everything was written from scratch," he explains. "Only two people worked on both GTA 2 and GTA 3, and no code or art from GTA 2 was reused."

"The way we worked was organic. People would come up with ideas for missions and we'd just try them. If they were fun, they were in. The story was secondary. In fact, the opening plot involving Catalina trying to kill Claude was added well into development."

Back when GTA teams were still pretty small (and downright tiny by today's standards), Vermeij says, "Working on GTA 3 was a lot of fun. Every day there was something new going in. A new mission, radio station, car, pedestrian, building or whatever. The game was growing at an incredible rate. Other than the multiplayer mode we did some work on, I can’t remember a lot of wastage."

Contrast this with GTA 6, which Rockstar admits stalled during development due to conflicting, evolving, or unclear creative visions. GTA 6 hasn't actually been in full production for all of the 13 years since GTA 5, but it did eat up incomparably more labor hours than Rockstar's original breakout hits. With its new development pipeline now stress-tested, studio leadership says future games won't be as difficult or time-consuming to make as GTA 6.

Vermeij also touches on the studio's reputation for crunch – something Rockstar leadership and staff have worked to tackle out in the open in recent years. At least on GTA 3, Vermeij says, "Although everybody worked hard, I don't remember many people doing crazy hours. On the rare occasions I was in over the weekend, there were usually only one or two others. Even during crunch time, most people left the office around 9 or 10 in the evening. I always thought it was better to work eight focused hours than spend your life in the office."

What did all that work get them? Pre-release anxiety. GTA wasn't always the unstoppable hit-maker it is today, and GTA 3 presented a major and risky shift in gameplay. "Although we liked the game," Vermeij says, "it wasn't at all clear that it would be a hit. GTA 3 had a disappointing showing at E3 in May 2001. Most people weren't interested, and those who were thought it was too violent. It had an OK launch, but sales never tapered off."

"The thing I remember most is the camaraderie," he concludes. "In a small team, everybody relies on each other and everybody has a lot of input. Most of us were young and had only recently moved to Edinburgh. We went to the pub together. It felt like a group of friends who happened to be working on a project together."

Nowadays, Rockstar has thousands of devs on its payroll, with a studio larger than post-DMA Rockstar North purely dedicated to NPCs in GTA 6. Edinburgh is gonna need a bigger pub.

Rockstar is "at least 10 years ahead" of other games with GTA 6's NPC crowd technology, says dev behind 007: First Light's incredible crowds

Sadly, we learned this week that BioWare is being shut down by EA. The legendary studio was responsible for many beloved RPGs, including the Mass Effect series, for which a new installment was deep in development. In the aftermath, fans have been scurrying for ways to salvage the project, including courting Palworld developer Pocketpair.

No, seriously - and apparently this isn't the first time that's happened, either. "Soon after a game is canceled or a studio shuts down, we get a lot of comments and emails from fans saying 'You should buy this IP!'" John 'Bucky' Buckley, head of communications and publishing at Pocketpair, posted on Twitter.

"Then, as months go by, those comments turn into 'Why didn't you buy it? You have the money!'" he adds, before explaining the reality that buying and selling IP is complicated, and often the asking price is obscene compared to the potential value. He then points out that, yes, people have been bugging him about Mass Effect 5.

"I got close to 30 DMs/emails from fans about buying Mass Effect in the last day," he says in response to someone asking. He then jokes that Jade Empire would make him more keen.

Pocketpair saving the new Mass Effect would be a plot twist and a half on this whole debacle, but I suspect it's wishful thinking at best. Despite the fact the studio seems to be doing well, who knows if EA would even be open to conversations around selling the sci-fi property, and if it was, whether the amount wanted would make any kind of sense.

I'm not sure it's a great fit to fly BioWare's flag, either. Palworld and the spin-offs that have been revealed are very different to the expansive role-playing games that make up the home of Dragon Age's repertoire. You don't want just anyone making the next Mass Effect - you want a studio that'll honor the existing work and legacy.

Ultimately, those who could've given us a sequel worthy of the first trilogy have just been let go. Mourn what could've been, and let the bargaining stage pass. And then boot up the first Mass Effect yet again.

Mass Effect 5 lead says outpouring of support following BioWare closure "means so much to us," but is looking on the bright side: "At least I don't have to call in sick when GTA 6 comes out"

Final Fantasy Resonance – the first game in the series to be made in Square Enix's HD-2D style – is already the second-biggest Steam launch for any turn-based RPG title from the developer.

Square Enix has finally relented to years of suggestions and released a Final Fantasy game in the HD-2D style, with the latest spinoff in the series, Final Fantasy Resonance, dropping this week. Like last year's Octopath Traveler Zero, this HD-2D RPG adapts one of Square's previous mobile games – Final Fantasy Brave Exvius – into a full-blown console RPG.

Per SteamDB, the RPG has hit a peak of 27,933 players over the course of its first day available, which places it at the higher end of Square Enix's roster of turn-based RPGs on the platform. In fact, this number sees it narrowly overtake this year's Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, which peaked at 27,390. However, Dragon Quest isn't out just yet, as the peak of Square's turn-based player count goes to Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, which sits at an impressive 45,357 from its launch back in 2024.

Of course, this is only day one for Final Fantasy Resonance, and given that the majority of Steam games tend to peak on the first weekend after their release, there's still a chance for Resonance to steal the top spot. But at the very least, it's looking like a pretty successful launch for Square Enix, who will hopefully make a wholly original HD-2D Final Fantasy game in the future, rather than an adaptation of a mobile game.

Final Fantasy 14 players get 1 free day of game time after Square Enix lifts the MMO's PHP lockdown

The MW4 DMZ Police Stations are spread across the map, but if you can find their locations you can complete the Orders connected to them, as well as simply loot them for high value items. Police Stations have quickly become an easy point of reference in Modern Warfare 4 to get good loot, especially related to weapons and guns. If you want to know how to find them and loot them effectively, here's where to look, as well as how to get into the Police Armories.

For more help with the latest Call of Duty, check out all the MW4 DMZ best traits for your operators, or find out all the best weapons and guns in Modern Warfare 4!

Where to find all DMZ Police Stations in MW4

There are five Police Stations across the MW4 DMZ map, all shown above. They're easy enough to find, as they aren't hidden, and they are marked on the map by default with a sheriff Star symbol.

There's no major difference between the layout or contents of each of the DMZ police stations, though keep in mind that if you have an Armory key (see below) it will be specific to one station or another, described by its relation to major landmarks (such as "North of Wolves Stadium").

How to loot Police Stations and open the Armory

Police Stations are several floors (including a basement) with various randomized containers, similar to other buildings. However, what's of note is that there's an armory/evidence room in the basement of each building that holds high-level loot and requires a key to open. This room should be down the stairs on the right when you enter through the main doors.

Some have reported finding Armory keys within the Police Stations themselves (I have checked and have yet to be so lucky), but you can find them around the DMZ as random rare rewards, or through mission completion.

Still learning the particulars of MW4? if you've already got DMZ in front of you, find out how to uncover the Modern Warfare 4 Counting Room Vault location for an early source of great loot, or how to uncover the Modern Warfare 4 Dynamic Op Phone and complete the early challenges!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Modern Warfare 4 has received a much-needed update to stop people from UAV-hogging during DMZ matches.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is finally out today after what can – in the nicest way – be described as a unique launch rollout. Last week, players were able to access the game's campaign mode, and earlier this week, the DMZ mode became available to drop into. DMZ is Activision's take on the extraction shooter genre, letting 20 squads drop onto a massive map and play a dangerous version of Supermarket Sweep without the quizzing.

However, from what seemed like the moment DMZ launched, players found one element of it particularly frustrating. Namely, UAV towers are able to be taken over by players and expanded throughout a game, meaning that there are huge no-go zones unless you fancy being spotted the moment you walk in. This would cause a rush to UAV towers to get this benefit for yourself, with some going as far as to say this choice was a "mistake, and so oppressive you can't do anything."

This week Infinity Ward announced some new changes in a minor update for the game, with the magic words included "In DMZ, players can now steal back UAV Towers from enemy control." This change has naturally excited DMZ fans, with Call of Duty news account ModernWarzone saying the change was "so badly needed" and "Awesome to see that get fixed so quickly."

However, this was somewhat undercut about the other part of this update, which allows parties of four players to queue up into free-for-all bouts. Which, in theory, will allow squads to team up against everyone else in the all-for-one battlefields, with the replies to the update mostly consisting of players calling this change out.

Check out our Modern Warfare 4 review here!

My fiancee is in mourning for the canceled Mass Effect 5. She's been besotted with BioWare's sci-fi darling for only 6 years, but during that time, it's become a part of her. I even agreed to play the trilogy for the first time in 2022 so that she could live vicariously through me, experiencing the RPG with fresh eyes, intervening only to ensure I didn't kill Wrex at the end of the first game ("I will literally never forgive you for it!").

But as much as I loved every moment of my time as Commander Shepard, there's naturally a little more emotional distance between myself and Mass Effect. Professional curiosity also meant that my genuine sadness at the follow-up's cancelation – and the disbanding of one of the most prolific, talented developer teams in the history of video games – was chased by a desire to theorize. What would Mass Effect 5 have looked like, and how would it have gotten around the player's choice element that cemented Mass Effect 3 as one of the most satisfying conclusions to an RPG series I've ever seen?

A prequel seemed logical to me. Mass Effect: D-Day, perhaps, going right back to the First Contact War or the discovery of the Charon Relay. We could witness the moment humanity decided to leave Earth and colonize the planet, introducing alien races to the global population for the very first time and seeing the running theme of interspecies politics take root. But the leaked Mass Effect Universe trailer suggests BioWare was heading in the exact opposite direction on the spacetime continuum, and I find the prospect equally as tantalizing.

Name's Bond: Space Bond

Mass Effect Universe would have been one hell of a sexy space RPG. Gone are the militaristic uniforms of the Normandy's crew, the clunky cover shooter dynamics so emblematic of the original Mass Effect's contemporary. One look at the flashy action hero melee breaking out in the sleek alien night club, and Universe makes it clear: we're not in 2007 any more, Toto.

The trailer is only two minutes long, comprising pre-production assets as per a notice at the very start, but it's enough to have my full attention. In it, we get a brief rundown of who would have been our player character: an ex-soldier mercenary who turned his back on the spoils of war to do things on his own terms.

There's a James Bond quality about him as he flirts with an asari in the dimly-lit bar; he talks himself up, but just enough to titillate, stopping short of arrogance or braggery. Everything is looking rather steamy until the asari in question pulls an Uno reverse. His job is to put out fires, he says, but hers is to start them. A turian squares up behind the hero, indicating the brawl about to break out, when a familiar voice comes from behind the asari. It's Liara – Commander Shepard's asari companion-turned-criminal mastermind, who becomes the Shadow Broker in the Mass Effect trilogy – and she's on our side.

This, to me, is the biggest wow moment of the whole trailer. Not just because it's good to see Liara return after a brief cameo in Mass Effect Andromeda, but because of how much information her presence gives us about the game that never was.

Welcome back, Broker

As an asari, Liara's typical life span would be about 1,000 years. She's just over a hundred years old when Shepherd meets her in Mass Effect, incredibly young in the grand scheme of things.

But the leaked Mass Effect Universe trailer depicts her with visible signs of aging. She has actual wrinkles, for a start, and her voice is a touch deeper. Asari don't show their age physically until they reach 700 years old or so, indicating that Universe would have taken place many hundreds of years after Mass Effect 3 – closer to Andromeda on the timeline, itself set over 600 years later, though potentially sometime before, after, or even during.

By pitching us even further into the future with an ageing, 800 year-old-plus asari Shadow Broker as our companion (or at the very least, as an ally) BioWare seemed to have solved two problems at once. If it was intended to be set between Mass Effect 3 and Andromeda, Universe could have given us more exposition as to the immediate aftermath of the trilogy while making a stronger connection between it and the standalone title (especially since Liara is given that cursory nod in the latter). Set it one to two hundreds years after the fact, it could have brought up the question of Liara's successor; as the Matriarch draws closer to the end of her life, who will become the next Shadow Broker?

My guess is that Mass Effect Universe would have seen us, the player, as part of Liara's crew, possibly being groomed to take over her role as information warlord of the galaxy. An existing professional relationship is clearly established at the bar – "We know. That's why we're here," she says when the other asari's minions surround the protagonist – before the fight breaks out. And what better way to bring players back into the world of Mass Effect than seeing one of Shepard's beloved friends being a badass in her honor?

I would have loved to see Universe take us full circle, the companion becoming the big boss as we take on merc contracts across the galaxy in the name of the Shadow Broker. But with the game canceled, all of this is pure speculation. Unless the stars align, pigs fly up to dance among them, and EA sees fit to sell the IP on to a studio who actually wants to give it a shot, it's potentially useless speculation at that. Mass Effect Universe is no longer in development at the time of writing, but I am still thankful for this intriguing glimpse of what could have been.

As a more mature, high-octane, modern vision of the best sci-fi RPG of all time, Mass Effect Universe had the power to make the series make sense again in the 2020s. The fact that this trailer exists at all is a testament to the fact that BioWare did have a clear vision. It did have something to show for all these years of hard work. And I'm glad, at the very least, we had an opportunity to witness it for ourselves.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is just one of the best RPGs of all time, and there's plenty more to choose from.

After a wild week of security fears and login restrictions, Final Fantasy 14 went back up and open to the public yesterday – but Square Enix is well aware that subscribed players lost out on game time due to the situation… paid game time.

In case you're out of the loop, there was a major worldwide internet security scare earlier this week involving PHP, the programming language that powers various websites and more.

There were two serious security weaknesses, leading to many shutdowns – even the Steam store went down amid the issues – and Final Fantasy 14 was no exception, as Square Enix closed the game to new logins.

Following their work to maintain security on the MMO's servers despite the PHP shenanigans, the developers reopened Final Fantasy 14 (and, sadly, also announced that housing demolition would soon be back in effect as a result).

Lots of folks were left wondering if they'd get any money back in return for the day of time in-game they missed; however, with conversations taking off online – and it appears that the answer is yes, sort of.

According to a new announcement from Square Enix, subscribed players will receive "one day of game time" back for free starting October 28.

This applies as long as "the full version of Final Fantasy 14 has been registered to the service account" and "the service account had an active subscription" as of October 21, when logins were initially closed off.

Overall, fans seem pretty pleased with the update, too. Over on X, comments highlight as much, with players dubbing this a win and praising the devs for being so quick to pay back game time.

As one person writes, "W Square Enix." W indeed, anon. W indeed. It's a good sign that the studio is listening to us, even if I'm still a bit sad about the housing demolition news (look, I've just got severe anxiety about losing my cozy Lavender Beds plot, okay), and that the devs care.

It's especially welcome in the lead-up to Evercold, the MMO's upcoming expansion – one I personally can't wait for. It's safe to say that I'd be subscribed up until that point, free day of game time or not, honestly.

Final Fantasy 14 devs ask for the impossible, beg players to "take time to read" up on the MMO's options before Evercold is out

• With a reworked skill tree and stunning new visuals, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is the definitive way to play the RPG in 2026.

To answer the question I've seen all over the Internet: yes, The Witcher 3 Remastered really is that good. When I first learned of the remaster's existence at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026, I admit I was a little dubious. We'd gotten a snazzy update back in 2022 when the complete edition launched on current gen hardware, and after more My Chemical Romance album re-releases than I can count, I had to ask myself if The Witcher 3 really needed another facelift.

Well, here's your confirmation that the remaster is absolutely worth it. Not only is it absolutely free for all owners of the base game, this gorgeous update improves visual fidelity (lighting, colors, the works) as well as combat, Signs, and the notoriously complicated skill tree that has confounded many of us for years. There's a reason the GamesRadar+ RPG Club chose it for this month's topic; The Witcher 3 is still the best RPG of all time, and a total must-play in 2026.

Why play it today?

• The Witcher 3 Remastered's combat reworks make Sign and bomb-based builds noticeably more powerful and dynamic.

The combat enhancements are what I'm loving most about the new Witcher 3 remaster. I've always been an Igni diehard, but this is the first time I have built my entire character around both it and Yrden.

The remaster doesn't add all-new skills or alternate Sign forms, necessarily, but has reworked how strong each Sign is in tandem with both your current level and any other active abilities. The Firestream form of Igni, which releases a torrent of fire instead of a single short blast, feels even stronger now with the Melt Armor ability activated alongside it, while it has never been more satisfying to watch Supercharged Glyphs whittle enemy health down when they stand on a Yrden Sign.

The reworked skill tree makes it easier to understand how damage scaling works by removing the tedium and guesswork of the original version's "spend X to get Y" machinations. I never used to pay attention to how the different armor sets adapted to my playstyle, but I can feel the difference now depending on my gear; Sign damage output is noticeably bolstered when wearing the School of the Griffin armor, while activating some of the Manticore School genes alongside it means each of my bombs packs a devastating wallop. I love pairing Igni and Yrden with my beloved Grapeshot, a bomb that literally explodes some enemies in a single hit!

The combined effect makes for a meatier, more thoughtful combat system that has me being more inventive with my Signs and bombs rather than desperately hunting down swords all the time... Though I'm still partial to a pretty blade, especially now that we can transmog weapons in The Witcher 3.

Time commitment:

As is custom for the best open world RPGs, a typical playthrough of The Witcher 3 Remastered will take anywhere from 80 to 140+ hours to complete depending upon your playstyle and whether you have both DLCs. My first playthrough took around 135 hours, encompassing the base game, Hearts of Stone, and Blood and Wine, and I definitely left some stones unturned.

A true completionist run might take you a good 10-20 hours or more on top of that, especially if you love a bit of Gwent and the racing challenges. But since I am all about the missions, monster contracts, and treasure hunts, I don't tend to bother with the competing elements too much.

Play The Witcher 3 Remastered if you love...

Skip The Witcher 3 Remastered if you want:

One thing to know:

The Witcher 3 Remastered is a little bit buggy for some, with performance issues on PC causing some bizarre asset dropout (check out them bug eyes). Developer CDPR is on the case, however, with one hotfix already rolled out and another exclusively patching settings toggles for Series S players. I've not experienced anything game-breaking myself in over 50 hours of play so far (aside from the decade-old one where Geralt stubbornly refuses to dive underwater sometimes and I need to save and reload) so it's still worth checking the update out for yourself if you already have it on a current get console.

A moment you'll remember:

Finding Henry Cavill's Geralt armor set from The Witcher Netflix TV show in a Level 15 mission called In The Eternal Fire's Shadow. Added to the game in 2022, the (relatively) new secondary quest sees Geralt exploring an abandoned mine where plague victims were locked up and left to die some three hundred years prior. It's now haunted by the miserable spirits of those left to rot, making for some truly spine-chilling moments that feel even more frightening in the remaster edition's reworked fidelity, and features one of the toughest bosses in the whole game: The ghost of a fellow School of the Wolf witcher.

The final verdict:

11 years since The Witcher 3 took the world by storm, the Remastered Edition makes it feel brand new. In our The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered review, we even call it "an exceptional update that refines the rough edges to make a great RPG even better." It's easy to see why so many of us are still enamored with it to its day, with a heady blend of weighty narrative choices and malleable, exciting combat dynamics that make each player's Geralt feel entirely their own. I don't think I'll be able to pull myself away from The Path anytime soon, and at this rate, I'd be happy to call The Witcher 3 my game of the year all over again in 2026.

So, where can you play it?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is out now on Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. You can buy it new here, though current owners of the Complete Edition can simply download the update for free on current gen consoles.

Check out how I ranked the 7 best Witcher games, and yes, I included Gwent in there.

The Genshin Impact livestream 7.2 codes are the latest promos to drop in the long-running action RPG, providing plenty of Primogems to spend alongside a decent supply of Mystic Enhancement Ore, Hero’s Wit, and Mora. While the most recent special program gave us an insight into the new content arriving with version 7.2, it's the codes revealed during this regular developer presentation that are of most interest here. As always, they will expire in the near future, so here are the Genshin Impact livestream 7.2 codes and how to redeem them.

Genshin Impact livestream 7.2 codes

• HourofRuin - 100x Primogems, 10x Mystic Enhancement Ore
• ExpertMitya - 100x Primogems, 5x Hero's Wit
• PhotoTime - 100x Primogems, 50,000x Mora

The above promos were announced during the latest special program broadcast, and will be active until Sunday, October 25 at 9PM PDT, which is Monday, October 26 at 12AM EDT / 4AM GMT – so make sure that you redeem them as soon as you can to bank all of the rewards on offer.

How to redeem Genshin Impact livestream codes

In some versions of the game you can redeem Genshin Impact codes directly, by opening up the Account menu under Settings and then selecting the Redeem now prompt before entering the code.

You can also redeem Genshin Impact codes by visiting the gift redemption page on the game's official website. Once you're there, log in with your HoYoverse account and make sure the correct regional Server and Character Nickname are selected – these should be completed automatically once you've logged in. All you need to do then is type or copy/paste a promo into the Redemption Code box, before hitting Redeem to claim your rewards.

Either way, the rewards will be sent to you via the in-game mailbox, so head there next to pick them up. You don't have to do that immediately, but in-game mails usually have an expiry date of one month after sending, so don't leave it too long!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

If there's one thing the GamesRadar+ RPG Club has taught me, it's that you've never seen it all. Just when you think you know an RPG inside out, it goes ahead and surprises you 10 years later. See, I thought I'd experienced every original side quest and monster contract in The Witcher 3 – given my many, many playthroughs – but the remastered re-release turned out to prove me wrong. On the shores of Skellige, after completing a particular contract at a particular time, a series of rather unfortunate events landed me in a pokey prison. Having no recollection of getting caught up in this mess before, I had no idea how I was going to get the White Wolf out of this one.

But the very fact that I couldn't wait to find out, and felt fresh excitement in an adventure I've spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours with, speaks to the magic of CD Projekt Red's sweeping fantasy adventure. It's not only teeming with things to see, do, and discover, but it directly reacts to the order in which you do things, and a decision to complete a contract at a certain time made me stumble my way into a missable quest that now refuses to leave my mind.

Quest Log

Wraiths and fog

It all begins with the haunting of a lighthouse out on one of the far islets of Skellige. The contract, The Phantom of Eldberg, is pretty standard for an experienced Witcher like me: investigate the area and find out why wraiths are attached to the location. It's all going well, having found the person responsible for tying the ghostly apparitions to the lighthouse. With a trophy in hand, I return back to a quaint little tavern to get my payment from a local called Jorund.

Only, the tavern is housing some hostile patrons who are none too happy at my being there, and with civil tensions at their peak with the passing of the king, things take a drastic turn. Before I know it, I'm in a bout of fistcuffs that quickly evolves into a clashing of blades. Poor Jorund pays the ultimate price, and as a stranger in a strange land, I'm quickly hoisted into a prison in the compound of Madman Lugos. What a day for poor Geralt.

I'd done this contract before, but it'd never ended like this. On previous runs, I handed in my wraith trophy and Jorund sat happily in the tavern, living to see another day. But, as I discovered, it's all about when you do this contract. Completing it before you do the King's Gambit kicks off a missable quest chain that I had apparently always managed to skip… probably due to my affinity for the Possession quest, or because I'd simply never picked up the contract early enough.

Regardless of the reason, I love the fact that The Witcher 3 constantly takes stock of what I choose you to do, and when I choose to do it. It puts real tangible weight behind my decisions in this world – something I live for in RPGs. And on this occasion, the game rewards me with a wild quest called The Cave of Dreams. If you've experienced this before, you know what I'm in for, but by all of the howling winds does it feel extra magical to witness it through the lens of the remastered edition's enhanced graphics.

Naturally there will be spoilers ahead for the Cave of Dreams.

Face your fears

Indebted to Lugos for letting me out of my pokey prison, I'm tasked with helping out his son, Blueboy Lugos, who's ventured to a cave with some companions to overcome a challenge of legend. Tales tell that anyone who enters the cave will face their fears, which are brought on by taking a mixture of hallucinogenic herbs before you delve into its depths. I'm already drawn to the concept, eager to see what the often implacable monster slayer Geralt's innermost fears will conjure.

At once, things start to get surreal. The cave comes alive with a giant, glittering razorback whale swimming through the air above the heads of the White Wolf, Blueboy, and his crew. It's a sight to behold, as are the school of fish that decorate the cave roof further in. Damn. It sure does look incredibly pretty. Pure camera mode fodder.

The events that actually unfold during the quest are what make it so memorable, though. Through every section of the cave, a character's fear comes to life. For warrior Uve Jabberjaw, it's the deceased king. Having previously insulted the monarch, Uve drastically cut out his own tongue as penance, and the past event clearly still haunts him. Then, in a more chilling turn, Blueboy faces his own father, whose anger and disappointment sets him literally aflame.

When I finally reach the scene of Geralt's fear, I stop to take it in: I'm looking at Kaer Morhen covered in a blanket of white snow. The nightmares that have plagued the witcher throughout the story make manifest here, with the imposing figure of Eredin, King of the Wild Hunt, materializing. It hits hard, not because Geralt is afraid of Eredin, but because he fears for the person the king continues to threaten: Ciri. The short confrontation gets to the heart of what makes The Witcher 3's story so memorable. It's about found family, protecting those you love, and never giving up the fight to keep them safe, and it once again reiterates how deeply Geralt cares for his ward.

If I ever needed further proof as to why The Witcher 3 continues to endure as one of the best RPGs going, well, this quest and the way I finally stumbled upon it is further proof. Now, excuse me while I go and see what else awaits me in the Remaster.

Players of Elden Ring are built different, at least according to some analyst stats. FromSoftware's landmark action-RPG has sold pretty well since its 2022 release, and a significant portion of those buyers have accrued significant playtime in the fantasy juggernaut.

Rhys Elliott, head of market analytics at Alinea Analytics, posted some numbers on Twitter about what Elden Ring's managed to achieve to date. The topline figures are nothing surprising: FromSoftware's last epic has shifted approximately 36.4 million copies on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and it's brought in around $2 billion dollars in total revenue.

Those are the kind of numbers you get when you have people like Post Malone and multi-time WWE Champion Randy Orton openly talking about picking it up and becoming immersed in the struggle. It takes a certain kind of popularity to even grab their attention, and then they become part of the advertising by discussing it so publicly.

But the real revelation of Alinea's findings comes afterward. Around 9.8 million of those players have put over 100 hours into roaming the Lands Between. That's a pretty significant chunk of the community.

It's hard to compare these things through hard data, but I would be surprised if this wasn't quite rare across role-playing games. I suspect the portion of the audience for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, any of the Yakuza series, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, or whatever who manage something similar is a smaller minority.

What's more, Elliott says almost 3.5 million have gotten every achievement. These people have more patience and gumption than I do, that's for sure. I've never been a trophy hunter in games, and I definitely am not tempted by any of FromSoftware's fare.

If you're included in these portions of Elden Ring, I applaud you and hope you have healthy coping mechanisms for the frustration and intensity they entail. "By many accounts, including my own, Elden Ring is one of the best games of all time," Elliott writes. "It's an evergreen seller that will continue to be a cash cow for Bandai and FromSoftware for years to come."

Considering there's a movie coming in 2028, there's a good chance the fanbase will only get bigger, too. Long live Hidetaka Miyazaki.

New launcher for viral AI mash-ups of Elden Ring, Minecraft, and more emerges – with some very questionable terms of service, should you value your PC

Following the unpopular closure of BioWare and cancellation of Mass Effect 5, project director Mike Gamble has taken time to thank fans for their outpouring of support.

Taking to Twitter, Gamble says the support has been appreciated and has encouraged anyone hiring to look out for his team, which he says is full of "OGs" – perhaps in the off chance people doubt that some of the talent behind BioWare's greatest hits are still at the studio.

"I could probably scroll for hours and continue reading the words of support for the studio, the legacy, and the impact that BioWare has had on you," he says. "It means so much to us. There is so much talent on this team of OGs, so if you are aware of any roles, please send them. I will personally vouch for everyone in my crew."

Not content with ending on a somber note, Gamble offers some humor before signing off.

"At least I don't have to call in sick when GTA 6 comes out."

Earlier this week, the news broke that EA would cut 400 jobs following an acquisition by a private investment group led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

Sadly, BioWare was caught in that crossfire, with the studio shut down and work on Mass Effect 5 scrapped. Many developers across the industry have expressed sadness, and those who worked on Mass Effect 5 said it was "something special."

And special it looked. Not long after the news broke, rumors of a trailer surfaced, only for that very Mass Effect 5 trailer to leak online. What could have been, man.

BioWare veteran goes to bat for Dragon Age The Veilguard's dev team, says most of them "had little or no say in the things you disliked" about the RPG.

Ever since Sony raised its prices on PS5 consoles earlier in the year, I've been shouting about refurbished stock. With a console now costing you a minimum of $600 in the lead-up to GTA 6, it's the only way I recommend upgrading in 2026. PS Direct is usually the go-to here, with its sturdy supply of stock and 'Certified Refurbished' designation. Today, it's sweetening the deal a little further.

Here's the offer: buy a certified refurbished PS5 and DualSense together from PS Direct, and you'll save $40 on your total order. That essentially nets you a second gamepad (because one automatically comes in the box anyway) for an extra $20. It's certainly among the cheaper PS5 bundle deals we've seen since those prices increased, but whether it's worth it for you ahead of Black Friday PS5 deals will depend on your setup.

Here's how the same cart would look if you bought everything brand new. A digital edition PS5 costs $599 box-fresh (Amazon), with a DualSense controller sitting at $74 (Amazon). That drops us off at $673 - $155 more expensive than buying everything in PS Direct's current refurbished offer. Swap out that digital edition for a disc version, and you're looking at $723 all in.

As it has been for most of the year, it's pretty clear refurbished PS5 consoles are the way to go if you're upgrading for GTA 6.

Whether or not Sony's current offer will cut the mustard, enough to keep you from waiting until Black Friday later in the year, will depend on whether you actually need that second controller. It's only adding an extra $20 to the final price, but $20 is $20 (that's a full game on a really good day), and without it, the cheapest PS5 stays under that $500 bracket.

Do you need two PS5 controllers?

As the owner of far too many DualSense controllers, I'm going to sound a little hypocritical here. You don't need an extra DualSense controller in your setup. So long as you're conscientious about charging (and assuming you don't play couch co-op), the refurbished DualSense you'll find in the box with your console will do you just fine. The battery life on these things isn't great, lasting about seven hours on average. Unless you're marathoning, though, it's pretty easy to manage with the supplied cable.

Adding that extra controller to your setup does feel nice, though. Unless you're looking for the absolute cheapest way to buy a PS5 ahead of GTA 6, the extra $20 for a spare gamepad is solid value. It's not going to give you the extra features of the best PS5 controllers, but it does have its benefits in battery management and overall longevity.

Being able to keep one charged up while playing with another will make a larger difference for those playing over longer sessions. However, it also spreads your wear and tear across two devices.

The only fault I've noticed with my longstanding gamepads is a slightly stuck Options button. I've personally never experienced drift from DualSense controllers (and I've had one going since 2020), but many have - and picking up refurbished stock is going to put you further down that path than a new device. That's partly why I generally only recommend going straight to Sony for renewed gamepads, after all.

For $20, you're getting a whole second controller to spread that action across, as well as the obvious battery life benefits.

• See all PS5 deals at Amazon

We're also bringing you all the best PS5 accessories available in 2026 and rounding up the best PS5 gifts this holiday season. Check out the best PS5 headsets if you're kitting out a whole setup ahead of GTA 6.

The best traits in MW4 DMZ mode are all about making sure that your operator has the best skill possible. As you play you'll level up and earn new trait points, capping out at 18, which isn't nearly enough to fill all three skill trees. With that in mind, you need to be certain that you're picking the best traits possible and ensuring that you're ready for a variety of circumstances. With that in mind, I'll lay out the optimum build for traits in Modern Warfare 4 below, so you know exactly what to choose when the time comes.

What are the best traits in DMZ for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4?

Here are the best traits in each skill tree in MW4 DMZ mode. If you're building up in each tree, make sure that you pick the traits mentioned below when given the option to do so.

• Warfighter
  • Equipment Professional: Slowly recharges equipped lethals and tacticals after use. Refills up to the max capacity of the slot.
  • Adrenaline Burst: Killing an enemy resets tactical sprint.
  • Possum: Allows a Self Revive into Last Stand from death, restoring health to maximum, once per match.
• Scout
  • Investor: Slightly increases cash amount extracted.
  • Auto Fill: Lethals and tacticals automatically replenish from Backpack.
  • UAV Upgrade: Increases the range and duration of UAVs. Also upgrades them to Advanced UAVs.
• Survivalist
  • Quick Knife: Replaces weapon bash melee attacks with knife attacks.
  • Metabolism: Slowly regenerate health lost via tourniquet.
  • Die Hard: Approaching an exfil while in Last Stand calls the exfil automatically. Also grants infinite bleed out time while in Last Stand.

These traits are largely based around universality and broad applicability in combat, as well as emphasizing those skills that are better in PvP than PvE (which tends to be tougher as a rule). I've also de-emphasized traits that increase reward yields and item stacking – not that there's anything wrong with those, but I think it's more important to survive missions than to risk your life on some small reward bonuses. After all, it doesn't matter if you have more loot than normal if you never make it home safely!

Operator Traits in Modern Warfare 4 DMZ explained

Traits in MW4 DMZ are skills that are unlocked when your Operator levels up. You'll get a trait point that can be invested in any of the three skill trees, granting that specific operator and character that skill, but only them! These don't apply to any other operators that you have unlocked.

Traits are picked from one of two or three options each time, and these choices are exclusive. For example, early in the Warfighter tree, you'll be able to pick between "Plate Pouch", "Bounty Hunter" and "Resupply". Whichever one you pick, it'll lock that Operator out of ever getting the other two, so pick carefully!

Operators can earn a total of 18 Traits before they max out, which is enough to completely work through two of the skill trees to the end. That restriction means that you have to think carefully about what you want to get, as you won't be able to get all of them.

If that operator is lost on a mission, you'll lose all progress you made with them. However, you can pay cash to rescue them. The amount of money it costs scales to their level – the more Traits they have, the more expensive it will be to bring them back.

Still learning the particulars of MW4? if you've already got DMZ in front of you, find out how to uncover the Modern Warfare 4 Counting Room Vault location for an early source of great loot, or how to uncover the Modern Warfare 4 Dynamic Op Phone and complete the early challenges!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the Nintendo representative director and executive fellow behind titles like Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda, sees AI – as controversial as it may be – as a natural progression of technology.

The Nintendo mastermind says as much during a press conference reported by GameWatch (later translated from Japanese by VGC), first recalling past technological advancements.

"Our generation lived through a period of rapid computer development – a time when tools were constantly evolving, moving from typewriters to word processors," he explains, using design – or more specifically, lettering – as an example.

"In the past, for instance, designers were taught in school how to create beautiful lettering for posters; possessing that skill alone was enough to be called a 'designer.' Alternatively, one could simply take a design that was trending abroad, give it a 'Japanese-style' twist, and be labeled a designer."

Then, "computers and technology advanced," as Miyamoto says, and "a designer's true individual capabilities… finally came to the fore."

That's when he mentions AI: "I believe generative AI represents a similar shift." Miyamoto then draws a line between "creating" and the "labor" that's involved while creating.

"When you set out to create, you first establish a broad structure, then begin the hands-on work: the tasks that follow, such as filling in gaps or refining the details. The tricky part is that this labor can actually be quite enjoyable."

Miyamoto doesn't think hard or lengthy labor means a good product, however – and there could be danger in folks wrongly believing it does. "While the act of creation is inherently satisfying, there's a danger: one might find satisfaction in the labor itself and mistakenly believe that a high-quality piece of work has been created."

In that regard, the Nintendo legend views AI as a potential asset rather than a liability. "In that sense, the more AI replaces these tasks, the more it provides an opportunity to reflect on what's really important, which I think is a positive thing," he says.

Rather than looking at the tech – which is, admittedly, quite controversial – Miyamoto sees benefits in using AI. He doesn't see it as a replacement for creatives or developers, either, as it works with and for people rather than instead of, in his mind.

"Looking back at past designs, there are some that were created merely by copying and pasting. Yet, such work rarely stands the test of time; it lacks the individual's particular design intention." AI doesn't, "because the process relies on an individual's intent, with the computer serving as an assistant for the labor."

And, again, Miyamoto doesn't believe that'll push actual human beings out of the picture, and that's precisely why.

"I believe that even as technology continues to evolve, and even if AI were to eventually handle everything, there will always be a role left for us to play," he concludes – and, while I'm not sure I completely agree myself, I suppose I can understand where he's coming from.

I don't see AI being able to pull off the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake or any other new games that have caught my eye, though… and I doubt I ever will.

Zelda and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto becomes first-ever dev to receive Japan's greatest cultural award, but he's crediting all of Nintendo: "These achievements were not the work of one person"

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has sold 8.7 million copies and generated $336 million in revenue since its launch last year, with the majority of sales on Steam despite being on PC Game Pass.

A post by Alinea Analytics breaks down how the last few Game of the Year award winners – Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Astro Bot, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – have sold across their various platforms.

As one of the biggest games ever made, Elden Ring naturally leads with $2 billion from 36.4 million copies sold, and Baldur's Gate 3 isn't too far behind with $1.2 billion from 23.2 million copies sold. Meanwhile Astro Bot made $291 million across 4.7 million copies sold, which is natural being an exclusive and being a sadly niche genre (bring back platformers being the top genre I beg you).

Then comes the most recent and most-awarded Game of the Year winner, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which matched the record set by Baldur's Gate 3 by winning all five major GOTY awards. While not quite near the Elden Ring or Baldur's Gate 3 numbers, the indie title has made $366 million through 8.7 million copies sold.

However, unlike the other three games, Clair Obscur was also available for 'free' to Xbox Game Pass subscribers until last week, and during that time it brought in 4.3 million players across Xbox consoles and PC Game Pass users. This naturally had an impact on Xbox sales through what Alinea calls "Game Pass cannibalization", with only 5.5% of sales coming from Xbox users, but this didn't really seem to affect PC sales too much, as 58.8% of sales came from Steam users.

Despite this "cannibalization," Clair Obscur creative director Guillaume Broche has been positive about Xbox Game Pass, and its impact on the game. He notes that the subscription "lowered that barrier of entry," especially when turn-based RPG's could "put people who prefer more real-time action games off."

Meanwhile, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella says the game is "a great example of a game where its sales potential was likely increased because of its inclusion in a subscription service."

As more people got to try the game with the subscription fee as the only barrier to entry, word of mouth will surely grow. So sure, 4.3 million people experienced the game without buying it, but that doesn't mean that 4.3 million people would buy the game outright otherwise.

Pokemon with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's combat sounds like a bonkers idea, but one fan's now given us a taste test.

To call Baldur's Gate 3 a success would be a gigantic understatement. Larian's fantasy-RPG took the industry by storm upon release in 2023, and new figures from an analyst give us some insight into how many copies have been sold and just how much money the adventure's generated. Spoilers: both are big numbers.

On Twitter, Rhys Elliott, the head of market analytics at Alinea Analytics, provided figures the firm has on the iconic game.

According to Alinea's stats, Baldur's Gate 3's lifetime sales now amount to 23.2 million copies across all platforms, and it's generated around $1.2 billion in revenue.

Those are chunky numbers. Managing to cross the 23 million threshold is astounding, really. That's almost triple the most recent figures on the business Final Fantasy 7 Remake's done, and it's more than Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and the Resident Evil 4 remake.

Baldur's Gate 3 is doing whatever the opposite of rookie numbers is. It places Larian's threequel in the realm of FromSoftware's behemoth Elden Ring, though with seven million still to go before it threatens to outdo that particular piece of swords and spells.

Just over 80% of these sales were through Steam on PC, while PS5 accounts for 12.7% and Xbox Series X is 6.8%. Elliott mentions that the PS5 and Xbox Series X releases came after the game went 1.0 on PC, contributing to this discrepancy.

According to what Alinea can see, Baldur's Gate 3's monthly active player-count hasn't dropped below two million since launch. That's real staying power. But the true diehards? The 1% who have over 500 hours clocked in this iteration of Faerûn.

I expect that percentage to increase dramatically over the remainder of the decade. Or at least until the new Divinity arrives.

Former Dragon Age lead says Baldur's Gate 3 studio Larian is taking a "risk" by making Divinity right after its 2023 RPG hit, but he applauds the devs for it

As you might've seen, the legendary RPG studio BioWare has been shut down by its parent company, Electronic Arts. No matter what you think of the studio and its games, layoffs suck, and so does the closure of a company behind some of the most beloved fantasy franchises of all time, which in BioWare's case includes Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. But naturally, not everyone can behave appropriately in response to such an unequivocally horrible situation, nor can everyone simply keep their mouths shut as hundreds of people lose their livelihoods all at once. If a tweet from BioWare veteran and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 creative director James Ohlen were a room, it wasn't being read.

In his initial response to the devastating news, Ohlen wrote a blank check of referral for the people who lost their jobs at BioWare this week, calling them "some of the best RPG developers in the world.

"If you're hiring writers, designers, artists or engineers, start with them. Former BioWare folks: if an intro from me would help, reach out," he wrote.

Good stuff. No complaints. But wait... the comments section! Surely it's filled with BioWare fans expressing their sympathy, appreciation, and support for the developers who lost their jobs so abruptly, right? ...Right? [Deep sigh], no, of course not, this is the internet in 2026, after all. I am not linking to Ohlen's original tweet, and I don't recommend reading the comments on it because it's a terribly unpleasant place to spend your time, but it's filled with hateful comments blaming The Veilguard developers for BioWare's downfall.

Ohlen clearly read those comments because he followed up with a new tweet today in which he goes to bat specifically for The Veilguard developers.

"A lot of you replied to my last post, so here are a few thoughts," he says. "The majority of people on a team the size of Veilguard’s had little or no say in the things you disliked about it. Right up to the end, BioWare still had many people who worked on the games you loved."

Ohlen adds that he has his "own issues with modern entertainment, especially when political messaging gets in the way of good storytelling," but ultimately was "responsible" for controversial stuff like Dragon Age Origins' Broodmothers and, uh, same-sex romance options for Zevran.

"What I'm trying to say is that it’s possible to hold views that don’t fit neatly into anyone’s political camp, and to love and respect people you disagree with. People are complicated. That includes the people who make the games you love or hate," Ohlen concludes.

While Dragon Age: The Veilguard received strong reviews from critics, a whole bunch of longtime Dragon Age fans have been seriously critical of some of BioWare's design decisions. Some of these complaints are perfectly sensible, but there's a vocal minority focused on the introduction of a nonbinary recruitable companion as proof that BioWare went "woke" and ruined the franchise forever. It seems to be those criticisms that Ohlen is responding to, even if he himself thinks political messaging can sometimes interfere with storytelling.

Regardless of Ohlen's views, I appreciate that he's showing support for the former BioWare devs in need of work and urging compassion even when those devs commit the cardinal sin of putting non-binary characters into video games.

EA killing BioWare could lead to Mass Effect and Dragon Age rights being sold, former lead says, but they could just as easily "bury them in the vault"

In another totally jam-packed year of new video games, it feels like centuries since Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced released (it's really only been a few months), but completionists haven't stopped asking Ubisoft for a New Game Plus mode. Well, Ubisoft has rather casually confirmed the game's New Game Plus update is coming in an update "next week," silencing months of player requests in a 16-word tweet.

"Thank you everyone for your patience," reads a tweet from the official Assassin's Creed Twitter account, seemingly acknowledging the amount of time it's been since we've heard anything at all about Black Flag Resynced post-launch. "New Game+ is coming to Black Flag Resynced next week!"

I'll admit, even being the pirate game sicko I am and with Black Flag having been one of my most anticipated releases of the year, I fell off that game hard. Don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous remake that manages to do the unlikely and actually improve on the original game, which has always been a 10/10 release for me. It's just that, for me, a remake is always going to have a hard time competing against brand-new games, and there have been some incredible ones this year from my presumptive GOTY The Blood of Dawnwalker to the best new horror game I've played in ages, Resident Evil Requiem.

But that's by the by. It's unclear if the Black Flag Resynced update containing the New Game Plus mode will have anything else bundled in, as again it's been a while since the game got any new content at all, but it's at least confirmed that you'll have a whole new way to play through the main campaign again.

We'll also be keeping an eye out for an exact release date, as so far it's just "next week," but either way it's certain we'll know more soon.

Here's how we ranked the best Assassin's Creed games ever.

Redundancies and restructuring have become sad themes of the industry of late. Just this week, BioWare was closed by EA, amid Xbox laying off 3,200 jobs across the entire division. One place that seems safer is Rockstar, which is gearing up to release the mammoth GTA 6, and at least one ex-dev there believes it's in better shape than most.

"I never heard the question of, we need to see if we need to downsize, or if we can afford it. Rockstar can afford it," Jérémy Hartvick, an open-world designer on Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 6 who left Rockstar in 2020, tells the Kiwi Talkz podcast.

"The question is whether you can meet the expectations, and if you don't, then you might not last," he explains. "But otherwise it's not a question of money."

I should hope so, considering the kind of money-spinners Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 have proven to be. Both have shifted copies non-stop since launch, the former literally charted in the top five digital games for the PS5 in Europe in September of this year.

That's without getting into GTA Online and Red Dead Online, each with large, dedicated communities who provide yet more revenue through glorious microtransactions. There's no shortage of money flowing through Rockstar. For his own exit, Hartvick points towards a personal situation that required him to be closer to home, since he's from continental Europe and was living in Scotland to work at Rockstar North's Edinburgh office, and the intense amount of labour.

"The quantity of work made it more difficult to be present there," he says about his family. While he helped launch Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA 6 was still years away at that point - eight years, in hindsight - creating a situation where he wondered if he fancied that marathon, or something else.

It bears repeating, despite the job security through funding, Rockstar's currently in the middle of an employment tribunal after suddenly letting a number of staff go last year for allegedly spurious reasons. At the end of the day, it's still a corporation, just like EA, Activision, and any other major publisher.

GTA 6 could cost the US economy $1 billion due to an estimated 1.5 million workers calling in sick, economist says

A trailer for Mass Effect 5, purportedly titled Mass Effect: Universe, has seemingly leaked online in the aftermath of developer BioWare's shutdown under EA.

The trailer, posted to the Mass Effect subreddit by a fresh Reddit user who describes their account as a "new burner," is just over two minutes long and completely gameplay-free.

Fans have already begun scouring it for generative AI markers, though it seems unlikely that something of this quality could've been slapped together within 24 hours of BioWare's shutdown.

While unverified, this trailer is turning heads in part because a self-described EA employee claimed, on October 21, that "there was a trailer ready for Mass Effect 5 that I saw a few months ago, so I’m puzzled as to how 'early' they were," referring to the early production stage described by EA leadership in a statement.

"Also for clarification, the Mass Effect group is about 50 devs from what I’ve seen," this source added. "The Austin studio has been a mix of people supporting different games for some years now. So the Austin office will remain open, just no more BioWare unfortunately"

The trailer was originally posted several hours ago in a reply to a post sharing that reported EA employee's message. "Ask and you shall receive," the mystery user wrote.

The video is convincing, and if legitimate, will likely be hit with a takedown notice of some kind soon enough. Of course, that would only add fuel to the fire online, and nothing every truly leaves the internet.

The least believable part of the trailer comes right at the end: "Coming soon." Soon is one of those words that's eternally misused by the games industry, but based on comments from EA and former BioWare employees, the next Mass Effect still needed plenty of time in the oven. Granted, this argument makes a lot of assumptions about the validity of the trailer and its intended release window.

Based on this supposed trailer, Mass Effect 5 would've paired recurring and visibly older character Liara T'Soni (that's the second blue alien girl to appear here, to be clear) with a new ex-military, human hero in place of longtime protagonist Shepard. A character of the same Turian race as fan-favorite character Garrus Vakarian appears around 1:31 in the trailer. The scenario feels like an ambush operation, which some fans have interpreted as a dip into corporate espionage from BioWare.

It's also worth noting that Mass Effect's annual day of celebration, N7 Day, was just a few weeks away. It's plausible BioWare could've trotted this trailer out on November 7, had EA not pulled the plug, but there's already enough wishful thinking going around.

"Man, I'm just so sad and angry," one Mass Effect fan writes in a reply to the trailer post.

"I know one of you BioWare developers are probably lurking in this sub, just want to say this looks fucking awesome. I’m so sorry this happened. Keep fighting," says another.

Mass Effect 5 was "something special", dev says – it was BioWare's response to what Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 devs "were bringing to the table."

The main mission added in Cyberpunk 2077 2.5 update is called Clampdown, designed to tie into the second season of Edgerunners. It's available to play for free for anybody who's downloaded the 2.5 patch for Cyberpunk 2077, but you'll need to walk through a few hoops to unlock it. If you want to play Clampdown, here's how to do just that and what you need to get given this new quest.

How to play the new Clampdown mission in Cyberpunk 2077

To unlock the Edgerunners Clampdown mission and get to play it in Cyberpunk's 2.5 patch, you need to complete the following milestones within the game:

1. Complete "The Heist" story mission, as well as the following quests: "Love Like Fire" and "Playing for Time". This will give you full access to the open world of Cyberpunk 2077.
2. Complete any two gigs for the fixer Wakako Okada (found in Westbrook's Japantown).

At this point you should (eventually) get a message from Wakako called "A Request from King". Have a quick text conversation with her, and you'll be given the Clampdown quest and be free to pursue it when ready. Pursuing the mission to its end will grant you various rewards related to Edgerunners Season 2, including both new outfits and weaponry themed around the characters in that show.

Enjoying a return to Night City? For more info on the 2.5 update, make sure you check out how to dual wield in Cyberpunk 2077!

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Off the back of Insomniac's three Spider-Man games, the critical response to Marvel's Wolverine is decidedly mixed. That didn't stop people from picking up the mutant action game, however, as it topped the PlayStation 5 charts for September.

Sony's just released the top-selling digital games across the US, Canada and Europe on PlayStation systems for September. There are a few obvious pulls, such as the sports games FC 27 and the new NBA release, and Halloween: The Game, which came out just in time for the namesake holiday. Almost all of them have been trumped by Wolverine.

The X-Men's coolest character (don't at me) is comfortably atop the list for digital sales in the United States and Canada. It outdoes both FC 27 and NBA 2K27, an impressive feat given the gigantic install bases for those series.

In fourth, you have Michael Myers in Haddonfield for the asymmetrical multiplayer game Halloween, and The Blood of Dawnwalker, the new historical horror RPG from Rebel Wolves. Over on the European side of things, Wolvie is down to second, behind FC 27 - it's hard to top a major football game over this side of the pond. You've got the Premiership, the Bundesliga, LaLiga, and all the other big national leagues across the continent, each with a fervent fanbase.

The Blood of Dawnwalker and Halloween are in the next two spots, and then GTA 5 sits at fifth. The perennial. A truly unstoppable game since it first arrived back in 2013. At this rate, I'm not even sure GTA 6 will slow it down much. Yes, that's the newer, bigger, better game, but Grand Theft Auto 5 will be even cheaper, making it even more appealing to anyone who doesn't already have it.

Regardless, whatever you may think of Marvel's Wolverine, the game appears to have done fine business for all involved. Never count Logan out, even if his latest outing occasionally plays itself.

Marvel's Wolverine star Debra Wilson isn't sure why Insomniac used her likeness for Callisto: "I honestly love games where they don't look like me at all"