As CD Projekt Red continues to grow with projects like The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 in the works, some industry veterans are worrying that it's all becoming a bit too ambitious to make sense financially in the long run.

Mark Darrah, BioWare veteran who was co-director of Dragon Age: Origins and executive producer of Anthem, shares those concerns as part of an interview in the Summer Eternal Anthology (as reported by Rock Paper Shotgun recently).

He first discusses the likes of GTA 6 and how its sheer size has affected the video game industry, with developers and publishers falling into the trap of hoping to make the next Grand Theft Auto.

Should some move away from that dream, the future could be brighter. "If that all goes away, then you'll get a bunch of room to make it work with titles that need to sell 3-4 million units," as Darrah says. Think Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. "That's much more attractive."

And, why wouldn't it be? "I don't want to be working on something like GTA, where if this thing doesn't sell 50 million units, it's going to lose money," after all. "That's insane."

He worries about CD Projekt Red in particular, in this context. Darrah feels the studio is now part of that huge GTA-like game space.

"Their games now need to sell 15, 20 million units to make money," the former dev says. "That's a really dangerous place to be." I suppose he's not wrong there, either. It's never easy to make that much back, even with an IP as big as The Witcher. Plus, it's not a situation one would want to be in, regardless.

I'm not too concerned about CD Projekt Red's success myself, but it does make you wonder.

Heck, the company is currently working on a downright plethora of new games, from The Witcher 4 to Cyberpunk 2 to the ever-mysterious Project Hadar, which has just now moved on from its world-building phase to some prototype testing. There are loads of upcoming CD Projekt Red games, put simply, that much is for certain.

The Witcher 4 dev is "still predominantly using people" over AI in development, says CEO, but "everybody has to make those judgments on their own"

Once again, the GamesRadar+ RPG Club demands blood as we set out to explore standout missions in The Witcher 3 Remastered. Which perhaps makes it all the more appropriate that, when asked to write about my favorite mission in The Witcher 3, my mind immediately went to classically-eccentric side quest "The Oxenfurt Drunk".

Well, actually my first thought went to The Bloody Baron storyline, but everybody writes about the Bloody Baron, and how much is there really left to say about it at this point? But there's a small side quest I love almost as much, partly because it does so much to make me realize the thing I want to see most in Witcher 4.

Quest Log

Shots, shots, crossbow shots!

An optional Witcher Contract found and set in the titular town, The Oxenfurt Drunk has Geralt find the killer behind multiple victims drained of all their blood - gee, I wonder what esoteric horror could be behind this! The twist is he discovers in the wake of a bit of corpse-prodding autopsy that every victim was well over the limit to drive and horse and cart, leading to the realization that this particular vampire has a penchant for blood with a high alcohol content. I won't make the Bloody Mary joke if you don't.

Twenty minutes later, Geralt is drunkenly staggering around crime scenes with a dozen vodkas inside him, trying to lure out the Ripper-Tippler with a series of bawdy tavern songs and a coquettishly exposed neckline. It feels like the kind of atrociously bad idea that a D&D party would come up with, and I mean that as an honest compliment.

So yeah, it's a fun little quest – the Contracts are reliably the best part of Witcher 3, to my mind – but it also shows the one place where I think the game had so much more room to flex. Namely, in all the investigation and intelligence that makes Geralt far more than some burly hired goon.

Research and Bedevilment

If Witcher 4 is going to shake up any part of the formula – or even introduce an optional difficulty mode – as we wave in Ciri as the new hero, my greatest wish would be for something that really gamifies the intellectual side of monster hunting.

As it goes now, the usual pattern is that Geralt finds some yellow glowing tracks and follows them until there's a tuft of fur, a mangled corpse, or a Resident Evil-style lab note. Then he stares at the clues before telling the audience he's deduced that the monster is a Lesser Striped Whifflepog or whatever, at which point the Pokedex entry for the Whifflepog appears in the Bestiary as if summoned by voice command, telling you exactly what tinctures, oils and spells are needed to kick its head in most effectively.

And that's all genuinely fine, but a bit uninvolving, especially for a sequence of events that happens so frequently across the game. Speaking as somebody who loves investigative detective games and piecing clues together, I'd much rather have deduced all these things myself, allowing for the thrill of getting it right, and the potential fear of getting it wrong. Rather than tell me what I'm about to fight, give me the full bestiary from the start, some giant old tome I can flick through between fights or even fill out myself with additional player-written notes, an ever-evolving monster hunter's journal.

Then, when I find the crime scene, I can examine the clues around me and make some educated decisions, without Geralt just blurting the answer like a God of War NPC. Hmm, a nighttime attacker, a city dweller, medium-sized claws, a blood drinker… To the indexed glossary, batman! Now the Bestiary can tell me what's needed to kill a Katakan Vampire, assuming that's actually what it is and I haven't pulled the wrong conclusion from the data.

And at the same time, the unique alcoholism of this particular vamp is something I can consider accordingly as an additional element that wouldn't be in the book, but can be folded into my strategies nonetheless. Maybe I could work out the strategy to wander drunkenly around the town instead of Geralt, or perhaps lace a wine bottle with blood and leave it out in plain view, ideally under a big anvil hanging by a tenuous string.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much, but Baldur's Gate 3 really opened the door for this kind of immersive gameplay, and I don't get the sense that the creators of Cyberpunk 2077 seem very workshy.

The Monster Manual

To me, this deductive skillset is the very thing that makes Geralt a witcher, far more than any silver sword or toxin immunity. It's the space where an off-the-peg burly warrior brute becomes something more, an educated hunter who knows how to exploit weaknesses and analyze nuanced information. And with Ciri being new to The Path in The Witcher 4, her having less experience would facilitate a more involved, methodical research process. Geralt materializes in the series with most of this knowledge memorized, but Ciri is still using reference material.

Witcher 3 was always great at showing off Geralt's intellect, but clearly wasn't comfortable about the idea of gamifying it too hard, perhaps for fear of alienating or confusing the audience. And yes, it is arguably a lot to ask from them. But in a post-Elden Ring world, I don't think people are fearful of having to read between lines or make deductions, and even if not, there'll be a billion online guides to hand if it's all proving too perplexing. So if another Oxenfurt Drunk shows up in Witcher 4, I'll be excited to make that revelation myself – even if I show up prepared to fight half a dozen goblins instead.

The original vision of Cyberpunk 2 is already evolving beyond what its director had in mind, though it sounds like it's been to the benefit of the dystopian RPG.

In a new blog post on CD Projekt Red's website, Gabe Amatangelo discusses his views on game development. In short, while he is in charge and ultimately responsible, he doesn't want to create bottlenecks by having to approve every decision, which means trusting the team he's building around him.

"I had the idea of Cyberpunk 2 in the beginning, but it evolves as I involve more people," he says. "And it evolves as I empower the team and individuals within them to contribute. It becomes something else, right? It becomes this thing that I've shepherded, but it's ultimately a reflection of the team's hearts and souls. And I look forward to sharing that."

Part of that involves defining what the cyberpunk genre is within itself. For Amatangelo, "It's my childhood," because "questioning things was just part of my growing up." Being a screamer in a hardcore punk band certainly helps with shaping those ideas, though the developer adds, "the cyber part of it is both exaggeration and expression, neon lights and loud noises. It's about exploring the extremes of dehumanization."

Of course, as per Amatangelo's desired approach, that means being open to what others think Cyberpunk represents, too, as that helps "put forward new ideas" and "figure out the next step."

"I had a lot of people saying, 'Oh, cyberpunk means this.' 'Cyberpunk means that,'" he explains. "And I said, 'Yes! You're all right and you're all wrong!' Punk means different things to different people, but the core is the ability to pose questions — to ask why."

At the time of writing, CD Projekt Red hasn't given us any indication of when Cyberpunk 2 will release, though it appears the focus is currently on The Witcher 4. That said, per the blog post, with more than 180 developers working on the game, it's likely moving forward at a good pace. And given Cyberpunk 2077's rough launch, we imagine this one will get all the time it needs.

On top of The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2, CD Projekt Red boss says Project Hadar is the studio's "biggest undertaking to date" – and they've finally finished building its world.

A new Xbox survey is asking players how they would feel about future titles being console-exclusive to Xbox, with Fallout, Hideo Kojima's Physint, and Minecraft name-dropped.

Since its massive spending spree on the likes of Activision Blizzard and Bethesda, Xbox has been a bit all over the place when it comes to exclusives. Aside from honoring exclusive deals with the likes of Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, Microsoft went all-in on being a third-party publisher for a bit there, bringing almost every one of its games to PS5. Then, with the appointment of new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, the strategy changed again: Gears of War: E-Day was confirmed to be on Xbox and PC only, despite reports that its PS5 port was apparently close to completion.

And now – barring Fable, which was previously confirmed for a PS5 launch – it looks like Microsoft may be priming players for more exclusivity. As highlighted by Windows Central, some Xbox Insider members have received surveys asking about game exclusivity and where they would play the title – or if they would play it at all if it's not on PS5 or Switch 2.

These reportedly included questions about Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and the upcoming Hideo Kojima game, Physint, which Xbox Game Studios recently became the publisher of, following Sony's decision to cancel the project. Kojima himself has said he doesn't know if Physint will release on PlayStation.

However, it's the final question that is likely to raise the most eyebrows. The question asks players to imagine every Xbox game – barring Call of Duty, which Microsoft is legally required to release on other platforms until at least 2033 – was an exclusive. However, it adds "For Minecraft only, existing titles would no longer be available for purchase on PlayStation or Nintendo consoles, and would not receive any new content updates."

I don't think people would be happy if Fallout 5 or Elder Scrolls 6 were exclusive to Xbox for sure, but the idea of removing Minecraft from PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, as well as no longer giving updates to those versions, is so brazenly a bad decision that even being floated is concerning.

Minecraft on Nintendo Switch has sold over 4 million physical copies in Japan alone, and the worldwide number is likely to be much higher, while the PS4 version of the game had over 17 million players as of 2019 – and given that a native PS5 version didn't release until 2024, again, that number is likely to have far surpassed it. Obviously, it's just a hypothetical for now, but I can only imagine that taking Minecraft away from millions would have a backlash that makes complaints about Sony's killing physical games look like nothing much.

As Minecraft sells over 425 million copies and attracts 300,000 new players a day, the evergreen sandbox game is getting its first dimension in 14 years

Fallout co-creator Timothy Cain has released another fairly depressing video about the state of RPG game development today compared to his heyday in the late '90s to early '00s. According to Cain, RPG developers aren't bothering as much with hidden and optional content because the people with the money aren't as willing to shell out for stuff that most people won't see. Broadly speaking, Cain even argues the industry is trending away from non-linear game design altogether.

"Things are really going to linear storylines, with one end state," he says. "There are still some non-linear games being made, but more and more I see linearity with one end state. And I think this is done because they're trying to not only minimize that expensive-to-make unseen content, but they're trying to make a lot more common moments so that when people talk about the game, they've all gone through these same stages."

I'm not qualified to question Cain's insights, but this is a curious bit of commentary as I've personally struggled with open-world fatigue in recent years, but I can reconcile that by drawing a distinction between the kind of uninspired, checklist-style quest design that I'm bored with, and the embrace of signposting, which seems to be more what Cain is referencing.

Cain says "unguided exploration" is going the way of the dodo. "You used to just wander around, especially the world map, and you stumbled across places, and you stumbled across items and combat encounters. Now, everything kind of has a quest marker or a map indicator or visual or sound cues that draw your attention, 'oh, there's something really good right there.'

"It's almost as if nobody thinks people will find things on their own, which means anything that you do find, you can kind of tell it's intended for you to find, and everyone else playing the game to find."

It's unclear which corporate overlord Cain is referring to here, as he's worked for a number of big budget studios going back to OG Fallout developer Interplay in the '90s, but he says he's been told "'don't hide these things and let players rejoice over their discovery', but how much of a rejoice can you have over something that has a giant neon sign over it, pointing down going 'here's a cool new item'?"

Even optional dialogue branches are under scrutiny these days, according to Cain. That sort of thing, coupled with hidden content and quests you have to dig deep to find, are the bread and butter of beloved modern RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3, but if Cain is to be believed, we may be seeing RPGs embrace a more deliberate, single-path narrative in the future.

"I've been told to stop spending so much time and money writing dialogue and making VO for player conversations and NPC responses that only a small fraction of players will ever see," says Cain.

Whether or not the industry is turning its back to non-linear games, there's no denying developers are under increasing pressure to tighten budgets and appeal to as large a market as possible, so I'm not surprised to hear people like Cain are being told to cut hidden and optional features in games. Still, I doubt beloved developers like Larian, FromSoftware, and CD Projekt Red are ditching the sort of hidden content their most diehard fans keep coming back for any time soon.

Baldur's Gate 3 actor says her role as an iconic goblin is the reason Atlus cast her in hit JRPG Metaphor: ReFantazio

There's always value in being an originator, even if what comes after proves more prolific. Doug Cockle is the original English-speaking voice of Geralt of Rivia, stepping into the role for the first The Witcher, and he's revealed that Henry Cavill, who brought the character into live-action on Netflix, actually invited him to the premiere, though it took some proof for him to humor the reach out.

Cockle spoke about the encounter during an interview with Ginx TV. "[Henry] gave me credit for a great performance, and said that my vocal performance as Geralt was influential in his decisions about his own performance," he recalls, before providing a humorous anecdote about the pair meeting properly.

"Henry reached out, three or four weeks before the London premiere of the Netflix, and said, 'Hey Doug, it's Henry here, you want to come to the premiere?'" Cockle remembers. "I didn't believe it was him at first; I kind of told him off, because I get a lot of weird DMs, and I thought this was probably some weirdo, and he sent me a picture!"

Generally, such precautions are good. There are a lot - a lot - of scammers on social media, and one of the most prevalent forms of trying to get in touch is by pretending to be someone famous or influential whom you already follow or potentially interact with.

Stories about people losing quite a lot of money to these crooks are heartbreakingly common. Thankfully, Cavill seems to have understood what was going on, and provided proof. Cockle went to the event, and the two talked a little about the grumpy protagonist and the franchise as a whole.

"We had a lovely chat, I hung out with him and his entourage for the evening," he says. "By entourage, I mean his family." Cavill has since abdicated the role, and Liam Hemsworth's taken over. Cockle is still going strong with Geralt, returning for the Songs of the Past DLC and The Witcher 4. If Hemsworth ever decides to slide into those DMs, he better have a selfie ready.

The Witcher 4 dev is "still predominantly using people" over AI in development, says CEO, but "everybody has to make those judgments on their own"

Ultima creator Richard Garriott is no stranger to controversy. Although he's a foundational progenitor of early computer RPGs, his newer releases haven't had nearly the level of impact as his early work and his stances on stuff like NFTs and AI haven't all been particularly well-received.

In a recent appearance on the TechJesse podcast, Garriott wades into the shark-infested waters that is AI discourse in the games industry. The proliferation of AI data centers is one of the main factors driving up hardware prices, but the more existential threat is job displacement, a fear shared across many industries. Game studios big and small are increasingly using AI to streamline development, and in even more controversial cases generate actual assets and "vibe-code" entire projects, which of course means fewer human jobs. For people like Garriott trying to cut down on development costs, that's not such a bad thing.

"This is super controversial, so half your people listening here are going to hate me, [but] AI is really helping," says Garriott. "Now, I can be closer to the creation. Now, we need fewer people and less time to make it. And as much as, by the way, there are real issues with AI, like is it plagiarizing work from other places we think is real? And if we use it for voice, who those voices train on. And so, ethical use of AI is really an important issue, and I'm not trying to say I've solved that, but we're trying. We're trying to make sure we do use it ethically.

"However, if you're just talking about the mechanics of how fast can you make a game, our last game, Shroud of the Avatar. has persistently had at least a bug count of a thousand bugs all the time ... there are some bugs that were on there for three to five years that have never been addressed because they weren't seen as high priority ... Now, with AI, those bugs are fixed as soon as they're found, within an hour of them being found."

Garriott reports that due to these advancements in AI-powered bug detection and elimination, "Shroud of the Avatar, for example, now has zero bugs, every day. Zero."

Garriott's bullish stance on AI aside, his claim that Shroud of the Avatar suffers from zero bugs in its current state is notable considering the game's poor performance reputation. Although it's been out for eight years now, Shroud of the Avatar is still getting regular updates, which are likely the culprit when it comes to new bugs.

In terms of those new updates, Garriott says "humans do the art and machines can help do the labor that ensures that all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed and so it's stable, fast, and fun for the users get to play it."

I never thought we'd get a new Ultima RPG, but now that series creator Richard Garriott is getting back the rights from EA, everything's on the table

From one beloved RPG to the next, voice actor Holly-Marie Michael says she was cast as Catherina in Metaphor: ReFantazio due to her role as Sazza in Larian's 2023 GOTY RPG, Baldur's Gate 3.

Talking to GamesRadar+, Michael says the Cockney accent she put on to portray the working class goblin in Baldur's Gate 3 is the very reason she's now known as Catherina, the pink-haired bounty hunter in Metaphor: ReFantazio.

"Funnily enough, I got the role of Catherina by playing Sazza in Baldur's Gate 3," Michael says. "In Metaphor, you've got the English dub, you've got all of these regional accents, and they said they wanted somebody with a Cockney accent to play Catherina, and I was kind of already being a Cockney when I was doing Sazza, and so they asked me to audition for her."

Michael says that when she got the audition script for Catherina, she found the character "so badass" and was determined to play her. Little did she know at the time that her fate as Catherina was already sealed thanks to her performance as a lovable goblin in a very different RPG.

In a weird 'it's a small world' moment, in 2025 Michael reacted to a GamesRadar+ story about her Baldur's Gate 3 character and the people who would advocate for goblin romance.

"You filthy little buggers, I didn't realize there were so many of ya" Michael said using Sazza's voice. "Makes sense though. I mean, look at her... gorgeous. Let it be known that if Larian come-a-callin', I would be willing to record those scenes. It would be filthy, but I'd do it for ya," she added, struggling not to laugh at the thought.

Nabbing a speaking role in a game as universally acclaimed as Baldur's Gate 3 is bound to open some doors, and following up with another hit RPG like Metaphor: ReFantazio definitely looks like the start of a hot streak for Michael, even if her next big game hasn't been revealed.

Why not pick something from our list of the best RPGs for your next big adventure?

To say the One Ring RPG's crowdfunding campaign has done well is an understatement. This project – which revamps the current rules while adding a bestiary and new adventure book – is well on its way to $3 million dollars in pledges on Backerit. Actually, it smashed its target by 32 times in less than a day.

"For us, it’s one of those rare occasions when we get to see firsthand just how much love and support there is for the game," The One Ring lead designer Francesco Nepitello tells me. "We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who helped make it happen."

Besides setting a new record for developer Free League, the project has sailed so far beyond expectations that it may as well have taken a ship from the Grey Havens. It also blew past stretch goals so fast that new ones needed to be made as a result. Although the team had some bonus ideas ready, Nepitello says they "had to think on our feet about what to offer next. There was certainly a bit of a scramble behind the scenes, but nothing a good gamemaster can’t handle!"

"The (One) Ring perceived its time had come"

Fan excitement is understandable. The One Ring (and its D&D equivalent, The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying) has more than proven itself since the system launched in 2022 with a beginner-friendly system that doesn't skimp on meaningful depth. It's also one of the most faithful adaptations of Tolkien I've ever seen, from visual design to mechanics that focus on fellowship and roleplay. However, even the best tabletop RPGs need an update every now and then.

"The core system remains very much The One Ring, but we’ve done considerable work on how the rules are organised, explained, and used at the table," says Nepitello. "Combat has received particular attention, alongside refinements throughout the book. After several years of play and feedback, we felt it was the right time to bring those lessons together in a clearer, smoother presentation."

From the sounds of it, combat is enjoying the biggest upgrade; the revised sequence gives you a chance to coordinate in a fight and make more meaningful choices. We'll be able to try this for ourselves when we cross swords with monsters from the new bestiary, 'Creatures Strange and Foul.' This tome covers everything from building your own orc warband to Black Númenóreans, and Nepitello was careful to ensure each foe had something new to offer.

"Over the years, we’ve explored many corners of Middle-earth, and it felt time to give its adversaries the same attention. We wanted to bring them together in one volume, while exploring what makes each a distinctive encounter — their behaviour, their powers, and the stories they can inspire."

Following the Fellowship

The latest campaign setting (The White Tower and the Hall of Gold) also turns its gaze, Sauron-like, to new challenges. Revolving around the kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan, this is the furthest south we've been in The One Ring's history.

"It was always the plan to roughly follow the path of the Fellowship – long ago in the elder days, the plan was to do three editions of the game: one set in Wilderland, one in Eriador, and one in Gondor," The White Tower and the Hall of Gold lead writer Gareth Hanrahan explains. "While the game’s changed publisher over the years, and we’ve ended up doing a revised second edition and a Gondor supplement instead of a full-on third edition, we’re still following the game line as foreseen."

The fact that we're only on edition two (which, by the sounds of it, is more like version 1.5 or the Alien RPG Evolved Edition) rather than three shows how strong the foundations are here; The One Ring came out of the gate sprinting.

Our journey through the world of men won't be business as usual, though. Every other location has been sparsely populated with swaths of wilderness between them; Hanrahan says that there isn't much by way of civilization in Eriador once you leave the Shire or Bree behind, while other northern regions are a patchwork of disparate kingdoms with stretches of desolation separating them. This book, though? It tips us headfirst into a bustling realm.

"Gondor and Rohan are well-established, long-settled regions. Gondor, in particular, has been there for thousands of years. You’re not going to be making long arduous journeys in most of Gondor, as it’s full of towns and villages and inns and well-guarded roads. The wild is far away. It’s a different style of play, emphasizing interaction and intrigue more than lonely journeys and natural perils."

The road goes ever on

Of course, players won't be hiding in the safety of civilization for long, and there are wonders – not to mention dangers – aplenty here. One such spot is the country of Umbar, famous for its corsairs and allegiance to the Dark Lord Sauron.

"I became absolutely fascinated by Umbar in the writing of it," says Hanrahan. "It’s got such history – it’s much, much older than Gondor – and it’s this fascinating melting pot of cultures and factions. You could run lots of adventures there, especially a sort of fantasy-intrigue that I really adore. I also really like Cair Andros – it’s sort of a mini version of Minas Tirth, another bastion in the defences of Gondor, but it’s only barely touched on in the books, so you’ve a lot of scope as Loremaster to set all sorts of adventurers there."

In other words, it feels as though we've got a lot to discover when these books launch. While there isn't a hard release date yet, hardcover versions are estimated to ship in October 2027. Judging by how well the crowdfunding campaign has done, a lot of people will be eagerly awaiting launch day – and the creative team is a little overwhelmed by such success. When I asked what they'd like to tell the fans who've backed this project, Nepitello says "Just a heartfelt thank you. Your enthusiasm and support mean a great deal to all of us, and it’s wonderful to share this journey through Middle-earth with you. The response to this campaign tells us we still have a long road to tread together, and many adventures ahead!"

"Thank you doesn’t begin to cover it, but it’s the essential point," Hanrahan agrees. "It’s a joy and a privilege to get to write about Middle-earth like this, and we hope we live up to both the audience’s expectations and Tolkien’s legendarium."

If you want to show your support for the project and access the unlocked stretch goals, you have until 3pm EDT / 12pm PDT / 8pm BST on October 15, 2026 when the campaign ends.

This feels like a very good time to be playing tabletop games; there's a lot on the horizon. As an example, I wasn't excited about D&D Star Wars, but it looking so much like Rogue One gives me hope. Plus, a terrifying campaign version of our favorite horror board game got fully funded in just 54 seconds.

• See the current One Ring lineup at Amazon

With the latest Arasaka Academy codes, you can get tons of reroll tokens for changing up your character's look and fighting style. More than just a high-school simulation game, Arasaka Academy is also inspired by Cyberpunk, so features a lot of combat and tons of character customization options.

To make your character fit your needs and playstyle in this Roblox game then, you're going to need to reroll a few different stats and accessories. In fact, you'll need 47 rerolls just to reroll everything once, so you'd better use these Arasaka Academy codes to stock up.

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

All Arasaka Academy codes

These are the Arasaka Academy codes you can redeem right now:

• SorryForDelay - 35x Rerolls
• THANKS - 20x Rerolls
• FOR - 15x Rerolls
• TWENTY - 25x Rerolls
• THOUSAND - 15x Rerolls
• LIKES - 15x Rerolls
• CodeLikeCodeLIke - 50x Rerolls
• LikeFifteen - 50x Rerolls
• LikeFourteen - 50x Rerolls
• LikeThirteen - 50x Rerolls
• TWELVEKLikes - 50x Rerolls
• UPDZeroPointFive - 50x Rerolls

Arasaka Academy codes seem to be released fairly frequently, with promos added for hitting various milestones as well as for new patch drops and downtime apologies. So far, they've all been for rerolls though, but if you're looking to reroll any of your character's customization options or combat stats, then you'll have plenty of chance to do so when you redeem these codes.

How to redeem Arasaka Academy codes

To redeem Arasaka Academy codes, you must first join the Ordinance Games group on Roblox, after which you'll be able to redeem codes in-game.

To do so, open the menu by pressing the menu button on your controller, 'M' on keyboard, or the Menu button on mobile. Next, select the Codes button from the button of the list, enter a code into the enter code here... box, click Redeem Code, and enjoy your rewards.

Expired Arasaka Academy codes

• ElevenKLikes
• TenKLikes
• NineKLikes
• LunchMoney
• Sigh
• SevenKLikes
• ThisIsArasakaAtWork
• SixKLikes
• FiveKLikes
• FourKLikes
• FREEMODCORE
• RUSH300
• APOLOGY
• ROLLROLLROLL
• EDGERUNNER
• RELEASED

It seems like Arasaka Academy codes expire fairly quickly, so be sure to redeem any valid codes while you have the chance. As soon as promos are inactivated, I'll move them down here so you don't get your hopes up.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The radiant quest system that made Skyrim's open-world so responsive to its protagonist only came about because of Bethesda's "brute force" approach to the idea in Fallout 3.

In an interview with OPM first published in 2011, Todd Howard explained the origins of Bethesda's novel approach to an open-world RPG. "In Fallout 3 there are these random encounters," he explains. "A guy being hunted by a Deathclaw, [or] this group of people fighting over a refrigerator. And we wrote this giant script for Fallout 3 with about 40 or 50 random events."

Those events would be triggered in certain areas under certain conditions, but it was a relatively simple system, one which Howard describes as "a really big, brute force script." It might not have been elegant, but it was popular – "it turned out to be a really cool system in the game that made the game dynamic, and we just kept building this script."

After the launch of its seminal RPG, Bethesda wanted to keep using that system, but was looking for a more streamlined solution. "We came out of Fallout 3 going 'well, what if we have a system that did that instead of writing?'" The team "really liked" the way it worked for random encounters, so it expanded the new system into quests. "So that's what it became," Howard says. "Every quest uses this. And now it's become this all-watching thing over the game."

The system would go on to affect almost every part of Skyrim's many, many quests. Devs could shape the parameters behind an event – deciding what kind of NPC activated it, or in what area of the game they should be found – but 'radiant stories' formed the core of how Skyrim's world was built, and have gone on to have a massive impact on RPG design in the 15 years since.

Bethesda's last Skyrim concept artist has been laid off after "almost 18 years of dedication to The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield" amid Xbox cuts: "It has been my honor."

With these Pixel Lineage codes, you can unlock heaps of free rewards, including Gold, Knowledge, Lives, and Potions. This cute game is a challenging, side-scrolling, RPG adventure, and as you cross paths with increasingly tough enemies, you're going to need all the help you can get, which is where these promos come in handy.

While some items, like potions, can help you in the heat of battle, you can also use some of these Pixel Lineage codes to obtain more Race and Talent rerolls, so as to better prepare yourself before even heading out in the first place. With all of that combined, you're bound for success in this Roblox RPG.

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

All Pixel Lineage codes

These are the current Pixel Lineage codes you can redeem today:

• TORMENT - 1,000x Gold, 100x Knowledge, 3x Potions, 8x Race Spins, 8x Talent Spins [expires October 31]
• OCTOBER - 25x Candy [expires November 2]
• TUTORIAL - 3x Race Spins, 3x Talent Spins [permanent code]
• 0y0 - 10x Race Spins, 10x Talent Spins, 1x Life [permanent code]

The list above shows just how many rewards you can get from Pixel Lineage codes, including permanent promos - though of course you can only redeem them once.

While most rewards will go straight into your inventory, you don't have to worry about wasting lives. When your lives are full, you can still redeem a code like 0y0 - your new lives will just go into your inbox for later collection.

How to redeem Pixel Lineage codes

To redeem Pixel Lineage codes, you must first join the Roblox group. Then, having launched the game, head to the Goblin Merchant in your castle, scroll to the bottom of his store window, press Redeem Codes, enter a code from the list above, and click Redeem. Codes aren't case-sensitive, so you only need to ensure spelling is correct, but you can copy and paste from the list above to be safe.

Expired Pixel Lineage codes

• SLOOTH
• EARLY
• THANKYOU

Aside from the permanent codes listed above, Pixel Lineage codes do all expire fairly quickly, so make sure you redeem the latest codes as soon as you can. If I know the expiry date of a promo, I'll always share it, and I'll also move them down here once they've been deactivated.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

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

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

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

All Pixel Blade codes

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

• 1MILLFAVS - 1x Wish latest!
• WORLD5 - 1x Wish latest!
• VAULTED - 1x Wish latest!
• FISHINGSTASH - 1x Golden Cod, 500x Coins
• FULL RELEASE - 5x Class Dice, 500x Coins
• CHRONOS - 1x Wish

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

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

How to redeem Pixel Blade codes

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

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

Expired Pixel Blade codes

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

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

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quest Log

Heavens above

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

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

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

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

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

To griffin-ity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's a real pity what's become of Dragon Age. Once a pillar of BioWare alongside Mass Effect, the series is now in the nether regions of the zeitgeist, thanks in no small part to the commercial failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The long-gestating sequel suffered a number of issues, and one of the central creators behind the whole franchise suggests a few reasons as to why.

In a new YouTube video (below), Mark Darrah, a lead developer across every installment of the fantasy RPG series (who announced his departure from BioWare in late 2020), broke down why and how The Veilguard wound up failing. Right off the top, he points toward stretched senior staff.

"The project ran without its most senior leadership when I was on Anthem, from 2017 until 2019," he explains. Next, then, were a number of delays, where the goalposts weren't moved far enough away to adequately get the game into a shippable state.

"The game spent a lot of time really close to its perceived release date," Darrah says. "The game changed release dates a lot of times, and the consequence of that is that the team always was quite close to its current release date."

Despite Dragon Age 4 "slipping a tonne," the deadline was always pushed in "little steps" rather than given considerable room to breathe. This created a situation where the team couldn't take an eagle's eye view of the project.

"There was never a time when the project was way in the future," Darrah recalls, "and things could be brought back, looked back, burned down, and looked at in a brand new light."

These issues sprang from, and were exacerbated by, the need for BioWare to fit into EA's annualization approach. Essentially, EA wanted to publish something from the studio every year. When your remit is chunky role-playing games, you can see how this would be difficult.

At one point, he says, BioWare's slate had Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age 4 coming out yearly from 2013 onward. This didn't happen, and delays on each formed a domino effect that led, in part, to The Veilguard arriving in late 2024, to a muted response.

Now the future's uncertain for the studio and the series. Mass Effect 5 is apparently happening, but we've heard next to nothing for years now. Hopefully one day we see Dragon Age make a roaring return – just don't expect it any time soon.

Ex-Dragon Age lead settles the score on Origins' most controversial sequence: The Fade is "filler" and "not very good content."

Join the GamesRadar+ RPG Club today.

Welcome to the RPG Club, a month-long adventure through one unforgettable role-playing game. Over the next four weeks, we'll be exploring CD Projekt Red's gorgeous new remaster of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, one of the undefeated best RPGs of the last two decades. Our first RPG Club meeting kicked us off in style, starting right from the beginning in White Orchard region, while our second gathering poses a new question to the RPG Club: Could the bestiary have been given a rework, too?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered is finally here, with all the weighty choices and dynamic third-person combat you know and love from the 2015 original (with a few adjustments). But what's actually new in the remaster, and are the chances all that noticeable? That's what this month's RPG Club is intent on discovering. From the bitesized tutorial town of White Orchard to the bustling streets of Oxenfurt, the RPG experts of GamesRadar+ are here to walk you through their favorite Witcher 3 missions across four weekly articles, examining how the latest enhancements measure up against the fondness of memory and the game's own legacy.

Below you'll find your Quest Log, which explains the rules for this month's playthrough. Each week will see a new writer focusing on a standout mission, from the most famous ones to those you might have missed in your own past playthroughs. We invite you to join us on The Path and share your own experiences, good or bad, as you explore The Continent alongside us. Do you love the new skill tree? Have you run into any performance issues? We need all the details, so be sure to weigh in down in the comments section each week!

Whether this is your first time with The Witcher 3 or your eighth with an entirely new build, RPG Club is your place to celebrate everything that makes these games and this genre so special.

Quest Log

RPG Club: The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt – Remastered (October 2026)

Meet this month's RPG Club hosts

This week's big question

RPG Masterclass

Get started with The Witcher 3

Submit your best Witcher 3 clip

Grab any great clips during your return to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt? Don't forget to submit them to GamesRadar+ Replay. Not only will this give you an opportunity to share your gaming highlights with the GR+ Community, but the best clip of the month wins a $250/£250 Amazon voucher too.

The Witcher 3 Remastered has been out in the wild for a good few days now, but it's evident that CD Projekt Red isn't finished tidying up its revamped RPG just yet – and the new patch 5.01 serves as proof.

That's right, yet another update for the free upgrade to The Witcher 3 is upon us, squashing a good few bugs and addressing various complaints from fans across all platforms (except for the Nintendo Switch 2 – for now, anyway).

The full patch notes from CDPR outline all of those, starting with gameplay fixes for everything from boats moving "uncontrollably" to specific skills that haven't properly been working.

There are also UI tweaks galore and fixes specific to both PC and console players, starting with the former. For example, I'm seeing a plethora of GPU-related changes targeting the game's settings, like Dynamic Resolution Scaling and GTAO Quality.

Over on the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 end, there are entirely new settings: Bloom, Light Shafts, and Depth of Field options, with optimizations and more to boot.

As for the Switch 2 edition, well, CD Projekt Red is on it.

"In addition to this," the studio adds at the end of Patch 5.01's lengthy notes, "we are also working on an update for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered, introducing closer parity between all versions of the game, including the same global changes as on other platforms."

That, plus some other improvements.

It sounds like the developers aren't done with any of The Witcher 3 Remastered, though, if I'm honest. I think they'll keep tinkering with it as long as folks share complaints, and they seem to be implying as much, too.

Paweł Sasko, who is currently on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel as associate game director, instructs fans to "please keep us updated about any thoughts you have" over on Twitter, for instance.

So, there you have it: The Witcher 3 Remastered can only get bigger and better than here, and it's already the top-scoring game of 2026 on Metacritic, having beaten out CDPR's base RPG from 2015.

Looking for more new games to wishlist? Browse through our roundup of all of the upcoming CD Projekt Red games for some other great titles to anticipate.

Ultima is a foundational RPG series that's long been left in the past by rights holder EA, but according to series creator Richard Garriott, that could all be changing as early as next year.

Garriott sold Origin Systems, the studio he co-founded with his brother and father, to EA back in 1992 along with the rights to the Ultima IP. He would continue working there for years to come, directing several Ultima RPGs and serving as producer on the seminal MMORPG, Ultima Online. In 1999, EA canceled all of Origin's in-development projects partly due to poor reception to Ultima IX: Ascension, and Garriott left the company shortly after that. After a few years maintaining Ultima Online and working on another online Ultima game that would eventually be canceled, Origin was shut down by EA in 2004. 22 years later, Garriott says he'll soon own the rights to the series once again.

"There's a really weird United States copyright law that says, if you are the original holder of a copyright and you assign it or sell it to any publisher or any other entity, after 35 years you can just take it back," Garriott tells Jesse Petrilla in a new interview. "There's no money that you need to transfer, all you need to do is tell them a year before you take it back.

"And so, in April of this year, I told Electronic Arts, 'by the way, I'm gonna take the copyrights to Ultima back,' and they wrote back and said, 'yeah, we know that's the law, we will act accordingly.' And so I'm now in discussions with them actively right now as to, 'is there anything we should do together or not?'"

As EA is still the rights holder as of now, there's no guarantee on what form this potential Ultima revival will take. Garriott says "we'll figure it out," but "at the very least it means I could re-release the early Ultimas, but it also means I could sequel them... the point is, I have control again of the future of my seminal product line."

"Sequel them," you say? As in, the official steampunk Ultima Online 2 that was announced in 1999 and canceled in 2001? Ultima Online is probably the game I've put the most hours into in my whole life, and a sequel would be utterly surreal at the very least.

Assuming Garriott's correct and he regains ownership of Ultima next year, I'll be nervously excited to see what comes next. Simple remakes or remasters of early Ultima games would be easy winners as long as their core systems remain mostly untouched, but a whole new game with Garriott at the helm could go either way. While his influence on the RPG genre is undeniable, Garriott has occasionally tripped his way through controversy in his decades-long career, which includes attempts at an NFT-based MMO and a string of post-Ultima releases that haven't all been well-received.

Regardless, I'd argue Ultima is in better hands with Garriott than it is under EA's umbrella, where it would probably never be touched again.

EA could sell "dormant IPs" like Ultima and Wing Commander after Saudi acquisition, former manager says: "There are plenty of IPs like that at EA that nobody cares about at this moment"

The Blood of Dawnwalker managed to stir up quite a controversy with its time restrictions, but that's not scaring indie developers away from instilling some good ol' FOMO in players – in fact, some are leaning well into it.

If you're old enough to remember Majora's Mask, one of the best Zelda games of all time, then you're also (un)lucky enough to have grappled with its three-day cycle. It's stressful, sure, but it's what makes the game as fun and unique as it is – if you ask me, anyway.

I'm not the only one who thinks so, apparently, as Studio Zubio is cooking up a stealth RPG with a similar feature… Bunderkin: The Ocular Eclipse. You can back it on Kickstarter right now, where it's already racked up nearly four times its initial $44,444 goal with nearly $175,000 raised so far.

So, what is Bunderkin? Well, like I said, it finds players "trapped in a three-day time loop" as the ever-unpopular Beedee the Bunderdragon (yes, you read that right). Beedee is desperate to get into the Ocular Eclipse festival, which just so happens to be a "once-in-a-lifetime" event.

There's a catch, though: a villain is plotting to freeze said eclipse, but Beedee discovers a mysterious device that transports him back in time so that he can do it all again and stop the chaotic foe.

It sounds fun as heck, honestly, with Studio Zubio noting it's "inspired by stealth classics like Metal Gear Solid and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" – and, of course, Majora's Mask – with puzzles, stealth mechanics, and secrets galore.

There's no release date set for Bunderkin: The Ocular Eclipse just yet, but its Steam page is live, so you can wishlist it if you're just as intrigued as I am.

It's entering the limelight at an interesting time for sure, considering how The Blood of Dawnwalker's time restriction was so controversial that its biggest mod reworks it altogether and Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director Michael "Cromwelp" Douse had to step in to defend it.

Regardless, I'm not afraid of a little fear of missing out myself, and Studio Zubio appears to be conjurin' up quite the fun little gem. Fingers crossed its launch window drops soon so I can relive my Majora's Mask days once again.

Searching for some new games to play? Browse through our roundup of the most exciting upcoming indie games set to arrive this year and beyond.

Fallout and Hellboy star Ron Perlman is teaming up with Capcom again to introduce you to Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen.

Despite being best known for his myriad film and TV roles, Perlman is a pretty prolific voice actor, especially in games. His most famous contribution is to the Fallout series, where he serves as the narrator in multiple games, as well as the TV anchor that announces the bombs dropping in Fallout 4. Notably, he had no clue the series would be a success, saying that he was caught off guard when he heard there was a sequel coming, as he recalls working on the first entry as "I did a couple of lines, and, you know, got my $40 and my sandwich and went home."

And while never appearing in a Capcom game, Perlman did appear in 2020's Monster Hunter film, wearing an extremely anime-looking wig that did not suit his demeanor in the slightest. Capcom is clearly happy with that collab, as it has announced it'll be teaming up with Perlman to introduce players to Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen.

Perlman will be narrating a "new video sharing a brief glimpse at what awaits in Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen," with Perlman lending "his voice to guide us through Norgan and beyond," with the video set to debut later today (October 7, 2026 at 3pm PT | 6pm ET | 11pm BST) ahead of its launch on October 9, 2026.

While this may seem like a somewhat random collab, it actually mirrors a video Capcom released at the launch of the base game, with John Wick and Kung Fu Panda star Ian McShane serving as narrator. And unless I missed something, McShane does not feature as a voice actor in the game, and I don't believe Perlman is pegged to be part of the Dark Arisen cast either. But let's hope he got more than $40 and a sandwich to do this video at least.

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

There's a certain routine setting in for AI in video games right now, wherein a studio or publisher uses it to some extent, only to get pushback and replace the generative assets with more human work. The approach is fundamentally wrong-headed, believes Martin Klima, the CEO of Warhorse Studios, the studio behind the Kingdom Come: Deliverance games, because the tech is a tool, not a replacement for the creative process.

"AI is not a get out of jail free card," he tells PC Gamer. He dispels the notion of replacing devs with generative AI tools, because "it doesn't work how people imagine in a very simplified mental model," and it's a "fundamentally flawed idea, because it doesn't work like that."

But if you view it merely as something to help make development more efficient, then perhaps there's a discussion. "It can mean [the game] has more branching classes," he says.

"It can mean it has more missions to play, whatever," he adds. "People will still want to have this bigger game. While AI may not reduce the cost of the game, it will allow us to create bigger games for the same cost."

He's touching on a fundamental debate around gen-AI. Could the technology be helpful to creative teams? Sure, if used in a way that streamlines processes and enhances existing human work. But that's not how it's being employed right now, because many of the examples we've seen in games have been assets created using wholesale image, video, audio, or text generation.

Projects like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, developed by a relatively modest-sized team for its size, could be slightly easier to produce overall by taking the edge off administrative tasks or such, for example. Klima's perspective has been echoed by others, including Death Stranding and Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, who sees AI as a tool, but doesn't want it replacing anyone's jobs. Sadly, many in charge can't get by a perceived reduction in costs - at least for the time being.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 lead is "bored and tired" of "repetitive" RPGs like Assassin's Creed and "games for teenagers"

The Elder Scrolls Online is undergoing a bit of a "renaissance" this year and beyond, as the MMO's developers put it – and much of that involves introducing new types of content that break the game's old formula, so to speak.

2026 has not been easy for ZeniMax Online Studios with Microsoft's plan to cut over 3,200 employees at Xbox coming into action. Heck, Bethesda's union representatives reported a loss of "dozens of programmers, artists, designers and testers" – and the chaos is ongoing.

Despite it all, however, game director Nick Giacomini confirmed that the MMO is "here to stay" with extra help from Bethesda… and boy, is it.

I was able to sit down with the director and other leads, including associate design director Jason Barnes, to discuss what direction The Elder Scrolls Online is taking now, in fact – and as difficult as it's been for the developers, it's an exciting time for the community with regard to all of the new content coming nonetheless.

There's the season system, of course, and the ever-puzzling Nowhere Vault, Rumors, and High Seas of Tamriel event.

It all marks a break away from the game's usual mold – one that involves yearly expansions and hardcore content (think Veteran difficulty and the like) – in honor of experiences that far more flavors of player might enjoy.

As Barnes puts it, experiences that "let players figure it out" for themselves… no combat skill required. Plus, "people love secrets," he says. "They love uncovering things." And, there's plenty more to uncover now.

ZeniMax saw success with content like the Nowhere Vault during playtests, even, as Barnes tells me engagement "was extremely high because everyone was looking in every nook and cranny and trying to figure out "what does this mean" and "does it have a secret to it?"

The devs didn't want to only cater to "the more causal player," though – don't get it wrong. This new format is for everyone, casual or hardcore.

They wanted to create "something that everyone could invest in, like, everyone could hop in." And, although "the combat's not extremely hard," it's a different kind of tricky. "There's still enough that you're feeling engaged," as Barnes describes.

I get it, honestly. I do love a good trial and Veteran-level dungeon here and there myself, but the Nowhere Vault is downright cool. It, and the other new content, offers a new way to engage with the MMO.

It's only the beginning, too. Between the more puzzle-oriented features and bigger events like the High Seas of Tamriel, it's all just a "foundation," according to the dev. ZeniMax plans to "layer on to it as much as we want," and the creators "already have some ideas floating around."

He can't tell me what they are, but I'm admittedly already pondering what might be next for The Elder Scrolls Online. Between that and the mysterious return to Skyrim… I can't wait.

This shift, "renaissance" or whatever you'd like to call it, in content brings back immersive Morrowind-style gameplay (I mean, come on, Rumors) and a fresh take on engagement – and it may just be precisely what the MMO needs.

Searching for other new games to look forward to? Read through everything we know about The Elder Scrolls 6 before it finally arrives.

Fable creator Peter Molyneux might not be working on Playground Games' upcoming reboot, but his separation from the RPG means that he's excited to experience it for the first time "as a gamer."

Speaking to PCGamesN in a new interview, Molyneux – the former founder and CEO of Lionhead Studios and now the founder and creative director at 22Cans – is asked for his thoughts on Fable as it gets closer and closer to its release next year.

"It makes me immensely proud that a game that I loved to be involved with is continuing; that's my first, overwhelming emotion," Molyneux says, adding, "I really have loved watching how their game has evolved."

He admits that the RPG's first proper trailer – that is, the 2023 Xbox Games Showcase one starring British comedian Richard Ayoade – had him feeling "a little bit worried about it, it seemed a little too fairytale-ish." Since then though, he's been "very encouraged" by Playground Games' latest gameplay footage.

"They're keeping a lot of what made Fable different and special," Molyneux says. "Still curious about the alignment system, and how that visually affects the world, but I'm going to be first in the line to play it; I can assure you of that."

As a developer, Molyneux says that he'll inevitably "end up playing whichever game I'm making hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times." But heading into the new Fable, he's about to have a very different experience.

"In one way, this version of Fable will be the first Fable I've really played as a gamer," he notes. "And that's going to be absolutely fascinating to play. I can't wait."

Molyneux has previously expressed how "emotional" he felt when he saw Fable's trailer, to the point "I just felt myself tearing up" because "this thing that we created, it's going to live, it's going to carry on." At the time, he noted how "there was a slight antiseptic feel about it," but that the devs had "months and months to build in that character and almost that dirtiness that you want in the world." Clearly, a few months on from this, he's a lot more satisfied with how it's looking.

"Fable's original combat has a legacy of being quite approachable," so the RPG's devs don't want to change that with the new game.

Those of you who were around for the launch of Assassin's Creed Unity will no doubt remember the cursed images that surrounded the release. Upon the game's release, players were horrified to find a recurring issue in which NPCs wouldn't load properly, leaving their faces replaced with floating eyeballs and hair. And now, The Witcher 3 fans are facing the same demons, thanks to the remaster.

The Witcher 3 Remastered arrived last week, on September 29, and by and large, it's been satisfying. There is a plethora of new settings to tinker with, and the coat is more than enough justification for old fans to come back while providing an incentive for newer ones to finally head out on Geralt's biggest quest.

But it's not a perfect experience. An increasing number of players are finding themselves facing a monster stranger more surprising than anything they encounter around the Continent. Occasionally, out of nowhere, someone they're talking to will become nothing more than teeth and eyes, as if afflicted by a curse that strips them of their flesh and blood.

Several have posted about this on Reddit. "This is not the first character I found having this issue," reads one of the earlier posts. "Their body restored after I left the inn for another quest then came back to them."

They include images of the first character, at the inn, then another merchant on the street, demonstrating that it's not an isolated issue. Several others have joined them, each equal parts terrifying and hilarious.

One makes the comparison with Unity, pointing out that they found it at the end of a questline. The examples are from disparate playtimes, the longest being 15 hours in. To get that far without seeing any kind of noticeable bug in an RPG as large as The Witcher 3 is pretty good innings, I'd say.

Much like the low-poly pigeon, I kind of hope CD Projekt Red leaves this in, too. I mean, what harm? Maybe we could do with being a little creeped out every now and again, it keeps life exciting.

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

As the wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 presses on, Skyrim players are still finding ways to spice the 14-year-old RPG up with mods – like one that brings Elden Ring combat to the game.

Yes, you read that right… FromSoftware's notoriously brutal combat in Bethesda's, uh, far more forgiving formula. A fan reveals the mod over on X, noting that it's "fully playable," with a clip of the crossover creation in action.

"This isn't a passthrough or any fancy tricks," they write. "Someone straight up remade Elden Ring's player controller in Rust and can now be added to any game!" So, put simply, this is the product of players themselves.

There's the first, "Funny-Bones" over on GitHub, who conjured up the "Elden Ring player movement and combat," as he calls it, using Rust – a programming language, which can then be applied to virtually any other game.

Then, there's the modder who did just that, leading to the impressive video of the Dovahkiin fighting Tarnished-style that's circulating social media now.

It's impressive, and doubly so considering the whole generative AI trend.

You know, the one that's seeing countless people try and generate games into other games? If you're lucky enough to have not witnessed it yet yourself, it basically involves folks taking popular titles and merging them with others.

For example, just have a look at this post that supposedly shows "the entire" Minecraft game running in Elden Ring. Spoiler alert: it's AI slop, and not a playable mod at all, unfortunately.

The Skyrim mod should be, though, as its poster notes he'll be uploading it "soon" – and fans are, well, fans. One person puts it perfectly in the replies: "Holy peak." Others dub the project "insane," while more comment on how "cool" it is.

As for when we'll all get to check it out for ourselves, there's no telling. Fingers crossed it's soon, because who doesn't love dying to a mere bandit a million times over?

Searching for other ways to spice your base game up? Browse through our handy roundup of the best Skyrim mods out there to download for free.

By building out studios and staying focused on genres, Tencent hopes to create the next Larian or FromSoftware, developers capable of releasing year-defining hits like Baldur's Gate 3 or Elden Ring respectively.

That's according to Yong-yi Zhu, Tencent Games VP and head of operations, strategy, and compliance, who spoke to The Game Business about the Chinese company's plans both globally and domestically.

Tencent, which holds substantial investments in numerous studios around the world, now including a new subsidiary of Assassin's Creed maker Ubisoft, sees those exact mega-RPGs as "North Stars" for game development, Zhu says.

Rather than looking at games through a regional lens, Zhu says, "For us, it’s more about chasing high-quality talent and people that are bringing unique visions, have a very specific vision. We love to work with developers that are trying to hone their craft. The studios we cite as our North Stars, like Larian, FromSoftware, they've been in a particular genre for a long time and iterating on that genre."

Mechanically and stylistically, Baldur's Gate 3 was much closer to Larian's Divinity series than the original Baldur's Gate RPGs from BioWare. The studio's fingerprints were all over the IP, even if it was D&D at its core – not that that's a bad thing. Elden Ring, meanwhile, was essentially Dark Souls 4, 5, and 6 in a trenchcoat – a sprawling game combining everything FromSoftware had learned and tested in the action RPGs that led up to that point.

Zhu says Tencent wants to find developers who can do the same. It's important to note that the company also owns minority but significant shares of Larian as well as FromSoftware owner Kadokawa. Last year, Tencent increased its ownership in Kadokawa further, years after it and Sony increased their ownership of FromSoftware itself.

"For us, we try to do the same thing with our internal studios," Zhu continues. "We want to work with you if you believe one day you can be the category leader in this particular genre. That could be today, two games from now, or three games from now, as long as we see that progress. That is the long-term commitment."

Zhu uses these same franchises as examples of how studio given long-term support can produce generational hits. "You look at those two partnerships specifically, it wasn't an overnight success," he says. "It was multiple Divinities into Baldur's Gate. It was Demon's Souls into Dark Souls into Bloodborne and then finally into Elden Ring, which was so big. We do have a long-game approach. That's one thing that I think is very unique to Tencent and suits us well in working with a number of different developers for a long time to come."

After Baldur's Gate 3's explosive success, Larian has split with Wizards of the Coast and returned to Divinity. FromSoftware used some its Elden Ring bucks on stranger games like Elden Ring Nightreign and The Duskbloods, but also seems to have another single-player epic in the chamber.

A key distinction with Tencent, as Zhu notes, is that "a lot of our games are evergreen live service titles." He reckons this evergreen release schedule, as opposed to the huge dips and peaks that come when you release a new premium game every few years, provide some insulation against the waves of the industry at large.

Another way to minimize risk, he says, is to scale down development teams during "the riskier part of the project," which is generally early in concepting and pre-production. Increasingly, we see pushes for smaller game development teams, with many such teams finding outsized success every year.

Tencent hasn't been able to avoid the contraction in the games industry. Game dev layoffs look particularly devastating when you isolate them to the United States, but it's also tumultuous across the world, with Tencent reportedly backing out of multiple studio deals this year and closing TiMi Montreal, a studio helmed by Assassin's Creed: Black Flag director Ashraf Ismail, before it released a game.

We won't get "the next FromSoftware" or "another Remedy or Larian" at this rate, warns veteran dev: "We have to change that."

Calling Mass Effect 3's legacy "controversial" would be an understatement. The ending, the DLC rollout, the decision to turn the Normandy's computer into a sexed-up fembot… the list goes on. But among all that, the villain Kai Leng might still be the most-hated part of both the game and the entire franchise. Even now, 14 years after launch, actor Troy Baker still seems embarrassed about helping bring Kai Leng to life.

In a recent video with YouTube channel Partychat, Baker is presented with clips of roles from throughout his career. He tells fond development stories about his roles as characters like Joel in The Last of Us and Higgs in Death Stranding, singing the praises of creators like Neil Druckmann and Hideo Kojima.

But the instant he sees Kai Leng on screen? "Don't," Baker says, turning to laugh. "Next clip. Nope, next clip." He simply grimaces as the video continues to play, and he witnesses his character get stabbed through the torso. "Yeah, I deserve that," Baker admits. "There's so many reasons why I shouldn't have played that character."

Mass Effect 3 presents Leng as if he's the biggest badass in the galaxy, but his dorky goggles, ninja antics, and samurai sword give him the vibe of those "I studied the blade" memes. The fact that Leng is presented as being of Chinese descent while playing into Japanese character tropes only makes it more embarrassing.

Every few years, you'll find yet another Mass Effect discussion thread with a title like "Is Kai Leng the worst character of the franchise," "Who is the worst character and why is it Kai Leng," or "wtf is Kai Leng? Was someone drunk when he was created." There are even popular mods that fully cover Leng's face and delete his dialog from the game. Now that's dedication to a proper hater life.

The Kai Leng hate has probably grown beyond reasonable criticism of the character at this point – as is the case with all negative online discussions – but the core of distaste for the character remains very real. Even, it seems, for Troy Baker himself.

Mass Effect 5 might just be the biggest upcoming RPG on the horizon.

Clover Time codes will provide you with a significant boost in this Black Clover-inspired RPG adventure, as you explore the world while flying on your magic broom. You can form squads to team up and take on boss fights together, and roll new Grimoires to increase your magical powers.

The promos you can claim here will unlock a significant number of spins, giving you more RNG chances to land a legendary Grimoire, while also loading you up with chests to open for a selection of rewards in this action-packed Roblox experience. If your magic powers are prepped, then these are the codes for Clover Time and how to redeem them.

If you're looking for some general promos that give universal rewards to use in all experiences, check out the latest Roblox promo codes.

All Clover Time codes

The following Clover Time codes are available to be claimed:

• 60KMEMBERS – 50x Spins, 5x Crystal Mana
• 5MVISITS – +100% EXP for 1 Hour, +100% Luck for 1 Hour, Crystal Notifier for 30 Minutes, +100% Sea Luck for 1 Hour, +100% Fishing Ease for 1 Hour, +100% Health Regen for 1 Hour, +100% Stamina Regen for 1 Hour, +100% Yuls for 1 Hour
• SHADOW – 30x Crystal Mana, 2x Stats Resets, +100% EXP for 30 Minutes
• NATCH – 5x Special Spins, 50x Spins, Crystal Notifier for 1 Hour

There are currently a lot of active Clover Time codes, and if you claim them all then you'll be well stocked up with resources, spins, and more to help you on your way. Any chests you receive will be delivered to your inventory, where you can then access them to open and receive you randomized rewards.

How to redeem Clover Time codes

Before you can redeem Clover Time codes, you must join the AnimeCore Studio Community from main Roblox menu. With that done, you can hit the in-game Menu button on the left and then select Settings from the icons that appear, where you'll find the Codes text box in the corner to type in your promos. Codes for Clover Time are not case-sensitive, so you don't have to use all caps as long as the spelling is correct.

Expired Clover Time codes

• SORRYFORSHUTDOWN – Crystal Notifier for 30 Minutes
• 90KFAVS – 2x Reset Stats, 30x Spins, 10x Crystal Mana, 2x Fishing Ease Potion V
• MEGADROP – 100x Spins, 1x Big Chest, 1x Special Skin
• 40KLIKES – 30x Spins
• 80KFAVSWOW! – 2x Big Chests
• 30KLIKES – 2x Reset Stats
• 70KFAVSWOW! – 5x Spins, 5x Crystal Mana
• 25KLIKES! – 10x Reset Stats, 25x Spins
• 60KFAVSWOW! – 25x Spins, +100% EXP for 30 Minutes
• 2MVISITS – +100% Luck for 1 Hour
• 100KFAVS – Crystal Notifier for 2 Hours
• 50KLIKES – 50x Spins
• 40KLIKESGG – 2x Fishing Ease Potion II, 10x Crystal Mana, 30x Spins
• 15KLIKES – 25x Spins, 1x Special Spin
• 600KVISITS – 1x Special Spin, 10x Reset Stats, 1x Big Chest
• 25KFAVSTY – 1x Special Spin, 15x Spins, 5x Legendary Bait
• 10KLIKES – 25x Spins, 1x Medium Chest
• ANIMERETURNINGSEASON – 25x Spins
• TYFOR3KPLAYERS – 25x Spins, 1x Big Chest
• 20KFAVS – 20x Spins
• 10KFAVS – 25x Spins, 5x Medium Chests

There are now plenty of expired Clover Time codes, as an increasing number of promos are being taken out of circulation. You should therefore make sure you've claimed all of the active promos, so you don't miss out on the rewards available.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

With these generous Anime Zero codes, you can stock up on thousands of coins, a bunch of unit rolls, and some trait reroll crystals. All of these rewards are super important to your success in the RPG, and while you can earn them in game, the incredible boost these codes provide is not to be turned down.

One of the first things you should do to boost your combat ability in this Roblox game is unlock a second unit slot, which requires coins. Then, you'll need rolls - preferably lucky ones - to get the best unit possible to fill that slot. Thankfully, with the Anime Zero codes below, you can do all of that without needing any Robux, so redeem them while you can.

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

All Anime Zero codes

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

• TRIALSPATCH - 300x Trait Rerolls, 1,000,000x Coins, 150x Lucky Spins (level 35 required) new!
• SORRY4DELAY - 222x Lucky Spins, 222x Trait Rerolls, 222,222x Coins new!
• UPDATE3LEGACY - 333x Lucky Spins, 122x Trait Rerolls, 322,222x Coins new!
• 3TIMESACHARM - 111x Lucky Spins, 111x Trait Rerolls, 111,111x Coins new!
• 50KCCU - 500x Lucky Spins, 350x Trait Rerolls, 250,000x Coins, 5,000x Gems
• SORRYFORZEDELAY - 333x Trait Rerolls, 222,222x Coins, 333x Lucky Spins (level 50 required)
• UPDATETWO - 150x Trait Rerolls, 100,000x Coins, 150x Lucky Spins (level 50 required)
• ARISE67 - 222x Trait Rerolls, 200,000x Coins, 400x Lucky Spins (level 50 required)
• UPDATESOONWEPROMISE - 100x Trait Rerolls, 100,000x Coins, 100x Lucky Spins
• NEWRAID - 75,000x Coins, 10,000x Gems, 100x Trait Rerolls (level 50 required)
• SORRYFORDELAY - 50x Trait Reroll Crystals, 25,000x Coins, 5,000x Gems (level 25 required)
• BACKUPSTRONGER - 25,000x Coins, 50x Lucky Spins, 25x Trait Reroll Crystals
• BENICE2ME - 100,000x Coins, 222x Trait Reroll Crystals
• SERVERLIVE67 - 67x Lucky Spins, 222x Trait Reroll Crystals
• TYFRIGID - 222x Trait Rerolls
• TYASHIRA - 500x Lucky Rolls
• LAPASSION - 10,000x Coins, 60x Lucky Spins, 25x Trait Rerolls
• 1MVISITS - 50,000x Coins, 300x Lucky Spins, 200x Trait Reroll Crystals
• SIXSEVEN - 67x Coins
• LESSLAG - 5,000x Coins, 300x Gems, 25x Lucky Rolls, 10x Trait Reroll Crystals
• BIGTYPO - 100x Lucky Spins
• PATCHNOTE67 - 10,000x Coins, 100x Lucky Rolls, 50x Trait Reroll Crystals
• SORRYXD67 - 300x Gems, 25x Lucky Rolls
• PATCH2 - 5,000x Coins, 250x Gems, 25x Normal Rolls, 5x Lucky Rolls, 3x Trait Reroll Crystals
• PATCH1 - 3,000x Coins, 135x Gems, 10x Normal Rolls, 3x Lucky Rolls
• AZISOUT - 1,500x Coins, 15x Gems, 5x Normal Rolls, 1x Lucky Roll
• HOP3YOU3NJOY - 250x Normal Rolls
• LETSGO - 2,500x Coins, 20x Normal Rolls, 4x Lucky Rolls, 5x Trait Reroll Crystals
• RELEASE - 10x Normal Rolls, 1x Lucky Roll, 2,500x Coins

As you can see from this list of Anime Zero codes, there are tons of great rewards to be had, including hundreds of Lucky Rolls, giving you a chance at the rarest unit types available. There are also thousands of coins up for grabs, which you can use to unlock even more unit slots in anticipation of those lucky roll results.

How to redeem Anime Zero codes

To claim these Anime Zero code rewards, simply hit the Codes button on the right-hand side of the screen, enter the code into the box, and click on Redeem!. You'll be instantly granted your rewards for use right away.

You can only redeem codes from the game lobby, so if you're trying to Summon or reroll traits, for example, you'll need to back out to the lobby first, redeem your codes, then head back to the right screen.

Expired Anime Zero codes

• There are no expired Anime Zero codes

Since the Roblox experience is still relatively new, there are currently no expired Anime Zero codes. I would expect the valid promos to expire at some point, though, so redeem them as soon as possible to avoid missing out.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

There are some well-worn tropes in RPGs. The protagonist is often some form of destined saviour, on a quest to defeat a cartoonishly evil villain, with a selection of side-characters along the way. Warhorse Studios actively rejects all of that when it comes to Kingdom Come: Deliverance, because in the studio's mind, they sell the genre short.

In an interview with PC Gamer, Martin Klíma, co-founder of Warhorse Studios and executive producer on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and its predecessor, provides his thoughts. "I was really and I still am bored and tired of all the RPGs when you are this chosen one, when you have this grand task of saving the universe," he says.

"The games that are these really straightforward power fantasies," he continues. "It's not that I think it's somehow wrong in principle. There is nothing bad about a good power fantasy. It's just, it's so repetitive."

You don't need to look far to see his point. Final Fantasy 7, Oblivion, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 all exude these principles; the weight of the world is on your shoulders, in an epic story of light versus dark.

Klíma notes he plays "a lot of RPGs," and as someone who does the same, I occasionally need to step away and play something else to get a break from the stereotypes. He had a penny-drop moment playing Progress Quest, a self-playing satire of EverQuest and similar fantasy MMORPGs. "It's really a distillation of what the common RPG is," he says. "So I found that there must be many, many people who are really tired of this formula and who want something new and different."

To him, a fundamental issue is in who these releases tend to target. "The games that were, and sort of are, being made are still the games for teenagers," he believes. "If you are 16, 17, you love playing these power fantasy games because it's something that you need. But the audience is much older today.

He's aware, too, that Sandfall's JRPG-inspired epic from last year will jump to many people's minds here. "Everybody's going to think that I am hating on Expedition 33 right now, but that's definitely not the case," he states.

But he namedrops some of the Ubisoft stable instead: Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs and Far Dogs. Not strictly role-playing games, but Assassin's Creed and Far Cry in particular do have cookie-cutter elements. "Once you play the same game for the 10th time, it sort of becomes stale," he muses.

Clair Obscur's success speaks for itself. I've no doubt there are many who are also a little jaded, but I'd say there are many more who just want inventive, well-made games. The historical realism of the Kingdom Come series provides a certain kind of escapism the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy isn't going for, and we're all the better for that choice.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's Hans actor has finally opened his medieval tavern-inspired bar in Prague.

The Witcher 3 Remastered dropped early last week, gracing fans of Geralt's legendary 2015 adventure with a revamped RPG – one that's proven so popular, in fact, that it's boosted CD Projekt Red's playerbase like never before on Steam.

It's been one heck of a wild weekend for The Witcher 3, seeing as it managed to hit a new all-time player count peak on Steam… 11 years or so after its initial launch. This comes thanks to the recent remaster, of course, but it's mind-boggling nonetheless.

You'll find the data over on SteamDB, which shows that the game hit its record of 137,724 players just 18 hours ago. It surpassed 120,000 concurrent players last week within hours of the remaster's launch, but clearly, even more players have jumped back into Geralt's adventure in the days since.

Prior to last week, the RPG's previous record on Steam came back in January of 2020, after The Witcher Netflix series debuted, starring the ever-charming Henry Cavill as protagonist Geralt. And that peak? Well, it was just 103,329, which now sort of feels like small potatoes – and the big jump has caught CD Projekt Red's eyes, too.

Paweł Sasko, who is currently on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel as associate game director, is thrilled, for one.

In a post over on Twitter, he writes, "There is plenty of you on the path this weekend, my dears witchers. Much love and gratitude for playing our games." Attached is a screenshot of the Steam player count peak, highlighting that very nifty new record of 137,724 white-haired Witchers playing the remaster on PC.

It's also a well-deserved figure if you ask me, all things considered. The Witcher 3 Remastered is one heck of a revamp.

The new free upgrade boasts everything from massive visual overhauls to "improved combat" and much, much more. It's also not just performing well on Steam or PC.

It's currently the top-scoring game of 2026 on Metacritic, narrowly beating out the original RPG from CD Projekt Red, too. The developers are set on tweaking it for the better, too, promising more updates to come as players report any issues they're having.

Looking for other new games to wishlist? Browse through our roundup of all of the upcoming CD Projekt Red games for some great titles to anticipate.

Fable devs say they're aiming to keep the RPG's combat "approachable" in line with the series' legacy.

Speaking to Edge magazine, associate director Will Kennedy explained that the combat in the original Fable games "has a legacy of being quite approachable, so that's something we kept in mind while developing our combat system." But while that means you're not in for Dark Souls-style brawls, it doesn't mean there's not different forms of complexity hidden in the combat system.

Arrows, for example, can be aimed at certain body parts. If you hit the leg of an undead 'Hollow' enemy, for instance, they'll fall to the ground and crawl towards you. "If you decapitate them," explains Craig Littler, another associate director, "they don't know where to go [...] When you do that to a ranged enemy [...] they're just firing off in every direction."

Elsewhere, the pair explain that the 'Befowl' spell, which turns enemies into chickens, behaves differently against Hollow; "they turn into undead chickens," explains Kennedy. "And if you use Fireball on a chicken, they turn into a roast chicken. There are lots of little details."

The approachability of Fable's combat is part of a wider move to not rely on fighting. Littler explains that rather than always fighting, some quests will rely on dialogue choices or the game's reputation system. "There are quests that are much broader," he says. "More exploration, even a puzzle or two along the way. One of the things we're really proud about is the variety of activities and how they all harmonize to tell a story that you feel really involved in."

Fable’s combat shows a lot of promise, but I'm glad it's not launching this year.

Luke Daley took his role as everyone's favorite royal so seriously, the Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 actor behind Hans Capon just opened a new medieval-inspired bar called The Nobleman. You'll need to take a trip to the Czech capital of Prague if you want to experience your video game power fantasies (playing dice and getting drunk in a tavern) in real life, however.

Months after announcing plans to open The Nobleman - a bar inspired by the types of businesses real noblemen would gather and drink in - Daley has done it! The actor's bar opened its doors to the public in Prague on October 1, and he's been sharing pictures of the calmly-lit, old-timey business over the past few days. Check some out below.

One Kingdom Come fan over on Reddit shared that The Nobleman actually attracted quite the crowd on opening day, too: "Queue is not long but [the] wait is long. I heard it was 2 hours." Developer Warhorse Studios is itself a Prague-based game maker, so it's perhaps unsurprising to hear many Kingdom Come heads also live nearby.

"Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to run a pub, a restaurant, a cafe, something. Something that was bricks and mortar, something that felt real," Dale explained a few months ago. "Because so much of what I've done in my life has been acting, filmmaking, and more recently, streaming, and these things, however amazing they've been, there's an element of which it doesn't feel real to me, and I've always wanted a business that was mine that I could run and I could come to and I could be a part of a community and engender a great feeling in a community."

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 lead says Nvidia DLSS 5 backlash is "really funny," and that "most talented people I know" use AI

There's a massive laundry list of changes in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, but you know what the singular best one is? They fixed those accursed trees Roach gets stuck on when you're on horseback.

The Witcher 3 has long been recognized as both a pivotal RPG and open-world game, but it's undeniable there's a host of little frustrations that have always been present in the fantasy epic. Chief among those, for me, was the way Roach would always get stuck or snagged by trees as you rode by them – and while that may seem like an innocuous change on paper, that no longer happening is a genuine major frustration taken off the board.

More largely, it's indicative of what The Witcher 3 Remastered is on a larger scale. No one really asked for this update, or even expected it, but it's hard to deny that it improves The Witcher 3 pretty much across the board. It's made me think about how quickly we move on from video games in general, and how I wish we'd have more chances to return to games of the past, not just with visual remasters or remakes – but an integral look at how the core systems and experience can be refined or improved.

An old friend

When The Witcher 3 released, I was still in college, living in a tiny house that was, somehow, even smaller than a two-bedroom apartment. I remember being locked in my closet of a bedroom for 300 hours, entranced by The Witcher 3 and the world it effortlessly weaves. As someone, at that time, without friends, overworked, and destitutely poor, there was something about Geralt's experience that deeply resonated with me. A character locked into a path he never chose, but trying to make the best of it.

While I don't want to focus too much on the original experience of The Witcher 3, I can say that returning to the game again years later has only grown my appreciation of it. The Witcher 3's writing felt like a step above in 2015, but even over a decade later, there are very few games that can match it. The complexity of its morality and choices, the way those side quests effortlessly weave into the overarching narrative, and Geralt's fascinating growth as a father all still have real emotional heft. Of course, none of that is lost with this remaster, and it also includes The Witcher 3's two expansions. Two exceptional tales that reflect Geralt in new ways, digging into regret and redemption in Hearts of Stone, and longing for a peaceful life in Blood and Wine.

The remaster doesn't make The Witcher 3 feel like a new game; it's ostensibly the same experience, shining highs, warts, and all. That's by and large a good thing, as the messy nature of The Witcher 3 is ultimately what makes it so intoxicating – a grand journey and riveting world that feels living, breathing. But so many of those warts have now been papered over and made less egregious, if not nonexistent now. It's a bit like your friend dying their hair and getting a new haircut – you never imagined them with that hairdo, but now that you see it, it's really working.

This remaster feels very much in line with the Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update CD Projekt Red released for its sci-fi RPG, and I'm honestly a bit blown away by the sheer amount of changes across the board here, and how thoughtful many of them feel.

The most obvious alteration in this remaster is a complete graphical overhaul, with lighting in particular being given the most attention. For the most part, the visual upgrade makes The Witcher 3 even more stunning, with environments especially given an extra pop. The Italian Riviera-inspired fields of Tuissant shimmer in the sunlight, and you can almost feel the thick humidity of Velen's swamps. Hair physics have also been touched up, and character animations look even smoother.

While I largely think the visuals lean into The Witcher 3's distinct blend of realism and stylization even more, there is the occasional character that looks just a bit wonky in the upgraded visuals. Equally, this visual upgrade seemingly comes with a few new performance issues. Playing on PC I've occasionally run into slowdowns in some of the busier scenes or combat encounters. But it should be noted that CD Projekt Red has already committed to performance improvements.

While you likely wouldn't notice unless you were deliberately looking for it, there's a whole wealth of new animations spread across combat as well. Geralt has new visual effects for casting Signs, new combat finishers, and idle animations. These changes are subtle, obviously, but add a greater sense of variety, especially when you combine them with the sweeping changes made to gameplay systems.

The Witcher 3 Remastered's visual upgrade is nice, but where the majority of changes lie for this version of the game is in gameplay changes. Again, I must state here how utterly thankful I am to be rid of that godforsaken tree problem.

But the change I legitimately enjoy the most is the overhauled skill system, which feels much smarter, streamlined, and encourages experimentation. The original game's skill system was, in short, a mess. Even just the layout of the skill system has been entirely changed, resembling more of a proper skill tree now rather than just a slapdash grid of things to choose from. This visually makes a whole lot more sense, providing a nice new sense of progression. But under the hood, there have also been changes to refine bonus values for skills, synergies between certain skills, and more.

It's a bit hard to drill down into exactly how this changes things, but after a few dozen hours, I can say I absolutely found The Witcher 3's progression more satisfying with this system. It feels drastically easier to make "builds" now, and really fine-tune what kind of Witcher you want to play as, whether that's a sword-slinging expert or a crafty master of bombs and potions.

To complement these changes, combat has a new "Modern" camera that tracks closer to Geralt to make the action pop, while enemy behavior has also been very slightly tweaked. These changes aren't enough to make The Witcher 3's combat one of the all-time greats, but it does go a decent way to making battles feel more dynamic and challenging. I particularly like the new camera design, as it feels like even that slight shift in perspective makes battles feel more like crunchy knock-down brawls, rather than tactical RPG affairs – a shift that fits the game's tone better.

My other favorite change is an overhauled menu, which is much simpler and easier to navigate. In particular, the codex doesn't feel nearly as cumbersome, to the point that I actually enjoy reading some of those character bios and books without having to dig through a metaphorical pile.

The way you move through The Witcher 3's world and engage with it has also been nicely touched up and made less aggravating: climbing doesn't feel as cumbersome, some quest tracking is easier, Witcher senses feel clearer to use, it's easier to run away from combat, and the list goes on.

Again, a lot of these are changes that you simply wouldn't notice if you weren't looking, but as someone who's put a good 600 hours into The Witcher 3 over the last decade, the difference is palpable. This remaster simply looks and feels better to play in so many ways, not changing the overall experience, but enhancing it – a game that already got a "next-gen update" last year.

While remasters or remakes certainly aren't anything new, it's extremely rare to see a studio take a brush to a past game to truly touch it up, really dig down to the roots and say, "What can we do to make this even better – take out some of those frustrations that couldn't be erased initially?" These video games that take thousands of man-hours, years of people's lives poured into them, deserve that chance in so many ways. It's just a shame more don't get it.

But in The Witcher 3's case, the sprawling RPG has simply never been better.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered was reviewed on PC with a code provided by the publisher.

Tracking down your own gaming prey while you wait for The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past expansion and The Witcher 4? Our games like The Witcher 3 recommendations can point you on the right path, while our best open world games and best RPGs rankings have even more in store.

You know the iconic low-poly pigeon from The Witcher 3? The one that became a running joke in the community, and miraculously made it in the remaster? They're taking over the whole damn RPG, thanks to some modders who're dedicated to low-poly supremacy.

Bit of backstory, if you're not clued in: there's a bird in The Witcher 3 with distinctly anachronistic textures. Where most everything else in the fantasy world is gorgeous and smooth and well-rendered, this feathered NPC is angular and blocky, as if they just migrated over from Primal on the PS2.

Needless to say, players fell in love, and it's managed to survive the 11 years since without being changed by CD Projekt Red. It even escaped a do-over when the devs put together the substantial upgrade in the new remaster, because it's our blocky pigeon now, and we love them.

But it doesn't have any low-poly friends. Being one of one is a lonely existence, just ask Gonzo in Muppets From Space. Well, a mod fixes this. "He is back. And he is tired of being ridiculed," starts the description for Low-Poly Pigeon - The Revenge, which transforms every Griffin on Geralt of Rivia's sprawling adventure into smaller and more rectangular animals.

"Every Griffin encounter, every hunt and every supposedly terrifying aerial attack is now carried out by the same bird you once laughed at," writes modder grapedia. "Their sounds have also been replaced with pigeon cooing, so they will calmly announce their arrival before trying to kill you."

Incredible, terrifying, and beautiful, all at once. "He could not fight back on the internet," grapedia continues. "He could not stop the memes. But here, in the Northern Realms, things are different. The pigeon finally has claws, wings, several thousand hit points and absolutely nothing left to lose."

This is his game now, we're just playing through it. And just like that, I'm overcome with an urge to start a new save in the remaster. Never underestimate the power of a cute bird.

"We're working on it": The Witcher 3 Remastered gets 2 hotfixes in 1 day as CD Projekt Red promises more improvements to the RPG amid ongoing performance issues

A viral, fan-made Fallout game that used Claude AI to take the post-apocalyptic RPG series to New York is no more, following an apparent cease-and-desist notice from Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax.

Earlier this week, an AI enthusiast took to the global town square to unveil Fallout: New York. Using Claude Opus 5.5, the browser game featured 117 unique locations, 112 characters, 46 weapons, and 0 audio files, but, well, every sound was made using code, so that was fine.

At the time of writing, the video attached to the tweet has been viewed 3.5 million times, though the reaction isn't entirely universal. To some, a pungent pile of AI slop. To others, the brimming sign of a bold and bright future. Regardless, at least one of those 3.5 million works for ZeniMax's legal department, so the project is no more.

Sharing the apparent cease-and-desist notice to Twitter, the creator behind the AI game has some choice words for Bethesda and the gang.

"Hey, [Bethesda], how about you make a Fallout game instead so I don't have to?" they tweet. "Sorry to everyone who enjoyed the game! But the suits got involved and the fun is over."

While few onlookers are surprised, the self-described "AI creative" had initially hoped Bethesda would leave them alone. In reply to someone who said Bethesda would come knocking on the original post, the Fallout fan had the following to say:

"It's all free and I make 0 money on it. I hope they don't ask me to take it down. I really love Fallout and this was just a fun tech demo. But I should add a quest where you have to serve someone papers, but they keep running away."

Yeah, about that.

RPG legend behind Fallout: New Vegas does "everything" he can to stop save scumming, but he wishes he'd "been more cynical about player behavior" in Pillars of Eternity.

If you've played XCOM, you know the feeling of seeing a 95% chance to hit, taking the shot, and missing. But that's just how statistics work sometimes. Josh Sawyer, the legendary RPG director behind Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, really wishes players understood that – or, at least, he wishes he'd been more cynical about player behaviour when designing some of his games.

The crux of the issue is this: players see a 95% chance of a given action being successful, and they're shocked – nay, appalled – if the random number generator doesn't come up in their favor. There were long-standing design conspiracy theorists who believed that games like XCOM were regularly cheating players. The truth, of course, is that these games do cheat – in your favor. Dispatch developer Adhoc spoke about this as recently as this past March.

"Many people don't understand probability very well and many of them are resistant to having it explained to them," Sawyer says in a Bluesky thread. "This leads some designers to creating mechanics that work like the player's instinctive (read: fucking wrong) understanding of probability, further confusing everyone."

You'll find a pretty elegant solution to this kind of problem in Baldur's Gate 3, which solves the problem of poor statistical awareness the same way as tabletop Dungeons & Dragons: it lets you watch the actual dice roll. Somehow, it feels a lot more reasonable seeing a 1 appear on a virtual die to represent an automatic failure than it does to miss a 95% shot – even though both, in theory, have a 5% chance of occurring.

These are the kinds of problems game designers are often faced with: players complaining about something that isn't true, but which feels true. Take, for example, the case of the gun in Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory which players were convinced was absolutely overpowered. The devs ultimately solved the "problem" by nerfing not the gun's damage output or accuracy, but rather how powerful it sounded. The devs nerfed the audio, and the complaints quickly stopped.

These sorts of problems get all the more complex in RPGs, where players are faced with long-term decisions to make that can drain their resources or even change the outcome of the story. That often leads to players taking the path of least consequence, even when it means they start wasting their own time by reloading their saves over and over again.

"I do just about everything I can to not encourage save-scumming," Sawyer says.

One such example was in Fallout: New Vegas, which notably doesn't let you blast open locks with a gun, instead forcing players to invest in a lockpicking skill to get at those goodies. Many RPGs of that era would let you blast open locked containers at the risk of destroying the contents inside, but the problem is that many players would rather just save scum to get the loot rather than putting their skill points into lockpicking.

"A lot of my job involves thinking about what players are going to do when presented with a mechanic or a choice," as Sawyer explains in a follow-up post. "Even if players wouldn't consciously articulate why they would blast locks with a shotgun rather than invest in Lockpicking (admittedly a skill tax), they would veer toward that behavior," Sawyer continues. "It requires being a little bit cynical about player psychology but I think if you don't do that you wind up with very frustrated players."

In the case of Pillars of Eternity, Sawyer says "I wish I had been more cynical about player behavior." In that game, you restore your health and ability uses by taking a rest. You can rest either at camp, which consumes a unit of camping supplies, or by returning to town and hitting an inn for a nominal gold cost.

"Many players' aversion to the *idea* of losing a battle is greater than their aversion to marching 10 minutes out of a dungeon to buy more healing supplies," Sawyer says, "so they freely dump Per Rest abilities in every fight, rest after every fight, and then curse the designers for making them go back to town."

This is a problem I've been thinking about a lot as I make my way through Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Out in the open world, you can restore your HP and MP by resting at benches placed throughout the map – but each bench use costs a cushion item. The cushions are dirt cheap, but fast traveling and healing in towns are both free, so I just keep doing that, even though I'm objectively wasting my own time.

"This also applies to narrative choices," Sawyer adds. "Sometimes designers will create a quest where players can choose options a) b) or c) and it's our job to ask 'Why would anyone want to pick c?' Sometimes it's okay for an option to be there because it would feel weird if it weren't there. But in most cases we're trying to create some sort of thought process in the player's mind. We want the player to weigh their own values against what they're being asked to do. The decision doesn't need to be torturous, but it should take a bit of reflection, I think."

Earlier this year, a Bloomberg report suggested that Sawyer was leading a new Fallout project at Obsidian. Just a couple of weeks ago, Bethesda announced that Obsidian is, indeed, making a new Fallout game. We don't officially know whether or not Sawyer is heading up the project, but I think it's safe to guess we'll see some of his anti-save scum ethos in whatever form it ends up taking.

These are the best Fallout games of all time.

The Elder Scrolls Online is changing as ZeniMax Online Studios moves the MMO further away from its old annual DLC formula toward new content drops that incorporate a greater variety of playstyles – a "renaissance" of sorts, if you will.

It's no secret that The Elder Scrolls Online has suffered a difficult year following Microsoft's plan to cut over 3,200 employees at Xbox, with Bethesda's union representatives reporting a loss of "dozens of programmers, artists, designers and testers."

Its remaining developers are pushing on with work on the MMO, however, with game director Nick Giacomini having said that it's "here to stay" with extra help from Bethesda along the way.

As work carries on, the game is making a move away from its usual yearly expansion release, bringing a new season system to The Elder Scrolls Online with less combat-focused content.

I got to sit down with Giacomini and discuss this path forward myself, which he describes as a "renaissance" for the MMO "where we took a look at this game that's been going for 12 years and decided to make some changes."

It hasn't come "just for the sake of making changes, but because it was something the players were asking of us," as Giacomini says. Folks wanted the devs "to excite them" and "surprise them again" – something that was lost in the old "formula," so to speak.

That's why "breaking that formula was really important for us to excite our players." How, though? Seasons, sure, but also new types of content like the Nowhere Vault, Rumors, and High Seas of Tamriel.

"Games haven't stood still," after all. "New games have come out. Great games have come out. That's raised the bar of expectations for players." That led to ZeniMax having to "evolve and revise our own design ethos," and it's a welcome change, in my opinion.

Some more chaotic Morrowind-esque exploration, brain-scratching puzzles, and community events slot nicely into Tamriel, helping gap the bridge between expansions.

Because, you know – even though the studio is trying a new path, it's not entirely abandoning everything we've grown to love the MMO for.

Associate design director Jason Barnes tells me as much, alluding to the mysterious return to Skyrim that ZeniMax is cooking. "There's still a time and a place for some of the like kind of the bigger, more grand type of releases," as he says – "like the new Skyrim zone that we're working on."

That, Barnes describes, won't be "a return to form" entirely as "it's definitely not the same as our traditional zones" – but "it's going to be that kind of spectacle that the chapter model essentially gave us."
Honestly, I'm personally thrilled they're retaining a bit of ye olde Elder Scrolls Online goodness, while also making room for something fresh… and it's already upon us. Heck, we just got Update 51 and the High Seas of Tamriel.

I'm ready for more, and I'm equally as ready for more Skyrim – whatever form it might take.

Massive bit of Elder Scrolls lore from Morrowind is actually because of "a typo," former Skyrim designer believes: "Someone just typed a date wrong in the timeline"

Right now, it's anyone's guess when Fallout 5 might arrive. However, we do know it's happening, somewhere in the bowels of Bethesda, and one former developer from the studio believes taking the franchise out of the US would be a welcome shot in the arm.

Chatting to GoHumanize, via Insider Gaming, Bruce Nesmith, a quest designer on Fallouts 3 and 4, lead designer on Skyrim and design director on Oblivion Remaster, believes there's enormous potential in taking the property fully international. "It can go to any city that has a really distinctive style to it. You look at the places they’ve already taken Fallout and it’s Las Vegas, Washington DC, Boston and they’re all places full of style," he says.

"It would be very tempting to go outside of the country too even though Fallout is highly rooted in Americana," he adds.

London and Paris, the capitals of England and France, respectively, are two examples that "could be amazing," he mentions. And those would definitely be easy candidates here, offering large, sprawling metropolises for the devs to turn into post-apocalyptic wastelands. But they're too easy, in my view.

Head up to the Scottish Highlands, or over to Ireland. Or maybe some part of Australia. Each would be fascinating to see in this context. His point about Fallout being firmly planted in American culture can still echo through these locales in fascinating ways.

Imagine the culture clash of a post-nuclear Glasgow, where the city's now-mayor is an Elvis obsessive. Or the locals believe themselves to be in some distant state because American culture is all they had access to for generations. In some ways that wouldn't be too far removed from modern day whenever Country 2 Country happens in the dear green place.

The possibilities are endless. Todd Howard's been clear the series is unlikely to go outside North America, but never say never. Although, really, I think we all just want the thing to happen at all, regardless of what the setting is.

Fallout's iconic Vault Boy exists because the devs were struggling to solve an old-school RPG problem

The Witcher 3 Remastered only just released, but CD Projekt Red is already addressing some of the revamped RPG's most pressing issues – on both consoles and PC, too.

Two new patches have rolled out today for The Witcher 3 Remastered, with the first arriving on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S earlier in the morning.

CD Projekt Red unveiled it in a post over on X, explaining that it addresses everything from lighting issues to problems with DLSS in the Xbox Play Anywhere version of the game. All that, plus "various other adjustments to ensure parity with the PC version" of the RPG," apparently.

The developers clarified that they're "investigating" further issues, too, and also "preparing a hotfix for PC" – a hotfix that came mere hours after the console-specific patch.

As per the official Witcher website, it tackles everything from saves not working properly to audio volume… and, yes, the NVIDIA Hairworks problem that's tanking PC performance for many players.

Unsurprisingly, CD Projekt Red isn't finished yet, either.

Global community and social media director Marcin Momot confirms as much, first covering the PC hotfix and how "the rough size of the download is 5GB."

According to him, the devs "plan to have the fix on consoles for the volume issue," too, with "no date" set as of now – but, still. "We're working on it."

Paweł Sasko, who is currently on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel as associate game director, writes something similar in his own post. "Our work continues my dears to provide you with the best possible experience on The Witcher 3 Remastered," it reads – so, yeah.

There you have it, folks, CD Projekt Red isn't going to stop tinkering with its new remaster until every wrinkle is ironed out… and I don't think that'll be the case any time soon. If you run into any issues yourself, be sure to flag it, as it's evident the studio is paying close attention to our feedback.

Looking for more new games to wishlist? Browse through our roundup of all of the upcoming CD Projekt Red games for some to anticipate.

The Witcher 3 Remastered is finally upon us, gracing us with yet another journey through CD Projekt Red's iconic RPG – but it sadly isn't going smoothly for everyone.

Some players, particularly those on PC, have run into performance issues. With the new free upgrade and all its visual overhauls, this doesn't exactly come as a surprise, but it's still not acceptable by CD Projekt Red's high standards – so, yes, the devs are on the case.

The studio reveals as much in a post over on Twitter, explaining that it's managed to figure out the cause of some fans' performance woes on the computer: NVIDIA tech.

Or, to be more precise, the NVIDIA tech that makes Geralt's hair look oh so realistic as it renders and simulates more dynamic hair.

As CD Projekt Red writes, "We've identified an issue related to NVIDIA Hairworks that may significantly affect performance" – and, yep, that's that tech. For now, the studio has a temporary solution: "We recommend disabling that setting until this is addressed in a patch."

Although it's not a permanent fix for the problem, it's evident that the team is cooking up a more impactful update as it alludes to a future "patch" on PC following its quick advice.

Comments show unhappy players across other platforms, though – not just those using their computers for The Witcher 3 Remastered. As the top response reads, "Please fix The Witcher 3 Remastered on base PS5. The performance is absolutely horrible right now."

Others below it echo this very sentiment, outlining how even the RPG's "performance mode" doesn't properly work for them.

In other words, it seems that there may be at least a few more wrinkles for CD Projekt Red to iron out, performance-wise – but something tells me the devs will be on it fast. Who knows, the PC patch they mention might even turn into a larger patch addressing problems that console users are having, too.

Only time will tell… but, thankfully, the remaster is doing well aside from these hiccups. So well, in fact, that it's currently the top-scoring game of 2026 on Metacritic, beating out the original 2015 RPG by a solid two points.

Searching for some other new games to wishlist? Browse through our roundup of all of the upcoming CD Projekt Red games for more.

Some people just aren't built to endure the kind of bleak, unrelenting tragedy that often exists at the bottom of a great story's emotional arc. Rapper T-Pain may just have that affliction, having recently started Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on his Nappy Boy Gaming YouTube channel and noped out after its notoriously sad opening sequence.

*Spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 below. Turn back if you haven't played through the prologue yet.*

In the video just below, you can see T-Pain playing about 15 minutes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from the very start, which of course means he witnesses the awfully tragic death of Sophie in the prologue, leaving him speechless for a few seconds as he resumes control of Gustave. T-Pain eventually makes an exacerbated "shewwww" sound and exits to desktop. "Is it a sad story?" an offscreen person says, clearly noticing T-Pain's emotional exhaustion. "Yeah."

"Is it too sad?"

"Yeah, it was too sad," T-Pain responds, laughing. Just before ending the video, the rapper appears to read a comment on his stream warning him that, "it gets worse" – and anyone who's played through the game knows it absolutely does get worse, and soon – and T-Pain decides then and there, "Absolutely not."

I totally get his reluctance to continue here. Sometimes I just want to play a game, or watch a movie, or read a book, and not feel like I need to text my therapist. Unfortunately, in my view, if a story's writing and performances are effective enough to evoke such powerful emotion, it's probably worth seeing through, even if it never provides the sort of emotional upswing you want.

The Last of Us is one of my all-time favorite stories across all mediums precisely because it offers such an uncompromising, realistic account of two normal people trying to navigate a zombie apocalypse. Bad things are going to happen to good people, and there won't always be a picture-perfect redemption for anyone. Casting aside the conventional trajectories of heroes and villains makes for a much more believable, and thus absorbing story. You might not be moving your body like a cyclone afterwards, but you can always get low with something a little lighter to balance things out.

Elden Ring and Dark Souls inspired Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director's approach to the RPG's story – "I didn't want to spoon-feed the player"

The Blood of Dawnwalker is a thrilling RPG, but leaves a number of loose threads in its wake. It's one of my favorite new games of 2026 all the same, especially since I have faith that developer Rebel Wolves will shed some light on all my questions come the second game in this potential "saga".

Even though I've not long rolled credits on Coen's first adventure, I'm already imagining what might come next. There are a handful of things I'd love to see addressed in The Blood of Dawnwalker 2, from Vicho (fie on all who let him die) to the lasting consequences of welcoming every vrakhir under the moon into Coen's own head, but let's start with six of my most pressing questions after finishing The Blood of Dawnwalker.

1. What's Lacra's deal with the Arbiters and Council of Augurs?

At the end of The Blood of Dawnwalker, Coen gets a few nasty surprises: the rest of his family survived the ordeal, but little sister Lunka is now a feral half-vampire. Brencis called it a parting gift to ensure his victory even in defeat, which is pretty mean considering I forgave him after all that and invited him into my head. Anyway, right as you try to administer a potion concocted by Anca, which may or may not actually work, another one of Coen's potential flames enters, pursued by a man in a hooded cloak.

The man is an Arbiter, he explains, a fellow Dawnwalker sent to Vale Sangora on behalf of a mysterious organization called the Council of Augurs – and it sounds like Lacra is one of them as well. He tells Coen that the only cure for Lunka is to transform her into a proper vrakhir, and he also wants Coen to come with him… Somewhere.

I'm not sure if I only got this scene because I stormed the castle with Lacra instead of with Crake or going at it solo, but with so many unanswered questions (what is an Arbiter? Who is the Council and what do they want?), I'm going to need Rebel Wolves to make haste on this sequel ASAP.

2. What happened to Coen's mother?

We know that Esme, Coen's mother, suffered a terrible trauma that caused her to experience a break from reality. It happened before the events of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and while we do get glimpses of what might have contributed to it – the tragic death of Coen's little brother Alin, her husband Pieter's past as a roving merc-for-hire – there seems to be a lot more to it.

Even if we never meet Esme and Pieter again in the Dawnwalker saga, I hope that doesn't spell the end to my mission to learn more about Coen's family history. He has his little sister Lunka in tow, after all, and even a vrakhiri child will want to know more about where she came from. Some of my favorite missions in The Blood of Dawnwalker provide further insights into who Coen is and where his family came from. Even my most-hated quest of all tugged at my heartstrings and offered some of the best written moments in the whole game, so I hope Rebel Wolves isn't done with the Laslea clan's lore drops just yet.

3. What's with the confusing title?

Every games journalist I speak to about The Blood of Dawnwalker has made the same comment about its title – when you have to write it out as often as we do, it's hard not to grumble about how it simply doesn't make sense. Coen is the Dawnwalker, so if the whole game is predicated upon the unique powers granted by his tainted blood, why isn't it titled Blood of the Dawnwalker?

I think we got half the answer during The Monk and the Saint, a mission that takes Coen deep beneath Svartrau Cathedral on the hunt for the Sword of St. Mihai. The old Saint was a Dawnwalker himself, interestingly enough, and when we fight and defeat his decaying corpse, he has some words of wisdom for Coen.

It's clear that Dawnwalkers, while rare, had been around for some time. If Coen isn't Patient Zero, perhaps there is one out there who is the Dawnwalker? Then again, with Dawnwalkers not having the eternal lifespan of a full vrakhir – they do age, albeit much slower than mortals – the likelihood of this primordial being still drawing breath in Coen's age is rather slim. Unless it was St Mihai himself, and we just killed him. I'd love to see the next games digging deeper into the history of Dawnwalkers.

4. What will happen to the 30-day timer?

Rebel Wolves has already admitted that the RPG's 30 day timer will not necessarily return in a sequel. It's a great way to push urgency in The Blood of Dawnwalker; the timer counts down the days until Brencis' coronation and, consequently, the day Coen's family will meet a grisly end unless he can stop it.

It makes sense that unless Coen is under a similar time constraint in Dawnwalker 2, having an hourly currency might not make sense. But the time limit, contentious as it may be, has become something of a unique selling point for the game. It's a novel quirk that gets people talking, so if Rebel Wolves is considering doing away with it in a future installment, it'll be scrambling to find another clever way to add some friction to Coen's next adventure.

5. Will our "invited" guests stay for long?

As we slay Brencis' court in The Blood of Dawnwalker, we are given a choice: invite the defeated vrakhiri into our minds to save them from Anachora (aka, some sort of vampire hell), or leave them to be torn apart by this terrifying nothingness. I was feeling particularly benevolent – or curious – and decided to welcome every single one of them into Coen's head. Including Brencis and Isbrand.

This made for some pretty amusing epilogue comments (Brencis teases Coen about being too shy to go and visit Anca in her hut) but it begs the question: will I be subjected to this constant chorus for the rest of my time in the Dawnwalker saga? And if so, can Isbrand be a bit less shouty?

6. Will any of our romance interests show face again?

With Dawnwalker set to span a "saga" and that infamous flash-forward to Coen in modern day, it makes sense that the next games might jump into the future. But with the epilogue scene giving us a rundown on what happened to the people Coen met on the way (depending upon how you handled the outcome of each character's stories), I'm a bit confused. From Lacra to Vicho and Crake, Coen details what became of each person in the aftermath of his assault on Greifberg Castle.

Does this scene mean that we won't be seeing many of our new friends in future Dawnwalker games? Or is it meant to give us a snapshot of what happens to them in the years between this game and future ones? Because I, for one, will not rest until I get the slow burn Coen/Vicho romance I have been yearning for since I first met the unstable yet sweet, self-hating bloodsucker.

We're playing The Blood of Dawnwalker for this month's RPG Club - have you joined?

The Witcher 3 Loot Merge is a new option added to the game with the release of the 2026 remaster, but it's not immediately obvious how it works and this is because, as far as I can tell, sometimes it doesn't.

This appears to be a function rather than a bug, so it's important that you know how Loot Merge works and, vitally, when. If you're wondering whether to turn it on or off or how it works then, this is what you need to know.

What is The Witcher 3 Loot Merge?

The Witcher 3 Remastered Loot Merge collects nearby lootable items from the same type of container and bundles them together in one loot window. However, this only seems to work for certain containers.

I've found that loot merge seems to work for corpses, but not cabinets and chests. For example, in the image above, you can see that the drops for two or three wolves all appear in the same list, making it much quicker to loot the bodies. However, two nearby bags, like in the image at the top of the page, will still bring up separate loot windows.

However it works, it definitely makes looting that much easier and quicker, and I strongly recommend turning it on - there certainly seems to be no downside to doing so.

For more guidance through the Continent, check out our guides on how to transmog in The Witcher 3 Remastered, whether you should simulate a Witcher 2 save, and our general Witcher 3 tips to help you survive.

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Now that The Witcher 3 Remastered is finally here, we're all looking forward to CD Projekt Red's new expansion, Songs of the Past – but we don't need to rush through the RPG's other DLC, apparently.

Fool's Theory – the partner studio working with CD Projekt Red on the expansion – creative vision director Karolina Kuzia-Rokosz confirms as much in a new interview with VGC.

She implies that the upcoming content will actually work around the player and what they've done in the RPG so far, rather than requiring them to have completed both Hearts of Stone as well as Blood and Wine prior to engaging with Songs of the Past.

"From a practical side, people will be able to start Songs of the Past immediately after finishing the main story," she explains.

"So, you do not have to finish the expansions. However, when it comes to the timeline, those expansions were before, so we continue with the story that Geralt really wanted to retire, but then he cannot because his best friend asks him for this one last favor to accompany him."

Sounds good to me – and, again, there's no need to fear missing out. Songs of the Past works on your time, so to speak.

"And then we, of course, continue the story depending on whether the player has finished the second expansion or not," as Kuzia-Rokosz says. "We carry that in the story, in dialogue, consequences, and so on."

How? Well, I suppose we'll have to wait and see… "But you do not have to finish previous expansions to start Songs of the Past."

It's great news for those of us with a serious sense of FOMO (at the best of times, if you're me), plus it leaves time to complete everything The Witcher 3 has to offer, which is, uh, a lot.

On average, according to How Long To Beat, anyway, folks spend a whopping 27 hours and a bit enjoying the Blood and Wine expansion. That number rises to over 40 for fans wanting to 100% it – so, yeah. A lot is an understatement, really.

Songs of the Past itself releases sometime next year, with CD Projekt Red only having given us a 2027 launch window. I've got my own fingers crossed it comes sooner rather than later, though – especially seeing as we can apparently dive straight into it.

Searching for new games to wishlist? Browse through our roundup of all of the upcoming CD Projekt Red games for more to look forward to.