Elden Ring streamer Bushy has put more time into FromSoftware games than almost anyone on the planet. After roughly 4,000 hours of Elden Ring, he wants to beat Elden Ring another 726 times, and he's spun up a custom mod to do it.

On August 3, Bushy began a journey to beat Elden Ring using every weapon (and shield), totaling 447 runs. On August 26, he officially expanded this to every weapon, Ash of War, staff, seal, and spell in the game, bringing the run total to 726.

The idea, he suggests, is to create a full video library that shows how every possible attack style deals with all of the bosses in Elden Ring. With that in mind, Bushy's enlisted some help to speed things up.

In a video showcasing the Black Flame spell, Bushy explains, "I've commissioned a mod to make this series even bigger and better." This mod essentially condenses the exploration and progression of each Elden Ring playthrough, making it a lot easier to unlock items like flask upgrades, DLC Scadutree fragments, merchant upgrades, collectible talismans, and so on. If it's just lying around on the ground, it can now be found at a special menu or automatically obtained by beating story bosses which lead to new chunks of the world.

"In order to skip the tedium of picking up all of the same stuff over and over for 726 runs, this is the solution that we have," Bushy says. The mod doesn't affect the experience of fighting bosses, which is the stated point of this challenge, but it does make it a lot easier to get to those bosses over 700 times.

Even with this mod's help, each run still takes several hours, so Bushy will probably be pushing 7,000 hours of Elden Ring if he actually finishes every last playthrough. So far, he's done about 20 by my count.

Bushy's behind many of the strangest and most difficult Elden Ring runs you can find online – from randomizers to a billion Malenias to deathless NG+7 – so I don't begrudge him a little time save. This challenge does feel like a pretty obvious infinite stream content generator, but on the other hand, I've never seen a man kill everything in Elden Ring with the heavy crossbow.

"While I will miss the extra running around content, I fully understand how much better this will be for you to streamline this series even just a little bit," reads one YouTube comment.

"Might actually have another fromsoft game by the time this is done," says another. And they might be right.

Deep in FromSoftware's sicko arc, Elden Ring and Dark Souls boss Hidetaka Miyazaki says "you can't make anything that's as fun" just by following the same old rules.

Elden Ring players were happy to discover there was a glitch that made the game's new $5 Tarnished Pack DLC appear in their multiplayer kingdom, even if they hadn't paid for it. But developer FromSoftware has speedily issued a patch stopping players in their path.

"Patch 1.17.1 has been released for #ELDENRING," says the official Elden Ring account on Twitter. "This update fixes an issue in multiplayer where, under specific conditions, DLC-specific items could be obtained when not normally eligible. No additional content is included. Thank you for your support, Tarnished."

After Patch 1.17 introduced new, paid content that comes included with Elden Ring's fresh Switch 2 edition – the $5 pack contains the Idus Knight and Heavy Knight starting classes, plus more weapons and glamorous horse armor – a helpful bug made it so players with DLC items would automatically spawn copies of those items as pick-ups when entering a multiplayer game with someone who didn't have the DLC. It was the Lands Between's equivalent of dollar bills raining from the sky.

But Patch 1.17.1 smacks players' wrists and tells them to get their own $5. While Elden Ring fans can still trade DLC items with each other, including with people who don't own the Tarnished Pack, they can no longer enjoy a bounty of doubles. And they are not happy.

One exasperated Twitter reply says to the official Patch 1.17.1, "In other words someone found out how to get the $5 Tarnished DLC stuff for free. It should have been free anyway, guys. Charging $5 for a few pieces of gear is the biggest L From Soft has taken in a long time."

"I'll get downvoted for this, but it's crazy they released a whole patch for something as harmless as this," another player reacts in a Reddit thread on the topic, "but they can't bother to give us more balance or QoL changes. You know stuff that would actually improve the game's experience?"

"People love to claim that From soft is somehow beyond criticism," says another Reddit comment in the same thread, "but this was clearly a financial decision. They want more money from people. Simple as that."

As much as it pains me to agree as a hardcore FromSoftware fan (I've played all the games more than once, I've watched a total of at least 100 hours of lore videos), I do. The Tarnished Pack DLC is the developer's first experiment with something close to "microtransactions," and I have to try hard not to see it as the first ember in a house fire. Usually, I fail. But it's clear from Patch 1.17.1 that FromSoftware has the opposite reaction – if $5 DLC is an ember, it wants to keep it glowing.

Deep in FromSoftware's sicko arc, Elden Ring and Dark Souls boss Hidetaka Miyazaki says "you can't make anything that's as fun" just by following the same old rules.

The Blood of Dawnwalker developer Rebel Wolves has been clear from the start: it wants to turn the vampire RPG into a multi-game "saga" where your choices carry forward between each entry in the series. With 1 million copies sold in just a handful of days, it seems the devs have no reason to pump the brakes on those plans, either, so they're already hiring to continue the story forward.

"The Blood of Dawnwalker released to critical acclaim and sold over one million copies in the opening weekend," narrative director Jakub Szamalek says in a LinkedIn post (via ResetEra). "But! We're not resting on our laurels – no, siree! We're already thinking about [what] comes next. And so! Drum roll please! I'm looking for a Lead Writer to help me and the narrative team craft the next chapter in the Dawnwalker saga."

The actual job listing doesn't offer any additional meaningful information on what to expect from the sequel – in fact, it's written as if The Blood of Dawnwalker hadn't yet been released. "We're looking for someone who, to put it bluntly, writes EXCEPTIONALLY well," Szamalek explains, and someone who "has a track record of excellence and experience in team management."

I'm only a handful of hours into The Blood of Dawnwalker, so this part isn't a spoiler: the story will take us into a modern-day setting as Coen's story carries on. The devs themselves confirmed as much in a Summer Game Fest trailer teasing the future of the budding franchise.

"When you have the last save, your choices will go with you," CEO and game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz told us at the time. "From the beginning, we were telling people that we're planning a saga, and right now, this is the proof that we are doing it."

But it's not always assured that new studios, even those with veteran developers at the wheel, will get to continue working after launching their first game. After all, it was just last week that we learned that many of the developers behind the excellent Star Wars: Zero Company were quietly furloughed just before launch.

Rebel Wolves seems to have escaped an unfortunate fate, however. The Blood of Dawnwalker launched on September 3, and by September 5, the developers announced that it had already hit 1 million copies sold. Not a bad start for a new team – even if that Witcher 3 pedigree is certainly playing a part.

Our The Blood of Dawnwalker review praised the game's worldbuilding and hands-off approach, but we were also hungry for a little more, so a sequel sounds just fine.

With how long it takes to beat The Blood of Dawnwalker, we've at least got a meaty adventure to replay a few times before the sequel drops.

A gang of thugs surround me on a dirty street in 1940s Osaka Japan early into my time playing Stranger Than Heaven. I throw a jab into one and block their reply. I follow up with a pair of hooks, sending them to the ground before grappling with another.

The biggest one swings a blunt weapon my way, which I block with both arms, and I assess my options. For the first time RGG Studio has me feeling outmatched rather than an overpowered man of danger, and I'm in awe of Stranger Than Heaven's ability to make me feel that way through game design alone.

Eyes wide open

Hiroyuki Sakamoto, producer on Stranger Than Heaven, explains how the game's combat is very different from the Like a Dragon series. "Frankly speaking, with Yakuza titles, you could even play it with closed eyes sometimes if you just continue pressing buttons," he opines. "You could blindly defeat an enemy," he adds, and I tell him with a smile that I have indeed done just that, much to his amusement.

"But this time we wanted to make it more intuitive and more rough," he continues. It takes mere minutes with Stranger Than Heaven in a Gamescom 2026 preview session to understand what he means. The game's combat utilizes a left and right structure, with LB and LT (on an Xbox gamepad) controlling the left arm, while RB and RT handle the opposite side. Pressing B and LB or RB will perform a one-armed block, while pressing all three inputs uses both arms.

The result is a greater sense of rhythm during combat, which Sakamoto describes as "the feeling of being more involved in a fight," before assuring me I'll get used to it. He's right on the money, as I start leading with my left and relying more on my right side, displaying a sense of intuition I usually reserve for Time Crisis 2.

The preview session is split into three sections: 1915 Kokura (easy mode), 1929 Kure (normal) and 1943 Osaka (hard). Each section is a short stroll through a street before clashing with waiting enemies. Kokura serves up a small group who serve as welcome tutorial fodder, while Kure has a bit more of an edge. The gang here are smarter and attempt to form a circle around me but die trying, including a tall mini-boss.

Osaka is not quite so chill, presenting one knife-wielding foe who is eager to slice through my character. Rude as he is, he's also annoyingly strong, able to kill me faster than you can say "hey don't kill me!" – a command I can't help but blurt out during my first attempt. However, while I may not be the fastest, smartest, or strongest person who will play Stranger Than Heaven when it launches on January 15, 2027, I am resilient. I've overcome Lies of P, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and numerous FromSoftware games, and I'll be damned if some punk from an RGG title is going to keep me down.

Attempt two goes better, with well-timed blocks proving a veritable kryptonite to the blade-boasting bastard. That is until he switches up his stance, leaps at me with an almost comical speed and bodies me again. I realize now I've no choice but to sit up straight and lock in.

This time I use the blocks to close the gap between us, doling out hooks when gaps appear, before using both hands to grab my enemy and strike them with a vicious force, laying them down to the ground. They rise up, and fly at me like shit from a shovel, but I block with both arms and grab them again. Another blow sees them go down, and I have the scent of blood in my nostrils, which is fitting given the impressive display of gore Stranger Than Heaven delivers during the fight.

My opponent stands up one more time, bloodied and desperate. I can sense something brewing, some kind of last-gasp attempt to change the momentum, but I nip it in the bud with a left hook to the face. They're done, and so is my preview session, but my excitement to play more has only just begun. Stranger Than Heaven is not what I ever expected from RGG Studio, but the developer has once again impressed me with its innovation. Now I have to wait until January to see what the game has in store.

There's nothing strange about wanting to play more while you wait for Stranger Than Heaven, so take a look at our best Yakuza games or best ARPGs rankings!

The Arbiter Armor in The Blood of Dawnwalker is pretty clearly the best armor in the game, unlocked as part of the quest "A Bulwark Against Darkness". To craft the Arbiter Armor, you'll need to find four rare ingredients scattered around the map, then find a blacksmith to assemble them, finishing up with a ritual in which you have to kill a bear for some unclear reason. It's definitely worth the effort though, as this is undoubtedly the best armor available, so if you want to complete A Bulwark Against Darkness and get the Arbiter Armor, here's where to go and the locations of all the components.

Want an offense to match your defense? Check out how to complete The Blood of Dawnwalker Forge It Anew quest and how to get the legendary Sword of St. Mihai.

A Bulwark Against Darkness quest walkthrough for The Blood of Dawnwalker

You'll get the quest A Bulwark Against Darkness in The Blood of Dawnwalker when you're suddenly given a Smuggler's Letter with the components needed to create the Arbiter Armor. There's a few ways that this can happen, but one is to reach Infamy Level 4 and speak to Anca at the Crossroads Inn. She'll tell you that a letter was sent, but this is only one way for it to happen. You can also simply be given the note by a smuggler while exploring Svartrau!

Either way, once you read it, it'll outline the four components needed to create the Arbiter Armor, as well as explaining that you'll need to find a Blacksmith who can combine them.

Where to find all the Components for Arbiter Armor in The Blood of Dawnwalker

There are four ingredients, or components, needed to make the Arbiter Armor in The Blood of Dawnwalker. Some of them can be found in multiple locations, others appear to be unique. Below we've laid out the best places to get them, and will go into greater details for each one further down.

1. Bundle of Silk Threads. Found inside a cavern with a Murohn boss during the "Come Hither" quest.
2. Relic of a Saint. You can get two Relics - the Saint's Tibia and the Relic of St. Tyna - during Anca's quest "Echoes of the Silenced Bells" at St. Tyna's Monastery.
3. Flask of Quicksilver. At the top of Aurelius' tower is a ritual room, inside of which you can find a Flask resting on a desk.
4. Moult of a Large Lizard. On the border of Briar Sloughs and Maragir Wealds is an unmarked cave full of Tatselwurms, and the moult is at the back.

We've also marked the location of the Uriashi Blacksmith, so you can have an NPC who can piece all this stuff together. Keep in mind that before you go about this quest, it might be worth investing in The Blood of Dawnwalker armor proficiency perks, as otherwise the Arbiter Armor may be a bit underwhelming.

Bundle of Silk Threads

There are two Bundles of Silk Threads in Vale Sangora, both found at different The Blood of Dawnwalker Sanzhana locations. One of the fairies, in the "Pearly and Precious" quest, will sell you the threads for 6,000 Denarius, but if you go to the "Come Hither" quest, you'll be tasked to kill a Murohn boss in a cave. In that same arena, resting on a rock, is a bundle of Silk Threads you can grab for free, with no consequences.

Relic of a Saint

There are multiple viable relics you can use for the Arbiter Armor throughout the game, but if you went through Anca's questline at St. Tyna's and did the choice about if you should throw the notes in the fire in The Blood of Dawnwalker, you might already have two of them. The Saint's Tibia is found on a body beside the building that the soldiers are hiding in (as shown above), and you can also use the Relic of St. Tyna that the soldiers ask you to get, though obviously you probably don't want to consume an amulet with an actual function.

If you missed your chance there, you can also find another relic with Lacra in her quest "The Night of Horrors," and purchase relics from Vicho in Svartrau.

Flask of Quicksilver

There's only one flask we know of right now, found at the top of Aurelius' tower in the south of the map. If you've been pursuing the Rebel's questline, you'll eventually be sent here and have to complete The Blood of Dawnwalker Home Sweet Home quest. After doing this, in the topmost room of the tower, to the left of the hanging golem, you can find a flask of quicksilver on the table.

Moult of a Large Lizard

Like with the Flask, there appears to only be one viable item to serve this function that we know of so far. If you head to the area marked East of the Briar Sloughs bog, you can find an unmarked cave with multiple Tatselwurms inside. Kill them, and you can use Focus mode to find an abandoned moult at the back.

How to craft the Arbiter Armor in The Blood of Dawnwalker

After finding all four components, you need to find the Uriashi Blacksmith at the Northwest location marked above. If you've already done the quest for the best weapon in The Blood of Dawnwalker, you'll have already met her.

Either way, come back with all four pieces and she'll begin a ritual wherein you have to kill some spirit wolves and a bear boss fight (at this point in the game you should comfortably know how to handle both). When it's done, the Blacksmith will give you the Arbiter Armor set, divided into the following:

• Enhanced Armor of the Arbiter (Chest)
• Enhanced Shin Guards of the Arbiter (Legs)
• Enhanced Bracers of the Arbiter (Arms)
• Enhanced Boots of the Arbiter (Feet)

This armor is that from the game's cover and promotional artwork, and it's certainly very good for both day and night builds. It offers a wide array of buffs for both human and vampire selves, and is pretty clearly meant to be the game's best armor, with the flavor text practically admitting as such. Make sure you regularly upgrade it so it keeps pace with your own level!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Data mining is a tricky thing for game developers. They can't really avoid it, and its occurrence is very much a compliment to their game, but what's uncovered is often devoid of context and can give players the wrong ideas about creative decisions. Path of Exile co-creator Chris Wilson learned the hard way that trying to mislead dataminers wasn't the answer, even if it is fun.

In a video on his YouTube channel, Wilson went long on his experience dealing with such activities while making the original action-RPG at Grinding Gear Games. He opens by pointing to his grey stubble, because his current hair color is a by-product of handling datamining for a number of years.

In a section of the video, he discusses ways devs can prevent or minimize what miners can uncover. You can implement automated processes to scrub anything that isn't strictly necessary to the player experience, and always aim for what's included to be relevant only to the immediate game, rather than teasing cut assets or future updates.

"Some developers, including me in a past life, have added in decoy assets, so players don't know what to believe." he says. "But that's a pretty wasteful process. Very good for trolling, though."

I imagine so. You're taking time out of making the game to do up fake versions of your actual to-do list. That's a hard case when it comes to efficiency or time well-spent. But, I can also imagine seeing a wry joke travel through the community is satisfying too, especially if there are a couple of personalities who've caused problems for you in the past due to them spreading information they uncovered in the game's code.

He points to encryption as a possible hurdle for data mining too, but notes it only works to protect games pre-release. Once they're out, everything in them needs to be decrypted for players to run whatever project they're buying. I'm reminded of the saying: make something idiot proof, someone will invent a better idiot.

You can mitigate this kind of fanfare, but full prevention seems truly difficult, and that goes triple for super popular series like Diablo. Ultimately, your best asset is hoping the community takes anything discovered with a grain of salt - and if you manage to slip in the occasional punchline, all the better.

Path of Exile co-creator "would have scoffed at something like Baldur's Gate 3" 10 years ago, but now he knows why live service isn't necessarily "the future"

Sanzhani in The Blood of Dawnwalker are blue fairies found around the world and multiple quests, all of which collectively result in a great reward: more time! The Sanzhani are all around Vale Sangora to find, with five of them hidden in quests like Come Hither and Burrow Sorrows, and while each encounter comes with its own rewards, most of them are fairly nondescript unless you can complete them all. Not only that, but you'll be able to converse with your sister Lunka, gaining small amounts of information about the final mission in the process.

If you want to find all the Sanzhani, I'll explain where to discover them all below, as well as what you need to know about each encounter.

Where to find all Sanzhana in The Blood of Dawnwalker

There are 5 different encounters with the Sanzhana in Dawnwalker, all laid out on the map and table below.

1. Good Home. Found in the Svartrau Outskirts, we recommend doing this Sanzhana quest first. You'll meet a girl called Heile who sends you on a quest to find her brother, with some small encounters with wolves and some investigation along the way. Once you reunite them, you'll meet the Sanzhana Tsarina, who gives you the first chance to message Lunka.
2. Come Hither. West of Tantari and South of Svartrau, you'll encounter a crying Sanzhana who asks you to see if any of her brethren have survived a monster attack: specifically, one of the Murohn bosses. Kill the Murohn and you complete the quest. You can also find Silk Threads for free in that boss arena, used to make The Blood of Dawnwalker Arbiter Armor.
3. Tiny Dancer. In Svartrau itself, there's a night-time mission wherein you break into a house and free another Sanzhana from a merchant by taking the key and opening her cage. This also gives you a chance to loot some silver from the Merchant, among other things.
4. Burrow Sorrows. North of Rockfalls you'll meet a Sanzhana who asks you to kill some kobolds that have apparently taken her burrow and her charm. Once you kill them and bring it back, she'll let you keep it anyway.
5. Pearly and Precious. In the North Boar's Back forest, tracks will lead you to a Sanzhana who loots bodies, and sends you to make some more out of the bandits nearby. She'll pay you for their teeth, but whatever you do, don't buy the Silk Threads from her. As mentioned, you can get them for free in the Come Hither quest, and you'll only need one.

You don't have to do these quests in any specific order, but we do recommend doing the Good Home one first, as it properly sets up the Sanzhana as a part of the game.

After each quest, you can go back to the Yawning Burrow (where the Sanzhana Tsarina is encountered) and ask her to send a new letter to Lunka with a question. The replies will appear in your inventory the next time the day/night cycle changes, and while they can give small details about Brencis and his castle, they're not essential.

However, once you've done all five quests, the Sanzhana will grant you an extra 24 hours of time on top of your standard 30 day countdown! It's a nice gift, though doing all five quests above means you technically already spent about half of it at least. Oh well.

Find all the Sword Shard locations in The Blood of Dawnwalker Forge it Anew quest, or check out how to escape the nightmare in The Blood of Dawnwalker Home Sweet Home questline.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Home Sweet Home in The Blood of Dawnwalker is a looping puzzle quest in which Coen is trapped in a cyclical nightmare and must work out how to escape while fighting off numerous enemies. The problem is that the nightmare didn't bring in your equipment, so Coen is going to be fighting these enemies in a very suboptimal state without any good swords or armor. If you want to know how to escape Home Sweet Home and break the loop in Dawnwalker, here's a full quest walkthrough to take you through it.

Full walkthrough for Home Sweet Home in The Blood of Dawnwalker

After searching for the Astrologer in the Tower in the "Who Pulls the Strings" quest, finding him will trigger a nightmare delusion in which Coen is sent to his family. Here are the steps needed to escape.

1. Speak with your father. You're given the option to split logs for firewood, but it doesn't matter if you do or don't.
2. Speak with your family in the kitchen to trigger a cutscene that ends in a monster attack.
3. Loot the area for healing items, then carry on down the path. You'll then have to fight several spirit skeletons to save your mother. Without access to your gear, this might take a while, so play defensively and don't let yourself get hurt unnecessarily.

4. After speaking with Esme, carry on, looting containers as you go. You'll make it to a large garden with several spectres to fight. Focus on the red one first, as it's the most dangerous and can drain your health from a distance.
5. After the fight, speak to your siblings, and carry on towards the church. Here you'll have a boss fight with the Keeper of Nightmares, a boss that matches the one you fought earlier outside of the tower. Focus on evasion and counterattacks, as these leave it open and can even knock it out of the air if you parry a flying attack.
6. After this there'll be a scene in the church, and then you'll wake back up at step 1.

7. Repeat steps 1 to 4 until you've killed the spectres again. This time, the well in the courtyard will be covered in ice. Interact with it. This will trigger a cutscene where you speak with your reflection.
8. When it's done, there'll be a trail of snow leading from the well to a southern cliff, and you'll have your Shadowstep teleport back. Teleport to the top of the cliff and through the caves beyond until you reach a red portal at the end.

9. You'll appear at a funeral where the priest is giving a sermon and have to interact with certain characters in a certain order to continue the sermon. The order is: Alin (The Coffin) / Esme (next to the Coffin) / Coen (front pew, by himself).
10. Leave the funeral by the back when indicated, running after the boy through another red portal.
11. In the forests beyond, you'll arrive in a meadow with a big tree where you can interact with several objects to uncover character and story details. Once you've interacted with the skates, you'll be able to move on.

12. Follow the indicated path West until you appear at the top of the cliff, and Clawride your way down (if you jump, you'll die).
13. At the bottom, interact with Alin and speak with him. This will end the dream sequence and you'll finally be back in the Tower, having completed the quest!

Now finally free, you'll be able to claim your rewards, which include the Legendary Astrologer's Ring, which grants numerous buffs to your Witchcraft abilities and Activation Charge stats. While here, you should also grab the Flask of Quicksilver on the desk, which is needed for the The Blood of Dawnwalker Arbiter Armor.

Out for other adventures in Vale Sangora? Check out all The Blood of Dawnwalker romances and relationships you can find, or see how to get all Sword Shard locations in The Blood of Dawnwalker Forge it Anew quest.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

In 1988, a game called The Battle of Olympus hit the Famicom, arriving a few years later globally on the NES. It didn't make much of an impression at the time, garnering mediocre sales as it was brushed off as yet another fantastical platformer on the console. But over the years, it's become a cult classic – something the husband-and-wife duo behind the game were seemingly shocked to learn decades later.

That's why Reiko and Yukio Horimoto are now at work on a faithful remake of Battle of Olympus, set to hit Steam early access in January. The couple is "personally recreating the code, redrawing the pixel art, and refining the game for modern PC players while preserving the spirit, atmosphere, and challenge of the original," according to the official description.

Yukio copped to Battle of Olympus's heavy Zelda 2 influences as part of a 2015 interview, and it certainly shows in the actual game. But this non-linear action-RPG was clearly more than a knock-off, boasting intricate world design, impressive for the time graphics, and satisfying core action. Calling it a labor of love is a little corny given the game's development history, but there's not really a better way to describe it.

"While making our first game, I met [the woman who would become] my wife, and so… well, we got married, and she’s my wife," Yukio said in that same interview. "We fell in love and wanted to make our own game together, so we talked about the game concept for a long time." Their young romance even helped shape the game's story, which takes inspiration from the Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice.

The Battle of Olympus was made by just three people, with Yukio handling the programming, Reiko leading the art and story, and another dev named Kazuo Sawa tackling the soundtrack, all working together to try and outdo Nintendo itself.

"Nintendo’s quality... they made the best games around those times, and I wanted to make a game of similar quality, too," Yukio said. "I didn’t know if I would be able catch up with them, but I put my whole effort into the game. So did my wife. Her challenge was to make the most beautiful game graphics possible, and there's been a lot of praise for her work. All on such a small cartridge—only 16 colors! A very limited environment."

But ultimately, that love wasn't enough. Battle of Olympus's sales weren't enough for their studio, Infinity, to continue making its own original games. While the studio still exists to this day, it's spent most of the past four decades doing contract and support work on other developers' projects.

At the time of that interview, Yukio said he had almost "forgotten all about The Battle of Olympus," but that's seemingly changed in recent years.

As Reiko explains in a new video about the project, "The inspiration for this remake came from YouTube. Even decades later, many people had posted gameplay videos, and those videos had received many views. I was truly surprised." She adds that the "kind comments" on these videos "moved me to tears."

Now, decades later, Reiko and Yukio are able to work together again on The Battle of Olympus. They call this remake "the culmination of our lives in game development."

"Thank you for playing The Battle of Olympus," Reiko concludes. "Thank you for posting your videos. Thank you for your wonderful comments. Thank you for loving this game. Thanks to all of you, we were able to look back on our past and find the courage to remake the game."

These are the best NES games of all time.

Manhattan is eerily quiet in Control Resonant. Gone are the countless pedestrians that make the sidewalks into constant streams, replaced by an ethereal, blue substance. It's the Mold, I'm told by Remedy's senior communications manager Miika Huttunen during a hands-off presentation at Gamescom 2026.

As a fan of the original Control from 2019, I'm aware this growth is bad news, so imagine my surprise when I learn protagonist Dylan Faden is tasked with eating samples of it. Just like that, I'm invested.

Power game

Free from the confines of the Oldest House, the Federal Bureau of Control's other-worldly office and location of the first game, Dylan is sent out into New York City to save the day. Given the copious amounts of Mold and the enemies created from it, how Dylan is supposed to manage that alone is a mystery to me, but I'm sure the shapeshifting weapon he wields will help.

The Aberrant is an Object of Power – one of the Altered Items found throughout the Remedyverse – and has multiple forms for use in combat. During the session, Dylan utilizes the Drill shape, throwing out piercing blows at the furry blue foes who dare get in this way. It's at this point Huttunen explains that the player is unable to use healing items during combat, instead recovering lost health through eliminating enemies.

Dylan is capable of overcoming anything with his trusty Aberrant, comboing while floating in one spot, before producing graphic and satisfying finisher moves. These executions temporarily buff Dylan's damage output, encouraging the player to dive immediately into the next waiting monstrosity that requires a good old drilling.

Huttunen clarifies that while Control Resonant rewards aggressive play, it doesn't mean mindlessly attacking will work. Throughout the session I see Dylan constantly dodging incoming attacks, creating the impression our hero is a bit of a glass cannon, although I've no way of confirming this until I can play as Mr Faden when the game releases September 24.

Eventually Dylan enters a boss arena, which takes us from Moldy Manhattan to a liminal space in another dimension, where we see The Collective. This boss is a number of enormous faces, made out of Mold and assembled together like a dangerous Mt. Rushmore. (Mt. RushMold? Is this anything?)

This hideous being isn't alone here, with smaller enemies routinely summoned and sent after Dylan as he strives to break specific points of the monstrous entity in phases, including deadly tentacles. The whole thing is reminiscent of Dark Souls' Bed of Chaos if it wasn't so terribly designed that the most staunch FromSoftware fan doesn't even attempt to defend it. It was as this comparison crossed my mind that I realised Control Resonant, while clearly an action-RPG, doesn't resemble a Soulslike. I know some fans of the first game are concerned the new combat won't appeal, but it has me excited to take Dylan and the Aberrant for a spin.

Once Dylan triumphs over The Collective, we're taken to another liminal space, where Dylan is presented with a choice of new powers based on the Mold. He can choose to channel the substance through his arm to attack enemies, or pick the option to have a Mold tentacle emerge from the ground and attack enemies independently. Huttunen then explains that while we can only choose one of the two abilities for the whole playthrough, players will take existing powers into new game plus, meaning we can have our cake and eat it too on the second go around.

As the session comes to an end, I'm left excited by the combat, but more intrigued by the world of Control Resonant. The original Control was full of curios that fascinated me, making me look at real world objects as though they were hiding secrets in plain sight. I've no doubt Dylan Faden can pick up the mantle from his sister and previous protagonist Jesse, but I'm aching to find out how fascinating Resonant's Manhattan will be. Will there be murderous refrigerators? A transforming maze? A new episode of Threshold Kids?

Remedy has a knack for creating game worlds that play with the barrier between fiction and reality, and it's by this metric that I'll judge Control Resonant above all else. Well, that and by the quality of the musical number it'll no doubt contain.

Take control of your next adventure by checking out our best ARPGs recommendations for more action, or our best Remedy games ranking!

I already think the standard FromSoftware boss fight in which you're more likely to die the closer you get to touching someone is romantic in the way it makes my palms sweat. So I'm eager to learn if director Hidetaka Miyazaki will be able to scrunch my heart until it explodes with The Duskbloods, which will feature the first overt romance between players in a FromSoftware game.

Switch 2 multiplayer game The Duskbloods is set against the unnatural Dusk of Humanity, where up to eight players filled with powerful blood slash each other in the pursuit of a deeper red. But you don't only have to murder your opponents – you can marry them, too, with the Love Ephemeral sigil that allows one player to actually get down on one knee, take another's hands, and emote their devotion. It might be the most obviously romantic gesture in FromSoftware history, though Miyazaki doesn't necessarily see it that way.

He tells The Guardian in a new interview, "I feel it's less a traditional romance and more a sense of secure trust with a character in the world, and that's something I personally yearn for." And he's right, this is an option given to you repeatedly throughout the FromSoftware catalogue: put your delicate faith in a chosen one, even when you're among bewitched lands where delicate things are picked and burned.

2016's Dark Souls 3 allows players to marry Anri of Astora with the Ring of the Evil Eye, and 2022's Elden Ring makes a marriage alliance possible with Ranni the Witch – provided you slide the Dark Moon Ring onto her chilled porcelain finger. The different firekeepers, shrine maidens, and one special doll throughout Dark Souls and Bloodborne are also technically locked in these practical relationships with you as they remain committed to letting you level up. All these NPCs also have at least some degree of influence over their game's story events or endings, so pursuing them is prudent game-playing, too.

But since The Duskbloods' marriage occurs between two players rather than a player and NPC, it's more of a wild rose… or wildfire. Some The Duskbloods network test players report being killed by opponents while performing Love Ephemeral before they can squeak out a proposal speech, with one Reddit comment saying, "People are too aggressive when theres no reason to be! Im also looking for love."

Love and pain are counterweights, of course. But it seems like Miyazaki would rather not have The Duskbloods' marriage alliances be so contentious. He thinks of it the way a king surveys a soldier with her weapon.

"It's not necessarily a romantic pairing," the developer says, "it's having someone that you can ultimately rely on. This concept is carried through from characters like the maidens in Elden Ring… it's a transient, ephemeral love, which is maybe a motif I'm striving for."

But even if you tell yourself you're only in it for the convenience, handing your heart to another always comes with the risk of severe disappointment. I imagine this is doubly true if you both have guns.

Nintendo denies The Duskbloods' September release date in the least convincing way possible.

FromSoftware president and longtime Souls series director Hidetaka Miyazaki acknowledges the rumor that he has "a bit of a thing for feet" in a new interview, but says he simply cannot fathom where it came from.

Speaking with The Guardian, Miyazaki first examines the hand motif most recently seen in The Duskbloods, FromSoftware's upcoming multiplayer action game.

"It’s not necessarily something I’m consistently aware of – maybe it’s something subconscious coming through," Miyazaki says of the recurring hand theme.

From minute one of the first Duskbloods trailer, hands reach for one another in telling dramatic lighting, just as an early Elden Ring trailer made a big show of multiple hands (that we now know to be Godrick's). Elden Ring itself pummeled players with giant zombie hands, conjured deity-like beings that are just a bunch of fingers, and even let players wield the power of a giant club-like finger for themselves.

"Take a look online and there’s a rumor that I have a bit of a thing for feet, but I’m not honestly sure where this comes from," Miyazaki continues. "I feel like I’m trying to depict some side of human nature or the human existence that is difficult to describe."

Far be it from me to suggest Miyazaki has "a bit of a thing for feet." All I'm saying is: I see where this rumor came from, even if it is absolutely exaggerated, and overplayed as a joke among FromSoftware fans.

Since the original Demon's Souls and its Maiden in Black, FromSoftware has come up with several central, barefoot characters – often a shrine maiden or nun-coded woman, occasionally a boss, and sometimes a man as well. (And really, games like Armored Core 6, where the only people in the story are reduced to voices or the unseen meat engines of giant mechs, don't count.)

There's something to be said for why a character may have bare feet, within and beyond the "human nature" Miyazaki evokes. The Maiden in Black is earthly – literally of the earth. Dark Souls' Crossbreed Priscilla is humanized through her exposed features. This design choice may convey vulnerability, humility, hardship, tradition, or any number of ideas or themes. Sometimes things just stick for no definable reason in art, and in the absence of a clear explanation, players may latch onto – or invent – the funniest possible answer.

The Duskbloods closed network test had more applicants than Elden Ring Nightreign despite being a Switch 2 exclusive, FromSoftware lead reveals.

While Capcom didn't see fit to announce the returning monster, eagle-eyed fans have spotted Monster Hunter's most cursed creature in footage for the upcoming DLC expansion Ascendance.

Capcom has been releasing new Monster Hunter Wilds Ascendance footage on Twitter showing off the expansion's new Boost mechanic, with weapon-specific boosts being shown off in separate clips. And ahead of today's PlayStation State of Play, Capcom released the Bow's Boosted action breakdown, which includes a look at the new mechanics coming to a weapon, including the introduction of an offset attack. However, the most eagle-eyed fans caught a glimpse of a specific monster in the background of its final moments.

The monster in question? Khezu, which made its debut in the OG Monster Hunter, is most famous for its appearance: a pale, rubbery-looking dragon with a somewhat phallic-looking head. It's definitely one of the most cursed designs in the series, and add that with the fact they have a tail that allows them to cling to the ceiling and get the drop on you, it's even more freaky.

The electric penis monster wasn't confirmed for the Monster Hunter Wilds expansion before now, but even more strange is the fact that it never showed up in the new Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance trailer. We got a look at some returning monsters like Kushala Doara, as well as the reveal of three new monsters: the rocket-powered wyvern Araketa, and a new lightning-based Elder Dragon known as Gundoraja. Finally, there was a black goop monster that looked almost like Spider-Man's symbiote, which emerged from the body of a dead Doshaguma.

The lack of Khezu in the main trailer leads me to believe this was completely accidental on Capcom's part; or that they're going to tease the creepy monster in the background until launch.

Capcom is selling Monster Hunter Wilds with the energy of a man paddling up a waterfall: new 26GB demo lets you play the prologue for free after price drop to $40.

Gamers in the US are being taken back to the PS2 era as the Japanese and European box art of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is way better than the US release.

While everything is pretty standardized nowadays, video game box art used to vary a ton depending on which region you were in. Crash Bandicoot was marketed as cute in Japan, Kirby got angry eyes in the US, you know the classics. The PS2 era in particular was filled with these differences, and for the most part the US was always on the worst end. Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4 got gorgeous Yoji Shinkawa-penned covers vs the US' 3D renders; Resident Evil 4 in Europe is a work of art, while the US got a somewhat tacky collage of game models; and the all-time classic is Ico, which is a stunning piece of art in Europe, while the US got… yeah.

While nowhere near as bad as the likes of Ico and Resident Evil 4, Resetera users have noticed Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse has a major regional difference. Namely, the European version of the game features the absolutely stunning artwork from legendary illustrator Katsuya Terada, which is akin to the illustrated box art of the series' past. The key art for the US edition is the key art for the game, showing Rose Belmont overlooking a burning town. Granted, this art is more in line with what's seen in the actual game, but that doesn't stop people from being bummed about missing out on Terada's work.

While responses to the change haven't been calling the main artwork bad, some are upset at the difference. One user says, "It's almost like comparing the Japanese and North American SOTN boxes!" which is another famous case, where Europe and Japan got a lovely bit of Alucard art while the US got a generic castle. While another response says the main boxart makes the game feel like an "indie Castlevania-like", while the Terada art makes it feel like a real deal Castlevania.

I do think people are overreacting somewhat, as the US box art doesn't look bad in the slightest, even if it does feel similar to other game box art that simply features the main character standing in the game's environment. But still, I'm definitely happy and even keener to get the Terada art as a physical copy.

Konami’s Castlevania relaunch will be delisted and removed before the popular side-scroller gets the chance to escape Apple Arcade jail

Armor Proficiency in The Blood of Dawnwalker is something that starts coming up the moment you start acquiring Medium Armor and Heavy Armor, but it's not clear what that means and how you get it, only that you're being penalized for not having it. If you want to earn armor proficiency in Dawnwalker, it's going to take some time, but it is worth the effort and expense to do so, as I'll lay out below.

How to unlock proficiency with medium and heavy armor in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Armor proficiency in The Blood of Dawnwalker is tied to perks on the Swordmastery Skill Tree, as shown above. You first earn proficiency with medium armor (in stages), then you can progress to heavy armor.

Without proficiency, both Heavy and Medium armor come with penalties to stamina and other stats, as shown on the armor description. Gaining proficiency with these perks alleviates and ultimately removes those penalties altogether, allowing you to get the maximum effect of your armor, making these some of the best perks in The Blood of Dawnwalker.

To get these perks, you'll need to find Manuals to allow you to purchase those perks, then spend the Perk points on them that you will have earned from levelling up. You can buy these specific Manuals from Armorer and Blacksmith merchants in the world, or find them as random drops if you're lucky.

I definitely recommend investing in armor proficiency as a priority in the mid-game, as enemies get massively more damaging and you'll want to do everything you can to mitigate their damage, as you've probably discovered if you've hit some of the tougher quests like trying to save the Miller in The Blood of Dawnwalker. Some of the best armor sets in the game are also heavy armor, so it's to your benefit to be able to get the most from them.

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The stolen banner in The Blood of Dawnwalker was taken from Gremla's shed as part of the Blasphemy quest in the beginning, and she asks you to find it (and by extension the thief). This is one of the optional quests of the tutorial that's largely about introducing Focus Mode as a mechanic, the system by which you highlight and analyze objects of interest. Below I'll show you who took the Banner and how to find them, so you can complete the Blasphemy quest in Dawnwalker.

Exploring Laslea for the first time? Find out what to do before sundown in The Blood of Dawnwalker, or make sure you understand the Blood of Dawnwalker time mechanics so you know when it's going to pass.

How to find the stolen banner in The Blood of Dawnwalker

When investigating Gremla's shed as part of the Blasphemy quest, the specific things of note that you need to scrutinize are the footprints around the back of the shed, and the bloody scrap of the banner that they lead to.

The odd footprints and the blood on the banner give you two clues about the thief: that they have an injured hand, and that they walk with a cane, which definitely narrows down the villagers. Of course, Laslea isn't a small community, and even finding the person who matches that description isn't easy.

Where is the villager thief with the walking cane?

The banner thief in the Blasphemy quest is Premysl, the old man found sitting by the farm at the Northeast side of town at the location shown above. He has both the right injury and a cane, and will break under the pressure of questioning if you talk to him. However, this leads to a reveal about what's on the banner, and the subsequent choice about how to handle it.

Should you tell Gremla about the banner or not?

Premysl reveals that the banner is a monstrous presentation of vampiric butchery, which Brencis (if he gets it) is going to hang in the church instead of the cross. Premysl, a devout Christian, sees this is an unforgivable act of cowardice if they let it happen, whereas Gremla is just happy to make the banner if it means that Brencis leaves Laslea alone.

Of the two choices - telling Gremla that Premysl stole the banner or keeping the secret - I recommend that you tell Gremla the truth, but it doesn't really make a huge difference either way. She'll give you a small amount of money (25 Denarius), but without meaning to spoil, the consequences aren't really going to come up again in a significant way.

Find out more about the prologue of Laslea! Find out what to pick in the brutal force feed choice in The Blood of Dawnwalker, how to brew the medicine that Anca teaches you to make, or simply whether to stay with Anca or go in The Blood of Dawnwalker when offered a Latin lesson.

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Perks in The Blood of Dawnwalker are broken into three skill trees: Witchcraft, Swordmastery and Vampirism, each one offering various advantages.

However, unlike in many games, it's not just about levelling up normally: in Dawnwalker, players will have to spend time segments on certain perks that represent time spent training, so some perks will end up pushing the clock forward. Still, that can be worth it, as these usually mark the better skills and abilities that will have the greatest impact on gameplay going forward.

Still starting the game out and planning ahead? Check out our guide on what to do first in The Blood of Dawnwalker!

All the best perks in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Below we've laid out all the most essential skills and perks for players to get in Dawnwalker, broken up into the three main trees. Keep in mind that some of these may be more or less important to you, depending on your preference for playing in the day, night, or if you have certain strategies you prefer.

Best Witchcraft Perks

Witchcraft is focused on spells, resource gathering, crafting, and the bonuses gained from items. Most of these powers are locked to daytime use.

• Mercurial Fervour. A fast moving sprint will make daytime exploration far more tolerable.
• Frugal Witchcraft. Allowing you to heal when you kill an enemy with a Witchcraft spell helps negate a lot of the dangerous health sacrifice that comes with casting these spells.
• Forbidden Sigils. Unlocks new Witchcraft Ability Slots for more options in combat.
• Amalgam. Allows you to stack buffs from multiple long-term consumables, meaning you can bolster multiple stats at once.
• Life Lock. An Active Ability that lets players reflect the next few instances of damage back at the dealer, with comparatively little health sacrifice.

Best Swordmastery Perks

Swordmastery focuses on weapon combat, stamina carry capacity and armor use, as well as direct combat abilities. These perks all apply whether it's day or night, and it's arguably the most important of all three skill trees for that reason.

• Sustained Focus. Unlocks more activation charges. Essential for pretty much all builds, as all active abilities draw off these.
• Second Skin II. Reduces the penalties associated with heavy armor by granting armor proficiency, a massive advantage for your equipment in the late-game.
• Perfect Block. With how much this is going to come up, maximising the bonuses to Stamina and Activation Charge restoration on perfect parries is a worthwhile investment.
• Sharp Eye. Debuffs enemy defense and damage after a perfect block, which is hugely helpful in all encounters.
• Master Fencer. Increases Swordmastery Ability Slots, allowing for more useful powers and abilities.
• Endless Effort. A basic stamina enhancement that's effectively essential once you're out of the early game.
• Broad Swing. An AOE sweep that hits all enemies nearby. Very good for camps of foes.
• Swiftness. Increases attack speed after a perfect block, giving you longer to exploit their weakness with a riposte.

Best Vampirism perks

The Vampirism skill tree is all about mobility, damage dealing, health restoration and bolstering your associated claw attacks. All of these Perks are exclusive to night, of course.

• Shapeshift. The nighttime answer to long-distance travel, this allows you to transform into a wolf and gain Haste.
• Death From Above. A stealth kill power that allows you to jump on enemies beneath you, killing regular foes and badly wounding bosses.
• Voracious Bite. Upgrading your basic bite attack is essential, as it allows you to both damage and heal, with buffs for later upgrades.
• Endless Hunger. Increases your max health at night by a seriously high amount, as well as making it less likely for you to lose control and give into the hunger accidentally by extension.
• Nourishing Blood. Increases the healing received from drinking blood. Useful both in and out of combat.
• Hastened Corruption. Increases the speed at which you gain Corruption, before eventually bolstering your health too when upgraded further. This effectively acts as an XP multiplier, so you'll want to get it early.

Best Ultimate Perks

Each skill tree in The Blood of Dawnwalker has three ultimate perks (for nine in total), but you can only unlock one of these per skill tree, effectively blocking you out of the other two for the rest of your playthrough. Here's our choices for the best Ultimate Perks from each one:

• Runic Bulwark (Witchcraft): Grants a 15% chance to put a random Hex on an opponent when you Perfect Block them. At the point in the game where you unlock Ultimate Perks, you should be Perfect Blocking more often than not, so that makes this incredibly powerful.
• Last Stand (Swordmastery): It's a close call between this and Tactical Mastery, but doubling all weapon damage when on 30% health or less is a huge bonus, especially if you're playing as a vampire and given more control over your health.
• Renounce Death (Vampirism): Instead of dying, once per combat you come back with 10 seconds of lifestyle and immortality. Considering that everything you do comes down to not dying, this is the most direct way of handling it.

Ultimate Perks in the Witchcraft and Swordmastery trees require you to have spent 35 Perk Points in each of their respective trees. To unlock the Ultimate Perks in the Vampirism Tree, you need to increase your Corruption to 15.

How to unlock new perks in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Perks in The Blood of Dawnwalker or bought with perk points at road shrines, and perk points are unlocked when you level up. However, there are a few more factors to keep in mind.

• Most perks require some time to learn, usually between 1-3 time segments. Check the time cost before committing to learning them.
• Some perks, or their upgraded versions, require you to find Manuals. These are items in the world that are consumed from your inventory. Manuals are sold by merchants, found as rewards, or spawn randomly in bookshelves that you search.
• Some Vampire powers are gated behind Corruption, which increases every time you drink blood from any source, be it human, animal or monster.
• Other powers in certain skill trees are gated behind quests or boss fights. For this reason, not every player will unlock even the chance to buy every Perk in the game.

For more info on how Coen works within this world, check out our explanation of the Blood of Dawnwalker time mechanics, or find out whether you should use claws or swords in The Blood of Dawnwalker!

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After getting the medicinal herbs from Anca in The Blood of Dawnwalker, she offers for you to stay and study Latin with her, which will take time, or you can go there and then, missing the chance but saving an additional hour before Mass later that day. I'll run through the best choice below as to whether to stay with Anca, or to go accordingly.

Should you stay with Anca or go in The Blood of Dawnwalker?

After collecting the medicinal herbs from Anca in the opening of The Blood of Dawnwalker, she'll offer to practice Latin with you to wait out the rain, triggering two potential responses.

1. Gladly - I've missed it too. (2 time segments)
2. I really have to go. (1 time segment)

Of those two, I'd definitely suggest picking the second option and saying that you have to go. Having played both options, there doesn't appear to be any benefit to burning up time with the former (knowledge of Latin doesn't really come back up later, and your relationship with Anca doesn't seem to change). With that in mind, it's better to keep the extra time segment, so you can do more quests around the village before running out the clock before Mass.

Presumably, the only time that you'd want to pick the option to study Latin would be either if you're leaning hard into roleplay, or if you've played the game before and are happy to speed-run this part of the tutorial. A choice like this reduces the amount you need to do prior to Mass and the game starting properly.

Back out in the village, find out how to find the banner in The Blood of Dawnwalker, or get a reminder of how to brew the medicine in The Blood of Dawnwalker that Anca gave you. More broadly, just make sure you know What to do before sundown Mass and the first day ends!

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Mert the Miller in The Blood of Dawnwalker is a character who's been placed in the Stoneward Post jail, and while it's not mandatory that you free him if you just want his information on the rebels, there is nonetheless the option to try and break him free. It's not easy though: Stoneward Post is full of soldiers, and they'll take your weapons off you when you try to enter. If you want help breaking Mert free from Jail as part of The Firebrand and Take Back What's Mine quests, I'll explain how to do it here.

How to find the Miller in Stoneward Post in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Your first step is to find the Miller, which can be done non-violently and simply requires some clever manipulation. This process won't free him, but it will allow you to get an audience with him in jail.

1. Approach Stoneward Post during the day and speak to the guard on the main entrance. You'll have three dialogue options: visit a prisoner, message for the commander, or to enlist. All of them will gain you access and it doesn't really make a difference.
2. Agree to give up your weapons. You won't have to fight anybody yet, so it's safe. Otherwise they won't let you in and it'll go to violence.
3. Approach the main stone tower. In front of it, you'll see a woman and a prisoner's brother arguing with a guard. Talk to them to find out that the guards are stealing from prisoners.
4. Talk to Yenno, the merchant back by the entrance, and threaten to tell the Commander. He tells you Friedo and Cerbus are his accomplices.
5. Go into the stone tower to meet Friedo. Tell him you want to meet a prisoner, and that you know about his deal with Yenno and Cerbus. He'll let you go down and speak with the Miller.

Congrats! At this point you can go down the steps and talk to Mert the Miller through the bars of his cell. If you tell the guard he's going to be sick, he'll leave and give you both the chance to discuss the rebels. That takes up 2 time segments, but you lose those time segments talking to Mert no matter how it happens, even if you slay the guard first.

How to save Mert from Jail in The Blood of Dawnwalker

if you agree to save Mert from Jail, it's not going to be easy, but it is doable. Here's the best way I know of to do it.

1. Leave the Jail and come back at night. It's too difficult for most early players to do this during the day, so having your vampire powers will make a big difference. Keep in mind that you'll want to do this early at night, not close to dawn!
2. Use your teleport and planeshift powers to stealthily break in. Approaching Stoneward Post from the back, you can climb up the tower and come down through the roof without being noticed by anybody except the guard on Mert's cell. Kill him.
3. Get the Prison Keychain. They're upstairs in the same room as Friedo, hanging on the wall. Use Focus to spot them and take them with stealth. You'll need them both to access the downstairs dungeons, and to break Mert free.

4. Release Mert. Unlocking the Miller's cell (somehow) takes three time segments, hence why it's important to do this early at night. You don't want to turn back into a human mid-mission.
5. Head up with Mert. This is where things get tough - there'll be a boss inside the tower called Rayko the Incorruptible, and once you leave the Tower, you'll immediately be attacked by the nearest guards and their dogs. You'll have to kill them all, so be ready for combat.
6. Turn left for the secret entrance. Rather than leave out the main way you came in (with far more guards), head left and around the back of the tower to find a small locked gate. The keys you took from Friedo will also open that gate, so just head out there with him and you're done!

Later on, you can meet Mert in the Almshouse in Svartrau (the major city to the South). Otherwise, the main rewards are the opportunity to loot Stoneward Post (which is a pretty good haul for the early game), and the 250XP gained from breaking Mert free.

Grabbing early game quests? If you're headed to see Anca, check out whether you should throw the notes in the fire in The Blood of Dawnwalker, or if you're starting out, find out how long is The Blood of Dawnwalker here!

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After beating Leonica in The Blood of Dawnwalker, you're given the choice throw the notes in the fire or give them to Anca. It's a loaded choice, to say the least - pages of black magic that Anca is eager to reverse engineer for the sake of saving the sisters of St. Tyna's. You can advise against it in dialogue, but ultimately Anca's so set on this course of action that the only way to stop her is throw the notes in the fire and give her nothing to work with.

Of course, it doesn't especially help that Dawnwalker isn't especially clear about what the risk to Anca is, making it hard to tell what the consequences will be, but don't worry: our guide will lay out the two outcomes and which is better.

Should you choose to throw the notes in the fire in The Blood of Dawnwalker?

I would say it's better overall to let Anca have the notes instead of throwing them in the fire, though there's not a huge difference to the game either way.

If you burn them, basically nothing changes: Anca is upset, but it's forgotten before long and you're both back on the main questline regardless, with no impact on the possibility of The Blood of Dawnwalker romances. If you allow her to go through with the rituals, it successfully dispels the magic and frees the undead nuns from the curse, but it's implied that Anca did dark things to successfully perform the ritual and has suffered for it in the process... Though again, this is something that's forgotten about pretty quickly except for the occasional passing mention in dialogue.

Otherwise the only other time it comes up again is in the post-game recap, as The Blood of Dawnwalker ends with a description of the world when it comes to the long-term consequences of your choices. We won't spoil, but the fate of St. Tyna's is brought up here, though it has no impact on you mechanically.

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Claws and swords in The Blood of Dawnwalker are one of the big dilemmas, as while Coen during the day is limited to either bare fists or blades, at night his vampire side awakes and he can use long claws in combat to devastating effect. But with the choice between them, which is better, swords or claws? The answer actually has some nuance to it, as I'll explain below.

Learning the ropes of the game? Find out what to do first in The Blood of Dawnwalker, or find out how time and the day/night cycle works in Vale Sangora!

Should you use swords or claws in The Blood of Dawnwalker?

When choosing between swords or your claws in The Blood of Dawnwalker, the reality is that it depends on your equipment and build, but ultimately I'd saw claws are slightly better in most cases, at least unless you're using the very best weapons in The Blood of Dawnwalker or have a very specific sword-focused build.

Claws tend to be faster and quicker and often just as damaging as blades, so tend to be slightly more impactful. However, there are perks, armor and weapons that all increase the damage or effect of one or the other, so it's worth looking at what you have equipped and choosing accordingly.

If you need help choosing, check the bottom of the inventory page beneath your items, which tells you the current damage of both your sword attacks and your claw attacks. If one is clearly better than the other, that's a good sign to pick out that one specifically.

All that being said, I do recommend seeing if you can create a powerful sword build for both day and night, as you'll get more use out of it if you can make it deadlier than your claws, which by definition is only useful half of the time. Finding all The Blood of Dawnwalker sword shard locations will allow you to unlock a powerful weapon for exactly that purpose: the fabled sword of St. Mihai!

Weighing up the morality of life as a vampire and more? Find out the consquences of the tough force feed choice in The Blood of Dawnwalker, or decide whether to throw Anca's notes in the fire in The Blood of Dawnwalker.

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With so much choice in how you progress in The Blood of Dawnwalker, which characters you get close to and complete quests with is in your clawed vampire hands. The Blood of Dawnwalker romance revolves around whose questlines you choose to follow and picking options that'll make you endearing.

Only a few of the main characters are romanceable, and it's usually quite clear which ones are up for exploring relationships with Coen. Likewise, in dialogue, it's usually laid out quite clearly whether you're being nice or mean, or are about to enter into romance or relations with another character. Below, I'll detail the romances we've uncovered in The Blood of Dawnwalker so far to give Coen the ultimate guide to forging bonds and having a good old time across the Vale Sangora.

Warning: The following will contain spoilers for certain questlines.

Every Romance and Relationship option in The Blood of Dawnwalker

There are three characters in The Blood of Dawnwalker we've discovered that can be involved in romances and relationships with Coen.

• Anca. The village healer of Laslea and introduced in the prologue with the choice of whether to stay with Anca or go, she's a former nun with a few dark secrets.
• Lacra. A vampire with a ruthless streak, Lacra can get close to Coen while investigating Brencis' history.
• Crake. The leader of the rebellion fighting against Brencis, Crake is a guerrila warrior who recruits Coen to help rise up against Brencis.

The romances we've uncovered so far all revolve around characters who you interact with through multiple connected quests. So far, they all seem to hinge around getting a story choice to eventually be intimate with them, or to stay as friends. Choose the former, and you'll have an explicit scene. Generally, you can talk about what happened with them afterwards and say you want more, but because of the context of the 30-day time limit, time pressure stops you from doing it again.

Every romance has been quite forgiving so far, and I've yet to be turned down by anyone even while disagreeing with them. Still, as a rule of thumb, here's some tips for how we've been approaching forming strong relationships.

1. Being nice to characters instead of mean.
2. Pursuing their questlines promptly – many of which are optional.
3. Being honest about decision choices, not simply people pleasing.
4. Declaring your romantic interest whenever possible, don't hide how you feel.
5. Taking upgrades for ourselves.

How to romance Anca

Introduced early on in the game's prologue when you're still deciding what to do before sundown Mass in The Blood of Dawnwalker, Anca is flagged as a romance option before we even meet her as Coen is teased by his siblings about his interest in the former nun turned learned village healer.

I successfully romanced Anca by choosing to spend time with her whenever we had the opportunity, being nice to her, and reassuring her about her witchcraft past and her anxiety around being an older woman. However, you don't have to spend time with her after she teaches you how to brew the medicine in The Blood of Dawnwalker early on in the first day - another player chose to go, and there was still potential for romance later.

There appears to be a lot of flexibility here. Whether you spend additional time with her in the Prologue doesn't seem to matter, nor does the early Anca questline choice at the end of "Echoes of Silenced Bells" at St. Tryna's, where you have to decide: should you throw the notes in the fire in The Blood of Dawnwalker.

If you continue on through her storyline past St. Tryna's and where she sets you on the path to the Cathedral and finding The Blood of Dawnwalker sword shard locations, you'll reach a quest called "The Font of Life. " Throughout that quest, we emphasized our romantic interest in Anca. Afterwards, back at the inn, we met her on that level, triggering an intimate scene.

How to romance Lacra

Spend time in Svartrau and you'll eventually trigger the "A Friend Like This" quest near the cathedral, leading you to follow supernatural signs of a struggle (you can also trigger it by slaying Ambrus). At the end, you'll have the option to forge an alliance with Lacra, an older Egyptian vampire who also wants to rid Vale Sangora of Brencis, though she's often quite brutal in pursuit of her goals.

Following through her questline, there's plenty of time to interact. Despite often disagreeing with Lacra and talking her down from violence throughout the Song of the Mountain quest (both denying her feeding from a shepherd, and attacking the Uriashi), I still had the option to romance her in the end – at least, partially.

Once Lacra opens the option to pursue the "Midnight Reckoning" final questline that will end the game, she also presents you with an optional quest, "The Night of Horrors", to find another ancient vampire's remains by following will o' wisps through a deadly bog. This quest isn't just important for romancing Lacra, but in deciding her ultimate fate, so you definitely want to do this quest if you're interested in her wellbeing.

At the end of the quest you uncover some Mandrakes, a blood magic source of power that Lacra equates to being the closest a vampire can get to feeling drunk. You need to accept the Mandrake, as refusing to do so prematurely ends the quest. Going along with her also leads to her offering her blood to you so you can enjoy the taste, evolving into her propositioning you, which you can agree to in order to see a romance scene.

After that, though, she leaves you to wake up alone (to be fair, as a Dawnwalker, only you can walk through the morning sun). Talking about it with her back at her base in the ruins has her saying she appreciated the fun, but isn't looking for anything serious. So far, that's the only ending we've reached for a Lacra romance option, which itself doesn't seem to directly affect her fate.

How to romance Crake

Also known by his birthname of Marat, romance with Crake is tied to the rebels' storyline, which you can start early on by going to save Mert the Miller in The Blood of Dawnwalker after the prologue and following his information to meet the Manumits. I recommend generally treating Crake fairly – don't question his processes too much or judge the tough decisions he has to make, and you'll generally get good reactions. He wants somebody who understands the struggles he's going through.

Crake will give you a task to raise your infamy, one of the first things to do in The Blood of Dawnwalker, before then going to meet them in the city. This starts a longer questline to investigate a winged monster. Pursue it to the point where Crake takes an injury to the shoulder, at which point you can offer to help him remove his armor and tend to the wound in a way that is obviously laden with sexual tension.

Afterwards you'll be given a few quests. Pursue the one that Crake gives you to follow a man named Ascar, called "Distant Shadows". After this is done, go back to report to him and he'll get angry and leave, triggering a time-locked quest called "A Closer Look." Meet Crake outside of town, and eventually he'll kiss you, with the option to kiss him back – triggering the romance scene.

In the wake of that scene, Crake admits that he doesn't really have time for long-term relationships with the rebellion, but is willing to be with Coen once Brencis is ousted, arguably making him the most serious of the three main romances, as he's the only one who really seems willing to make a long-term commitment with Coen in the aftermath.

Want to find more wild and wonderful things? Here's how to find all The Blood of Dawnwalker Sanzhana locations and uncover the time-twisting fairies of Vale Sangora, or check out how to get the legendary Arbiter Armor in The Blood of Dawnwalker A Bulwark Against Darkness quest.

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The best sword in The Blood of Dawnwalker is a legendary weapon tied to a quest that carries you through Vale Sangora's history, ultimately leading you to the fabled Silver Sword of Saint Mihai. It's a greatsword with an emphasis on damaging vampires and monsters, as you might expect, and if you follow the questline then it's effectively free! If you want to do just that, there's where to go and look accordingly.

For more details on the choice between claws or sword in The Blood of Dawnwalker, check out our guide for the important differences between them! Or find out how to get an equally powerful armor set with the location of The Blood of Dawnwalker Arbiter Armor, the game's best protection.

How to get the best sword in The Blood of Dawnwalker

The best weapon that I've found after playing through The Blood of Dawnwalker (and conferring with another player and his experience) is The Imbued Sword of St. Mihai, a legendary greatsword that Coen can earn through a long series of quests. You won't get it quickly, but starting this long chain is arguably a good thing to do first in The Blood of Dawnwalker.

Here's a basic walkthrough on how to get The Imbued Sword of St. Mihai, which isn't found or purchased, but crafted as part of a quest.

1. Follow Anca's questline until after the Font of Life quest (and potential romances and relationship scene). She'll discover the existence of the legendary weapon.
2. Follow the subsequent quest to the Cathedral and stick with it until you have a boss fight with an undead ghoul. This will give you The Broken Sword of St. Mihai, which you can use, but is not as powerful as it could be.
3. Find all three Blood of Dawnwalker sword shard locations, spread around the map. Our guide will help you pick them out, but they're tied to Kobold dens.
4. Locate the legendary Uriashi Blacksmith. She's found in the Northwest of the map, in the location shown below.

5. Speak to her to combine the Sword Shards with the Broken Sword. Each one you add makes it more powerful.
6. With all three Sword Shards added, the Blacksmith will give you a quest that directs you to a shrine to the Northwest. Inside, you'll have a boss fight against several spirits collectively called The Echoing Anger.
7. After this is done, interact with the altar to Imbue the sword and make it into its most powerful form.

The Imbued Sword of St. Mihai has superb stats against supernatural enemies and a higher crit rate and damage, as well as a weapon art that allows you to do huge spinning strikes that knock down nearby foes, but perhaps most importantly, it just has a very good base damage for its level.

That being said, remember to upgrade it with any blacksmith to keep it at your level! Otherwise it'll get left behind as you get stronger. You'll also want to make sure to get all The Blood of Dawnwalker best perks for Swordmastery, and I suggest grabbing the The Blood of Dawnwalker armor proficiency perks too for ensuring that you can get the best buffs from your other equipment.

If you want other powerful swords, check out those aforementioned Blacksmiths, as there's usually one in each settlement. Each smith sells a unique legendary sword, all supposedly their previous submission to a master smithing competition. These are expensive, but strong weapons, and may better fit more specific builds.

There's more hidden in Vale Sangora! Find out how to find Gremla's banner in The Blood of Dawnwalker, or have The Blood of Dawnwalker time mechanics explained for you in our handy guide

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Prologue quests in The Blood of Dawnwalker are what you can do before the Mass at Sundown, but with time ticking away and a large village to cover in Laslea, what quests are worth doing and how should you spend your time? We've checked out all the options below, and can explain all the best options and where you should be doing in the full day that the prologue covers.

Every quest to do in The Blood of Dawnwalker prologue

There are five major quests you'll want to hit prior to sundown in The Blood of Dawnwalker, laid out on the map below.

1. Getting herbs from Anca. This is a mandatory one that starts you off after the brutal Force feed choice in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and will include learning Anca's Recipe, as well as sparring with your father afterwards to learn combat mechanics.
2. Fishing with your siblings. This introduces a key element of the mythology, the Uriashi, who you won't meet until later otherwise.
3. Chase down Vasil. This is a surprise quest that occurs when a local lout called Vasil hurls an insult at you, at which point you'll have to chase him down. Depending on the choices you make, you'll learn unarmed combat mechanics from this quest.
4. Help Iorgu find his lost pig. This grants you a small amount of money and meat at the end of the quest you can use later.
5. Help Gremla find the lost banner. This introduces Focus and investigation mechanics, and for more help, find out how to find the banner in The Blood of Dawnwalker.

All these quests should line you up perfectly with the amount of time needed to fill the day, without starting anything that you don't have time to finish. Keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to do them in the order shown above.

In reality, it doesn't matter too how much how this time as spent, as the tutorial doesn't have a huge amount of lasting impact and even the rewards you get from Gremla and Iorgu aren't particularly significant, but this combination of quests above gives you a solid combination of background lore and tutorials for key mechanics that might otherwise go unexplained.

For more help setting out on your journey, check out the best weapons in The Blood of Dawnwalker so you know what to look for, or for a later decision with Anca, find out: should you throw the notes in the fire in The Blood of Dawnwalker!

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How long to beat The Blood of Dawnwalker? It'll vary depending on your actions, as Coen's adventure is literally based around a ticking clock in which you need to defeat an enemy and save the world within 30 in-game days, but that doesn't mean that you necessarily have to use all the time available to you, or that you can't keep playing once that's done. If you want more info, then without spoiling story details, I'll explain how long it takes to beat The Blood of Dawnwalker and what kind of time you have ahead of you.

How long does it take to beat The Blood of Dawnwalker?

The time to beat The Blood of Dawnwalker could be anywhere between 20 and 50 hours, but most players will likely beat it between 30 and 40.

The reason for that is the structuring of the game, which in many ways is somewhat similar to Breath of the Wild. Once you complete the tutorial, you're given a task to complete and 30 in-game days to complete it, but can attempt that task far earlier, depending on your actions. If you're focused and particularly skilled, you can probably complete the final challenge before 7 days have elapsed (one of our team took 9 in-game days to complete it, and that was on his first attempt). For more info, check out our dedicated guide on The Blood of Dawnwalker time system and mechanics.

However, for most players, I would estimate between 30 and 40 hours, which allows for you to experience all the major questlines and some side activities, and progress through most of the in-game timeline. It's also worth mentioning that there is a post-game, and you can continue to play Dawnwalker after the main quest is completed.

Want help with the essentials of the game? Check out all The Blood of Dawnwalker best perks, or find out how The Blood of Dawnwalker armor proficiency works!

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Sword Shards in The Blood of Dawnwalker Forge It Anew quest lead you to create the legendary Silver Sword of Saint Mihai, a powerful blade that can easily carry any player through to the endgame. Once you find the Forge It Anew quest, you can start the process of finding the various sword shards around the world, but you'll also need the foundational broken sword and a skilled blacksmith to craft them all together if you want to get what is pretty clearly the best sword in The Blood of Dawnwalker. If you want to do just that, I'll lay out where to find all the sword shards for Forge It Anew, as well as all the other pieces and the blacksmith who can craft and temper them.

Want armor as good as this sword? Find out where to get The Blood of Dawnwalker Arbiter Armor and how to complete the quest " A Bulwark Against Darkness".

"Forge It Anew" quest walkthrough for The Blood of Dawnwalker

The main quest to track down the original Sword of St Mihai, and St Mihai's crypt, is called "A Saint and a Monk", which then unlocks "Forge It Anew" to enhance it up the level that it once used to be. The first quest takes place in Svartrau, and has you tracking down a scholar by following markings in Focus mode within the Middles District around the city walls before heading to the unmissable Svartrau cathedral.

If you don't have this quest yet, one way to get it to appear is to follow Anca's questline past your excursion to St Tryna's, clearing Echoes of Silenced Bells and researching books with her in Beyond the Words. There may be other routes, but this one definitely works, and it allows you to build up one of The Blood of Dawnwalker romances along the way, if you're interested.

Once A Saint and a Monk takes you to Svartrau Cathedral at night, you'll find the quest marker is quite big, and there are some dead ends that can make progression unclear. Though the crypts outside the cathedral are obvious and glow yellow, Coen won't be able to decide on which one is St Miha's until you obtain more information, especially his emblem. Even though you can find caves within a nearby well that go near the crypt, and research about St Mihai in the library (entered through the unlocked door on the balcony), these don't progress the quest.

Instead, you'll need to gain access to the cathedral via the scaffolding on the belltower (on the opposite side to the crypts). Inside, you'll find Xanthe, who is quite dangerous. She can be avoided, and studying the frescos on the interior roof will reveal St Mihai's mark.

Pick up the rooftop key to exit near the crypts, and explore within. After some fighting you'll obtain the Broken St Mihai's sword. It needs to be restored by collecting three silver shard pieces, and getting a blacksmith specialist to repair it – kicking off the "Forge It Anew" quest line.

All Sword Shard locations in The Blood of Dawnwalker

At first, Forge It Anew does not direct you to any specific locations. The three pieces are hidden in caves across Vale Sangora, though as you approach one the quest name 'Forge It Anew' with a subtitle will be added to your Journal so you know it's correct. Each cave has a map for the other ones, so you only really need to find one. I found my first by just exploring, though some books and other clues in other areas give some hints as to where they may be found as well.

The first location is in the western wilderness of Vale Sangora, not too far from Uriash territory, beneath some large crags (so, approaching in a westerly direction is best). Within, you will fight a big kobold called Munch-Munch, who guards the shard. Pay attention to markings on the walls to learn more about the story, as well as mark quest circle locations for the other two Forge It Anew caves on your maps (though these can be done in any order).

The second location is in the north-east, and is probably intended for lower level characters – though it's tucked away enough I didn't notice it early in the game. If you're struggling to find it as I did, focus mode will help you observe and follow evidence of a guard patrol that was hunting down kobolds, leading you right to the entrance. Inside, you'll find several of the monsters as well as dead soldier bodies to loot, and the shard itself. Like before, more markings can be observed here too.

The third location gets a bit more complex. To do it as intended, the cave is in the south-east, but you'll find it empty, with clues pointing you to one of Xanthe's camps nearby as they looted the shard already on her behalf. Simply follow the path to the camp, and clear out the difficult enemies, and you'll find it lying within the main tent.

Where to find the Uriashi Blacksmith

Now you'll need someone to reforge the sword. The Uriash Hermit with the rune-powered forge is the one you're looking for, at the very north-west of the map if you discount your village starting zone from the prologue. She's so near the starting area that I actually found her very early in the game, but she refused to talk to me until I was pursuing the Forge It Anew quest. She'll explain everything you need, though you may need to be careful using haste powers around her as it makes her scared and un-interactable for a few seconds.

With all three shards, she will reforge the sword into a formidable weapon, but your task isn't done yet. She points you towards a nearby cave, slightly further in the north-west, where you can have the sword blessed to restore it to its true former glory.

How to temper St. Mihai's sword

Reforged sword in hand, the cave entrance is a short sprint from the blacksmith's, within a cave covered in red vines that make it impenetrable until now, marked as part of the quest. Pressing a button will have Coen simply destroy this strange growth.

Inside will be the red supernatural glow you'll likely be familiar with from other ancient sites. There are plenty of spectral enemies to face here as you navigate a short sequence of platforms, including an Echoing Anger mini-boss.

Once you've cleared the enemies, you can interact with the ancient site to temper St Mihai's Sword, finally upgrading it into a Legendary Greatsword: the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai.

The exact level, like most loot, depends on your own when obtaining it, but it's a very powerful sword that boasts large bonuses to damage against supernatural enemies, higher critical hit rate, and more, though obviously you'll have to pick out the best perks in The Blood of Dawnwalker for Swordmastery to get the most out of it. I ended up using it through to the end of the game, though depending on your specific build, you might still struggle to choose between claws or swords in The Blood of Dawnwalker, as your talons can still be very powerful if upgraded right.

For more help with the world of Vale Sangora, find out how long is The Blood of Dawnwalker from beginning to end, or check out how to unlock armor proficiency in The Blood of Dawnwalker for defense that's as good as your offense.

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The time system and thirty day limit in The Blood of Dawnwalker are mechanics built into the game, with time passing as Coen takes actions of significance. Combined with the day and night cycle in which Coen's human and vampire side alternate, and there's a fair amount that's worth understanding about the time limit you're working under, and what you need to know about Dawnwalker's mechanics before going in.

For a wider perspective, check out our answer to the question: how long is The Blood of Dawnwalker, and how many hours will it take you to get to the end?

How to does the time system and limit in The Blood of Dawnwalker work?

Here's a simple summary of the time passing mechanics in The Blood of Dawnwalker and how they work:

• Time does not pass automatically, and is only linked to quests, choices and progression. This is very important: running around the map or standing around in the overworld doing nothing does not cause time to pass. You can run to the bottom of the map, back up to the top, and repeat this a hundred times, and not a single time section will pass.
• Time does pass when you trigger certain events. You're nearly always told when this is about to happen, but interacting with certain objects, making certain dialogue choices, or going into certain areas for the first time will cause time to pass (the amount will vary depending on the choice). For example, when you go to save Mert the Miller in The Blood of Dawnwalker, opening the cell will take several time segments. There might also be optional time-syncs, such as choosing to stay with Anca in The Blood of Dawnwalker early on, which takes up time, but allows you to know this character better
• Quests have markers in your journal telling you how long they'll take to complete. It's worth keeping in mind that these time lapses do not happen instantly, but might occur in the middle of the quest, or in multiple stages. For example, if a quest takes five hours, three of those might be spent at the beginning when Coen researches something, and two more spent at the end when he travels with somebody. If the amount of time will cause it to change from day to night, there'll be an icon of an hourglass with an arrow leading to a sun or moon, warning you about the time change. For example, certain quests to The Blood of Dawnwalker romances and relationships are time-sensitive - nobody likes a late date, after all.
• If you're nearing a location where time is about to pass automatically, you'll get a warning. If you're approaching an important place or NPC who will trigger a time jump just by proximity, you'll hear a ticking noise, and a section on the clock in the top-right of the screen will be greyed in. This is to alert you to the idea that "if you continue, this is what you'll have to spend immediately".
• Some quests have to be completed within a certain time. If a quest is marked with an icon of a blue clock (as shown in the image below), it will disappear at some point and you'll miss your chance to do it. Make these a priority.
• Some quests are specific to day or night. If a quest is marked with an icon of a sun or moon, you'll have to start it at day or night respectively, otherwise it'll be locked off. See more on that below,

Once they've completed the tutorial, players are given thirty days and nights to complete the main quest, though it can be completed before that. You can also keep playing the game once the main quest is done.

Day and night cycle in The Blood of Dawnwalker explained

The day and night cycle in The Blood of Dawnwalker will impact your gameplay in the following ways:

• Day and night are broken into eight "sections" each. You can see how far you are through each phase of the day via the bar in the top right of the screen.
• You have access to different powers. During the day, you can use your Witchcraft abilities, whereas at night, you use Vampiric powers. Vampire powers, including teleportation, wall climbing, and your claws, tend to mean that you're overall much stronger at night. When unlocking The Blood of Dawnwalker perks, they'll be labelled either "Daytime", "Nighttime," or "Anytime", accordingly.
• At night you risk giving into the hunger. If your health is one segment or lower during the night, your dialogue options erratically change to "Give in to the hunger", which will cause you to attack and kill the person you're talking to.
• How you heal changes. Potions and healing foods that work for humans during the day won't work at night. At that point you'll depend on blood, either pulled from items or drunk from enemies.

Can you turn off the time system?

No, there is currently no way to modify or turn off the time passing mechanics in The Blood of Dawnwalker. While some players might find this system a bit alienating, the idea of time pressure is very clearly meant to be part of the intended experience by the developers.

Fortunately, I can say that thirty days is far more time than it sounds, and players will be able to see the vast majority of the game in that time, especially if they aren't using up much time to train their abilities.

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The choice of what to do first in The Blood of Dawnwalker will depend based a few things, but ultimately it's all about building up your strength for what might otherwise be a particularly brutal start, depending on the difficulty you're playing at. Dawnwalker can be quite tough if you're not used to to it, so we've picked out all the best options for you to take first, and what you need to know going forward.

If you're still in the village before the sundown mass, you've gone too far ahead for this guide! Instead, check out our page on what to do in the prologue of The Blood of Dawnwalker.

Everything to do in The Blood of Dawnwalker first after leaving the prologue

After leaving Laslea village and separating from Anca in The Blood of Dawnwalker, there are several threads to follow, and multiple locations nearby to hit. Here are the ones I'd recommend:

1. Go to both Scouting Towers. Now that you're in vampire mode, you can scale both the Tower in Laslea and the one in the Marshes to reveal the most northernly section of the map.
2. Clear the soldier's camp outside of Laslea. This will give you a basic array of rewards that can help you going forward, including better gear. They're hardly the best weapons in The Blood of Dawnwalker, but it's a start.
3. Speak to the Miller's wife. This starts a new quest about rescuing the Miller that will put you in contact with the Rebels. It's easy if you don't try and free the Miller, but difficult if you do. If you want some help, check out how to save Mert the Miller in The Blood of Dawnwalker.
4. Save the prisoners. There's a caravan of prisoners on the road to the military camp who you can save. I definitely recommend doing this at night for the best advantage, as at this early point in the game, the choice between claws or swords in The Blood of Dawnwalker is pretty straightforward.

With that in mind, you should have taken down a couple of (easier) challenges and set yourself up for a bit more freeform exploring, or even an attempt to save the Miller himself, if you're feeling brave.

Keep in mind that The Blood of Dawnwalker is hardest at its early hours (at least from my experience) but will get easier as you acquire more perks and weapons, as well as come to learn the nuances of gameplay. So while the challenges listed above may be difficult, they're still about as easy as the game gets at this point. If it's still too hard for you, considering tweaking the difficulty settings in the menu.

For more advice, find out all the The Blood of Dawnwalker romance options waiting for you in the world! Or check out how to find all the The Blood of Dawnwalker Forge It Anew sword shard locations, collectibles that lead to a deadly silver sword.

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The choice to force feed your mom Esme in The Blood of Dawnwalker is a very difficult one, as on the one hand, it's clearly a brutal and unpleasant act, but on the other hand, it's made clear that keeping her strength up for Brencis' Mass later on is essential to her safety overall. If you're stuck on what to do, we've played out both outcomes to see the difference between them, and will lay out the right choice when it comes to force feeding her or not.

If you're still in the early hours, make sure you know what to do before Mass in The Blood of Dawnwalker!

Should you force feed your mom Esme in The Blood of Dawnwalker?

When Pieter decides to force feed Esme in The Blood of Dawnwalker, you're given three responses.

1. All right. Let's try.
2. I won't feed her against her will.
3. She's gone to mass before. (optional)

Picking the third option simply brings you back around to the choice between the first two options, and of those, I suggest that you don't try to feed her against her will.

Having played out both outcomes, there actually isn't a real difference between the consequences of both choices that I can see. If you try to force feed Esme, she ends up thrashing and knocking the food away regardless, and this all leads to the same outcome, wherein Coen is sent to obtain medicine for her.

So considering that she doesn't get fed either way and you end up in the same place, you might as well spare yourself the distressing sequence of trying to force her, and leave it be. Later on you might be reexperiencing a lot of this in the The Blood of Dawnwalker Home Sweet Home quest, so keep these places in mind.

Make sure you understand the prologue of the game and know what you're getting from it. Find out how to find the banner in The Blood of Dawnwalker for Gremla, how to make Anca's Recipe in The Blood of Dawnwalker and brew the medicine, or simply find out whether to stay with Anca or go in The Blood of Dawnwalker when she suggest that you wait out the storm with her and learn Latin.

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Anca's Recipe in The Blood of Dawnwalker involved memorizing how many spoonfuls of herbs to add and how hot the water you brew the medicine in should be. The game doesn't let you consult the recipe while making it, something that can catch a lot of players off-guard, so I'll lay out the full medicine recipe below and how many herbs you should be using.

Doing chores on the first day? Make sure you know what to do before sundown Mass in The Blood of Dawnwalker!

How many spoonfuls to use for Anca's Recipe in The Blood of Dawnwalker

Once you get ready to brew the herbs for your mother in The Blood of Dawnwalker, you'll have to choose the temperature of the water and the number of spoonfuls of herbs to use, according to the note she gives you. With that in mind, choose the following options:

1. [Use hot water]
2. [Add three spoonfuls of herbs]

That matches the recipe given to you by Anca back at her cabin, assuming you remembered to read it from your inventory. At this point you'll be able to give it to her in a cutscene, so you don't have to repeat the brutality of the force feeding choice from earlier.

We haven't tested the outcome of getting this recipe wrong, but unlike the moral choices that arise throughout Dawnwalker, this one is a clear correct/incorrect memory puzzle, so it seems safe to say that there'd be little benefit to getting this incorrect, unlike the stay with Anca or go choice in The Blood of Dawnwalker from earlier.

While still exploring Laslea, make sure you know how to find the banner in The Blood of Dawnwalker when investigating for Gremla! Or check out what Dawnwalker romances and relationships are potentially in your future...

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Capcom has released some more footage of Monster Hunter Wilds Ascendance's new Boost Bracer mechanic, and Devil May Cry fans are all thinking the same thing.

The Capcom Showcase later this month surely has to show more of Monster Hunter Wilds Ascendance, given that – outside of Mega Man: Dual Override and the Dragon's Dogma 2 DLC – Capcom's major releases for this year are all out. Ahead of it (and Tokyo Game Show) the devs are releasing some short videos showcasing the new mechanics featured in the upcoming expansion, notably the Boost Bracer, which will add new moves and skills to each of the game's 14 weapons.

The Boost Bracer gives you access to Boost Drivers, new attacks which in turn build up a meter which activates a Boosted mode. This mode gives you enhanced attacks, defense, and access to new combos to beat up monsters. This shows itself with an explosive flame effect on your weapon, which makes it look like a jet-propelled item of destruction, but this effect is also reminiscent of a specific weapon in another Capcom franchise.

Devil May Cry's Nero uses a sword known as Red Queen, which has the Exceed system, which allows Nero to rev his sword up like a motorcycle because the Devil May Cry games are the sickest thing on the planet.

Naturally, fans made this connection right away, with one user saying, "Close enough, welcome back Nero!" Another notes that Capcom "literally just put Nero's Exceed in Monster Hunter. The mad lads." Meanwhile, others have seen the crossover potential right away, saying, "If you dont but[sic] a Red Queen weapon in the game as a collab quest you fallen, Capcom."

From the looks of things, Capcom will be releasing videos based on each weapon, with a Great Sword edition releasing today showing some ways the series' most iconic weapon will be boosted, and safe to say, some fans are excited by some of the new moves. One Monster Hunter content creator, Maple Syrup, shouts out the ability to use its offset slash twice in a row, saying, "THAT DOUBLE OFFSET OH MY GODDDD CAPCOM I’M PREGNANT."

Capcom is selling Monster Hunter Wilds with the energy of a man paddling up a waterfall: new 26GB demo lets you play the prologue for free after price drop to $40.

The review embargo for former vampire ARPG The Blood of Dawnwalker has shriveled up, and in its place has arrived a respectable gush of primarily positive ratings. The game's creative director and former CD Projekt Red lead Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz can finally relax.

He writes on Twitter, "Waiting for the reviews to come in has been nerve wrecking to say the least, but they're finally (mostly) here!" The Blood of Dawnwalker reviews began marching out on August 31, ahead of the game's September 3 launch. "Great relief, can't wait to see you all play the game and to hear your thoughts!"

GamesRadar+ gave the open-world bleak fantasy game a cautious three-star rating in our The Blood of Dawnwalker review, in which our games editor Oscar Taylor-Kent writes, "For an RPG that keeps telling me that it matters I've been cursed to be a vampire, and constantly has a clock hanging over my every move, The Blood of Dawnwalker feels too frictionless and forgiving once you get used to its almost theme park-like static nature."

The Blood of Dawnwalker currently sits at an honorable 83 score on Metacritic, placing it just slightly behind The Witcher (86 score) and about 10 feet away from another one of Tomaszkiewicz's projects, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (92 score). Tomaszkiewicz was a lead quest designer on The Witcher 3, plus he directed Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales and co-directed fan-favorite Gwent: The Witcher Card Game.

So it's understandable why our GamesRadar+ review of The Blood of Dawnwalker also notes that "much of The Blood of Dawnwalker feels like The Witcher 3 to control"; developer Rebel Wolves was founded by The Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, too. So the two games' histories are as fused together as bat wings, and Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz seems rightfully glad about it.

The creative director continues to say on Twitter, "It's a privilege to work with such a talented Team."

"Every shipped game is a small miracle," Tomaszkiewicz adds in another Twitter post. And as long as that miracle isn't topped with garlic or holy water, The Blood of Dawnwalker should be able to take its solid reviews and make the most of it.

Blood of Dawnwalker is getting a 60fps mode at launch after backlash pushed Rebel Wolves to reshuffle plans: "It was clear how much this mattered to many of you."

After over two years of waiting, Switch 2 owners will get to play Stellar Blade sometime this year. Although we're still without a release date, developer Shift Up has revealed some of the technical details behind the port, including that it's using Nvidia's upscaling technology.

Speaking to Nintendo Everything, DongKi Lee, the CTO and technical director of Shift Up, broke down the studio's goals and approach. "We targeted 60 frames per second in both handheld mode and docked mode," he says.

"And actually, one unique method that we use is that, as you are very well aware, Switch 2 supports Nvidia's DLSS," he continues. "We use that to upscale, but it doesn’t have any features for frame generation."

The footage in the latest trailer for the Switch 2 version is in 60fps, and that's the intention for how it'll run. Nvidia's tech runs in combination with an entirely separate technology to make it all work.

"What we did was we take AMD's FSR 3.1 for PC and used the feature called frame interpolation to achieve the target for 60 frames per second," he comments. "We use DLSS for upscaling, and then took the result we got and used frame interpolation from FSR 3.1 to be able to target 60 frames per second."

When it was first introduced, DLSS was a fairly uncontroversial upscaling technique, using machine learning techniques to make games appear sharper without compromising on performance. By the time Switch 2 was confirmed to support DLSS, it had already become an essential tool for PC gamers.

But Nvidia has continued to shove more and more AI-driven features under the DLSS banner. Features like frame generation always had some detractors, but DLSS 5's implementation of awful-looking AI filters is earning an extensive backlash.

DLSS 5 is not supported on Switch 2, and that's probably for the best. I shudder to think of how this might look for Eve, the game's protagonist, but we'll cross that AI-powered bridge when we get to it.

Regardless, it's all in line with Shift Up's distinctly AI-positive MO. Earlier this year, the studio's CEO said he believes it's necessary for South Korean game development to compete on a global scale, and let's not forget that AI music video for Stellar Blade: Blood Rain. Oh, dear.

Stellar Blade and Lies of P "really made developers in Korea take up the challenge for console games," says Shift Up technical director

It's always nice to see devs revisit classic games to make spiritual successors for them, especially if the baseline mechanics and ideas have fallen out of vogue. Just recently, we saw a team doing this for Morrowind, and 14 years ago, Legend of Grimrock did this for Dungeon Master. The result is something that Path of Exile co-creator Chris Wilson is still raving about.

He made a YouTube video providing his thoughts, because Dungeon Master was a landmark release in his enjoyment of the medium. "While I'm not going to claim that it was the very first dungeon-crawler with a first-person perspective," he says. "It was the one that brought this particular style of RPG to a wide audience at the time."

You had to guide a four-character party through a dark, menacing set of tunnels, all mapped like a grid. The puzzles are largely environmental, and rely on lateral thinking based on the items you have and what you can see in the room in front of you. "It was a huge step up in terms of immersion," Wilson explains.

He goes so far as to say he found it "terrifying, in a good way," when he was younger, presumably because you were facing mummies and you had to improvise to make everything work. I can relate, because I used to find similar games, like the Heroes of Might and Magic series, daunting for similar reasons.

"But people stopped making games like this," he laments. "Once Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake came out, 90-degreerotation gave way to full 3D environments. And then Diablo 1 came along and totally changed how people saw real-time RPGs."

Since Wilson himself helped make the Diablo-like Path of Exile, you can see why he gravitated toward what Almost Human is doing in Legend of Grimrock. They're all devs who're refusing to get some aspects of the past die, even if they require traversing dimly lit dungeons.

CD Projekt Red offers to help after police reports are filed at Gamescom over stolen dev equipment: "We'll check the Arasaka hardware archives"

Progression that's too slow can make any game feel plodding, especially action-RPGs. The devs behind Stupid Never Dies, a flashy, zombie-themed take on the genre, specifically made stat increases extremely quick to avoid such a pratfall.

"Usually action-RPGs take like maybe 30-to-40 hours to finish all the progression and beat the final boss," Eiichiro Sasaki, the director of Stupid Never Dies, told GamesRadar+ through a translator at Gamescom 2026.

"But in this game, conceptually, what we wanted to do was to bring that progression into more condensed time," he continues. "Let's say 15, 20 minutes of each dungeon dive, you feel something, you feel the progression."

That's a much shorter window of time. The game is advertised as having "blazing fast growth," and 20-minute bursts that are consistently punching up your abilities would be in line with that.

For me, there's potential here to go too far the other way, where the adrenaline of playing fast runs out relatively quickly. But that's where the acumen of the studio GPTRACK50 comes in. Sasaki himself directed Resident Evil 6 and worked on the Outbreak games, while the company's founder, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, helped make the OG Devil May Cry and a bunch of other fine-tuned releases, including the underrated P.N.03.

These devs know what they're doing when it comes to pacing. The central conceit of Stupid Never Dies is lead character Davy is undead, and he has to defeat waves of monsters to get stronger. It's bright, and loud, and very much my thing.

Sasaki considers Stupid Never Dies "totally new as an idea," and he believes the team "are successfully able to deliver" this higher-octane progression well. We'll find out when Stupid Never Dies comes out on October 21.

Stellar Blade and Lies of P "really made developers in Korea take up the challenge for console games," says Shift Up technical director.

Time is always passing in The Blood of Dawnwalker. Time is also always static in The Blood of Dawnwalker. In this vampiric RPG (vrakhiri in the parlance of the game), recently-turned half-vampire 'Dawnwalker' Coen is less concerned with managing his supply of blood from the living than he is thumbing his time tokens like chips at a casino. With 30 days on the clock until his family and village are slain in a blood magic coronation by Vale Sangora's new, invasive vampire overlord Brencis, you have to consider which quests you want to spend time on.

Coen's task is urgent, but nothing in the world is. With so many side-activities boiling down to running into groups of enemies, unceremoniously offing them, and handing over a chunk of your time meter, I'm constantly left wondering if what I'm doing is worthwhile and usually thinking it isn't. The Blood of Dawnwalker directly asks me to question what's worth my time in an open-world RPG, and I'm not sure it's going to like the answer.

Sucking dry

A tight prologue leaves a better impression than the game that follows. Set on the day of a perverted vrakhiri mass, Coen's fellow villagers must gather to swap blood with their vampire overlords like cattle. With you and your neighbors struggling, and desperate to fight back, you have to juggle a single day's worth of tasks to alter how that night plays out. Though, ultimately, fate will always see Coen accidentally changed into a Dawnwalker and his village wreaked, its population enslaved.

Cue an almost The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild style loosening of the leash. Leaving the prologue and his village at the Northern tip of Vale Sangora, greater civilization and the province's castle from which Brencis rules is deeper in the south – enemies growing more deadly the further you explore. Nothing is gated off. Run all the way down avoiding murder boars to grab all the fast travel points if you want. A few leads at the village give you quests to pull at like a thread in order to grow more powerful and destabilize Brencis, but you don't need to do those right away or, indeed, ever. There's a dedication to letting you run wild I have to respect in The Blood of Dawnwalker.

Yet, without the focus of the prologue's tighter structure, there's every risk of The Blood of Dawnwalker quickly becoming a fairly aimless RPG as I poke and prod at what's worth spending time on. Curiosity leads me to follow will o' wisps through a series of combat encounters with angry wildlife, spending an hour opening a chest; clearing bandit camps and dedicating another hour to stuffing their loot into pockets; investigating the dead body of a woman near a pack of wolves to discover she was killed by wolves for… three hours. I only need so much loot, so once I've got solid gear I end up avoiding many of these activities that stack on time completing basic tasks for meager rewards. When leveling up beyond Coen's very basic skill upgrades costs both time and upgrade points as well, time isn't something I want to waste.

Before long, I find that while time is important to Coen, for most of Vale Sangora it stretches on forever. Civilizians may cry out for aid throughout the map, but will do so endlessly until you choose to loop back and help them. Prisoner transports march up and down roads in a loop. Brencis' army ransacks the houses of those he has declared enemies for days and days.

Time is at a premium, but simultaneously there's very little sense of urgency, of true immersion that'll have you naturally wanting to plug in more time. Instead, I circle waypoints to determine if they're worth my time, backing off all too often when I discover it's a bandit camp, monster den, ancient circle, or haunting site, or any of the game's many tasks that involve killing a group of enemies and then opening up a chest. If I need some more loot, I can come back later. Often, I never do.

Despite some interesting worldbuilding with a historical folklore hook, and interesting supporting characters to match, questlines usually don't make the most of them. Even then, I'm sometimes left struggling to feel like they're worth Coen's time. One of the longer quests has me investigating a supernatural murder – it's one of the best in the game – but I still let out a little groan when all it got me was a new amulet to equip that was several degrees worse than the one I was already wearing. Unlike The Witcher 3, where almost every side-quest is a joy to complete just for the story, the presence of the time cost here undercuts the narrative addition. The Blood of Dawnwalker has turned me into a miser.

The role-playing itself is a bit confused. Coen may have powers that use his mastery of blood, but the vampiric roleplay fantasy isn't a major factor in The Blood of Dawnwalker. Instead, I'm role-playing a careful market customer, walking the Vale and weighing up what's worth Coen's dwindling time. Coen is always well fed and thriving. Mention in the story is made to his urgent need to feed, but rarely backed up by gameplay mechanics. There's an interesting element that can replace his dialogue options with the urge to feed on blood when on your last segment of health, something that only happened to me once when circumstances forced it, because otherwise healing is so plentiful.

Sure, regaining health by feeding on foes in combat instead of using blood-based healing potions is a mechanic, but I'm never asked to consider that as making a moral compromise. There's a corruption meter that rises, unlocking the ability to upgrade vampire powers, but in my unreserved playthrough no downside to this is ever felt. There's simply no need for Coen to feed on innocents in the streets of Svartrau, no downside in play to the half-vampire he's become despite all the talk to the contrary. Something like Vampyr with its dense urban setting was constantly making me weigh up the moral decisions of bloodsucking. Here, it often just feels like Coen has superpowers without any negatives.

Dark gift

Using supernatural powers in fights are where these dark gifts are mostly felt. During the night, Coen can swap his sword for his claws if he wants, and unleash a variety of vampiric powers –from bloodsucking itself to a creepy blood scream or, my favorite, exploding an enemy like a crushed bloodbag. In daytime, he has access to witchcraft using runic symbols carved onto his skin (which are healed when he becomes a vampire at night, limiting them to this time of day), such as cursing foes with damage over time, or sending spirit birds flying at them.

Swordcraft abilities, meanwhile, can be used in either block of time, and are just as effective on any type of enemy, meaning even a ghoulish spirit or the final boss is humorously vulnerable to 'Dirty Trick', which has Coen hurl pocket sand at an opponent to blind them for a few free hits. Both vampire powers and witchcraft come with a health cost to use (and both can be upgraded to allow you to get health back), meaning outside of there being different skilltrees to spend points and precious time on, they don't actually feel that different to use. Especially as the best weapons seem to be swords anyway.

Omni-blocking without a direction input always works, but reduces Coen's stamina, whereas perfectly timing a block in the incoming direction – displayed on a marker – makes that block free while opening them up to damage. Similarly, Coen can direct his own strikes, mix-ups making it tougher for enemies to block, and an early unlock meaning perfect blocks then display a perfect strike follow-up direction that deals critical damage. This can all get a bit muddled in fights with large groups thanks to a tetchy lock-on, and the fact that you're both blocking and moving with the same analogue stick.

In duels, directional combat can work well, though once you get used to the timing and input it makes even tough battles very doable at the cost of your own time as you wear down big health bars in a war of attrition. And expect to do a lot of fighting – they form the bulk of most quests. Even when I thought I'd be smart and knock out some key enemies early from appearing later on, the major questline in which this was a factor just replaced those boss battles with waves of regular enemies instead, which to be honest are just as tiresome to deal with and maybe more annoying.

Much of The Blood of Dawnwalker feels like The Witcher 3 to control through combat, exploration, and even navigating its weight-based inventory (developer Rebel Wolves includes veteran staff who worked on The Witcher 3, so that makes sense). Curiously, Coen's heavy movement feels closer to Geralt's pre-patch movement (which remains in that game as a toggle if you want it).

At times, this can be annoying as Coen's rooftop maneuvers with his vampire powers mean it's easy for his heavy momentum to have him jog off a ledge or wall. It's hard to get too irked, though, thanks to quick saves and a janky vibe to all supernatural traversal that you just have to accept. Walking on walls is a nice idea, but this is sluggish and best avoided except for when you absolutely need to bamf Nightcrawler-style up heights to progress. A handful of activities, in the city mostly, are locked behind this nighttime traversal style by virtue of an epidemic of unlocked balcony doors.

For an RPG that keeps telling me that it matters I've been cursed to be a vampire, and constantly has a clock hanging over my every move, The Blood of Dawnwalker feels too frictionless and forgiving once you get used to its almost theme park-like static nature. Disco Elysium is also an RPG with limited time that passes as you take actions, but there those small increments and its dialogue make you conscious of it slipping through your fingers. The Blood of Dawnwalker's larger increments, and clear signposting of insubstantial rewards, instead turns me away from getting lost within it.

The Blood of Dawnwalker is an ambitious concept, but the implementation is so straightforward, activities and quests so basic, that it feels like an all too simplistic approach to getting it all to work on paper. Games like Gothic 1 Remake, Disco Elysium, or Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 revel in a weirdness and unfriendliness that make them memorable and interesting, the act of trying to figure out what they even are is a compelling hook for a first playthrough. All too soon after Coen takes his first steps out of the prologue I get The Blood of Dawnwalker, I know exactly what to expect from its skilltrees and rudimentary activity icons across its map, even if it's up to me to thread those simple adventures into a shape of my own. What I don't get is what Rebel Wolves want me to take away from that, bending unexpected design choices into an RPG shape that's all too expected.

So much of this RPG is repetitive I can't imagine having much fun playing it again for a different build, or to make different choices, as it often feels like you'd just be doing the same thing anyway. There's plenty of time to sample most of the main questlines before you reach a point of no return. Like a vampire's victim I feel compelled to say the obvious – enough works in The Blood of Dawnwalker that I'd be thrilled to see bigger swings taken with a sequel should it prove immortal enough. As it stands, there's not much reason to lift the coffin lid just yet.

The Blood of Dawnwalker was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher.

Thirsting for more blood? Our best action RPGs list will tempt you!

Stellar Blade and Lies of P impacted the Korean games industry in much the same way that Black Myth: Wukong hit China, reckons Shift Up technical director Dong-ki Lee.

Speaking with GamesRadar+ at Gamescom 2026, Lee, hot on the heels of the Stellar Blade: Blood Rain reveal, examines the impact of Stellar Blade and its success.

"Games like ours, and also Lies of P, those kinds of games came out in Korea and that really made developers in Korea go take up the challenge for console games more," Lee reasons. "And we have Crimson Desert now as well, so they're having all this influence on each other, so that's really good."

Lies of P is often called the best Soulslike produced outside of FromSoftware headquarters, and Crimson Desert is one of the biggest games of 2026. Stellar Blade sold millions of copies and, like Lies of P, is due for a sequel. It's also encouraged Shift Up to take on more ambitious projects like fellow "AAA-class" game Project Spirits, due to be revealed this year.

Like China, whose games industry has seen paradigm shifts in the shadow of (primarily) Genshin Impact and Black Myth: Wukong, games like Stellar Blade have made a strong case for core console and PC games in spaces long dominated by mobile and online games. Crimson Desert, a full-fat successor to the MMO Black Desert, is a perfect example. Sequel Black Myth: Zhong Kui, meanwhile, recently dropped a promising demo.

To this day, Shift Up also maintains Goddess of Victory: Nikke, a famously sexy mobile game and a key breadwinner for the studio. I've been covering games for 13 years, and when I think about the next 10 years of games, PC gaming, China, and Korea are among the first trends that come to mind.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is also important to Shift Up, Lee says, as it's another major platform and another home for Stellar Blade. With its upcoming port, Lee says "all the skills and knowhow gained from developing for PlayStation 5 and PC, we wanted to now showcase that on Switch 2. I personally really enjoyed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. That was one of my favorite games, so I'm really happy to be able to showcase Stellar Blade on the Switch 2."

As it happens, the Switch 2 edition of Stellar Blade will be publicly playable for the first time at Tokyo Game Show 2026 this September. Stellar Blade got one of the best PC ports in ages, so there are high hopes for this port.

"There is a limit to progress based on price": In today's AI hardware disaster, Stellar Blade Blood Rain devs prioritize "making the game playable" for as many people as possible.

There are Torrent skins in Elden Ring thanks to the Tarnished Edition. Three new looks for your spectral steed: Tree Sentinel, Carian Silver and Funereal Night. However, knowing where to find them is the challenge as, like with the new Elder Ring Weapons and armor, it's all just out in the world waiting for you to stumble on it. Or you can read this guide where I've already got all the info and can point you in the right direction. So let's get started and make our cow horse the pretty princess they deserve to be.

Torrent Tree Sentinel skin

The Torrent Tree Sentinel skin styles them in the look of everyone's favorite 'I'll come back later' boss. To get it you just need to head to the Godrick the Grafted Site of Grace at Stormveil Castle, and head into the throne room. Take the door on the right and you'll find a chest in the room you can loot to get it.

Torrent Carian Silver skin

The Carian Silver skin gives Torrent a little royal rizz, mirroring some of the delicate white fabrics and silver filigree of Ranni the Witch, Lunar Princess and daughter of Rennala and Radagon. You can get it from a chest in the same room as the Ranni's Rise Site of Grace.

Torrent Funereal Night skin

If you really want to prove it's not a phase you can goth Torrent up with the Funereal Night skin, catching the look of the Night's Cavalry - the optional bosses that only come out after dark.

To get this skin head to the Outer Wall Battleground Site of Grace and head to the ringed area here:

When you get there, look for some stairs to the east leading up to some giant gravestones. At the top, head south and look for a collection of swords stuck in the ground. There will be one just to the side you can loot to get this skin.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

There are new Elden Ring weapons and armor in the Tarnished Edition, giving you a range of new offensive options like Leontiel's Greatsword, the Reed Great Katana, Hefty Scimitar and Golden Order Flail, to name a few standouts. Most, but not all, of these come with related armor, but to get them you've got to know where to look. So, below, I'll run through all the new gear you can get and where you can find it.

There are also some Torrent skins in Elden ring now if you want a new look for your cow horse. So check that guide for where to find those.

All new Elden Ring Tarnished Edition weapons

There are seven weapons that were added in the Tarnished Edition of Elden Ring. They're mainly a mix of things that use features from Shadow of the Erdtree, or versions of class gear you can find out in the world:

• Reverse Bladed Sword
• Idus sword
• Hefty Scimitar
• Reed Great Katana
• Ritual Thrusting Shield
• Leontiel's Greatsword
• Golden Order Flail

Reverse Bladed Sword

The Reverse Bladed Sword is probably the easiest new weapon to get as you can just buy it from the Twin Maiden Husks in the Roundtable Hold. Previously you could find it northeast from the Scorched Ruins Site of Grace in Shadow of the Erdtree. It scales with strength and dexterity and includes the Blind Spot skill to attack from the side.

Idus sword

The Idus sword is another easy get, as it's very close to the Liurnia Lake Shore Site of Grace, marked on on the map below. You can also get the Silver Grooved Armor set from the Nomadic Merchant right next to the Site of Grace (more on that below)

Look for a body under a tree when you reach the location marked above and you can loot the sword off it. The Idus Sword has the piercing thrust skill that lets you inflict damage past armor and other defenses.

Hefty Scimitar

The Hefty Scimitar is the starting weapon for the Heavy Knight class, but you can also get it from the Nomadic Merchant north of the Fort Haight West Site of Grace in the far East of Limgrave, here:

The Hefty Scimitar comes with the Spinning Slash skill and is good for dex builds. There's also a Heavy Knight armor set you can get from the Isolated Merchant at the Isolated Merchant Site of Grace, which is detailed below.

Reed Great Katana

The Reed Great Katana is found in Dragonbarrow and as long as you're fast can be got without having to deal with any enemies. You'll need to travel to the Fort Faroth Siter of grace and then head to the point marked on the map below.

That will take you past Elder Dragon Greyoll, the big white dragon lying on the floor (if you haven't killed them already). You'll actually need to climb up the big white fungal mound covered in red spots next to them to find the sword, on a body at the top.

The Reed Great Katana comes with the Overhead Stance skill added in Shadow of the Erdtree.

Ritual Thrusting Shield

The Ritual Thrusting Shield is tricky to get to but you can just run there and avoid most of the trouble if you're quick. You'll need to access the Colosseum via the Deep Siofra Well Site of Grace, which involves unlocking the lift at the end of the Siofra River underground area with two gargoyle keys.

Assuming you've done that, head to the Deep Siofra Well Site of Grace and then race past all the dangers to reach the Colosseum. Go behind the giant jar and you'll find the Ritual Thrusting Shield on a body inside. It's basically a shield you can attack with.

Leontiel's Greatsword

Getting Leontiel's Greatsword is where things start getting tricky as you'll have to defeat an invader. Travel to the Starscourge Radahn Site of Grace and then to the area marked on the map here:

When you get roughly to that spot you'll be invaded by Knight Leontiel and, when you defeat them, you'll get Leontiel's Greatsword and his armor (which I'll cover below). The sword comes with the Muleta skill, which is what Leontiel is doing when they're holding out the red cloth while you were fighting them. It basically lets you dodge and follow up with an attack.

Golden Order Flail

NOTE: This weapon and armor is only available if Leyndell hasn't become the Ashen Capital.

To get the Golden Order Flail you'll need to travel to the Erdtree Sanctuary Site of Grace and then use the lift to reach the Statue or Radagon. The locations are close but Leyndell is a maze at the best of times, so make sure you're going in the right direction before you wander too far off.

If you've already done the Goldmask questline you'll be invaded by The Noble Broken Mask as you approach the statue. If you haven't done the quest yet you'll need to get and use the Law of Regression spell in front of the statue to continue.

Defeat The Noble Broken Mask to get the flail and Gold Armor set (detailed below). The Golden Order Flail uses a Causality Wraith skill that takes incoming damage to charge counter attacks.

All new Elden Ring Tarnished Edition armor

For set of armor were added to Elden Ring in the Tarnished Edition, Two are from the new classes that can also be found out in the world, one is mainly for show and another gives some risky options for Faith based builds:

• Silver Grooved Armor (Idus Knight class)
• Steel armor (Heavy Knight Class)
• Leontiel's armor (decorative)
• Golden Order Set (boosts Faith but reduces Focus)

Silver Grooved Armor

The Silver Grooved Armor is the starting gear for the new Idus Knight class and consists of the following:

• Helm
• Chest Armor
• Gauntlets
• Leg Armor

It can bought from the merchant at the Liurnia Lake Shore Site of Grace for a total of 4500 runes. Just north east of this location you can also find the Idus Sword mentioned above. Its a lightweight set build for speed over protection.

Steel armor

The Steel Armor is the starting gear for the new Heavy Knight class and consists of:

• Helm
• Armor
• Gauntlets
• Greaves

It can be bought from the Isolated Merchant at the Isolated Merchant Site of Grace for a total of 4500 runes. It's a heavy set built to soak up damage and tank through life's problems.

Leontiel's armor

Leontiel's armor can be obtained when defeating Knight Leontiel, who invades you north of the Starscourge Radahn Site of Grace. There's a map and more details above with the info for Leontiel's Greatsword. It consists of:

• Hat
• Armor
• Leather Gloves
• Boots

It's a decent if not outstanding set that's mostly about looking cool. Especially if you're using the Greatsword's Muleta skill to look like a bullfighter.

Golden Order Set

NOTE: This armor is only available if Leyndell hasn't become the Ashen Capital.

You'll need to travel to the Erdtree Sanctuary Site of Grace and then use the lift to reach the Statue or Radagon and fight the Noble Broken Mask that attacked you there if you've cast already Law of Regression spell there. The full details are outlined in the Golden Order Flail details above.

Assuming that's all okay you'll get this set once the invader is dead:

• Broken Gold Mask
• Tattoo (chest)
• Tattoo (arm)
• Tatto (leg)

This set increases Faith but decreases Focus, reducing your resistance to Sleep and Madness. So not one for people aren't 100% sure what they're doing.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The combat in the upcoming Fable is causing the wrong kind of stir - oh dear. The CEO of Moon Studios has thrown in his two cents, and let's just say he's not a fan of what Playground Games is up to.

Gamescom 2026 has brought a wealth of new insights into the new Fable, since it's playable at the show. Among these has been deeper looks at what fighting will be like, and sadly, clips are being torn apart on social media.

A post involving a stand-off against a gang leader started gaining some traction on Twitter. "Xbots said Fable combat will be better than Wolverine… Yikes," says the original poster.

Thomas Mahler, head of Moon Studios, the company behind the Ori games and No Rest for the Wicked, decided to chime in. "You really have to wonder how something like this even gets shown to the public," he starts.

"There's a whole myriad of combat system basics that aren't at work here," he continues. "Even if this is supposed to be a boss, you never ever resort to enemies not having any hit reacts at all."

These are quite barbed comments to make, seemingly unprompted. Whatever you might think of the Fable 4 previews going around, you should keep in mind it's a work-in-progress. I should also add that Fable's combat has always been a little clumsy. It's part of the charm! It's not meant to feel like Gears of War or something.

In a particularly stabbing move, Mahler then extends an offer to Playground Games. "Happy to have a quick call with you folks to point you in the right direction," he says.

In the replies, he clarifies "it wasn't meant as a dig at all," and rather "a 'Hey, if you folks need some quick tips on how to make this feel better, I can help out!' kinda thing." I don't know, man - I'm sure the intentions were pure, but unsolicited advice has a tendency to come across as patronizing.

Fable 4 is due to arrive on February 23, 2027.

Persona 4 Revival is a faithful JRPG remake because the original's only gotten more relevant: "We live in an age where information is everywhere"

Elden Ring patch 1.17 will arrive Friday, August 28, alongside the new Tarnished Pack DLC, adding a few classes, cosmetics, NPC events, and buyable items.

The patch notes from publisher Bandai Namco are more substantial than expected, and chock-full of buffs.

The Tarnished Pack itself adds the Idus Knight and Heavy Knight starting classes, three outfits for your mount Torrent, NPC invasions in Caelid and Leyndell, and some "weapons that can be purchased from merchants or found in the Lands Between." The pack is bigger news for Nintendo fans, as it's also bringing Elden Ring to the Switch 2.

Though the Tarnished Pack is $5, everyone will get to experience the changes in version 1.17 for free. The headliner is a change to "certain items found in the field or obtained by defeating certain powerful enemies in the Realm of Shadow." These items will now be of "higher-tier" or "other treasures." FromSoftware is being characteristically vague, but I'm hoping this translates into fewer junk items marked as rare. For years, players have moaned about the onslaught of Arteria Leafs and Rune Arcs. Will we finally be spared?

Most of the patch is weapon, spell, and shield buffs. Importantly, tons of greatshields have had their guard boost increased and their weight reduced, making them more competitive with medium shields.

The once-broken perfume bottles had their attack power increased, the Smithscript weapons will deal more damage with throwing attacks, and Rellana's Twin Blades got a welcome critical hit buff.

Buffed spells include Founding Rain of Stars, Carian Retaliation, Meteorite, Meteorite of Astel, Gravitational Missile, Feather of the Divine Bird, O Flame, and the previously memed Rain of Fire, all generally enjoying more damage, quicker casting, or greater range.

A few parry skills were also buffed. The basic Parry skill, Thops's Barrier, and Storm Wall are all sporting "improved parry performance." Storm Wall and Thops's Barrier are more niche than parrying attacks to set enemies up for critical hits, but deflecting ranged attacks can be handy too.

The only real nerf in here is to Rakshasa's Great Katana, which will cause users to take more damage in PvP mid-attack, and cause a longer attack delay when wielded in the left hand. Rugalea's Roar, Rotten Breath, and Ekzykes's Decay also got small PvP-exclusive nerfs.

Elden Ring is more than four years old at this point, so this Tarnished Edition patch could well be the last sizable update we ever see. "We will continue to make improvements so that you can enjoy ELDEN RING more comfortably," the patch notes conclude.

Meanwhile, FromSoftware is coming up on the release of The Duskbloods, and apparently has multiple other games in the works. After Elden Ring Nightreign and The Duskbloods, the studio will seemingly return to its usual single-player adventures.

Even after Elden Ring exploded, Hidetaka Miyazaki says FromSoftware doesn't make games for anyone: "The motivation is that this is a game I want to see exist"

The next miHoYo joint was revealed as part of Gamescom 2026's Opening Night Live, and it's a bit different from Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero. Rather than being all cutesy and anime, it's more gritty fantasy, but it's not just the visuals that are different - gacha mechanics aren't as prominent either.

The game is called Nodusfall, and it's essentially the HoYoverse's answer to Monster Hunter, emphasizing big encounters you can tackle solo or in a group. Although the release is still using a free-to-play model, the devs have confirmed you won't be unlocking characters through a glorified slot machine.

"Nodusfall will be a free-to-play, long-term game," miHoYo says, per PCGamer. "What we can share at this time is that characters are not obtained through random draws. We hope to allow players to unlock this core gameplay experience through continued play. Cosmetic monetization is an important avenue we will be considering."

This is refreshing to hear for a multitude of reasons. The amount of Genshin Impact copycats is growing, and it's good to see miHoYo pushing away from a framework it helped popularise. It's also just nice to know you won't need to engage in gacha simply to get more characters.

Those aspects wound up putting me off Genshin and Zenless Zone Zero. I'm not a gambler, and the consistent reliance on that kind of thinking didn't sit well with me. Nodusfall is inherently more welcoming since that won't be the case.

That said, if we don't see gacha used to update your roster, I suspect we'll definitely see it in getting skins and costumes. Luckily, I care a lot less about how my hero looks over how well they can take down a demonic dinosaur, and I'll be much more preoccupied by doing that when I get to check out Nodusfall.

Just as Genshin Impact was called a Zelda: Breath of the Wild ripoff, Nodusfall is accused of copying FromSoftware's homework

One of the best things about Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, along with its great characters, systems-driven and often emergent gameplay, and absorbing story, is that its stunning world can be explored in real life. Warhorse's meticulously detailed recreation of 15th century Bohemia features entire cities, towns, monuments, and landmarks mapped from real-life locations you can visit yourself. But if a ticket to Prague is a little out of your budget right now, or you just want to see for yourself how faithful Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's Kuttenberg region is to real life, you'd do well to check out this incredible interactive 3D map comparing the in-game locations to their real world counterparts.

KingdomCompare is a website letting you explore side-by-side 3D panoramas featuring actual photographs taken by an uncredited Kingdom Come super fan next to full 360 images of the same place as seen in the game, and it has Warhorse's official stamp of approval. The map lets you click and drag the pointer to fully explore your surroundings and see your favorite spots in the game as they exist in real life. They're even more similar to each other than I would've expected even as a massive fan of the game who's spent more than 200 hours exploring Kuttenberg and Trosky. Here's a video representation of what it's like navigating KingdomCompare.

"I made this website to showcase the incredible attention to detail Warhorse put into recreating real locations from 600 years ago," says the creator of KingdomCompare. "While planning my KCD trip last year I spent a few evenings with streetview on one monitor and KCD 1&2 on another. While that was fun I wished there was an easier way to do this. That's how the idea for this website was born."

Naturally, Kingdom Come's map isn't an exact 1:1 replica of real-world historical locations, and the biggest disparity is in the space in between the main hubs. That's because the actual geography had to be compressed down to a manageable size for a typical open-world game that doesn't want you spending literal weeks traveling between cities.

"There also aren't a lot of historical maps from this time available to use as reference and obviously a lot has changed in 600 years," reads a section of the About page on KingdomCompare.com. "Some could definitley be aligned better than now but the process of doing one location is already quite long."

Speaking of which, the process occurring behind-the-scenes here sounds incredibly arduous. Not even accounting for travel to and from Czechia, the creator of these maps says they're hiking around the country "by foot" with the exception of "the few small villages in the northern part of the Kuttenberg region."

"It's totally doable and there are some nice routes for sure, but I'd say you can easily skip most of the smaller villages without missing anything," they advise prospective travelers.

From there, the creator uses a specialized camera to record a full panorama of the site, edits out shadows and other people caught in the photo, and then finds the same location in-game. Using an Autohotkey script while in photo mode, they then capture 17 screenshots while rotating the camera, stich them together using another software called Hugin, and then align the rotation using a custom Blender template. Finally, they adjust colors to blend more seamlessly with the real-life pictures and use another script to make everything load cleanly in a browser. And clean, it is.

I've been having a blast clicking around all sorts of rural and urban areas from one of my favorite RPGs and exploring their real-life equivalents. Only the Kuttenberg region (which is huge) is complete at the moment, but the project will eventually include Trosky, the other half of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's map, as well as Sasau from the first game. Go on and explore. Audentes Fortuna iuvat!

Kingdom: Come Deliverance 2's Hans actor takes his role so seriously that he's opening a real "medieval-inspired bar" in the Czech capital, Prague

The reveal of Nodusfall, Hoyoverse's Monster Hunter-like co-op action game, has sparked comparisons to FromSoftware games like Elden Ring, and it's taking me right back to the earliest days of Genshin Impact, when Hoyoverse was still more widely known as miHoYo.

After years of anime games in seemingly every genre, Hoyoverse has dipped into more realistic fantasy territory with Nodusfall, and a few early boss designs may feel familiar if you've spent the past decade steeping in FromSoftware's tea.

Folks have drawn up unfavorable side-by-side comparisons between some of the apparent bosses in Nodusfall and various FromSoftware designs. (Some people also took a wrong turn and mistakenly folded in Tides of Annihilation, which is not a Hoyo game.)

"New HoYo game literally rips off FromSoft's aesthetics almost to perfection," argues one post in – surprise – the FromSoftware subreddit.

"I thought this was the rumoured pirate game," another says of the Nodusfall reveal, referring to the pirate-themed FromSoftware game rumored to be in development alongside The Duskbloods. "Same. I was glued to the stream then boom hoyoverse," reads a reply.

Some shots do raise an eyebrow. When Nodusfall first debuted during the Gamescom Opening Night Live show, I noticed similarities in one shot of a valkyrie flaring her crimson-tinged wings. You don't need to squint to see why people would see echoes of Malenia, Elden Ring's scarlet rot icon.

You might argue the same for Nodusfall's battle axe-wielding divine warrior, shown fighting alongside a giant lion – a similar motif to Elden Ring's Godfrey. Much the same goes for the dragoon-like boss elsewhere in the trailer, who smacks of Dark Souls 3's Nameless King, who reappeared in Elden Ring Nightreign.

Other comparisons being made online are much thinner, quickly devolving into what feels like defensive recency bias at best. Not Malenia feels pretty unquestionable, and Hoyo's reputation for generative AI use isn't helping it, but you'd struggle to find a modern work of fantasy that isn't digging around somebody's backyard – John R.R. Tolkien's, Dungeons & Dragons', or, especially in FromSoftware's case, Kentaro Miura's.

Let's not pretend FromSoftware invented or patented 'Guy with a fireball for a head' or 'Guy riding a dragon.' And frankly, FromSoftware lighting is so distinct that a single shot of hands in The Duskbloods' reveal was all I needed to clock the studio.

That being said, I have immensely enjoyed the resurrection of some old Elden Ring fan art that imagined FromSoftware's RPG as a Genshin-like gacha game with, horror of horrors, weapon banners. That said, Nodusfall is apparently not a traditional gacha game: PC Gamer reports that it won't have random pulls for characters, at least.

A lot of this chatter feels like the pushback Genshin Impact faced in 2020, with many players calling it a gacha clone of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, not just for its art style and open-world mechanics, but also for a few familiar shots from its own trailers. In 2023, Hoyoverse CEO Liu Wei said the Zelda comparisons took a toll on the studio's staff.

In 2020, in an interview with GamesRadar+, a Hoyo representative acknowledged the Breath of the Wild inspiration head-on. That quote has been fresh in my mind after Nodusfall's reveal.

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most popular and respected titles in the industry, and one which our staff hold in high regard. In a post that our team circulated to players last year, we mentioned that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was one of our inspirations for creating Genshin Impact as an open-world action RPG. We will be the first to admit that there is a great gap between Genshin Impact and established titles like BOTW – this motivates us to keep improving Genshin Impact and to work towards closing that gap."

This week, Wei said Nodusfall is a very "un-miHoYo" type of game.

Everything announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026.

Sitting down for my behind-closed-doors demo, I've little idea of what to expect from Warlock. It's one of those games that's felt shrouded in mystery for the longest time – a third-person action-adventure with ARPG elements, all set against one of the Dungeons & Dragons universe's spookiest settings: Ravenloft's Domain of Dread, Darkon. Only this time – unlike Baldur's Gate 3 – dice, spell slots, turn-based combat, and long rests aren't anywhere to be seen.

Except they haven't gone anywhere. Developer Invoke Studios has simply repurposed them. I specifically see this in how the game adapts itself to suit real-time combat and exploration. Evard's Black Tentacles is not only a great spell to ensnare enemies with; you can cast it at a wall and attach other items to it, crafting platforms and walkways to get around obstacles. Eldritch Blast is still a powerful cantrip but that too will have additional utility as an exploration tool – perhaps to explode anything suspicious.

Then there's brand new spells like Tasha's Leash, which looks and sounds like Invoke's answer to Mage Hand, letting protagonist Kaatri pick up and throw items to manipulate the environments around her. She can fling a flaming torch into a wooden obstruction, for example, and either grab a handful of water to douse the flames or pick up a puddle of flaming oil to hurl as a makeshift fireball. Because what is D&D without Fireball?

It all speaks to how Invoke has taken the rules of D&D and transposed them into something entirely different to what many fans might expect, and from my 20-minute hands-off demo, the risks just might pay off.

Lair of despair

You read it here first, folks: the world of Warlock looks absolutely stunning. Darkon might be one of Ravenloft's Domains of Dread, sharing a plane with the legendary adventure Curse of Strahd's Barovia, but it's teeming with color and vibrance as well as gothic gloom.

My hands-off demo begins as Kaatri has a conversation with her patron – Tasha the Witch Queen – who marks her new agent with a scar-like sigil over her eye, sealing their pact. It's a scene we glimpse in the new trailer unveiled at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026, our first taste of Maggie Robertson (Orin the Red in Baldur;s Gate 3, Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village) as one of the most well-known characters in D&D lore.

Tasha has no hideous laughter here, though her playfully cruel smirk while Kaatri reluctantly agrees to their pact indicates that both patron and pacted will have one hell of an interesting working relationship. Instead, she sends Kaatri out into Darkon, as she hunts down something she "cares deeply for".

Following this cinematic, the demoist directs us into a town called Crickshank, one of many settlements found across Darkon. This is where Kaatri can look for leads, discover side quests called Mysteries (all noted handily in your journal), and get helpful hints from the locals.

Giving a coin to a beggar tips Kaatri off about people being dragged away screaming down a nearby alleyway, leading us down into a spiral staircase that's in need of a few repair works. Casting what looks like Evard's Black Tentacles against the curved stone wall, Kaatri can then fasten a nearby slab of rock to it, creating a platform to scale her way to the bottom of the chasm. I also catch her using a spell that looks not unlike Misty Step or Gaseous Form as she dissolves momentarily into a glittering blur of purple particles to get through bars, grates underfoot, and more.

One of my favorite things I get to witness as part of my demo is how Invoke performs the art of ritual spellwork. In Baldur's Gate 3, it's a simple case of being able to cast certain spells only once per long rest. But in Warlock, we get to see Kaatri assemble the tools of her magical trade for ourselves.

She pulls out a levitating worktop that looks very much like a Ouija board, only with strange magical markings and wells for ingredients to be placed (if you have them in your inventory). Kaatri pulls all manner of strange reagents out of her pack – including some poor creature's eyeball, landing with a satisfyingly wet thunk against the wood. I love this more intentional depiction of Tasha's magic at work. Channeled through Kaatri, it makes sense that a witch's powers might look different to those of a fiend, and that methodical process is beautifully represented in Warlock.

Even the combat is perfectly on theme. Warlocks are a popular choice for solid melee-caster builds in D&D, so watching Kaatri restrain an ogre with tentacles before wresting his sword away with magic only to plunge it into his chest is particularly emblematic of that. For all her hard-hitting combat chops, though, she does turn tail and run from a Beholder. Again, very relatable and lore-accurate behavior.

I've barely seen 20 minutes of Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, and I'm already under its spell. Sure, some animations make me stifle a giggle here and there – mainly the ogre staggering about a little too fast and light-footed after being whacked on the head with a sword hilt – but I am extremely impressed with this little vertical slice of magic. Invoke's commitment to authenticity seems to match up with its experimental flourish and ambition, meaning Warlock has just teleported to the top of my action-adventure list when it comes to gorgeous new games I'll be hankering for in 2027.

Want to war-lock-in with another adventure that'll put your skills to the test? Our best action RPGs ranking has plenty more recommendations!

Nodusfall, the next game from Genshin Impact maker and gacha kingpin Hoyoverse (or MiHoYo), was one of the biggest surprises at the 2026 Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase. Commenting on the game, CEO Liu Wei, known to many fans as Da Wei, agrees Nodusfall is very different from the company's usual releases.

In a Chinese statement circulating online (with slightly varying translations backed up by Google image translate), Wei describes Nodusfall as miHoYo's first realistic fantasy online game, and one with large-scale boss battles and co-op.

According to Wei's translated statement, Nodusfall seems to take heavy inspiration from the Chinese text Classic of Mountains and Seas, which the Academy of Chinese Studies calls "a testament to ancient Chinese myths and geographical lore."

However, on the Nodusfall website, Hoyoverse confirms it features a "sweeping original story." A press release from Hoyoverse also confirms that it's a "multi-mythology" game "inspired by the world's diverse mythological traditions."

Nodusfall is "very un-miHoYo," Wei says, which is one reason that its development process – which has seemingly gone on for many years, based on previous job listings from the company and the many rumors orbiting it – has been so difficult.

Increasingly, this looks like Hoyoverse's take on Capcom's Monster Hunter. "Players will form a squad with their companions to face off against massive beasts and creatures that once existed only in myth," the Nodusfall website reads.

"Players can customize their characters with different combat styles and skill combinations," it adds. Additionally, "defeating these powerful creatures rewards players with valuable resources and unlocks new skills and weapons, further advancing their builds and expanding endless tactical possibilities."

This sounds good on paper, and Nodusfall's realistic aesthetic looks good in motion so far. The problem for many people is that this is a Hoyoverse game and must thus escape the grip of gacha. Monetization, and how it bleeds into those progression and reward systems, could be a real problem for Nodusfall and some would-be players.

However unlikely it is, the best possible outcome is probably Nodusfall dropping the gacha guff entirely. I'm well-versed in Hoyo's monetization strategy at this point, and there's really no arguing with the toxicity of it. And I say that after enjoying Honkai: Star Rail for several months, loving Zenless Zone Zero for about a year, and playing Genshin Impact almost every day for nearly six years now. Last night I was optimizing a team in Genshin, but that game is fun despite its gacha crap.

I've also been playing Monster Hunter since the Nintendo DS days, and I'm telling you right now that this genre wouldn't play nice with Genshin-style gacha. Ironically, Monster Hunter Outlanders, Capcom and Timi Studio's very own gacha-flavored spinoff, was also present at Gamescom and has already demonstrated how monetization can cannibalize gameplay in this space. If we're lucky, Nodusfall's "un-miHoYo" approach will amount to less gacha, not just a break from anime art.

Everything announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026.

Lies of P's director Jiwon Choi picks out Resident Evil Requiem as one of the games he's enjoyed playing over the last few years. In particular, he describes how excited he was to see Leon Kennedy return to the series even in his much older form.

Leon is one of the most popular Resident Evil characters, serving as a protagonist in the second, fourth, sixth, and ninth entries. Before Requiem was released, we last saw Leon take center stage in 2023's Resident Evil 4 remake, but he hasn't been the lead in a new entry since 2012.

Resident Evil Requiem starred a much older Leon Kennedy, with the women working on the game reportedly being very "strict" with artists to perfect Leon's "hot uncle" look. However, the new design didn't only go over well with women fans but with everyone, including Choi.

In an interview with RPG Site, Choi is asked to name a game from the last few years that he has really enjoyed. "This year, the game that comes to mind for me is Resident Evil Requiem," he says. "It was great to see Leon again after so long. He may be much older now, but he’s still as cool and tough as ever."

Choi and his company Nough Studio are busy at work on a sequel to the puppet-powered soulslike, following the launch of the Switch 2 complete edition earlier this month.

Lies of P director says he wouldn't settle for a game-key card on Nintendo Switch 2 because everyone at his studio is a "proud gamer"

An unlikely collaboration has been revealed between Blizzard Entertainment and CD Projekt Red, the studios behind Diablo and The Witcher series, respectively.

The two companies announced the team-up in separate blogs posted to their respective websites, with CDPR sharing a substantive breakdown of the studios' relationship with each other, and Blizzard opting for a more straightforward explanation of what the collab actually means right now.

The TLDR is that The Witcher 3: Remastered, which was announced during today's Gamescom Opening Night Live, is coming to Blizzard's Battle.net launcher when it releases on September 29. Meanwhile, the upcoming Witcher 3 expansion, Songs of the Past, will also come to Battle.net when it launches next year, and if you pre-order it, you'll get a Geralt of Rivia-inspired skin in Diablo 4.

That's exciting enough, but it sounds like CDPR and Blizzard have a lot more planned for their big new partnership that's still to be revealed. "Both CD PROJEKT RED and Blizzard Entertainment create worlds that allow players to immerse themselves in captivating adventures for hundreds of hours," says CDPR global PR director Radek Grabowski in a statement. "Both studios have always had the ambition to raise the bar — for themselves and, in doing so, for the video game industry. Their worlds and characters have inspired not only other game developers, but also musicians, filmmakers, cosplayers, and, of course, countless players."

The official CDPR Twitter account adds: "And that's just the beginning of our partnership with Blizzard…"

According to Blizzard, we'll learn more about its collab with CDPR during this year's BlizzCon, which takes place on Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13. GamesRadar+ will be in attendance and you can bet your bottom dollar we'll give you all of the firsthand details as they come.

The Witcher 3 Remastered has "improved combat," which hopefully fixes the 2015 RPG classic's biggest problem

Grinding Gear Games has officially set a release date for Path of Exile 2's 1.0 update, with the ARPG finally leaving early access on December 11, right about two years after its initial launch. As expected, the game will be completely free-to-play on all platforms when 1.0 comes out, ditching its current $30 price tag.

GGG took the stage during this year's Gamescom Opening Night Live to reveal a new release date trailer for Path of Exile 1.0, and it shows off brand-new sword-based gameplay that the studio confirmed is from the new Duelist class coming in 1.0. Gamescom attendees in Cologne will be able to try out the new class ahead of its release at the end of the year.

Check it out:

The Duelist will be Path of Exile 2's first sword-wielding class, which makes it a pretty big deal in terms of the game's overall meta and your party's crowd control. The trailer above shows the Duelist wielding both sword and shield to deadly effect using all sorts of melee, ranged, and AoE attacks including what appears to be the Cyclone move from the first Path of Exile, which a lot of players base their whole builds around.

Alongside the new Duelist class, Path of Exile 1's 1.0 drop will add the game's final two story chapters as well as some additional content and tweaks that have yet to be revealed.

Path of Exile is just one of many games like Diablo we recommend trying out in 2026.

Genshin Impact studio Hoyoverse revealed another new game at today's Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 showcase: Nodusfall, a co-op action game that looks nothing like most Hoyo games.

Nodusfall is described by presenter Geoff Keighley as a mythical action game where teams of Weavers take on divine beasts and beings.

Snippets of presumed gameplay woven into the many cutscenes on display suggest teams of four players will help each other in boss fights, and that's just the start of the Monster Hunter vibes.

Weavers are shown using bows, greatswords, what looks like a longsword (a normal-sized one, not a Monster Hunter-sized one), and some form of magic. One spell seems to revive allies, while another turns the player into a divine being themselves.

In what seems like a scripted sequence, two players team up to land a finishing blow on the dragon mount of a boss. The bosses shown in the trailer have drawn comparisons to Elden Ring enemies like Hoarah Loux, Malenia, as well as Dark Souls 3's Nameless King. Other creatures shown include (what I'm calling) a horned lion, ninetailed fox spirit, armored bear, a fiery archdemon, Fiery Archdemon Deluxe, and an especially feral hog.

Hoyoverse has been dabbling in more realistic art styles in recent projects and job listings, ditching anime for a new MMO called Genesis. Nodusfall looks to be in the same vein, with a detailed fantasy look that's closer to the likes of disguised boss rush Elden Ring Nightreign than the likes of Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, or Zenless Zone Zero.

The question hanging over every Hoyoverse game, no matter how cool it may look, is how it will be monetized. Everything the company touches turns to gacha in some way or another, and it affects everything from storytelling to progression systems. I'd love nothing more than to see Hoyo put its gacha bucks and design experience toward a traditional premium game, but I won't hold my breath.

Ananta release date places the free-to-play anime take on GTA in January 2027, just 2 months after Rockstar's GTA 6.