This week's big Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 showcase delivered a reveal no one expected from CD Projekt Red: an official remastered version of The Witcher 3.

Fit with everything from "improved combat" to stunning overhauled visuals, The Witcher 3 Remastered is one heck of a huge undertaking for the studio – but, apparently, it's got a bit of help from an unexpected source: a modder known as "HalkHogan" (brilliant, I know) over on Nexus Mods.

In case you don't recognize him by name, he's the mastermind behind The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project NextGen Edition.

It's a mod that, well, upgrades and essentially "remasters" The Witcher 3 – but with CD Projekt Red's official remaster coming, fans understandably had concerns about the mod and how relevant it'll be (or what HalkHogan may plan to do with it).

Turns out it'll be relevant indeed… because it's being integrated into the actual game. The modder confirms as much in a new post over on the modding platform, and I am thrilled.

"It's been a while since the last news and I would like to clarify any questions and confirm that I am cooperating with CDPR on the Witcher 3 Remaster and my work will be officially available in the game on September 29th (on PC and consoles)," HalkHogan writes. "HDRP will no longer be needed."

If this is a dream, please don't pinch me. I'm getting a brand new remaster and I can scrap the one and only mod I ever used?

Much like CD Projekt Red, HalkHogan has also been hard at work to ensure everything going into the game from his end is pixel-perfect. "Almost all in-game characters, monsters, animals, vegetation, armors, and equipment for Geralt and Roach, and a large part of the environment, have been reworked," as he explains. "And I've put a lot of effort into ensuring the highest quality."

I have no doubts myself here, honestly.

I'm sure that the folks behind his mod's 725,582 downloads don't either – but I suppose we'll all find out next month, come The Witcher 3 Remastered.

The Witcher 3 Remastered tweaks combat "to be much more smooth and precise," as CD Projekt Red wants the 2015 RPG "to stand up to today's games"

Kingdom Hearts 4 leads Tetsuya Nomura and Tai Yasue are exceptionally confident that the game will meet its target of a 2027 release. The pair even make comments that development has been the smoothest in the series' history and that it will be ready well in advance.

The gaming industry is no stranger to delays, and when people have had to wait a particularly long time between games, it can be a blow to fans to see the release date pushed back. However, series director Nomura and co-director Yasue seem extremely confident that Kingdom Hearts 4 will make it out in time for its late-2027 release window.

In an interview with Famitsu, translated by GamesRadar+, the pair discuss the long-awaited fourth numbered entry's release date. "The team is very particular, sometimes they are more particular about things than even I am," says Nomura. "However, as I mentioned in the [D23] panel, the release window won't be delayed."

Yasue also chimes in with an update on development. "Progress is going smoother than it has in the history of the Kingdom Hearts series," he says. "I think you can rest assured about this." The pair have squashed rumors of a Kingdom Hearts 4 delay before, but this is the first time they've given such clear reasons for their confidence.

"It will be ready well before the release date," says Nomura. "We don't expect to even go into our buffer time. That's the reason I'm returning to Japan so quickly."

It's rare to see a release date given with such absolute confidence, so we can very much expect to see more from Sora before the end of 2027.

Disney isn't stopping with Kingdom Hearts 4 and a new anime, as "there are so many things we want to do" with the 25-year-old JRPG series

The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past isn't going to make the 11-year-old base game feel brand new, because it doesn't need to. CD Projekt Red and the Songs of the Past expansion's co-developer Fool's Theory knows The Witcher 3 is the ideal RPG experience, so Songs of the Past – due in 2027 – should enhance rather than overpower it.

It'll be like a pinch of salt. Fool's Theory CEO Jakub Rokosz explains to PC Gamer in a new interview, "I wouldn't say that [Songs of the Past] will feel different, simply because Witcher 3 aged really well, as a game."

"It's still very relevant," Rokosz continues to say about The Witcher 3. "It became a staple for RPGs back in the day when it came out, and even now, when you replay it, you don't really feel it's an old game." In this case, words like "back in the day" and "old" refer to the candied days of 2015, which, in video game years, isn't so gravely long ago. Some of the most essential video games in history, like Silent Hill, take nearly 30 years to get a remake, or they never do, and they're never blessed with belated expansions, or even just little botox.

So The Witcher 3 is lucky: it's young, and CD Projekt Red is making sure it stays beautiful. CD Projekt Red executive producer Jakub Kutrzuba tells PC Gamer The Witcher 3 remaster launching on September 29 should look like it "released in 2026."

"All the improvements make the combat much more smooth, much more natural," explains CD Projekt's joint CEO Adam Badowski. "You can change target while playing the animation or performing strikes, and it gives the game a kind of freshness."

GamesRadar+ managing editor Ali Jones got to taste a bit of those improvements during his scripted demo time with Songs of the Past at Gamescom 2026.

"Even this story-based section seems to fit seamlessly into the existing world of The Witcher 3, while the upcoming remaster's features push much of what made the original game so special even further," Ali writes in his demo preview. See? Enhance, not overpower. Any more than that, and CD Projekt Red would be ruining a great set of bones – and the developer knows it.

CD Projekt Red snuck 30 improvements into The Witcher 3 Remastered reveal, including "immersive meditation," new quest tracking, a loot rework, and Switch 2 exclusives.

FGS Live From gamescom 2026 is the sister showcase that aired directly after this year’s Future Games Show at gamescom on August 26, featuring more world premieres, developer interviews and exclusive trailers live and direct from the gamescom showfloor.

The event was hosted by Nathan Byrne and Jules Gill from the FGS video team, who led viewers through a busy schedule of reveals. If you missed it and want to catch up, we’ve collated all the news below in chronological order.

To wishlist any games from the show that caught your eye, you can also head over to the official Future Games Show Steam page.

Missed the main broadcast? Here’s everything announced at the Future Games Show at gamescom

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2

40K boomer shooter Boltgun 2 got a new trailer during FGS Live from gamescom, which revealed a musical collaboration with DOOM legend Mick Gordon, and the news that it’s coming to PC & consoles on October 14.

BLACKWOOD

Blackwood is an action-adventure game where you run a DVD store and lead a double life as a ruthless assassin. A release date trailer revealed that the first act is coming to Steam on September 16.

Crimson Moon

A new gameplay trailer for Crimson Moon brought viewers into its blood-soaked fantasy world, where you annihilate demons as a human-angel hybrid. It’s coming to PC on September 1.

Rivage

An intricate puzzle adventure set aboard an immersive space station, Rivage has you repairing systems and mechanisms to unravel a carefully woven mystery. It’s coming to PC and consoles on September 22, 2026.

Tempus Vitae

Time travel shooter Tempus Vitae got a brand new gameplay trailer during FGS Live From gamescom. It’s a science-fiction metroidvania where you unravel the mysteries of a doomed space station, and it’s coming soon to PC & consoles.

Neon Abyss 2

A hectic new trailer for the shooter roguelike Neon Abyss 2 introduced viewers to the sequel’s penchant for maximum carnage. Enter the abyss when it launches out of early access in Fall 2026 for PC & consoles.

Matelotes - World Premiere

A world-premiere trailer revealed Matelotes, a delightful game in which you explore islands aboard a cartoon longship and resolve crises and squabbles. It’s coming to Steam Early Access in 2027.

Tanuki: Pon's Summer

A new gameplay trailer for TANUKI: Pon’s Summer aired during FGS Live From gamescom. This is a life simulator where you play as a friendly Tanuki who delivers parcels on his BMX and interacts with the inhabitants of a quirky Japanese town. It’s coming soon to PC & consoles, with a demo available now on Steam.

Night Plane

Flight attendant horror game Night Plane got a new trailer during FGS Live From gamescom, providing an aeroplane window into the game’s doomed in-flight scenario. It’s coming to PC in Fall 2026, but there’s a demo available now on Steam if you want to check it out.

Haunted Paws

Haunted Paws is a canine co-op game where you play as a pair of pups, and a new trailer shown during FGS Live From gamescom offered more gameplay, alongside the news that the game is coming to Nintendo Switch & Nintendo Switch 2.

Sweetheart - World Premiere

A world premiere trailer revealed Sweetheart, a horror game wrapped in a love story that bills itself as a terrifying breakup simulator. It’s coming to PC in 2027.

We Are So Cooked

A new trailer revealed that the absurdist stealth game We Are So Cooked is coming to Steam on October 15. It’s a 1-4 player co-op game where you improvise to smuggle a dead body out of a hotel room with your friends as backup.

Amphibian - World Premiere

JARCORP Interactive revealed Amphibian during FGS Live From gamescom. It’s a frog-led, hand-drawn tactical RPG for fans of classic console adventures, and it’s coming soon to PC & consoles.

Prospera - World Premiere

A world-premiere trailer revealed Prospera, an open-world city-building simulator from Toplitz Productions in which you build a bustling industrial town and live in it, too. It’s coming soon to PC.

APART

TurnKey Games shared a brand-new gameplay trailer for APART, the studio’s atmospheric platformer where you play as a zombie child and their severed arm companion. It’s coming to PC on October 9, later this year.

Medieval Dynasty - The Backwood

Medieval Dynasty is a beloved open-world survival game, and during FGS Live From gamescom, Toplitz Productions shared a new trailer for its upcoming DLC, The Backwood. The Backwood is an untamed map that serves as a sandbox canvas for campaigns, and it’s coming to PC and consoles in early 2027

Vikings Dynasty

A gameplay trailer for Vikings Dynasty provided a glimpse into the game’s Norse world, where you protect your community as a Jarl and explore the surrounding Fjords. Wishlist it now, because it’s coming soon to PC.

Young Suns

The Jupiter-set life sim Young Suns received a new trailer during FGS Live From gamescom. This four-player co-op game lets you decorate your own custom spaceship, explore planetoids and improve the lives of space station citizens. The 1.0 update is coming to Xbox on August 31, with the game landing on Steam in Late 2026.

Nivalis Nights

Ion Lands shared a new trailer for Nivalis Nights, the studio’s cyberpunk slice-of-life simulator where you manage businesses and forge meaningful connections under neon lights. It’s coming to PC on the 29th of September.

Aloft

Co-op sandbox survival game Aloft got a new trailer during FGS Live From gamescom, revealing more about the game’s upcoming Discovery & Ancestry update. It’s out now on Steam, so you can let your curiosity guide your travels across the game’s gorgeous floating islands.

Hoarder

Eerie cleaning simulator Hoarder got a release date trailer during FGS Live From gamescom. This atmospheric submarine-salvage adventure - which starts out looking like a normal decluttering job - is coming in 2027.

Afterworld

Paradox dropped by the FGS Live From gamescom for an interview about Afterworld, the studio’s latest grand strategy game. It’s a settlement-raising adventure set in a post-apocalyptic America replete with dangerous factions you have to manage through diplomacy, and it’s coming soon to PC.

Shoe It All!

A hilarious physics game about the delight of launching your shoes received a release-date trailer during FGS Live from Gamescom. Shoe It All! Features plenty of skill-checking levels and absurd scenarios, and it’s coming to PC & consoles on September 3rd.

Wanderburg

Wanderburg is a medieval roguelike where you pilot a modular castle on wheels to pillage and consume your surroundings. Grow in size and master unpredictable loadouts when it launches into early access on Steam this September 8.

BLACK WALLS

Magic Van Games rounded out the FGS Live From gamescom with a haunting trailer for BLACK WALLS. It’s a liminal psychological horror odyssey where you play as an isolated astronaut exploring a dark, unpredictable maze. It’s coming to PC in 2027.

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"

Elden Ring remains one of the most important and best RPGs of the decade and it's easy to talk me into replaying it. This made a new journey to the Lands Between on Nintendo Switch 2 enticing before I'd even touched the port. While early reports last year weren't exactly encouraging, I trusted FromSoftware to take its time and eventually deliver a conversion worthy of an Elden Lord.

After a more convincing showing in early 2026, we hoped for the best. Ahead of The Duskbloods' launch on Switch 2, the Hidetaka Miyazaki-led studio needed a major win that makes it clear Nintendo's latest console isn't getting second-grade material. Thankfully, Elden Ring Tarnished Edition makes an excellent first impression and feels perfectly fine to play... As long as you're happy with a conservative framerate lock and no major additions.

Tarnished, this port isn't

Despite its cross-generation nature and more than a few aging elements, Elden Ring wasn't a guaranteed win on Nintendo's second hybrid console. Whether it was the in-house engine's limitations or a lack of optimization, this (otherwise) excellent action RPG wasn't a great performer on PS5 and Xbox Series X. A constant 60 FPS lock isn't possible even on Performance mode, so everyone who played Elden Ring on consoles has gotten used to its unevenness.

This could've spelled doom for the Switch 2's Tarnished Edition. Yet the final result is visually convincing. Smart sacrifices prevent it from presenting a lesser version of the gorgeous world FromSoftware introduced in 2022. None of its visual identity is lost, and even with an obviously lower graphical preset when running it in handheld versus docked mode (compared in the gallery below), the final image output is shockingly sharp.

Though Elden Ring Tarnished Edition on Switch 2 lacks visual modes (or framerate targets), playing it handheld automatically cuts distant shadows, fog density, asset level of detail, lighting, and, of course, resolution. The overall visual features survive the transition, but lighting is an obvious change; the Lands Between seem a bit dimmer if you're not playing docked, at least when exploring outside.

The presence of so many visual changes versus a simpler resolution downgrade to hit a 30 FPS target – yes, as far as I can tell, it doesn't go higher than that – may be explained by the fact FromSoftware's engine isn't compatible with DLSS. Frustratingly, the press materials provided by Bandai Namco neither confirm nor deny what's happening under the hood, so I have to assume the lower graphical preset makes up for the lack of that upscaling crutch.

In any case, the resolution looks to be 1080p on both TV and the console's own screen. It's among the sharpest-looking third-party ports I've played so far on Switch 2 even in its more compromised form, that's for sure. In fact, I'd say it looks better than it did on Xbox Series S, which makes me think some sort of upscaling might be involved. As an extra, the HDR support, even on the Switch 2's below-average screen, gives a depth to darker areas and shaded environments that's often quite remarkable.

Delays and further optimizations have paid off

With a 30 FPS lock in place that generally holds steady, Elden Ring Tarnished Edition on Switch 2 actually feels a lot like playing Bloodborne on the PS4.

Well, except for the load times. On both the internal SSD and a microSD Express, the port is blazing fast to load from the main menu, and fast travel never takes longer than a few seconds. That comparison also means there's a hint of input lag to the experience. It's to be expected, but potentially frustrating for more competitive players.

During my time with the pre-release build, I explored three major areas of the map and cleared several bosses, up to the Raya Lucaria Academy area. Though I'd have liked to see an uncapped framerate option, I didn't feel like the 30 FPS lock was getting in the way of my enjoyment at all. This isn't the disaster other journalists experienced last year, that's for sure.

That conservative target is missed at times, though, as Stormveil's crowded courtyards and rooftops can trigger some frame drops. I think the suddenly higher NPC count might be the issue here, and Liurnia of the Lakes' reflective surface is as problematic as it was on other platforms.

Other obvious hits to the framerate come from abundant particle effects in fire attacks or dense smoke and mist. These are less noticeable in most cases, as they generally happen when you're getting toasted and are knocked down, but trained eyes will catch them. Overall, docked play seems sturdier, but when FPS drops happen, the console's own screen fares better once again. VRR and low framerate compensation to the rescue!

What's surprising is that I've also seen no major drops in open world boss encounters, which adds to my suspicion that nearby NPC counts putting extra pressure on Switch 2's so-so CPU are the culprit here. This has been part of a larger problem with Elden Ring that has affected other platforms since launch. Switch 2 just has less headroom to work with. Considering the faraway enemies are often seen with low-framerate animations, there might be something to this theory.

Judge this book by the cover

But the Tarnished Edition is still just Elden Ring on a new platform. There's nothing that makes it special or markedly different from other console versions, aside from a few extra goodies – sold as a minor DLC for other platforms – that feel like little goodbye gifts.

You could argue there's some value to the two new classes, but they're only a way to start with a different stat distribution and new armor pieces that you won't be using for too long. As for Torrent's cosmetics, they feel like a throwback to Oblivion's horse armor DLC moment. This also wouldn't fully be a complete port to a modern Nintendo platform without gimmicks, so it'd feel wrong not to mention that you can perform all of Elden Ring's emotes with motion controls if that's your thing. I don't care, but someone probably will. Real Wii-era vibes.

Still, Elden Ring Tarnished Edition is a huge reminder of how meaty the third-party support for Switch 2 has become in 2026. With Oblivion Remastered bringing another Bethesda heavyweight to the hybrid console and Diablo 4 likely coming sooner rather than later, there's no better piece of hardware to play modern open-world RPGs on-the-go.

It seems that Bandai Namco and FromSoft knew they had to get this one right. Despite some rough edges, this version of the massive action RPG stands tall beside the others – and I plan on replaying Elden Ring all the way through on Switch 2.

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition might just become one of the best Switch 2 games ever, but time and opinions will tell...

Kingdom Hearts Collection 1 - 3 pre-orders have arrived physically on both the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2, giving you the key to unlock and play almost the entire iconic game series.

Launching on October 8 later this year, this collection packs in everything from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix through to Kingdom Hearts 3 + Re Mind (DLC), so you can get caught up ahead of the release of Kingdom Hearts 4 in late 2027. Picking up either version of the game for $74.99 at Amazon in the US will also grant you access to exclusive in-game keyblades and a free exclusive poster too, though I can't say for certain that the alleged generative AI artwork will come with it.

The official listings box art fortunately no longer shows an image of Donald Duck with an inconsistent number of fingers and blurry clock towers. However, the marketing image of the poster attached to the Amazon listing bears a resemblance to that original (and questionable) artwork. On the positive side, this is a double-sided poster, so you can turn it around and display the art to the first Kingdom Hearts game if that's what you prefer. Bizarre artwork or not, I've gathered the best Kingdom Hearts Collection 1-3 shopping links below so you can have a simple and clean pre-order experience.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the marketing image showing off the double-sided poster just hasn't been amended alongside the box art for the Kingdom Hearts Collection. However, we'll have to wait and see come launch day on October 8, 2026, to know for sure.

I'm just thankful that the strange original cover, which Square Enix stated was the result of "human error" has been changed for the physical games themselves. Hopefully, that should result in no strange-looking clock towers once your copy arrives at your door this spooky season. That being said, whether any strange artifacts from the original cover art will be apparent at all remains to be seen. I'm still side-eyeing the entire illustration myself, which is why I've yet to pre-order the collection. Time will certainly tell.

As a heads up, it appears you can only get that poster if you pre-order the collection through US Amazon. However, you'll still get access to the Midnight Blue and Long Night platform-exclusive Keyblades (depending on the platform) and a reversible inlay, which includes a 25th anniversary design no matter where you grab your physical copy of the game.

• View all Kingdom Hearts games at Amazon

We're also rounding up the latest Stage Tour pre-orders, Marvel's Wolverine pre-orders, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 pre-orders for you to check out.

CD Projekt Red dropped a brand new date in our Fall gaming diaries at Gamescom Opening Night Live last night; September 29. That's when The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered lands on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch 2, but there's a nostalgic smell of pro-consumer moves in the air as well. The full remaster will be available as a free upgrade for anyone who already owns a copy of the game. To take advantage of that, though, you'll need either a physical or digital copy in your library.

Right now, The Witcher 3 Complete Edition (the base game seems to be unavailable) will run you $49.99 via either PlayStation or Xbox's digital storefronts, with Nintendo coming in at $59.99. We can easily do better than that. As if we didn't need another reason to dread the upcoming digi-pocalypse, physical copies will secure your game for a fraction of that price right now - of course, you'll need a console that can take a disk to benefit.

The absolute cheapest way to do it is via GameStop's pre-owned stock. There you'll find the PS4 base game (remember, all expansions are free now as well) for $6.99 with the Xbox version sitting at $4.99. You're spending a little more if you'd prefer a brand new disk - I'd recommend PS5 players head to Amazon for a $16.24 price tag while Xbox players are looking at $16.95 here as well.

The cheapest way to buy The Witcher 3 on PS5 / Xbox

Thankfully for PS5 and Xbox players, the original PS4 / Xbox One release is still floating around and it's still cheaper than the Complete Edition. Now that Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine are both free, players might as well opt for the original release to get their library sorted for the full upgrade.

The cheapest way to buy The Witcher 3 on Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch version is a little spicier. Only the Complete Edition is available on Ninty's handheld, and prices have stuck a little closer to launch over the years. Combine that with the fact that GameStop's pre-owed copies are up in the double digits and Amazon's listings have ballooned in price and you're looking at a slightly heftier bill. You can still secure a cart (or a download) for less than the full $59.99 Switch 2 release, but the savings don't roll quite as deep as they do for PlayStation and Xbox fans.

Right now, the original Complete Edition is up at $59.99 on Nintendo's eShop, matching the same price as the (now available for pre-order) Switch 2 release. Most retailers come underneath this price right now, with GameStop still leading the pack with its pre-owned stock.

Of course, there's plenty more to look forward to. We're also rounding up the latest GTA 6 pre-order prices and showing you where to pre-order Marvel's Wolverine PS5 consoles.

Stage Tour took the stage at Gamescom Opening Night Live, and it was revealed that the Guitar Hero spiritual successor will land on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on December 10, just in time for the holidays.

I fully intended to go into the holiday season mastering some of my favorite songs, from the game's 'Ratatata' by Babymetal and Electric Callboy to 'Teenage Dirtbag' by Wheatus. Luckily for me, RedOctane has made that a breeze by pricing the standalone game on multiple systems for just $39.99 / £34.99 (pre-orders to come), but also bundling it for $129.99 at Best Buy with a Kramer Wireless Guitar Controller.

Whether you want to turn it up to 11 on the PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, or the Nintendo Switch 2, I've gathered all four of the Kramer Wireless Guitar Controller bundles down below for you to choose from. If you're a physical game fan, just be warned that only the PS5 copy has a physical disc. PC, Xbox and Ninty game fans will have to be comfortable rocking out with a digital game code, though you'll still get that physical guitar gamepad with its hall effect strum bar and customizability via the Stage Tour app to enjoy.

If you don't want to buy yet another guitar controller (particularly if you grew up with Guitar Hero and Rockband and have enough plastic instruments at your disposal), the developers at RedOctane haven't left you out. The official Stage Tour FAQ states that the studio wanted to keep the "barrier to entry for Stage Tour as low as possible" by including support for as many instrument controllers as possible.

According to the studio, CRKD guitars and controllers like the PDP Riffmaster and even Rock Band 4 instruments will work natively with Stage Tour on the platforms the instruments were intended for. Eg, if you have the PlayStation Riffmaster controller, it will be compatible with the PS5 version of Stage Tour.

Better yet, you don't have to just stick to playing guitar. The official Stage Tour online store also has a Stage Tour Microphone and Stage Tour Drum Kit available starting from $19.99 (Stage Tour), so you have your pick of plastic instruments to annoy your neighbors with.

Just make sure that if you don't pick up a bundle, like the Stage Tour Game + Band Kit Bundle for $299.99 (Stage Tour) or one of the bundles above, that you grab the game separately when it launches in December later this year. A digital pre-order date hasn't yet been announced, but I'll update this page when it's ready to take the stage.

Stage Tour FAQ

We're also rounding up the latest Marvel's Wolverine pre-orders and showing you where you can grab the Marvel's Wolverine special edition console and controller for your setup.

What brings Geralt out of retirement for The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past? The last time we saw The White Wolf, at the end of Blood & Wine, he was preparing to settle down for his retirement in Toussaint. Now, he's been dragged to a whole new corner of the continent for a new expansion that CD Projekt Red says will rival The Witcher 3's original two. The catalyst, as with many of Geralt's (mis)adventures, is his chaotic friendship with Dandelion

Specifically in Songs of the Past, however, that's Dandelion in his role Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove. At the start of my hands-off demo, Geralt has traveled to his friend's noble seat in Letten. Waking up after a wild night of partying to celebrate the Belleteyn, it's immediately clear that something is wrong. Dandelion is missing, he's lost his flute, and a threatening dream suggests to Geralt that this is no ordinary hangover.

Heading to Dandelion's family estate for breakfast, Geralt's fears for his friend are founded further by a heated conversation between his grandmother, and Dandelion's cousin, Lilla. She links Dandelion's absence with the details from Geralt's dream, pointing directly towards the mysterious Garden of Thorns and a scandal that engulfed a distant ancestor, and it's not long before Lilla and Geralt are riding off in search of Dandelion.

Thorny subject

In this scripted demo, there's relatively little chance to explore Letten itself, but lead level designer Miles Tost says it's a "fully realized open-world which you can explore freely". It's similar in scale to Blood & Wine, and there's a comparably dreamy, fairytale feeling to this new region to what we saw in Toussaint. At the same time, Tost says that there's a desire to bring this 11-year-old game into a more modern era. The new features that are launching with The Witcher 3 Remastered are most keenly seen in combat, but Letten also looks better than I remember the base game looking, with improved lighting and vastly denser environments bringing its villages to life even as you gallop through them.

That vibrancy is something The Witcher 3 has always done well, but it's clear CDPR has pushed it further here. Tost suggests that NPCs have more detailed routines and more dialogue. The world around Letten is teeming with the stories of the night before as Geralt rides Roach through its lakeside villages, inspired this time by the countryside of England and southern Poland. As the fog rises slowly off the lake and the sunlight diffuses gently through it as partygoers drag themselves back to their daily lives, Songs of the Past harks back to The Witcher 3's greatest strengths while bringing it forward into a new era.

That's felt later on too, as Geralt's monster-slaying silver sword is put to work. In the Garden of Thorns, it's very little time before the local flora and fauna turn against the new arrivals. All three fights I'm shown in Songs of the Past offer something fresh – even the one enemy type that's reminiscent of a Drowner or Nekker has a signature mechanic that requires Geralt to work around its core identity. Thankfully, Geralt has some new moves of his own. Some are subtle – improved combat animations and camera angles let his signature pirouette-style swordplay shine through while helping combat flow a little more naturally. Others are baked into the wider game – an overhauled upgrade system is now far more like an actual skill tree than a linear upgrade path.

Others still are new toys entirely. Geralt's chain – a nod to his very first adventure in the books and a mechanic cut from The Witcher 1 – is an alternative to the base game's crossbows. Flinging it out towards enemies drags them towards Geralt, closing gaps against ranged foes or, in this instance, dragging them out of their defenses to quickly dispatch them.

As Geralt and Lilla move through the garden, there's a sense of how it fits into the wider world of Letten and Songs of the Past. At one point, stumped by a riddle, we're shown a dialogue option that implies Geralt might have learned the solution from an NPC somewhere else in the world. Unwilling to dwell on the puzzle for too long, he hacks his way through the obstacle before him regardless, Doug Cockle's dry portrayal of Geralt's funnier side is as witty as ever. Later on, there's even a hint at a new romance, but we don't get to take that dialogue option, Tost explaining that he's Team Yen all the way.

The real test of Songs of the Past will come when we're let loose within its open world, that being the true test of whether CDPR has managed to recapture the magic of its RPG despite the intervening years. But, what I've seen so far is a very promising start. Even this story-based section seems to fit seamlessly into the existing world of The Witcher 3, while the upcoming remaster's features push much of what made the original game so special even further – and attempt to tighten up its weaker elements.

A new expansion a decade after the last update is the kind of thing very few studios would dare attempt. Even fewer would manage to pull it off. But, combined with the remaster's improvements, the scope of Songs of the Past currently looks set to make this a worthy new addition to The Witcher 3's enviable legacy.

Check out our best RPGs ranking to decide witch to play next!

Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi says that the Gamescom announcements and trailer reveal for the final entry Final Fantasy 7 Revelation "marks the beginning" of fresh information about the game.

First unveiled at Summer Game Fest in June 2026, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's Gamescom trailer is just the second released for the long-awaited game. However, Hamaguchi took to Twitter after the show to explain that the latest trailer is just the beginning of the game's upcoming announcements, with many more expected before the game's release early next year.

In the tweet, Hamaguchi says that the Opening Night Live trailer "marks the beginning of our information rollout," and continues that the team will "be sharing much more in the months ahead." While there is still plenty of time before Revelation's launch, we can expect a lot more information in the future.

The tweet is written in both English and Japanese and contains mostly the same information. The main difference between the two is that the English mentions information coming "in the months ahead," whereas the Japanese is vaguer about the time frame. However, distinctions like this are not uncommon, as Japanese is more contextual.

If you were titillated by the latest reveals from Gamescom, then it seems you will continue to eat well in the coming months.

Zack Fair has an even bigger role in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, series director Naoki Hamaguchi says

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered was the big "one more thing" announcement closing out today's Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase, and while there's an extremely wide array of new features in this release, one stands out above all the others: better combat. The often limp, floaty fighting of the 2015 original has been a sticking point since launch, and it seems that's a key point of emphasis in this remaster.

"Feel every swing, sign, and dodge like never before," the remaster's official website promises in the "improved combat" section. "With revamped animations, brutal new finishers, and an adaptive camera, the action feels more dynamic, fluid, and kinetic."

All good stuff, even if it is a bit vague. The trailer is slightly more detailed, noting additions like "new Witcher signs FX" and "enhanced monster behaviors." Add to that "revamped mount handling" and "improved traversal and movement" and you have a game that should feel a whole lot better in its moment-to-moment action.

Of course, lightweight combat was never really an obstacle to my enjoyment of The Witcher 3 around its original launch, and it hasn't stopped the game from being widely regarded as one of the best RPGs of all time. But it's good to see that, if CD Projekt Red is taking the time to polish up The Witcher 3 for a new remaster, it's giving some extra attention to one of the game's weaker elements.

We should get a better sense of what to expect from these changes soon enough, as CD Projekt Red is hosting a series of streams offering a look at the upcoming Songs of the Past DLC as well as the new remaster features, and an extended demo will be presented to players at Gamescom. The rest of us will have to wait until September 29 to go hands-on with the remaster, which will arrive as a free upgrade to all existing Witcher 3 owners on current-gen platforms.

The Witcher 3's Songs of the Past DLC includes a nod to CD Projekt Red's original 2007 RPG and its source books as Geralt wields a new silver chain.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered was the big surprise at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026, with CD Projekt Red bringing a shotgun blast of upgrades to all players in a free update coming September 29.

The headliners include updated combat, enhanced visuals, and polished movement, but the remaster's reveal trailer also crammed in a staggering 30 improvements that sound mighty impactful. Depending on how you play or what you care about, these might even be among the most important bits.

Here's the list of additions and upgrades teased in the extremely brief "and more" section of the reveal trailer.

• Cross-platform mod support
• Immersive meditation
• Refined animations
• New quest tracking
• UI improvements
• Looting rework
• Refreshed motion blur
• New accessibility features
• Updated textures
• Foliage shading rework
• Tutorial modernization
• HDR improvements
• GTAO
• Improved menu navigation
• Ray tracing improvements
• Global lighting rework
• New shading model
• Subsurface scattering
• New tone mapper
• PS5 Pro support
• Xbox Play Anywhere support
• Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive features
• Nvidia DLSS 4.5
• AMD FSR 4
• Intel XESS 2.0
• Path tracing on PC
• Ray reconstruction on PC
• Raytraced hair
• Native DX12
• Rendering parallelization

Whew. I've parsed a lot of marketing gobbledygook in 13 years of game journalism, and this is one of those rare instances where the phrase "and so much more" actually feels pretty earned.

The shape and scope of a lot of this remains to be seen, and graphical bells and whistles like path tracing can be swept under the "upgraded visuals" umbrella, but this is a pretty substantial list. I'm especially excited by the new quest tracking, UI improvements, looting rework, and menu navigation. The combat and skill tree polish is nice in an obvious way, but depending on how they shake out, these UI fixes could have an even bigger cumulative effect on your average Witcher 3 playthrough.

The Witcher 3's Songs of the Past DLC includes a nod to CD Projekt Red's original 2007 RPG and its source books as Geralt wields a new silver chain.

Tonight's big Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 showcase provided us with a neat glimpse of many, many exciting new games underway – and, perhaps best of all, The Witcher 3's own big Songs of the Past DLC.

Yep, we actually have finally seen Geralt front and center in the DLC, and I couldn't be more excited after watching CD Projekt Red's new teaser trailer myself. It contains a first look at the protagonist wielding silver chains – a weapon he hasn't used since the opening of the original 2007 Witcher RPG, nearly two decades ago now.

It's kind of a huge deal, to say the least, seeing as we've only witnessed Geralt with a silver chain in that cinematic and in The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski, where he used one against Adda when she was reborn as a Striga.

That's not all we see of Songs of the Past, either. Those Belleteyn theories that had folks convinced we'd finally get to experience the massive celebratory fertility festival (you know, Beltane, basically)?

It sure looks like they're ringing true, as Geralt can be seen in the midst of Belleteyn's festivities in CD Projekt Red's new trailer. Yet another first (sort of, anyway, seeing as we never got to actually wield chains ourselves) for Witcher gamers – and I'm so here for it.

The DLC isn't the only exciting news we got at Gamescom 2026 about The Witcher 3, however. We also got to see The Witcher 3 Remastered (yes, you read that right) in action, with all of its improved visuals, combat tweaks, reworked skill trees, and much more. It's never been a better time to be a Witcher stan, basically.

All of this and the fact that The Witcher 4 is still underway, too – along with the other upcoming CD Projekt Red games, of course. Please don't pinch me if this is all a silly little dream... I don't want to wake up.

The Witcher 3 devs tried to give NPCs "fear reactions" but it got cut after a few horrifying weeks when "women were just dropping their babies, left and right"

Our new look at Final Fantasy 7 Revelation at Gamescom Opening Night Live was brief, but it did give us our first look at several of the finale's big Weapon fights. After months of speculation, Ruby Weapon, Emerald Weapon, and Ultima Weapon have all made their big debut, and these epic battles are looking spectacular so far.

We caught a brief glimpse of Emerald Weapon during a cutscene in Rebirth, but it appears the creature will play a much bigger role in Revelation, in line with the structure of the original game. Notably, the trailer shows what appears to be a real-time submarine fight against Emerald Weapon, which is certainly an expansion on its original appearance.

You can see all three creatures, and plenty more teasers on what to expect from Revelation, in the trailer below.

While the submarine did factor into the original Emerald Weapon fight in FF7, since it's how you reached the creature in the first place, there wasn't much in the way of direct combat aboard the vehicle. Director Naoki Hamaguchi previously alluded to the possibility of minigames at various points in these big fights, but he also told us that the main combat system would be "at the base" of the important battles. I'd say it's safe to expect that we'll be disembarking the sub to face Emerald Weapon directly by the end.

Notably, this is also our first look at Ultima Weapon (and yes, it's Ultima rather than Ultimate, as it's named in the original game). Fans were previously looking at free-to-play spin-offs for a potential hint at Ultima Weapon's design, but it looks like Revelation's take is a little different from that last iteration. We'll see it in full this spring.

Stay with us for more as the Gamescom 2026 schedule rolls on.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is coming September 29, bringing sweeping graphical and mechanical improvements to the storied RPG. It will be a free upgrade to all existing owners on PC and consoles.

Developer CD Projekt Red announced The Witcher 3's surprise remaster at today's Gamescom Opening Night Live show alongside a brief look at upcoming expansion Songs of the Past.

Remaster may be selling it short. CD Projekt Red teases "upgraded visuals, enhanced combat, improved traversal and movement, new Witcher sign [effects], revamped mount handling, enhanced monster behaviors, skill tree revamp, transmogrification, expanded photo mode, new finishers, and so much more."

All The Witcher 3 expansions will also be included with the remaster, as everyone's getting Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine for free today, August 25.

Level design lead Miles Tost took the stage at Gamescom to discuss this big Witcher push from CDPR. "You can tell that the team definitely poured their hearts into this one. It's this huge privilege for me to stand here and represent them," he says.

"Features! My favorite one is the visuals. New textures, updated rendering, advanced path tracing, foliage, you name it," he continues. "Geralt has never looked this good, even after all those years of retirement.

"The other thing, definitely: combat. It's more modern, smooth, and precise. We updated [the] camera, targeting system, added new animations, and what I like a lot, new finishers. And then, last one: The Witcher 3's a full-fledged RPG right? So we've completely revamped the ability system to give players more options."

Warlock, the next big D&D game to come after Baldur's Gate 3, just showed off nearly 10 minutes of its Dragon's Dogma-style gameplay – and I can't wait to play next year.

After months of rumors, Paradox Interactive has revealed that Lego Skylines is the real deal, with the city builder franchise's collab with Lego being revealed at Gamescom 2026.

Back in May, the Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea (the nation's ratings board like PEGI or ESRB) rated a number of titles that are set to release in the near future ahead of their reveals at Summer Game Fest, like Persona 4 Revival, Ace Combat 8, Gears of War E-Day, and Castlevania: Belmont's Curse. However, nestled in there was an unannounced title from Paradox Interactive titled "Lego Skylines," with many putting two and two together that it would be a Lego version of its city builder franchise Cities Skylines.

And now, as a part of Gamescom Opening Night Live, we finally have confirmation that, yes, Lego Skylines is real. Developed by current Cities: Skylines 2 developer Iceflake Studios (the original developer Colossal Order stepped away from the franchise at the end of last year), Lego Skylines is pretty much exactly what you would expect: a cozy city builder game except this time with minifigs and bricks instead of… a different kind of bricks?

As someone who has a deep love for the pre-Lego Star Wars era of original Lego games not linked to any franchise like Rock Raiders, Lego Island, and Lego Stunt Rally, I'm immediately down for Lego Skylines. In fact, I'm shocked that a Lego variant on the Sim City formula hasn't been made before now.

Sadly, the trailer didn't show much aside from a shocked fisherman watching some Lego buildings being made, but the vibes are certainly similar to those classic Lego games. The game has been confirmed for PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2, but unfortunately there's no release date just yet.

Here are the best sim games you can play right now while you wait for Lego Skylines

Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel have confirmed that Mewgenics is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 in two weeks on September 8, 2026.

Out of the best games of 2026, the macabre strategy game roguelike slash cat-breeding simulator Mewgenics is still at the top of my list. It was no surprise, given that McMillen's previous game The Binding of Isaac is one of the best roguelike games of all time. But so far I've been bound to playing the game on my desktop PC, because if I had access to the moreish gameplay loop of Mewgenics on a portable, I'd have 100% put in way more time than the almost-200 hours I put into it.

At Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026, we were treated to a performance of Guillotina – one of the many feline-based songs featured in 2026's best soundtrack – by Ridiculon. This was alongside Geoff announcing that Mewgenics' long-awaited console ports are coming out in just two weeks on September 8, 2026 after being confirmed earlier this year.

At least, it was supposed to be the announcement, but both the Xbox Store and Nintendo eShop spilled the beans earlier today with store pages for the game appearing on both platforms. However, the PS5 store page didn't leak, at least, so that's new news! Unfortunately, there's no update on cross-save, so I fear I'll need to start my journey again if I want to have my favorite game of 2026 on the go. And while DLC is on the way we unfortunately got no news about its first expansion.

Check out our full Mewgenics review to find out why it's "a worthy successor to The Binding of Isaac."

I first caught wind of Mariachi Legends almost three years ago. I'm the furthest thing from a Metroidvania sicko there is, but I just couldn't resist this one for one big reason: Mexican food. Mariachi Legends is heavily inspired by Mexican folklore and prominently features traditional Mexican cuisine, and just like that it's been on my radar ever since. Now, it has a release date: April 27, 2027.

A new trailer for Mariachi Legends debuted during Gamescom Opening Night Live, and the game looks better than ever. The pixel art continues to massage my eyeballs with idyllic representations of bustling Mexican street markets and traditional architecture, combat animations look slick as all hell, and once again, the food. I am so hungry after watching this trailer, and I'm so happy it's Taco Tuesday.

Kyle Bosman, the host of today's pre-show, caught up with Mariachi Legends creative director Miguel Hasson following the trailer's debut, and Hasson opened up a little about the inspirations behind a Mexican folklore-inspired Metroidvania, saying "Alucard's suit is like 90% of a mariachi suit already," and you know what, fair play to him.

I'm also fascinated by the story of the real-life Mexican town that inspired Mariachi Legends. Hasson says his mother is from a town called Mascota, which in 2015 was declared a Pueblo Mágico, or magic town, a place in Mexico of deep cultural importance. Hasson says Mariachi Legends will be the first time any such place has been adapted for games, which is just really, really special.

Finally, to bring things full circle, Hasson says the cooking element allows you to concoct beautiful Mexican dishes that will make you "ridiculously overpowered" when you enter boss fights. I can't say I feel particularly OP after stuffing my face full of tamales and birria, but damn it if my soul isn't happy.

Here are the best Metroidvanias you can play right now.

Now that we're one year removed from Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, a remake of 2004's The Legend of Heroes, Falcom is keen to carry on the same path. A direct sequel is coming, and more are on the way, it's just a matter of what those games will look like.

Toshihiro Kondo, the company's president, spoke about the current strategy in an interview with Gungho. "Since the Trails series has continued for over 20 years, I know it's not always easy to jump in from the latest title," he says, in a clip posted on Twitter.

"That's why we made Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter with beginners in mind, and our hope was for it to serve as an introduction to RPGs and JRPGs in general," he continues. "So seeing new players actually pick it up has been extremely encouraging for us."

It's a smart move. The Trails series isn't the most well-known in the RPG space when compared to the likes of Dragon Quest, Yakuza, or the monolithic Final Fantasy, and it's important for any ongoing franchise to create jumping on points.

This one worked, leading to Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter getting the go ahead. Now, there's a fork in the road: 3rd Chapter, or something else?

"2nd Chapter's development is now in its final stages, and the development team is already asking me if we're going to remake Trails in the Sky the 3rd or Trails from Zero next," he adds. "For newer fans, jumping from 2nd Chapter to the latest titles in the series, Trails Beyond the Horizon, I think, will still be a bit difficult, so in order for those players to continue enjoying the Trails series, we're hoping to continue the remakes for a while."

Why get in the way of a good thing? As you can probably guess, Trails from Zero is a prequel, which would contribute to the lore for newbies. Whichever is chosen, I bet it'll go down a storm, because once you're a JRPG sicko, you're always a JRPG sicko.

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii says AI "hardly ever makes things up" anymore, even if it once made up that he works for Nintendo

Lies of P director Jiwon Choi says that Nough Studio didn't consider launching the game's complete edition as a game-key card on Switch 2 as everyone at the company is a "proud gamer."

There has been a lot of discussion about physical versus digital games, particularly since PlayStation announced that it would end physical disc production, before emailing PS5 players to remind them they don't own their digital games. Essentially, the question of game ownership is on everyone's lips with new topics around the subject arising every day.

For Choi and his team, only having a digital version of their game available for Switch 2 players was apparently not a consideration. In an interview with RPG Site, Choi explains how the team always planned to include Lies of P: Complete Edition on the Switch 2 cartridge. "We actually decided on a standard physical release with the full game on the cart at the same time we decided to port the game to the Switch 2," he says.

"Everyone at Nough Studio is a proud gamer, which is why our studio slogan is 'Games by Gamers,'" he continues. "For us, preparing a physical edition of Lies of P that includes both the base game and Overture on the cartridge was a natural choice. We really want it to feel like a gift to our fans, so we’re putting a lot of care into it."

One of the points of contention for fans of physical games, is that digital games are difficult to resell and to give to others as gifts. It seems that Choi and his team understand how many people still treasure their physical games.

3 years after the best Soulslike not by FromSoftware, Lies of P leads feel "pressure" to make the sequel even better

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii admits he's a fan of AI and of how much it's evolved over the years, saying it "hardly ever makes things up" anymore. He made these comments after being asked about the Gemini-powered chatbot that was recently added to the series' MMO.

The Dragon Quest series is credited with having one of gaming's first AI systems: in 1990's Dragon Quest 4, the player could give party members general instructions, and the AI then selected actions for each one. However, the series' latest implementation of AI has been far less popular.

Dragon Quest 10, the series Japanese-exclusive MMO, recently launched its seventh and final expansion, Lost Children of Time and Space, with a divisive addition. The expansion included a companion called Oshaberi Slimey – literally talkative Slimey – one of Dragon Quest's iconic blue slimes in a jester's hat. However, fans were disappointed to hear that Slimey works by using a Google Gemini-powered chatbot.

In an interview with Famitsu that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Horii explains his choice to implement Slimey and his opinions on AI in general. "Because nowadays AI is really smart, it's fun," he says. "It doesn't matter what I ask it, it hardly ever makes things up [anymore]."

AI often has issues with factual accuracy, as it often gives users an answer even if it doesn't have the necessary information. The game designer who is most commonly associated with Square Enix has had a similar experience. "Quite some time ago I asked AI about myself and it said I was 'a Nintendo employee,'" he says with a laugh.

He goes on to defend AI by saying, "It's evolving, and lately there are a lot of things you can do with it. Slimey is a conversational partner, so I think it lowers the barrier of entry to interacting with AI."

Like Final Fantasy 7 Revelation boss, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii worries live streams may not actually sell games: "Some people will be satisfied by just watching"

Square Enix has detailed what we can expect from Final Fantasy Resonance's endgame trials, and it's sounding like everything a classic Final Fantasy should have and everything Final Fantasy 16's post-game could've benefited from.

Ahead of Gamescom Opening Night Live, Square Enix dropped a bunch of new screenshots from the first-ever HD-2D game in the series with fresh looks at the RPG's main cast, its gorgeous art style, and some of the classic Final Fantasy characters that can pop up to support you in battle - not yet including the series' most memorable hero, Ariana Grande.

But the most notable bit of info comes from a press kit dedicated to the game's completionist content. Top of the list are optional monsters and secret dungeons dotted across Final Fantasy Resonance's world map. Square Enix says these are completely "unrelated to the main story" and are built for players looking to "test their mettle" in extra-tough battles, per a recent press kit.

Slaying some of those tucked-away monsters will reward you with Magicite, the material that's used to unlock and upgrade those cameo Final Fantasy heroes. Pretty crucial for anyone looking to stock up on nostalgia and buddy up with all of the series' protagonists, then.

We also got new looks at Gilgamesh, the multi-armed swordsman who promises to repeatedly pester us across the adventure in a similar fashion to his recurring role in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. "A final battle awaits on a distinctly big bridge," Square Enix teases.

Then there's the "most formidable of foes" that waits near the end of the game: Ultima Weapon, the superboss that's frequently kicked many a Final Fantasy fan's butt over several decades and games. The fight apparently demands "perfect preparation," and our party will need to be at its best before taking on the massive baddie.

While Square Enix might have shown off a little too much from Final Fantasy Resonance's supposedly "secret" endgame content - I'm hoping for at least one or two superbosses we haven't heard about yet - it's still a major improvement over the last mainline game in the series, Final Fantasy 16, which had me practically starving for a real tough challenge or shocking surprise once the credits rolled. Until its two expansions eventually remedied that, at least.

Final Fantasy Resonance calls back to the JRPG series' most sweat-inducing challenge with the jump rope minigame from Final Fantasy 9

Dragon Quest creator and industry legend Yuri Horii says that he doesn't understand how live streaming games has become so popular, and he wonders if the practice helps advertise games or not. He believes that streaming fans are the result of a new type of light, or casual, gamer who just wants to see what a game is about without playing it themselves.

In an interview with Famitsu that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Horii discusses how much player tastes have changed when it comes to the types of experiences people seek out with games. He believes the gaming audience has split into two distinct categories: core gamers who want to know everything about their games, and casual gamers who skip through and want to finish quickly.

"In terms of more casual gamers, people have increasingly enjoyed game live streaming," Horii says. "In the past, just watching people play games all the time was not seen as a form of entertainment. Though saying that, I used to watch my friends play over their shoulders. But now live streaming has become really popular."

Displaying some truly powerful 'back in my day' energy, Horii admits that he doesn't understand the allure of watching someone else play a game over playing it yourself, even if the streamer adds interesting commentary. "It used to be unthinkable that the player would be the funny one and attract fans rather than the game," he says.

However, while the rise of live streaming means that developers now have a much bigger potential audience for their games, Horii is still unsure if it works as a marketing strategy. "It's really interesting to see how people play the games you made," he says. "But I don't know if it works as a marketing tool. Some people will be satisfied by just watching the live stream, and some will want to play after seeing it. I'm really not sure yet."

A similar sentiment was echoed earlier this year by Final Fantasy 7 Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi, who believes that streamers have changed gaming forever. He says that during development it's important to consider making games that people want to play rather than just watch.

Dragon Quest 9 has been trapped on the Nintendo DS for 17 years, and franchise creator Yuji Horii was "a little disheartened" to learn fans never wanted that.

Nintendo is launching two Switch 2 bundles this Fall season, with a very familiar Mario Kart World bundle back on the shelves in late September and a new Switch Sports Resort package following on October 22. Both offers come with an additional extra compared to the Nintendo Switch bundle deals we've traditionally seen in the past, with 90 days of Nintendo Switch Online (an Individual subscription) included in the box as well.

Still, those dates fall well after the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 price hike, pushing these offers to more expensive heights. After September 1, a Nintendo Switch 2 will cost $499.99 (currently it's still available for $449.99 at Amazon), whereas these bundles are slated for a $549.99 price tag (for Mario Kart) or $529.99 for the Switch Sports Resort option. That means you're saving between $37.98 and $27.98 depending on the game of your choice, with that Switch Online sub included.

What to do, what to do.

Well, I've been banging this drum long enough I might as well keep going as that pricing clock ticks down. If you were planning on picking up a Switch 2 at any point this year (yes, let's cast our minds forwards to Christmas for a moment) I'd seriously recommend doing so before that September 1 cut-off. Today's bundle announcement will be nice for those who missed their cheaper window, but if you can get in before we get close to $500 it's still worth doing so.

Right now that $449.99 price of the Switch 2 allows for a $79 (Amazon) purchase of Mario Kart World while still coming under the $549.99 rate we'll be facing in September. You're spending $528.99 on both the system and game today, even throwing in the 90 days of Switch Online only takes us up to $536.98.

Once those prices increase, these new Nintendo Switch 2 bundles will represent a solid saving for those who missed out on the original MSRP. You're only adding about $15 compared to today's rates after all. However, if you can get in before the cut-off, that's still a bundle of change in your back pocket.

Via Business Wire

• See all Nintendo Switch 2 deals at Amazon

If you're looking to reinvest that spare change right back into your setup, check out the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories we've tested so far, including the best Nintendo Switch 2 cases and best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers.

Kingdom Hearts is celebrating its 25th anniversary next year with the release of Kingdom Hearts 4. While it doesn't have a release date yet, it was also revealed that a Kingdom Hearts animated series is in development for Disney's streaming platforms. However, this is apparently just the beginning of the franchise's plans, according to Disney's director of games, Nana Gadd.

In an interview with 4Gamer that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Gadd discussed the new Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer and anime announcement that were part of Disney's biennial fan convention D23. The series, which features a mash-up of Disney and Final Fantasy characters with original roles sprinkled in, is already known for its expansiveness, but it seems Disney is eager for more.

So far, Kingdom Hearts has been mostly focused on gaming, with over a dozen releases spanning a wide range of genres. While there are also manga and light novels, the majority of the fandom focuses on video games. However, with the announcement of the animated series, it's clear that Disney is hoping to expand.

"Even though Kingdom Hearts has been around for 25 years, there are so many things we want to do," says Gadd. "The announcement of the animated series is truly just the first step."

The franchise is already known for its complicated story, where you need to experience every piece of media just to have a hope of figuring it out. With that in mind, this statement has an exciting yet threatening aura.

Kingdom Hearts 4 features Pixar's Coco because Tetsuya Nomura thought it "would be the best world" for Sora's story

The Pokemon Company International has appointed series veteran James Turner as the new creative director of Pokemon art and design.

Turner shared the news on Twitter. "It feels great to be working in the world of Pokémon again, with a lovely group of people," he says. "I’m very excited about what comes next!"

Though Turner is most recently known for indie hit The Plucky Squire, made by All Possible Futures, a studio which Turner co-led, his history with Pokemon goes back generations.

Per Bulbapedia (and Mobygames credits), Turner worked with Game Freak on multiple Pokemon games dating back to Pokemon Black and White. Not only that, he directed Tembo the Badass Elephant, one of the stranger non-Pokemon games to come from the studio.

Game Freak only recently released Beast of Reincarnation, an action RPG with a more realistic art style. Our Beast of Reincarnation review praises its combat and, very appropriately for the Pokemon studio, its big ol' dog.

Turner was credited as a Pokemon character designer on Pokemon Black and White, X and Y, Sun and Moon, and Sword and Shield. He was also art director on Sword and Shield, and has dabbled in digital movie and effect design as well as 3D map graphics for the series.

Turner's earliest Pokemon credit was 2003's Pokemon Colosseum, for which he handled camera animation and contributed some special effects. You'll also find a few Pokemon cards under his name on The Art of Pokemon.

Our The Plucky Squire review had high praise for All Possible Futures' 2D-meets-3D puzzle adventure. It sees storybook characters explore the world outside their pages, and was a high point for publisher Devolver Digital in 2024. Its art style, which used segmented lines and delivered a charming, illustrated look, is a recurring point of praise across its reviews.

Pokemon Winds and Waves might not have turn-based battles as Game Freak veteran hints the combat system "could change" thanks to Pokemon Champions.

After three long decades, Terranigma is finally getting a modern re-release. The Super Nintendo JRPG, which was developed by Quintet and published by Enix in 1995, was never released in North America and had never been re-released on a later platform. But now, publisher Clear River Games is bringing the beloved classic to modern consoles and PC.

The new version of Terranigma will be released on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, Steam, and GOG in "early 2027," according to a press release.

Judging by the first trailer and Steam page, this will be a re-release that preserves the original game's look, feel, and gameplay – though the announcement notes that this version "thoughtfully adds to the original masterpiece, bringing a host of upgrades, tweaks and bonus features, designed to make the best, better still and provide an ideal point of entry for modern gamers."

Terranigma is an action RPG where you play as a boy who resurrects the Earth, charting its history from primordial evolution up through the modern day. Developer Quintet was known for Super NES classics like ActRaiser and Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma is widely regarded as one of the best RPGs ever released on the platform. A shame, then, that its worldwide release was so limited.

Unlike many cult classic JRPGs, Terranigma actually was released outside of Japan – just not in North America. Nintendo published the game in Europe and Australia late in 1996, but by that time the gaming world was already obsessed with the newfangled 3D graphics of platforms like the PS1 and N64. Whatever plans might've existed for a North American version were dashed by the closure of Enix's US office, well before the Square merger, in late 1995.

Before the HD era largely standardized television formats worldwide, PAL TVs were fundamentally different from the NTSC televisions used in the US and Japan – most notably in the fact that they refresh 50 times per second instead of 60. That makes Terranigma's PAL-only release a problem for English-speaking players worldwide these days, since it runs at an improper speed that's out of line with the Japanese original.

Numerous fan patches and console mods have given RPG fans ways to play Terranigma over the years, but the rights situation around the game – with part of its ownership tied up with the original developers at Quintet, and part held by the modern Square Enix – meant that it had never gotten an official, modern port. And thus, there was never a way to officially play it in English at the intended 60Hz speed.

“I hope the themes of god and humanity, creation and destruction, and the atmosphere of the world itself resonate with today's players too," original artist Kamui Fujiwara says in the press release. "Not as a relic of the past, but as a living, breathing work. This moment has been long awaited and now it is finally here. I hope you will enjoy it with all your heart.”

Check out more of the best SNES games of all time.

The Duskbloods network test got off to a rough start, with connection issues putting a swift end to the first planned session. I was finally able to play a couple of hours over the weekend – long enough to win a few matches – and rough is the perfect description of my experience. Between significant performance issues, convoluted rules, and frustrating PvP, I really don't like The Duskbloods so far.

If you've played Elden Ring Nightreign, you're halfway to understanding The Duskbloods. This is an eclectic multiplayer action game that combines PvP and PvE with board game-like mechanics. As one of multiple vampiric characters known as Bloodsworn, you spend three rounds gearing up for a finale that pits three players against each other in free-for-all PvP (at least in solo matches).

But the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The PvP and PvE segments in The Duskbloods feel inferior to previous FromSoftware games, and even without those unfavorable comparisons, The Duskbloods test felt measurably awful due to technical problems. I always keep my Switch 2 docked, and I noticed framerate dips, latency issues that sabotaged hit registration, and a jerky camera worsened by an ugly smear effect that muddies the game's otherwise gorgeous world. FromSoftware PvP has been janky since Demon's Souls, and building an entire game around that PvP without resolving the jank has gone exactly as I'd feared.

Night rain

The preparation stage is the bulk of The Duskbloods. To get stronger, you run around the map killing weak enemies, picking up consumable items, hunting elites and bosses called Trespassers, and summoning and strengthening NPC allies called Kin. You'll earn experience to level up, and collect Virtue to stay in the game. Each round will cull a few players with the lowest Virtue, so the scoring feels like outrunning a polar bear with a group: all you have to do is run faster than another guy. You'll also receive bonus health based on your Virtue in the finale, but I was never the top-scorer even in the rounds I won, so I'd say this bonus isn't too powerful.

I've played a lot of Elden Ring Nightreign, and this knowledge worked for and against me. The same core strategies have served me well in The Duskbloods, but also put a little devil on my shoulder. It would whisper doubts in my ear every time the game annoyed me, which was frequently. I fear that little voice is right: maybe this is just a worse version of Nightreign. At least in Nightreign, every repetitive match ends with a cool boss fight. Here, my reward for surviving three rounds of grinding is bad PvP.

This may sound familiar. In round one, I focused on killing basic enemies and grabbing easy upgrades. Different areas of the intensely vertical map lean toward specific reward types, and you're able to pick your spawn point at the start of each round, though you can also freely fast travel all over. If too many people pick the same spawn, some players get randomized.

You'll find weapon enhancements lying around. Some environmental fixtures award Virtue just for interacting with something. Quickly summoning a Kin, who'll level up as you do, is essential. Little blood goblins drop upgrades for your skills, improving their damage or cooldown. This is the low-hanging fruit you want early. At most, I might go after a standard elite enemy in round one to plunder a passive bonus like increased stamina or healing, but fighting anything stronger will just waste time at this stage.

For this test, I played as Albert. He comes with a saber, a submachine gun, and two skills that feel a lot like spells from previous FromSoftware games. The Bloodsworn are said to be pretty customizable in the full game, but the barebones test build came with fixed skills, with one unlocked by leveling up. I'd compare Albert's base skill to the Elden Ring spell Glintstone Arc, which also fires a piercing crescent projectile. His second skill is like a worse Comet Azur: a big laser beam.

Everyone has access to ranged attacks in The Duskbloods, and this is one reason that combat, and especially PvP, didn't click with me. You have an unhinged four jumps, can dodge mid-air, and you can fire your gun while jumping. All of the people in my lobbies quickly deduced that spamming ranged weapons while flying around is an incredibly effective strategy, though everyone does have a blood shield that can block many hits. Duos may fare better, but the finales in solo matches are a mess. It's you, two other Bloodsworn, and three summons chucked into a small arena like marbles in a blender. Skill is not high on the list of factors that determine the winner. Whoever happens to get dogpiled or catch more stray shots is often just out of luck. This feels less like FromSoftware PvP and more like Beyblade.

Player vs problems

The Duskbloods at least opens up in round two. Here, now joined by my summon, I'll start to take on Trespassers, either by hunting them myself or joining fights initiated by other players through an invite system. At the end of each Trespasser hunt, everyone gets bonuses based on their contribution to the fight (seemingly, how much damage you dealt). But even in these encounters, The Duskbloods is hamstrung. I have dodged 10,000 boss attacks in FromSoftware games, and there is just something wrong with this one. I don't know if it's coming from the connection, or hitboxes, or the framerate, but I found it impossible to reliably dodge boss attacks, and there's a similar veneer of clunk all over the combat.

PvP is more centered in rounds two and three. In round one, killing other people seems to just slow down your leveling, though there is an interesting vendetta system that gives you a marked target of sorts. Later rounds spawn tribute sites halfway through. Here, you can pledge red and hunt down fellow players for rewards, or claim a gold area and defend it. Both are key methods of earning Virtue, and the core design is fascinating, but two problems spoiled many tributes for me.

Firstly, the map. Alice: Madness Returns taught us that giving your character four freakin' jumps forces you to blow the maps out, and The Duskbloods is so big and vertical that it is a nightmare to find anything that isn't out in the open. There's a ton of stuff underground, and good luck navigating any of it. Map knowledge will surely help here, but that makes the optimistic assumption that I want to play a lot more of The Duskbloods to learn the ins and outs, and the fact remains that the compass and UI are unhelpful. Also: opening your map mid-round is just asking to get shot.

Secondly, alliances. You can temporarily ally with other players in The Duskbloods. All alliances are disabled for the finale, but they're a key part of the tribute stage. If they're smart, the first two people to reach a tribute site can ally and gain a massive advantage over everyone else. If you thought 1v1v1 PvP was frustrating and hard to parse, try 2v1 on a timer.

So far, The Duskbloods is more interesting than it is fun. If the technical issues present in the test aren't resolved, it's a non-starter. And even if everything is tightened, FromSoftware better have some real heat in reserve. The customization and PvE options discussed by director Hidetaka Miyazaki could help, but I'm not eager to return to The Duskbloods. If only because I love seeing studios make weird stuff, I'm glad this game exists. But this is the first FromSoftware game in 17 years to fiercely and immediately put me off.

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

Gamescom is upon us, and as thousands descend on Cologne, Germany, to get their hands on upcoming games, Geoff Keighley is gearing up to kick off the show with Gamescom Opening Night Live. The two-hour showcase will air on Tuesday before the actual show floor opens later this week, giving us a look at games available at the show and beyond.

While gaming showcases are usually a bit too secretive, we actually have a pretty good idea of what to expect this time around. Headlining the event is a double bill of massive RPGs, with Final Fantasy 7 Revelation set to be getting a new look with director Naoki Hamaguchi set to appear while CD Projekt Red has confirmed it will be giving us a first look at the upcoming expansion to The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past.

Elsewhere, we have had it confirmed that Konami will be showing more of Silent Hill Townfall, Gears of War: E-Day will be making an appearance, and sci-fi title Exodus will be getting a new trailer.

As for what could appear, many are hoping for an update on Resident Evil: Veronica, which was revealed at Keighley's Summer Game Fest showcase. And given the friendship between the two, there's always hope we'll see one of the upcoming Hideo Kojima games, although OD is far more likely than a look at Physint.

The rumor mill also claims we'll be seeing a new game in the Ori series, however, Moon Game Studios CEO Thomas Mahler has shot down these rumors.

Granted, the rumor mill also says that it'll be developed by a new team, as Microsoft owns the IP, so there's a chance it could make an appearance.

When is Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026

Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 will air live on Tuesday, August 25 at 7pm BST / 2pm ET / 11am PT.

However, there will also be a 30-minute pre-show starting at 6:30pm BST / 1:30pm ET / 10:30am PT featuring reveals

Watch the Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 here

The show will air on the Gamescom YouTube channel and The Game Awards YouTube channel simultaneously. We've embedded this above so you can watch from here! And for other showcases coming your way this week, you can find our breakdown in our Gamescom 2026 schedule.

Check out our list of five games we'd like to see at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026

Story of Seasons (previously known as Harvest Moon outside of Japan), the cozy series that inspired Stardew Valley, is returning five years after its last original entry with another gem – and a fresh JRPG spin-off for Rune Factory stans, too.

In case you're out of the loop, Story of Seasons – which used to be Harvest Moon, but is now a separate franchise overseas – hasn't seen the release of a new mainline entry since Pioneers of Olive Town back in 2021.

Sure, we've had remakes and all, like the recent (and, yes, good) Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, but a never-before-seen release? It's been five years, y'all. Turns out developer Marvelous Inc has one up its sleeve, however.

The team confirms as much in a new live stream over on X, unveiling a brand-new Story of Seasons with some downright adorable footage. I'm talking bubbly cows, crystal-blue waters, and a charming seaside town I can't wait to learn more about.

That's not all that Marvelous has in the works, though. It showcases Rune Factory 6 as well, the latest entry in Story of Seasons' spin-off JRPG series… and, yep, it looks just as gorgeous.

As excited as I am for both, the most wholesome part of the stream stands out as a message from Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone – the mastermind behind Stardew Valley himself.

"The Harvest Moon and Rune Factory series are the best games of my life and have played a huge part in shaping who I am today," it reads (as translated in-house by GamesRadar+). "Playing Harvest Moon on the SNES as a child it was obvious that it set itself apart from every other game I had played."

He explains why: "Many games focus on grand adventures, battles, and saving the world, while Harvest Moon presents a very different world, a little life that's centered around farming, the bonds people share, and building a home. It reminds me of the unspoken comforts of slow-paced everyday activities."

That it does, ConcernedApe. That it does – and that's probably why so many of us harbor so much love for it.

We'll likely learn more about both Marvelous projects soon, but for now, I'll be rewatching the live stream over and over again for better glimpses of Story of Seasons' farm animals and Rune Factory 6's chibi little beast-like characters.

Searching for other new games to play? Browse through our roundup of the best games like Stardew Valley to hop into while you wait for Story of Seasons and Rune Factory 6.

Legendary FromSoftware director Hidetaka Miyazaki says he wants The Duskbloods to take a broad approach when it comes to designing the game's Bloodsworn characters. Rather than be constrained by traditional concepts of vampires or monsters, Miyazaki wanted to allow for design like Zork's.

The Duskbloods network test was a huge success, with more people signing up for it than for Nightreign, despite it being a Switch 2 exclusive. There was one part of The Duskbloods that was more popular than all the rest, and that was the heart-stealing diving bell with a beak, Zork.

In a media briefing reported on by 4Gamer, and translated by GamesRadar+, Miyazaki speaks about how he doesn't want people to think of the playable characters or Bloodsworn as vampires. "In this game, the player character isn't a vampire, but something called a Bloodsworn," he says. "We didn't want them to just be monsters, but to give the impression that they are a species with intelligence and philosophy and culture and history."

Describing the game's style as Victorian gothic, he doesn't want the design to be restricted by existing traditional concepts. "Maybe it's just a quirk of mine, but my style of interpretation is basically 'If it's called a Bloodsworn, then it's a Bloodsworn," says Miyazaki. "Having a traditional conception is important, but I think the approach should be broadened when it comes to character design. I think you'll find that easy to understand if you look at Zork from the network test."

Zork's design is clearly inspired by the masks of plague doctors, a type of medicine man who tried to cure patients by letting their blood, with uninspiring results. I guess that's a kind of vampirism in its own way.

FromSoftware knows what it's doing with The Duskbloods character Zork, the internet's new obsession: "I have developed a powerful, almost maternal affection"

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 pre-orders are now live and with two editions up for grabs, a couple of bonuses to choose from, and some early discounts in the UK, things are already heating up ahead of October 23.

Here's what you need to know. Both $69.99 / £69.99 Standard and $99.99 / £99.99 Vault Edition MW4 pre-orders are now available, though retailers are adding their own bonuses onto the former. Amazon's standard edition copies also come with five hours of double XP (at launch) and Best Buy's (Currys in the UK) comes packaged up with a free steelbook. That's if you're not interested in any digital extras.

The Vault Edition is your digital deluxe, available via Xbox or PS Store (or with a Steelbook at Best Buy if you're in the US). The boosted MW4 pre-order comes with:

• Hostile Alliance Operator Pack
• Special Forces Operator Pack
• Signature Weapon Collection
• BlackCell
• DMZ Deployment Bonus
• Hunter Killer Operator Skin
• Gilded Pearl Camo Pack
• Campaign Early Access (October 16)

So here's what I would do. Amazon is your go-to if you're after the standard edition. You're still getting something extra in that double XP, but the site is still currently guaranteeing release day delivery. Best Buy will swap those points for a steelbook, but speedy delivery isn't confirmed as such on the listing itself.

In the UK, you'll be heading to Currys. Amazon is matching the same price, and swapping the steelbook for double XP, but strangely delivery times are a little less concrete at the time of writing. On the flip side, Currys has free release day delivery advertised with that shelf piece as well.

Pre-order Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 in the US

Standard Edition

Vault Edition

Pre-order Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 in the UK

Standard Edition

Vault Edition

We're also rounding up all the latest Marvel's Wolverine pre-orders and showing you where to pre-order Wolverine PS5 consoles, controllers and more.

The roster of Duskbloods characters is certainly a diverse bunch, from pyjama-wearing axe murderer Bloodhand Jan to lumbering deep-sea diver Zork. These characters, or Bloodsworn as they're called in the lore, are vampiric beings from various clans, each bringing their own weapons and abilities to fight for First Blood.

So far, we've only seen six characters thanks to the recent August closed network test for The Duskbloods, but we know there will be more at launch. So, here’s a look at every Duskbloods character that's known and what they do.

All Duskbloods characters

Every Duskbloods character gets a unique melee weapon, ranged attack, two Bloodsworn Skills (one of which is unlocked after reaching a certain level during a match), and two passive Aspects.

Albert

Albert has the simplest kit of all the Bloodsworn characters in The Duskbloods, with a good mix of melee attacks and ranged Skills that make him a jack of all trades. He lacks any fancy options, but it means he's the easiest Duskbloods character to master and you don't have to think too hard when playing as him.

• Weapons:
  • Lorrik's Jeweled Saber: A standard one-handed sword that balances speed and power.
  • SMG: A gun that Albert fires in bursts of eight bullets that becomes much less accurate outside of short range.
• Skills:
  • Blood Blade: Launch a blood projectile. Hold X to increase the projectile's damage.
  • Light of Hayern (Level 12): Shoot a beam of light towards a target, which can be fired continuously by holding X.
• Aspects:
  • High Lorrik Blood: Albert's blood-based Skills start with extra uses. (This presumably means Albert will have more blood Skills outside of Blood Blade in the full version of the game.)
  • Upriser: Albert's attacks stagger enemy players with high Virtue more than usual.

Bloodhand Jan

Jan's fighting style is all about using his agility to outmaneuver your opponents and deliver devastating axe blows. Mastering his movement isn't easy but he can be very hard to kill if played well, especially as he has a couple of ways of regenerating HP too.

• Weapons:
  • Bloodthirsty Axe: A hefty battleaxe that restores a little HP after landing a heavy attack.
  • Stone of Sorcery: Shoot a jet of fire directly ahead, which can also be used while jumping.
• Skills:
  • Blink: Temporarily increase the speed of your dodging.
  • Surrender to my Blood (Level 12): Slam your axe into the ground and cause blood slashes to strike the surrounding nearby area, damaging anyone within.
• Aspects:
  • Bloodhand Lineage: Counterattacking after taking damage restores HP.
  • Lord of Blood: Spellbound foes (NPC enemies that you have drunk the blood of and now fight with you) are healed and have increased attack power.

Trang Lanh

Since being hard to spot is one of Trang Lanh's main abilities, she's good for players who either want to avoid PvP by staying out of sight or fight other players by ambushing them, using stealth to their advantage.

• Weapons:
  • Full Moon Blade: A large, circular blade weapon, like a chakram, that serves as Trang Lanh's melee and ranged weapon as it can be thrown at enemies before returning to her hands. Holding down ZL throws out multiple blades.
• Skills:
  • Darkmoon: Become invisible for a short time. Getting too close to an enemy or attacking makes you more noticeable.
  • Mama Natha (Level 12): Summon a giant snake that quickly attacks the surrounding area and can deal hefty damage. Use the left stick as you press X to command the snake to attack head-on.
• Aspects:
  • Alluring Bride: Drinking an enemy's blood also spellbinds any nearby enemies.
  • Daughter of the Darkmoon: Trang Lanh is naturally harder to spot and target enemies when she is far away.

Sniper Layla

Layla is The Duskbloods' marksman character, capable of dealing high damage from afar using her rifle and gatling gun. As for melee, her Katars aren't as fast as you'd think but you can dodge and use her Neb-ra Vanishing Skill to escape, recuperate, and reposition.

• Weapons:
  • Hieroglyph Katars: A pair of dagger-hands for relatively fast, stabby attacks. Press R and A to perform a special dodge attack.
  • Sniper Rifle: An accurate, long-range rifle that deals significant damage for a ranged weapon. Hold ZL and press in the left stick to aim precisely.
• Skills:
  • Neb-ra Vanishing: Turn into a swarm of insects then move to a nearby location before transforming back. You can activate this Skill immediately after taking damage to rapidly relocate.
  • Verd Gatling Gun (Level 6): Deploy a massive gatling gun with its own ammo supply from Layla's chest. Hold R to fire the gun continuously.
• Aspects:
  • Neb-ra Lineage: Layla naturally regenerates up to half of her maximum HP, but her Goldblood Stakes restore less HP.
  • Nighteye: Layla can lock onto and observe enemies using Observation Mode from further away.

Senator Samir Patres

The Senator is a very deadly close-range fighter, capable of delivering rapid rapier strike combos and unexpectedly grabbing foes with his Saurian Form. He's not the easiest to play but can be a serious menace in the right hands.

• Weapons:
  • Senate Rapier: A fast and agile thrusting sword. Press R and A to perform a special dodge attack, and press R after ZL to perform a rapier follow-up attack after releasing a bird.
  • Soulbird Ring: Release a spectral bird that homes in on enemies.
• Skills:
  • Bloodstake: Create a swamp of blood at an enemy's feet, then cause a massive blood spike to erupt from it. Hold X to cause the swamp to follow the enemy then release to unleash the spike.
  • Saurian Form (Level 6): Temporarily turn into a dinosaur and charge at enemies. Human-sized enemies are grabbed in the dinosaur's jaws and chewed up. You can also press R to headbutt enemies and press X again to end the transformation early.
• Aspects:
  • Blood Disciple: Lowers required Skill level.
  • Unshakeable Sword: Perfect guarding increases melee attack power.

Zork

Zork's huge bulk mean they are slow to attack but hit like a truck. Their cable weapon is very strong and is especially good if you're able to land stunning heavy attacks, but your timing needs to be immaculate. Similarly, the Human Rocket Skill, while difficult to land, can be utterly brutal.

• Weapons:
  • Undersea Cable: A massive chunk of cable that you can wallop enemies with. Heavy attacks can also shock enemies, stunning them in place.
  • Speargun: A simple ranged weapon that can be charged up by holding ZL before firing.
• Skills:
  • Human Rocket: Deploy Zork's thrusters and launch yourself forward at incredibly high-speed. Enemies hit by this usually take significant damage and stagger and are sent flying backward.
  • Missile (Level 6): Deploys Zork's back-mounted cannons which can fire arcing, mortar-like shells. Hold R to fire missiles continuously, press the left stick to aim them more precisely, and press X to stow the cannons.
• Aspects:
  • Law of the Deep Sea: Killing an enemy player steals part of their maximum HP. If they kill you, they get their HP back.
  • Dread Resonance: Hold L and ZR to perform a longer howl.

Unknown Duskbloods characters

There are also a few characters that we've seen glimpses of in The Duskbloods reveal trailer, but they did not feature in the closed network test, so very little is known about them:

• Black leather guy: Clad in a black suit and wielding a katana, this certified edgelord may serve as The Duskblood's equivalent of the Executor from Elden Ring Nightreign, using a curved sword for parrying rather than blocking with a shield.

• Blue coat person: This person reminds me a bit of the sweeting students that feature in Rannala's boss fight in Elden Ring, and we see them using some sort of gravity magic to lift and drop nearby foes.

• Oni: This oni-looking character with a long polearm-type weapon slung on their back appears in a single shot in the reveal trailer. They may be an enemy instead of a playable Bloodsworn.

If you were hoping to play The Duskbloods on PC, PS5, or Xbox Series X, I've got bad news for you.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The Elder Scrolls 6, rumored to be called Sentinel, will be out… Uh, at some point, despite being teased back in 2019. Uncertain title aside, one of the very few things we do know about The Elder Scrolls 6 is that it will be running on yet another incarnation of Bethesda's proprietary Creation Engine, as will Fallout 5 after that.

Ah, the Creation Engine! The foundational code for every game Bethesda has made since Skyrim – and arguably earlier, having been built off elements of the code used for Fallout 3 in 2008. I'm not here to litigate whether that's overall a good thing for Bethesda's work. Creation Engine has its advantages and disadvantages, like any engine, some of which impact players and others that benefit those on the development side.

I admit I've found Bethesda's games in recent years to have a clunky, archaic quality that's getting less charming every time. I can't say how much of that is down to Creation Engine itself and how much is just Bethesda's notorious jank, but it's high time that Creation Engine gets pushed to its limit in the next Elder Scrolls game to deliver a more refined action experience.

Very gouda

One defense of Creation Engine that I've seen often is regarding its memory and the way it handles object placement.

Yes, loading screens on every door might be a bit tiresome to some, but that compartmentalization of data (as I understand it), means you can do the whole "place 1000 cheeses and/or sweetrolls on the king's head" shtick, and Skyrim will remember the exact location of every single one for the rest of your playthrough. It'll even make a fair attempt at mimicking the physics involved in large cheese piles!

While this elasticity is definitely good for modders, I don't think Bethesda has fully taken advantage of this quality when it comes to the vanilla gameplay experience yet. Yes, it's noticeably there when a grenade blast flings loose objects around in Starfield. But it's often tertiary, if involved at all.

Meanwhile, look at Half-Life 2 as a counter-example. When Valve debuted its revolutionary physics engine, the system was completely built around players understanding and exploiting it, whether in combat, exploration and puzzles.

On an interactive gameplay level, the physicality of Creation Engine is largely used for interior decorating, letting players hang dragon bones and digital clocks on shelves in their bases, knowing they'll still be there when they get back. And yes, that's a good thing for a very specific type of role-player, but for the rest of us who are here to stab dragons, Creation Engine doesn't feel like it's extrapolating the full potential of what's there.

To be clear, I'm not arguing for or against it. But if we are still using Creation Engine, it's time to really use it. To design puzzles that involve laying out items, to emphasize the telekinetic magic that throws things around, to work out the physics to such a degree that players can tangibly benefit from understanding and exploiting it. If nothing else, it'll make Bethesda's work feel richer than ever, without losing the qualities that the fans love.

For inspiration, check out our list of the best RPGs!

Pokemon Champions director Kazumasa Iwao says that the mainline Pokemon games could gradually move away from turn-based battles, as Champions is available for fans of the current combat system. Pokemon has a vibrant competitive scene, and having a battle-focused game allows Game Freak to experiment with different types of combat for the mainline games like Winds and Waves.

The Pokemon series has a large number of different battle systems from PokePark to Conquest, but the mainline series has stayed mostly the same, with each new generation making changes and building on existing mechanics. Both Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Legends: Z-A had entirely new battle formats, but these are the exception rather than the rule.

Fans assumed that Winds and Waves would stick to the traditional turn-based formula, but Game Freak could be about to shake things up. In a video on Game Freak's YouTube Channel, which has been translated by GamesRadar+, Iwao explains, "The Pokemon series has always used a turn-based battle system, but there is the possibility that this rule could change little by little."

While this change might not be happening as soon as Winds and Waves, Game Freak's desire to try out new systems is what led to the creation of Champions, which will preserve VGC-style turn-based battles. "There are people who have battled for decades since Pokemon Red/Green or Pokemon Gold/Silver, so we didn't want to say like 'it's changed now, so please buy and play the new games,'" explains Iwao.

"That wouldn't be good. However, at Game Freak we always want to challenge ourselves by doing new things with the series, but we don't want to throw away the battle system that we've built until now," he continues. "Because of this we thought it would be good to put the battle system we've constructed into one game that you can keep playing, and that's where the development of Pokemon Champions began."

The Pokemon World Championships take place this weekend (August 28 – 30) in San Francisco, and Pokemon Champions will be at the center of the video game battles. Going forward, it appears that the mainline games may no longer put competitive fighting at the center, as Champions becomes the focus of the battle arena.

I spent 12 hours constructing a diabolical Pokemon Champions team to challenge the meta head-on, which has caused so many forfeits I almost feel bad.

The Duskbloods might be a Nintendo Switch 2-exclusive game, but one FromSoftware lead says that more fans signed up for its closed network test than they did for the multi-platform Elden Ring Nightreign.

Between Elden Ring Nightreign's release last year and The Duskbloods coming this year, FromSoftware is truly in its multiplayer era right now. It's not that the studio is changing its trajectory to ditch single-player games, mind you, as boss Hidetaka Miyazaki says, "both of those ideas just coincided with being multiplayer games. It's not necessarily some big reveal saying that this is the direction we plan to go moving forward."

Perhaps, though, the success of last year's co-op, roguelike-flavored souls game left more folks excited to see what the studio was cooking up with The Duskbloods. In a livestream hosted by Famitsu (translated by GamesRadar+), FromSoftware producer Yasuhiro Kitao reveals that the number of applications for the Switch 2 game's closed network test exceeded that for Nightreign's. "We were really surprised," he notes.

It is surprising, given that the Switch 2 is a single platform – and one that only just launched last year – it's bound to have a smaller installed base than the combined force of PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One, as Nightreign has. Kitao acknowledges this, saying that FromSoftware questions if there really will be more Duskbloods players come launch, and noting that it'll probably be Nightreign that comes out on top.

Even so, it's a positive early sign for The Duskbloods. After all, multiplayer-focused games live and die by how many players they have – their popularity is usually what makes the difference between something being supported for years to come, or being quietly shelved.

The Duskbloods still doesn't have a release date beyond the vague promise that it'll be out sometime this year – hopefully, FromSoftware will have more news for us soon.

FromSoftware knows what it's doing with The Duskbloods character Zork, the internet's new obsession: "I have developed a powerful, almost maternal affection."

Amid all of the GTA 6 leak shenanigans and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake rumors coming to fruition, word has been circulating online about another series potentially getting a new entry: the beloved Ori games.

If you're not familiar with Ori and the Blind Forest or Ori and the Will of the Wisp, they're charming Metroidvanias developed by Moon Game Studios – but published by Microsoft Studios and Xbox Game Studios, respectively. In other words, Microsoft essentially owns the rights to the IP rather than Moon Game Studios.

So, when rumors about another Ori game started coming to light, folks thought it'd be handled by new devs.

According to Thomas Mahler, CEO of Moon Game Studios and director behind both Ori games, however, that's not the case – and, in fact, there is supposedly no Ori 3 in the works anywhere.

"Once again there's a bunch of people asking me about Ori 3 since there's rumors floating about," as he writes over on X. "As before, I haven't heard anything about any of this." He then explains why he believes only his studio could pull a threequel off.

"I think after having put billions into 343 to handle Halo and not being able to recapture the old magic, I'd guess that by now Microsoft has learned their lesson that the right talent needs to work on those IP's, otherwise you'll undoubtedly get more slop," the lead states, alluding to the more mixed reviews Halo entries headed by 343 Industries saw, like Halo 4.

What Mahler says next about Moon Game Studios' own plans is quite eye-catching, though.

"Internally, we've been discussing our interest in purchasing the IP back," the CEO describes, because "I doubt any other studio could really do much with it, so it makes sense for this one to come home to Moon!"

In a later post, he reiterates all of this, writing, "I can confirm that the Ori 3 rumors are nonsense" and stating that composer Gareth Coker "asked me if we'd be ready to do another one" – another Ori game, that is. "'It's time,' he said!"

So, there you have it – there might not be a new Ori in the works after all. It's important to note that Xbox could still have something up its sleeve, as there's no real way to tell – but that may truly just be wishful thinking at this point, considering everything.

Searching for some new games to play? Browse through our handy little roundup of the best Metroidvania games out there right now.

The FromSoftware team were relieved when they heard about the Nintendo Switch 2 since the studio was apparently struggling to get The Duskbloods up and running on the base Switch console, according to game director and subgenre pinoeer Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Speaking to The Verge, Miyazaki says the studio's upcoming multiplayer game actually began life on the original, much weaker system of Switch consoles back in 2021, years before the world found out about the next-gen handheld hybrid and years before FromSoftware transitioned production to make The Duskbloods a Switch 2 exclusive.

According to him, the Elden Ring and Dark Souls company didn't have an easy time working with Nintendo's previous generation of consoles. "We were definitely very happy when we heard about the Switch 2, because we were thinking, 'How are we going to do this?'" Miyazaki tells the website. "The Switch 2 came along and all of those problems were solved."

Not only were Nintendo likely providing hefty tech support to the team, Miyazaki also says the publisher helped FromSoftware with another crucial part of the dev process it's traditionally struggled with.

"The Duskbloods is a challenging game for us," the famed game developer notes. "There are a lot of new things in terms of designing the systems and the rules, and it requires a lot of fine-tuning and adjustments, and Nintendo has provided a lot of support in that regard. Things like onboarding and tutorials for players are something that we are historically not great at, so the support they've provided in that regard has been very, very good and we think that it’s been a great relationship in that sense."

If there's anything you can criticize FromSoft games on, it's their sometimes shoddy performance and arguably obtuse tutorialization - something that's doubly important in a competitive multiplayer game, and triply so in a game with such a drastically different structure. It's encouraging to hear Nintendo's helping smooth over both issues here, then.

FromSoftware enters the skill-based matchmaking debate with The Duskbloods: "We definitely plan on having the matchmaking system work in a way so that it's ranked"

Evercade has just come out with a new physical release combining both Banjo-Kazooie platformers, but the retro handheld maker didn't rely on emulation for its new double pack. The Banjo-Kazooie re-releases are "brand new native ports" because Evercade wanted to retroactively add cut content and features to the classic platformers.

In a new video diving deep into the Banjo-Kazooie Double Pack, developer Pete Davison says the N64 gems have been "rebuilt from the ground up" for Evercade's suite of best retro consoles. "We didn't want to tamper with the core nature of these games too much, but developing brand new native ports rather than emulating the original 64-bit versions has allowed us to introduce quality-of-life features that make playing them much more comfortable and enjoyable from a modern gamer's perspective," he explains.

One of the new features is a tip-toe button that lets Banjo take slower, more careful steps without the player having to lightly graze an analogue stick - handy if you're playing on one of Evercade's smaller handhelds. Similarly, camera movement can be shifted to the shoulder buttons or you can simply have the camera follow Banjo automatically rather than wrestle with it as you would on the N64.

Other quality-of-life highlights include the ability to skip cutscenes, an overhauled options menu, a fine aim mode for Banjo-Tooie's first-person sections, inverted camera toggles, and the option to return to the hub world from anywhere in the game. "This is a cut feature from the original release that we have restored," apparently.

"We've also added new unlockable bonus features and secrets. You'll have to work hard to get them as you'll need to acquire some secret items which were normally inaccessible in the original game," the port makers explain.

Bear in mind, this is entirely separate from the Super Pocket Rare Edition handheld that bundled in 30 games from legendary developer Rare's catalogue, including the Banjo games and a Conker's Bad Fur Day prequel that was trapped on the Game Boy for literal decades. Very cool company, indeed.

We asked Xbox exec Matt Booty about legacy IP like Banjo-Kazooie: "There's options to do all kinds of things, and we're certainly looking at those all the time"

Some elements in The Duskbloods were pulled straight from director Hidetaka Miyazaki's experiences playing tabletop RPGs, which might just explain why you can propose to an enemy player mid-match.

Speaking to IGN, FromSoftware boss and game director Hidetaka Miyazaki says "there are two points I would say that can specifically be pulled from the board games." Instead of winning multiplayer matches by simply beating everyone else to a pulp, The Duskbloods asks players to earn Virtue by completing side objectives or killing mini bosses that stomp around the map or holding king of the hill-style zones, let's say.

"That's something that isn't as direct as just battling against each other, right? It's not directly a PvP thing. It's a common system in a lot of board games and something that through my own experience of playing board games has definitely rubbed off on me and it's been something that I've constantly thought about. I didn't watch those a lot," Miyazaki explains.

The second bit of TTRPG inspiration came from the game's Sigil system, which essentially creates match-specific relationships and objectives between players. One Sigil might let you propose to another player with a bouquet of flowers - naturally, they can reply with the pointy end of their sword - while a different Sigil might put you at odds with a specific enemy player.

Miyazaki calls the system "very similar to a lot of RPG elements you might find in a tabletop RPG," although, "in the past when I played games like that, a lot of it was basically rolling dice to determine certain aspects of your character, and that was pretty much the extent of it." With The Duskbloods, Miyazaki "wanted to have a way of controlling not just that, but the relationships between players and a variety of other elements that might be out of the scope of a TTRPG."

The Duskbloods' closed network playtests are rolling out now before it comes out in full sometime later this year as a Switch 2 exclusive.

FromSoftware enters the skill-based matchmaking debate with The Duskbloods: "We definitely plan on having the matchmaking system work in a way so that it's ranked"

Duskfade is a new indie love letter to some classic PS2 action platformers, Kingdom Hearts included. And, now, a Kingdom Hearts modder had made the Kingdom Hearts-like even more like Kingdom Hearts.

The developers of Duskfade have been pretty open about their inspirations in the past. It's a fast-paced action game where you swing a big sort-of Keyblade and fight shadowy, sort-of Heartless enemies across bright levels, with some light RPG progression and platforming sections in between.

Heck, there's even a handful of overt Kingdom Heart references littered in the game itself - one achievement is literally called Heartless, for example. b despite all the references and influences and similarities, Duskfade is still distinct enough to be its own thing... until one modder got involved, that is.

Modder Dallin1016 recently dressed up the game's main character Zirian in the iconic red outfit that Sora wore in the first Kingdom Hearts game. The mod (here on NexusMods) also comes with the option to replace Zirian's spiky hairdo with Sora's, and another mod completes the package by replacing Zirian's legally distinct Keyblade with an actual Keyblade.

Together, the mods turn Duskfade into an even cozier throwback for fans of the Kingdom Hearts series. Squint hard enough and you might not even be able to tell the difference - the distinct lack of Donald quacking every five seconds might be a giveaway, to be fair.

Modder Dallin1016's put in a bunch of good work elsewhere, too. One work-in-progress mod adds in Wuhu Island from Wii Sports Resort, of all things, as an explorable map in Duskfade. Another of their Kingdom Hearts 3 mods calls itself the most cursed one in series' history, and I really can't argue with that. Please, just look at Jigglypuff's head transplanted onto Davy Jones' body.

Duskfade itself is pretty great with or without the mods - on Steam, the game has an 89% 'Very Positive' rating. A great appetizer before Kingdom Hearts 4 comes out next year, I reckon.

Kingdom Hearts 4 lead Tetsuya Nomura plays 4D chess, potentially drops hints his canceled Final Fantasy game could somehow connect to the next RPG

FromSoftware plans to have some kind of skill-based matchmaking in The Duskbloods to avoid a situation where Soulslike veterans routinely make newcomers miserable, but eventually, director Hidetaka Miyazaki also wants to give old-timers and newbies a reason to work together.

Asked about a system that would separate pros and fresh-faced newcomers in the upcoming PvPvE game, Miyazaki told IGN that "we definitely plan on having the matchmaking system work in a way so that it's ranked, and players who are really good tend to be matched with other players who are great, and players who are new tend to be matched with other new players."

The matchmaking system is being implemented in an effort to ease in people who might pick up and buy the Switch 2 exclusive months down the line. Jumping into an online game and immediately getting swamped by high-skilled, jetpack-wearing divers who have months of experience isn't the most welcoming experience, I imagine.

But Miyazaki notes that winning matches or surviving until you're in the final PvP showdown isn't the only way to progress and enjoy The Duskbloods: "There are things that you can unlock through just gameplay like story content and customization for your character which should allow you to enjoy it outside of the actual combat."

Skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) has been quite a hot topic, especially with recent first-person shooters. For instance, some Call of Duty players might complain that super high ranks and super low ranks struggle with poor connection times if SBMM works too strictly - others might even complain that high-skill players are punished with tougher matches for being good, an argument I've never subscribed to - but in a game like The Duskbloods, I imagine being on an even playing field only leads to higher quality matches. Activision once secretly turned off SBMM, and turns out, everyone hated it.

Interestingly, at some point, Miyazaki also wants to give players on both sides of the spectrum a reason to play together. "This might not be something that comes out initially and may come a bit later on, but we're definitely considering ways to build a relationship between veteran players and new players – something that's positive and not always scary or something they'd want to avoid," he tells the outlet. "For example, things like event customization, having certain in-match events be very rare or have higher chances of appearing if you're in a game with someone who has been playing for a really long time. Or having the Alliance system done in a way where you can specifically say that you want to be paired with someone who's really good and has a high rank. And the player who's high-rank can maybe have their settings prioritize pairing with newcomers if they want to help them out, very similar to leaving signs in front of a boss in our other games."

The Duskbloods is a Switch 2 exclusive because Nintendo was the "right partner" and "very receptive" to FromSoftware's weird idea, says Hidetaka Miyazaki

Over the past couple of weeks, official accounts run by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have repeatedly made references to Pokemon Gold and Silver. Maybe it's nothing more than a nostalgic tribute to some classic games. But I'm over here drinking hopium straight from the tap, and I'm willing myself to believe this is a tease for a HeartGold and SoulSilver revival on Switch.

Earlier this week, Nintendo of America tweeted "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold." Attached is a screenshot from Pokopia, recreating the bit in Pokemon Gold and Silver's intro where you find your rival peeking through a window into Professor Elm's laboratory.

That alone would hardly be a reason to infer anything, but it's not the only suspicious recent tweet. Back on August 10, an official Japanese Pokemon account tweeted an image of the ultimate battle in HeartGold and SoulSilver, where you confront the original game's protagonist in a mountaintop battle against his uber-powerful Pokemon team.

Two tweets counts as a pattern, right? After all, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen hit the Switch earlier this year. Wouldn't it make sense for Nintendo and The Pokemon Company to follow up on these modern versions of classic gen 1 remakes with modern versions of classic gen 2 remakes?

And! – I shout as I start stretching red strings along my conspiracy board – FireRed and LeafGreen are about to get Pokemon Home support. If you've completed the Pokedex in those games, once that update hits, you'll be gifted a Celebi in Home. That's the very same legendary Pokemon that was introduced alongside Gold and Silver all those years ago. Johto fever is running wild, baby.

This is, admittedly, a lot of wishful thinking. But we're now celebrating Pokemon's 30th anniversary, and HeartGold and SoulSilver are often regarded as the best Pokemon games ever made. What better way to see out the year than a new way to play the classics?

For now, Pokemon Winds and Waves are the biggest things on the horizon.

There is nothing the internet loves more than collectively obsessing over a surprisingly cute animated character. Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. God of War Laufey's Phranque the Cube. The Overwatch hero Jetpack Cat, and his Marvel Rivals analogue, Jeff the Shark. Dark Souls developer FromSoftware knows what it's doing, and that's why we have Zork, a new and admittedly endearing playable character from The Duskbloods, the studio's upcoming Switch 2-exclusive multiplayer action game.

FromSoftware ended The Duskbloods' first closed network test early today after players flooded the servers and really put the stress in stress test. People are upset about that and talking about it a lot on The Duskbloods subreddit and elsewhere online, but deep, deep down, they know they can't be too mad. FromSoftware planned for this. Zork.

Zork can only do so much. Server issues are no fun... but you know what is fun? A dorky little armored freak with a beak shooting missiles and yeeting people off cliff edges. Zork. Following in the ancient tradition laid down by characters like Wooloo and Gooigi before it, Zork is here to do one thing: make you love him, and he's already stolen the hearts of so many.

Zork definitely knows how to stand out. Defiant next to Senator Samir Patres in the character selection screen, opting for a wide-eyed, tongue (beak?)-out expression instead of brooding like the rest of his playable brethren, Zork is clearly the class clown of Duskbloods' roster. There's also something indescribably cute about him, which makes him ideal meme material, and that's precisely what's happening.

Over the course of about 24 hours, likely hundreds of memes have turned Zork into a verb (zorking it), and otherwise infantilized what is in reality an extremely dangerous killing machine.

ZORK

— @berardbro.bsky.social (@berardbro.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-08-21T18:24:21.502Z

Despite the frivolity, a question with potentially disturbing implications lingers... what is Zork? Beneath the armor, beneath the three-inch steel veneer of innocent friendliness? Is there a soul in there? The Duskbloods characters are called Bloodsworn, Vampiric entities of a sort, but what does Zork actually look like without his armor? Some have speculated that he may have come from the sea due to various nautical references in his design and moveset, and the beak and propulsion method have led some to theorize he's actually a squid or octopus, but Zork's true nature will likely remain a mystery until launch.

In the meantime, you have to applaud FromSoftware of all studios, the crew famous for coming up with some of the most horrific, grotesque, mind-numbingly challenging monsters in all of video gamedom, for getting the internet to love-bomb a literal war machine.

The Duskbloods is a Switch 2 exclusive because Nintendo was the "right partner" and "very receptive" to FromSoftware's weird idea, says Hidetaka Miyazaki

The Duskbloods is a multiplayer-only game from Elden Ring and Dark Souls devs FromSoftware, that pits eight players against each other in vampiric combat. If you were expecting another Elden Ring: Nightreign but in the style of Bloodborne, that's not what The Duskbloods is promising – this game isn't just about bringing down massive bosses but also putting other players in their place and hopefully emerging victorious as the best Bloodsworn. It is admittedly quite a confusing game though, so here's I've laid out some key details for how multiplayer works in The Duskbloods.

Is The Duskbloods a PvP multiplayer game only?

The Duskbloods is multiplayer only but is a PvPvE game, with a much greater emphasis on fighting enemies and bosses. In short, while PvP does feature, you won't be fighting other players the whole time.

And if the sound of PvP of any kind sends shivers up thine spine, don't fear as game director Hidetaka Miyazki himself said you don't need to be good at PvP games to do well in The Duskbloods – he says he's bad at PvP in other games too.

How does The Duskbloods multiplayer work?

Every Duskbloods match is a sort of multi-round battle royale where you and seven other players compete to earn Virtue Points before facing a final challenge to decide the victor. Round one allows all players to charge around the map doing whatever they can to earn these points, which is usually defeating bosses, collecting them from specific spots, and stealing them from dead players.

Round two is much the same but may have some special events or effects running. Then, at the end of round two, the two players with the fewest Virute Points are eliminated from the game, culled by Dusk. For round three, a Ritual Site opens on the map, beckoning players to battle each other for great Virtue Point rewards. At the end of round three, the bottom three players are eliminated.

That leaves the final three players to duke it out in PvP arena combat, with the last Bloodsworn standing being the ultimate winner. So, while the likelihood of fighting another player increases as a match goes on, it's not necessarily the focus. Having said that, there are ranked and casual match options, so if you want something a bit sweatier, you can queue into a ranked match instead.

If you're also wondering if The Duskbloods on PC is happening, I've got bad news for you.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Some classic jokes from Metal Gear Solid 4 are not only present in the latest re-release, but have been updated for modern systems. The game's part of Master Collection Vol. 2, which also includes Peace Walker and the Game Boy Color title Ghost Babel, and Konami has included a few nice flourishes.

The amount of meta-humor always made porting Metal Gear Solid 4 a difficult prospect. You've got references to the iPod and fourth wall breaks that really place the release at a certain time. Well, for the purposes of this version, Konami actually went back and amended a couple of spoken lines to make sure one joke lands accordingly.

In Sons of the Patriots, when you get to Shadow Moses Island, the original version made reference to changing the discs of the first Metal Gear Solid when you reach this same location. "Hold it, Snake. Time to change the disc," Otacon starts. "I know, I know, it's a pain. But you need to swap Disc 1 for Disc 2. You see the disc labelled '2'?"

Snake would then point out there isn't a second disc, and Otacon would realize we're in the future. "Oh, wait! We're on PlayStation 3," he exclaims, much to the chagrin of our man Solid.

Now, as has been highlighted by reviewers (thanks, TechRadar Gaming), whether you're playing on Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, or any other platform, the Master Collection Vol. 2 now references that system. Voice actor Christopher Randolph even came back to do the line for each instance.

Sure, you can apparently hear the contrast in his voice, since he's aged almost two decades and the recording environment would've been completely different. But, the joke still works, and now has an added layer to it. Even Solid Snake would see the fun in that.

Metal Gear Solid is getting co-op after 28 years thanks to "world first" mod, turning "the original PlayStation classic into a true online multiplayer experience."

Is The Duskbloods going to be on PC and other consoles? For now, it's not looking good because the game is locked to the Switch 2. That's obviously quite unfortunate if you wanted to play The Duskbloods given that many of FromSoftware's games, like Elden Ring, its Nightreign spinoff, and the Dark Souls series have all been widely available across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and even Nintendo's consoles. But there is a chance it could eventually come to other platforms, so I've explained how a PlayStation, Xbox, or PC release for The Duskbloods could happen.

Is The Duskbloods coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X?

No, The Duskbloods will not be coming to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox at launch because it's a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive – if you don't have a Switch 2, you won't be playing it, sadly.

But it's possible that The Duskbloods could come to PC and other consoles after launch. Looking at previous games, Monster Hunter: Rise launched on the Nintendo Switch in March 2021 and came to PC in January the following year, then PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in January 2023. The Duskbloods could follow suit depending on the agreement between Nintendo and FromSoftware, remaining a Switch 2 exclusive for at least a year or two to help sell a few more units by banking on FromSoftware's following. Then the game can get a second wind from a wider release.

Alternatively, Bloodborne is one of FromSoftware's best and has been infamously imprisoned on the PS4 (though you can play the PS4 version on a PS5 as well) for over a decade. That's partly because Sony owns the Bloodborne intellectual property rather than FromSoftware, so the developer can't just do what it wants with the game.

However, it seems like FromSoftware does own the Duskbloods IP and made the game with heavy involvement from Nintendo instead. That means the studio should have more freedom to do what it wants with The Duskbloods unless there's an extremely long or perpetual exclusivity agreement with Nintendo that specifically forbids bringing the game to other platforms. Fingers crossed that isn't the case and The Duskbloods does eventually reach other platforms, and I really hope crossplay is added too – I'm looking at you, Nightreign!

Want to know how The Duskbloods multiplayer and PvP work? I've explained the basics here.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Being a FromSoftware game, there are dangers on all sides when it comes to The Duskbloods. You'll have the monsters you face, and then your opponents, the other Bloodsworn. If that scares you, don't be too worried – creator Hidetaka Miyazaki isn't great at the PvP, and according to him, you don't need to be to win.

He went through the logic in an interview with IGN. "Personally, I am not very great at these high-intensity action games and things like PvP," he says.

"So, at the start, the audience really is just myself while thinking about how I would go at this," he explains. "Are there systems in place that I would enjoy, that cater to me as a player, not being someone who's really into that intense PvP?"

There's some irony in hearing Miyazaki is bad at aspects of these games, when their reputation is of being relentlessly punishing. But his own experience raises important questions: how prominent should the player-versus-player aspects be? And what should be the alternative strategies? As is pointed after, it's impossible to avoid facing at least one other person directly in a match.

"You will have to fight two other players in the final round. That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be great at PvP in order to win," Miyazaki says, pointing to the Kin, companion fighters that join you, as an option for dealing with other opponents less.

"The Kin [computer-controlled companions] can be further emphasized, and you can customize your character to further supplement their power to turn them into someone who can fight for you while you take a bit of a backseat," he explains. "There will definitely be a section of the customization that caters towards that play style for people who don't want to necessarily always be in an intense PvP thing, even if they make it to the end and want to take more of a backseat and enjoy the game in a different way."

That's good to hear, because I'm in the Miyazaki camp of just not being very good at these more tense moments. He makes it clear that, "We're trying our best to cater to that playstyle as much as we can, currently," so we might see more mechanics and ideas appear post-launch, too. The Duskbloods comes out on Switch 2 later this year.

The Duskbloods is a Switch 2 exclusive because Nintendo was the "right partner" and "very receptive" to FromSoftware's weird idea, says Hidetaka Miyazaki.