Steam

We compare Octopath Traveler 0 on PS5, Switch 2, PC, Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Xbox, Switch 1, and PS4 to help you find the best version going over performance, visuals, load times, and features. View the full article

Square Enix's conversion of Champions of the Continent delivers an engaging, if completely different, take on Octopath. View the full article

Upcoming multiteam MOBA game Project ZETA announced today that signups are open for its next beta test, which will begin on Steam on December 12. This final closed beta will be the last chance to jump in early before the game goes public, and the developers have asked for opinionated players to help shape its future. If you’re not already familiar with Project ZETA, we can catch you up to speed. Developed by Nirvanana, a team built of former Eternal Return devs, it mixes up the traditional MOBA formula in two key ways. First, instead of the standard of having two teams go head-to-head, it pits five teams against each other at the same time in a race to capture Prisms, the game’s most precious resource. There are multiple ways to get Prisms, giving each team the opportunity to follow different paths to victory. And second, it uses a third-person camera rather than an isometric one, making combat more dynamic and action-focused. That combat is PvPvE, with monsters and bosses populating the map. Defeating monsters will score you XP and shards, which can upgrade your abilities and provide buffs to your stats, cooldowns, and more. Defeating bosses gets you all of that plus Prisms. However, just picking up a Prism isn’t enough, you need to return it to the center of the map in order for it to actually count toward your score. And that’s where the PvP comes in. Competing teams can ambush you on your way to deposit your Prisms and steal them from you. And that looming threat constantly affects the strategy your team chooses. Do you blitz bosses and try to rush their Prisms to the center of the map to win quickly? Do you bide your time, taking down monsters to scale your team's power and enter the next fight better prepared? Or do you lie in wait near the center of the map to pounce on opposing teams and take their Prisms after they’ve already done the work for you? These are all viable strategies, but the reality is within one match you’ll jump between all three. In Project ZETA, strategies shift dynamically from one moment to the next. With five teams roaming the Aran Plateau, improvisation matters most. Focus too much on one adversary and another might stab you in the back, or worse, run up the score to take a commanding lead. Your strategy will also be driven by the heroes your team members choose. There are currently 13 heroes, with more to be revealed in the future, and they’re grouped into four categories: Fighter, Marksman, Assassin, and Mage. Each hero has unique abilities that can synergize with other heroes, some of which can trigger devastating multikills if you pull them off at the right time. It’s been six months since Project ZETA’s second closed beta, and a lot has changed in that time. In fact, it’s been the ******* with the biggest advancements in the game to date. There are two new heroes, reworked visuals and abilities for most heroes, new game-changing equipables, revamped environments, simplified Prism scoring, team respawn fixes, and lots more, all based on player feedback. The final beta test will offer another chance to provide more feedback and further enhance the game. Anyone in North America or Europe can sign up for it on Steam, and both regions will have devoted servers running on two weekends: the first will be December 12–14, and the second will be December 19–21. For those who can’t stop playing, there will also be a custom game server that will stay live for the entirety of the beta, from December 12–21. Project ZETA is also available to wishlist on Steam, and if you want the latest info and updates, you can join the official Discord server, follow on Twitter or Facebook, or check out its official website. View the full article

A new free game is being added to the Xbox Game Pass catalog as a day-one release, and it’s one that players thought they’d never see, especially considering how much time it’s been in development. Microsoft’s subscription service offers hundreds of games for its members to play, depending on their tier, and there are continuous updates, with new arrivals and a few departures. There are so many games available that it’s quite common for some to go unnoticed, as there are games nobody talks about on Xbox Game Pass. View the full article

Blizzard has announced Diablo 4 Season 11, known as the Season of Divine Intervention, is bringing a massive set of changes to overhaul the core gameplay loop. Not only can players expect a new batch of seasonal challenges and features, but permanent mechanical changes and gameplay additions are included in this update as well. Diablo 4 players will have a lot to dive into when Season 11 starts, including a new World Boss, invading Lesser Evils, and the Divine Gifts seasonal powers. View the full article

As RAM prices explode and availability becomes an issue thanks to AI companies, Micron announced their Crucial consumer business is no longer a thing. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Battlefield 6 fully embracing the live-service format guarantees steady updates for FPS fans, with the next significant patch coming December 9. This Battlefield 6 update doesn’t just mark the beginning of a new in-game event, but also brings some major changes to Rush and Breakthrough. View the full article

I always play Wizards in D&D, and pretty much all fantasy RPGs, to be honest. Of all the DnD classes I've played, it accounts for probably 50% of my playtime, and that's because I just love what you might call 'procedural magic': the kind that needs props, recipes, and lore. Sadly, I can't do magic outside of D&D, but of all the ephemera and bunkum of real world 'magic', tarot cards are my favorite, for much the same reason I main Wiz. So, when I saw a crowdfunder for Dungeons and Dragons tarot cards, my arcane senses tingled. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: How to play Dungeons and Dragons for beginners D&D's Adventures in Faerûn offers a new vision for adventure design - and it's just kinda boring D&D's newest "companion" book hasn't convinced me that backwards compatibility is going to work View the full article

Elden Ring Nightreign's new The Forsaken Hollows DLC is set to launch December 4 on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, and players are rightfully very excited to dive back in and see all the new content. However, as with all things FromSoftware and Nightreign, nothing is straightforward, and players will need to do a bit of work to access Nightreign's DLC content. View the full article

The next Team of the Week squad for EA Sports FC 26 is available now. Team of the Week 12 adds a further 23 enhanced players to the game’s database, each with improved stats compared to the base versions of each player. As ever, Team of the Week players will be available in packs for the next week (until December 10), at which point a new Team of the Week will arrive. Read More... View the full article

EA and Battlefield Studios are preparing Battlefield 6 players for Season 1: Winter Offensive with a community letter with a list of changes set to be introduced with the upcoming 1.1.3.0 update. The message, which aims to roll out the welcome mat for what will be yet another feedback-driven update, was posted on the official Battlefield 6 website today. It comes with a breakdown for some of the community talking points BF Studios has attempted to address so far, while giving fans a closer look at what’s to come when Winter Offensive launches December 9. With anticheat, challenge/progression, and Escalation updates topping the list of recent highlights, BF Studios is turning its attention to a number of key issues across combat, REDSEC, and the overall Battlefield 6 experience. One especially troublesome issue for the community that the team is seeking to fix with update 1.1.3.0 are audio issues that have existed since launch. Players should notice, for example, that footsteps have been tweaked to “improve clarity, distance definition, and positional awareness across the game.” “We have also continued to work on performance and memory issues that could cause sounds,” BF Studios says, “such as vehicles or footsteps, to sometimes not play as intended, which has been particularly noticeable on larger Battle Royale maps.” Following last month’s multiplayer mode tweaks is a set of additional adjustments for Rush and Breakthrough. The studio explains the new changes as another step in the balancing act that has seen it attempting to keep matches fair, with the new update ideally improving the experience for attacking players. Capture volumes and vehicle availability in Breakthrough will also be updated when 1.1.3.0 launches next week, with BF Studios explaining that Siege of Cairo, for example, will feature an additional attacker tank for Sectors 1 and 3 and a reworked capture area for objective B. Rush fans will notice M-COM locations for Manhattan Bridge and Liberation Peak have been adjusted to further refine attacker gameplay. “These updates are intended to reduce bottlenecks, remove frustration points, and create more consistent and engaging fights around objectives,” BF Studios says. “Beyond these highlights, we have also made a range of quality-of-life improvements across UI clarity, minimap behavior, controller aiming responsiveness, and more, which you will see detailed in the full notes.” Another topic plaguing the Battlefield 6 fanbase since launch involves potential hit registration and netcode issues. It’s an area BF Studios has taken aim at before, with update 1.1.3.0 set to, hopefully, buff out even more scratches related to inconsistent gameplay across multiplayer and REDSEC. Also included in the new changes is the promise that Battlefield 6 will be easier on the eyes thanks to changes to close-range soldier visibility, lighting, prone animations, and more. While players across the experience will likely pick up on “wide-ranging” changes to weapon handling, attachments, and recoil patterns, REDSEC fans can look forward to armor and tank availability changes. Armor changes for the battle royale experience will be detailed in its own dedicated post in the near future, with tank changes also subject to change as fans get their hands on update 1.1.3.0. “We are actively exploring several areas aimed at improving clarity, responsiveness, and fairness in combat, BF Studios adds. “This includes further work on edge cases related to hit registration, investigating rare desync scenarios with destructible objects, and gathering deeper data on situations where players feel they were eliminated after reaching cover. These areas remain key priorities, and the findings from our ongoing investigations will inform updates planned for the new year.” This latest communication from the Battlefield team stops short of providing full Battlefield 6 update 1.1.3.0 patch notes. Players are told to expect a more detailed list of all of the new weapon, map, and mode changes in “the next few days.” Battlefield 6 Season 1 will deliver its third and final chapter when Winter Offensive launches December 9 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. While the two previous chapters have introduced additional weapons, modes, and two maps – Blackwell Fields and Eastwood – next week’s content update focuses on its Ice Lock event changes. Expect snowy limited-time goodies for Gauntlet and Empire State, as well as an ice climbing axe melee weapon. Battlefield 6 launched for PC and consoles October 10. As BF Studios continues to refine its gameplay, players have found themselves divided over map sizes and goofy skins while EA boasts record-breaking launch sales. Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe). View the full article

Girls’ Frontline 2: Exilium is celebrating its first anniversary, introducing a major update with brand-new Crew Deck gameplay. Now there are more ways than ever to interact with your T-Dolls, with exclusive animations and story content for nearly 40 characters. Each Doll has unique behaviors that come out as you spend more time with them, and there are interaction scenes between certain Dolls when they show up together. New Features Land in Crew Deck Upgrade With the Crew Deck open, Commanders will find fully realized 3D versions of the collectible cabinet and armory in addition to the new interactive story moments. Commanders should have received mail with an item that lets them unlock the interactive story scene for the hard-eyed but soft-hearted sniper, Makiatto. The story scene "Time Capsule - Pulse-Racing Night" will be available for free. If you already have Makiatto's Outfit ("Embroidered Bamboo, Blooming Shadows"), you'll be able to experience Makiatto's scene after unlocking the relevant area. You'll also be able to get 35 Outfit Access Permissions at no charge through upgrade rewards, mail rewards, and other limited-time events. An interactive story scene is available for the elite Doll Klukai alongside the release of her new "Cerulean Breaker" outfit, which gives you the unlock item "Time Capsule - Body Maintenance Technician." For a limited time, you will also be able to make exchanges for more Outfit Access Permissions. Speaking of Klukai, she's the highlight of the Crew Deck's new Holography Function. You can collect 3D trinkets, customize your living space, cook, play minigames in the Crimson Arcade, and lots more. Anniversary Rewards Overflowing 'Tis all about giving during the Starry Season, and developer Mica Team has tons of limited-time event rewards to put on GFL2’s plate for its first-year anniversary celebration. By joining in, players can earn more than 130 pulls and more than 13,000 Collapse Pieces. The Crew Deck Date Reward includes 10 Access Permissions, an Elmo Model ornament, 300 Collapse Pieces, and more growth materials. The season also delivers two free outfits: Dragon Chef for Qiuhua from the Glory Store and Enjoy the Fragrance for Springfield are unlocked for free once your collectibles reach the required level. Additional Access Permissions can be earned from daily activities, furniture exchanges, gift packs, mail rewards, and the seasonal Battle Pass event. Check out the Video of 404 Squad, with More to Come Commanders can look forward to meeting two new Dolls, Leva and Lenna. These additions from the original 404 Squad use electricity to attack and debuff their foes, and they're sure to give Electric teams a boost. Check in with GFL2's main site and social media (Including Twitter and YouTube) for more information about the timing of prize drops, stay up-to-date on upcoming collabs with other games and franchises, and to see a new trailer that reunites the 404 Squad when Lenna, Leva, Klukai, and Mechty are reunited under the Commander to carry out a dangerous mission. There are intense battles with gatling guns, helicopters, humvees, and other heavy machinery. Commanders and their Dolls should expect to stay busy for quite a while, but don't forget to relax on the Crew Deck from time to time. That's what it's for. View the full article

I’m sometimes still asked for my student ID, even though I’m officially on the steadier side of 30. Spotify knows all my secrets, though: It found the suspiciously wrinkled portrait in the attic, and stared straight into my soul, guesstimating my listening age as 57 in my 2025 Wrapped. Supposedly, I racked up 353 different genres this year, too. I’ve always had eclectic tastes with a penchant for the weird and the wonderful, so neither this stat nor the visage of an elderly man is entirely out of place—and if I had to guess, the dollop of classical music included in my top songs in the year is certainly playing a part in this chronological aberration. I’ll give you some of my top suggestions for the year below, but first, I’d still like to take some umbrage in this silly little stat. After all, surely there’s more than enough video game music on the playlist to grant me at least a soft cap of 45 years? First, the ambitious but flawed Knights in Tight Spaces has a wicked soundtrack, courtesy of nervous_testpilot of Frozen Synapse fame. As for so many others, Blue Prince was one of my standout game experiences of the year, and the song in the OST that plays when you open the door to Room 46—Ovinn Nevarei—is glorious. The Spotify algorithm has also blessed me with a song from the as-of-yet-unreleased VICE Undercover’s soundtrack, which comes with obvious Miami Vice inspirations that it proudly wears on its sleeve; I ended up infatuated with one of the remixes for The King of Miami. For an even deeper cut, there’s the version of Feel Good Inc. that is made entirely of Stronghold Crusader’s sound assets, alongside bits of the Stellaris and GTA 5 soundtracks. Couple these with some choice selections from The Tetris Effect and the Unreal Tournament remix album of Alexander Brandon and Michiel van den Bos, surely we can settle on 40 years at most? No? Alright. [Hidden Content] Enterprising musical sleuths will find a few more games-related entries on my top songs playlist for the year, but I’d like to leave you with some different recommendations instead to wrap this up. Vangelis’ The City is a joyously perfect musical distillation of a big-town atmosphere, John Rutter’s classical works offer a Mozart-like easy entry into the world of beautiful choral arrangements, Alpine Universe offers a fascinatingly unique take on the mix of electronic and classical music, and if you have never heard of Sparks and Yello before, you are missing out. As for a bit of internet humor, Tom Cardy’s 3 Hours With A Close-Up Magician was a surprisingly good background song for endless chess binge sessions. You know what, now I’m starting to see why one of my colleagues wondered whether the digits in that age guess should be flipped… The post Despite the hefty dose of video game music, Spotify Wrapped pegged me as a 57-year-old appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

The new era of Destiny 2, spearheaded by June's Edge of Fate expansion, hasn't exactly gone to plan for Bungie. I was extremely excited for a fresh Destiny experience post-Light and Dark saga, but so far it's failed to hit the mark. Looking across the last four or five years as a whole, I'd still proclaim that Destiny 2 is my 'favorite' shooter, but since Edge of Fate arrived, players have massively leaked from the game - myself included, in recent times. However, a Star Wars-themed expansion sounds like just the ticket to renew interest, and to an extent, Destiny 2 Renegades has done just that, with a healthy Steam spike on launch day and plenty of praise for certain aspects of the new campaign. However, that spike is still a long way off where Destiny 2 should be. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Destiny 2 new season release date - Renegades details Destiny 2 has "not reached expectations" since Sony acquisition, posting loss of $204 million Destiny 2 codes for free emblems and shaders December 2025 View the full article

"Joke's on you," replied MurrayView the full article

Another pretty great selection of games overall here for the new Humble Choice games bundle for December 2025. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

But he was thrilled by the comparison during a GTA 4 interviewView the full article

They "still have some last challenges to overcome"View the full article

PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025 takes place on December 4View the full article

If you've been keeping your fingers crossed for The Elder Scrolls 6 and hoping for any morsel of information you can find, there's another Grand RPG on the horizon that absolutely deserves more of your attention, and it just got a massive update. View the full article

Well somebody has to think of the childrenView the full article

All new ****** Ops 7 season 1 content, roadmap, and release timeView the full article

The highly-acclaimed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 just added yet another accolade to its name — as it's now the biggest new third-party game launch on Xbox Game Pass in 2025. Microsoft announced the news today after examining data from every day one Xbox Game Pass launch this year, and ranking every third-party game by the number of unique users during its first 30 days of availability. It's a hugely impressive achievement for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the debut game from French studio Sandfall Interactive, for several different reasons. Firstly, because the game arrived just two days after Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (which itself also launched via Game Pass). And secondly, because we already know that Clair Obscur went on to sell very well too (5 million copies in five months) — something its launch via Game Pass does not appear to have dented. "From being there to announce our game back in Summer 2024, to coming to the studio for the Developer_Direct video in January, Xbox helped us get the word out there and reach a lot of players," Sandfall creative director Guillaume Broche said in a statement. Xbox Game Pass let "a lot of people try our game when maybe they might not have before," Broche continued. "The turn-based RPG genre has a lot of fans but sometimes it might put people who prefer more real-time action games off, but Game Pass lowered that barrier of entry. They could just try it and see how it feels. So a lot of curious players could start the game, explore Lumière and the early game, and realize there's a lot to enjoy here, even if they weren’t expecting it at first." So, what was Clair Obscur's Xbox Game Pass competition? It's been a long year, so it's worth reminding ourselves of everything the turn-based RPG has beaten to become this year's biggest third-party Xbox Game Pass release. (And remember, this is separate to Microsoft's own first-party output, which will include Avowed and South by Midnight, as well as Bethesda games such as The Outer Worlds 2, and Activision fare like Call of Duty: ****** Ops 7.) Other third-party games that arrived day one via Microsoft's subscription service notably included the highly-anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong, as well as the post-apocalyptic survival game Atomfall. The highly-acclaimed indie puzzle favorite Blue Prince also arrived this year, as did Ninja Gaiden 2 ******, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Ball X Pit, and PowerWash Simulator 2. Congratulations, then, to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — something we may well be hearing a few more times this month, considering its record-breaking number of nominations at The Game Awards. Tempted to give it a try? It's still on Xbox Game Pass, and we have an array of tips for the important things to know before going into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social View the full article

Well, 2025 is almost over and, while we've capped it off with the brilliant Phantasmal Flames expansion, all eyes are already on Pokémon TCG's upcoming special set, Ascended Heroes. As the 2026 equivalent of Prismatic Evolutions, this is a set packed full of hits and chases that will be as elusive as they are breathtaking. If you're hoping to plan your SIR or IR collection like me, here are the 10 biggest chase cards of Pokémon Ascended Heroes. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The price of first edition Kabuto Pokémon cards has grown 1,400% since one fan started collecting 'em all How many Pokémon are there? Full list in 2025 These ****** Friday Pokémon TCG deals will help you keep catching 'em all until the holidays View the full article

Next time a commenter points out a typo in one of my articles, I'll just say it's to make potential plagiarists look stupid. After No Man's Sky players on Reddit (via GamesRadar) questioned the provenance of an asset in survival MMO Once Human—suggesting it bore a marked resemblance to a similar object in No Man's Sky—Hello Games' boss Sean Murray seemed remarkably at-ease about the possibility he'd been the target of an asset heist... Read more.View the full article