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Mortal Shell 2, an upcoming Soulslike heading to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, has just been given an official rating by the ESRB. The highly anticipated PS5 Soulslike is set to launch on August 20, and its new ESRB rating teases some very intense, very gory gameplay. View the full article

Death Road to Canada has been around for a decade now, with consistent updates adding more content. While the developers are working on a new game, which is in playtesting phases, they have announced that the updates aren’t going to slow down for Death Road to Canada, with the TRACHEA Update being the most recent […]View the full article

Okay, we’ve got a bit of a good news/bad news situation here. Good news first: Without hyperbole, Avatar Legends is one of the most fun fighting games I’ve ever played. There’s something special about the way these characters move, the variety in their playstyles, their incredible animations, the flexibility of their combat options, and the satisfying ways they can execute some of the sickest combos I’ve ever seen. In so many ways, this is the game Avatar: The Last Airbender has deserved, as well as the old-school 1-on-1 fighter that hardcore fighting game fans have been clamoring for recently. But now the bad news: That stellar gameplay does some pretty heavy lifting, as the package around it is lacking in surprising ways. From an inability to change the difficulty level of the AI in single player, to a cumbersome training mode that’s missing standard features, to lobbies that can only support two players, the list goes on and on. Like Aang and Korra at the beginning of their stories, Avatar Legends is rough and unpolished, but beaming with potential. The best way to describe Avatar Legends in fighting game terms is that it’s a fast-paced, mobility-driven 1v1 fighter, focusing on creative combo expression, a high bar of execution, and the uniqueness of each character as opposed to powerful, universal system mechanics. All of that to say, this is one of the most difficult 1v1 fighting games to learn, but the payoff once you’re able to actually perform even a fraction of what these characters are capable of is extraordinary. The fundamentals of the fighting system are simple at a glance: there are three attack buttons, covering light, medium, and heavy strikes, and then a “Flow” button that is generally tied to each character’s unique movement options. As is the case with many anime fighting games, there’s a basic logic of being able to combo a light into a medium into a heavy into a special move, and there’s even an auto-combo for those that just want to mash one button and get some respectable damage. But it’s that Flow button that really opens up Avatar’s fighting system and makes it truly special. Every character has a very particular way of moving around the screen, and these mobility options can be absolutely wild. Aang, for instance, can press forward-Flow for a quick forward hop that has three different follow-ups, all of which have wildly different uses. Or he can press Flow and a direction in the air to take out his glider to attack from unpredictable and awkward angles, control the direction of the wind to affect his momentum in the air, or fast fall from the sky, just to name a few of his techniques. Each fighter has their own way of breaking the rules of this system. Meanwhile, Azula can air dash in eight directions twice before touching the ground (in just one of her forms); Toph can shift the earth to pull opponents towards her, or herself towards opponents; Katara can charge special moves while being able to slide across the ground – and that just scratches the surface of what these characters can do. Each of the 12 fighters on the roster has their own way of breaking the rules of this system, and it makes each one feel incredibly powerful and satisfying to learn. In addition to the Flow meter that governs all of those crazy movement techniques, there’s also a well designed energy meter governing EX special move and super usage. Instead of being a bar that fills up as you take or receive damage, the energy meter is segmented into individual points, and you only get a maximum of one point per combo. There are other ways to gain energy as well, including character specific “critical hits” that reward you for performing certain skillful feats. I love having to make on the fly decisions about how to build and spend resources, and between both meters, Avatar Legends’ fighting system is one of the very best when it comes to that aspect of fighting games. As a big Avatar fan, another aspect of the design that I love is how closely each kit embodies the spirit of the character. In the show, Korra is highly skilled and powerful from the very start, but she’s also reckless and tends to wind up in bad situations after acting without thinking. Here, that’s reflected with a very hard-hitting playstyle that can deal a lot of damage, but also comes with a lot of risk. Her high damage combo routes can cost of lot of meter, she has risky tools that most other characters don’t (like a meterless invincible reversal), and her special moves can all be enhanced for more damage at the cost of even more meter, which makes it very easy to accidentally wind up in the highly detrimental “unbalanced” state that’s caused by emptying your entire Flow meter. I love how closely each kit embodies the spirit of each character. Azula, on the other hand, has two completely different forms: Focused and Firelord. Focused embodies Azula’s calm and collected demeanor that we see throughout most of the show, and that’s reflected with a fighting style that requires a lot of precision, with much of her damage locked behind special move extensions that require button presses within a one or two frame window. That’s contrasted by her Firelord form, which represents her total meltdown toward the end of the series. Her precisely timed special move extensions go out the window, her air dashes become slower but cover more distance, she does more damage with fewer hits, and ultimately just becomes an absolute close-range monster that can smother you with overwhelming force. That’s not all, as the entire roster also has three support characters that can be chosen before a match begins to change up elements of their kits, much like the character variations from Mortal Kombat X. These can empower specific special moves in ways that open up new combo routes, grant you new special moves entirely, or improve your movement techniques. All of these systems work together to make what is a fairly small roster on paper feel much *******. Then The Fire Nation Attacked Avatar Legends’ story mode is an original tale outlined by series creator Michael Dante DiMartino and written by Tim Hedrick, who has written many episodes of both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, along with several other pieces of canonical Avatar content. Despite that authenticity, however, it mostly feels like fanfiction fluff. It begins with Aang waking up in an alternate universe where he doesn’t exist, people who shouldn’t exist in the same time ******* are best buds, and everyone is basically the polar opposite of how they normally act. There are a handful of fun callbacks, and the voice acting is quite good despite not featuring almost any of the original cast, but the overall story never sank its hooks into me, which made the whopping 27 chapter campaign overstay its welcome by the time I hit chapter 15 or so. Outside of the lackluster story mode, there’s really not much else here to hold the attention of anyone who isn’t interested in competing against other people online. There’s a traditional arcade mode, but no ability to adjust the difficulty of the AI, so if the matches are either too easy or too hard, you’re out of luck. On the teaching tools front, Avatar Legends is kind of all over the place. It’s great that there’s a frame meter turned on by default to immediately help you understand the frame data of a move, as well as an option to turn hit boxes on so you can understand the actual range and vulnerability of an attack. But on the flipside, doing simple things in training mode like setting a ****** to jab after blocking is extremely cumbersome thanks to a poor UI; and, shockingly, there is no way to set the ****** to block randomly, making it very difficult to practice hit confirms. The combo trials at least are pretty good at teaching practical combos at the novice and intermediate ranks, and a clever “Breakdown” feature allows you to go through a combo step by step – the screen freezes for each input, allowing you to get the muscle memory of a combo down without having to worry about the timing. What’s really cool though is that in addition to combo trials, there are character specific tutorials that actually teach you how to best make use of a character’s tools to pressure opponents, open them up with mix-ups, or defend against their offense. I do think these tutorials could do a bit better of a job easing you into the nutty stuff that characters can do, but nonetheless, it’s a great idea and I wish more fighting games would spend as much time teaching you how to land the hits that enable combos as they do on the actual combos themselves. Finally, my experience thus far with online play has been excellent, with smooth rollback netcode and a very snappy pace thanks to quick rematches, lightning fast load times, and instant returns to practice mode if the match drops due to a disconnect. That said, online also has some very surprising omissions that should be standard in a modern fighting game. The worst offender is the lack of lobby support for more than two players, which means you can’t set up a room to play with more than one friend where two people play and the rest watch and await their turn. This is apparently planned for a post-launch update, but it’s a glaring omission right out of the gate. Less shocking, but still worth pointing out, is the lack of replay search, which is used to find replays of high-level players so you can see how they handle specific matchups, nor is there replay takeover. Both features would be nice to have, especially in a game with so much variation in how its characters can be played. View the full article

A World of Warcraft game master has been accused of helping a Twitch streamer's Mythic group cheat a high-level dungeon by using their GM powers to insta-kill an enemy, and Blizzard says it's actively investigating the situation as evidence piles up. This began with a July 21 Reddit post from user Acrobatic_Pianist688, who claimed to have seen a "Blizzard GM death touching mobs in M+23 for their favorite streamer." Of course, we don't actually know if anyone's "favorite" streamer was involved, but Acrobatic_Pianist did link to a Warcraft Log record showing an abrupt end to a Mythic+23 fight in the Nexus-Point Xenas dungeon, caused by an "instakill" and "Area Death (TEST)" effect from user Daijosai, believed to be the GM in question. Game masters are Blizzard employees with World of Warcraft privileges and permissions that enable them to resolve in-game disputes and support requests. The incident caught fire online, and chatter only intensified after this Warcraft log was highlighted in a stream from WoW content creator yumytv during a conversation with Yiesus, a small Twitch streamer and one of the apparent teammates in this dungeon run, who's described by yumy as "witness testimony." The moment was clipped and shared, the Twitch chat filled with accusations of "cheater," after Yiesus openly said, "I go to my GM friend, I'm like, bro, please can you do me a solid? This thing has 20 mil bro, can you please just one-shot? One time for the one time. I meant no harm from it. If Blizzard wants to revoke that key or revoke my title, whatever they see fit, I don't care. Personally, I think it was harmless. I didn't expect him to do it. In hindsight he shouldn't have done it. He was just doing me a solid." One of the other streamers in this dungeon run, YaraByte, shared the same clip on her Twitter. This mess quickly reached the official Blizzard forums, with players calling for the GM to be punished and the clear to be revoked, prompting a response from Blizzard. Late Tuesday night, community manager ****** 'Kaivax' Jordan replied, both in the forum thread and to the original Reddit post. "Thank you to those who flagged this," Jordan says. "We are reviewing and will take action as appropriate. A fair and competitive playing field is essential to our games, and we won’t tolerate cheating." Blizzard continues taking action against World of Warcraft private servers as it pushes on with a lawsuit citing "large-scale, egregious, and ongoing infringement" of its MMO. [/url]View the full article

Baldur's Gate 3's Honour Mode continues to throw hands, but one player was within sight of the finish line when they threw their 60-hour run in deplorable fashion. In a post on Reddit, user theyfieri said they were 60 hours into an Honour Mode run, with "Ansur dead" and "just Raphael and the Elder Brain left." That's a seriously late-stage Act 3 run, pushing past what I still maintain is Baldur's Gate 3's most difficult fight and moving into the very final stages of the game - with just one more fight before the final boss, this is an effort that should have gone the distance. Unfortunately, this player broke the cardinal rule of Honour Mode, which is to not pick roleplaying choices for the first time if you don't know what they do. While sneaking around the House of Hope, they came across Haarlep, the Incubus that 'looks after' Raphael. After making their way through Haarlep's intimate cutscene, they reached the dialogue in which the player is asked whether they'll give themselves to Haarlep in part, in full, or not at all. The latter option triggers a fight if you succeed on the associated roll, and the first option means you're met with the occasional awkward wave of pleasure as Haarlep borrows your characters' appearance for their delicious deeds. The second option, however, will instantly kill you as Haarlep snaffles you up - mind, body, and soul. With the main character devoured and nothing left to bring them back, the party wipes - and in this case, the Honour Mode run was over: "Haarlep ended my honor mode run," wailed theyfieri in their post, exclaiming that after all their successes, they "just learned Haarlep can kill you by ******** your brains out." It's an enticing way to go, but also a pretty embarrassing one. In a further comment, they say that they're "gutted" by the mistake because they don't have enough time to put into a second attempt. In fact, they didn't even realize they were 60 hours deep in the first place. There's sympathy for their plight among the community, but also several players espousing Baldur's Gate 3's unwritten rule: "I will not try new things in Honour Mode." Check out our list of the best RPGs you can play in 2026. [/url]View the full article

Diablo 4 Season 14 players need to be aware that the Wendigo Brand Unique could be killing them accidentally. As it stands, the popular Diablo 4Unique is seemingly causing some surprising deaths, with Blizzard now confirming that it's aware of the issue and an investigation is underway. View the full article

Yo dawg, I heard you like Grand Theft Auto, so I put multiple GTA games inside your GTA. That's probably what the modder behind the GTA multiverse was thinking, because he made it possible to quite literally jump between 3, Vice City, and San Andreas at will. I'm not exaggerating, either. The creative mind in question is known as Dryxio, and he put up a video demonstrating his digital creation. Starting on Grove Street, the home of CJ in San Andreas, he's confronted by three portals: one going to a spot in the middle of 3, another to somewhere in Vice City, and another taking him to a different location in his current game. He uses an assault rifle to show that what we're seeing is fully interactive. You can shoot through these portals at NPCs visible on the other end, as if it were a regular window. Stepping into one then places you in the shoes of the other protagonists, either Tommy Vercetti or Claude, and you can continue playing as normal through that particular installment. [Hidden Content] It's truly a technical marvel, and in the YouTube comments he provides a bit of insight on how he did it. "All three games run inside the same process, sharing one Direct3D device," he writes. "Each portal is a live GPU texture, the other game is actually running behind it, it's not a video or a captured window," he adds. "Walking through swaps which engine has control and the others keep running." What he's saying is that all three games are literally running at the same time, and each instance of jumping through a portal transfers you over to that installment seamlessly. The modification isn't available publicly yet, but I'd advise following him for updates if you're keen to try it. He's been modding Grand Theft Auto games for some time, with other videos on his channel for a San Andreas map editor and a filter for giving any clip the aesthetic of the 2004 classic PlayStation 2 release. This sets a pretty high bar for where he could go next. Can't believe we got all three PS2 GTA games running simultaneously before GTA 6. GTA 6 probably won't include any cut content, says GTA 5 producer, even though Rockstar snuck "unannounced" game's missions into GTA 4 [/url]View the full article

An Assassin's Creed ****** Flag Resynced collab with Red Bull gives away an entirely free new sail if you can answer a quiz correctly. Read the full story on PCGamesN: Red Bull is giving away a free Assassin's Creed Resynced sail, if you're clever enough View the full article

A GTA mod from 'Dryxio' lets you move and shoot between the worlds of Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas through large portals. Read the full story on PCGamesN: GTA modder brings Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas together at last - with portals View the full article

We spoke to Tyler Walters, Technical Art Director at Polyarc, about the process of transferring Moss: The Forgotten Relic from VR. Read the full story on PCGamesN: Moss The Forgotten Relic is a great example of transferring games from VR, but making it "was no simple task" View the full article

2K Sports has announced the cover stars for this year’s edition of NBA 2K. NBA 2K27 is set for release on September 4 and will be coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2 and PC. Players who buy the Deluxe or Ultra Edition versions of the game will get early access starting on August 28. Read More... View the full article

The Corsair Clipper Pro Mini 60 has a particularly interesting proposition. A 60% deck coming at a time when smaller form factors are falling a little out of favor, but one that holds a much lower price tag compared to the rest of the mainstream magnetic gaming market. A deck with more adjustable switch controls than most, but fewer keys to use them with. After two weeks in hand, the Clipper is one of the best gaming keyboards you can pick up right now. Yes, that 60% form factor is going to limit its users to those who truly can get by on as few keys as possible, and its 8,000Hz polling rate isn't even going to be noticed by 99% of players. But its price, actually useful customization features, and light, fast typing feel, all come together to form a compelling alternative to the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini that's sat atop the 60% thrown for a little while now. Key Specs Price $99.99 / £89.99 Type Magnetic Connection Wired Size 60% Switches Corsair MGX Hyperdrive Core Keycaps ABS Media keys Dual-function Wrist rest None USB passthrough NoneWhat I loved about the Corsair Clipper Pro Mini 60Light, snappy switches The Corsair Clipper Pro Mini 60 is the first to use the brand's MGX Hyperdrive Core magnetic switches. While Hall effect giants like the Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 opt for the MGX Hyperdrive V2, the newer Core clackers come with a minimum of 27g actuation force. Under the hands they've got far less resistance behind them compared to the Vanguard. This is a smooth, fast, slip down to the full extension of the switch rather than a thocky, potentially more satisfying (for some) actuation. That can mean a less textured sound profile, with these lighter clacks in a smaller chassis popping with a slightly higher frequency than the deeper Vanguard. Corsair Clipper Pro Mini 60 (MGX Hyperdrive Core): [/url] Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 (MGX Hyperdrive): [/url] However, it makes perfect sense for competitive play. This is a 60%er designed to keep your high-ranked gameplay as fast as possible, and that's where the smoother stems come into their own. Dancing across these keys is a particularly nimble experience, but combine that with super short actuation points and barely a thought registers a keypress. In typing tests I averaged 99 words per minute at 97% accuracy, that's higher than both my typical 95WPM and 95.5% accuracy. Subtle but still interesting aesthetic Larger Corsair keyboards can suffer from a shadowy all-****** aesthetic relying only on LED lighting for a bit of visual flair. However, I've always found that smaller 60% and 65% Corsair decks manage to weave a little more interest into their designs. The Clipper doesn't have large panels of extra LED lights or logos strewn across its frame, but its simple two-tone gray accent keys certainly help it stand out without leaping off the desk. (Image credit: Future) Lighting is uniform even across longer legends, something very few gaming keyboards manage to nail. While the LEDs themselves come across more pastel in-person, compared to the bold colors of Logitech and Razer decks, they're plenty bright and functionally helpful when lighting up only dual-function keys. Extra switch customization options The best Hall effect keyboards typically share a set of features; customizable actuation points, multi-step inputs, and rapid trigger. All that's here, but Corsair has added a few neat little extras of its own. Tap Lock allows for any hold command to act as a toggle while Smart Tap allows for different commands based on whether you're tapping or holding. The former is a nice addition to the arsenal, even though it's usually covered by in-game settings anyway. However, the latter came in particularly handy - more so than the four-step actuation options common on many magnetic decks. While assigning multiple inputs to one keypress is faster, it's rarely a necessary aspect of my playstyle. Loading a grenade, throwing, and returning to the weapon wheel in one keypress is neat, but I actually found myself using Smart Tap features a lot more. (Image credit: Corsair) Assigning heal to a tap and opening up different healing options with a hold, or even just swapping between a main interaction key and a secondary one, all my controls feel a lot tighter together and far more organized. There's also no need to learn how far down a keypress I need to be to trigger my full list of commands. (Image credit: Future) The feature also helps in productivity scenarios, with directional inputs easily mapped to taps on the cluster of right-hand keys, somewhat removing some of the roadblocks of the 60% layout. Actually, not a bad price While some of Corsair's roster of keyboards can suffer a little brand tax, its Hall effect options are surprisingly some of the more competitively priced in its arsenal. The Clipper Pro Mini 60 doesn't deviate. At $99.99 / £89.99, it's significantly cheaper than the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini ($219.99 / £209.99) and Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini ($179.99 / £179.99). Even a look at the wider market puts Corsair in a favorable position. It's not the cheapest on the market - Epomaker's AULA WIN68 sits at $49.99 / £49.99, you can grab an Attack Shark 65%-er for $59.99, and RK Royal Kludge and Redragon have the absolute bottom of the market at $30 - $40, but after that we've only really got Womier competing in the same $90-$100 price range. Options from Keychron, Asus, Razer, Nuphy, Logitech, and SteelSeries will all run you well over $100. It's not the cheapest option out there, but for full-featured, mainstream gaming keyboards it's certainly on the right side of the numbers. What to consider about the Corsair Clipper Pro Mini 60Some crunch on the space bar While the majority of the typing experience here is smooth and snappy there is a little crunch on the spacebar every so often. It's only noticeable when hit in the middle of the bar with a little more force, but could suggest further degradation with longer term use. (Image credit: Future) Adding a little lubrication to the top of the stabilizer bar housing doesn't massively help the problem, and with the bar itself mounted under the plastic housing it's a little tricky to dive in there for a quicker fix. It's not too harsh on the ears and I was able to temper my space bar use so as to not hit that louder clack pretty easily in testing. Cheaper casing This isn't exactly a slight against the Corsair Clipper, after all it's designed to be a lightweight, portable 60% keyboard and its pricing is certainly competitive. However, if you're after a more luxurious feeling keyboard there are sturdier cases out there. (Image credit: Future) This is a plastic construction, with a lighter, more hollow feel to it overall. That's purely aesthetic, though. The sound dampening is still top notch, and everything still feels nicely bouncy. Should you buy the Corsair Clipper Pro Mini 60? (Image credit: Future) The Corsair Clipper Pro Mini 60 is among the cheapest mainstream gaming-branded magnetic gaming keyboards, and yet it still feels great in the hand (barring some space bar twinges), runs light and speedy for competitive play, and offers an extra set of switch customization tools over its competitors. That means it's giving the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini something to think about. While my current top pick for the best 60% gaming keyboard does have its own way around the arrow-key problem, and adds a pretty slick joystick function, Corsair's Smart Tap feature provides the same fix while avoiding the echo problems of Sneki's offering. With a lower starting price, it's now my go-to recommendation for anyone after a more compact form factor. How I tested the Corsair Clipper Pro Mini 60 I mainlined the Corsair Clipper Pro Mini 60 for two weeks, running the keyboard for all my daily gameplay, work, and everything in between. In that time I primarily played across Doom: The Dark Ages, High on Life 2, and Planet Coaster 2, with dedicated testing in CS2 and Apex Legends. I also completed three one-minute typing tests on TypingTest.com at the end of my testing *******, taking the average of each test as my final result. For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy. I'm also rounding up all the best wireless gaming keyboards as well as the best hot-swappable keyboards on the market. [/url]View the full article

Wreckreation 2 is hardly the first attempt by ex-Burnout developers at reviving the spirit of one of the greatest – and definitely my favorite – arcade racing game series of all time. There was Danger Zone, and then its sequel. Next came Dangerous Driving, which was supposed to get a sequel that never came out and instead morphed into Wreckreation, which our racing game guru Luke Reilly did not take kindly to in his review. Is the fourth time the charm? Based on the couple of hours I’ve put into the very early preview build of Wreckreation 2, I can, for now, at least optimistically say, “Maybe.” I don’t say that to hype this game up too much or judge it too harshly. Rather, studio head Fiona Sperry (herself a veteran of the Burnout days at Criterion Games) wanted to emphasize that this is an extremely early version of what they’re building. With that in mind, I loaded up the demo and its dozen-plus events and a couple of upgradeable cars, expecting a rough, buggy mess that might have a kernel of greatness at its core that the team at When Tides Turn just needed time to build and polish into a pearl. And to my pleasant surprise, I instead found the section of the fictional Heartbreak City on offer to be pretty solid on my 5080-powered PC – completely devoid of the framerate hitches and bugs cited by Luke in his review of the first Wreckreation. Does that guarantee that the final version of Wreckreation 2 will also be polished and free of bugs? Certainly not; again, by Sperry’s own admission, this sequel is still early in development. But it’s making a really strong first impression on me. Road Rage events are ripped straight from Burnout. Why? Just as with the first Wreckreation, which I confess I somehow completely missed when it came out, Wreckreation 2 is quite proudly trying to build what is essentially Burnout Paradise 2 in all but name. The shiny visual style is very similar, as is the pop-punk soundtrack. Heck, the flaming turbo meter in the bottom left corner is identical to the one found in Burnout. Even Heartbreak City itself feels reminiscent of Paradise City. But of course, the play’s the thing, as Shakespeare once wrote, and the team at When Tides Turn recommended I leave the difficulty at its default setting: Hard. I did, and they were right: as I flew around the tracks staked out within the downtown area of the city at blindingly high speeds, I was met by equally aggressive AI drivers who could dish out shunts and takedowns admirably well. Meanwhile, the arcade-y handling of the cars felt instantly familiar and pretty dang good; the handbrake (on the Xbox gamepad’s X button) can get your car around a 90-degree turn pretty quickly if you feather it just right, while stomping on it too hard will slow your car down to a crawl. And slamming into other cars feels weighty, as it should. And if you do get wrecked, you’ve got aftertouch, just like in Burnout, meaning you can nudge your slow-motion-crashing car in any direction to try and take out any approaching opponents along with you. The events in my preview – aside from free-driving around the city to smash barriers and gates marked on the mini-map – were instantly recognizable to any Burnout fan. My favorite of what was on offer were the two Road Rage events. These are ripped straight from Burnout, so you already know what you’ll be doing: takedowns of rival cars. Each takedown adds time to the clock and gets you closer to the next milestone. For instance, you might need three takedowns for a bronze medal, 7 for a silver, and a dozen for gold. Everything else in my early build were races of some variety, be they lap-based circuits, single-lap sprints, or one-on-one matchups that would win you a new or upgraded car. Both cars available in the demo – the supercar-styled Dearborn & Schaeffer Nightranger and the ‘57 Chevy-like Huntsville Nebraska – have superior versions you can unlock for your garage. And they do indeed handle quite differently, with the Nightranger being quicker, faster, and lighter (and thus weaker against attempted takedowns) and the Nebraska being the opposite: tankier. Admittedly, there wasn’t much to do just driving around the open world after I’d completed every event in this early version, but that’s just it: it’s early. And so I’m trying to give When Tides Turn the benefit of the doubt while also keeping my own excitement in check. There’s a long way to go here, by the team’s own admission, but what I’ve already spent a couple hours with is really fun. If Wreckreation 2 can clean up the mistakes the first one made while focusing on being a modern-day Burnout Paradise – with the reasonable caveat that this attempt probably won’t have nearly the manpower or budget behind it that Burnout did in its heyday at EA – then we might have the closest thing we’ve seen yet to a proper Burnout Paradise sequel. That’s the ceiling here. The floor is, unfortunately, another flawed and underbaked attempt like the last one was. But I’m genuinely optimistic that we’re heading for the better outcome here – particularly after the early preview version already addresses some of the criticisms of the first Wreckreation. Wreckreation 2 will be developed “out in the open” for fans to see, so seek out When Tides Turn’s Discord to follow along. A PC release will happen first, with console versions planned to follow. Fingers crossed that the fourth time is the charm to finally, fully recapture the magic of Burnout. Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. His favorite Burnout is Burnout 3: Takedown, because Burnout Revenge's traffic-checking just didn't work as well in his opinion. Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan. View the full article

Disgaea series creator and former president of Nippon Ichi Software, Sohei Niikawa, has spoken out against Sony's decision to kill discs for new PlayStation games from 2028, saying the company "may as well go all the way" and "eliminate the hardware too." Sony's controversial announcement earlier this month has sparked outrage across the games industry, with everyone from players to devs raising concerns about the future of physical media, game preservation, ownership, and more. I'm honestly struggling to think of a single person I've seen in favor of the decision, and Niikawa certainly isn't one of them. In an interview with Noisy Pixel at Anime Expo 2026, Niikawa explains that he thinks "physical editions of games are very important." For a start, he begins, there's the collectible aspect: "For fans, being able to keep a game they love as an object can have a great deal of value. It becomes a memory or a keepsake connected to something that matters to them," he says. That point is clearly fresh on his mind given his attendance at Anime Expo. "They can also bring that physical game to an event like this and ask someone to sign it," he continues. "Afterward, they can take it home, display it, and decorate their room with it. Physical games are important because they can carry that kind of meaning." Niikawa notes that he can understand Sony's decision "from a purely business perspective," but thinks that "the executives who decided it have probably never experienced" a fan approaching them to sign a physical game at an event. He adds: "I don't think they understand the feelings of those fans, and they may never have considered what physical editions mean to the people who value them." (Image credit: Nippon Ichi ) As for the future of physical games, Niikawa sounds almost defeated as he suggests that, without physical games, there's little point in having consoles in the first place. "If they're going to go as far as eliminating physical packages, they may as well eliminate the hardware too," he says. "A television would be enough. Why would you need the console? If you're going to get rid of physical games, you may as well go all the way." It's fair to say that with the likes of cloud gaming, there's a genuine possibility of that being the case going forward. Xbox may have shoved its odd "this is an Xbox" marketing under the rug, but Game Pass Ultimate's cloud functionality really can let a lot of devices function like a console, albeit with limitations like the constant internet connection requirement and smaller choice of games. Sony is delving more into cloud gaming now, too – following an update last year, you no longer need to own a PS5 in order to use the PlayStation Portal. Is this a future people would actually want, though? I suspect not – the backlash over the disc situation has been bad enough. Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima previously said that the concept of a digital-only future where media can suddenly become inaccessible is "frightening." As PlayStation kills discs, Nier Automata creator Yoko Taro is "saddened by the loss of physical media" and despairs over "the future" of games: "That's just the way things are going." [/url]View the full article

Leads working on Castlevania: Belmont's Curse have spoken out about how it will continue the series' tradition of challenging difficulty, while allowing players ways to mitigate it through level ups, exploring alternative paths, and if none of that works for you, difficulty settings. In an interview with Famitsu that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Belmont's Curse's producer Tsutomu Taniguchi describes how people might mitigate the difficulty by using the game's mechanics. "People might find the game difficult if they can't win a certain battle, but there are always numerous alternatives," he says. "There is also a level up system so new players and those who are not good at action games can still play. That's always been a part of the series." Though there are ways in-game to negate the difficulty, there are also settings that deal with potential issues more directly. "For those who still feel that it's difficult, there are settings that adjust the level of difficulty in the options menu," he continues. "Whether someone is good at action games or not, there should be a setting that will leave as many players as possible satisfied." However, the game's director Yukiko Hokao wants to emphasize that Belmont's Curse will still have the challenge the series is known for. "We didn't want it to be a simple or easy game," she says. "That isn't Castlevania. Looking at early games in the series, I think there is a kind of joy in making progress steadily through a difficult game." Creative director Emmanuel Nouaille also weighs in with how fairness is at the core of the gameplay. "We also placed a big emphasis on gameplay being 'fair,'" he says. "We're confident that the level of difficulty will satisfy existing fans, and by removing barriers for new players it should be easy for them to get into the game as well." Castlevania: Belmont's Curse was made to enlighten players who "love Metroidvanias" but have "never played a Castlevania game," Konami lead says. [/url]View the full article

Audeze recently announced the launch of the brand-new Maxwell 2 ANC headset. The pair finally brings active and adaptive noise cancellation and "enhanced smart-audio capabilities" to the fan-favorite audiophile cups so you can play your favorite games and entirely shut out the world around you - just the way plenty of us nerds like it. This upgraded Audeze Maxwell 2 ANC is available now for $429 (Audeze) / £429 (HiFiheadphones) for PC and PS5, and there's an Xbox model arriving shortly if you don't mind parting with an additional $20 / £20. Both models are a bit pricier than previous Maxwell pairs, but Audeze states that this new bundled ANC is the "most advanced quieting system ever" Audeze Maxwell 2 ANC The Audeze Maxwell 2 ANC is back again with its wireless ways, bringing "Aviation-Grade" noise cancellation to the table, alongside an upcoming Xbox model - which doesn't have a release date quite yet. Just like before, the new Maxwell 2 ANC is also compatible with the Audeze app via desktop, Android, or iOS. ***: £429 at HiFiheadphones If you're sitting there thinking "wait, didn't the Audeze Maxwell 2 already release?" then you'd be entirely correct. The Audeze Maxwell 2 headset launched earlier this year and ended up in our best gaming headset guide after our team's Tabitha Baker took it for a test run and was a fan of its "balanced, clear, high quality audio" and its comfort upgrades over the original. It's the long-awaited follow-up to the Audeze Maxwell, and includes a newly fangled headband that helped offset the previous pair's comfort issues. It launched without any noise cancelling, which is where the Audeze Maxwell 2 ANC comes in. This is the same headset as before but with ANC in tow, powered by a system that combines feedforward (outside microphones) and feedback noise (interior microphones) to combat unwanted sounds. According to Audeze, this quieting audio system reduces that outside noise while still "preserving positional audio accuracy", which basically means that it doesn't negatively impact the sound conjured up by the headset's 90mm Planar Magnetic audio drivers. The new Audeze Maxwell 2 ANC also includes AI-controlled ANC parameters, alongside some voice-activated commands, and simultaneous wired and Bluetooth audio. (Image credit: Audeze) Unfortunately, there's still no sign of any simultaneous Bluetooth and 2.4GHz audio, which was sorely missing from the previous Maxwell 2 despite it being a common feature of most premium and high-end headsets. Remind me to break that news to our team's Tabtha Baker later, and she was "shocked to find out the Maxwell 2s won't play ball" with such a common high-end feature during her original Audeze Maxwell 2 review. However, at least this pair keeps its compatibility with the interchangeable ReSkin earcup covers intact, alongside the older Maxwell 2's long list of features, which is ideally what you'd hope for from a headset that has a $400+ MSRP and is $100 more than its predecessor. View all wireless gaming headsets at Amazon Looking for a new headset? I've also rounded up the best PC headsets for gaming, the best PS5 headsets, and the best Xbox Series X headsets worth checking out. [/url]View the full article

Embark Studios releases a new store update for ARC Raiders, though as part of the patch, it also announced a big change to the game's matchmaking based on player feedback. Matchmaking has always been a major topic of debate for both Embark and its community of ARC Raiders players, and this latest change appears to be aimed at improving matches for everyone. View the full article

Whether stemming a tide of Tyranids in Warhammer 40:000: Space Marine 2 or whaling on one of Left 4 Dead's chargers to make it stop pummeling your pal, the best co-op games thrive when you're hard-pressed to keep up. Far Far West, developer Evil Raptor's breakout co-op shooter, is no exception. It's equal parts maximalist and stubbornly simple, pitting spellcasting robot cowboys against escalating hordes of supernatural cowpokes – accompanied by the greatest (and first) techno-banjo soundtrack I've ever heard. To dig into Far Far West's creation, inspirations, and the philosophy driving the small team at Evil Raptor, GamesRadar+ caught up with developer Arnaud Petit. Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity Goin' out West (Image credit: Fireshine Games) Set your sights on these (Image credit: Focus Entertainment) Here are 25 of the best shooters we'd recommend playing (if you haven't already) How did the development team come together? Petit: Evil Raptor was born out of Pumpkin Jack back in 2020, when Nicolas, the head of the studio, was solo-developing the game. Following its success, we had the opportunity to hire more people and become more ambitious with our projects. Most of the current team already worked together on our previous title, Akimbot. So, transitioning to Far Far West was just a natural continuation of our work as a group, with a few new additions to ensure we could make the game as good as possible. Similarly, how did the creative vision of Far Far West take shape? Petit: The art direction, the atmosphere, mood, and overall fantasy come from Nicolas, who is incredibly skilled at creating spooky and moody vibes. As for the concept of spell-slinging robots fighting skeletons… honestly, it's just cool. Gameplay-wise, our main objective was to create a fun (a very important word for us!) experience that anyone could enjoy, from casual to more hardcore gamers. Far Far West actually went through three major iterations. Our first prototype was a fresh take on tower defense, and the second leaned into a linear, mission-based structure similar to games like Left 4 Dead. When we realized those directions weren't clicking the way we wanted, we decided to take our best ideas, throw them all in the same bag, and focus entirely on tight gunplay, funny spells, and wacky combos. We mixed it all into a replayable game loop, and the game finally found its footing! While we had a solid foundation, we iterated heavily and integrated player feedback right from the start, which really helped shape the game into what it is today. (Image credit: Evil Raptor) Far Far West had a lot of hype at the demo stage, but that doesn't always translate to launch. Ahead of release, how did you feel? How about now? Petit: Running several open playtests followed by a demo with open reviews definitely helped ease our nerves, as we could see people were enjoying the game. However, since the demo was free at the time, it was impossible to know if that interest would translate into actual sales at launch. Thankfully, it did! We honestly didn't expect the full release to be received this well, nor did we anticipate such a high player count. We couldn't be happier with its success! Now, we're back hard at work and can't wait to bring more content to the players. Far Far West reminds me of some brilliant co-op shooters – think Space Marine 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands – more so in spirit than design . What do you think creates the right environment for a shooter to thrive in a group environment? Petit: For us, the key word is simply fun. Everybody loves wacky concepts and flying around the map at lightspeed, so we thought, 'Why not let them?'. Once we ensured the gunplay felt satisfying and the core loop was engaging, there were still a lot of things to consider. But our philosophy is straightforward: if we think an idea is fun for us, we don't hesitate to implement it for the players. (Image credit: Evil Raptor) I adore the music, particularly that crescendo in the final stage of an extraction. Could you tell me a little about why Far Far West's musical direction felt right? (Bonus question: would you like to name your electro-gothic-Western genre, if you haven't already?) Petit: Like with pretty much everything we do, we just went with a vibe, and that vibe perfectly matched the rhythm of the game. Our composer also did the OST for our previous game, Akimbot, which was heavily electro-based. Since that's his specialty, we wanted to carry that energy over. You just slam some banjo over it, think cowboys, and you get this "electro banjo bop." Not tying ourselves to a specific name or genre keeps the door open to pretty much anything, so we're just going with the flow! Are there any other developers – solo or studio – that you look up to? Petit: There are obviously a few names that constantly come up when people compare Far Far West to other titles, like Helldivers 2 or Deep Rock Galactic. They are staples of the co-op shooter space, and they both did an excellent job defining the genre in their own unique ways. When it comes to the gunplay itself, I also have to mention Overwatch. They did an incredible job making shooting feel as satisfying as possible for an FPS, and we definitely studied their animations closely! If you liked this... The future of multiplayer shooters Developers on Marathon, Arc Raiders, and Last Flag take GamesRadar+ through the evolution of their genre Hunger is an "Elder Scrolls-style" extraction RPG from the creators of Hell Let Loose We sat down for an exclusive hands-on with the "extraction RPG" set in Napoleonic Europe Why so many game developers don't want to use generative AI GamesRadar+ spoke to more than 30 developers to hear their thoughts on AI [/url]View the full article

A new and official gameplay teaser for Assassin’s Creed Hexe has just been dropped, and seeing what it may have in store has just left us more excited than ever before for its potential. Expected to be the next big core release for the series, a few details about Hexe are already known, while others seem to be emerging gradually. There has been a series of leaks about Assassin’s Creed Hexe, some of which mention that a feature that was highly anticipated was removed, for example. View the full article

Do you want to know what’s satisfying? A simple concept executed to the top tier of its potential. When you sit there and look at a piece of media and go “You know what? No notes.” That is what Arashi Gaiden hits for me, gameplay-wise at least. Arashi Gaiden describes itself as a turn-based action […]View the full article

Jimothy the Raccoon, a fuzzy little critter with short spine syndrome, has captured the heart of the internet. And now, you can add him to your TTRPG party in two different systems. The custody battle for Jimothy is officially on. His prospective parents? Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons. Read the full story on Wargamer: D&D and Pathfinder battle for custody of Jimothy the raccoon, with official stat blocks from each View the full article

The new Smaug card revealed for Magic: The Gathering's The Hobbit set goes infinite with upsetting ease. Smaug the Impenetrable may be difficult to cast at seven mana, but you'll be glad of that if you ever play against this MTG commander. That's because there are several two card combos that work with this scary dragon to make infinite mana or dish out infinite damage. Read the full story on Wargamer: MTG Hobbit's Smaug has an infinite combo that kills EVERYONE with dragonfire View the full article

Blizzard has responded to a report of a World of Warcraft GM using an instakill ability in a Mythic+ dungeon to meet the timer requirement. Read the full story on PCGamesN: Blizzard confirms that World of Warcraft GM is "no longer with the company" following Mythic+ cheating incident View the full article

While it’s not a series of truly Hitman-scale ******* sandboxes, 007 First Light does make good on its promise of enabling multiple Bond, James Bonding disciplines: shooting, sneaking, punching, and my personal favourite, getting immediately discovered then bullshitting something about being a door technician for supervillain lairs. But, were it not for some rejigging work on IO Interactive’s part, First Light might well have ended up with an undue preference for the brawling, bloody, Daniel-Craig-in-a-bathroom approach. That’s according to senior combat designer Tom Marcham, whom I briefly interrogated at a taping of the UKIE’s For One Night Only showcase. Marcham says that although there “was always the idea that [First Light] was going to be this kind of flexible blend” of secret agent styles, in the crucible of active development, the strength of straight up henchman-punching repeatedly threatened to wallop the stealth and social aspects into irrelevance. Read more View the full article

The album features 12 tracks from Final Fantasy X with "deep house reverberations" and it is available today. View the full article