Payday 3 has been a thorn in Starbreeze's side since it arrived back in 2023. Despite its predecessor being one of the most beloved and best co-op games around, Payday 3 launched in a terrible state and with a web of new and reworked systems that players just didn't gel with. The result? On Steam at least, Payday 2's recent daily player counts are roughly 20 times higher than they are in Payday 3. Instead of calling it quits though, Starbreeze is committed to turning things around - it recently canceled a DnD project it was working on and handed Payday 2 support over to a different studio, all so it could put more resource behind the struggling game. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Starbreeze passes Payday 2 over to a new developer, but it couldn't be in better hands Payday 3 promised players an offline mode months ago, now it's "not feasible" Payday 3 best settings for PC View the full article
We caught up with refint/games to discuss the Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga remaster, Switch 2 enhancements without a devkit, rollback netcode, and more View the full article
IO Interactive recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of its flagship series Hitman, which has certainly been on a journey. Agent 47's beautiful, barcoded bald head has become one of the industry's icons, with the series' growth into its own identity truly impressive: from the early days where it was a more traditional 3D action game with cool ways to kill people, to the lightbulb moment of Blood Money's flexibility, to the sprawling sandbox extravaganza of the most recent trilogy (and not to forget false starts like Absolution)... Read more.View the full article
I loved 2019's Outward. The fantasy RPG from Nine Dots Studio embraced survival in a way few RPGs do, making everything from casting a basic spell to packing for a trip between cities a methodical and thoughtful process. Even its permalife system, which sounds forgiving—you don't die if you lose a fight, you lose consciousness and wake up elsewhere—meant you had to live with your decisions and failures, no matter how painful they were... Read more.View the full article
Arrowhead Game Studios has officially launched Helldivers 2's 5.0.0 update, revealing numerous bug fixes, balance changes, and the new Python Commandos premium warbond. The update continues to build upon Helldivers 2's Into the Unjust content, which added Terminid hive worlds to the title in September 2025. Helldivers 2 was originally released on February 8, 2024, and is currently available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. View the full article
Is 2025 the greatest year ever for exceptional indies? If you don't think it is, it's surely on the podium. Alongside the likes of Silksong and Blue Prince, Ball x Pit helps back up this year's case. Taking the simple ball-bouncing joy of Pong and Breakout and turning into a deep, addictive, chaotic roguelike, it's just been revealed that it's shifted a million copies. I can't say I'm surprised. Given its huge popularity, it felt inevitable that we'd see more content arrive in Ball x Pit in the future, but I didn't expect fans to be eating so good, so quickly, and for the low, low price of nought. A trio of free updates are heading the game's way next year, and they're all totally free. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Ball x Pit Evolutions tier list - best combos and fusions The videogame that started it all gets a roguelike reimagining 53 years after launch, and it's free to try View the full article
Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has created a “slim” version of its explosive co-op third-person shooter that massively reduces its file size on PC. For some time now PC gamers have complained about Helldivers 2’s bloated installation size on PC, and Arrowhead recently outlined plans to bring it closer to the size of the console version. In a post on Steam, Arrowhead said it had worked with Sony-owned PC port specialist Nixxes to reach its goal sooner than expected, reducing the PC installation size from 154GB to 23GB for a total saving of 131GB (85%). Arrowhead has now rolled out this slim version of Helldivers 2 as part of a public technical beta, which PC players are free to opt into. “Our testing shows that for the small percentage of players still using mechanical hard disk drives, mission loading times have only increased by a few seconds in the worst cases,” Arrowhead explained. The studio had warned that changing the file size of Helldivers 2 might have increased load times by a factor of 10 — indeed that’s why it duplicates data with update releases. But it turns out that its worst case projections did not come to pass. “These loading time projections were based on industry data — comparing the loading times between SSD and HDD users where data duplication was and was not used,” Arrowhead explained. “In the worst cases, a 5x difference was reported between instances that used duplication and those that did not. We were being very conservative and doubled that projection again to account for unknown unknowns. “Now things are different. We have real measurements specific to our game instead of industry data. We now know that the true number of players actively playing HD2 on a mechanical HDD was around 11% during the last week (seems our estimates were not so bad after all). We now know that, contrary to most games, the majority of the loading time in Helldivers 2 is due to level-generation rather than asset loading. This level generation happens in parallel with loading assets from the disk and so is the main determining factor of the loading time. We now know that this is true even for users with mechanical HDDs.” Once the beta confirms no issues, Arrowhead will roll out the slim version of Helldivers 2 to all players and make it the default version for everyone. Assuming all goes smoothly, the legacy version will be discontinued some time next year. The slim version arrives at the same time as Helldivers 2’s big 5.0.0 patch as well as its jungle-themed Python Commandos Warbond, which adds a number of fan-requested weapons including a minigun. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article
One of the hallmarks of Cyberpunk 2077, particularly after its Phantom Liberty update, is its dynamic police chases. In these, a player committing crimes might find themselves quick surrounded by cops and, a few crimes later, the extra spicy MaxTac. But what you might not have caught onto is that when trying to avoid this massive swarm of cops, you're essentially playing a really, really sophisticated version of a very, very old arcade game: Pac-Man. At the Game Industry Conference in Poznań, Wielkopolska, I attended a talk by CD Projekt senior AI programmer Maciej Celmer entitled "Heat, MaxTac, and Blockades: Police System, in Cyberpunk 2077 and more." In the talk, Celmer went into a lot of interesting detail about how exactly Cyberpunk 2077's police chase system was revamped following criticism from players that at launch, the system was way too forgiving and unengaging. The new system, implemented in 2023, was far more dynamic and popular with players. And according to Celmer, it had an unusual inspiration: Pac-Man. "Remember the game of Pac-Man, and the fact that every ghost had a different approach on how to catch the player?" Celmer said during his talk. "We did a similar thing in our car chases. For instance, one of them can try to reach the player on the shortest possible path, while the other can try to flank him or intercept on the intersection. There are seven different strategies that we applied to our cars with that part of the chase." We reached out to CD Projekt following the talk to get a little more detail on what Celmer meant. Over email, he confirmed that Pac-Man was one of "many" inspirations for the police chase update, "especially for the designers who came up with the idea. We wanted to surround the player with chasing vehicles but, at the same time, always try to leave at least one 'road to freedom' — basically, a way to escape. However, the situation in Night City, especially during a chase, can be very dynamic, so 'try' is definitely the right word here." Celmer broke down the aforementioned seven "strategies" that police cars would take in a chase for us too. Each strategy combined a mix of logic for where the vehicle would spawn with its behavior after spawning, and which strategy was used was dependent on the heat level, the state of the police system (relaxed, alerted, or combat) and other factors. From there, cars could also perform different maneuvers depending on the situation, such as ramming, shooting, blocking, overtaking, or aligning with the chased car. The seven strategies were, in Celmer's words: Drive towards the player — Move directly toward the player in a straight line. Used in the Alerted state.Drive away from the player — Move directly away from the player. Used in the Alerted state.Patrol the quadrant — Patrol the area around the player.Intersection trap — Try to flank the player at the next intersection.Get to the player from anywhere — The aggressive one.Search for the player — Perform an initial search around the crime scene. Used in the Alerted state.Search from anywhere — A fallback strategy used when we can’t find a suitable spawn point for strategy 6, so the car simply spawns anywhere and begins searching for the player. The result was, if you look at Cyberpunk 2077's roads from the top down, something like a game of Pac-Man where the ghosts are the police cars chasing the player. In Pac-Man, each ghost has its own strategy it will typically perform, such as Pinky trying to ambush the player or Blinky chasing him directly. "We simply wanted to do something a bit different from other games with similar systems," Celmer said. "The combination of a classic game AI design inspired by Pac-Man seemed like a great fit for implementing police chases in Cyberpunk 2077." Cyberpunk 2077's turnaround is one of the most dramatic in video game history. After its disastrous launch in December 2020, CD Projekt continued to update the game, and now, as it nears its fifth birthday, it's sitting on an incredible 35 million copies sold. Indeed, Cyberpunk 2077 is currently CD Projekt's main source of revenue. In a recent financial briefing, CD Projekt said it was “laying the foundations” for Cyberpunk 2, outlining plans to scale up its development teams in Boston, Warsaw, and Vancouver and through to the end of 2027. 135 people were working on Cyberpunk 2 as of October 31, 2025, up from 116 at the end of July. At GIC Poland, I also chatted with the director of Valor Mortis about difficulty options in Soulslike games and whether Valor Mortis should count as a Soulslike. I also went hands-on with the dog secret agent game Barkour. Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected]. View the full article
The road to release of Hollow Knight: Silksong was long for the small independent studio Team Cherry, but now that it's in the hands of players and a round of post-launch tweaks have been made, the developers are looking toward new horizons. Acclaimed side-scrolling metroidvania Silksong nabbed a Game of the Year nomination at The Game Awards, but Team Cherry may skip the ceremony, citing their busy schedule and a prediction that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will take home the prize. View the full article
EA Sports FC 26 has added ten Classic XI squads to the game’s Kick Off and Kick Off Rush modes. The ten squads take Icon, Hero and current players from the game’s existing roster and group them into ‘best of’ line-ups for specific teams or leagues. While the game’s Ultimate Team mode has a wide range or Icon and Hero players from football’s past, they only appear in one or two special teams in Kick Off mode, which players often use for local competitive matches. Read More... View the full article
Being a Half-Life 3 fan isn't easy, and it's been a struggle for players to keep their hopes alive after constantly being disappointed by leaks and having no official confirmation from Valve that the game even exists. Recently, there's been an escalation in rumors over an upcoming official Half-Life announcement, possibly at this year's The Game Awards. View the full article
Helldivers 2has been routinely criticized for its regularly expanding file size on PC, but the newest experimental patch is set to turn things around. While the online shooter takes up less than 40GB of storage space on consoles, the PC version grew to a whopping 154GB over time. Arrowhead's Technical Developer acknowledged the problem in October, noting that the studio would look into potential solutions. View the full article
Rumors and hopes regarding a Chrono Trigger remake have been raised again over the past week, driven by recent comments from Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii which do not deny nor confirm the existence of such a project. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Chrono Trigger. As a result, Square Enix has launched various projects to celebrate the classic RPG. This includes a brand new album featuring piano arrangements of character themes, a character popularity poll (Frog took the top spot, as reported by Famitsu), and orchestral concerts to be held in Japan next January. However, this sudden celebration of Chrono Trigger after very little fanfare about the cult classic has prompted speculation that Square Enix is leading up to a ******* reveal of a Chrono Trigger remake. Hopes were reignited again among Japanese-speaking fans on November 30, when Yuji Horii was directly asked in a discussion program on YouTube if all the recent Chrono Trigger 30th Anniversary projects and events are hinting that a remake is in the works. Horii did not outright deny it, responding with "I can't say," "You shouldn't ask that!" and "I'll get told off!" This and publishing executive Kazuhiko Torishima's jokey follow-up cries of "There is! There is (a Chrono Trigger remake)!” have led to Japanese speaking fans hoping, once again, that a remake is in the works despite the fact Square Enix hasn't made any announcement. “I wonder if it will be announced next year?” users wondered on X. Chrono Trigger was originally released for the Super Famicom/SNES in 1995. With the involvement of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii, and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, the RPG is beloved by fans and is considered by many to be one of the greatest games of all time. Although an upgraded version is currently available to play through Steam and on smartphones, fans have been calling for Chrono Trigger to get the remake treatment for years. The recent Dragon Quest HD-2D remakes have also got Chrono Trigger fans hopeful about seeing the SNES game recreated in the same style. “I want to play Chrono Trigger with beautiful graphics like these!” said a user on X. “Please, Square Enix!” Official posts by Square Enix accounts about Chrono Trigger anniversary merch have also attracted similar enthusiastic comments like, “If there’s a remake I’ll definitely, definitely buy it!” In November, Japanese game news site Dengeki Online did a poll of games readers most wanted to see get the HD-2D treatment, and Chrono Trigger topped the list. The situation is similar to that of Final Fantasy IX, with the game’s 25th anniversary celebrations this year also stoking fans’ hopes that Zidane and Garnet’s adventures are in line for the remake treatment, although in IX’s case the rumors were backed up by the infamous 2021 Nvidia leak, which showed that a FFIX remake was possibly on Square Enix’s to-do list at one point. However, it seems that for both games, the anniversary celebrations were simply a chance to revisit these classic games through events and new merch. Until an official announcement is made, all fans of both games can do is continue to express their enthusiasm for these classic RPGs to Square Enix. Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications. View the full article
Fanatical are running various new game bundles during their Bundlefestive 2025 event, with a just launched Play on the Go Bundle that's great for Steam Deck. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Yacht Club Games is relying on the success of its next game to secure its future, its co-founder says. The studio – best known for Shovel Knight and its numerous expansions and spin-offs – was set to release its long-awaited Mina the Hollower on October 31, before delaying it to an as-yet unannounced future date. Now, in an interview with Bloomberg, co-founder and studio director Sean Velasco says the game’s sales will play a big role in determining the future of the company (including whether there is one). Read More... View the full article
Just over seven years since it was first revealed as a Nintendo Switch game, Samus Aran's latest adventure is finally here, with a suped-up Switch 2 version to boot. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is the bounty hunter's latest first-person adventure, and it sets a new benchmark for visuals on the new console. While the experience is pretty enjoyable from beginning to end, it's far from the best Metroid title, and it's not even the best Metroid Prime sub-series game, either. It's still worth your time and attention, however, and is a worthy new entry in the decades-old series. A new frontier Screenshot by Destructoid Metroid Prime 4: Beyond feels like a fresh start for the franchise, which makes sense since the last title Metroid Prime 3: Corruption launched for the Wii way back in 2007. The gameplay is immediately familiar, which is both a good and bad thing because it remains true to the series, but feels like it lacks the punch that FPS gamers in 2025 are accustomed to. In Samus's adventure on the mysterious planet Viewros, where she and some Galactic Federation troopers got stranded in a weird teleportation disaster, the game remains true to the franchise's formula. Samus loses her abilities and must work to gain them back, often having to backtrack and return to previous areas to access places she couldn't prior to getting a new ability. It's Metroid, but in first-person. Unfortunately, the combat gameplay itself feels lackluster in comparison to its other segments. Samus's arm cannon feels like it lacks any sort of impact (some more audio or visual feedback would help), making it feel like you're shooting marshmallows at the variety of flora and fauna across Viewros. The shooting itself feels floaty and unimpactful, and nowhere near how it should feel for a high-powered bounty hunter with a massive blaster on her arm. The bulk of the game also lacks any real challenge on its base normal difficulty (only Normal and Easy are available from the start), making the standard enemies and battles you do come across feel uneventful and unimportant. Screenshot by Destructoid Boss fights, however, are where Metroid Prime 4 shines. Using Samus's powered-up abilities like missiles, a psychic grapple, elemental salvo blasts, and figuring out which skill to use to take big bads down so you can continue on your journey is the best part of the game's FPS combat. These moments are few and far between, though, as you’re mostly tasked with dispatching smaller and very non-threatening enemies while traveling between areas and figuring out what to do next. Thankfully, the combat portions are split up with some trademark light puzzle-solving and a new feature—the open-world exploration in the motorcycle-like VI-O-LA vehicle, which is integral to navigation of Viewros. The large Sol Valley desert acts as a hub when traveling to and from the game's varied locations, and while it doesn't have much to do in it outside of gathering resources or fighting minor enemies while traveling between areas, riding around on the bike is a blast. Samus also uses her newfound psychic abilities in combination with her combat visor to scan anything and everything in the environment to learn more about her surroundings, use telekinesis-like abilities, and unlock new skills that the bounty hunter normally wouldn't be able to utilize. In spite of its myriad faults, the game is still very fun to play, and I enjoyed my 11.5 hours with it on my first playthrough. It's a gorgeous Switch 2 title, and it runs flawlessly in docked (4K/60 FPS or 1080p/120 FPS) or handheld (1080p/60 FPS or 720p/120 FPS) modes, making it feel like joyous eye candy throughout. Screenshot by Destructoid Exploration and discovery, puzzle elements, and boss battles save the day from the monotonous gameplay moments in-between, where there's nary a challenge to be had until Hard Mode is unlocked upon first completion. Before the final boss battle, I died just two or three times in my playthrough, which is likely meant to be an accessibility thing more than anything else, but it still left me feeling wanting when it comes to keeping the shooter gameplay engaging, especially since you can't increase the difficulty until you finish the game once. In that same vein, there are multiple control schemes to play with, including JoyCon mouse controls and Wii-like gyroscopic aiming. Both are decent options that provide unique opportunities in play style, but I still found the classic Pro Controller to be my favorite method. Mystery vs. history Screenshot by Destructoid In Beyond, the story events have very little connection to previous games in the series, which makes it accessible to newcomers and also feels like an entirely new arc. Samus plays the silent protagonist yet again, and the villainous Sylux (returning from the spin-off game Metroid Prime: Hunters on the Nintendo DS) shows up with Metroids in tow, but he's a vastly underutilized presence throughout the game's story after being the catalyst of its events. The bulk of Metroid Prime 4 feels like a setup for a new trilogy, with the focus taken off Samus and Sylux and put instead on the mysterious ancient Lamorn alien race and Galactic Federation troopers Samus meets along the way. This makes the narrative quite hit-or-miss. Unraveling the mystery of the Lamorn and what happened on Viewros is the story's main pull. Samus has been designated as their "Chosen One" to help spread their knowledge and history throughout the cosmos, and reading lore entries found throughout the world helps unravel the backstory of what happened to the Lamorn. The last remaining members of the race have gifted Samus with their psychic abilities so that she can carry out their will, and she does so with little resistance. Several Galactic Federation troopers are spread around Viewros, and Samus meets up with them on her adventure. They begin to gather at a central base of sorts as they figure out how to get back home. The characters are pretty stereotypical soldier types—the nerdy engineer, the grizzled veteran, the wide-eyed rookie, etc.—but they each bring some levity and humanity to Samus's stoic silence. They help out with upgrading Samus's suit and abilities and eventually form a team to save the day together, and I found them to be a nice addition to the game overall. Screenshot by Destructoid They do, however, have a ****** habit of ********* gaming and spelling things out for you before you even have time to figure things out on your own. This was a worry of some after a preview event in early November that I also attended, and it ended up being justified. Whether you're in combat missions with them or they're chiming in with support over radio comms (thankfully, a rare occurrence), they can't help but spell things out for you if you take too long trying to discern it for yourself. When the game's events come to an abrupt end, you're left with the choice of starting New Game Plus and resetting all of your Scan and Item progress, which is unfortunate because unlocking a major flashback cutscene in the gallery requires 100 percent completion (or a $30 Amiibo). The point of no return is quite obvious, though, so if you want to get everything the game has to offer, make sure to scan every single thing you come across and gather every power-up item it before heading to the end mission. There's a memorable part in the game where Samus first meets one of her NPC cohorts, who asks her to identify herself. She then steps into the light, and they know immediately who she is. She's a legend. Her reputation precedes her. She is that girl. That's kind of how Metroid Prime 4 feels, in a way. Samus shows up and does badass stuff without saying a word, and that's enough to make the experience worth it. Screenshot by Destructoid But sadly, I can't help but feel like it could have been so much more, even if the game is meant to be a bit of a cliffhanger experience and jumping-off point for whatever comes next. The post Metroid Prime 4: Beyond review – Welcome back, Samus appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article
The Forsaken Hollows is coming soon to Elden Ring Nightreign, and you will be able to enjoy the new content in the first week of December. We have known about the content and release date of the DLC for quite some time. This guide will help you keep track of the upcoming launch and when the DLC could potentially go live. Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows release countdown The Forsaken Hollows is releasing globally on Dec. 4 across PC and console. Chances of delays are slim, with approximately 48 hours left for launch at the time of writing. The following countdown will expire when the DLC goes live. [hurrytimer id="1150057"] The countdown is based on the following timings. 3pm PST5pm CST6pm EST11pm GMTMidnight CET As of writing, the devs haven't announced the hour of the DLC release. The times here are based on when Elden Ring Nightreign was initially released back in May. Back then, there were two launch schedules. While the game followed a regional midnight launch on consoles, the PC release happened at 5pm CST on May 29. I believe that they'll follow the same schedule once again, unless stated otherwise. If the developers update the exact times ahead of launch, we will update our article. Here's a quick look at what to expect from the upcoming DLC. 2 new Nightfarers - Scholar and Undertaker2 Day Three BossesAdditional Shifting EarthDigital Artbook and Mini Soundtrack There are plenty of smaller items as well that will be part of the DLC. If you own the Digital Deluxe Edition of Elden Ring Nightreign, you'll be automatically entitled to all the contents of the DLC. Otherwise, you can also purchase the DLC separately if you already own the base copy of the game in your library. The post Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows release countdown: Exact date and time appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article
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Payday 3 has been a thorn in Starbreeze's side since it arrived back in 2023. Despite its predecessor being one of the most beloved and best co-op games around, Payday 3 launched in a terrible state and with a web of new and reworked systems that players just didn't gel with. The result? On Steam at least, Payday 2's recent daily player counts are roughly 20 times higher than they are in Payday 3. Instead of calling it quits though, Starbreeze is committed to turning things around - it recently canceled a DnD project it was working on and handed Payday 2 support over to a different studio, all so it could put more resource behind the struggling game. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Starbreeze passes Payday 2 over to a new developer, but it couldn't be in better hands Payday 3 promised players an offline mode months ago, now it's "not feasible" Payday 3 best settings for PC View the full article