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Firaxis Games have heard your cries, and so Civilization VII is getting an update at some point to let you play as one civ continuously through the Ages. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Activision has announced yet another free trial of Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 Multiplayer and Zombies, which just so happens to launch as EA releases its Battlefield battle royale, REDSEC. Yesterday, October 27, was a big day for first-person shooter fans. EA finally confirmed a shadowdrop for the Battlefield battle royale, dubbed REDSEC, which is set to go live today, October 28, at 8am PT / 11am ET. Then, later yesterday, Activision announced ****** Ops 6 Multiplayer and Zombies will go free starting today and run until November 3. Grab your squad. We’ve got ****** Ops 6 Get access to ****** Ops 6 Multiplayer and Zombies for free starting tomorrow [Hidden Content] — Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) October 27, 2025 Is Activision trying to spoil EA’s fun here? Fans are certainly debating the timing of the free trial and its clash with Battlefield’s big moment. Some are suggesting it’s nothing more than a pre-planned trial to coincide with Halloween (****** Ops 6 does have a Halloween update). But it’s hard to get away from the sense that there’s more going on here. After all, Activision only last month released a significant ****** Ops 6 free trial the day before the Battlefield 6 release date. And it's not just the Battlefield battle royale that launches today — Battlefield 6 Season 1 kicks off, too. This is the latest salvo in what has become a popcorn-worthy back-and-forth between Activision and EA, with each mega publisher’s big budget FPS vying for the hearts and minds of the gaming community this holiday season. In August, Activision shocked the Call of Duty community when it confirmed that Operators, Operator Skins, and Weapons from ****** Ops 6 would no longer carry forward into ****** Ops 7. This came as a big surprise to players who had expected content they’d bought for ****** Ops 6 to carry forward, as it has done with previous entries. Explaining the decision, Activision said ****** Ops 7 “needs to feel authentic to Call of Duty and its setting.” The feeling was that Activision felt the heat from Battlefield 6, which is going for a more grounded aesthetic. Developer DICE has indicated it has no plans to release crossover skins that would break the aesthetic Battlefield 6 is going for, and promised the developers were listening to fan feedback. In a recent interview with DBLTAP, Battlefield 6 design director Shashank Uchil doubled down on EA's commitment to grounded realism, and even pointed to Call of Duty's infamous Nicki Minaj skin as something Battlefield 6 doesn't need. “It has to be grounded," he said. "That is what BF3 and BF4 was — it was all soldiers, on the ground. It’s going to be like this,” Uchil said, pointing at the key art featuring soldiers in soldier gear looking out over a wartorn New York City. He added: “I don’t think it needs Nicki Minaj. Let’s keep it real, keep it grounded.” Then, last month, EA ramped up its Battlefield 6 marketing, taking a direct jab at Call of Duty with a new live-action trailer. More recently, Activision extended the ****** Ops 7 open beta to run an additional 24 hours to October 9, taking it right up to Battlefield 6's release date. Both games are crucial releases for their publishers. Battlefield 6 has the jump on Call of Duty this year, launching a month ahead of its rival. And the battle royale comes out to add competition to Call of Duty’s own free-to-download battle royale, Warzone. ****** Ops 7 counter-attacks on November 14. It will be interesting to see which of the two mega publishers is happiest when the dust settles. 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

The 2000s are memorable for plenty of peaks. The last truly great salvo of R-rated Hollywood comedies. Finnish mobile phones built sturdy enough to kill a man. Also? NASCAR games. If you know, you know. It’s not a controversial statement to say that, over the last 20 years, no licensed NASCAR game has been able to unseat NASCAR Dirt to Daytona, NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, and NASCAR Thunder 2004 from the podium. Enter NASCAR 25. While several elements of it are roughly hewn and underfeatured – and the multiplayer misses the mark – the moment-to-moment single-player racing it serves up is fast, fierce, and fabulously nuanced. Does it slingshot itself past the very best to ever do it? Not quite. However, it has gotten closer to doing so than any other in the last two decades, and that makes it quite notable. NASCAR 25 isn’t just the first NASCAR-licensed console game in almost five years, it’s the first ever produced by iRacing – the subscription-based racing simulation of choice for professional race drivers and sim-seat warriors alike. Considering the very foundation of iRacing was built using the source code for the legendary NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, there’s an undeniable element of pedigree at play here. There’s obviously a level of expectation that comes with this sort of heritage but, while it still has plenty of scope for growth and refinement, it’s been nice to see NASCAR 25 succeed in key areas where it counts. Matched Perfect and Staggered Special NASCAR 25 is at its very best on the track, rubbing panels at nearly 200 miles per hour. While oval racing isn’t a personal speciality of mine, I do find it massively fascinating just how ruthless it can be – and how different it is to typical circuit racing. As such, NASCAR 25 has me hooked right now. There isn’t always a consistent racing line in oval racing; depending on the conditions and the track itself, the most efficient way through a bend might be low, somewhere in the middle, or even way up by the wall. You may need to start taking a corner differently to be faster, and I’m finding this necessity to adapt extremely interesting. I’m also particularly attracted to the sort of patience oval racing requires, with events that can unfold over hundreds of laps. Doggedly hanging onto the coattails of a breakaway pack of opponents, dicing with them doorhandle-to-doorhandle, is tense and engaging – but there’s also a part of it that I find almost meditative as I stalk slipstreams lap after lap, waiting for the perfect moment to attempt to lunge and strike. The reason this all comes together in a meaningfully believable way is really thanks to NASCAR 25’s very impressive and tunable AI, and it’s very much what I crave in a racing game of this type. The core thing I look for constantly is racing that I can play by myself, in my own time, that feels authentic against my skill level. That’s it. I don’t want to be at the mercy of online randos, many of whom are ill disciplined and weave unrealistically across the track. Just sell me the fantasy of being a racing driver. Let’s not kid ourselves: I’m driving pretend race cars that I can pause when I need to ****. I’m not here to take on the world; I just want to enjoy my time. I want to believe I’m in the mix amongst a bunch of bona fide professionals who drive accordingly. NASCAR 25’s AI gets this right. I want to believe I’m in the mix amongst a bunch of bona fide professionals who drive accordingly. NASCAR 25’s AI gets this right. As a very casual consumer of NASCAR racing from the other side of the planet, my interest has ebbed and flowed depending on the involvement of drivers I have existing familiarity with, like Marcus Ambrose and SVG, so I’m not going to claim I can assure you that the AI always make the right tactical decisions. That said, they really do seem to drive with a lot of credibility. They hold their lines extremely smoothly around corners, and they shrewdly carve through packs of other cars competing for spots, effectively bump drafting and changing lanes. The only thing that undoes them is NASCAR 25’s frankly absurd way of penalising corner cutting, which will literally bring your car to a halt wherever you currently are if it detects a track limit violation. This will result in the AI piling up behind you as they all slam on the anchors to stop. It’s a massive immersion killer when it happens. AI speed operates on a difficulty slider, meaning I was able to get it dialled in to perfectly match my skill level. The values are arbitrary, but they range between 85 and 105. About 100 was the sweet spot for super speedways for me, and slightly lower on short tracks and road courses. There are a number of settings available to customise the AI, including their predisposition to losing control, their skill in regaining control after incidents, and their resistance to car-on-car collisions in the first place. I’m currently experimenting with making the AI more susceptible to losing it after a decent whack – and dialling incident frequency way up to make things a little more exciting. It probably hasn’t quite resulted in the turmoil I was anticipating, but I appreciate settings like this. There isn’t one, single way to play NASCAR 25. Keep it stern and serious or let it lean a little more Hollywood? It’s a decision the developers are happy to let us handle. I Don’t Want You Spoiled, Buck On the topic of handling, the news is also largely positive. It feels strong and challenging with a wheel, and the laser-scanned track surfaces (which have migrated from iRacing) means the characteristics of circuits with bumpier surfaces come through to have interesting effects on the driving feel from race to race. Cars feel balanced and obedient at high speed, and I was particularly impressed with how approachable NASCAR 25 is on a controller – which is important as a console-oriented game. It’s hard for me to accurately put myself into the mind of an inexperienced or younger racer, but there are also a range of assists available – and the simple tuning slider should be sufficient for anyone not looking to get too lost in the weeds when it comes to minor vehicle adjustments. The handy slider is essentially a bunch of quick tunes you can apply to either tighten everything up (which should make your car quite planted and stable, at the cost of some front end responsiveness) or create something ******* (and if I’ve learned anything from Days of Thunder beyond what happens when a load of unwanted lettuce reaches Japan, loose is fast and on the edge of out of control). One key controller problem so far, however, is a peculiar lack of meaningful rumble – and this creates a disappointing disconnect between what’s happening with my car’s grip on-screen and what I’m feeling through my hands. It just injects an unwanted floaty sensation at times, particularly when you don’t realise your rear tyres are spinning up because there’s no tactile information coming in that that’s happening. It makes playing on the expert level handling settings – where ham-fisted throttle mashing will rotate your car around quick smart – a bit more frustrating than I like. I think it’s also contributing to a skatey feeling on road courses, because I can’t really always feel the edge of the grip. Information is definitely one of NASCAR 25’s weaknesses, overall. It’s not just the fact that it doesn’t really do a great deal to teach a player the ins-and-outs of, say, oval tactics or road course track limits. It’s also missing useful, basic info, like your opposition’s current qualifying times – which can’t be seen while you’re also out trying to set down a scorching lap. You need to return to pit lane to view where you currently stand in the group. The spotter also has a habit of giving us the wrong info, like noting you have clear space inside or outside when you don’t. I’m very lukewarm on how robotic the spotter sounds, too; being direct and matter-of-fact is all well and good during racing, but being unable to muster any convincing human enthusiasm about winning a race makes him feel like a chatbot – and NASCAR 25 misses out on any meaningful personality as a result. The presentation of career mode is a bit sterile, too. Your driver is never more than a blank silhouette, and the inability to even select a home state or country of origin is odd. It’s small potatoes, sure, but missing the little things does make it all feel a little more impersonal than I’d want from a custom driver. Cars can be customised using a combination of preset designs and some basic shapes, but the livery system is underdone. A one-button system for syncing your design up with your driver and team gear is handy, but simple stuff like flipping the design from one side of a car to the other hasn’t been implemented. You also can’t apply custom shapes to liveries you want to use online, which is an annoying restriction we don’t typically face in other racing games. I did enjoy the evolution of the custom racing operation and garage backdrop, which is quite cool as you progress up through the four series (and you can compete in up to two series at once), but this first effort is a bit vanilla compared to other career modes in the official motorsport sim space, like F1 or WRC. There’s a basic economy here, where you need to monitor an overall budget and manage repairs between races with a secondary resource called ‘work points’, but I did find myself ploughing through it between races without too much thought. While I’ve established multiplayer is not my natural environment, it’s not a particularly strong component of NASCAR 25 either way, which is a tad surprising given the sheer volume of online racing experience the iRacing team has. NASCAR 25’s multiplayer is simply a basic lobby system of random races, and there are no scheduled races or special events. It plays just as smooth and reliably as the single-player – even in races against over two dozen online opponents – which is commendable. It just feels listless. View the full article

****** Bandicoot looks set for a return in animation form with a new series on Netflix. What’s on Netflix reported that the animation studio behind Sonic Prime, WildBrain Studios, is making the ****** Bandicoot adaptation for the streamer. WildBrain Studios has worked on plenty of animations for Netflix, including Carmen Sandiego, Malory Towers, and the aforementioned Sonic Prime. As What’s on Netflix points out, this is the first time ****** Bandicoot will front his own series. There is no release window nor plot details for the ****** Bandicoot animated series yet. As for the ****** Bandicoot video game series, it’s been quiet for some years now. After 2018’s ****** Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy came out, Activision released ****** Team Racing Nitro-Fueled in 2019, ****** Bandicoot 4: It's About Time in 2020, ****** Bandicoot: On the Run! in 2021, and, most recently, ****** Team Rumble in 2023. Support for the latter ended less than a year after launch. Is there a new ****** Bandicoot video game in the works? Last year, it was reported that Microsoft, which brought ****** Bandicoot under its umbrella after shelling out $69 billion for Activision Blizzard, had reached an agreement with former ****** Bandicoot developer Toys for Bob for the studio’s next game. In February 2024, Toys for Bob announced plans to spin off from Microsoft-owned Activision to become an indie developer. Toys for Bob is the developer behind Skylanders, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and ****** Bandicoot games, but in more recent years had become a Call of Duty support studio. At the time, Toys for Bob said it was exploring "a possible partnership between our new studio and Microsoft,” adding both Microsoft and Activision were "extremely supportive" of its new direction. While Toys for Bob's first project as an indie studio is apparently "in the early days," fans speculated it could be a revival of ******, Spyro, or another IP Toys for Bob has become known and beloved for. As for Netflix, continuing to invest in video game adaptations comes as no surprise given the success it’s seen doing so already. It has animations for everything from Splinter Cell to Tomb Raider, Castlevania to Cyberpunk. And of course it enjoyed critical acclaim from the League of Legends animated adaptation, Arcane. It’s now working on adapting board games, with Catan, Clue!, and Monopoly shows in the works. 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

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection releases soon from Digital Eclipse and Atari and ahead of release Valve have given it the green tick to be Steam Deck Verified. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Well, that's certainly one way to get around the Steam Deck rating system isn't it. Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT now has the online play split off into DLC. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Another new build of GE-Proton is here to improve compatibility for Windows games on Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck. Here's what's changed in GE-Proton 10-23. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Seems that wake-on-bluetooth for the Steam Deck LCD model is quite problematic, as Valve have again disabled it in the latest SteamOS update. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

This dungeon crawler is inspired by Wizardry, Ultima, and Shin Megami Tensei. View the full article

Steam users have until November 3 to claim two free DLC packs for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Fans may recall that developer Sumo Digital previously announced it would end major updates for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in May 2025, but that hasn't stopped the studio from surprising players with some freebies. View the full article

Duet Night Abyss is now available globally on your phones, and there are plenty of characters to obtain as part of the gacha. Unlike standard gachas, Duet Night Abyss allows you to unlock every weapon and character inside the game. That said, not every character is equally strong, and some are simply better. This guide will provide you with a brief idea about the best units in the current meta at global launch. Table of contentsComplete Duet Night Abyss characters tier listS-tierA-tierB-tierC-tierComplete Duet Night Abyss characters tier list I have used four different tiers to separate the characters available in Duet Night Abyss. S-tier characters are the universal best choices across all situations.A-tier characters are decent choices under most circumstances, but they have slight limitations.B-tier characters are good choices, but will require heavy investments.C-tier characters are weak choices that are better avoided at all costs. Here's a quick rundown of how the different tiers look. TierCharactersSRebecca, Yale and Oliver, Phantasio, DaphneABerenica, Rhythm, Psyche, Phoxhunter, Truffle and FilbertBSibylle, Outsider, Lynn, HellfireCTabethe, Margie, Lady NifleS-tierRebecca: Rebecca is one of the strongest DPS units in the entire game, thanks to her AoE-based Hydro damage. Her moves and their effects last for a long time, but you have to pay attention ot her range. She's good at clearing any in-game content, so building her up makes plenty of sense.Yale and Oliver: The duo has one of the best playstyles for beginners, as you can keep your distance and dish out damage. Their bombs cause an incredible amount of damage to most types of enemies. Look out for bosses that are typically mobile and hard to target.Phantasio: Once he enters the ******** Fury state, Phantasio hits hard and fast. He is exceptionally good against bosses, and upgrades allow him to stay in the ******** Fury state for a long time. Pair him with a good support healer to ensure that he survives the damage, and also focus on staying in the ******** Fury state for as long as you can.Daphne: Daphne is the best healer you can find in the game. Her entire kit revolves around healing the party, and she is exceptionally good at that. At Intron Lv. 6, she also offers damage buff to her allies, making her the best support character in the entire game.A-tierBerenica: Berenica is a pretty well-rounded attacker who has good damage and decent mobility. You can also use her passive to restore her sanity, allowing her to use abilities more. However, her base damage is slightly less than that of DPS units in the S-tier.Rhythm: While her overall damage is towards the lower style, Rhythm offers a playstyle that is highly suitable for beginners. You can fall back with her when the dangers rise, and then counter with her AoE abilities, which only improve as you upgrade her to Intron Lv. 6.Psyche: While I didn't enjoy playing Psyche against bosses, she's probably the best character during exploration. She has good damage, and more so when you land her Ultimate. She would have been S-tier if her Ultimate had a longer duration.Phoxhunter: Phoxhunter is a hybrid between a support and DPS character since a lot of her attacks do AoE damage. She also grants shields for all her allies, and her potential as a DPS rises as you build her up.Truffle and Filbert: Truffle and Filbert are excellent characters for beginners since they can have their Ultimate for an infinite time. While she's good against bosses, Truffle and Filbert shine against mobs due to the nature of their moves.B-tierSibylle: While she has unique abilities, the damage from Sibylle's AoE damage isn't enough. She remains underwhelming even at Intron Lv. 6, but her Thunderborb ability works well with teammates.Lynn: At base levels, Lynn is extremely weak as her damage falls flat. Her Ultimate makes her stationary in a position, but she's top tier once you get her to Intron Lv. 6.Outsider: Outside is a decent character with good offense and defense, but falls short unless you equip her with the correct weapons.Hellfire: Her kit is extremely strange. While she can heal allies, she can't receive any shields simultaneously. Her base damage is also pretty low unless you raise her to Intron Lv. 6.C-tierLady Nifle: Managing her sanity is incredibly tough, which makes it hard to use her abilities. Without the abilities, Lady Nifle is extremely weak as a DPS unit, and hence she has been placed on the C-tier.Margie: Has an extremely weak kit, barring Ultimate, but that is also highly dependent on other factors for success.Tabethe: Her tentacles have decent CC ability, but lack in damage. Raising her up does very little in terms of damage, which lands her in the C-tier. Like our content? Set Destructoid as a Preferred Source on Google in just one step to ensure you see us more frequently in your Google searches! The post Duet Night Abyss characters tier list (Global Launch) appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Following its Steam Next Fest demo, developer Fire and Frost needs a few more weeks to iron out issues. View the full article

Sony обновила компьютерную версию Ghost of Tsushima, добавив полную поддержку Steam Deck. Одновременно с этим разработчики ввели графические настройки для комфортного запуска в портативном режиме и изменили интерфейс. View the full article

Пользователи сети обратили внимание, что ИИ-помощник Gaming Copilot от Microsoft, развернутый в рамках операционной системы Windows 11, активно собирает информацию о запущенных на ПК играх. Речь идет о захвате скриншотов и отрывках геймплея, которые передаются в корпорацию для дальнейшего взаимодействия с ИИ-моделью. View the full article

Корейская компания WEMADE MAX и студия MADNGINE представили амбициозную ролевую игру с открытым миром под кодовым названием Project TAL. Выход ожидается в 2027 году на современных консолях и PC. View the full article

Bethesda Game Studios не будет кормить фанатов Fallout одними лишь переизданиями старых частей серии, сообщил глава студии Тодд Говард. Разработчики хорошо осведомлены о запросах своей аудитории и стремятся их удовлетворить, однако на создание новых масштабных игр нужно время — очень много времени. View the full article

Ветеран студии BioWare Марк Дарра признал слабые стороны вышедшей в 2019 году кооперативной ролевой игры Anthem. На релизе проект получил много негативных отзывов как от журналистов, так и геймеров, при этом большая часть критики была полностью оправдана, считает разработчик. View the full article

Bandai Namco подтвердила разработку новой игры в сериале Tales of. Производство идёт в соответствии с планом, но сейчас показывать предстоящую JRPG авторы не готовы — фанатам стоит запастись терпением. View the full article

According to the rumor mill, the next Xbox console will have access to all Windows software and support all games currently available on Xbox Series consoles. The information matches earlier rumors regarding Microsoft's radical shift in strategy. Read Entire Article View the full article

A new free trial of Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 is coming later this week, and will be available until early November 2025. Its timing, combined with Activision's recent promotional strategy, suggests the upcoming ****** Ops 6 trial is intentionally scheduled to debut alongside the launch of Battlefield 6 Season 1. View the full article

Sid Meier's Civilization 7has arguably been one of the most disappointing entries in the franchise for players, and developers at Firaxis have been trying everything they can to bring players back into the game. Up to this point, Civ 7 has avoided making the one change that players have been asking for since the game's release. View the full article

Firaxis tried something new with Civilization 7's Ages system, and although the studio's willingness to experiment with its decades-old grand strategy series is commendable, the evolution hasn't been a hit... Read more.View the full article

There is an island off the coast of Zul’Aman in World of Warcraft: Midnight called Atal’Utek that is very likely going to be visited during the expansion, possibly in Patch 12.1. Midnight isn’t even out yet, but speculation abounds as to where World of Warcraft will be taking players next. View the full article

This announcement appears to be geared specifically for China, as it was only made on the ******** BiliBili platform. View the full article

An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include: Fixed regression in itemtest Fixed some Botkiller Flame Thrower weapons not drawing the pilot light Fixed ****** in CEntityBird::SpawnRandomBirds caused by recent change (GitHub fix from Bitl) Fixed collection checklists incorrectly marking some items as 'owned' (GitHub fix from rabscootle) Fixed Vaccinator resist icons persisting when a player changes team (GitHub fix from Bakugo) Fixed memory leak in sprite model (GitHub fix from CosminPerRam) Fixed memory leak in server browser blacklist check (GitHub fix from CosminPerRam) Fixed exit teleporters not using mult_teleporter_recharge_rate attribute (GitHub fix from The Fatcat) Fixed Thermal Thruster passives not being removed if it's unequipped during use or player is a Medic (GitHub fix from Bakugo) Reverted Gas Passer respawn room fixes (GitHub fix from Bitl) Updated CTeamControlPoint to allow null caller on SetOwner input (GitHub fix from megascatterbomb) Updated CTFBot to allow use of the Wrap Assassin's alt-fire (GitHub fix from Bitl) Updated/Added some tournament medals View the full article