Larian Studios head Swen Vincke just announced (via X) that developers will host a rare AMA after the holiday season to address players' concerns over the use of AI in the development ofDivinity, the newly revealed turn-based RPG that has been a recent topic of debate. View the full article
***** is bringing two pop culture icons together later this month, as Godzilla joins Sonic Rumble in a limited-time crossover event launching December 22. The collaboration introduces a new survival-focused stage, playable Kaiju characters, and themed progression rewards, marking one of the game’s most ambitious live events to date. .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{ -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent); mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent); } Read This Article Free Get instant access by joining the GB MAX Access tier — it’s free to sign up and unlock premium content.Join Now to Start ReadingAlready a member? Sign in The post Sonic Rumble adds Godzilla crossover event for limited-time December run appeared first on GamesBeat. View the full article
AI agents have captured the attention of both the gaming industry and the entertainment world, according to Web3 gaming firm Saga. Characters that can speak in their own voice, guide users through storylines, and build persistent relationships represent a new surface area for engagement, one that feels closer to interacting with a living universe than consuming a static piece of content. .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{ -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent); mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent); } This story is for GB MAX paid membership plans. Unlock premium insights, exclusive events, and VIP community perks.Upgrade Membership The post Saga opens revenue models for gaming and entertainment with AI agents | exclusive interview appeared first on GamesBeat. View the full article
ARC Raiders is in the midst of its holiday celebrations, with Cold Snap maps bringing dangerous frostbite and the Flickering Flames project letting players decorate Speranza for the occasion. Developer Embark Studios is now bringing gifts directly to players with free in-game currency. View the full article
Grab your mouse and get clicking, because it's been a great year for games, and the PC has seen nearly all of them cross its path. The IGN staff has rounded up the best PC gaming had to offer in 2025 and pitted them against each other in a free-for-all Quake match for the crown… okay, actually we just nominated our top five and then voted on a winner, though we'll also be shouting out a few more standouts that are worth highlighting alongside them. As always, the PC list comes with a few funny caveats alongside its console-based competition – or, more specifically, because of the fact that it's not really trying to fight in that age-old war. PCs have long acted as a bit of a catchall for gaming as a hobby, and that's been more true than ever in recent years as nearly every (non-Nintendo) "exclusive" seems to make its way to Steam at some point. Certain games on this list can feel a little more PC-focused than others, but some of the selections here might look a bit familiar if you've followed out console awards. That's the nature of our multi-platform hobby. Honorable Mentions Two games worth shouting out that didn't make our best PC shortlist are Europa Universalis 5 and Anno 117: Pax Romana – strategy games have a comfy home here, and while the genre is is a little tougher to penetrate than likes of RPGs and action games, its undeniable that 2025 has been a great year for 4X fans. Similarly, mouse-and-keyboard diehards had plenty to sink their teeth into this year with awesome FPS options like Doom: The Dark Ages, Arc Raiders, and Battlefield 6, all of which are sitting comfortably as nominees for our Best Shooter category. There were also some excellent indie roguelike hits like Ball x Pit, Megabonk, and Monster Train 2 that can feel at home on PC. That's not to mention another great RPG that just got pushed out of the top five here in The Outer Worlds 2, as well as the excellent Split Fiction, both of which made our Best Xbox nominations. Runner-Up – Hollow Knight: Silksong The conversation around the long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong was almost entirely dominated by difficulty when it first arrived. It's a brutally challenging platformer, often unforgiving but never outright unfair, and one that truly tested those who tried to conquer its seemingly endless map. But to boil Silksong down to only discussions of difficulty does it a disservice. Whether or not that one run back to a boss is too long, or that fake save bench that actually drops you into a pit of poison water is too mean (it's not, it's hilarious), there is so much Silksong does right, or more often brilliantly, that make it a truly stunning achievement overall. Its world is detailed and beautiful, its characters are charming and cleverly written, its music is consistently fantastic, and its branching paths let you explore and grow stronger no matter which direction you go, always giving you options if you hit a physical or metaphorical wall. The story it tells is also touching and nuanced, told through a lead character that has become a standout. Silksong is a game that nails nearly everything it attempts, and a sequel that was absolutely worth the wait. Runner-Up – Blue Prince It's easy to underestimate Blue Prince. In fact, it's easy to reach the credits, play deep into its endgame, and still underestimate just how much is hidden in the shifting halls of the roguelike puzzler. A smart blend of genres that come together to make something not quite like anything else we've played before, Blue Prince is one of those singular puzzle games that hooks you hard and then makes you wish you could wipe your mind and play it all over again once you're finally through. Its only frustration comes in the form of its randomness, but even that is woven in masterfully as a beast that can be tamed with skill, knowledge, and plenty of permanent upgrades. It somehow strikes the same tone as games like Myst, but with the enticing "just one more run" of wildly different all-time contenders like Slay The Spire. That's a hard line to walk, but Blue Prince strides along it with grace. Runner-Up – Hades 2 Similar to Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2 had the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of an absolute giant. How do you improve on something already so close to perfection? Well, developer Supergiant's strategy was to go ******* ******* *******. It doesn't revolutionize what made the original Hades so incredible, but it does offer a distinctly different flavor of it, and then stuffs that refreshed package full of so many new areas, enemies, systems, and upgrade options that it more than fulfills the role of a true and proper sequel. Melinoë's journey to kill the titan of time is also a fun twist on a familiar formula, and her moveset and weapon options masterfully shake up the still excellent action without overcomplicating anything – that's why although it didn't win the top spot here, it was crowned our best action game of 2025. And, of course, all of that is complimented by the same gorgeous sense of style and hypnotizing soundtrack that helped the first game leave such a lasting mark. Runner-Up – Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 may command the center of the RPG stage in 2025, but overlooking Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 dancing right alongside it would be a mistake. This massive medieval adventure could keep you playing well past the 100-hour mark, with tons of stories to unravel and quests to complete. Most notably of all, those tasks come with lots of choices to make that give you a hand in how this tale plays out, as well as the burden of living with the consequences of your actions. We've been waiting a long time already for The Elder Scrolls 6, and it seems like we'll be waiting a long time still, but Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a phenomenal alternative before that day ever comes – and is far from a consolation prize in the meantime, standing as a very impressive RPG that very well could have been claiming the top spot of many a list in a year that wasn't dominated by a certain French game... Winner – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 I wouldn't blame you if you feel like rolling your eyes at the absolute sweep Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has rolled out for award ceremonies across both IGN and the games industry as a whole, but becoming so used to it winning everything from best-ofs to costume contests throughout the month of December doesn't mean it doesn't deserve to. This distinctly (perhaps even aggressively) French RPG doesn't really do a ton we haven't seen elsewhere before, transparently owing loads to the plenty of Japanese-made RPGs that so clearly inspired it – but it does bring together loads of familiar pieces and assembles them in a way that feels fresh and new. The exciting and varied action elements of its turn-based combat, the interesting twist on a post-apocalyptic plot, and the powerhouse strength of the ensemble cast fueling the heart of it all. Add to all this that it's come from a brand new developer that clearly understands how to punch above its weight – not to mention it came out of the gate swinging with a PC version that didn't require frantic post-launch patching to be optimized – and it's not hard to understand why Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is our winner for Best PC Game of 2025. Got a different pick? Tell us what your favourite PC game of 2025 was in the comments! For more IGN awards, you can check them all out in one place here, including our picks for the best Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo games of the year. View the full article
When I sat down to play High on Life 2 for the first time, I was optimistic but also slightly skeptical. I’m hardly alone when I say that I loved the first one – it was a rare example of a genuinely funny game and it happened to be an excellent first-person shooter to boot. But making sequels to comedies is no sure thing – just look at the long list of great comedy films that got bad follow-ups. How would a video game comedy sequel fare? If the hour of High on Life 2 I played is any indication, it’s got a great chance to be as funny as – and possibly even more fun on the gameplay side than – the 2022 original. In that hour alone, I wandered around a beautiful beachside alien town, met a semi-depressed new gun named Travis and got completely wasted with him, impressed some alien teenagers with my skateboarding skills, circumcised a giant alien phallus with a laser, stole the fedora from the 1996 movie Dunston Checks In, tried (unsuccessfully) to solve a ******* mystery, and bounty-hunted a billionaire who, yes, met his demise. Did I laugh along the way? Yup. Is the first-person shooter combat improved from the original? Certainly. Did I appreciate the variety of gameplay within this small slice of the campaign? Most definitely yes. Like I said, I went in optimistic, but when my demo ended I was more excited than ever for High on Life 2’s February 13, 2026 release. Skate or Die I began in Pinkline Harbor, a beach town with a bar, a skate shop, a bar and grill overlooking the sea, and more. It didn’t take long for me to find trouble, as a pair of fellow bounty hunters accosted me and eventually recognized me as a mark with a big bounty on my own head. After taking them out, the bottleneck was clear and I was free to explore the harbor. This gave me my first taste of High on Life 2’s new traversal mechanic: skateboarding. I’ve played a lot of first-person shooters in my day, but I’m not sure I’ve ever played an FPS with skateboarding in it until now. And I have to say, I love how developer Squanch Games has implemented it here. It’s basically your run function. When you press the sprint button, your outlaw hero deploys their board and starts riding. You can grind on rails to really get around the open playspaces faster, and you’ve got momentum like an actual skateboard does, too, allowing you to catch air if you’re skating in, say, an empty pool on a cruise ship. I’m really interested to see how the skateboarding gets utilized throughout the campaign; I already saw it incorporated into a basic puzzle in my demo. I’m not sure I’ve ever played an FPS with skateboarding in it until now. After solving that simple locked-door puzzle with the help of my skateboard, I cruised into Pinkbellies Bar and Grill and met Travis, a down-on-his-luck alien (who happens to be a gun) who’s getting drunk at the bar after a fight with his wife. It’s here we see a welcome tweak to the first High on Life: you now have dialogue choices for each of your gun characters; if you choose one that’s from a different gun than what you’re holding, you’ll put that gun away and take out the one whose response you’ve chosen. This allows for plenty of funny options, and while I wouldn’t say this alone encourages replayability, if you do happen to run through High on Life 2 more than once, at least you can ensure that you won’t hear all of the exact same dialogue. Hold Your Liquor You’ve got to keep Travis happy as you pretend to be his drinking buddy, as he’s got a spare ticket for the cruise ship you need to get aboard, since that’s where your target – the billionaire Larry Pinkstock – is believed to be. And so there’s a literal Happy-O-Meter that you’ll fill by dancing in a DDR-like minigame, playing darts while hammered, and drawing a portrait of Travis. Naturally, this leads to a bar fight and you vomiting and blacking out and waking up on the beach. Did my actions during any part of this gameplay sequence seem to really matter? Not really. But did I laugh throughout it? Absolutely. Naturally, getting aboard the ship isn’t as easy as simply walking onto it; you’ll need to fight your way through some more bounty-hunting bad guys. This battle gives you a good sense of how traversal – from the skateboard to using Knifey as a grappling hook – is organically woven into combat. If you keep moving you’ll be tough to bring down, particularly when you mix in frequent use of each gun’s special attack; they’re each on a cooldown, so you can’t spam them. Combat definitely feels more layered in this sequel than it did in the first game. In other words, you’ve got more options at your disposal in any given encounter, and that’s a good thing. Combat definitely feels more layered in this sequel than it did in the first game. Once aboard the ship, called the Pinkline Panacea, you’ll need to give up your guns at the security checkpoint before enjoying the perks of your VIP ticket – which includes the highlight of the evening, a ******* mystery party. Thus, getting dressed up for the big event is a must, so Travis buys you both wild, matching Austin Powers-looking purple suits from a vendor who looks suspiciously like an alien version of John Waters. Laser That Wiener Anyway, I needed to get my friends – aka my guns – back, and so Travis and I wandered into Pinkstock’s museum to search for them. We didn’t find them, but we did find the fedora worn by Dunston the orangutan in Dunston Checks In, which Travis instantly became obsessed with. So, how to get it for him without alerting security? Well, as luck would have it, the adjacent museum piece is a giant alien phallus, set up for museum patrons to circumcise using the circumcision laser. I won’t spoil the puzzle solution, but let’s just say that yes, I did get Travis that fedora. And acquiring it was a very funny process. More exploration of the ship led us to the Lido Deck, where a gang of unruly teens had managed to get their hands on Knifey. And in a clear humorous nod to Tony Hawk, the teens agreed to return Knifey – if I showed off my skateboarding skills by collecting the letters scattered around the deck…that happened to spell out the word “gonads.” L-O-L. And as you can already see, High on Life 2 is chock full of variety, and I haven’t even told you about the best part of my demo yet… Whodunnit? After battling some more bounty hunters on the Lido Deck who were looking to cash in on the price on my head, I made my way back to my cabin and passed out before the party. Once we got to the VIP ******* mystery bash, I found four strange fellow guests, and soon our mysterious host appeared. I expected a very light bit of clue-gathering in this sequence, and if that’s all it had been, High on Life 2 still would’ve earned points in my book for continuing to mix up the gameplay. However, developer Squanch Games had other ideas. The ******* mystery is no joke, both tonally and difficulty-wise. The team clearly took this section very seriously, and as such you’ll need to talk to all four suspects repeatedly, scour the room for both obvious and hidden clues, make notes in your on-screen notepad, and eventually not just accuse one of the four, but have collected enough evidence and made enough connections to establish a motive and credibly pin the crime on one of them. I’m purposely not going to say any more about this because I don’t want to spoil any of it for you, but I’ll admit that while I did end up accusing the correct person, I hadn’t solidly established a motive, and thus, I failed to solve the ******* mystery. I can’t wait to play this again in the final version of the game in order to take another crack at it. Who’s the Boss? I escaped the ******* mystery via a water slide that took me to the lower deck. This led to another big battle where I got to test out another new weapon in High on Life 2: the Flint Turtles. They’re temporary-use pickups in the practical sense, and in the literal sense, they’re adorable reptiles who happen to breathe fire, making for convenient single-use flamethrowers. One miniboss fight and a few more rounds of regular combat later and I finally found myself at the end of my demo in a proper boss fight against Kreg, the leader of the bounty hunter gang that had been harassing me throughout my demo. Kreg proved to be a pretty traditional first-person shooter boss foe. He had attack patterns to learn and weak moments where I could really let him have it. I wouldn’t say this fight was better than the excellent boss battles in the first High on Life, but it was an engaging enough encounter. All told, I was pleasantly surprised by my hour with High on Life 2. Not surprised that it was good, to be clear – I expected that – but rather delighted by just how nicely the gameplay has evolved from the first game, and how much smart, funny, and unexpected variety there was throughout the gameplay. I wasn’t simply shooting the entire time. Far from it! If the whole of High on Life 2 matches what my one-hour slice brought to the table, then it’s going to be a very welcome addition to Xbox – including Game Pass on day one – PC, and PS5. Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan. View the full article
The saga continues! A Firefox developer has taken to social media to note there will be some sort of "kill switch" to completely remove AI features. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Fallout doesn't really have a Bloody Baron. Which is to say, it's not a series defined by its quests. The steadfast dynasty of post-apocalyptic RPGs is more about places than people. Locations over loquaciousness. Its best stories are typically buried under five feet of rubble, and dug out with archeological care through terminals and holotapes... Read more.View the full article
As part of the New Feature Branch, NVIDIA driver version 590.48.01 released today for Linux with a few more fixes. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe has just recently teased that news on the beloved farm simulator's future is on the way. Since its launch back in 2016, Stardew Valley has become one of the most successful indie titles of all time, and as it inches toward its 10-year anniversary, many players have wondered what's next for the game. View the full article
The Mesa team have released Mesa 25.3.2 as the latest bug-fix release for the current main stable branch of open source Linux graphics drivers. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Director Daniel Vávra has come to the defense of Larian Studios' Swen Vincke amid significant backlash against Vincke's comments on generative AI. AI in game development has been a hot topic throughout the past year as key figures across the industry have voiced differing opinions on the controversial technology, including Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's director. View the full article
Half-Life 3 fans have somehow kept the hype train rolling throughout 2025 despite countless rumors not panning out and no official announcement of the game in sight. With nothing substantial to go on and reported "leaks" being the main source of information on the next Half-Life game, new details are hard to come by. View the full article
Epic Games wants more mobile gamers to play Fortnite, and it’s leveraging the platform’s creator talent to help make it happen. In 2025, an increasing amount of user activity and engagement inside Fortnite takes place in creator-built islands, with “Steal the Brainrot” becoming Fortnite’s first creator-made experience to exceed one million concurrent users on December 15. Amid this growth, Epic is recognizing creators’ key role in shaping their audiences’ preferences and user behaviors — including their interest in mobile gaming. .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{ -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent); mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent); } Read This Article Free Get instant access by joining the GB MAX Access tier — it’s free to sign up and unlock premium content.Join Now to Start ReadingAlready a member? Sign in The post Epic Games is recruiting creators to support Fortnite’s mobile push appeared first on GamesBeat. View the full article
They did a Vampire Survivors update, so sure why not Revenge of the Savage Planet too? Two Point Museum has expanded again in a free update. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article
The Pandemonium Institute wants to make darn sure you never get bored of its debut board game, Blood on the Clocktower. With three strategically rich scripts and plenty of optional extras to choose from in the base box, that was already an unlikely possibility. My tabletop group played basically every week for an entire year, and we never got sick of the social deduction game. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Weirdly, one of our favorite board games works even better in Minecraft Board games can be scary, you just need to try harder Blood on the Clocktower review - the perfect crime View the full article
The Epic Games Store has officially revealed Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel as its free game for December 18. Unlike the storefront's usual freebies, Epic Games Store users have only 24 hours to claim this title, which will immediately be replaced by another such limited-time offer. View the full article
Whether you've played Horizon Zero Dawnor not, you could probably recognize its influence on Light of Motiramat a glance. Tencent revealed the latter late last year, showing off a survival crafting game with giant mechanical beasts, rolling landscapes, and a player character model with more than a passing resemblance to Aloy. Sony quickly took legal action, and it looks like a conclusion to the saga may have already been reached. View the full article
After over 1000 hours of gameplay, a Red Dead Redemption 2 player uncovered an “amazing detail” they were unaware of, showing just how much attention to detail Rockstar Games put into the open-world action-adventure title. Even though the game is well over seven years old, players are still encountering secrets in Red Dead Redemption 2, such as what happens when you jump off your horse during a cutscene in which Arthur Morgan is riding one. View the full article
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Larian Studios head Swen Vincke just announced (via X) that developers will host a rare AMA after the holiday season to address players' concerns over the use of AI in the development ofDivinity, the newly revealed turn-based RPG that has been a recent topic of debate. View the full article