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Doom: The Dark Ages has swiftly reached three million players, becoming the biggest game launch ever by id Software. As the latest entry in a seminal FPS series, Doom: The Dark Ages rolled out to a strong reception across PC and consoles on May 15, 2025. View the full article

Editor's note: This review in progress is based entirely on the Early Access version of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, and will be updated with final impressions after the playing the 1.0 version at launch. Game of Thrones is a series synonymous with epic battles, familial betrayal, and mythical creatures. It’s no wonder, then, that developer Netmarble used it as the backing for its latest mobile-friendly open-world RPG, plopping you right into the middle of the original HBO show with one major goal to achieve: Power. Yet, after 20 hours gallivanting through the Early Access version of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad’s northern factions, consolidating my wealth ahead of its full launch this week, I can’t help but feel worried about what lies ahead as I work my way toward a final review. It’s not the towering enemies or backstabbing friends waiting for me down south that I fear – it’s the reality of just how much grinding (or money) it’s going to take to get there. Set during the events of Game of Thrones’ fourth season, Kingsroad allows you to join the story as a bastard child and sole remaining heir of House Tyre. With your lord father unwell, your job is to explore Westeros in search of support so that you can buck the bastard title and ascend to lead your people when the time comes. You’ll meet plenty of familiar faces along this journey, too, from Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly to less likeable characters like Roose and Ramsay Bolton. While it might seem like a dense point in the overall plot to drop in, Kingsroad does a decent job of introducing the series’ broader themes through a speedy tutorial, which briefly takes you beyond the Wall to lay up the threat of the White Walkers and the world’s ongoing dynastic conflicts. Before you grapple with the inherent drama of Westeros, you’ll need to pick a character archetype to play as – a decision that will dictate the style of combat you’ll use as you level up. There are three options to choose from: A balanced sword-wielding Knight, a beefy axe-wielding Sellsword, and a nimble dagger-wielding Assassin. Inspired by Tormund and Brienne of Tarth, I opted for the hulking Sellsword, whose rage and size could sweep through larger groups of enemies with relative ease. If you’re indecisive (like me) and want to mix up your playstyle, the good news is that you can start up an alternate class at any time from the main menu and share loot between your warriors. You’ll still have to replay the central story missions with each one, but this helpful feature at least allows you to sneakily boost their stats and speed through the early game. Once you’ve made your choice, you’ll also be able to mould their look using Kingsroad’s surprisingly complex character creator. Alongside sliders that control each muscle of the face, you can choose beard length and colour, add battle scars, and even adjust the sheen of their hair. It hasn’t got the intense depth of something like Dragon’s Dogma 2 or inZOI, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I could tweak my progeny's features to my liking. Westeros has been faithfully recreated, but that initial sheen wears off quickly. You can’t simply walk into King's Landing and have your wish to rule House Tyre granted, though. To earn your regal title, you’ll need to work your way up the food chain and earn the respect of the ruling Ladies and Lords of the land. This means completing side quests, clearing out bandits and fiends, and collecting as much loot as you can carry to upgrade your armour. On the surface, this might sound like an enticing fantasy workload. Unfortunately, Kingsroad doesn’t quite have the technical chops to make these tasks truly draw you in. At first glance, Westeros has been faithfully recreated, and I relished the opportunity to take in the vast icy presence of the Wall and explore the cobbled walkways of Winterfell. However, that initial sheen wears off quickly when you linger a little too long in an area. Patches of grass pop up and down uncannily, and objects or NPCs all start to repeat. Suddenly, this mythical world loses its lustre and feels like a strange simulation. That isn’t helped by how odd the NPCs look and move, with many of the citizens I came in contact with acting as either overly dynamic animatronics or still paintings that eerily follow you with their eyes. This unsettling style is most noticeable in conversations, with some villagers' jaws and eyes oscillating in unnerving fashion as they explain their routine predicaments. This strange locomotion applied to my own movement as well, and no matter if I was on foot or mounted, it always felt as though I was skating on ice. That was more noticeable on frosty ground, which is surely intentional, but it frequently seemed like I was skidding on top of dry earth as well, with a slight delay to all my actions. Drifting my mount through twisty country roads was funny to begin with, but the constant unwieldy nature of movement gets frustrating fast. Often enough, I would catapult myself off the edge of a hill into an enemy camp without the ability to quickly course correct. Combat is also a mixed bag, with lots of repeated attack patterns whether I was taking on an area boss or a simple grunt. The foes I was facing were a rotating crew of the same faces, the only difference being how many I would face at once. You dodge or dash out of the way of enemies and then return their hits with a mixture of light, heavy, and special attacks that don’t really attempt to do anything unexpected or fresh. Occasionally, I would be surprised by a quest that required me to use some strategy, like separating select enemies from a larger pack to get an advantage – but more often than not, combat simply came down to taking on gaggles of soldiers until I’d meet their overly familiar boss. Combat is a mixed bag, with lots of repeated attack patterns. The story cutscenes surrounding my actions were at least enticing, pulling at my heartstrings as they urged me to help find missing children or take out bandits that were attacking weakened farmers. Sadly, the actual process of completing those tasks quickly felt thankless because of the rote combat. There are upgrade trees that can diversify your moveset as you level up, and I’m keen to investigate them further to see how they impact encounters in the full game, but in this early portion, fighting is mostly monotonous. Thankfully, you can find platforming puzzles nestled across the sizable, icon-covered map that offer a decent reprieve from the mindless fighting, even in spite of the floaty movement. Amongst the medieval castles and quaint villages, dilapidated buildings and cliff faces hide secrets that you can pinpoint with your area scanning tool. Hidden doorways and chests await, usually providing useful caches of loot or lore. When you’re wandering around and getting into the flow of it all, Kingsroad can start to resemble something like a stripped-back mobile port of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The interface design and structure of the open-world and combat seem particularly derivative of Ubisoft’s viking odyssey. It’s not a bad skeleton for a Game of Thrones game, though it can feel a bit egregious at times as you use your ping to highlight hidden enemies. That said, barriers are set up around this open world in the form of Recommended Momentum requirements. Momentum is a bit like Gear Score in Destiny, a numerical valuation of your stats that takes into account your armour and skill progression, equipped accessories, and more. You’ll need to buff every aspect of your character in order to surpass the criteria required for exploring a new area, which is a reasonable enough limitation if properly tuned. But, rather predictably for a game with its eye on a mobile audience, the trove of consistent loot I was earning from early missions inevitably started to dry up, and I came face to face with the real amount of work needed to continue unlocking story missions. This is where the sinister undertone of Kingsroad’s live service design really starts to rear its head. The bevy of activities available are persistently counterbalanced by the copious microtransactions peppered throughout. Even beyond the bog-standard battle pass and abundance of different in-game currencies, I was surprised to see just how much of the actual gameplay was tied to some form of transaction. For example, when you die in combat, you can choose to wait 30 seconds or pay to come back faster with all your healing items intact – an essential inclusion if you want to avoid trawling back to camp to buy more items. Alternatively, you can fast travel the slow way by hoofing it to a special signpost, or pay for a premium version where you can warp for free from anywhere on the map. Annoyingly, all of these features impact how efficiently you can reach the Momentum requirements needed to progress, so you’re always goaded to put your hand in your pocket. 20 hours in, it feels as though I've barely scratched the surface. Behind every passably accessible system was a far more user-friendly one, but only if you’re willing to fork out for it. It felt as though Netmarble was more concerned with making Kingsroad just frustrating enough to encourage people to spend a bit of cash rather than making the base game reasonably enjoyable on its own. While it’s naive to assume a free-to-play game such as this wouldn’t offer some form of paid content, a cash-based system has been implemented into almost every corner of what’s here, and it cheapens both the world you are exploring and any success you may find there. Perhaps what’s most upsetting about this model is that beneath the plethora of currencies and grind-heavy progression, Kingsroad does have the capacity to capture the magic of its source material. Riding on a dire wolf across hazy pastoral lands and watching them gradually gain a coat of frost feels cinematic on occasion (and, again, as long as you don’t stop to look too closely). Plus, the stories of the quests I’ve tackled so far do well to curate a tragic atmosphere. But when push comes to shove, the mythic world I was reaching for was always shoved just slightly out of reach by some intrusive nudge to pull out my wallet. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that it still feels as though I’m barely scratching the surface Game of Thrones: Kingsroad despite sinking over 20 hours into it already. There’s so much more I want to explore in the 1.0 version before I deliver my final verdict, like artefacts, upgrade trees, and the estate management systems. As of right now, though, one thing is abundantly clear: When you play Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, you pay or you die. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

While the likes of Industry Giant used to rule the production line game roost back in the day, more recent entries in the series have a lot more competition to face up against these days. Ambitious breakout hits like Satisfactory, simple yet satisfying experiences like Shapez 2, and obscenely addictive games like Factorio are now the go to destinations for folks that love building and resource management. Now seeing a resurgence, three years after launching in early access, Captain of Industry is the latest challenger to see a huge spike in popularity. After dropping a massive update last week, it's now setting new player count records on Steam. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Industrial factory building game gets big upgrade and new map editor View the full article

Epic Games has announced that Fortnite is now available on iOS devices in the United States App Store. Fortnite is currently in the middle of its Star Wars-themed Galactic Battle mini-season, which has added iconic characters like Emperor Palpatine, Mace Windu, General Grievous, and Jar Jar Binks to the game. View the full article

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has one of the greatest stories of any modern video game, and it's packed full of devastating moments. These moments are part of what makes the story so powerful, as Clair Oscur certainly doesn't shy away from the hard topics. You won't be able to avoid the saddest parts of this story, but there are plenty of melancholic and tragic moments in the side content as well.Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.While the main story is enough to bring anyone to tears, completing each character's relationship quest in Clair Obscur and following each of their stories to the end will also prove to be extremely emotional. These tragic moments amount to something deeper, and they allow Clair Obscur's underlying themes of loss, grief, and acceptance to have a real impact on the audience. View the full article

Only a few months after Avowed was released, game director Carrie Patel has left Obsidian Entertainment, taking a position in Netflix's game-development division. Avowed reviewed well and has been one of Xbox's major first-party games this year. Patel's departure doesn't necessarily signal any issue with Avowed or its reception, nor any problems at Obsidian; such moves are fairly common after major projects are completed. View the full article

World of Warcraft has finally brought Horrific Visions Revisited to the game – but the activity has a three-week timegate, along with difficulty scaling issues while using the Construct of Soridormi, that have marred the otherwise exciting feature. Unless Blizzard makes further changes, World of Warcraft players won’t be able to unlock several of the new cosmetics from the activity for several weeks, and their lives will be made harder if they try to use the Construct of Soridormi. View the full article

Bandai Namco will also place playable demos of the game at physical events not only in Japan but also around the world. View the full article

Whether or not we'll be getting any more Avowed somewhere along the line is still very much up in the air. But if we do, it seems it won't be under the leadership of Carrie Patel. In a quick post Patel shared on LinkedIn, the game developer shared that she's "starting a new position as game director" at the team behind Oxenfree, Night School Studio. Patel mentioned literally zero details outside of what her new role is, so it's not even clear why she left Obsidian. Read more View the full article

Capcom will remaster or remake just about anything, and I'm glad they chose to resurrect Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny. The Onimusha series holds a special place in my heart, because while Resident Evil was taking the world by storm, the studio had crafted many other action games that would help define the genre for years to come. In addition to ****** May Cry, Onimusha was a powerhouse that created four mainline entries, several spinoffs, and an eventual anime. View the full article

Players are getting anxious about a new patch for The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, as many fans in the community are hoping for some crucial bug fixes and changes. Despite some of the remaster's current issues, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredis one of the most well-received games of the year with a "Very Positive" rating on Steam and millions of players across all platforms. View the full article

MercurySteam's latest project holds a lot of promise, but death by a thousand cuts holds it back from true greatness. View the full article

There’s a boss fight near the midpoint of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny that I genuinely did not think I’d be able to get through. Not due to any intended challenge or a jarring difficulty spike, but due to its 2002-**** design: fixed camera angles suddenly switching and changing my directional input mid fight; a huge impassible environmental obstacle just short enough for enemy projectiles to pass over; getting stunlocked by ranged attacks that I can’t even see coming... Read more.View the full article

With the newest Overwatch 2 collab event, players can grab skins for characters emulating iconic fighters from Street Fighter 6, alongside other high-quality cosmetics. From emotes that reference special moves from the popular fighting game to unique titles to grab, there's a lot packed into this crossover. If you're someone like me who's a fan of both games, this event will leave you latched onto the hero shooter once again. View the full article

Now Playing | Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny's remaster is a loving way to keep this important release around, but I still don't like it all that muchView the full article

One person playing The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered pointed out that butterflies have the ability to erase the reflection of trees as they fly over water. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered was shadow-dropped on April 22 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. View the full article

The newest Elden Ring Nightreign gameplay trailer showcases the Wylder playable character and skills. View the full article

Drift a broom and kiss your homiesView the full article

Valve have released the latest stable Steam Client update for all platforms bringing numerous important bug fixes to Steam Deck and Desktop Steam. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Overwatch 2 is giving away two free Loot Boxes, one of which contains a guaranteed Epic, as part of a Twitch Drop campaign to celebrate the release of its mid-Season 16 update. From now through June 1, players who watch five hours of any Overwatch 2 streamers on Twitch can add these Loot Boxes to their inventories without even playing the game. View the full article

It's been a while since Subnautica 2 first pinged the radar back in 2022, but we know there's a return voyage from developer Unknown Worlds in the works, and it's out sometime this year. We've seen a slow and steady trickle of details on the next dive—teasers from showcases, Discord updates, and even screenshots hidden within time capsules in the original Subnautica... Read more.View the full article

One of the core tenets of Doom is that every weapon matters, from the pistol to the BFG 9000. It's a design philosophy that, despite the advent of looter shooters, id Software stayed firm on. Your arsenal throughout Doom (2016) and Eternal is carefully curated, with every weapon serving an individual and distinct purpose — even your fists have value. View the full article

"They appeal very, very strongly to that one audience, but it's so strong that it ends up growing that audience," says David GaiderView the full article

Marvel Rivals has revealed its patch notes for an upcoming update, which is scheduled to release on May 22. NetEase Games clarified that there will be no downtime with Marvel Rivals' update, which means players will simply need to download it and relaunch their game. View the full article

CD Projekt Red's sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 is mostly a bit of a mystery, and it likely will be for a while yet given that they're currently full steam ahead on The Witcher 4. We know Anna Megill, who worked on Control and the upcoming Fable game, is attached as lead writer, and that the team wants to deal with some big topics, but there's been nothing like plot details shared so far. At the very least, Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith shared some tidbits about it at Digital Dragons, namely to do with the game's map. Read more View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]