News and Reviews

Obsidian is back again with another update on one of its 2025 titles, as the team prepares even more content for 2026. This time, Grounded 2's December patch has now arrived for Xbox, PC and Game Pass players, with a larger 'Winter Update' also planned for next month. This month's Grounded 2 patch is the first of Obsidian's new 'Feature Updates'; smaller patches that focus on fixes and mechanics rather than brand-new content. We'll share the full December patch notes down below - be warned, it's an extensive list from Obsidian here: Returning FeaturesHoliday Wreath Redesigned Holiday Tree Holiday Sign Set Colorful lights spread in the Park Firework Launcher - New Years O…

Given that Naked Snake has to crawl through some pretty fetid conditions during the events of Metal Gear Solid Delta, I'm not entirely sure I'd want to stand near him in a confined space – or have his scent rubbed all over my pale, chubby dad-bod in the shower, for that matter. However, Numskull has defied common sense and released a series of Metal Gear Solid Delta-themed bathroom products, including soap, shower gel, and body lotion. The shower gel and shampoo gift set costs £24.99, while the body lotion combo is £17.99. The soap is £7.99. Mercifully, despite my initial fears, the scents used here aren't 'sweaty mercenary who has just eaten a frog', but a combination…

Fresh from releasing its remaster of LucasArts' Western-themed shooter Outlaws, Nightdive Studios is back today with another remaster of a classic '90s PC game in Blood Refreshed Supply — a newly updated version of Monolith Productions's 1997 first-person shooter Blood about an undead gunslinger on a quest for revenge. Blood Refreshed Supply was announced earlier this year, in September 2025, and is now out today across PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG), PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (a Nintendo Switch 2 version scheduled to launch in early 2026). It notably marks the second time in the last six years that Nightdive Studios has remastered the title …

PS5 sales in Japan are now on their way back down, as excitement surrounding the model exclusive to the country has started to wane. From the period of 24th November to 30th November, which accounts for the system's first full week of sales, Sony sold 17,491 units of the new PS5 Japanese model. This is a drop of almost 6,000 sales when compared to the data from the previous week, which accounted for roughly two to three days of the new console being on the market. Therefore, the Japanese PS5 has sold worse during its first full week on the market compared to its opening handful of days during the launch. The Switch 2 led the way in console sales, with over 97,500 systems …

Justin Lin, the director behind multiple Fast & Furious movies, is now leading the Helldivers film adaptation, but he has not played either of the games. That's not a problem for Arrowhead Studios, though some fans have kicked up a small fuss on the series' Discord. In the Hollywood Reporter article confirming Lin will direct the Helldivers movie, it was said that he's "not a gamer and leaned into that as a strength when pitching his take on the material". Some fans, worried the director won't understand the tone of the IP, took their concerns to Discord, with one going so far as to ask if they could direct the flick instead. CEO Shams Jorjani responded: "Let Justin L…

Update [Thu 4th Dec 2025, 6am]: We assumed when new footage of The God Slayer debuted earlier today that it was no longer part of Sony’s China Hero Project programme. That’s primarily because the game was also announced for the Xbox Series X|S, which is unusual, as China Hero Project titles typically deploy as timed console exclusives. Recent examples include Lost Soul Aside, for instance, which launched on PS5 and PC only, of course. But dev Pathea Games reached out to us to confirm The God Slayer is, in fact, still part of the China Hero Project. We asked how Sony is supporting the project, and a spokesperson told us: “Sony is assisting the project with some game develo…

We've not checked in on Dreams for a while, but it seems the community is still plugging away at the PS4 create-'em-up. As it so happens, this week saw the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Mumbomania, an unofficial but very good 3D platformer from one of Dreams' best creators, Eupholace. The game is a short but very well-made 3D platformer featuring Rare's beloved duo. It features many familiar moves from the original games. The main gimmick here is Mumbo's ability to transform Banjo into various different forms, such as a small rock that can reach new areas, or a cannon that can fire you to hard-to-reach platforms. There's also a cursor controlled with your controller's gyro,…

Anyone fancy a free Xbox gift card for the holidays?! Well, we've spotted Xbox giving these away to some lucky users for the month of December, and they're being received across console, PC and even Xbox Cloud Gaming. At first glance this does seem to be quite rare, although there are multiple examples online of people who have received theirs already. Here's some of the proof we've come across so far: And as mentioned, these are appearing not only on console, but on PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming as well. If you're on Series X, S or Xbox One, you'll want to press the big Xbox guide button on your controller, go over to the "Parties & Chats" section, and see if there's anyt…

As the Xbox Series X|S generation continues and another one is on the horizon, it's being reported this week that a subsidiary of manufacturing company Foxconn is planning to expand its Xbox production over in Vietnam. This report comes from Reuters, which mentions that Fushan Technology, which is part of Foxconn, is trying to obtain a permit to produce up to 4.8 million "Xbox gaming devices, parts of the consoles and other unspecified electromagnetic devices" per-year, according to a company document." "Foxconn subsidiary seeks approval to produce annually 4.8 million Xbox consoles, parts and other devices" Nothing specific has been shared about what Foxconn / Fushan Te…

Last month, Ubisoft confirmed that its Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was set to launch before April 2026, which led to rumours of the game potentially showing up at The Game Awards next week ahead of a reported January release. Well, the team has now confirmed that sadly, the title won't be showing up at TGA 2025. In a social media response this week, the Prince of Persia team says it's "sorry to disappoint", but "The Sands of Time won't be at TGA this year". We'll share this online exchange down below: Now, as far as we're aware, this Sands of Time remake is officially set to launch in Ubisoft's current fiscal year, despite this TGA no-show. The company rece…

December has gotten off to quite the start, hasn't it? With so many new games launching on Switch 2, we're sure that you're keen to find out how each and every one of them runs on the fresh hardware and, as ever, the tech experts over at Digital Foundry are here to do just that. This time, it's Assassin's Creed Shadows' Switch 2 port that's being put under the microscope. The above video sets a baseline of the Xbox Series S version and compares the technical flair of the new Nintendo hybrid from there. So, what does DF make of it? Visually, the Switch 2 has some obvious cutbacks from the Series S edition. Without SSR, the handheld version is lacking most water reflection …

IO Interactive is in our good books big time off the back of all the premium-grade assassinating they've let us do across the globe as Agent 47. Now the team has taken up the mantle (the obvious next step for those paying attention) of James Bond himself, with 007: First Light. And ahead of the game's 27th March 2026 release date, IO has dropped the very first in a series of dev diary deep dives aimed at exploring this latest Bond adventure alongside interested players. What an absolute high this dev team has been on with the majestic Hitman: World of Assassination, and it looks like it'll continue here. We've already seen bits and pieces of the game, and we know it's a r…

Metroid has rarely been able to play with the Nintendo big boys as far as sales are concerned, so it's no surprise that Samus merch drops have been a fair bit rarer than those seen for Zelda and Mario. But, with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally here, Nintendo is changing that... in Japan, at least. Yes, a new wave of Metroid merch is now available exclusively at the Nintendo Stores in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka and the Okinawa pop-up. Just to really rub salt in the wound, it's also available on the My Nintendo Store, exclusively in Japan. sigh Back to looking longingly at plane tickets, it is. Update: Well, it looks like Nintendo has answered our wishes! Although it appe…

While floppy disks may not have been the best storage medium when it comes to longevity and memory, there's undoubtedly something very nostalgic about them – if you grew up in the late '80s and early '90s, at least. Industry vets Andrew and Rob Hewson are aiming to tap into that rose-tinted feeling with Hyper Sentinel Fusion, a successor to Hyper Sentinel. It's described as "Uridium and Paradroid combined with extraction shooter and roguelite elements in an explosive fusion of gameplay styles." Launching on Kickstarter soon, Hyper Sentinel Fusion is an arcade shooter which will ship on a floppy disk – only this one isn't going to work in your PC, Amiga or ST. "Slide open…

Update [Thu 4th Dec 2025, 4:30am]: My Life in Gaming and Game Sack's Electronic Gaming Monthly documentary, Pixels to Pages - The Story of Electronic Gaming Monthly, is now available to watch online for free. The 1-hour 16-minute-long documentary was released yesterday, across both My Life in Gaming and Game Sack's YouTube channels, and features interviews with former Electronic Gaming Monthly Editor-In-Chief Ed Semrad, the late EGM editor Martin Alessi, and the one-time managing editor Ken Williams, among others who were involved in the creation of the landmark magazine. Images: Game Sack/My Life In Gaming Frank Cifaldi from the Video Game History Foundation also makes…

Update [Thu 4th Dec 2025, 4:15am]: Splatter World is now playable in English, thanks to the efforts of the fan translation community. "Splatterworld is several things," says Aeon Genesis, the entity behind the translation. "First, it is a cutesy RPG spinoff of Namco's Splatterhouse property. It's a sequel to the Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti cutesy platformer on the Famicom, which was never released outside of Japan. It's a parody of horror films and loves to poke fun at them. It's also a prototype. The game was never commercially released, and was only made available online on Halloween night this year (2025). Naturally, I jumped right on it." Images: Aeon Genesis Ae…

Fans have been crying out for a new Banjo-Kazooie game ever since Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was released in 2008. But apart from a strange audience-controlled interactive demo at SXSW in 2015, the occasional merch drop, and a playable cameo in Smash back in 2019, there hasn't really been much to look forward to when it comes to official news regarding the bird and the bear. Instead, it has mostly fallen to the Banjo fan community to keep the series's legacy alive, with developers creating spiritual successors, ROM hacks, and fan games to offer players that classic platforming experience that they've been so desperately missing. With that in mind, we wanted to tell y…

An interesting datapoint from Circana analyst Mat Piscatella reveals the PS5 was outsold by an unexpected US-based rival in the run up to Black Friday last week. While the Switch 2 being top-selling hardware SKU for the week ending 22nd November won’t come as a massive surprise, the NEX Playground Interactive Gaming System coming second is a bit of a shock. If you’ve never heard of this product, it’s effectively a standalone reimagining of the Kinect – or the EyeToy, if you remember the classic PS2 peripheral. Primarily aimed at families and kids, the NEX Playground allows you to enjoy a variety of minigames on your TV using your body as the controller. Options include a …

Every game is getting in its final update of the year before the holiday period gets underway, and Sega has today rolled out a major patch for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. On the Nintendo front, this marks the arrival of the Switch 2 Edition as well as the Upgrade Pack for existing Switch owners. Apart from this, there's a lot of new content in this update. This includes new gadgets, an increase to the world match rating, additional friend settings, anti-cheat measure improvements and much more. Here's the full rundown of patch Ver 1.2.0, according to Sega's official website: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds - Ver.1.2.0 (3rd December 2025)Thank you all for playing Sonic Racing: Cr…

If you're looking for a reason to jump back into Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Sega has this week released the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the game digitally. It's available for $69.99 or your regional equivalent, and will be released in physical form on this platform in "early 2026". If you're an existing owner of the Switch release and don't want to miss out, there's the Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack, which is also available. It's normally priced at $10.00 but you'll get an introductory discount (bringing it down to just $5.00) if you purchase it by 11th December 2025. Sega also notes how the Werehog DLC Pack is available to download for free for the first two weeks of t…

If you keep up with the Nintendo Music app's release schedule, you probably noticed Nintendo didn't update the app at the regular time earlier this week. Unsurprisingly, it's all linked to the release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, with Nintendo announcing it's added seven tracks from the new game as a special release. This adds up to 48 minutes of music and will give you a nice sample of the game's "main theme", environments and more. Here's the full tracklist and you can hear some of them in Nintendo's official sample below: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Nintendo Music Special ReleaseMetroid Prime 4 Main Theme Fury Green The Sacred Tree Vi-O-La Ice Belt Power On Carvex Volt Fo…

Monster Hunter Wilds has had numerous ups and downs since it launched earlier in the year, to the point where it has, arguably, become one of 2025's most divisive games. On release, the action RPG was met with super strong review scores and positive player feedback; the finished product sported dramatic improvements over the somewhat disappointing beta tests that had taken place in the months prior. But as hunters made their way through the main story and eventually stumbled into endgame hunts, the cracks started to show. Wilds was quite roundly criticised for its claustrophobic campaign, a general lack of challenge, and poor optimisation (especially on PC). From there, o…

Just like September's interesting analysis of Star Wars Outlaws on Switch 2 and Series S, Digital Foundry returns with a fresh look at another Ubisoft title that's been ported over to the Nintendo system this week - and once again, this one uses the Xbox Series S version as its jumping off point. Yes, in its latest tech review on Assassin's Creed Shadows, DF notes that "this ambitious port succeeds by starting from the cut-down Xbox Series S" version, pulling back a little further than the Microsoft machine to achieve these results on Switch 2. It's an intriguing comparison that once again sheds some light on how these two systems stack up. The team goes on to mention mo…

Summitsphere is giving Antonblast fans one last hurrah, one year after the game first launched on PC. And it's a content-filled update befittingly titled 'THE END'. On 18th December 2025, The End is bringing four brand new bosses, a boss rush, multiple new game modes (including Hard Mode), new music, and new spray cans, among lots of other little additions coming to the 2024 platformer, which is heavily inspired by the Wario Land series. Let's have a look at the specifics coming with The End in just a few weeks, courtesy of Antonblast's Steam page: That's a lot for an ending, isn't it? Any excuse to go back to Antonblast, which we loved back when it launched on Switch la…

Sony's latest push into mobile territory is MLB The Show Mobile, just announced and soft launched in the Philippines. Developed in-house at San Diego Studio — developer of the main MLB The Show series — you can get a sense of the free-to-play game in the below trailer: The official website describes MLB The Show Mobile as "a new standalone experience built from the ground up to deliver realistic baseball gameplay on mobile devices". Built for both iOS and Android, the game is currently only available in the Philippines, but it'll come to more territories in future. The game will feature current and legacy players, as well as all real stadiums. You'll be able to bat, pitch…