News and Reviews

Quantum Dream, the French studio behind the likes of Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human — games that have all been very closely tied to PlayStation — has just launched its first beta for Spellcasters Chronicles on PC. If you haven't been keeping up, Spellcasters Chronicles marks a dramatic pivot away from the developer's typical story-driven output. It's a free-to-play, competitive multiplayer game with a live service model. Announced back in October, it's fair to say that the project didn't make a great first impression — especially amongst fans of the company's past work. As we all know, breaking into the world of live service is incredibly difficu…

Bad Robot Games has today announced a new "four-player co-operative shooter" being led by Left 4 Dead's original creator Mike Booth - but there's a chance this attempt to rekindle that L4D flame may not see the light of day on Xbox. Although this development studio has been working away for a number of years now, it's today announced this new project in partnership with Sony. Yep, the PlayStation owner will "produce and publish" this Bad Robot Games title at some point in the future. Here's Sony's introduction to its new partnership with Bad Robot Games: As you can see there, the game is just announced for PS5 and PC at this point, so Xbox Series X|S players may miss out…

Lil Gator Game, one of the cutest action adventure titles available on PS5 and PS4, is about to get a whole lot bigger. Publisher Playtonic Friends has announced a release date for its major expansion DLC, In the Dark, by way of a new trailer: It's due out on 12th February 2026, meaning it's just a couple of months away. One of the most notable things about the DLC is its size; apparently it doubles the size of the world you can explore, with lots of new underground areas to navigate. As well as the extra space to explore, In the Dark adds new characters to meet, secret treasure to find, and quests to complete. It even adds new equipment and movement abilities, such as gy…

With Season 01's launch arriving today for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, developer Treyarch has dropped the new season's patch notes - and they contain some controversial updates on the game's skill-based matchmaking system. As we covered a few times in the run up to launch, the team decided to remove SBMM in Black Ops 7 before clarifying that one playlist would remain more skill-based. Well now, that playlist is becoming more prominent, as Treyarch sees "increased engagement" with the SBMM-heavy mode. Basically, the game's 'Standard Moshpit' mode — which features this heavier implementation of SBMM — is now moving over to the 'Featured Playlists' area, where it'll be more v…

It has been eight years since Nintendo first announced Metroid Prime 4. It has been 18 years since the release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. And now, after all that time, Beyond's launch trailer is finally here. Those who have kept up with every trailer drop until now won't find too much new footage in this one, but we challenge anyone who's been waiting for the best part of a decade to watch without feeling a little tingle down their spine. The whole thing is a bit more story-based than we've seen in previous trailers, with a gritty narration teeing up Samus' might and narrative predicament, before a boatload of sequences show her in action. And stick around until the …

Fortnite is in a transitional phase right now, with Chapter 6 drawing to a close and Chapter 7 beginning in earnest in the coming days. However, in the interim, something unusual happened: the Battle Bus that normally drops players into the vast Battle Royale map was destroyed. The good news is that, thanks to players working together to repair it, the vehicle is on its way back to the game. In addition, Epic Games has teased some incoming new items to the game's shop, and among them are the first Nickelodeon crossover skins, and it's not who you'd expect. Danny Phantom, alongside friend Sam Manson, are joining the game, available in the item shop from 5th December. As me…

Despite all of the negativity that's surrounded the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 — the middling reviews, the bafflingly bad campaign, the AI art accusations — Activision's latest shooter has still managed to top the PS5 download charts for November 2025. It's not an unexpected result given the sheer reach of the property, but it does once again highlight just how wide the market is. A game like Black Ops 7 can be torn apart online and within hardcore circles — and it can even be the worst selling Call of Duty in years — but none of that truly matters, at least in the short term, if it's got a direct line to a huge casual audience. Outside of Black Ops 7, November w…

Sony and Bad Robot Games have today announced an agreement for PlayStation to publish the team's next title on PS5 and PC. With Left 4 Dead creator Mike Booth at the helm, the project will be a four-player co-op shooter. With more details from PlayStation and the developer to come, CEO at Bad Robot Games, Anna Sweet, said the team is creating a new universe and partnering with PlayStation allows it to bring it to life. "With the support of PlayStation, we hope to deliver a bold, innovative experience that is truly special for players. I could not be more excited that Mike Booth is at the creative helm, crafting a cooperative adventure that will lead to unforgettable momen…

A few hours ago, we were treated to the reveal of a new open world RPG from Pathea Games (My Time At Sandrock, Let's School) called The God Slayer, and it's got a particularly interesting connection to the folks at PlayStation. This game is part of the PlayStation China Hero Project, which is described as "providing development, publishing and marketing support" for its titles. Our sister site Push Square was contacted by Pathea Games following the announcement to confirm that The God Slayer remains part of the project despite the multi-platform reveal: Push Square then went on to ask whether The God Slayer would be a timed exclusive and what Sony was getting in return f…

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,…

For ages now, we've been waiting on Xbox to add a version of the Xbox / Microsoft Store to the Android and iOS apps, as until now it's been impossible to actually buy anything on there - you've only been able to remote install games. However, the Xbox Store has officially begin rolling out on the Xbox mobile beta app as of today, and it seems to be pretty much the same thing we get on console, containing the same kinds of categories and sorting features. I've been playing around with it this morning, and you can see some images below. Note that it's not just paid games that appear in the store, but also free-to-play titles and demos - another very useful feature for when …

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…