News and Reviews

Fans of SEGA's blue hedgehog, rejoice: Sonic is returning to the silver screen with at least two more films by the end of 2028. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was officially announced a while ago, and though little is known of the movie and its plot, it's pencilled in for theatrical release in March 2027. However, as reported by Variety, Paramount Pictures has also revealed a 'Sonic Universe Event Film' is scheduled for December 2028. This is a separate project from the aforementioned Sonic 4, and given its label as a Sonic universe event film, it sounds like a spin-off, perhaps focusing on a different character. While it's presumed that core cast and crew will return for these mov…

There's nothing quite like learning the ins and outs of a fighting game, but sometimes, you just want to mash on buttons and enjoy cool moves and animations. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is almost two years old at this point, but that hasn't stopped developers Cygames and Arc System Works from releasing a meaty update that attempts to welcome new players. Patch 2.40 is out now on PS5 and PS4 in celebration of the title's second anniversary. It introduces two new control schemes, amusingly titled 'Smart' and 'Super Ultimate'. 'Smart' basically lets you perform automatic combos by repeatedly hitting face buttons once an attack connects, but outside of that, the controls …

Earlier today, Microsoft dropped its December Xbox Game Pass roundup - with 14 games coming to multiple tiers of the service in the next few weeks. The update stops at December 11th with the addition of Bratz: Rhythm & Style, and that's seemingly going to be our final XGP update for 2025 as the team begins to tease its 2026 lineup. Yep, snuck at the bottom of today's Xbox Wire roundup is a little closing message regarding Xbox Game Pass in 2025 and 2026. The team wishes us all "a chill rest of your December", before mentioning that our next XGP update will be coming in "early 2026". In this case, then, it's looking like we won't be getting any further Xbox Game Pass …

If you can believe it, we are very, very nearly at the official launch of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It's a cross-generation release, but we always knew that this was going to be a big player for the Switch 2, making the most of the new hardware's beefed-up specs to squeeze the most out of the space adventure. The question is, how does it hold up? Our good friends over at Digital Foundry are here to answer just that. In the above video, the tech experts break down everything you need to know about the game's performance, and we've got the full rundown for you to read through below. So, let's dive right into it. Kicking things off with the visuals, DF states that the game is…

When Metroid Prime 4: Beyond landed with Retro Studios back in 2019, we're not sure anybody was truly shocked by this turn of events. Retro is, after all, the original developer of the Prime series, and while many of the veteran team members have since left, the sheer quality of the fourth entry on Switch 2 demonstrates that the studio is still one of the very best in the business. The folks over at Retro didn't do it alone, though. As highlighted in the game's credits sequence, many separate companies lent their talents to the development of Prime 4, including Next Level Games and Virtuos. Next Level Games, as you may know, is already familiar with the Prime series, havi…

The Pokémon Company has revealed yet another new Mega 'mon arriving in the Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension DLC, but more than that, it has revealed a whole new type of Mega Evolution. Mega Lucario Z is the latest Fighting- and Steel-type Mega Evolution to join the line-up, boasting a swanky blue and yellow look as well as some particularly fetching fringe work. This marks the debut appearance of Z Mega Evolution — a new take on the mechanic that sees Pokémon able to fire off their moves quicker, but also burn through their Mega Power at a faster rate. Pokémon that undergo a Z Mega Evolution might not be best suited for long battles, then, but they'll likely pose a goo…

As a part of today's Mega Dimension DLC news, The Pokémon Company revealed Legends: Z-A's next Mystery Gift Code event, and it's not one to be missed. The event is live in-game right now. All that you need to do is head to the 'Mystery Gift' menu and select 'Receive via Internet' to get involved. Right off the bat, you'll be rewarded with special Mewtwonite X & Y Mega Stones, and you'll also unlock the new 'Project M' side mission, which sets you on the path to catch — you guessed it — Mewtwo! You need to have rolled credits to access the gift, but no end date has been revealed for the event at the time of writing, so you've got plenty of time to get there if you're s…

Counter-Strike may be a quarter of a century old, but it remains one of Valve's biggest money-spinners on Steam. Counter-Strike 2 – the latest iteration of the free-to-play team-based shooter – makes its money from chests, which cost around $2.50 to open. Incredibly, some of the skins found inside said chests can fetch over a million dollars online – so it's little wonder that, on average, players pay real-world money to open around 70,000,000 chests every month. That's over $175,000,000 of revenue coming in every 30 days – so you'd expect the person who created the game to be utterly minted, right? Wrong. Speaking to EDGE magazine, Counter-Strike creator Minh Le reveals …

A full Trophy list for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma has been uncovered, suggesting that the highly rated RPG is ready for release on PS5. Guardians of Azuma is the latest instalment in Marvelous' Rune Factory series, having launched for Switch 2, Switch, and PC back in June of this year. Funnily enough, the game was actually age rated for Sony's current-gen system before it had even released, leading many to believe that its Nintendo-focused exclusivity was timed. Of course, six months of that supposed exclusivity will be up this week — so we could be seeing an official announcement before the year is out. If you're wondering what kind of RPG Guardians of Azuma is, it…

Work on the movie adaptation of a smash hit co-op shooter Helldivers is now well underway. Justin Lin of Fast & Furious fame will direct the film, based on a script written by horror movie veteran Gary Dauberman. He’s best known for writing the screenplays for It and Annabelle. As you’d expect, the film will be released by Sony Pictures Entertainment, with PlayStation subsidiary PS Productions overseeing the project. Additional organisations involved will include Lin’s own Perfect Storm Entertainment. While we don’t know much about the plot itself, Starship Troopers will likely be a massive inspiration, as Helldivers is effectively a video game adaptation of the 90s h…

There's newfound hope the Splinter Cell Remake will one day release, as the project's first game director has rejoined development on the title three years after his departure. David Grivel posted to his LinkedIn profile one week ago that he was "very happy to announce that I'm rejoining Ubisoft Toronto as Game Director on the Splinter Cell Remake! A very special team and project to me." Drivel served as game director on the Splinter Cell Remake project up until 2022, at which point he left to work on Battlefield 6 at EA. He then went back to Ubisoft Toronto to work on an unannounced game in May 2024, then left again late last year to join a developer named Worlds Untold…

The new upgrade for Red Dead Redemption is out today on all platforms, and while the game is now live and playable on Xbox Series X|S, the upgrade path from the old Xbox 360 version isn't working for lots of players - and there's some confusion as to why at the moment. When the team at Rockstar announced this new version of RDR last month, they said that "current owners on PS4, Nintendo Switch, or the digital backward compatible version on Xbox One will be able to upgrade digitally for free". However, right now, lots existing owners of Red Dead on 360/Xbox One are being asked to pay the team's introductory 50% off discount for the new version. To be clear, Rockstar's init…

Ahead of launch later this week, Xbox and Activision have given us a closer look at the multiplayer maps coming to Black Ops 7 Season 01 - with four new levels coming to the Game Pass FPS later this week. The maps in question are Fate, Odysseus, Utopia and Standoff; the latter being a returning classic from 2012's Black Ops 2. You can take a look at the four new additions in action up above, and we'll chuck some descriptions for them down below as well: These four multiplayer maps arrive alongside some new Zombies levels, weapons, operators and progression improvements; which we've detailed elsewhere at Pure Xbox in our broader Season 01 overview. We'll throw the team's …

Nintendo has been releasing all sorts of software and firmware updates recently, and it's now rolled out an update for its Nintendo Today! mobile application. The app, which provides daily updates from the world of Nintendo, has today been updated to Version 2.2.0. It's currently live on iOS, with the App Store page also revealing "what's new". This includes a new Donkey Kong theme (seemingly inspired by the recent release Donkey Kong Bananza). Along with this, the app is now also avaialble in Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. Image: OatmealDome (via social media) If you haven't already downloaded this app, once again it offers regular updates on "all things…

Think every little secret about Street Fighter II has been discovered? Well, you'd be wrong, as a new debug menu has been found in the 'Turbo' version of the game. TurboAnnihilate is the one who made the discovery, unearthing a debug menu for sprite scaling and rotation. To access this menu, TurboAnnihilate says: This begs the question – were there ever any plans to add sprite scaling to the game? This effect is seen in titles like Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury, so it would be interesting to know if Capcom was experimenting with a similar approach for Street Fighter II. View full article

To celebrate the recent launch of Kirby Air Riders on the Switch 2, Nintendo has announced a new event for its Switch Online battle royale game Tetris 99. This event will take place between 4th December and 8th December 2025, and allows players to unlock a special design inspired by Kirby's new game. This also happens to mark the 50th Maximus Cup event! In some other Switch Online news, Nintendo has also released some new Animal Crossing: New Horizons icons for Switch Online members this week. View full article

Nightdive is still rolling out regular updates for its Switch eShop versions of Turok and Turok 2, and to kick off December, it has released two new patches. In Turok, you can expect all sorts of enhancements and improvements as well as a Switch-specific update. And in Turok 2, the team has added a bunch of improvements including cross-play multiplayer. It also shared some details about issues it's aware of in Turok 2. Here are the full details courtesy of the Nightdive website: Turok (2015) Patch 3 - 1st December 2025Turok has been updated on all platforms! PATCH NOTES Added Atari intro video. Updated KEX and Nightdive videos. Removed Acclaim intro cutscene. Save menu wi…

IO Interactive has confirmed that it's hosting a gameplay-focused livestream later this week, where it will share more on its upcoming PS5 title 007 First Light. Having been the star of a recent State of Play showcase, the James Bond game will next appear in a Beyond the Light livestream this Wednesday, 3rd December 2025. Gameplay director Andreas Krogh and senior level designer Thomas Pulluelo will "pull back the curtain on all things gameplay" from 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm GMT on Wednesday. It'll be livestreamed on Twitch. One of the biggest releases for the first half of 2026, the game is slated to arrive for PS5 on 27th March. Will you be tuning in to the show, or have …

Developer IO Interactive is currently all-in on its upcoming action adventure, 007 First Light, but it sounds like Hitman fans needn't worry about the franchise's future. In an interview with Variety, CEO Hakan Abrak is very clear about the status of the Hitman series. "So of course there will be more Hitman," Abrak says, saying that the team is first focusing on bringing co-op to the existing game, calling it a "really, really good extension to the universe". After that, though, Abrak says IO will "be talking about the next Hitman — because, of course, there’s going to be a next Hitman." Exactly what form a future Hitman game will take is unclear, but Hitman 3 — now know…

It sounds like Dispatch developer AdHoc Studio knew it was taking a risk by adopting an episodic release schedule — but the decision paid off in the end. The interactive superhero drama dropped its first two episodes — of eight total — on the 22nd October, and then proceeded to launch two new episodes every following week. In years gone by, Telltale Games had all but driven the episodic model into the ground with its numerous licensed adventure titles. And AdHoc apparently had to navigate that lasting negativity when considering its approach for Dispatch. "Everyone was telling us not to do it," admits executive producer and CEO Michael Choung, in an interview with Knowled…

Paramount has revealed some of its future movie plans, but for us, the biggest draw is that Sonic the Hedgehog will be getting a brand new spin-off movie in 2028. Variety reports that this upcoming spin-off is currently untitled, but it's being referred to to as the "Sonic Universe Event Film". It will launch in cinemas on 22nd December 2028. More than three years away! Note that this isn't the planned Sonic the Hedgehog 4 movie, which is coming out in March 2027. We have no other details right now, but there are a lot of opportunities to branch out in the Sonic universe, with tons of untapped characters and other video games the movies can draw from. Plus, it seems like …

Cyanide Studio has revealed the third instalment in the Styx stealth series, Styx: Blades of Greed, has been delayed out of 2025, and will now release for PS5 on 19th February 2026. From the perspective of Styx himself, the following was posted to the game's Steam page: "Yeah, yeah, I know, waiting isn’t your favorite thing. Mine either. (Unless I’m waiting in the dark to stab someone, of course). The devs are taking a few extra months to polish everything up, tweak the bits that need tweaking, and make sure my grand return is as glorious (and chaotic) as it deserves to be." Blades of Greed follows on from Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness, with a third entry almos…

Ghost of Yotei's latest update — patch 1.1 — has resulted in some pretty significant performance boosts. Analysed by our friends over at Digital Foundry, the update's introduction of VRR support is a win for all players, but it's an especially big deal on PS5 Pro. Just to recap, version 1.1 was headlined by the addition of New Game+ when it launched last week, but developer Sucker Punch also snuck in some juicy new graphical settings. A new 'Balanced' mode targets 40 frames-per-second, but really, it's the ability to uncap the game's frame rate that yields the most impressive results. The aforementioned Balanced mode, with ray tracing, manages to hover between its intende…

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is looking like the weakest-performing game in the series in quite some time, and new data from the European market sees that story continue. As reported by Chris Dring on The Game Business, citing digital and physical sales data from GSD, Black Ops 7 has been replaced at the top of the chart by EA Sports FC 26. This means a decline in sales for the first-person shooter, though it should be noted that this is fairly typical for the games market. Flanking it is Battlefield 6, which moves up a position from fourth to third, indicating an upward trend in sales. While raw numbers for the sales of Black Ops 7 have yet to be disclosed, this is just one…

One of the games you probably glossed over in our "games coming to Xbox next week" roundup over the weekend was Sleep Awake, which is a psychedelic horror game that's being developed by a brand-new studio. That studio is called "Eyes Out", and it's led by Spec Ops: The Line director Cory Davis, as well as the Nine Inch Nails guitarist (!) Robin Finck. If you haven't played it, Spec Ops: The Line is a very interesting shooter from the Xbox 360 era. Sleep Awake is a totally different genre to that game, of course, taking the form of an "immersive first-person psychedelic horror narrative experience that explores the realm between sleep and death". It looks suitably creepy a…