The trailer for Over the Hill makes it look like you’ll be taking an off-road vehicle out into the wilderness and having a wonderful, relaxing time in warm sunshine, listening to acoustic guitar music as you trundle around paradise looking at the wildlife. Balderdash. It’s the single most stressful game I’ve played in years and I think it hates me.

It’s a bold move for a game to focus on the actual worst bits of open world driving games like Forza Horizon or even GTA. You know, the ones where you try to drive up a hill and it’s just a little too steep for your car to manage. Sliding around, skidding back down, and getting stuck against trees is the core experience at first, as there's just not enough grip to enjoy yourself. You can soon upgrade your tires, at which point things improve. But even with this added grip, Over the Hill is best described as a constant, laborious battle against hostile terrain – and that's far from enjoyable.

Said terrain at least looks reasonably nice. The art style is noticeably similar to developer Funselektor’s sublime Art of Rally. Not entirely flat-shaded, but certainly channeling that look. This can make more sparse areas like the Algerian desert look basic at times. The game uses lighting, fogging, and weather effects alongside a diegetic soundtrack to create its moods, but any sense of wonder quickly wears thin. There's so little to discover, it's frankly boring, a feeling compounded by the fact you're limited to moving at an absolute crawl. Even at full speed, you could probably run faster, if only you could exit the car.

Trails and tribulations

The game's best feature is the winch, which can latch onto trees with a quick press of the Y button on an Xbox pad. You then reel it back in, pulling yourself out of mud/water/rocks/trouble/the-clutches-of-despair in the process. It works really well and one item even lets you make an anchor point almost anywhere you like. That can feel like cheating, but sometimes there's no alternative. You soon acquire other limited use items too, like planks of wood to bridge small gaps and, later, a jack to reset you if you roll over. It doesn’t physically leverage your car’s chassis, instead respawning you, which really does feel like cheating when everything else is so hands-off.

While you can technically go anywhere, most steep hills are impassable, causing you to seek out the flattest routes, at which point you discover the world is actually quite linear. That at least means routes have been curated to offer a decent challenge, with jutting stones and slippery, bare rock faces clearly placed to test you.

Some such routes are turned into 'trails', which are the most videogamey and enjoyable part of the proceedings as you try to make it to GTA-esque checkpoint circles that appear at shortish intervals along a challenging track. Some of them are brilliantly designed – the Bridal Veil in the second Canadian area is a standout, passing a beautiful waterfall, which I was lucky enough to discover while the virtual sun was out. Gorgeous.

Sunshine is pretty rare, though. Storms are frequent and sway every tree on the screen in spectacular fashion. Inching forward through the surprisingly hostile elements in turn disperses the map's fog of war, revealing question mark 'points of interest'. These might be crates with personalization mods for your car, vehicles to tow back to your camp, or gates which denote the start point of those standout trails. Clearing every point in one area removes that map's fog of war completely, though you won't need the map by then. There's no rush or even instruction to complete anything; you can take your time.

The physics are OK, but not quite as convincing as other, more realistic-looking off-roaders. Your truck's movement is questionable at extreme angles and deformable terrain like mud or snow always deforms to the same level. It doesn’t build up again under reversing, nor squish outwards like it does in Snowrunner, either. It’s just there until it's flattened. Nonetheless, it does look pretty nice when you’re slewing around in a swamp or window-deep in snow and your wheels are leaving great troughs in your wake.

Off Road Pokedex

There’s an instant camera so you can snap the local fauna, which is a lovely feature but rarely used. You won’t see as much wildlife as you might expect, but that just makes the occasional sighting of an eagle that much more special.

There are a few mechanics (actual mechanics, the kind that use spanners) here and there with a few dialogue boxes to their names who will sell you upgrade items, but for the most part it’s a decidedly isolated solo experience. You can change songs on the tape player in your car, either track by track or different albums, but the best match is the laid-back acoustic guitar fare, which sounds a lot like pixel art fishing game Cast ’n’ Chill.

If aching isolation sounds like your idea of hell, you can play with other people, winching each other out of trouble and pulling up larger meteorites together. However, Funselektor has made it clear that the game was first designed as a solo experience and online performance is still being worked on. The game runs well even on Steam Deck despite some pretty vast draw distances, and visible LOD redraw is kept impressively scarce.

There is something to be said for setting off into the night as rain hammers down on the metal roof of your vehicle, your headlights swaying and dipping as you carefully navigate the undulating terrain. The same goes for those old-school 'Top Gear' moments of clinging to a mountainside with a 200ft drop to your right. But when you realise you're in your umpteenth hour of watching a small, low-detail car crawl slowly over barren sand dunes or trundle through another desolate valley, you'll likely long for something to happen.

Over The Hill was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher.

Your journey isn't over yet. Check out our best open world games ranking for more worlds to get lost in!

By all appearances, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo Switch 2 seems to be a one-to-one remake of the original N64 classic, faithful down to the details of every dungeon puzzle. But there are at least a few all-new features in here beyond the quality of life tweaks, including a special hall where you can marvel at defeated enemies and battle bosses all over again.

"Somewhere in this world lies the Hall of Fallen Foes," the game's new overview trailer explains. "Statues of defeated monsters reside here. You can learn about them or engage in rematches with powerful foes."

You can walk up to statues and hit a button to take a close-up look, with a bit of flavor text describing the monster and a list of main locations where it appears. With bosses, you can hit a "rematch" button to take on the creature again. A timer will tick up during the battle, and your time will be recorded when you complete the rematch, so you'll have a convenient way to track speedruns against individual bosses.

The hall itself seems to take inspiration from the Nintendo Gallery that appeared in The Wind Waker, where you could take photos of characters and enemies from throughout the game and have them turned into a series of collectable figurines. As a Zelda lore-obsessed 13-year-old at the time of Wind Waker's original release, I loved the opportunity to catalog the game's inhabitants, and I'm glad the Ocarina of Time remake will offer something similar.

After two hours of hands-on time with the Ocarina of Time remake, Andy says it feels like a homecoming and a true Zelda celebration. Personally, I remain a bit skeptical that a straight remake can live up to the stature of what the original game meant back in 1998, but I'll happily accept a few surprises to make this familiar journey a little fresher in 2026.

These are the best Zelda games of all time.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Nintendo's upgraded take for Switch on its beloved 2014 Wii U game, just got another new update – sorry, Mario Kart World stans.

The update boosts Mario Kart 8 Deluxe up to version 4.0.1, bringing with it a good few fixes that fans of the 2017 banger have been eagerly awaiting.

As per Nintendo's official patch notes, these start with developers addressing the "issue where the number of obstacles or Item Boxes would increase during Online Play and Wireless Play" on the Switch 2 compared to the original Switch console. No more bombarding Switch 2 players, eh?

Next up are a couple of fixes for online play and visuals, like the Star Bits not displaying properly on the Wii Rainbow Road course on Switch 2.

Most importantly, perhaps, is how Nintendo targets crashes in version 4.0.1 of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, though, ridding it of "an issue where the game would close unexpectedly when certain conditions were fulfilled."

In other words, yep, crashes – a no-no, especially during competitive races.

Although small, the patch is pretty solid, all things considered. Folks over on Reddit seem to agree, too, with one dubbing the notes "W fixes" from Nintendo.

Others, however, question what this means for Mario Kart World, seeing as Mario Kart 8 just saw another update last month while the newer game seemingly sits in the dust. As one player jests, "Mario Kart World is dead again" – a sentiment I've seen make rounds online more than once now.

I wouldn't dub it "dead" myself, though… as nice as it'd be to see Nintendo give Mario Kart World some love. This new update is still a great sign for the series overall.

And, if you're as excited for the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe patch as I am, it's a simple download: select the game on your home menu, press + or - on your JoyCon, and go into "Software Update" – et voilà, version 4.0.1 is upon you, as are all of its shiny fixes.

Shigeru Miyamoto apparently has a love-hate relationship with Toad, who he would constantly pick in Mario Kart despite being his least favorite

When a brand like Razer launches a new "edition" of its existing tech, I always prefer the design to go big or go home. Transforming my favorite goth-bunny girl's head into a pair of Kuromi Edition Razer Hammerhead V3 X HyperSpeed earbuds is definitely a go-big moment.

The $119.99 earphones don't just re-color the charging case pastel purple and slap on some existing Sanrio artwork and call it a day. Instead, the entirety of the existing gaming earbuds case has been swapped out with Kuromi's head, which even goes as far as to include her hood-covered ears and a 3-dimensional version of her cute skull-bow motif. This all comes at a $20 extra cost to the plain buds, but if I'm paying more for a "Kuromi Edition" anything, I'd much sooner prefer brands go the extra mile like Razer has with this new model.

Look, I'm not a fan of the inflated cost of gaming tech that's the result of a collaboration with a tech brand like Razer and an existing IP or brand. I get why it exists, as the licence fee needs to be recouped somewhere, but at a time when the RAM storage crisis is making everything related to this hobby more expensive, it sucks that representing your fandom through accessories comes at an inflated price.

If that price does exist, I at least expect the theming to go all out, and thankfully that appears to be the case with these new earbuds. Not only are there sculpts of Kuromi's ears, but the widow's peak of her hood plays host to the case's LED indicator, and the bottom of her head can be hooked up to a USB-C cable for charging.

The buds inside aren't plain either, and share the same pastel purple coloring while including a pattern of skulls down their side. The only thing that'd make it sweeter would be if Razer featured more skulls instead of its traditional snake logos on each earphone, but I can make do without it when there's plenty of Kurmomi-ness left to admire.

On the inside, they're the same Hammerhead V3 X HyperSpeed buds as always. Equipped with 7.1.4 surround sound, touch controls, they're designed with "gaming and everyday listening" in mind. They're also multi-platform friendly and could be an alternative to your go-to gaming headset, as they have 2.4Ghz wireless and Bluetooth 5.2 support too.

If you do prefer your subtleties when it comes to Razer accessories however, you can always check out the Pikachu and Eevee Collection instead. The set doesn't include a pair of earbuds, but does opt for a "less is more" sentiment by draping its Pokemon Edition tech in a dusty pink coloring and cute art with no 3D ears to be found. I prefer a bit more over-the-top whimsy for my licensed tech, but each to their own.

View all Razer Kuromi Edition accessories at Amazon

Prefer a pair of cups instead? Check out the best PC headsets for gaming, the best PS5 headsets, and the best Nintendo Switch headsets we've tested so far.

Remaking a game means breaking it apart. The salvage is polished, sharp edges sifted out, and all is reassembled in a new engine. In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 remake, this process has been followed with watchmaker precision. Walking through Kokiri Forest, Link's familiar stomping grounds, I'm reminded of optical illusions that show two different pictures at once. Everything – yet remarkably little – has changed.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake breaks with the Nintendo 64's sharp, jagged art style but keeps its broad-stroke palette. The result is a softer Hyrule, with warmth that extends to its denizens. Link's redesign is far better in action than in its controversial reveal – with chubby cheeks and wide eyes, he looks the part for a kid being thrown into his first adventure. Kokiri Forest is brighter and feels bigger, but everything is in its right place – muscle memory guides me to Link's sword, and the blue rupee I put towards buying a shield is where it's always been.

But even the familiar (and it is – I spent my childhood in Hyrule) is remarkably fresh. The locked camera has been done away with, and you can now move the camera freely. That's par for the course in modern Zelda, but for anyone returning to Ocarina of Time, it's like taking a deeper breath. Later, in Castle Town, I run down newly-added backstreets and ogle at them from all angles. The town is far livelier – less dioramic than on N64, and more in line with the likes of Wind Waker's bustling Windfall Island. The remake is an exercise in small nudges – beneath the glossy makeover, it's exceptionally faithful to the source material that paved the way for 3D Zelda.

Return to Hyrule

My hands-on preview is broken into three chunks. The first chunk starts from the beginning, when Link is roused from bed for an audience with the ancient Deku Tree, and runs up to halfway through the Deku Tree dungeon. Some of Kokiri Forest's haziness is gone, but it still feels like a place out of time. In the Deku Tree, Ocarina of Time's movement changes shine. Being able to freely line up Link for platforming is a godsend, and he can jump – the boy can jump! – on command, meaning you no longer have to run full-pelt at a ledge to see if your intended angle is lined up correctly.

Combat is straightforward – be it a carnivorous Deku Baba plant or sword-toting Stalfos, simply lock onto a target, wait for it to overextend, and hack it to pieces. UI changes make it easier to switch between items, meaning I actually use Deku Nuts to stun baddies. When I find the Slingshot in a chest, I'm surprised by how smooth its gyro controls are – for the first time in a game I use them willingly, gliding the Switch 2 controller around to pelt Skulltulas with seeds.

The second chunk of my preview skips ahead to Hyrule Field, which is titled over a sweeping shot (as Breath of the Wild introduces locations – right down to the font). Like Kokiri Village, everything in Hyrule Field is where I remember it. But ruined buildings now dot the field, and although I don't have time to investigate, Hyrule's countryside certainly feels bigger.

So does Castle Town, which hides one egregious cut (you can no longer run up the drawbridge chains to grab a hidden rupee) but makes up for it with unmatched liveliness. Where the settlement originally felt like a single bustling screen, it's now fleshed out properly in 3D. New and old characters go about their business, including a man who claims his beard lets him sense where other men with facial hair are at any moment – Triforce of Power, eat your heart out.

As a Castle Town regular, I notice more has been done to nudge players in the right direction. Besides the bearded man who helps me locate mustachioed rancher Talon, other folk point me towards Hyrule Castle, where Link is due an appointment with Princess Zelda. That's off-limits for this preview, so instead I bum around Castle Town – detouring to smash a room full of pots before playing a few rounds of the shooting gallery minigame, which now ramps up in difficulty rather than throwing you in at the deep end.

Of what I've seen, Castle Town has changed the most. But those changes are additive and cushioned around the familiar, bringing Ocarina of Time's liveliness to the parity of later 3D Zelda games (Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword). Having played Ocarina of Time to death for the last 20 years, I'm thrilled at how fresh everything feels – this remake's differences are its strengths.

Finally, I'm fast-forwarded to the Forest Temple to play through it in full. Gone are Link's chubby cheeks, as this dungeon is the first one you tackle after a seven-year timeskip into adulthood. Adult Link has a few new tools, including a hookshot that wobbles delightfully when fired and (after some dungeon-crawling) a Hero's Bow that continues to endear me to gyro controls.

Here, any mechanical changes are subtle but the remake's lighting is outstanding. Dark wooden corridors seem to drink light, but pale sunlight still gathers in courtyards and stained glass windows; so detailed that it makes the original look stark in comparison.

As in Kokiri Forest, I'm carried through the Forest Temple on muscle memory, tackling light puzzles and minibosses that introduce the step-up in difficulty that adulthood poses (in game, of course).

Familiar puzzles are still satisfying to solve – I'm envious of anyone coming into this remake after only playing Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, as without spoiling anything there are some fiendish puzzles waiting in the Forest Temple and beyond.

In the final room, Phantom Ganon attacks. The Forest Temple's boss is still deliciously dramatic, fighting first as a spectral horseman in larger-than-life paintings, then launching crackling balls at Link. It was (and still is) a very cool fight and Nintendo clearly agreed, as Phantom Ganon was made a recurring character. I take him down and leave the forest temple in 45 minutes – devastatingly, just 43 minutes short of breaking the world record.

I leave my Ocarina of Time preview excited to see the rest of Hyrule in this light. Changes have been made sparingly but with confidence, creating an identity that can co-exist with the spiky original. In putting Ocarina of Time back together, Nintendo focuses not on the dated, but the timeless.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake is out for Nintendo Switch 2 from November 5, 2026. You can pre-order the Ocarina of Time Remake now.

While you're here, here's some other recent previews that you may be interested in:

The CRKD Atom+ has gone through some upgrades to merit its new 'plus' namesake, and its new size is exactly what I had hoped for when I first learned of the improved version of the retro-inspired gamepad.

Don't get me wrong, it's still teeny tiny and should never be used as a day-to-day Switch 2 Pro controller substitute, unless you want some Mario Kart World with a side order of wrist cramp. However, the £29.99 (via Amazon) growth spurt has made it big enough to stand out amongst my messy game room, while remaining the ideal compact shape to take up little to no space in my Switch 2 bag. Nights ruining my friendships with hours of Dokapon Kingdom have never been better.

Whenever I pop over to my friend's house to witness the full depravity of their evilness through hours of Dokapon Kingdom, I have a fear. Not the fear of them constantly starting battles with me in the game (though that does happen often), but the fear of damaging any controller I bring with me for the Switch gaming times ahead.

The Atom+ has circumnavigated that. Despite being larger than the OG Atom, it still demands far less case space than any other of my Switch 2 controllers, which makes it less prone to damage. My go-to Pro-style controllers, like that of the Turtle Beach Rematch, are fantastic, but piling one in alongside my dock, steering wheels, and anything else can be a bit of a struggle. Even if I do manage to use my Tetris know-how and maneuver it within my all-in-one case, I'm still constantly worried that its thumbsticks will end up breaking into pieces.

The Atom+ is about the length of the palm of my hand, and takes up little to no space at all, so any worries of its newly added sticks rubbing up against other accessories are slim to none. In fact, it's so perfectly compact that I'm already considering picking up a full set of the four colors available. I could easily pack each into my PlayTrek 2-in-1 case and still have some room left over, something that wouldn't have been possible had I stuck with one Pro controller alternative.

It's not a perfect alternative to my Turtle Beach Rematch, as it's still small enough that comfort can be an issue, and nothing will ever outmatch the joy of having backpedals. However, any controller that manages to quell my anxiety of broken and damaged tech gets a big thumbs-up in my book.

• View all CRKD gaming accessories at Amazon

On the hunt for a new controller? Check out our guides to the best PC controllers for gaming, the best PS5 controllers, and the best Xbox Series X controllers.

Not even Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone's partner Amber gets to play his new game Haunted Chocolatier yet. That's because the Stardew Valley creator doesn't feel like his sophomore effort is finished yet, and if you've ever eaten a Thanksgiving day turkey that needed more time in the oven, you'll vividly remember how terrible it is serving half-baked anything.

Talking to GQ, Barone says he's intent on making Haunted Chocolatier all by himself, with the exception of external marketing teams, just like he did with Stardew Valley. Barone has occasionally hired outside help to work on non-creative tasks over the years, but working largely in isolation means he's the only one actually playing these games while they're in development, and that's exactly how he wants it.

"No one's playing the game until I'm ready to show it," he says, adding a metaphor that makes me want to come to every Thanksgiving gathering with a digital meat thermometer. "If you have a turkey in the oven, you're not going to pull it out halfway and have the guests taste it, right? It needs to be done."

It does need to be done, yes. Butterball, the foremost authority on turkey as a food product, recommends cooking your turkeys to 170°F in the thigh and breast areas, and 165°F in turkey-based stuffings. I can't tell you what that looks like in Haunted Chocolatier, but I do know melted chocolate is the best chocolate.

In the same interview, Barone once again describes Haunted Chocolatier as "more of an action RPG" than Stardew Valley, this time adding that it's for players who like to "go into the mines" to grind and grow more powerful.

Stardew Valley creator is "struggling" with Haunted Chocolatier thanks to the precedent he accidentally set himself: "It might disappoint millions of people"

From one beloved RPG to the next, voice actor Holly-Marie Michael says she was cast as Catherina in Metaphor: ReFantazio due to her role as Sazza in Larian's 2023 GOTY RPG, Baldur's Gate 3.

Talking to GamesRadar+, Michael says the Cockney accent she put on to portray the working class goblin in Baldur's Gate 3 is the very reason she's now known as Catherina, the pink-haired bounty hunter in Metaphor: ReFantazio.

"Funnily enough, I got the role of Catherina by playing Sazza in Baldur's Gate 3," Michael says. "In Metaphor, you've got the English dub, you've got all of these regional accents, and they said they wanted somebody with a Cockney accent to play Catherina, and I was kind of already being a Cockney when I was doing Sazza, and so they asked me to audition for her."

Michael says that when she got the audition script for Catherina, she found the character "so badass" and was determined to play her. Little did she know at the time that her fate as Catherina was already sealed thanks to her performance as a lovable goblin in a very different RPG.

In a weird 'it's a small world' moment, in 2025 Michael reacted to a GamesRadar+ story about her Baldur's Gate 3 character and the people who would advocate for goblin romance.

"You filthy little buggers, I didn't realize there were so many of ya" Michael said using Sazza's voice. "Makes sense though. I mean, look at her... gorgeous. Let it be known that if Larian come-a-callin', I would be willing to record those scenes. It would be filthy, but I'd do it for ya," she added, struggling not to laugh at the thought.

Nabbing a speaking role in a game as universally acclaimed as Baldur's Gate 3 is bound to open some doors, and following up with another hit RPG like Metaphor: ReFantazio definitely looks like the start of a hot streak for Michael, even if her next big game hasn't been revealed.

Why not pick something from our list of the best RPGs for your next big adventure?

28 years after its release and (almost) two remakes later, a new glitch has been discovered in the OG Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and fans are already expecting it to have a big impact on certain challenge runs.

As shared by Ocarina of Time speedrunner ZFG on Twitter, the "really cool new glitch" involves using a bottled item right as a hitbox is disappearing in order to "overwrite damage values," allowing you to beat certain bosses without the items usually required for them. Specifically, "2 big uses so far are beating Volvagia without hammer, and Ganondorf without light arrows."

Elaborating on this further in a separate post, ZFG explains that "because this has to do with memory loading and unloading stuff, this sometimes needs specific setups with things you need to do beforehand," but this "will be very situational." For now, though, Link's magic spin attack combined with using a fairy in a bottle "seems pretty consistent," they say.

What's more, the glitch even works in Majora's Mask, with the combo of using magic spin and then using spring water generally resulting in "powder keg damage," which can be used to quickly blast through to the Goron Racetrack and Romani Ranch (albeit with a bit of setup).

But how about Ocarina of Time? ZFG anticipates a potential impact on a number of different speedrun categories, but not necessarily all of them. "Although this seems like something obviously very useful on the surface, there's actually a bunch of minor details that makes it not as simple to just be an automatic timesaver in runs," as they put it. For example, the All Dungeons category skips currently obtaining the slingshot and magic, which you need one of to make the glitch work, though speedrunners are currently experimenting with a method here to get the slingshot for a potentially faster Volvagia fight.

"The one main category this seems immediately good for is No Wrong Warp, which can now skip the long process to get magic in exchange for just slingshot, saving a few minutes," ZFG reasons. Meanwhile, randomizer runs are "definitely the biggest winner" thanks to the ability to beat Volvagia without the hammer.

While it doesn't seem like this glitch is going to be a game changer for the majority of casual fans, it's still really interesting that things are still being found after all this time. If you're curious to try it, it reportedly works on the Nintendo Switch Online version of the game as well as the original cartridge release.

SNL's viral Zelda: Ocarina of Time vs GTA 6 sketch probably went down fine at Nintendo, former marketing leads say, even if it framed Link as being "for nerds."

If there's one department that Final Fantasy 14 fans are lacking in, it's reading, apparently – particularly the MMO's own settings.

It's a tale as old as time: players want certain options, and Square Enix either delivers them or doesn't… or, you know, already has, but folks don't check the settings to make sure what they want is or isn't already implemented in the game before asking for it.

Global community producer Toshio Murouchi jests about this phenomenon during a panel at this past weekend's PAX Australia event, explaining that it happens all the time. "Some of the player group loves A, the other group loves B, so you guys tend to say, 'Okay, how about making it selectable in the config options?"

That's when Square Enix does just that, with a "let's make it happen" attitude" – there are more than 10 years, as Muruochi says, of work poured into the MMO, after all, so the existing settings are "tremendous."

So tremendous, in fact, that players don't bother going through them.

They "don't like to read any play guide or the manuals," Moruochi jokes, which… guilty as charged – but we'll want to do just that for the new expansion Evercold.

"In preparation for Evercold, please take time to read through the config options," as the developer kindly tells the community. "That will help raise your quality of life in Eorzea." He's probably not wrong, considering all the new configurations and tweaks coming.

From new jobs like the Bastion to housing changes, Evercold's packing quite the punch of content, and knowing your way around pre-existing settings can't hurt. Some fans think that Square Enix should make them easier to navigate, however.

Over on a Reddit thread about Muruochi's recent words, one person comments that the devs "should redesign the horrible options menus" if they expect players to explore them.

Another suggests the Final Fantasy 14 team "just add a search bar" to make navigation a bit simpler – something I wouldn't be opposed to myself. For now, though, we'll have to make do with the old-fashioned click-and-browse method, I suppose.

Final Fantasy 14's Beastmaster has fans experiencing the MMO as Pokemon trainers for the first time in its 16 years, and they love it so much they "wish it was a standard job"

Following Fortnite developer and publisher Epic Games' public announcement that it would be undergoing a "huge pivot" for "maximum AI acceleration," one former producer shares his take on the controversial technology and its role in the development process.

Aakash Gupta, who worked at Epic as a producer on Fortnite, explains that Tim Sweeney's push for a new "AI first" approach to game dev and how quickly it's moved – just see the now-delayed Disney extraction shooter – isn't surprising.

"Fortnite Battle Royale was built in two months," he writes on X. "I was a producer at Epic, and that's the speed Tim Sweeney moves at when he decides the whole company is turning. He just decided again."

Indeed, he did, hence the whole "huge pivot" – a pivot that isn't new to Epic, and has likely long been in the making by the time it's publicly announced.

"Inside Epic, a pivot means the whole company turns that week," as Gupta states. "People get new teams, new bosses, new roadmaps, and nobody blinks because that's how the place has always run. By the time Tim posts a memo about it, the moves usually already happened."

And, when it comes to AI, Gupta doesn't think any amount of backlash will stop Epic – or other studios, for that matter– from utilizing the tech.

"Here's where it gets bigger than Epic though Epic makes Unreal Engine, the software a massive share of big-budget games are built on. Studio heads can ban AI art. Voice actors can strike over AI voices. Steam can put warning labels on AI games," he says.

But, "None of that touches the layer Epic controls, because Epic makes the tool everyone builds with." He recalls how Epic "wired" AI models like Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini into its Unreal Engine, with more underway.

"So for millions of game developers, AI shows up as a built-in feature of software they already pay for" – public pushback be damned. According to the ex-Fortnite producer, it's all "for show," anyway.

"Honestly, the industry's AI fight is mostly for show," he describes. "Google Cloud found nine in 10 game developers already use AI agents at work. The debate happens on stage while the usage happens at the desk."

I've located the survey he cites here, too, which alleges that some 87% of devs are employing the use of AI during production, for everything from optimization to "dynamic balancing" and much more.

So, Gupta concludes that the AI controversy begins and ends publicly, while use continues behind devs' doors – whether opened or closed: "While everyone argues about whether games should use AI, Epic quietly turned it into a checkbox inside the editor. Most developers will click it without ever having the debate."

While I'm not sure I agree with Gupta here, I can't say Epic Games' own move is surprising at all.

Studio CEO Tim Sweeney has made his stance on generative AI quite clear in the past, dubbing Steam's required AI disclosures "really irresponsible of Valve" as they supposedly make it "much, much, much harder for a game developer to have a chance of success."

He's always come across as openly pro-AI use in game dev, to say the least… even if it's not a great look considering his company's widespread layoffs earlier this year.

Gupta and Sweeney aren't alone in their thoughts on the questionable tech, either. Former Square Enix executive Jacob Novak has responded to Epic's AI news himself, writing, "Epic, by far one of the best technical leaders in games, is saying no hand written code. If you're not doing the same you will be left behind. It is over for non-AI workflows."

It's a heavy-handed message, but it does beg the question: how far will this whole AI thing truly go?

I suppose only time can tell, but the future feels a bit bleak right now. Between Epic and these other supposed devs using gen AI, I worry for folks in creative roles and those coding, too. It can't be easy for anyone in those positions, that's for certain.

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii continues his love affair with AI slop as he releases a new game he generated in 30 minutes

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is exactly what the witch doctor ordered this spooky season. It's gory to an extreme, the scent of blood and latex almost palpable as I guide protagonist Aiden Lynch through a kinky pansexual death cult's hideout, into a pulse-pounding BDSM club, before evading The Chatterer in The Labyrinth's chambers of torment. Peppered with nods to survival horror titans and off-kilter Xbox 360 games like Condemned alike, I think our Hellraiser Revival review score is fair: This might not the freshest kill on the chopping block, but it's definitely a delight for genre sickos (and sickos in general, ya sadists). That said, I cannot get on board with its first-person perspective. Like, at all.

I can tell what developer Saber Interactive was gunning for. Much like Silent Hill Townfall, the new game takes notes from the first-person terrors of Resident Evil 7 to create an oppressive, immersive environment that implicates you, The Player, as its main character. However, it doesn't succeed. I think Hellraiser Revival would have been a better third-person action game than a first person one, and it all starts with one simple question.

Who are you?

A smart survival horror game understands the importance of perspective. It's what makes Resident Evil's Ethan Winters such a powerful everyman figure, his face always obscured in gameplay, cutscenes, and promotional materials (until the third-person Resident Evil Village update) to reinforce the notion that who he is doesn't matter as much as what he thinks, feels, and does.

It allowed Capcom to distance us, for a moment, from its emblematic heroes – Leon, Chris, Claire, Jill – whose image had long become synonymous with the survival horror franchise. Even with first-person available in Resident Evil Requiem, playing a first-person game as Leon S. Kennedy feels illegal. I want to see and play as him, not myself, because I am already invested in the character. Ethan's story is no less important than Leon's, but it serves a different purpose.

While the vagaries of Ethan's backstory allow us to imprint ourselves upon his character, Hellraiser Revival's Aiden Lynch has plenty going for him already. We see him in third-person cutscenes right from the jump, catching glimpses of his personal tastes and indulgences (to be SFW about it) before we're dropped into the action from a first-person view. Already, it's discombobulating. Am I supposed to feel like the everyman here, or is Aiden a fully-formed character whose journey, backstory, and personal stakes I'll be exploring?

Four hours in, I can't figure out whether Aiden is a Leon or an Ethan. And, look, I really like the dude. Aiden clawed himself back from addiction and jail stints by finding a new obsession in his girlfriend, Sunny; who am I to judge his new drug-of-choice?

I respect the guy for heading into BDSM hell to save her soul. I am always pro-Wife Guys in video games, and Aiden is no exception. But he's definitely not got the combat chops of either Leon or Ethan going for him – even if one of them is a bioterror vet and the other is literally made of mould.

Fighting chance

To be as blunt as the weapons Aiden wields, melee combat in first-person categorically sucks. It always sucks, in my opinion, with the exception of one-man tank Kyle Crane bashing zombie skulls in with electrified crowbars in Dying Light.

There needs to be a weightiness to it to keep me locked in, and with no way to block attacks or do anything but duck out of the way, getting into brawls as Aiden is perhaps fittingly awkward. Plus, he's stark naked for a good chunk of the opening hour. In his position, I guess I'd be a bit too preoccupied by a cold breeze in the nether regions to worry about my technique.

But I don't want to let Hellraiser Revival off that easy. How much of this airy, weightless fumbling would feel more grounded if it was made with typical third-person combat manoeuvres in mind? How much more like an actual Hellraiser movie would it look if we could see the hero's face for the majority of the journey instead of his blood-slicked palms swinging a machete through thin air? Is trading good combat for a front-row seat to see gore really necessary when this is, first and foremost, a survival horror action game?

I can tell that Saber understands this to an extent. We see quite a lot of Aiden in third-person cutscenes when the cenobites are in play, while others (like the ones in cult HQ) are in first – which makes the inconsistency all the more frustrating. I'd have liked to see Hellraiser commit to one or the other.

Alternatively, it could have gone full Dying Light: The Beast, with a strong visual hero persona built through third-person cinematics while first-person gameplay dials up the immersion. But chopping and changing between the two perspectives feels ultimately confused in Hellraiser, with the purpose of those third-person cutscenes reading as opportunities to show off the cenobites rather than build on Aiden's character.

Maybe such is the way of licensed games. We're here to see Pinhead et al, not necessarily Aiden and Sunny. But in its attempt to align itself with the latest trend in survival horror, Hellraiser Revival misses Resident Evil's most important lesson: some heroes need to be seen to be believed.

Explore some of the best horror games to keep you company this Halloween...

The radiant quest system that made Skyrim's open-world so responsive to its protagonist only came about because of Bethesda's "brute force" approach to the idea in Fallout 3.

In an interview with OPM first published in 2011, Todd Howard explained the origins of Bethesda's novel approach to an open-world RPG. "In Fallout 3 there are these random encounters," he explains. "A guy being hunted by a Deathclaw, [or] this group of people fighting over a refrigerator. And we wrote this giant script for Fallout 3 with about 40 or 50 random events."

Those events would be triggered in certain areas under certain conditions, but it was a relatively simple system, one which Howard describes as "a really big, brute force script." It might not have been elegant, but it was popular – "it turned out to be a really cool system in the game that made the game dynamic, and we just kept building this script."

After the launch of its seminal RPG, Bethesda wanted to keep using that system, but was looking for a more streamlined solution. "We came out of Fallout 3 going 'well, what if we have a system that did that instead of writing?'" The team "really liked" the way it worked for random encounters, so it expanded the new system into quests. "So that's what it became," Howard says. "Every quest uses this. And now it's become this all-watching thing over the game."

The system would go on to affect almost every part of Skyrim's many, many quests. Devs could shape the parameters behind an event – deciding what kind of NPC activated it, or in what area of the game they should be found – but 'radiant stories' formed the core of how Skyrim's world was built, and have gone on to have a massive impact on RPG design in the 15 years since.

Bethesda's last Skyrim concept artist has been laid off after "almost 18 years of dedication to The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield" amid Xbox cuts: "It has been my honor."

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse reviews are in, and its Metacritic score is one of the highest in the Konami series' 40-year history, even if it doesn't quite hit the praise garnered by the most beloved games in the franchise.

After a hiatus that has lasted just over a decade, Castlevania is getting its first brand new game in years this week, with Castlevania: Belmont's Curse having a lot riding on it for a lot of fans. Thankfully, it looks like things have gone down well, as the Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Metacritic score is sitting at 86 after 45 critic reviews, which as far as the series at large goes, is one of the strongest scores to date.

In fact, the only Castlevania games with a higher score are some of the most beloved games in the series. Namely the GBA trilogy of Circle of the Moon (91), Harmony of Dissonance (87), and Aria of Sorrow (91), as well as Aria's sequel, Dawn of Sorrow (89), and, of course, Symphony of the Night – namely its Xbox 360 port at 89 and the PS1 original at 93. It also ranks lower than Vampire Survivors' Ode to Castlevania DLC (95) and Dead Cells' Return to Castlevania expansion (88) – which was developed by Belmont's Curse developer Evil Empire.

In the GamesRadar+ Castlevania: Belmont's Curse review, social media editor Serena Cherry awards the game four out of five stars, saying, "Beautiful and challenging, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse offers a rich, gothic world of puzzles to solve and enemies to whip. With a stunning blend of fast-paced traversal action and compelling storytelling, this game proudly honours the Belmont legacy in exciting new ways."

Currently the majority of the game's reviews are dubbed "Positive" by Metacritic, with multiple outlets giving the game full marks. Elsewhere only eight reviews gave a "Mixed" score, with the game picking up a number of three out of five or seven out of 10 ratings.

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse was born out of "a sense of urgency," producer says, and if we have to wait 10 years for the next game, "the whole thing is meaningless."

Fortnite developer and publisher Epic Games has reportedly delayed the release of a Disney extraction shooter that it had been working on so as to incorporate more artificial intelligence technology into its development.

The news comes from Bloomberg, which reports that the game's developers were instructed to engage with an "AI first" production process, using generative AI models like Anthropic's Claude – a tool that's recently been in the limelight for its role in fan-created PlayStation emulations like the controversial fan-made Bloodborne PC port that made rounds online last week.

An internal message from one of the game's directors has apparently confirmed as much. "No more hand-written code," it allegedly reads, going on to declare that all art for the game would now be "generated with full AI workflows."

Epic Games' communications director Jake Jones has responded to Bloomberg, too, admitting, "We're embracing AI-accelerated development, led by Epic developers who are the visionaries and creative drivers for everything we do."

Disney representatives declined to comment, apparently.

This all lines up with what Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is writing over on Twitter as well. "We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic," the studio lead describes, "moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration. The aim isn't to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal."

As you can imagine, commenters aren't exactly thrilled.

I can't say this comes as much of a surprise, though, really. Sweeney has made his stance on generative AI very clear in the past, having dubbed Steam's own AI disclosures "really irresponsible of Valve" as they supposedly make it "much, much, much harder for a game developer to have a chance of success."

In other words, he's never been opposed to the highly controversial tech – he's only ever expressed the opposite.

So, what's next for Epic Games and its collaborative project with Disney? Well, I suppose that only time can tell for certain – but I'm not sure that this move is tasteful… especially after the company's widespread layoffs earlier this year.

Fortnite's Hollow Knight crossover items cost more than Hollow Knight itself – and Silksong, too.

As the gaming world watches and waits, Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone says he's feeling the pressure to ensure that the follow-up, Haunted Chocolatier, meets everyone's expectations.

Speaking to GQ in a wide-ranging interview, Barone touches on how the creative process differs this time around and that it hasn't been an easy adjustment. While he had all the time in the world to create Stardew Valley, the fans that game has amassed over the years are now eagerly awaiting Haunted Chocolatier.

"I've been struggling with that," he says, "because I really want to recapture that feeling that I had when I was making Stardew Valley. Back then, there was no audience, there was no precedent. Everyone's watching me, and if I don't do things a certain way, it might disappoint millions of people."

Further reflecting on Stardew Valley, Barone says it was initially a "dumb little project" he used to get better at programming while he "couldn't find a job." Now? A phenomenon.

"It's kind of hard to fathom just how many people have played it, and the impact it's had," he says. "It was not part of the plan."

Regardless, now five years since its initial announcement, Haunted Chocolatier is slowly taking shape at a pace Barone is setting for himself. Pressure or not. Thankfully, it looks to be shaping up nicely. Elsewhere in the interview, Barone describes it as a game for Stardew Valley players who yearn for the mines, which sounds quite ideal and worth the wait.

ConcernedApe says sorry Haunted Chocolatier is taking so long: "I won't compromise on the quality of the game by rushing it or releasing it too early."

The bastion of comedy that is Saturday Night Live recently decided to poke fun at the close-by release dates of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and GTA 6. The sketch marks the rare occasion the show acknowledges video games, bringing to mind a moment in 2021 where Elon Musk, of all people, showed up in a Wario suit.

If you need a reminder, Musk hosted Saturday Night Live on May 8, 2021, and one of the bits involved a lawyer defending Wario in court against the accusation he murdered Mario. Yeah, I don't know either. The Tesla CEO himself was positioned as the villain of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, in a get up that included the moustache and all.

Discussing SNL's latest venture into games satire, Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, both former senior marketing staff at the house of Mario and Zelda, looked back at the reaction to the Musk-led skit. "They did not like the Elon Musk 2021 [bit]," Yang says, in an episode of Kit and Krysta, the podcast they share.

"We were still there for that," Ellis points out. "That did not go over well," Yang states, as Ellis concurs that it "was not beloved" with a laugh.

"That one was out of left field," Ellis observes. "There was no actual Nintendo product that connected to it."

He mentions that "some of" the material was "getting into subject material that was uncomfortable for Nintendo." The whole thing is misguided, in my view. Wario's only ever been in direct opposition to Mario once - Bowser's the jumping plumber's actual arch-nemesis. Wario is just a bumbling, money-hungry inflection of Mario's cheeriness. A courtroom drama is deeply antithetical to the spirit of either character, too.

The former Nintendo marketing leads point out in the conversation that the latest scene is more likely to have made execs smile, if only because it's potentially potent marketing they didn't have to pay for. Ultimately, that's all that matters really - unless Musk is involved, anyway.

The new Ocarina of Time figures are nowhere to be found, but some of the best Zelda amiibo are back at Nintendo UK

Saturday Night Live may have seemingly tried (and failed) to poke fun at The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake in a recent sketch pitting it against GTA 6, but former Nintendo marketing leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang reckon that the house of Mario would actually have had a "pretty positive reaction" to it internally.

The SNL sketch from earlier in the month saw two people dressed as Link and GTA 6's Jason, respectively, each trying to one-up the other by bragging about what their games have to offer as they fight for dominance in November in their own sort of Barbenheimer moment. The tone of the sketch makes it quite clear that Zelda is supposed to be the less exciting option here – comparing GTA 6's action, sex appeal, and fast cars to Zelda's puzzles and Link's "little green dress" – but ironically, the crowd's reaction to the Nintendo game is so loud that the entire joke kind of falls on its face, instead proving Ocarina of Time's immense popularity.

Ellis and Yang, respectively the former director of social media marketing and original content, and senior manager of creator relations and original content at Nintendo of America, discuss the sketch in a new video on their YouTube channel (below), opening with the fact that Nintendo "did not like the Elon Musk" Wario SNL sketch from 2021. That one aired when they were still working at the company, with Yang saying it "was not received well" internally.

And, well, it's little wonder. The sketch sees Wario – played by Tesla and SpaceX boss Musk – defending himself in a court case over the murder of Mario in a Mario Kart-esque road accident. During the sketch, there are also references to Mario doing drugs and Luigi sexting Princess Peach. Not exactly brand-friendly stuff.

How about the Ocarina of Time one, though? Yang suggests that Nintendo "didn't hate this," partly because it "positions the game as a huge deal" and, to some extent, accurately markets it through its mentions of the game's puzzles. And, as Ellis adds, it portrays it as "equal to GTA 6," which is obviously a good thing by anyone's metrics.

That's not to say that Nintendo would have loved everything about the sketch, though. Ellis suggests that the company wouldn't have liked the portrayal of Link as being a character "for nerds, for losers," and leaning into those "old rooted perceptions of video games in general where it's like, 'Oh, GTA, that's for the cool kids.'"

Yang adds that the company also likely didn't enjoy the sketch making fun of Zelda's art style, and "probably didn't love that when he pulled out the little bottle with a fairy in it that the fairy completely fell apart and died." Oops. Overall though, she argues, "I think Nintendo would have a pretty positive reaction to this, because yeah, generally it's positioning Ocarina of Time out to be a a very big deal, a worthy side by side to potentially what is the biggest game of the year, GTA 6."

All in all, then, it could have been a lot worse for Nintendo, and the crowd's extremely positive reaction to Zelda in the sketch is the cherry on top, perhaps unintentionally showing what a real GTA 6 rival the company has on its hands.

As GTA 6 faces off against Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, expert says Nintendo is "the only company in the industry with a fanbase loyal enough to make that bet" against Rockstar.

Stop us if you've heard this before, but the No Man's Sky team has yet again been cookin' up a new release for its 2016 survival game – and this time, it's a mobile launch.

That's right, No Man's Sky is indeed coming to iOS over a decade after its initial release, with Hello Games planning an October 28 launch – but it hasn't come easy.

Sean Murrary says as much in a new letter regarding the exciting mobile launch, explaining that the developers first considered porting it over after bringing No Man's Sky to Mac in 2023. "Someone on the team said, 'I reckon I could get this running on an iPhone,'" as he recalls.

"I honestly didn't believe it until I played it myself for the first time," Murray continues. "A little like when we brought the game to VR or Nintendo Switch players, it started with a seemingly impossible technical challenge we wanted to disprove." And boy, did they do just that.

Witnessing No Man's Sky's universe generation working on a mobile phone remains a core memory for the studio lead – and how could it not?

"There was something magical about seeing that universe being generated on a tiny device," as he puts it.

Considering technical limitations, though, how will it work? Well, Murray assures "this is not No Man's Sky Lite."

It boasts the "full universe to explore," including the Cosmos update and every other major patch Hello Games has dropped over the years: "It even includes our most ambitious updates like Voyagers from last year."

The game won't have multiplayer or settlements day one, though, much like it didn't on the Switch at first – but it's all coming.

It'll be available on every iOS device from the iPhone 11 and third-generation iPad Air up. Hello Games hasn't cut corners here, either. Murray details how the studio has "rebuilt touch controls from the ground up to make No Man's Sky feel totally at home on mobile" and "put tons of work into battery life and thermodynamics."

And, if you can believe it, the file size of the mobile No Man's Sky is under 5GB – you hardly need any space on your phone, it seems. Pre-orders are live today, too, but you don't need to commit if you're not sure just yet. "In an effort to welcome as many new Travellers to the universe as possible, it'll be free to try at launch."

I personally can't wait to see how it runs on mobile devices myself, honestly… but knowing Hello Games, it'll be good.

Searching for more to look forward to this year and beyond? Browse through our roundup of the best new games coming to wishlist.

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii is touting his new game which he claims took him about 30 minutes to make using generative AI.

Despite being one of the most prolific game creators of all time, the Dragon Quest creator has fallen head over heels for the slop machine like your elderly uncle on Facebook. Developers like Hideo Kojima have spoken critically about using it as a replacement for creative aspects of game development, but Square Enix is working with Google on a chatbot for Dragon Quest 10, and Horii has generally been very positive about the tech, claiming it can make JRPG characters "feel even more human" and claiming that the tech known for hallucinating info "hardly ever makes things up."

And now, Horii has released a new 'game' titled Interrogation Room Komiya (via VGC). The developer went to Twitter recalling the development of his 1983 adventure game The Portopia Serial Murder Case – a game which he wrote, programmed and created art for all by himself – while now, he can just write some words into the machine, allowing him to make something in about 30 minutes.

Of course, the question is whether Horii's enthusiasm for the tech will carry over into Dragon Quest 12, which has been in what could be described as development hell, given that the entire concept was reworked and development was restarted. The game is confirmed to have artwork and characters from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama and series composer Koichi Sugiyama, both of whom have passed away since the 12th entry was announced.

I'm a creature-collecting sicko, and going hands-on with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World made me realize how much I've been missing out on this spin-off.

Good news if you yearn for the mines in Stardew Valley – creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone says his long-awaited follow-up game Haunted Chocolatier is for you.

In a new interview with GQ, Barone doubles down on an explanation he previously gave of Haunted Chocolatier – even though "it is still what I call a town game," we can expect this one to be "more of an action RPG."

He's previously spoken about it having "a greater focus on combat," and he now elaborates: "The main focus is more about adventuring, finding equipment and getting more powerful. There are monsters, there are boss fights."

It's the Stardew Valley comparison he makes that really speaks to me, though, and it sounds like Barone and myself have had a very similar experience with his first game. "It's for the people in Stardew Valley that go into the mines," he says. "That's what I do, honestly."

There's still absolutely no word on when we can expect Haunted Chocolatier to launch. Back in August, he apologized that the game is taking so long, but said: "I won't compromise on the quality of the game by rushing it or releasing it too early. Then all my time would be wasted, anyway."

This is a sentiment he's doubled down on now, too, saying: "No one's playing the game until I'm ready to show it. If you have a turkey in the oven. You're not going to pull it out halfway and have the guests taste it, right? It needs to be done." So, no Haunted Chocolatier food poisoning for us.

Haunted Chocolatier is "way bigger than Stardew Valley," says ConcernedApe: "Everything is cranked up."

Nintendo's vice president and general manager for Latin America, Bill van Zyll, says that the company has no plans to ditch physical media.

Physical media has become a big talking point in the last couple of years. Last year, Nintendo caused preservation concerns thanks to the introduction of Game Key Cards – physical cartridges that allow you to download a game, while not holding any of its data. However, Game Key Cards are very much in the rear view window this year with Rockstar Games' decision to ship GTA 6 exclusively as a code in box release, swiftly followed by Sony announcing it's killing off discs for new PlayStation games in 2028.

Speaking to YouTube creator Coelho no Japão (via Nintendo Everything), Van Zyll is asked about Nintendo's stance on physical media in the wake of PlayStation's decision, with him responding, "Historically, we've been very agnostic, right? We go off what the consumer prefers, and take that into account very heavily."

He then cites that "we also have a platform that was just launched," noting the Switch 2's ability to play both physical and digital games.

"There's no plans to ditch physical," Van Zyll explains. "We know how much the fans like it as well, so our position has been to be agnostic."

However, unfortunately, that's of course only the stance right now, and there's no telling what the future holds, but hopefully Nintendo will stick with it for a while longer. Given that every first-party release except for Pokemon Pokopia and the upcoming Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – Definitive Edition have been actual physical releases instead of Game Key Cards, it may be a good sign for now.

Sony is still selling tons of the discs it plans to kill off: Marvel's Wolverine launch sales were reportedly 35% physical, showing a huge appetite for a non-digital future

Risk of Rain 2's Hallowed Concepts DLC is another hit for one of the best roguelikes around. Years after a shaky start, Gearbox seems to be doing a much better job with the genre icon.

The Borderlands maker bought Risk of Rain 2 back in 2022, as the original developers soon went to work at Valve. The beloved roguelike then found itself in troubled waters. Gearbox's first major update to the game post-buyout, Seekers of the Storm, was hugely divisive with series fans, but the publisher has since turned things around with last year's Alloyed Collective and this week's Hallowed Concepts.

Risk of Rain 2's newest expansion is already a hit on Steam, with 84% of user reviews giving it the thumbs up on the platform.

"Hallowed Concepts blows every other DLC out of the water," one positive review reads. "The DLC is so fresh and does so much to reinvigorate the lategame that it feels like the devs read my mind… There's so much intentional and clever design in how these new systems are implemented and overlay themselves on top of the core game. So much of the new content is geared towards making the lategame matter again… It's lovely. Truly."

"Easily the best DLC from the new team. Seekers was fine after it got patched from launch, Alloyed Collective was also fine, but this blows the others out of the water. I'd say it's on-par with Void. Not to mention the free update it came with was huge, adding 4 new skills and challenges for them (even if Acrid's is cruel). Good job," another says.

Hallowed Concept isn't totally flawless, however. The negative reviews that do exist draw attention to the expansion's bugs, and not the creepy crawly kind. "Great expansion, fun items and bosses, but in one day, two runs died to bosses spawning outside of the map and becoming impossible to attack, until that's fixed I cannot recommend this expansion, but otherwise amazing," a negative review says.

Regardless, it's a good step forward for the roguelike icon.

Risk of Rain 2, now under Borderlands house Gearbox, vows to take "full responsibility" for AI art it calls a "mistake" – "We are sending the designer to the Void Fields as punishment"

Sonic Racing: Crossworlds already has a pretty hectic lineup of characters, but Sega's Year Two DLC roadmap takes things one step further. The Final Fantasy 7 Remake series, Persona, Godzilla, Hello Kitty, Bayonetta, Evangelion, the Dreamcast itself, and much more are all coming to the well-liked kart racer before the end of 2027.

Sonic's most recent and surprisingly great take on kart racing is no stranger to bonkers crossovers. The game's first year of post-launch content welcomed everybody from Spongebob Squarepants and Minecraft Steve to Yakuza's Ichiban Kasuga, but Sega's one-upped itself with Year Two.

Year Two includes free content drops throughout 2027, alongside a paid Season Two Pass with exclusive goodies. The free content starts with monster-spanking icon Bayonetta joining the roster, alongside a kart inspired by McLaren and Persona 3's Aigis coming between November and March of next year.

The paid Season Two kicks off with a Godzilla collaboration on day one (November 3), bringing karts based on popular kaiju and a track that features our beloved, radioactive 'zilla causing chaos throughout a city. Evangelion is up next with playable characters Asuka Shikinami Langley and Rei Ayanami, plus new karts and a track.

Sometime after, we can look forward to playing as Hello Kitty and Kuromi in a course that's inspired by the wider Sanrio universe (if you have a favorite friend, there's a good chance they've been hidden somewhere in the background of the track.)

Taking a break from crossovers, the Segaland pack goes back in time with a course that pays tribute to Sega's entire history, arcade classics and home consoles included. Sega's also introducing three karts based on classic arcade cabinets (Outrun, After Burner, and Super Megalo) and three karts based on its consoles (Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast), alongside a bonus Super Shadow racer for owners of both Season Passes.

And, finally, the Year Two Season Pass ends with two big hitters. A Final Fantasy 7 Remake collaboration is on the way, but all Sega had to show was Cloud's Buster Sword sitting alongside a generic ring from the Sonic series. No word on what this collab includes, exactly. The other pack comes from the Reload Revival Royal pack, which presumably features characters and/or stages from all three modern Persona games.

Despite Sega's Mario Kart World shade, rival racer Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has "fallen short" of expectations, and compared to Nintendo's sales I can see why

Co-op games can go one of two ways: they are either a bonding activity that brings you closer together, or a catalyst for a screaming match.

Ghost Town Games is very familiar with both, thanks to their award-winning title Overcooked becoming a go-to 2016 co-op game where duos work against the clock to prepare meals together. Some pairs crack like an egg under pressure as they frantically toss ingredients at each other, leading to…Well, it is dubbed "Divorce Kitchen" in China for a reason. Regardless of the different outcomes, though, 10 years later, there's no denying Overcooked's impact and success in the co-op space, which is why I've kept my eyes firmly on the studio's next game, Stage Fright.

I'll admit that I did expect the upcoming game to have elements similar to Overcooked when it was first announced back in 2024. But after witnessing the title's latest trailer at Nintendo's 2026 Direct, I caught up with Ghost Town Games co-founders Phil Duncan and Oli De-Vine to learn what makes Stage Fright a completely different kind of experience.

A night together

Ghost Town Games isn't afraid to try something new. While Overcooked focuses on time-based levels, stressful environments, and food-prep challenges, Stage Fright is a narrative-driven title where you'll follow three protagonists through a coming-of-age story, communicating with each other to solve escape-room-like puzzles while exploring a very cute but spooky world.

"What we didn't want is to create a purely chaotic game this time around. We wanted this to be something that brings people together. It sounds a bit obvious, but let's talk about Overcooked breaking people apart," Duncan explained when I asked what prompted the decision to move away from Overcooked's wildly popular time-based gameplay.

"This is the one that we want you to get together on a Friday night with your partner, draw the curtains, order a pizza, and sit and play this game together, and hopefully get closer," he continued.

Overcooked may have a vague overarching plot, but let's be honest: you don't stay for the story. You stay for the culinary carnage. On the other hand, each trailer for Stage Fright so far feels akin to watching an animated movie, which makes sense, as De-Vine explains that the new game was built "around this mystery seaside coming-of-age story." This shift to an overarching narrative is something Ghost Town Games has only touched on before, but Stage Fright promises a linear, more structured experience than the fast-paced, characterless avatars of Overcooked days.

"A lot of what you experience with Overcooked or with any cooperative game is how you communicate with the person who's next to you, and we thought, well, let's try and tie that into the story as well," says Duncan. "So a lot of what the characters are having to deal with and the characters that they're meeting is to do with how they interact and what their relationship is like and how it changes over time."

No player left behind

Even as someone who is a massive fan of narrative-first co-op games such as Hazelight Studio's titles like It Takes Two and Split Fiction, the move toward a narrative experience is a complete swing away from the arcade-like levels of Overcooked's kitchens. Stage Fright also seems to have a pretty unique setup for the co-op genre in general, with the team choosing to have us follow three characters instead of two, despite Stage Fright being a strictly two-player game.

De-Vine and Duncan reveal that players won't choose the character they play for the entire experience. Instead, you will be "hopped" into different roles throughout the story. This not only adds variety for all players but also ensures no one feels like they are being "dragged around".

To explain this point, Duncan describes a section that involves a spotlight "that one player is controlling and the other player has to stay inside of while there's dangers all around them." The job of who controls the spotlight doesn't stay the same the whole level, though.

"Variety is important to us, not just in terms of keeping the game exciting, but also playing to different types of players' strengths as well," Duncan explains. Stage Fright has undergone some playtesting already, and the team is mindful that each player should have something to do in a section. "You find one player who's really good at word puzzles; say someone else is much more spatial; someone's more into the skill side of things. It's another way to make sure one player isn't solving everything, trying to keep it fresh."

Split reality

One of my biggest pet peeves in co-op games, having grown up with a brother and now having a longtime partner, is that some titles feel like they could have easily been single-player games instead. But Stage Fright's decision to use split-screen gives each player a different experience while also promoting teamwork, as they will need to communicate with each other to solve puzzles.

The constant split-screen, whether you play online or in couch co-op, is all about perspective. "It's trying to put the players in different locations a lot of the time, or if they're in the same location, maybe they see different things from each other," says De-Vine. "You're going to miss stuff that the other player sees, and then they're going to have to bring you in on their thought process. Otherwise, the game is impossible for you if you don't communicate, and it's also not possible for one player to basically play the game for the other."

The challenge is still here.

The split-screen choice, story focus, and art style of Stage Fright are all vastly different from Overcooked. Instead of another game defined by "communication in chaos", Stage Fright ticks nearly all my co-op boxes while giving us a chance to breathe.

Duncan tells me that you can pause during the aforementioned spotlight section: "One player can just stop moving the controller, and the other person can just stand in the middle of the spotlight," he explained. There is chaos in the game, but you can disengage without worrying about the clock.

Of course, that may set off alarm bells for some about Stage Fright being too accessible and Ghost Town Games losing too much of its bite. Luckily, De-Vine and Duncan have assured me that Stage Fright isn't without challenge. Without going into specifics, both tease that players can get each other killed "in a playful way".

"It's about sort of balancing those moments of adrenaline and then cooling you down a little bit," Duncan says. "We're not making a game that's going to punish players a lot, but we're making a game that should be difficult if you aren't communicating well, and if you are communicating well, it should be satisfying," De-Vine continues.

Stage Fright's more cerebral approach might sound worlds away from Overcooked's fast, frantic loop, but it's very much an evolution of its core idea.

"It's connected in the sense that we're still trying to make games for gamers and non- gamers, and it's still very geared around communication and accessibility and the like," De-Vine tells me. "But we want to do something original and different."

After 10 years of couples gloriously devolving into Gordon Ramsay screaming matches with Overcooked, Stage Fright's more narrative-first approach looks to be filling the co-op game void for pairs who just didn't click with the chaos-filled kitchens. It's clear that Stage Fright won't be another "Divorce Kitchen," from everything that I have seen so far. Instead, its more methodical approach and emphasis on overcoming a charming mystery together might mend those fractured friendships at long last.

Stage Fright is set to release sometime in 2027. While we wait, check out our list of the best co-op games to play today. Or look ahead to more 2027 releases with our round-up of all the new games on the way.

We live in a heavy world right now, with stressors like AI, layoffs, and political crises seemingly around every corner with no signs of slowing down, which is why, even in the spooky month of October, I'm leaning into the cozy gaming space more than ever. Animal Crossing is still my go-to home away from home, but I'm always on the lookout for some place else to escape the real world.

"We wanted our game to feel like The Lord of the Rings x Animal Crossing," reads the caption on a YouTube short for new indie Kickstarter smash hit, Humblets. I'm intrigued.

"Have you ever wanted to become a rock?", asks developer Berry Bite in another video. Uh, sure?

"Sheep petting!!" says the dev in another short. Getting warmer.

"Card battles!" "Cozy meals!" "Plants wiggle!" OK, I'm thoroughly sold.

"We don't use AI!"... say more.

"Every part of our indie game is hand-made," says Berry Bite. "And we commission human artists for every single card. We'd rather support real passion than prompt a machine."

Take. My. Money.

Actually, with more than $135,000 in crowdfunding at the time of writing, Berry Bite probably doesn't need my money, but I'm compelled to back this ridiculously charming indie game nonetheless.

There's a lot going on here, with Lord of the Rings and D&D influences in its enchanting world, Minecraft building mechanics, cooking and fishing inspired by Animal Crossing, card collecting and battles, and even Zelda: Breath of the Wild DNA in its gliding and campfire cooking system, but having watched every gameplay video I could find, it all seems like a miraculously cohesive package all centered around "relaxed exploration, collection, and crafting."

It sounds like there's a deep level of customization in Humblets that'll let you personalize your avatar, your mobile campsite and tent, and thank goodness, your adorable pet companion you get assigned via a personality test and who helps you find and collect resources as you explore the world.

The only thing I'm somewhat hesitant about is Humblets' procedurally generated world. I'm generally a proc-gen skeptic, but find it a useful tool in generating massive amounts of playable space and variety in games like Hades, Diablo, and Minecraft where you need that sense of scale, but I find its less useful in something like a cozy game where it's more about moment-to-moment discovery in a smaller, well, cozier space. Berry Bite says the proc-gen world is mixed with "hand-crafted landmarks," but I'd definitely rather have everything be handmade. That said, everything else about Humblets has created enough goodwill for me that I'm happy to look past that element of the game.

Humblets has an estimated alpha delivery date of October 2027, and it's set to fully launch on Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X.

If you want cozy board games for Fall, some of my all-time favorites just got major discounts

The newest Young Link and Zelda amiibo have come and gone at US retailers, but pre-orders still have yet to appear for us UK-based fans. And trust me, I've checked.

I've been refreshing the Nintendo UK online storefront every day since the figures were unveiled during the 40th Anniversary Nintendo Direct, and yet they're still yet to show their little, plastic uncanny valley faces. Today's check came up empty just as they always do, yet I did at least spot that some of my favorite Legend of Zelda Collection amiibo are back in stock starting from £12.99. I've picked out the best restocks below so you can at least add something new to your Zelda shelves.

The first Ocarina of Time Link amiibo is also part of this set, but it's currently unavailable. It was in stock this morning, but there must be more hungry Zelda amiibo fans out there than I had suspected, as the product listing changed to "sold out" as soon as I started typing these very words.

At least the above figures are still stocked up, and they're some of my favorite in the entire Legend of Zelda lineup, particularly as they're not based on Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. Don't get me wrong, I love Switch-era Link, but it's refreshing to see amiibo based on different Legend of Zelda games once in a while, especially when they're some of the most vibrant of the lot. My favorite is undoubtedly the Majora's Mask Link, as merch from it can be a bit of a rarity, and Nintendo went the extra mile to sculpt the little guy in lovely detail. Here's even holding a little Goron mask in his hand.

If you do happen to prefer the Switch-era Zelda games, plenty of the newest Tears of the Kingdom amiibo are also in stock, including the Mineru's Construct figure with its articulated arms. The best part is that all of them, including the above amiibo, can be tapped and used with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom too, should you need extra weapons, food, and materials along your journey, on both the Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2.

• View all Legend of Zelda amiibo at Nintendo

On the hunt for more Ninty collectibles? Check out the best Lego sets and the best Nintendo gift guides.

Dragon's Dogma 2 : Dark Arisen is out, and true to the developers words, it's proving a lot harder than the original version of the RPG.

Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen's lead dev said the friction is key to the experience, and promised that the new expansion of Capcom's 2024 RPG has been designed to "offer battles with an even greater sense of tension and challenge than the main game." Ahead of launch, Capcom said the new Lost Rites dungeons are to be challenged at level 20, while Forsaken Dominion – the main questline featured in the new region of Norgan – is recommended for level 40.

I started Lost Rites and Forsaken Dominion at level 80 and got absolutely decimated countless times.

And I'm glad to report it's not just a skill issue on my part, as one glance at the Dragon's Dogma 2 subreddit shows that Arisen all over the globe are getting battered. One post accuses returning Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen director Kento Kinoshita of being a liar, saying, "Bro said something like level 50 is a good starting point for this DLC and i went in on my lvl275 character," adding, "Bro this shit is still hard I'm getting 4 shot by random mobs and the trailer dragon is currently fucking me up severely."

Elsewhere on the subreddit, there are a number of meme posts and videos recounting how the snowy tundra of Norgan is beating them down mercilessly, with others sharing tales about how they hoarded relics only for a snow ogre to steal them all.

That being said, these aren't really complaints. Everyone seems super pleased to be getting their butts kicked by Dragon's Dogma 2 after a two-and-a-half year wait. One players says "the new DLC is everything I wanted," praising enemies that are much smarter and harder than before. It went down a treat with reviews, too, as Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen nabbed a higher score than the first game's DLC.

Dragon's Dogma 2 update finally gives the RPG the performance boost it desperately needed, and it's so good that it's even lowered the PC system requirements.

I recall many things from my 140-hour initial playthrough of The Witcher 3, but taking in the scenery is not one of them. Between monster contracts, heartbreaking questlines like The Bloody Baron, and far too many games of Gwent, the position of the sun in the sky was never of concern to me.

But The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered has put all that on its head. I wanted to hone in on a specific quest for this first instalment of October's RPG Club, exploring how White Orchard's griffin-slaying contract feels with the new combat and reworked skill tree now in play thanks to the new update. So tell me why I've just spent almost five hours treating The Witcher 3 like an open world photo op, seeking out the best sunsets in town?

Quest Log

Heavens above

Aside from all the half-naked bodies (which have always been there in this dream sequence), the first thing I notice upon starting a new save is how jaw-droppingly vivid, colorful, and vibrant it is.

Shadows are richer, the contrast between Geralt's bare chest and the marbled oak furniture behind him starker than Yennefer's state of undress. I walk out onto the balcony and can almost feel the sun's golden warmth pouring over Kaer Morhen, setting aflame the emerald and sage and every other fancy word you can think of to say "green" in its lush surrounding wilderness.

It boggles the mind. I'm playing The Witcher 3 on my six year-old gaming laptop. Yes, I updated my graphics card drivers especially for this occasion, but I was prepared to miss out on the best of the remaster's visual upgrades given the age of my rig. Turns out that even without ray-tracing and occlusive lighting, The Witcher 3 has never looked more magical.

When I'm let loose in White Orchard, I try to stay on track. Well, as on track as you're supposed to be in a game like this; White Orchard is the starter town for a reason, offering a snapshot of the game's many systems and mission types in one handy place as Geralt sets out to find Yennefer with witcher mentor, Vesesmir. Wraith in the Well is a great introduction to the planning that goes into each monster hunt. For a taste of The Continent's political landscape, Twisted Firestarter sees me tracking down an arsonist who burned down the local forge after the blacksmith supplied arms to invading Nilfgaardian forces. Elsewhere, I help a sweet old dear get her prized frying pan back from the home of a dead man. You know, just normal things.

I have to admit that since it has been some time since I last played The Witcher 3, some of the combat enhancements might be lost on me. If anything, I find myself running into more bugs than before – Geralt refused to dive to fetch some herbs once, forcing me to reload, while he petulantly decided that dodging is for losers and massively showed me up in a brawl outside a tavern. But at least I can stop and snap some pretty pictures in Photo Mode when I'm not reloading to fix said bugs.

To griffin-ity

By the time I get around to the griffin-slaying contract, I've reached Level 3 and completed all nearby side quests. It took a bit of time; White Orchard is not for level grinding, since there's a whole game and two DLC (soon to be three when Songs of the Past launches next year) to do that in. But it does mean that I can start exploring the reworked skill tree nice and early – thank god.

I have no shame in admitting that my first Witcher 3 build was utter chaos. I had no idea what I was doing, assigning random mutagens here, mismatching them with other-colored abilities there, never properly upgrading skills after they were first unlocked. But CDPR has made it far more visually intuitive, doing away with the need to blow all your points in a specific category before you can unlock higher-tier skills.

They branch out more naturally now – I'm going for an Igni build at this early stage, since few things can shrug off a bunch of sparks in their faces, which smoothly branches out into the Aard ability tree to let me skip the lower levels outright. It's a far smarter, more user-friendly rework compared to the original – though given how much I struggled with Cyberpunk 2077 at first, maybe I've just gotten used to the developer's flair after all.

Going up against the griffin is easy, if a little daunting. You never feel truly ready in The Witcher 3; some high-level enemies go down surprisingly fast with the right oils rubbed on your silver sword, while others (cough Detlaff cough) give me far more stress than I'd care to rehash here.

It also doesn't help that after fetching herbs and finding the abandoned griffin's lair – RIP griffin wife – all I want to do is take photographs of everything. I'm so consumed with documenting my new Witcher 3 journey like a photojournalist, taking time framing each shot just so, that when Vesemir hands me a crossbow, I panic. Uh, how do I use this again?!

After downing three accidental potions and casting Igni at my horse (sorry Roach), I finally work out how to equip the blasted thing. It's pretty useless, if I'm honest; I'll stick to using the Igni special attack, a stream of continuous fire that reaches a surprising distance, to stun the beast and bring it crashing down to earth for some melee attacks.

It's on toward Vizima now that the brute has been slain, and time to meet Yennefer. But not before I snap another juicy shot of Geralt and his winged prize. I'm sure that there's more I'll appreciate about the remaster update later down the line – I haven't even experienced the new missions that came with the next gen update, after all – but for now, I'm quite happy playing The Witcher 3 in a state of awe and wonder. Each new sunset brings another exciting rush to snap a picture before it's too late, even if Geralt's hair looks startlingly blue or blonde in certain lighting. CD Projekt Red's bold enhancements of The Witcher 3's color palette has turned it into a true fantasy for me, and at this rate, it'll take me a very long time to leave Velen.

So it's just as well that next week, another member of the GamesRadar+ team will take you on an adventure into one of their favorite sections of this big, beautiful game! Until then, I'll see you on The Path.

The Witcher 3 Remastered is impressing fans all over again following CD Projekt Red's new patch targeting the revamped RPG's visuals and more.

In case you missed it, The Witcher 3 Remastered saw the release of patch 5.01 yesterday – an update that does everything from fix boats moving "uncontrollably" to adding Bloom, Light Shafts, and Depth of Field as options to the game's settings on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

You may not think much of those if you're on PC, but console users are practically convinced they're playing something different with how much of a difference there is. The PC tweaks are nothing to scoff at, either.

Over on Reddit, one player explains how they were "worried that the update wouldn't solve my problems with the game," but it turned out better than they thought: "I didn't expect it will look this good."

Comments show fellow fans agree, with an especially amusing reply saying, "Mine is so improved that I've been just slowly moving around on my horse too just taking in the scenery." Valid, honestly.

Other threads elsewhere echo this sentiment, with a side-by-side comparison on Twitter showing how much better The Witcher 3 Remastered looks after patch 5.01.

"CDPR released an update for The Witcher 3 Remastered that massively improves the visuals," it reads. "They fixed the brightness and color tonemapping and the shadows look way punchier now. It honestly looks like a proper remaster now."

The top response is similar: "That's so good!!! The remaster really felt off to me compared to the beautiful contrast of the original game."

Put simply, patch 5.01 is finally putting the "Remastered" in The Witcher 3 Remastered – and retaining the original RPG's beauty to boot. As another post comparing the post-update game states, colors "are now far more accurate to the intended art style" than they were prior to the patch.

And, honestly, I'm in agreement here. Sure, it's already the top-scoring game of 2026 on Metacritic – but there's always room for improvement, and CD Projekt Red knows it.

The Witcher 3 Remastered leads to new Steam player peak of nearly 140,000 as CD Projekt Red celebrates its 11-year-old RPG's resurgence: "Much love."

With The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on the way, Nintendo of America's former PR leads say the company should put more remakes in development to help fill out the Switch 2 library.

Nintendo has a bit of a weird relationship with remakes when compared to other major publishers.

Capcom is out here remaking every Resident Evil, Sony is probably already developing a third remake of The Last of Us, and Xbox recently released its second remakes of Halo: Combat Evolved and Gears of War.

However, outside of the Pokemon games, Nintendo remakes are seemingly at random, with only a few dropping in each console generation; and, as over the last decade, they've felt like ways to re-introduce somewhat dormant series' such as Metroid, Star Fox, and Advance Wars, as opposed to being remakes of "bigger" games.

The Ocarina of Time remake is naturally a bit of a break away from this as it's a remake of what is perhaps Nintendo's biggest game ever – but a duo of former Nintendo leads hope it's the beginning of a wider initiative.

In an new episode of their podcast, former PR leads Krysta Yang and Kit Ellis discuss as much, with the latter saying "Nintendo should be even more focused on remakes." He cites Star Fox and Ocarina of Time's 2026 returns as "really proving that there is a significant audience" and "significant interest when these games are handled in a premium way."

Ellis also notes "if you're Nintendo, nobody has a library that's as deep as you" while stating that the original Switch lineup was bolstered by a plethora of Wii U ports throughout its life.

He adds, "it's really an important thing for them to be able to keep the lineup strong throughout the year; not everything needs to be from the ground up original game. We can supplement that with these remakes."

Granted, Ellis does say "you need to be careful" when it comes to what the percent of remakes vs original titles is in a given year, as to not be seen as relying on remakes and remasters.

However, he reckons Nintendo could make the remake percentage a bit higher and "not face any significant pushback."

Yang agrees, noting that these projects that need less resources will be a good way to supplement a lineup of "the big games," saying "no company can survive if they only do like the crazy big like AAA innovative experience for every single game."

"You'll be Sony," she adds. "You'll have a problem." She's referencing the PS5's long-term exclusive droughts that have been the subject of player complaints here, although Sony is also very keen to release a ton of remakes and remasters.

However, Yang points out the "dangerous thing" is "they're getting such positive reinforcement from these remakes." And, when Ocarina sells well, there could be the thought of "that was a way easier way" to sell 10 million copies of a game, as opposed to taking a risk with a new out-there Zelda game.

She explains, "that is the danger of this path that they're going down, I think, is you could overindex on that pretty easily because you're getting so rewarded for it, making tons of money for very little work."

Saying that, Nintendo has been supplementing its series in other ways too, with the likes of Splatoon Raiders and the Mario Sports titles, which are smaller entries to help bridge the gap between major releases.

Having unique spins on existing franchises is a far more interesting prospect to me than endless remakes of games I can already play, but hey, people love a remake.

Castlevania Belmont's Curse skipping Switch 2 also baffles former Nintendo marketing lead: "The way Konami has handled this game has been a little weird"

A new advertisement on the official Best Buy website has revealed the US retailer is hosting "late-night" store opening for the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time remake on November 5 at select stores. While the midnight launch is aimed at letting people pick up the game, the retailer states that "limited numbers of the 40th Anniversary Nintendo Switch 2 system and the Pro Controller will also be available."

To find out if your local Best Buy is participating, the site provides you with the ability to select your State and store, so you don't have to queue and end up empty-handed. Of course, that's still a possibility, as "limited numbers" doesn't suggest there are a lot of shiny Zelda consoles and controllers to go around. With that in mind, I recommend queuing early to avoid disappointment. Though if you've been trying to find the console and controller online in the meantime just like me, it's likely you're accustomed to that already.

Stock of the 40th Anniversary Legend of Zelda Switch 2 and Pro Controller disappeared quicker than you could say "hey listen," but Best Buy's midnight launch could potentially help you find more. I'm trying to not get jealous over this opportunity, as in the UK, retailers like Smyths Toys or Currys have not announced an equivalent.

I had the Switch 2 Pro Controller in my online Nintendo UK basket the moment pre-orders went live, but due to site crashes and errors, I could only check out with the Ocarina of Time game pre-order and its bonus gift. Since then, I've been searching high and low to grab the Switch 2 controller, but my quest has remained fruitless, and the Young Link and Zelda amiibo haven't even appeared at UK retailers either.

In the US, things are looking a lot brighter. Not only does this Best Buy event provide fans with a second chance to pick up the stunning limited edition tech, but the retailer is also providing the option to amend your pre-order from shipping to your home to being able to be picked up instead, should you just want to soak up the old-school launch atmosphere.

If you can't attend any of the late-night Best Buy store openings, I recommend bookmarking the stores on our Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary pre-order page and checking back in regularly. While the chances of more stock drops are slim, never say never.

• Pre-order The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time at Best Buy

Check out our GTA 6 pre-order page and Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis pre-order pages if you love securing your games as soon as possible.

It's 2026 and everything costs a fortune. Thanks to the AI industry's greedy appetite for memory, consoles are nowadays much more expensive than they were at launch. The Nintendo Switch 2 is no exception: when it launched last year it cost AU$699.95, but since September that RRP has increased to AU$769.95.

Not good! So when a console receives a discount it's definitely worth drawing attention to. JB Hi-Fi is currently offering the Nintendo Switch 2 for AU$699, which is a saving of AU$70.

Yes, I realise the irony here: that discount, generous though it may be, simply discounts the Switch 2 to its launch RRP. But hey, it's better than nothing.

Other retailers are also offering this discount, so if you have a Big W or Officeworks nearby, you could duck in and buy a new Switch 2 for this price.

It's probably a smart time to buy a Switch 2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake lands on November 5, and it's probably the most compelling reason yet to own the console. I've also noticed stock issues at some retailers: Amazon is currently completely out of Nintendo Switch 2 consoles, for example, and JB Hi-Fi is limiting purchases to one unit per customer to prevent scalping.

Does that mean it'll be hard to buy a Switch 2 in the coming weeks or months? It's hard to say: Switch 2 stock was a problem at launch in the US and UK, but not so much in Australia. Still, with Black Friday and Christmas on the horizon, if stock's gonna run out, it's gonna run out soon.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth takes a lot of flak for the amount of mini-games it has that distract you from the main objective. Queen's Blood, Fort Condor, Chocobo Racing, Galactic Survivors, Pirate's Rampage, Queen's Blood... oh, god, Queen's Blood. (I suck at Queen's Blood because I lack the attention span to learn.)

Anyway, I don't much care for all of Final Fantasy Rebirth's mini-games, but I'm not upset that they exist. Even in the rare occasion I'm forced to interact with them, it's usually a nice, brief break from the main quest that makes me slow down and appreciate the depth of the game's world. That's just me, and there are plenty of JRPG fans who are vocally against the amount of mini-games in Rebirth, and indeed, the conversation has grown loud enough that it's officially become capital-D Discourse. Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi, who also helmed Rebirth, isn't having any of it.

"I often see debates about whether it's better to have more minigames or fewer," says Hamaguchi in the latest issue of Edge Magazine. "However, I don't think that discussion really gets to the heart of the matter. What I consider first is what kind of gaming experience is best suited to a particular title. In that sense, the overarching policy that 'the FF7 remakes would offer a gaming experience as rich in minigames as the original' was my decision as director, and I believe that responsibility is mine to bear."

Not only is Hamaguchi taking direct ownership of the decision to stay true to the spirit of the original game with a ton of goofy mini-games, he's also saying people who focus on the amount of mini-games are missing the whole point. It's about quality and quantity, he seems to suggest.

"I believe we should continuously improve aspects such as whether the game is easy to engage with and whether players can enjoy it without unnecessary stress," says Hamaguchi. "We prioritised ensuring that players engage with the minigames because they want to, rather than feeling like they're being made to play them. I believe that how we can deliver that gaming experience is more important than whether to increase or reduce the number of minigames."

The mini-games in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are definitely, for the most part, thoroughly fleshed out compared to their 1997 counterparts, but for the most part they're entirely optional. Or at least, the ones that require a lot of concentration or skill aren't necessary to the critical path, from what I remember. I don't know, I think I'm picking up what Hamaguchi is putting down here. When there are bigger issues to discuss like Square Enix's "inevitable" embrace of multiplatform availability and the lack of a true physical disc version of Revelation, whether or not there are too many mini-games seems pretty inconsequential.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation lead explains that making each game in the RPG trilogy a "complete experience" was "non-negotiable" from the beginning

Astral Ascent, the highly acclaimed indie action roguelite from 2023, has received the rare blessing that is a crossover with Sandfall Interactive's 2025 GOTY sweep, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Of course, by rare I mean singular, as there's yet to be any actual game content featuring characters or world elements from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 until now.

Announced in a Steam blog, Astral Ascent's Expedition 33: For Those Who Come After update is live now and free for all players, with the only requirement being completion of the main quest on base difficulty. Once you've got the update downloaded, you'll want to pop a seat at the new Campfire room, because you'll find some of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's best characters waiting there as special, themed summons.

Gustave is a support-type companion who heals you and gives you attack buffs, but he also has "a devastating" attack that charges up every time he's summoned. Maelle fights alongside you using a stance determined by your HP, shifting from attack to defense and unleashing a "powerful attack" that unlocks when she maintains the same stance for a while. Sciel is a card-based battler with mana regen, a basic strike attack, and a "powerful attack," each triggered under different conditions.

Meanwhile, Lune is an elemental spellcaster who syncs up with your own spell-using habits, and as is starting to become a pattern, she gets her own "powerful spell" when you summon her "enough times." Verso ranks up every time you hit an enemy and drops a rank with every hit you take, starting with an attack penalty and then building to a "massive attack bonus" as he ranks up. Finally, Monocco draws a random card from a set of five and unleashes a "powerful monster summon" based on the card he pulls.

There are also three new Expedition 33-themed rooms in Astral Ascent's crossover update: the aforementioned Campfire, the Lumière, where you square off with Petank and the Mimes with Lumière in the background, and the Gestral Village, where you face off against Golgra. Developer Hibernian Workshop says these rooms appear randomly before the final boss of each run, and you'll have the chance to pick between the Expedition 33-themed bosses or the usual Andromeda Bar, "but choose fast, it won't come back this run," warns the dev.

"We've wanted to do this for a long time. Getting to work with Sandfall Interactive on this crossover has been one of the best experiences we've had making Astral Ascent," the Astral Ascent team says in a statement. "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a game we fell in love with, like so many of you did, and this update is our way of paying tribute to it. Our biggest challenge was translating this world into our own pixel art, staying true to what makes these places feel alive while making them ours."

Speaking of crossovers, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 "broke" T-Pain with its "too sad" intro: "It gets worse? Absolutely not"

As a massive horror fan, I was on the hunt for Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival Easter Eggs as soon as I loaded up the game. And, to my Cenobite-obsessed delight, I've found 13 references that made me do a double-take while messing about with the Lament Configuration.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is, of course, set in the Hellraiser universe, which has given us some of the best horror movies of all time and is a staple in '80s horror media, period. So of course there were always going to be nods to the iconic franchise for us to dig into here. However, in between my time gushing over Pinhead voice actor Doug Bradley's being in this title and wincing at all the virtual gore on my screen, I was shocked to find obscure nods to other '80s horror movies, the Hellraiser comics getting some love, and even tributes to iconic metal bands as well.

Some of the easter eggs I found are really hidden, and some aren't so cut and dry. I'm sure I may have missed a few as well, so feel free to share any you may have found in the comments below. But for now, here are all the spooky references and easter eggs that are in the new game, Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival. Warning: spoilers ahead!

1. Mattress with chains at the beginning of the game

In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of moment, at the very start of the game when you enter Hell for the first time, a mattress is quickly thrown in front of you before it is pulled away with chains. Now, this moment is way too much of a curveball not to be a shout-out to the first two Hellraiser movies. Mattresses being like a gateway to hell are massive things in the franchise in general, but seeing one so soon and without context has to be an easter egg in my opinion. In Hellraiser 2 specifically, Julia is resurrected via a mattress (which the game later replicates with Sunny), so that just further cements my thoughts on this one. Is this Julia's mattress? We don't know, but it is definitely a movie nod if ever there was one.

2. A man with wires on his face like the Doctor in Hellraiser 2

When you first escape Bruno, near the place where you get a gun for the first time in the game, in the hallway you will find the dead body of a detective whose death has some very similar characteristics to Dr. Philip Channard's fate when he is taken over by Leviathan in Hellraiser 2. In the movie, before he's turned into a Cenobite, one of the most memorable moments is seeing wires cut into his face. In the game, the dead body has a contraption on his head with wires cutting into his face in the exact same manner. We do see this model used again later in the game, so it isn't limited to this one scene, but it is a clear homage to one of the best practical-effects moments in an '80s movie. It is also one of the only nods to Channard, who personally would have loved all of Bruno's gruesome handiwork.

3. Shopkeeper being an Eremite

When you meet the shopkeeper for the second time, you will find a document next to her that reveals that she is an eremite. Eremites are basically demons who guard all the puzzle boxes that lead to Hell, and they are also beings who try to entice souls into Leviathan's domain. Eremites are half-human, half-Cenobite beings who can look human at first, but their true form tends to be a bit more horrific. We saw that back in the first Hellraiser movie, with the homeless figure turning into a skeletal winged monster to get the Lament Configuration at the end of that film. We did only get a name for these creatures in the Hellraiser comics, though, so this is a nice nod to that side of the franchise as well. I will say that the shopkeeper behaves quite odd for an Eremite since they don't seem to be operating under Leviathan's will, but they do enjoy messing with Aiden's head about his relationship with Sunny and his true desires, so the essence of the original source material is still there.

4. Orno is mentioned

In the same note that reveals that the shopkeeper is an Eremite, we also get mention of the Cenobite Orno. Now, Orno is basically all of the Eremites' parent and is the Cenobite who is tasked with creating new puzzles in Hell. It's a bit complicated, but in order to reproduce with humans and make Eremites, Orno embeds his essence into his "Raw Material", a tortured human husk he uses to create the insides of the puzzle boxes, which he then returns to the real world in order to act as a surrogate to impregnate people with his own Cenobite genes…delightful. Only years later when they've grown does he send them a puzzle box, activating them like sleeper agents. Orno doesn't turn up in the Hellraiser movies and is really only a figure in Epic Comics, but seeing his name pop up is a neat little easter egg for longtime fans of the franchise.

5. Ozzy Osborne's grave

In the graveyard section of the game, after you escape the club, you can stumble upon a gravestone that reads "Here lies our prince of darkness who raised hell then went back to his mother". Under the tombstone, you will see Ozzy's iconic glasses as well as two bat statues, and for some extra flair, candles sporting the iconic Black Sabbath purple color decorate the grave as well. Ozzy Osbourne died in 2025, so seeing this very sweet homage to him in the game was surprisingly touching. Also, a fun fact: Ozzy wrote a song called Hellraiser with Zakk Wylde and Lemmy Kilmister back in the '90s, so he has got ties to the franchise directly. Basically, this is a top-tier tribute and Easter egg, friends.

6. Motörhead's Lemmy's hat

Next to Ozzy's gravestone, you will also see Motörhead bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister's iconic cowboy hat. As I mentioned in the Ozzy Osbourne Easter Egg, Lemmy co-wrote the Hellraiser song. However, Motörhead did do a version of the song for the movie Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth. Lemmy also played poker with Pinhead in that song's music video, and it was directed by Clive Barker too, which is just the cherry on top of the cool horror cake. So yeah, finding a version of Lemmy's hat next to the Ozzy easter egg is very cool, and one I highly suggest all fans keep an eye out for when they are in the graveyard sections of the game.

7. The occult magazine, Damballa

When you return to the club after acquiring the Hell chain ability, you will see a magazine on a chair called Damballa. Now, I will say a lot of books and magazines in this game are just stock assets; however, in the realm of '80s horror movie lore, this find made me do a double take. Damballa is a voodoo spirit that, in the horror movie Child's Play, is the reason why Chucky was able to transfer his soul into a doll. Damballa doesn't have any Hellraiser ties directly, but the game offers an '80s movie mode, and since Hellraiser 2 came out in 1988 (the same year as Child's Play), I'm pretty sure this is a fun easter egg paying homage to horror movies in general of that time. Later on in the game, we see a cabin that looks kind of similar to Evil Dead, and a boat on a lake that may be a Friday the 13th nod, but those are all very vague "could be" references. The Damballa mention is the best case for an '80s horror movie easter egg out of the whole bunch.

8. Cultist note called 'Hell on Earth'

In the game, you will find a note called "Hell on Earth", which discusses the cult's plans to bring the Cenobites to Earth. In the note, the writer does complain that they want to descend into Hell instead of bringing it to Earth, simply because they want to "bathe in Leviathan's shadow". Pretty standard bad guy stuff, but the Easter Egg here lies in the note's name, which is the same as the third Hellraiser movie, Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth. It's not a deep Easter egg that needs lore unpacking to get the most out of it, but it is a fun little nod.

9. Yellow floating balloon

OK, so I will admit that whether this is an easter egg or not is probably a stretch, but considering all the other subtle nods to '80s horror media that isn't purely Hellraiser-related, I do think it is worth highlighting a potential IT reference I found. In the swamp section, when you are approaching the cabin after the graveyard section in the game, you will be able to spot a very out-of-place yellow balloon. If you are a long-time Stephen King fan like myself, then you know that the balloon that Pennywise gives Georgie is actually yellow in the '90s IT miniseries. The red balloon for the IT franchise was only made popular after the recent movies; before then, Tim Curry's portrayal of Pennywise holding up that yellow balloon in the gutter haunted my nightmares. There are no other IT signifiers in the game, but a random balloon in a swamp is a suspicious choice to include; also, considering we have had a Chucky reference and that IT was written in 1986, this may be another '80s horror homage.

10. All the Steam achievements are references

Almost all the Steam achievements are references to something. Be that Hellraiser quotes spanning from all the movies, other horror movie nods, Resident Evil 4 references, and there is even an achievement named after a line from Lord of the Rings. I'd be here for ages listing them all, so I highly recommend checking them out for yourself. However, I will share some of my personal favorite Easter eggs that I found:

• The achievement "Only Nightmares Last Forever," which is a line from the more obscure and straight-to-video Hellraiser: Deader movie
• The achievement "A waste of good suffering," a classic line from the first Hellraiser movie
• The two achievements "What Are You Selling?" and "What are you buying?" which are nods to the merchant in Resident Evil 4
• The achievement "What's in the Box," which is a line from the iconic thriller movie Seven
• The achievement "No life in the void, only death," which is a line Sauron says during The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• The achievement "Burn, oh such a limited imagination," which is a line from Hellraiser 3
• The achievement "Unlimited Power," which is, of course, a reference to the Star Wars line said by Palpatine in Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith

11. Blade tentacles from Hellraiser 2

The general aesthetic of the Labyrinth takes cues from all the Hellraiser movies, so there aren't a lot of Easter Eggs to be spotted in Hell. However, in some sections you will encounter hallways filled with tentacles with surgical blades coming out of them, which is very clear Hellraiser 2 imagery. When Channard turns into the Cenobite "the Doctor" in that movie, he sports said tentacles with blades, and it is very specific to his character. While the other Cenobites tend to stick to hooks and chains, these blades do make Channard stand out in the franchise, so seeing the blade tentacles in the game is clearly a nod to that iconic villain. Even though The Doctor perished at the end of Hellraiser 2, it's nice to see that some twisted part of him stuck around in Hell to make it a more terrifying and horrific place…right?

12. Red Dragon painting

In Marlowe's mansion, there is a very clear interpretation of the Red Dragon painting by William Blake. If you are a Silence of the Lambs fan, chances are you know about this painting through the prequel. The 1981 novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris often references the painting directly. In the book, the main villain (who isn't Hannibal but a serial killer nicknamed the "Tooth Fairy") believes that each person he murders will bring him closer to ascending into the red dragon, which is very similar to Marlowe's train of thought, if you ask me. Marlowe's crusade is to kill and mutilate his followers for Leviathan, so that he may eventually walk among the Cenobites. The painting that we see in the game isn't an exact replica of the Red Dragon, but it is very clearly a version of the painting that stood out enough for me to do a double take. Also, thematically, the story of the Red Dragon and Marlowe's own wishes are pretty undeniable. On another note, it's very cool to see another '80s horror nod with this one too.

13. Jesus Wept reference from Hellraiser 1

Probably the most iconic scene and line from the first Hellraiser movie is at the end of said film, where Frank Cotton's body is pulled by Pinhead's chains, and his entire skin is stretched out. In that gruesome moment, he says the line "Jesus Wept". In the game, depending on what choice you make, you will see a scene that is pretty similar to this moment. However, I will say Aiden doesn't say the iconic line and isn't as stretched as Frank is. It isn't an exact one-to-one replica of the scene, but it is a very clear nod toward it that will make film fans crack a smile at the very least.

Next read our Hellraiser: Revival review for more details on this new horror.

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Welcome to the RPG Club, a month-long adventure through one unforgettable role-playing game. Over the next four weeks, we'll be exploring CD Projekt Red's gorgeous new remaster of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, one of the undefeated best RPGs of the last two decades, with our first RPG Club meeting officially underway.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered is finally here, with all the weighty choices and dynamic third-person combat you know and love from the 2015 original (with a few adjustments). But what's actually new in the remaster, and are the chances all that noticeable? That's what this month's RPG Club is intent on discovering. From the bitesized tutorial town of White Orchard to the bustling streets of Oxenfurt, the RPG experts of GamesRadar+ are here to walk you through their favorite Witcher 3 missions across four weekly articles, examining how the latest enhancements measure up against the fondness of memory and the game's own legacy.

Below you'll find your Quest Log, which explains the rules for this month's playthrough. Each week will see a new writer focusing on a standout mission, from the most famous ones to those you might have missed in your own past playthroughs. We invite you to join us on The Path and share your own experiences, good or bad, as you explore The Continent alongside us. Do you love the new skill tree? Have you run into any performance issues? We need all the details, so be sure to weigh in down in the comments section each week!

Whether this is your first time with The Witcher 3 or your eighth with an entirely new build, RPG Club is your place to celebrate everything that makes these games and this genre so special.

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RPG Club: The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt – Remastered (October 2026)

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Grab any great clips during your return to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt? Don't forget to submit them to GamesRadar+ Replay. Not only will this give you an opportunity to share your gaming highlights with the GR+ Community, but the best clip of the month wins a $250/£250 Amazon voucher too.

The Witcher 3 Remastered has been out in the wild for a good few days now, but it's evident that CD Projekt Red isn't finished tidying up its revamped RPG just yet – and the new patch 5.01 serves as proof.

That's right, yet another update for the free upgrade to The Witcher 3 is upon us, squashing a good few bugs and addressing various complaints from fans across all platforms (except for the Nintendo Switch 2 – for now, anyway).

The full patch notes from CDPR outline all of those, starting with gameplay fixes for everything from boats moving "uncontrollably" to specific skills that haven't properly been working.

There are also UI tweaks galore and fixes specific to both PC and console players, starting with the former. For example, I'm seeing a plethora of GPU-related changes targeting the game's settings, like Dynamic Resolution Scaling and GTAO Quality.

Over on the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 end, there are entirely new settings: Bloom, Light Shafts, and Depth of Field options, with optimizations and more to boot.

As for the Switch 2 edition, well, CD Projekt Red is on it.

"In addition to this," the studio adds at the end of Patch 5.01's lengthy notes, "we are also working on an update for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered, introducing closer parity between all versions of the game, including the same global changes as on other platforms."

That, plus some other improvements.

It sounds like the developers aren't done with any of The Witcher 3 Remastered, though, if I'm honest. I think they'll keep tinkering with it as long as folks share complaints, and they seem to be implying as much, too.

Paweł Sasko, who is currently on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel as associate game director, instructs fans to "please keep us updated about any thoughts you have" over on Twitter, for instance.

So, there you have it: The Witcher 3 Remastered can only get bigger and better than here, and it's already the top-scoring game of 2026 on Metacritic, having beaten out CDPR's base RPG from 2015.

Looking for more new games to wishlist? Browse through our roundup of all of the upcoming CD Projekt Red games for some other great titles to anticipate.

After all this time, Fortnite is collaborating with an actually good game, in Hollow Knight. I kid, of course – the all-consuming battle royale recently incorporated Kingdom Hearts as well. So, two games. The irony of this latest partnership is that the pack containing your cosmetics and what not is actually more expensive than the base game.

I wish I were joking. Upon announcement of the esteemed nail-wielding warrior's arrival, Epic revealed the corresponding Fortnite DLC will cost you 2,000 V-Bucks if you opt for the full bundle.

2,000 V-Bucks costs you £17.19, or $22.49. Right now, if you go to buy Hollow Knight on Steam, you'll be putting down £12.79, or $14.99.

So, yes, buying the Fortnite Hollow Knight goodies costs more than Team Cherry's excellent Metroidvania, and by a noticeable margin, too. Included in the bundle are three items: Hollow Knight as a sidekick, a Hallownest Grub as a backbling, and the Nail as a pickaxe.

The bench and Shade make appearances as well, all part of the Fortnitemares horror theme for Halloween, where Slender Man, Freddy Kruger, and the Yautja from Predator are involved, with Beetlejuice on the way soon, too. The price discrepancy here gets even worse when you note that Hollow Knight is frequently on sale, since it's nine years old now.

Funnily enough, Fortnite's bundle is more expensive than the sequel, Silksong, too, since that retails for $19.99. On some level, I respect how brazen these prices are. Imagine trying to explain this to someone back in 2017. Hell, imagine showing them in-game footage of our trusty knight being caught up in the middle of a tense gunfight between Goku and Peter Griffin.

The future is a strange and inscrutable place. Sadly, it's expensive too. Hollow Knight's available in Fortnite until October 15, at which point the bundle will leave the shop, and it's not clear when it'll return.

€100 million Fortnite lawsuit claims Epic put "pressure" on minors to spend real money: "Young consumers are supposed to be protected from exactly that."

Dragon's Dogma 2 is back in the limelight now after its 2024 launch thanks to its Dark Arisen DLC, which lands tomorrow – and is apparently superior to its 2013 predecessor.

A whopping 13 years ago now, the original Dragon's Dogma RPG from Capcom got its own Dark Arisen expansion, and admittedly, I loved it. Everything from the Bitterblack Isle to the formidable foes the DLC boasted had me in a chokehold – and this week, the new Dragon's Dogma 2 Dark Arisen content threatens to do the same.

And, what's more, it appears to be impressing critics more than its decade-old predecessor did.

Over on Metacritic, the Dragon's Dogma 2 Dark Arisen expansion boasts a solid score of 84. That's pretty dang good, and the small snippets provided from reviews solidify as much.

One outlines how the DLC has "made Dragon's Dogma 2 a must-play RPG," for example, while others say it accomplishes what the original game's own follow-up content did and then some – so, yeah.

It seems as though it's shaping up to be quite a time.

As for the original Dragon's Dogma and its own Dark Arisen DLC… well, it's got a score of 81 on the platform. That's not bad at all, but it's notably a few points under its successor, which is exciting.

The new take on Dark Arisen's chaos is mere hours away at this point, so I do also wonder what fans will think of it. For reference, the OG expansion's got a "user score" of 7.9 – will tomorrow's prove even higher?

I certainly hope so. We're talking everything from enhanced gameplay to new adventures in snowy, unforgiving Norgan and even an improved character creator, as though I didn't spend enough time in it a couple years back.

All that's left to do now is wait, I suppose. If you've not preordered it yet yourself, Dark Arisen is live on Steam and other platforms for $30 – a small price to pay, should critics' thoughts on the DLC so far ring true.

Capcom enlists Ron Perlman for Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen promo, hopefully pays him more than the sandwich and $40 he got for Fallout.

Early on in Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, as I try to escape a torture dungeon full of mangled victims with only a plank of wood for protection, a huge man in tough leather stomps towards me, calling me "vanilla" as he shrugs off my hits. In a way, he's not wrong. While the violent adventure protagonist Aiden Lynch is thrust into is filled with extreme gore and upsetting imagery, its core combat is fairly basic. Enemies take hits until eventually keeling over on the spot, and guns I pick up later feel like peashooters.

Then I get my hands back on the Genesis Configuration, the mysterious puzzle box that led to me being kidnapped in the first place (after my girlfriend Sunny is summoned through an impossible gateway in our bedroom mid-coitus), and the whirring mechanism that is Hellraiser: Revival begins to reshape, shift, and slot into place.

Such sights

With Cenobite Hell Priest 'Pinhead' (voiced by original actor Doug Bradley) and his crew's pain-dimension antics serving as an enigmatic third-party, and themes that revolve around the arrogance of humans and boundary pushing without demonizing fetishes, Revival feels true to the spirit of Clive Barker's The Hellbound Heart novella, and the original Hellraiser movies. Ditching the direct-to-video sequels that turned the Cenobites into simplistic slasher villains, it's great to see the nuance and complexity of their torturous machinations return. This isn't just a great Hellraiser game, but a great continuation of Hellraiser across any medium.

Even so, there's no escaping it – Hellraiser: Revival is still a horror-themed action game that has to take Aiden through a sequence of bloodsoaked combat rooms. Yet, an increasing number of toys, from propelling flames towards enemies or flinging metal saws across the room to decapitate foes Gravity Gun-style, keep action interesting. There's a Condemned: Criminal Origins-like grottiness and emphasis on melee combat. If an Xbox 360 crackled with the blue electrical energy that marks a Cenobite visitation, this would be the result.

While fights could use more impact, and finisher animations are somewhat limited, there are still moments that impress, whether that's cutting off the limb of a human enemy and having them begin to bleed out before instantly collapsing, or switching to a baseball bat to batter armor away, exposing flesh to damage. Eventual supernatural threats, the shambling Unworthy, even offer Doom-like health restoration if you get close enough to finish them off with your Genesis cube once they're staggered.

Gore in combat is one thing – who hasn't lopped off limbs in a game before? – even if the occasional opportunity to command the Hellraiser series' iconic hook-chains is a novelty. But, Hellraiser: Revival ratchets up to another level in set-dressing and cutscenes. This is undoubtedly one of the most explicit games I've ever played, with scenes ranging from flaying to body-ripping and stomach-churning flesh statues. One primary antagonist has shades of Bioshock's Sander Cohen about him, but here his flesh artistry is truly sickening to observe.

Many moments are direct callbacks to the original Hellraiser movies as well, though arguably have more impact as, here, completely digital, there's no blurred line between real and practical effect. Hellraiser: Revival has plenty of new sights to show you as well. It's almost the game's mission to ensure you find something stomach churning. (I'm avoiding showing too much in the screenshots here).

After fighting my way through this cult's basement, solving the odd puzzle to progress, I emerge into a thriving sex nightclub that serves as the organization's front. The standard club goers here are innocents, just looking for a place to have a good time, while the Cenobite-worshipping cult are essentially posers who use the guise of BDSM to prey on the vulnerable, who mask their sex club in positive, consent-forward posters until one step into the VIP section they're replaced with banners hailing their prophet.

As always with Hellraiser, villainous depravity is dialed up to 11, but there's truth in how Hellraiser: Revival tackles the subculture its themes are rooted in, and how bad actors can hide their own selfish abuse behind rhetoric. Count yourself lucky if you've never crossed paths with someone like that.

Thankfully, Pinhead has just as little time for the cult as Aiden does – though more out of a bored apathy that its leaders think they can match the Cenobites' freak – sending you on a collision course to take out them out in exchange for favors from Leviathan's labyrinthine realm.

While, as a game rooted in combat sequences, the focus is often on meting out ironic punishment against enactors of abuse, there are some surprising moments of sweetness. One early, short scene has Aiden talking frankly about consent boundaries with a patron at the club as he searches for a keycard. Likewise, on his quest to revive Sunny from the Hell-like Labyrinth, Pinhead emphasizes to Aiden that she entered the pain dimension of her own consensual volition and that, if resurrected, she has just as much free will to leave Aiden again if she wishes.

Demons to some

Plumbing the cult's base of operations for clues, and exploring the Labyrinth and its nightmarish reflections on reality, Hellraiser: Revival effectively explores objectification, control, and consent in relationships more responsibly than a lot of other games would dream of. For all its shocking violent imagery, Hellraiser: Revival can also be thematically mature. It's clear Saber Interactive really understands what sets Hellraiser's original entries apart from the horror competition. The story itself has been worked on collaboratively with Hellraiser's creator Clive Barker, and it shows. In that respect, this a much better resurrection of the Cenobites than the flashy but shallow Brucker-directed 2022 Hellraiser reboot.

This sense of purpose helps make the gore that litters the cult's compound feel more than pure shock value – though in Hellraiser the shock is part of the point too. Exploring denser, lively environments is where Hellraiser: Revival shines, such as poking around a deranged artist's workshop (and occasionally bopping enemies that emerge from Iron Maidens), or tracking down a ticket to gain entry to a peep show. Detours through sewers and woods are less interesting, though, thankfully, don't overstay their welcome.

Between gunning through these locations, Aiden finds himself intermittently visiting the Labyrinth realm from which the Cenobites hail. Filled with tight, claustrophobic tunnels, and clever use of quick-loads to create impossible geometry and decoy dead ends, these excursions feel true to the movies – Hellraiser 2 especially – while also making creative use of the digital medium.

No combat ever occurs in the Labyrinth, but there is danger. Sequences where Chatterer – the teeth-chattering, mouth-flayed creature – pursues you by walking menacingly towards you and teleporting around are nice and tense without being too demanding, the slight increase in pressure amplifying the disorientation of the maze to great effect. Sliding under hallway block death-chains to get away feels humorously like Call of Duty's omnimovement, and it's not long before I'm taking my traversal skills outside the Labyrinth to stunt on shotgun-wielding enemies back in the real world.

Light puzzling also exists here, but is thankfully not obtrusive. When it's revealed that the Genesis Configuration can move platforms at a distance and transfer fire between sconces, I worried that these would get in the way – the last thing I want is Pinhead tutorializing me on environmental puzzles – but they don't appear too often.

Snappy as good horror should be, Hellraiser: Revival took me just under 9 hours to beat, and never kept me in one place for too long. Despite some maps and number pad puzzles that give the impression of Resident Evil-like spaces, this is much more linear and keeps moving rapidly, always changing up the types of spaces and action you're doing even if combat does loom larger than I'd like, and I spend a touch too long juggling my limited inventory space between bullets and bandages.

Only during some so-so boss battles and fiddly insta-fail stealth sections do I start to get restless, but even these are infrequent. I even find myself invested in the narrative right up until the credits drop (which feature an unmissable, diabolical, and utterly iconic music remix I won't spoil here but had me cheering out loud). My horror gaming besties know that's a rare treat indeed, and it's a game I'm still turning in my (pin)head even now.

Rarely subtle, Hellraiser: Revival's rawness is truly shocking, but what's stuck with me more than the sights of sculpted, twisted muscles are the stories behind them. For a game based on Clive Barker's work (seriously, read the Books of Blood if you haven't), that's the right place to land. This is a pain that lingers.

Cliver Barker's Hellraiser: Revival was reviewed on PC, with code provided by the publisher.

Want to raise more hell? Check out our best horror games ranking, and keep an eye on our upcoming horror games list for more.

Finding the best gifts for gamers can be tough. Should you buy them the latest game? Are accessories a better idea? And what do you do if they seem to have everything already? Don't worry, the GamesRadar+ experts and I are here to help. If you want to level up your presents this year, check out our tailor-made recommendations, spruced up for 2026.

We go hands-on with the latest games, gadgets, and gear each week, and that means our team's got plenty of ideas when it comes to the best gifts for gamers. As the site's name would suggest, we're gamers ourselves so have chosen the things we'd love to receive… not to mention what's hot right now.

To make sure there's something to suit you regardless of budget, we've selected options from the worlds of PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, retro, and even tabletop games. These items have been especially picked either because we've had practical experience with them or they come highly recommended via countless positive user-reviews. These aren't just novelties; they're gifts for gamers your loved one should actually enjoy.

Best gifts for gamers: Top-rated tech

Best gifts for gamers under $20

Best gifts for gamers under $50

Best gifts for gamers under $100

The Nintendo Switch 2 is going from strength to strength this year, and there's no shortage of accessories and gadgets to go with it. Filtering all that tat out when hunting down the best Switch 2 gifts can feel like wading through cheap plastic, though. That's where we come in.

We've been hands on with the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories all year round, but we've also been hunting down top merch, toys, and collaborations from all the system's heavy hitting franchises. Whether you're upgrading some tech or picking out some themed stocking stuffers this holiday season, we've got the gizmos you need to know about.

Up first we've got the very best tech we've tested - the best Switch headsets and the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers among other cheaper accessories. The good news is Ninty has gadgets and tie-ins all the way down the price scale, so you'll also find the best Switch 2 gifts under $50 and under $100 further down the page.

Best Switch 2 gifts 2026

Best Switch 2 gifts under $50

Best Switch 2 gifts under $100

The original Tomb Raider is often obtuse and obscure, challenging you to climb your way through intricate levels inch by inch. Later games in the series would gradually become more friendly, offering clearly marked pathways and handholds to prevent players from ever getting lost. For Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, the developers want to make sure those stretches of isolation and exploration are front and center once again.

"We celebrate those moments to say, 'Hey, let's not hold your hand. Let's let you go out there and hunt around, maybe find some stuff that you weren't expecting to find,'" Jeff Adams, experience director at Crystal Dynamics, says in Edge Magazine issue #429. "That's the idea, to have that sense of 'be adventurous, go out, explore, get on your own, get lost, then find your way back.' And that gives a lot of reward just by traversing the world."

The puzzle-driven spirit of the original game was certainly there in my Summer Game Fest demo of Legacy of Atlantis, and subsequent showings have demonstrated how the devs are walking a tightrope by modernizing the original spirit without getting trapped in the hand holding that dominates so many modern games.

But how do you decide what parts of the original game to keep for a new remake? "Imagine you just finished the first Tomb Raider, then you close your eyes and you imagine a playthrough in your head, and your brain remembers the things that generated the most emotions for you," Michael Kuk, creative director at Flying Wild Hog, explains. "These moments, locations, vistas, objects that stick in your memory, these are the things that have to be in the game almost untouched."

That idea of keeping the spirit of the original game without necessarily being beholden to it is part of why the devs decided to implement a crafting system – something that's already proven controversial to fans.

"As we bring the level of realism up, there are some things from the original we struggle to justify," Adams explains. "One of those things is finding a med pack in a tomb that's been concealed for 10,000 years." Thus we get a system to craft healing items and other boosts mostly from materials you might actually find in or around these tombs.

Exploration and the ability to get lost were defining elements of OG Tomb Raider, so I'm happy the devs are putting so much emphasis on bringing that element of the game back. I love an Uncharted-style romp across exploding mountainsides with clearly marked handholds as much as the next gamer, but sometimes I need my action-adventure games to be just a little bit meaner to me.

These are the best Tomb Raider games of all time.

The Blood of Dawnwalker managed to stir up quite a controversy with its time restrictions, but that's not scaring indie developers away from instilling some good ol' FOMO in players – in fact, some are leaning well into it.

If you're old enough to remember Majora's Mask, one of the best Zelda games of all time, then you're also (un)lucky enough to have grappled with its three-day cycle. It's stressful, sure, but it's what makes the game as fun and unique as it is – if you ask me, anyway.

I'm not the only one who thinks so, apparently, as Studio Zubio is cooking up a stealth RPG with a similar feature… Bunderkin: The Ocular Eclipse. You can back it on Kickstarter right now, where it's already racked up nearly four times its initial $44,444 goal with nearly $175,000 raised so far.

So, what is Bunderkin? Well, like I said, it finds players "trapped in a three-day time loop" as the ever-unpopular Beedee the Bunderdragon (yes, you read that right). Beedee is desperate to get into the Ocular Eclipse festival, which just so happens to be a "once-in-a-lifetime" event.

There's a catch, though: a villain is plotting to freeze said eclipse, but Beedee discovers a mysterious device that transports him back in time so that he can do it all again and stop the chaotic foe.

It sounds fun as heck, honestly, with Studio Zubio noting it's "inspired by stealth classics like Metal Gear Solid and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" – and, of course, Majora's Mask – with puzzles, stealth mechanics, and secrets galore.

There's no release date set for Bunderkin: The Ocular Eclipse just yet, but its Steam page is live, so you can wishlist it if you're just as intrigued as I am.

It's entering the limelight at an interesting time for sure, considering how The Blood of Dawnwalker's time restriction was so controversial that its biggest mod reworks it altogether and Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director Michael "Cromwelp" Douse had to step in to defend it.

Regardless, I'm not afraid of a little fear of missing out myself, and Studio Zubio appears to be conjurin' up quite the fun little gem. Fingers crossed its launch window drops soon so I can relive my Majora's Mask days once again.

Searching for some new games to play? Browse through our roundup of the most exciting upcoming indie games set to arrive this year and beyond.

Fallout and Hellboy star Ron Perlman is teaming up with Capcom again to introduce you to Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen.

Despite being best known for his myriad film and TV roles, Perlman is a pretty prolific voice actor, especially in games. His most famous contribution is to the Fallout series, where he serves as the narrator in multiple games, as well as the TV anchor that announces the bombs dropping in Fallout 4. Notably, he had no clue the series would be a success, saying that he was caught off guard when he heard there was a sequel coming, as he recalls working on the first entry as "I did a couple of lines, and, you know, got my $40 and my sandwich and went home."

And while never appearing in a Capcom game, Perlman did appear in 2020's Monster Hunter film, wearing an extremely anime-looking wig that did not suit his demeanor in the slightest. Capcom is clearly happy with that collab, as it has announced it'll be teaming up with Perlman to introduce players to Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen.

Perlman will be narrating a "new video sharing a brief glimpse at what awaits in Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen," with Perlman lending "his voice to guide us through Norgan and beyond," with the video set to debut later today (October 7, 2026 at 3pm PT | 6pm ET | 11pm BST) ahead of its launch on October 9, 2026.

While this may seem like a somewhat random collab, it actually mirrors a video Capcom released at the launch of the base game, with John Wick and Kung Fu Panda star Ian McShane serving as narrator. And unless I missed something, McShane does not feature as a voice actor in the game, and I don't believe Perlman is pegged to be part of the Dark Arisen cast either. But let's hope he got more than $40 and a sandwich to do this video at least.

Dragon's Dogma 2 update finally gives the RPG the performance boost it desperately needed, and it's so good that it's even lowered the PC system requirements

You've likely seen the HyperX Cloud III before.

It's a common sight to behold if you've ever spent time hunting through the best gaming headsets on Amazon, which is what led me to finally test it out for myself. I wanted to ensure anyone who didn't take the time to scroll through the second page of Amazon's search results was still getting their money's worth. Just because a headset turns up on page one doesn't necessarily mean it's worth your time and attention, but that does happen to be the case here.

Its fantastic sound, comfortable fit, and multi-platform prowess make it a worthwhile pickup, and its White-Pink colorway (which I tested below) is perfectly suited for cute and cozy setups. Though if you are debating adding this to your online shopping basket, just make sure it's sporting one of its many, many discounts before you buy.

Key specs

Design

HyperX lives by the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" philosophy when it comes to the look of its headsets, and the Cloud III is no different. If it weren't for the fact that I opted for the White-Pink version for review, this headset would look identical to its wireless counterpart, the HyperX Cloud 3 Wireless. Which is great, as just because you're choosing the less feature-full version of the two doesn't mean that you deserve the least best-looking of the pair.

As this is pretty much the same headset, it shares the same over-ear form factor, lightly memory foam-padded leather headband, and metal yokes. With this 'White-Pink' version, the yokes are a cool-toned metallic pink rather than red, and the cups, fabric-coated cord, and headband are all draped in the same bright white paint job.

While this design has been used before, that doesn't stop me from being a fan. The brand's decision to ensure the yokes, 'HyperX' logos, the interior of the earcups, and the tiny speckles of the accompanying cord are all pink with this model in particular has won me over. Especially as it blends in well with my cute and cozy work-in-progress PC gaming setup.

Features

Wired headsets like the HyperX Cloud II aren't bursting at the seams with features, but there's still a bit more to this pair than meets the eye. It's equipped with angled 53mm drivers, with a 10Hz-21kHz sound frequency, and is compatible with a wide range of gaming platforms thanks to the brand's unique cabling.

Instead of a basic USB-C wired connection. HyperX has included a 3.5mm cable with an extension that provides the option of USB-C. The headset also includes a USB-A adapter (which is attached by default) to open it up to more platforms, including that of the PS5. While this may not seem exciting to some, I've tested alternatives in a similar price range, like that of the Asus TUF Gaming H1 GEN II Hatsune Miku Edition wired headset, which was limited to USB-A only, so this is a refreshing sight to behold. Sure, you could always just buy an adapter, but I'm always going to prefer it when brands provide everything you need from the get-go.

Additionally, the wired Cloud III features a detachable Electret condenser microphone and onboard controls, including a mic mute button and volume dial.

Performance

With the high price of the Cloud III, I was expecting a lot, and I was not disappointed. While not as densely packed as I prefer, the memory foam padding on the underside of the headband made the pair incredibly comfortable to wear for long periods of time, which was handy now that Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave is taking up all my free time.

As the latest game in the series has got me glued to my Switch 2, I chose to test the pair's audio with the handheld first and foremost, and it was an easy feat. Thanks to the cabling choice, I was able to pop off the USB-A adapter and stick the headset directly into the console's top USB-C port. Both the game's audio and dialogue absolutely shone through the white-added cups, which was exactly what a game that relies on amping you up through triumphant battles needed.

Talking of the sound, I was a big fan of what the pair was able to muster, no matter if I was glued to Fire Emblem or playing on my PC, PS5, and even my Steam Deck. The extended frequency meant that there was more room for low-end sounds to pull through, which lent itself to games and music alike. I've recently been on a bit of a Smashing Pumpkins kick, and Billy's guitar has never sounded clearer or crunchier - which is exactly what you want when it comes to a Siamese Dream album playthrough.

Throughout my testing, the cord did become a bit of an annoyance, particularly as it's pretty long. However, its adaptability meant I could pop off one end and use the 3.5mm connection instead. This came in handy when it came to not just the Switch 2, but the PC too.

My rig only has one USB-C port, and as I test a lot of tech, it's often already in use. However, I could easily adapt the Cloud III to my setup, as I had 3.5mm, USB-A, and USB-C connection types to play around with. The long cabling was a bit of a nuisance while I was playing through Counter-Strike 2 or Marvel Rivals on Steam, and sat most of the time curled up on my lap as I helped keep my team healed and alive as Invisible Women. However, I'd much rather it be too long than too short.

The microphone of the HyperX Cloud III is also just as fantastic as the audio quality. If you want a clear and concise recording without any unwanted background noise, this is it. It's also detachable, so if you prefer to stick with microphones like that of the Shure MV7i and not have a headset one dangling in your peripheral vision, you can remove it entirely.

Much like the rest of the headset's design, I also love the look of it. Looks aren't as important as sound quality, but again, I'm still thankful HyperX chose to add a drop of color, utilizing the same dusty pink on its grill as found across the pair. Often, microphone headsets can add a cheapness to an accessory's appearance, but the white and pink microphone adds to the can's cute, cozy, and sleek aesthetics.

Should you buy the HyperX Cloud III gaming headset?