From an exciting new life sim with a horror-esque twist on the classic Stardew Valley formula, to an incredibly zen looking new atmospheric adventure from the art director of Journey and many more, Day of the Devs brought lots of indie game goodness to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Summer Game Fest Schedule for 2025, and once again proved to be one of the highlights of the big announcement season. Let's just say that after this showcase, I've added a lot of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games to my wishlist🎐, and y♔ou should absolutely do the same.

Toem 2

Developer: Something We Made
Platform(s): PC

Toem was easily one of my favorite games of 2021, so I'm naturally over the moon that we're ꦜgetting a sequel – which made a delightful appearance during the Day of the Devs showcase. Set a few years after the first game, is once again going to take us on a photography-filled adventure where we can snap pictures of all sorts of c⭕ritters and curiosities.

This time around, though, we'll be able to 🌳play around with new camera tools that we get from friends we meet and complete questlines for. These tools let us interact with the world in new ways, from using a hammer to smash things, or a scissor to cut our way through obstacles or solve puzzles. Complete with a new movement system that will let us climb and traverse in fresh ways, it looks every bit as charming as the first game. Put me behind the viewfinder right now.

Snap and Grab

Developer: No Goblin

Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S

As a huge fan of the pop culture of the era, anything set in the '80s is going to be right up my street, which is why I instantly clicked with the concept behind Snap and Grab. "High fashion glamor and high ticket crime" paints a picture of what's in store in this heist-filled romp, which sees you take on the role of the "world's greatest photographer" who takes sna𓂃pshots in a variety of settings to try and hone in on valuable items to steal.

Then, you use your trusty camera to capture potential obstacles, before using the photos to map a step-by-step plan to carry out the perfect crime. As well as looking downright stylish, I love the unique camera-fueled hijinks Snap and Grab promises. I'm ready to rewind the clock and step back into the decade of shoulder pads, neon-colors, 𝓡and synthesizers to see what I can pinch in early 2026.

Mixtape

Developer: Beethoven and Dinosaur
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X/S (Xbox Game Pass), PS5

I absolutely adored the toe-tapping goodness and quirky sci-fi weirdness of Artful Escape (check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Artful Escape review for more on that), which is why I'm already jazzed for developer Beethoven and Dinosaurs next game, . With another look at the new comingඣ-of-age adventure that follows three friends who in the words of developer Johnny Galvatron, "spend their last night together listening to a perfectly curated soundtrack", I can see myself falling into its rhythm when it releases sometime this year.

Described as a m🐽usical retrospective, we'll explore memories that mash upꦓ mechanics, eras, and art styles, the soundtrack is stocked up with a host of rad bands and artists – from the likes of Devo and Joy Division to Smashing Pumpkins, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Iggy Pop. I'm totally getting my cassette player ready for this one (even if you won't actually need one to play it).

Sword of the Sea

Developer: Giant Squid
Platform(s): PC, PS5

From the art director of Journey and Flower, Matt Nava, and developer Giant Squid – the studio behind Abzu and The Pathless – comes a new atmospheric adventure that's absolutely calling to me. With movement that's inspired by old snowboarding games and the Tony Hawk series, aims to tap into the meditative flow of surfing as we restore l💮ife to a lost ocean on the back of a Hoversword.

Whether it be gliding over water surfaces, caree👍ning off ledges, or sliding across walls, sweeping across the surreal landscapes promises to send me right into a flow-state. Topped off with an art style and vibe that smacks of the studio's signature DNA, and music from Austin Wintꦍory, you better believe I'm going to be on board when its release rolls around on August 19, 2025.

Neverway

Developer: Coldblood Inc
Platform(s): PC

I'm not one for horror, which is why my desire to play comes as a personal surprise, but I love the way it riffs on the classic far♛ming sim trope of leaving a dead-end job and escaping to a farm, only to become… indebted as the immortal herald of a dead god? Talk about a dark turn. With time progressing in three blocks - morning, afternoon, and eveniꦇng - you can choose when you advance to set your own pace.

From fishing to farming and cooking it looks set to feature all of the ingredients I love to play around with in a life sim that's finished up with helpings of combat, mystery, and spookiness. Plus, you can also form friendships with those you meet and even develop romantic relationships if you wish, and that couldn't speak to me more. As a big fan of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:games like Stardew Valley, I can't remember the last time I added a new life sim to my wishlist so quickly (with the exception of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Witchbrook).

Snap and Grab

Developer: No Goblin

Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5

Set in the '80s, Snap and Grab sees you take on the role of the "world's greatest photographer" as you go about trying to find hꦆigh ticket items to steal in various locations. As you take snap shots of an area, you'll also capture any potential obstacles in your path, or people that might cause problems for you, and then you'll use the photos you take to plan out the perfect heist to swipe the goods.

Infused with a neon-tinted style that's indicative ﷽of that era, Snap and Grab looks like a stylish crime caper that will test your ability to plot out your way to desirable loot. The photography element promises to bring a unique twist that will no doubt make each theft a little more personal to you. With big hair and equally big ideas, No Goblin also revealed the new adventure is currently slated to land sometime in 2026.

Blighted

Developer: Drinkbox Studios
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5

Blighted is a new "har✤dcore" metroidvania action RPG from the creators behind the beat-em-up platformer, Guacamelee. With a debut trailer showcased during Day of the Devs, we got our very first look at the mysterious world Blighted will be throwing us ☂into, which is described as a "psychedelic western nightmare" with its own unique lore. In the world, it's said that those who die were buried with seeds planted in their brains that then blossom into trees.

The fruit these trees ▨bare contain memories of the dead and pass down traditions from generation to generation. But everything changes when a figure known as Sorcisto eats the raw brains of the deceased and defiles the village you call home. As the lone survivor, it's up to you to fight back and tr🌌y to reclaim the memories of your people. Playable solo or in online co-op with a pal, it also features a "dynamic difficulty system" that changes both you, your enemies, and the world around you.

Escape Academy 2: Back to School

Developer: Coin Crew Games
Platform(s): PC

Coin Crew Games is back with a sequel to its escape room-shaped adventure in Escape Academy 2. Showing off a reveal trailer during Day of the Devs, the development team also explained that it drew inspiration from the likes of Anima𒁏l Well and The Legend of Zelda to shape the follow-up. While the first game focused on the escape room puzzles for the most part, Escape Academy 2 drew from player feedback to bring to life a new experience that plays out like a highschool RPG.

You'll once again be venturing to the academy, but this time, you'll attend classes and get stuck into character-driven questlines. You'll of course still get stuck in rooms and have to puzzle your way out, but you'll be able to explore a lot more. With plenty of environmental storytelling to discover it promises to really let you role-play as a student. There's currently no release just yet, but the devs also revealed you can currently sign up to take part in playtests on Cꦍoin Crew Games Discord channel.

Please, Watch This Artwork

Developer: Studio Waterzooi

Platform(s): PC

From the developer behind the laid-back puzzle game Please, Touch This Artwork – which saw you recreate abstract paintings – Please, Watch this Artwork is a new experience that has you playing with paintings in a new way. As the name of the game gives away, you'll be watching over real paintings as you take on the night shift at the Museum of Animated Modern Art. Inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper and 𒊎the feelings of urban isolation and loneliness they evoke, the artworks you watch come alive and it's up to you to report any anom💧alies you see.

While it was stressed during the Day of the Devs showcase that you won't have to worry about any jump-scares, there is a melancholic vibe and it's said that it can make you paranoid as you try to root out any strangeness you see in the painting♏s. Featuring six themed galleries with 40 paintings and three difficulty settings, the "psychological spot the difference" looks set to offer up a unique liminal experience.

Pocket Boss

Developer: Langfilm
Platform(s): PC

Pocket Boss is a new short game from developer Langfilm that's all about the "small joys of manipulating data". Taking on the role of someone who handles data for a living, you'll speak with your boss through a chat interfac𓆉e and receive various different requests as you progress. Using a finger swipe, you'll navigate around the stock market and try to oust competitors.

But things do take a curious turn when, as we saw in the showcase, the charts🎶 start to come to life. Said to explore the "secret life of charts", it looks like a creative experience with some puzzle-like elements that will play around with different types of charts and data. I also love the idea of having a boss in your pocket through the phone-like chat interface. It sounds like a very unique concept, and I'm certainly curious to see where the data tampering will lead us.

Relooted

Developer: Nyamakop

Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X/S

Relooted is a new action puzzle🧜 game with an important real-world message at its core. Following a group from South Africa who have a hideout based in Johannesburg, you'll help to carry out heists to take back artifacts that were taken out of South Africa. As the developers explained during the Day of the Devs showcase, these artifacts are very much real and are being held in storage, or in museums in other countries.

Within the game, you'll learn about these artifacts and whe🌠re they are currently in the real-world as you go 𓂃about trying to "reclaim Africa's heritage". With different missions and lots of characters to meet, the new game from developer Nyamakop looks set to take us on a meaningful journey as we set out trying to bring the African artifacts home.

Tire Boy

Developer: GameTeam6
Platform(s): PC

Tire Boy is a new open-world action-adventure platformer from developer GameTeam6 that sees you take on the role ofཧ a "tire person" or Tire Boy - think a tire with arms and legs. Promising to take us on a journey filled with exploration and discovery, the story of the game is all about connection and curiosity as you try to uncover Tire Boy's past and learn about his origins as the last of his kind in an unfamiliar world.

As you try to root out his history, you'll go about helping the locals, solving environmental puzzles, and defending yourself against various foes with their own unique fighting styles. Striving to capture the feel of being a kid again in a vast woꦦrld full of wonder and weirdness, every location plays around with p𓆏roportions to make you feel small. With a colorful cast of characters and an absurd concept, it looks like one very whimsical new adventure.

Previously announced games

Outside of the new reveals, Day of the Devs also gave us a closer look at some previously announced indi🌺e games set to come our way in the future. You can find a full list of the rest of the games that ꩵmade appearance just below:

• - the new co-operative multiplayer adventure from Untitled Goose Game developer, House House
• - a life sim RPG about the trails of being a teenager from developers Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, and Ken "coda" Snyder
• - a narrative turn-based RPG from Thirsty Suitors developer Outerloop games
• - a new action beat-em-up game that sees you fight against a deadly threat as various Marvel heroes from Tribute Games
• - a new narrative adventure that plays out like a musical retrospective from The Artful Escape developer, Beethoven and Dinosaur
• - Digital Sun's shopkeeping roguelike RPG sequel that sees you play a double life as a merchant and adventurer
• - a new life sim with a horror twist from developer Coldblood
• - a classic indie RPG that inspired the likes of Undertale's Toby Fox from developer Mortis Ghost
• - Hyper Light Drifter developer Heart Machine's new action-adventure platformer
• - a new rhythm roguelike from the original developers behind Patapon
• - a new atmospheric adventure that sees you surf on a sword from developer Giant Squid Studios
• - a photography adventure from developer Something We Made that's a direct sequel to 2021's Toem
• - A new PvPvE multiplayer stealth game set in the 1910s from Warren Spector and developer OtherSide Entertainment

It's been a long time coming. 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil Village was released four years ago in 2021, and after a fairly flat announcement that Resident Evil 9 would be coming "soon" last year, fans of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best survival horror game franchise ever had all but lost hope – until 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:we finally got a glimpse of Capcom's chilling next chapter. There are still so many questions to be answered about the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror game. How does Grace fit into the story so far? Where on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil timeline does Requiem take place, given all the snaps⛎hots of a decimated Raccoon City shown in the trailer? Most importantly, is this really the end of the Winters family saga?

We'll have to wait and see, but if you're♋ as hyped for Resident Evil 9 as I am, here's everything we know about Requiem so faꦇr - including its 2026 release date.

Resident Evil Requiem release date

The Resident Evil Requiem release date has been set for February 27, 2026.

The news came as part of the official game reveal at Summer Game Fest 2025, where Capcom finally gave us a first look at Grace Ashcroft's journey. There's no sign of pre-orders yet either, but check back soon as we keep learning more about the mys🎀terious new Resi game.

Resident Evil Requiem platforms

According to the official Capcom website, Resident Evil Requiem will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC platforms in February 2026.

It's a bummer for anyone still rocking a past-gen console, but I can't lie - it's looking pretty special in the RE Engine, a𒊎nd all that juicy raytracing will likely make all the difference in a horror franchis🔜e like this.

Resident Evil Requiem trailer

The first Resident Evil Requiem trailer shown at Summer Game Fest introduces us to Grace Ashcroft, the assumed daughter of Resident Evil Ou﷽tbreak File 1 and 2 protagonist Alyssa Ashcroft. She appears to be working as an FBI agent in the wake of a virusꦡ outbreak that is sweeping the continent - which should have every Resi fan's skin tingling - as she's urged to face her past.

A series of flashback stills play out as Grace struggles to compose herself, interspersed with shots of a decimated Raccoon City following the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3, before she suddenly finds herself strapped to a gurney and screaming for help. The story is still nebulous at best, judging from this trailer, but it's the perfect way to whet our appetites for "a heart-stopping experience that will chill you to your core" ac𒐪cording🌺 to the .

Resident Evil Requiem story and setting

It looks like Resident Evil Requiem is bringing us back to the series roots: the Raccoon City disaster. Grace Ashford is our protagonist, the daughter (or other relation, presumedly) of Alyssa Ashford from the Resident Evil Outbreak games on PS1. It seems she will have to delve back into her own dark past to confront personal demons, though what the gameplay itself ꦕmight look like is yet to be seen.

We don't know much about the story just yet, save that Grace certainly has a lot of trauma to unpack. Paired with Capcom's dedication to t💖echnological advancements, we🔯're told to expect "a story with rich characters and gameplay that's more immersive than ever before."

Though developer Team Clout has kept its debut body horror close to its chest, the studio has resurfaced at Summer Game Fest 2025 with a new trailer and news that it's now working with Mundfish Po🐼werhouse – a newly-launched creative label from Atomic Heart's Mundfish – to bring Ill to life. "Before this, we had more questions than answers," Max Verehin, creative director at Team Clout, tells GamesRadar+. "Wi🐽th Mundfish we still have a lot of questions, but now we have people with answers."

Looking grim

There's a weightiness to everything we've seen from Ill so far. The protagonist's revolver looks powerful enough to take your arm off when it fires, while the game's monsters move with a shuddering awfulness. While Ill's research base setting and body horror leanings scream The Thing, I'm also reminded of Half-Li✃fe 2's infamous level We Don't Go To Ravenholm – which, despite being very combat-heavy, leans on its physics and environmental interactivity to create desperate reactivity.

"We love Half-Life 2, and we love games of that era," says Verehin, when I point out the similarities. "You remember when games around Half-Life 2, they all had this Havoc engine? You sh🐻oot a bunch of barrels and they all fly by? We're trying to make that in Ill as well, because we like it. You enter a room and start fighting with the monster. The monster drops dead on the barrels, the barrels drop, and it's a mess. After the fight, the area you fought in is completely different.𝔍 You feel the world is alive."

Verehin admits the team is being "really careful" with balancing the randomness associated with more malleable physics. Too much is a recipe for jank and bugs – as anyone who's been killed by a wayward chair in Half-Life will attest to – but with restraint, with shelves rattling and objects falling over because something is over there, the sweet spot is found. "You feel the weight of the revolver, of the animations. It's o𒊎ne of the concepts that we are trying to bri🍌ng from the earliest ideas of Ill toward the final product. You will feel how brutal and impactful the game [is], and we are pushing that."

Outside of Half-Life 2 – which shares Ill's "Eastern Bloc [...] Mixed with sci🅷-fi elements" setting – Verehin's own inspiration comes from his own tastes and digging into what other people find scary. "When browsing TikTok, there's a lot of inspiration in that," he explains. "You can see fucked up stuff that gives you ideas for the monster [...] You see something that doesn't have to be scary, and you don't expect it to be scary. I'm leaning into that and trying to translate it into monster design."

While many of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best horror games struggle to keep those scares when you can fight back against their baddies, Team Clout plꦺans to lean right into it. Combat is front-and-center in Ill, although getting the pacing has still proven a "huge" challenge for the studio. Besides it being action-heavy, players will have an "arsenal" of guns to fight 𓆉back with – although for the sake of fear factor, they won't be able to kill everything in sight.

"We want to [include] the survival horror element, the classic PT-like horror genre where you don't have a weapon, you're just a victim," says Verehin. Certain s✨ections of Ill will prevent players from fighting back, and even when you can go trigger-happy, Verehin circles back around to maximizing fear through sound. "Even if you have guns, [what if] there is nobody around? You can't kill them, but you can hear them. You can see fucked up st♛uff that you cannot kill, but it can kill you."

"It's [a balancing act], but this is definitely a challenge," explains Verehin. "You cannot make a pure hor♌ror experience when players♒ have guns."

Ill doesn't fit as neatly into one box as, say, something inspired by Resident Evil's survival horror or Silent Hill's psychological tension. If anything, Verehin suggests it's an "action horror" more in line with "'90s horror movies" than anything else. But ultimately, Verehin believes horror players know what they like – however their tastes are categorized. "People are really eager to have anothౠer good fucking horror game," he suggests. "We are trying to deliver that."

Ill is planned to launch on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 at an unspecified time. Meanwhile, our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games 2025 list has everything you need to plan out your year

With the help of a special new weapon type added in the DLC, slicing and shooting my way through Krat City Zoo has been a cathartic blast. Sure, there's the threat of a certain "Puppeteer of Death" looming overhead, but it seems I have some time (and plenty of mutant elephants) to kill before I jump that hurdle. Overture presents an ▨opportunity to take a break from the puppet plague, and it comes at precisely the right time.

A real boy's journey

The tension has peaked by the time I gain access to the DLC. Upon returning to Hotel Krat in Chapter 9 of the base game and finding Gepetto kidnapped, our puppet protagonist receives a new mission: to take down b🌱ig boss Simon Manus, rescue his father, an🍌d put an end to the Alchemists once and for all.

Here, I can choose to either head to the boss battle to finish the main story, or dive straight into the DLC by repairing and using the Hotel Krat stargazer. A prompt appears when I open the fast travel menu, urging me to head to the Path of the Pilgrim ꦉstargazer in the Malum district, and away I go.

Some might find it strange to head into a prequel before even finishing the main story. But the way I see it, Overture gives players a chance to grind out some more ergo in preparation for the final showdown without having to re-clear zones. Plus, thanks to the introduction of difficulty levels, I can bump myself way down to Butterfly's Guidance – the so-called "very easy" difficulty – to help𝐆 re-familiarize myself after nearly two years away from Lies of P. I'll be straight up with you, though: very easy ꦕmode is still plenty challenging.

After a short cutscene, P wakes up in a snowy field. Gemini the cricket is notab🐠ly startled, commenting that he hasn't seen snow "since…."

He trails off. As I explore my new surroundings, it becomes clear that this place really is familiar to my cricket pal. Between despatching large, wolflike beasts emanating clouds of Freeze damage – a new status effect in Lies of P: Overture – and hostile, near zomboid human foes throwing themselves at me in a frenzy, Gemini marvels at Krat City Zoo in the distance. He knows for a f🌳act that the zoo was destroyed before the events of the story so far – which is my first true hint that, somehow, we've managed to go back in time.

Pulling the strings

Before I can even process what that means, I'm presented with a mini boss. This mutated brute was probably once some kind of wolf – or maybe a large primate? – but it looks more like an Umbrella Corporation experiment from the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil timeline now.

My Lies of P combat skills are immediately put to the test as the thing launches itself 🐓at me. I've already equipped all of my fire-based throwables and forged a fiery new weapon especially for the DLC, but having to learn a bra꧒nd new moveset is a different beast entirely (pun intended).

For once, my rustiness at puppet-slaying is a godsend. I can see the need for approach code-switching being pretty jarring to anyone coming into the DLC straight off the back of the bas♑e game, given how differently these animals move compared to humanoid puppets. But thanks to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, my parry game is strong these days. Two tries and a LOT of thermite later, I claim vicওtory

The zoo's main building is deserted once I finally reach it, my only welcome being a large, partially-destroyed double staircase bisecting the wood-paneled walls. Paintings adorn them in various states of vandalism, each depicting a strange creature from a far off place. Somewhere in the distance, a human moans in pain. Pinocchio꧟ to the rescue!

Afte♍r listening as "Marchiona, Puppeteer of Death" ominously introduces herself over the crackling intercom system – a problem for another time, no doubt – I quickly scale the intact staircase. More those ganado-like human foes await, loping about the landing before hurtling toward me with an earsplitting shriek. But in my rush to clear the building, I almost miss the source of the pained moaning from earlier.

Just beyond the stairs, a man sits slumped against a balcony bannister, unmoving. An interact button appears when I approach him, and I'm surprised to find he's still alive. The man pleads with me to find a woman at the Savanna Expedition Center – "a stalker with red hair" – before he chokes on his last breath. I mentally file away the clue before heading back into the main building – and that's when things really get interesting.

Don't nock it 'til you try it

Getting a bow in Lies of P is something I didn't know I needed so badly. The limited array of ranged weaponry was a bit of a sticking point for me in 2023, with only throwables and certain mechanical arms being up to the task when I wrote up my 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lies of P review. But n🔯ow, I can't imagine pressing ahead without it.

Of course, my first bow-kill is a bit of an exploit. I bait a huge, pustule-ridden mutant elephant up a set of stairs by accident, panicking as I realize he hasn't lost interest. Dashing through a narrow stone awning that leads out onto a patio turned out to be more than a knee-jerk fight-or-flight response when, seeing that the elephant is still charging at me despite being stuck on the other side, I dec✤ide to get some target practice in.

The damage stats on the thing are pretty low, I note, but the bow comes with the same basic functionality as any other weapon: a light attack, heavy attack, and💞 two Fable Arts specials. It can even block and parry damage, though if I'm using a bow, I'll hopefully be far enough away from an enemy to avoid being hit anyway.

Once comfortable with the controls, I finally put the giant beast to rest. It still takes a lot of chipping away, even on easy mode – most humanoid enemies are felled in maximum two strikes with my saber-dancer sword combo, but I lose count of how many this utter damage sponge soaks up before finally going down.

After a bit of an ergo boost back at the Hotel, I tell myself – because yes, you can jump between timelines through any stargazer while playing Overture – I know the bow will be my new go-to.

I don't know how Neowiz did it, but Lies of P: Overture managed to calm me down from the main game's chaos. Sending arrows flying into mutated elephants, bears, and a particularly nasty kangaroo feels immensely satisfying after spending so long clearing Krat of steampunk nightmare machines. Not only that, it offers players a moment to take a break from the main story's drama to gain a little context as to how it all came to pass in the first place.

This is a DLC that does everything a DLC should: make meaningful changes, tell a thrilling new story, and get its playerbase hyped for a grand return. Just promise me you'll stock up on fire weapons beforehand. Lots of fire weapons.

Lies of P: Overture is out now to play on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and last-gen consoles. Check out all the other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games set to follow in in 2025 and beyond!

In its earliest days, prospective fans were enamored with its Soviet BioShock-esque premise, with one combat trailer alone racking up nearly eight million views. Anticipation was sky-high by launch, yet its reception in 2023 was ultimately more polarizing – we scored it 2.5 in our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Atomic Heart review. That didn't stop the game from bec🍒oming a commercial success for first-time developer Mundfish, though, and just last week Atomic Hea⭕rt passed the 10 million player mark.

Just over two years after launching its debut game, Mundfish 📖has returned to announce Atomic Heart 2 at💦 Summer Game Fest 2025. The developer also has a multiplayer spin-off in the works, so to catch up on everything the studio has been working toward, we caught up with Mundfish founder and CEO Robert Bagratuni to chat via translator.

Back in the USSR

With the first Atomic Heart sitting at a Metacritic score of 70ꦑ, Bagratuni says Atomic Heart 2 will carry lessons forward from the development of its predecessor. Rather than pointing to any one issue, though, Bagratuni says the heft of these improvements

"We started playtesting about one year before the launch, but we froze about six months before the launch," says Bagratuni. "Six months before launch, we couldn't really change the gam♈e. I saw certain challenges and things we could have done differently – for example the first dungeon [we could] make it more simple for the player to pass and get into the open world a bit faster. [But] it was impossible to change."

Bagratuni suggests that "global circumstances also affected scores" at launch (the company faced backlash for its alleged ties to Russia), but when asked if that will affect the studio's run-up to Atomic Heart 2, insists Mundfish🥂's focus will be on telling the story it started in the first game. "We were always building a story about technology, and how it affects and changes the modern worl🎐d" he explains. "This has always been the vision [...] The story itself resonates very well with the audience, no matter what is happening around it, so I think right now we're just concentrating on the story."

Atomic Heart 2's story will be a continuation of the game and its post-launch DLC, and build upon the same dystopian technological themes.. "It's not just like a 40 minute Black Mirror segment," says Bagratuni. "It's g🅠oing to be a huge world with lots of digitalization, and even though it's sci-fi, it's an i🌟maginary world but it's very believable."

BioShocked

Besides the story, protagonist P-3's Polymer Glove – which grants powers ranging from telekinesis to electricity attacks – will also return, with players now able to use both hands at the sa꧋me time. The change brings Atomic Heart 2 closer in line to the Plasmid abilities of BioShock, which the first game was compared to heavily before its launch. Yet despite similarities between the Polymer Glove and Plasmids, and even the retrofuturistic societal collapses portrayed in both games, it was a "big surprise" when players compared Atomic Heart to Irrational's seminal shooter.

"When we were creating Atomic Heart, we were not thinking of BioShock, believe it or not," explains Bagratuni, who says the team only learned about the similarities through comments on the game's first trailer. The CEO adds that the Polymer Glove was created in response to expectations from starved BioShock players. "We actually added that when we realized that if we weren't going to be added, people would 🎀be really disappointed. This was something they were 🌸now expecting from us."

With those expectations proving difficult fo𒀰r Mundfish to match in 2023, Atomic Heart 2 presumably benefits from being more of a known quanti🎶ty. Though we'll have to wait a little longer to see how it shapes up, there's one last bit of good news for fans – Atomic Heart 2 isn't the only game in development at Mundfish.

The Cube

You know what they said about buses: wait for one long enough, and two will come at once. The same principle applies to Atomic Heart fans, who are not only getting a sequel, but a multiplayer spin-off called The Cube. An MMO RPG shooter set after the events of Atomic Heart's fourth DLC,ꦑ The Cube will stick players down on – you guessed it – a giant floating cube made up of rotating rows. The setting is soౠ big it has its own biomes, while deep inside is an "equation" that humanity's survival hinges upon.

It is, admittedly, a deeply weird premise. The idea came to Bagratuni while he was sketching during a "very boring, very long call" between Mundfish's co-founders, and within two hours of hanging up, the tea🌄m had brainstorm🎀ed the game's core concept.

Yet multiplayer shooters are a difficult nut to crack right now. Sony's attempt to wade into the genre, 2024's Concord, resulted in the game being 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:shuttered within two weeks of launch. Earlier this year, EA cancelled yet another shooter in the works at Respawn. It's not a recent problem, either, with Sega pulling the plug on extraction shooter Hyenas in 2023. When asked how The Cube will fare di﷽fferently, Bagratuni emphasizes the game's "exploration, character deve♓lopment, and storytelling" – factors that are usually prioritized more in single-player games.

"The Cube is spinning, and while it's spinning, the biomes are changing," ꦛsays Bagratuni, pointing to the game's unique setting. "They start to connect, and you start getting into very different situations. You meet different creatures – some of them you can communicate with, some of them you can't. You start exploring where they live, how they live, their habitat, and so on."

The ever-changing setting sounds as comp𝓰licated as it seems, and as we get more into the tech side of things, Bagratuni becomes increasingly animat🌟ed. "It's an incredibly complex, complicated challenge. We had to write our own physics [with] the ballistics system. We had to rewrite the gravitation system and engine."

"We had to optimize the renders in order for it to actually work," he laughs. "This is art!"

Bagratuni describes the behind-the-scenes workings as a "technological breakthrough," and claims that "for the first time in the history of computer games, so many objects can rotate in real-time, online [and] simultaneously". He points to the launch of Crysis in 2007, which he describes as an "epitome of technological re꧃volution" in gamingಌ: "I definitely draw inspiration from what it meant back then."

That, Bagratuni stresses, is why he thinks The Cube will succeed. While I𒐪 can't speak to the game in action, having only seen some (admittedly very pretty) screenshots, the confidence i🍸s certainly there. The premise, as strange as it sounds, is incredibly intriguing. With both The Cube and Atomic Heart 2 on the horizon, the future is looking busy for Mundfish – and although only time will tell how either game shapes up, it already feels like Mundfish is trusting more in its own vision than anyone else's.

If you're looking for something to play now, our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best games 2025 list pulls together everything we've been loving so far this year

Revealed at Summer Game Fest 2025, Deadpool VR for the Meta Quest 3 aims to put players into the shoes of Marvel's most oddball anti-hero. Before the reveal, I got the opportunity to play early portions of Deadpool VR's story campaign, along with speaking with game director Daniel Bullock and lead design manager Phil Therien from developer Twisted Pixel about bringing🦋 the off-the-wall mercenary into VR for the first time.

"Wait 'til they get a load of me…"

"It's really all about being the cool, all-encompassing Deadpool experience," says lead design manager Phil Therien on Deadpool VR. "He has the weapons, he's 💫got the wit, the humor, and his own trademark way to solve problems. We've got all that throughout our gamꦫe, so really, we've been kind of bottled up like what it is like to be Deadpool in VR."

In Deadpool VR, the so-called Merc with a Mouth (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris) gets dragged into a conflict with the interdimensional invader Mojo and the secretive defense agency SHIELD. After being transported to the gladiatorial dimension Mojoworld, Deadpool – who's uniquel🥂y aware of being in a video game – charts a path of carnage to take down a rogue's gallery of villains and get himself back to Earth.

Much like the recent Batman: Arkham Shadow, Deadpool VR aims to capture the experience of being a su🌜perhero within VR. Compared to Batman or Iron Man, however, playing as Deadpool opens more possibilities for fast, slapstick violence that's both gory and goofy, all punctuated by the character's deep-cut commentary that pokes fun at video game tropes – such as how the game has rooms solely designed for clearing out a certain number of enemies before allowing passage forward.

It's an action-comedy through and through, and Deadpool VR certainly delivers the Marvel-style experience of being an obnoxious, powered-up nerd who loves video game violence. The opening of the game certainly sets the tone welꦺl. Set aboard a SHIELD heli-carrier, Deadpool is captured and in pieces. From the perspective of Deadpool's disembodied head on an operating table, I have to guide his body – as if playing a 3rd-person action game – to stealthily take dow🐓n a scientist so that he can put himself back together. After getting his gear back and cutting down some SHIELD soldiers, I'm off to the races to slice and dice foes.

"A cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner.."

I'm impressed by how Deadpool VR capitalizes on the freeform nature of the character's combat style and 💜the wacky hijinks that accompany reckless action. As I move with the left-control stick and use free look with the VR headset, I quickly adapt to the quick swapping between swords and pistols to create fun combos, where I can slice an enemy with a sword in one hand and then finish them off with my pistol in the other. Put it all together and I'm able to parry bullets by swinging my twin swords and then going in for a dive-kick attack and a head stomp.

Speaking with the lead design manager, the developers tell me they want to emphasize the freeform action and the spectacle of being Deadpool, who can wal✃l run, fire 🌃his twin pistols, and cut down enemies with his swords. Over its last three years in development, they saw the recent Batman: Arkham Shadow, which gave them added confidence for their take on Deadpool.

"I thi🌞nk one of the things that I especially appreciated [with Batman: Arkham Shadow] was just how they treated the UI and how it made it flow into combat in a way where it didn't feel like just pushing UI, and it actually blended really well with the movement," says Therien. "That was really huge for us and the type of game we wanted to make because, obviously, the more you move in VR, the more challenging it can be. However, they did it well, especially when it came to things like turning around. For me, that's one of the big takeaways. I think they did a really good job with that.✱"

Even when the game falls into those familiar, awkward issues of collision and disorientation that can come with action-heavy VR games, I still find the game's pacing and o💖pen-ended approach to be easygoing – mainly for the fact that it makes me feel like an absolute menace to my enemies.

A detail that I find amusing is that you can monitor Deadpool'⭕s health by the amount of damage he has sustained to his body. Once you take enough damage, Deadpool will lose an entire limb, which will temporarily prevent weapons from being used in that hand until it grows back – which slowly goes from a short, stubby baby hand to a full-grown hand with the costume intact. Deadpool VR is also on brand for featuring secrets and easter eggs, as each stage has hidden areas that can be unlocked, which reference alternate versions of Deadpool, such as Lady Deadpool.

According to game director Daniel Bullock, Deadpool VR does lean into the developer's history of comedic games such as the 'Splosion Man♛ series and LocoCycle, but elevates that further with a game that tries to get players to embrace being an absolute menace to his enemies.

"There's no doubt that when we were toying around with the idea of a game about Deadpool, it was a natural fit for our studio," he says. "When we look at our history and our relationships with comedic writers, and just sort of the culture of the studio, it just lends itself so perfectly to this character. So we're super excꦚited to get into it and really flex our muscles [with the concept]."

Despite being a character that feels like it's just for the fans, Deadpool can be a tricky character to nail – but Deadpool VR is looking to keep its foc🌸us on delivering a spectacle of goofy carnage. Of course, VR can be a tricky style of gaming to immerse yourself in, but the straightforward and punchy action Deadpool VR offers could be a solid ride for many, and I'm looking forward to seeing how far thi♍s game will push Deadpool's fourth-wall breaking, which already hits a bit different within this new perspective.

Want to keep the headset on? Here's our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best VR games ranking!

made its way online a week after Bring Her Back hit theaters in the US. It acts as a black market where users can sell ritualistic objects for sale, such as a Timmy Tiger Puppet used to locate dead bodies, and a chilling voodoo doll containing a trapped soul. The site also features an emb🔜almed hand similar to the one from the 2023 movie 🎶Talk To Me, a♋ll but confirming the two films are linked. Each listing states that there are no returns or refunds, and if the order gets intercepted by law enforcement, buyers must lie and "say you don’t know what it is or where it’s from."

There is no doubt that the site is one of the best pieces of horror movie marketing I have seen. It puts Longlegs’ to shame. Not only does blackangeltapes create a wider ⛦world around Bring Her Back, it’s also making UK fans all the more excited for the film to release later this summer. But there has got to be more to it. That’s why I think the Philippou brothers should put it to use.

Move over V/H/S

There are 15 items and video tapes listed on the site in total, from spiritual objects to blood taken from very human serial killers – all with multi🍸ple pictures and descriptions attachedꦯ, building an almost complete story around each listing. It is clear that so much effort has been put into the site; it would be a shame for such a great amount of lore to go to waste.

From this site alone, the Philippou brothers have the basic ingredients to make a fully fledged anthology movie, similar to the likes of Shudder’s V/H/S franchise. The filmmakers could create a Bring Her Back spin-off of sorts, made up of 20 or so minute-long short films based around listings, exploring how the 🌺tapes came to be, and what the objects were used for. The actual site deserves some screen time🦹, too.

There are rules and regulations listed for site users, as well as many streams of comments, meaning it is used often. We do know this from Bring Her Back, but this only solidifie𝓰s that there is something much larger at play.

A found footage horror dream

Aside from the objects, the scariest part of the site has to be the tapes. The clips range from footage shot at a haunted house where a family went missing to recorded confessions from serial killers. There is also a post containing multiple accounts of a ‘dark web death dealer’ killing people by injecting an elusive liquid into their necks. One thing is for sure: more of these tapes would make a killer found footage horror movie.

But the two most spine-chilling videos on the whole site have to be ‘Sleep Watching Demon Slowly Eats Girl’ and the ‘Tari Ressurection Tapes’. The girl eating demon clips show a demonic creature watching a girl sleep and then attempting to eat her, kind of like The Midnight Man does in Gerald’s Game. "It gets closer every night and then slowly ℱbegins to eat her bit by bit each night," reads the description. The Tari Resurrection Tapes are even worse and link directly to Bring Her Back. The clip shows a woman being hanged and then brought back as a demon, who then starts to fasten on the face of another.

The videos are akin to some of the best found footage horror movies released during the sub-genre’s heyday in the early ‘00s, such as The Poughkeepsi🃏e Tapes and Lake Mungo. It’s no secret that the found footage genre has faced a bit of a drought over the past few years, but the Philippou brothers could be its saviors. Some of blackangeltapes is much scarier than a lot of horror movies released over the past few years, after all.

Bring Her Back is out in theaters in the US now and will hit UK cinemas on August 1. For more, check out our list of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best horror movies, or keep up with 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror movies heading your way.

Not to mention, this is a hotly anticipated war following on from the last console generation. The Nintendo Switch and the PS4 both became two of the best-selling game consoles of all time, so it's only natural that we size up the next era of hardware sales wars we'll be watching for the next couple of years. The PS5 has been on the shelves since 2020, so Nintendo has had nearly five years to watch on and prepare for the fight ahead. Of course, the PS5 was always going to be more pཧꦕowerful in terms of raw specs since it isn't trying to be something you take on the go.

But this isn't just a battle of raw specs. Game consoles today are pricey, especially if you have to balance their costs with rent, bills, food❀, pets, and even kids you're raising. The PS4 and the first Switch were a bit more affordable, which allowed more gamers to grab one of each after they had both been discounted. The PS5 and Switch 2 are both a bit more expensive, so you may find yourself choosing between one or the other. I'm here to break down the pros and cons of each in all the separate categories that matter, so read on to get the fight underway.

Price

Since the first Nintendo Switch was the affordable kid on the console block, it's a little surprising to come straight out of the gate and realise that the PS5 is actually ahead of the Switch 2 in the pricing race. Sure, the PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro do take over from the Switch 2 as a premium option, but if you're looking for either console as cheap as they come, the digital editio𒁏n of the PS5 is cheaper than a Switch 2. Moreover, the PS5 is older, 💝which means it's more likely to get discounts more often. We've seen this in the past, and the record-low prices of both PS5 models can claim to be cheaper than the Switch 2.

This is a tough round to call, depending on what it is you're looking for from a console. The Switch 2 only has one edition so far, but it has a lot of versatility in its price tag. It's also cheaper than many of the opposing handhelds on the shelves with equivalent specs. The PS5's cheaper versions cut some of its꧑ versatility out, meaning if you want to play physical media, you'll need to spend more.

Portability

This round goes the way you might expect, although it's not the clear-cut win that you might think. Certainly, since the first Switch launched, the PlayStation ecosystem has really upped its portable game to combat both the Switch's appeal and the growing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming handheld market.

The PS5 now has the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:PlayStation Portal, which, although sold separately, does allow you to take your PS5 gaming sessions on the go. Thankfully, cloud streaming on it is now a thing, meaning you're not just limited to Remote Play for a PS5 that has to be on while you play in another room or when you're out and about. Not only do we have the PlayStation Portal, but Remote Play via one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best mobile controllers is also an amazing way to keep playing when you can't𓆉 make it to the couch. It's annoying that PlayStation Plus doesn't have the same cloud streaming credentials as Xbox's Game Pass, though.

As valiant an effort as that is, PS5 doesn't really stand up properly to the Switch 2 if you're looking for a truly versatile, from-the-ground-up portable experience. The Switch 2 is a handheld device first and foremost, so it's naturally going to win the portability contest. Just like the original Switch, the versatility here is almost unmatched, especia𒆙lly due to the detachable Joy-Con controllers.

Comfort

A few ♐of these rounds come down to personal preference, but maybe none more so than comfort.

Depending on what you prefer, the Switch 2 and PS5 can both be plenty comfortable to use in longer sessions. I'm going to say that for most people who want a traditional console-on-the-couch experience, the PS5 is going to be a better stay-at-home setup since that's what it's designed to do. At the same time, its controllers are a bit larger, they're more rounded, and thus far, there are more of them. If you prefer a heavier controller, the DualSense and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:DualSense Edge have a bit more substance to them, not lea🅺st because of their hap🌠tic feedback and trigger resistance.

In handheld mode, the Switch 2's increased size over the original Switch makes it a bit easier to hold. Similarly, its new matte texture feels a bit more premium than the first Switch, but does make it a tad slippier. It does feel like Nintendo has missed a trick in upgrading the comfort of Switch 2 when you compare it to the more receꦉnt handheld PC rivals it now faces on the shelves. Having some rounded grips, back buttons, or a slightly bulkier design may not be as appealing as the slimline design of the first console, but it'd make it a lot more comfortable to hold for longer periods of time.

It's also a shame that the Switch 2 kept its asymmetrical thumbstick layout, since this brought in some discomfort for people, namely, thumb cramps. The offset vs symmetrical thumbstick debate has been raging on for decades, so I'll let you decide what you prefer, but certainly in handheld devices, we've noticed that the more recent options like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nitro Deck+ and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Scuf Nomad, which h♐ave symmetrical sticks, are much more comfortable.

Display

Since the PS5 doesn't actually have its own display, this is another comparison of apples and oranges. The Switch 2's enlarged display now supports 1080p resolution, which is more than the Steam Deck can say. It's an LCD, HDR-compatible screen that has a 120Hz refresh rate. That makes for some really smooth handheld gaming and gives some of the handheld gaming PCs like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Ally X a run for their money.

In docked mode, things change, however, since the Switch 2 can only handle 4K 60fps, which is a bit limited compared to the PS5, which can boot 4🥃K games out at your eyeballs at up to 120Hz, so long as you have a compatible display.

PS🐼5 has more power under its hood, so for those lo✨oking to max out the visual fidelity that's possible on a console, the PS5 is the clear choice. However, in handheld mode, the Switch has an impressively vivid display despite not opting for an OLED panel.

Controls

Both consoles have their wins in this category. The Switch 2's controllers are versatile, probably more than any other gaming platform around today, if you don't count the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lenovo Legion Go. The Joy-Con 2 controll൲ers are easy to use in handheld mode, in a more comfortable grip for a traditional gamepad feel, or to flip on their side, pass to a friend, and use in multiplayer. That versatility does put the PS5 to shame, since playing multiplayer will mean an additional purchase of a separate controller, which doesn't come in the console's box.

The Swit🎶ch 2 also has an official pro controller, and probably an accumulating line of officially licensed third-party controllers in the 🦩pipeline. The official one has back buttons, but doesn't seem to change too much compared to the original Switch's Pro pad.

There's one big potential issue ꦅwith the Switch 2's controls, though, and only time will tell if it's going to cause trouble this generation.

Nintendo hasn't been able to get the words "H💫all Sensor" out of its mouth in the lead up to Switch 2's launch, and that's not exactly encouraging when its last generation of controllers have been plagued by stick drift. Even if the Joy-Con 2 controllers and the official Pro Controller have been redesigned from the ground up, it's hard to imagine that if Nintendo wasn't using a stick drift-immune technology here, it wouldn't make a show of it.

Then again, it's n🐼ot as though the PS5's DualSense hasn't been plagued by this issue either. 🌜Fortunately, Sony's gamepad has a lot more going for it in the way of haptic feedback and trigger resistance, which may not be as versatile as the Joy-Con's motion controls or funky new mouse controls, but certainly do a lot to ground you in virtual worlds when implemented properly.

Looking into the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best PS5 controllers, you can actually see plenty of versatility if you're willing to pay extra for it. There's the Access controller, there are guitar controllers, there's an upcoming fight stick, and there are excellent Esports controllers like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Victrix Pro BFG as well.

Connections

As you can see from the table above, the connection battle is pretty close between the Nin👍tendo Switch 2 and PS5. Honestly, thi🥂s one might be a clear-cut draw, because even when you take accessory possibilities into account, both platforms have their strengths.

Potentially, PS5 does sneak past in this round thanks to its HDMI 2.1 compatibility, which allows for higher refresh rat🍌es at 4K. For the most part, however, this is a close call.

Games

Both the PS5 and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Sw𝓰itch 2 feature backw🐲ards compatibility with their previous generations. The PS5 can play PS4 games, the Nintendo Switch 2 can play original Switch games. Both seem to have gone about this problem in similar ways, by making the large base of games compatible with the n𒁏ew-gen hardware, but by opting for paid "next-gen upgrades" for some of the heaviಞest hitters.

There have been PS5 exclusives this generation, but Sony has put more of an emphasis on remasters and remakes, as well as third-party publishing and acquisitions for them to now call their own. From the standout first-party family that arguably won Sony the PS4 generation, things haven't been quite as exciting, and even Spider-Man 2, Horizon Forbidden West, and God of War Ragnarok felt very similar to the last-gen entries we had seen already. Newcomers like Returnal and Helldivers 2 have been standouts, and we're still await💮ing new work from Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch this generation. Remasters of Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us (parts 1 and 2), Days Gone, Demon Souls, Horizon Zero Dawn, and more have shown that Sony is happy riding on the coattails of its previous successes.

At the same time, its investment in live service has left a lot to be desired, with Concord 🧸being the biggest showing of how that's gone.

Switch 2 Editions of games like BOTW and TOTK seem to be taking a similar approach, and although we've started the generation off with Mario Kart World a♍nd the fir𓂃st 3D Donkey Kong game in decades, mainline Mario and Zelda games feel like they're missing from the launch lineup. These will undoubtedly arrive in the next few years, but it'll be interesting to see just how much onus is now going to be put on remaking what's come before with the Switch 2.

Something else to consider is that Sony has opened its doors this generation, bringing its new releases to PC players. It's very much following the footsteps of Xbox, which has made its games (evenꦇ the supposed exclusives) available on 🐠everything with an internet connection. In fact, Nintendo now enters the fray as the last bastion of exclusive platforms in the games industry. It'll be interesting to see how that impacts the brand going forward, but it means that the Switch 2 is the only place you can play Nintendo games. If you want to play PS5 or Xbox games, you can play on a PC and not miss too much.

Remember also that both platforms have their online subscriptions. PS Plus gives you access to three free games every month,ও as well as a catalog of classics and current-gen games to download and play. Switch, on the other hand, only gets yoᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚu virtual console libraries from previous eras.

All told, this round has a lot that remains to be seen. It may well come do꧙wn to the Switch 2's performance in third-party games. Third-party support for the PS5 is already set in stone at the moment for the majority of games that come out. The first Nintendo Switch started out great with its third-party support, but the limitations of its hardware let it down after a few years, with fewer and fewer demanding titles making the leap across to Nintendo's platform. Indie support, however, has always been good on the Switch, but the same is true of PS5 as well.

Performance

The Nintendo Switch 2 was never going to be able to compete with the PS5 from a performance perspective. Playing Cyberpunk 2077 on each one, side-by-side, reveals the weaker hardware at play from Nintendo. This is still im꧟pressive performance - the device is a fraction of the size of the PS5, and it's r♈unning a game that gave the PS4 some trouble just a few years ago.

If, however, you're looking for docked-only gam✤eplay and want the best textures, most so𒀰phisticated ray-tracing, and the highest quality distance rendering, the PS5 makes far more sense.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is still zippy in these harder performance tests - in fact, I've been surp🥃rised by just how smooth action feels in both handheld anꦚd docked modes. It's just not quite got the power grunt behind it that the PS5 does.

In real-world terms, that ⛦means a drop in sharpness and detail, especially across moreꩲ complex objects like faces and hair. The difference isn't as large as you might expect from a handheld, but it's certainly still there.

Storage

The Switch 2 puts up a solid fight in this round thanks to its up to 2TB of additional storage, but the PS5 has storage supremacy thanks to its additional M.2 port. Even without that, the close to 1TB of space you get out of the🌼 box means you have plenty of space for those beefy 4K game files.

That brilliantly integrated extra storage slot means you can put any Gen 4 SSD inside the PS5 and benefit from its loading times. Storage and fast loading times are one of the hills PS5 has always been willing to die on, so it's no surprise that this was a feature the brand wanted to ensure was there. With up to 8TB of extra space thanks to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best SSDs for PS5, Sony takes this round in a clear victory.

Nintendo Switch 2 vs PS5: which should you buy?

All in all, this is actually a pretty close race. In the end, it's going to come down to you, what your playing habits are, and what games you simply ca🌸n't do without.

If you play mainly on the go, or you just can't miss the next entries in some of Nintendo's biggest franchises, a Switch 2 is the only place you'll be able to get that truly portable experience you can take with you. It's also the only place you'll be able to ✤✤play those games because Nintendo refuses to move into the current era with the rest of the gaming industry.

If you mainly play at home but still want some portability options, the PS5 is going to be the better option. It has higher resolution and frame rate capabilities, more power under its hood, and has been designed as a home console more than a do-it-all and do-it-everywhere device. Moreover, if you want to ensure you have a gaming platform for all sorts of third𓂃-party games, and don't want to risk not having access to these titles (or not waiting a year or more for a seriously downgraded version), then the PS5 is your winner.

Luckily, both have their merits in terms of 𒁃price, and there's a close call in many of the rounds we've listed above. Console gaming has two serious contenders with the PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2,ꦕ and in a few years, it'll be very intriguing to see how the two platforms sell against one another and compare to the successes of the PS4 and Switch race.

For more on Nintendo's new console, check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch accessories, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch controllers, and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch Vs Switch OLED.

So, what was everyone getting excited about? Which board games were the talk of the show? Here's what stood out to me after visiting the UK Games Expo 2025 - and the titles I suspect may be in the running for our list of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best board games.

1. Fate of the Fellowship

The biggest draw of the 2025 show was undoubtedly Fate of the Fellowship, an upcoming cooperative Lord of the Rings adventure fromꦓ Pandemic designer Matt Leacock. One gamer who initially dismissed it to me as a weak Pandemic clone was, after playing, thrilling with anticipation for its late August release ꧙date.

Tha🐭t’ꦆs not surprising given that the bones of the system barely show: huge armies march across Middle-Earth, the Fellowship fulfil perilous quests that you can swap around to create “what-if” versions of the novel’s plot, and - unless you’re very good or very lucky - Frodo becomes Ringwraith food before getting anywhere near Mount Doom. The few preview copies available sell out so fast that the PR rep just laughs when I ask about them.

• Fate of the Fellowship:

2. Gwent

Next on many people’s radar was Gwent. Yes, that Gwent, the addictive card-based minigame from The Witcher 3 that became so popular it’s now getting its own physical release. Fans can rejoice that the core of𒊎 the game remains intact, but there are lots of new play modes to take advantage of face to face play, including group play for up to five and a two-versus-two team mode.

Its UK distributor, Hachette, was having a great show, celebrating two nominees for the prestigi﷽ous Kennerspiel des Jahres prize, and , alongside some fun new titles. is an intriguing abstract strategy game with asymmetry, a bit like chess except you assemble your pieces as you play, while is an auto-battler that lets you leverage deckbuilding for some extra depth.

• Gwent:

3. Viking Route

Perhaps the most ingenious new desi🎐gn on show was Viking Route from Ares Games. It’s a cooperative affair where you control a longship, navigating adventures on the seas of Norse mythology. The on-board ship piece is a compass, which always moves where it’s pointing north, but you can control this by moving and rotating other magnetised pieces around the board, a completely new and hard to master movement mechanic.

Ares was also demoing , a new game from veteran designer Martin Wallce, which does what Martin Wallace does best: a demanding, European-style strategy game with a properly realized theme. In this case, piloting a noble family through the history of the city of anci🤪🀅ent Rome.

• Viking Route:

4. Timber Town

In terms of sheer volume of new games on show, the winner has to be Alley Cat Games. They expanded their range of tiny, play-anywhere mint-tin games with dexterity title Barbecubes and Tic Tac Trek, which transforms noughts and crosses into a cute exploration game. i𒆙s a fresh, thematic take on classic Boggle, while is a fun new entry in the neglected pick up and deliver genre.

Their hottest new release, though, is Timber Town. This looks like a traditional tile-laying game with the clever new twist that tiles float to you down aꦦ river, flowing from column to column, and must be placed in the matchingꦅ position on your player board when you pick them.

• Timber Town:

5. Creature Caravan

Not long ago,🐷 Red Raven Games, founded by designer Ryan Laukat, was a tiny publisher - but the success of his games, particularly narrative exploration game Sleeping Gods, has let them expand. They were selling their new title at the show, Creature Caravan. This is a dice placement and tableau-building title in which players trade and explore a dangerous wilderness, trying to collect creatures and be first to reach the safety of t🥀he city.

They were also demoing a couple of upcoming titles that are revamped reprints of their early games. is a super-fast area majority game that now includes twenty variants and expansions plus a campaign mode, while adds new n🍰arrative and spooky interaction to a beloved adventure title.

“I nev♏er win,” laments their marketing manager Tom Wetzel. “I get too caught up in the story.”

• Creature Caravan:

6. Fathom

Another standout at the show for me was the undersea Fathom by Paper Fort Games, the team that's also behind the Terraria🌳 adaptation (more on that late♓r).

This is a tile-l൩aying game with an intriguing sonar mechanic that limits what you can pick up to try and form semi-realistic deep-sea ecosystems across a range of scenarios.

• Fathom:

7. Deep Regrets

Away from the big, gaudy publisher stands drawing in the big, noisy crowds🔯, there are dozens and dozens of small independent publishers. The absolute standout success in this sector is Deep Regrets, a horror fishing title inspired by the video game Dredge. The designer, publisher, and artist Judson Cowan and his two helpers are deluged at their stall, fulfilling demand for demos and sales.

The theme is carried through the whole game not only by the mechanics but by horror aficionado Judson’s🍬 artwork. All the fish cards♔ in the game are unique, an engaging mix of scary and hilarious, and even the inside of the box lid is illustrated. Judson went so far as to add illustrations to the shipping cartons that most people will never see.

It’s easy to forget that these folk are the lifeblood of the hobby. Often just one or two people pouring vast time and effort into creating and promoting games for the love of it, their pas🐠sion pouring out when you talk to them. There’s , described by its creator Richard Davis as a harcore zombi🍒e survival game. Two biologists are putting their time in the field into a game called , illustrated from their own photos, which pits you against the real-life challenge of running a successful nature reserve. is a fast-paced shedding game that its creator is so enthusiastic about that he stayed at his stand after closing time to play it with me. Around every corner in expo, down every row, there are hidden gems, there is magic thrumming.

• Deep Regrets:

Honorable mention - video game adaptations galore

While Gwent is a video game spinoff, there are several promising full-blooded video game adaptations at the show. The biggest name here is probably , a bold, solo-only design being boldly promoted by a man cosplaying as Lara Croft. It features a very novel dynamic puzzle system which complicates solutions via enemies showing up and getting stuck in the mechanisms. Goliath Games, meanwhile, is working on a board game version of The Sims currently scheduled for ✃release in the summer, although they don’t 🐻have a preview available.

However familiar those titles are, they’re matched in sales terms by the less well-known , which is getting its own tabletop adaptation from a less well-known publisher, Paper Fort Games. They specialize in the kind of fresh des꧙ign concepts that are increasingly rare in board games nowadays: for Terraria that looks like boxed bossꦆ monsters with modular miniatures that you physically rearrange to reflect their changing abilities as you whittle them down.

Looking for something new to play right now? Why not check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best adult board games, or the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best 2-player board games?

There’s no denying that shark movies play a pivotal role in pop culture. The Jaws franchise has changed the way we see the ocean. I mean, have you ever swam out into open water jus🤪t to quickly paddle back in because you can just imagine a 300-toothed beast sitting beneath you, just like in that iconic Jaws poster? It’s a thought that’s hard to shake.

However, in recent years, shark movies have been lacking in s🍬ubstance. Films such as Under Paris and The Meg paint an unfair portrayal of the gilled beasts, and often add to the idea that sharks are merely mindless killing machines. That’s where Dangerous Animals differs. Directed by The Loved Ones and Devil’s Candy helmer Sean Byrne, the new movie is all about sharks, but its villain is actually man.

A new kind of sea monster

When thinking of the scariest creatures on earth, many people rank sharks pretty high up. We as a so🤪ciety are obsessed with them. But it is a fact that we are much more likely to be killed by a person than an animal. If you were to book a cage diving trip in shark-infested waters, would you be more scared of the fins that lie below, or the instructor?

Set in Australia’s sunny Gold Coast, Dangerous Animals follows an American nomadic surfer named Zephyr who looks to escape her troubled past in the ripples of the ocean. But before she can hit the waves one morning, she gets abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer, played by Suici꧑de Squad’s Jai Courtney, who enjoys feeding his victims to the ravenous animals below.

There is no doubt that sharks do kill people. But sharks don’t often kill for fun; it’s for survival. They certainly don’t tend to play with their food. Not like Dangerous Animal’s villain Tucker, who uses charisma to lure victims onto his boat, and takes great time, care, and enjoyment in the art of the kill. This plunges Zephyr into survival mode in a fight to the death that would be over much quicker if it werꦰe a shark after he🐭r. I know what I would choose.

Misunderstood creatures

Rather than making a killer great white its villain, Dangerous Animals pays tribute to Jaws in another way, by righting one💧 of Spielberg’s biggest mistakes. Despite being one of his biggest movies, Spielberg has made it known that he has regrets about vilifying sharks. In an interview with , th༺e director admitted he fears sharks are "mad" at him for "the feeding frenzy of crazy sword fishermen that happened after 1975."

, following the release of Jaws and its harrowing depiction of shark attacks, shark populations in the U🎃S were impacted – which is something "I truly and to this day regret," said Spielberg. The crꦓeatures still aren't safe in the water: according to , fishing-related shark deaths reached over one hundred million per year in 2019.

But this is where Dangerous Animals comes in. By shifting the focus onto a more malicious villain, the film🌄 looks to change our perception of sharks. “I was excited to finally make a shark film that didn’t vilify the shark,” said director Sean Byrne via Dangerous Animals press material.

This all started with writer Nick Lepard stumbling upon an open letter from scientists who were worried that the horror genre’s depiction of sharks as vicious killers would cause further harm to the species. “The serial killer Tucker was born from this,” ⛄said Lepard. Tucker is the direct result of the publ𝔍ic’s twisted fascination with shark attacks.

The death of the CGI shark

Another reason to celebrate Dangerous Animals during this jawsome month is simplꩵy because it ജlooks better than most shark horror movies. Over the past decade, I have seen more CGI sharks on screen than any other animal. But it looks bad. I don’t want to see any more flying or three-headed sharks ever again!

The entire creative team on Dangerous Animals agreed pretty early on that there would be no mechanical sharks. Instead, archive researcher Lisa Savage founꦏd footage of real sharks that would later be blended with the live-action portion of the film. When it came to the movie’s few shark attacks, the team opted for VFX, but ensured the sharks maintained their natural features. The shark footage and ocean shots included in the movie just show how the Dangerous Animals team was able to carefully present these beasts with respect.

Naturally, in the lead up to the grand half-century anniversary of Jaws, you’ll want to dive into as many shark movies as possible to celebrate the occasion. But what better way to pay tribute to the iconic horror pic than going to see the brand n🥂ew Australian fin-tastic slasher? Although nothing can ever replace that legendary feature, Dangerous Animals certainly flips the sub-genre on its head, reminding us who the real monsters are.

Dangerous Animals is out now. For more on what to watch, keep up with other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror movies, and check out the rest of our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Big Screen Spotlight series.

I'll be honest, I'm iffy at best on Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, and I'm🅠 being drivenಌ (ahem) up the wall by Mario Kart World's intermission tracks getting in the way of circuit domination. What's there to actually play on this thing? I've gone some rounds in Fast Fusion and it's a blast. I've thrown down blobs and blocks in P⛄uyo Puyo Tetris 2S, which remains a certified puzzle banger. I've installed Deltarune, but I'𓄧m too nervous to feel new emotions (real). And then I see it – perfection on a pleasingly block red square – the smooth, rounded purple Nintendo GameCube controller beckons me to retro bliss.

Back to the past

That's right, Nintendo Switch Online now ha🦋s 'Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics' on the Nintendo Switch 2 (I'll give you three guesses as to who publishes all this, and the first two don't count). Plenty of superb games have been promised, including Chibi-Robo!, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and both of the perennially underrated Pokemon Colosseum games. But for now, there are three: F-Zero GX, SoulCalibur 2, and – my beloved – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Like many, this Zelda was a definitive one in my gaming career. A newcomer to the world of Nintendo once the Dreamcast's reign had turned more nightmarish, I'd only before touched The Legend of Zelda: A Link's Awakening on Game Boy. Attracted to the gleaming golden box, and the promise of a bonus disc containing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to catch-up, I scooped it up for a surprisingly low pre-owned price at my local game shop, after siℱmply browsing for random games. It changed my life.

Sure, revisiting Wind Waker via this classic library isn't completely perfect. While it has save states, there's no rewind – meaning this is a pretty straightforward presentation of the original game. It also means it doesn't have any of the additional features fr🐭om The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for Wii U which – while the slight art style shift was divisive – make it feel more complete (I'd still recommend that version to first-timers). And yeah, ಌhaving to use the virtual console feature's tools to remap the camera controls to feel more modern is a bit of a pain – with them feeling a bit twitchier than I remember. But the original Wind Waker is still a banger, i🔜t's as simple as that.

I know that all seems a bit foolish. I readily have other ways to play Wind Waker. My Wii U is literally still plugged in. Not to mention all the other ways to enjoy Nintendo GameCube games with some enhancements available in this modern age. And in my household I do try to ensure I'm never more than 10 minut👍es from Wind Waker at any time. But, well, I bought the Nintendo Switch 2, so here we are. I'm pootling around Outset village. I'm looking at Link's wonderfully expressive eyes as he sidles along ledges in the Forsaken Fortress. I'm picking up a pig and dousing its farts all over Windfall Island. I'm home.

So far, Ni⛄ntendo Switch 2's newest, flashiest features have been a bit disappointing to me. But there's promise in how it can (big ahem) link to the past. Nintendo GameCube has loads of excellent games locked to the system that deserve to be more readily accessible to those who aren't sicko enough like me to jump through hoops to play them otherwise. And, the extra power in the hardware means revisiting original Switch games with performance issues promises to be far slicker. I'm eying up Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Is it finally time to finish the fight?

Want more adventures? Check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Zelda games ranking!

The next portion of the Grand Prix starts off well. With Crown City in our sights, the race kicks off with the heaving crew of racers taking to the open road to actually travel to the next track from Mario Bros. Circuit. It's a bit different, but OK – race dow🦹n a motorway, drift through some fast food to unlock a glorious Biker outfit for Waluigi. But what's that in the corner of the screen? Lap 2 of 3 already and we're not even there yet? Hitting Crown City, 'Lap 3' begins as we cross the start line for the first time. The track has plenty of great ideas, teasing me with different paths and routes – drifting up to the tops of skyscrapers is thrilling! And then it… just ends?

Pit stop

Yep, after one glorious lap of Crown City, that's all you get. And this is no anomaly – it's just standard for how Grand Prix are structured in Mario Kart World. You would expect𒈔 a cup like this to be a true test of your track-by-track racing prowess, but instead it feels like you only get an appetizer of each track. No chance to make up time on another lap, no bungling yoursel🐻f with a banana you dropped a minute earlier, no time to actually try to take the shortcut you spotted before.

So far in every cup I've played – about half, though I've played tracks from others across different modes – only the first, kick-off circuit follows a typical multi-lap structure, with every subsequent track consisting of, on average, about two out of three 'laps' driving across the Free Roam open world to the next actual next and then just one lap of that.

Even some of theꦦ ambitious tracks that cap off Cups get this treatment, a shame as it makes them feel anticlimactic instead of the tense final sprint to the finish they could so easily be. Wario's Galleon, a tight circuit that mixes harsh waves with twisting turns through wrecked ships, feels like it's over before it begins, and Bowser's Castle only teases some rip-roaring flaming action before waving the flag. I always feel like I'm getting the rug-pulled out from under me, feeling the buzz of leaping between platforms in the sky in Great ? Block Ruins (maybe my favorite MKW track), or lapping up the game's clever revamp of Dino Dino Jungle from Mario Kart Do♓uble Dash – only to be told it's time to wrap it up after one lap.

The novelty of driving between tracks is a nice idea at first, but it quickly wears thin. With a few exceptions, the track between the circuits is incredibly dull, mostly revolving around straight lines. You're just plowing forward down a motorway or straightaway, simply holding down the accelerator. One bridge has some neat rails you can grind – but I swear the up-and-down cost me several positions, meaning it was more optimal to just drive across it using boosters as normal instead. Another section has you glide straight ahead across a desert doing basically nothing for several seconds. Another has 🦩you just drive forward through water to an island for a while.

To accommodate the higher player count, the roads are absolutely massive too. You rarely have to think in these 'intermission' sections that form the bulk of races, and it feels like even when another racer is technically neck-and-neck with me I 𒆙need binoculars to actually see them on the other side of tꦰhe road.

As I said, I can sort of get behind the novelty. But you can't skip these in Grand Prix, and – again – it means as a result you only get one lap ♓on the actual track. For me, it detracts significantly from each circuit, meaning you barely get a sense of their identity before you're rushed along to keep trucking through the world to the next ꦓone.

I'm also not completely convinced by Mario Kart World's original tracks as a result. I like the ideas in some – as I mentioned earlier – but I can't help but feel like they've been designed to be a bit shorter and more one-note to fulfil their role as capstones to these jaunts raඣther than be complete ideas in and of themselves.

As it stands, the majority of 'tracks' in Mario Kart World feel, by design, about two thirds filler as you plow down pretty dull if somewhat pretty pathways. It really makes the tracks suffer on replay, feeling like you're doing a commute before you can get to the good stuff, which is then over in moments. You can play standard 3-lap versions of all the tracks… if you double click to select it in VS Mode on🃏ly. There's no way to play Grand Prix in the classic format at all.

Which would be annoying enough… But this 'tracks with intermissions💯' format is also the default in Online, meaning the majority of selections you get to vote on for the next track are, like in Grand Prix, massive slogs to get to a circuit, after which you play a truncated-feeling lap. It is possible to get a 3-lap option, but not regular – the best way to raise your🐟 chances being to select Random at the moment, in my experience.

It might be on me for trying to go into Mari🔯o Kart World as blind as possible after securing my Nintendo Switch 2 bundle – I'm a big fan of the series and have played Mario Kart 8 to death across both Wii U and the original Switch. But even with the open world free roam stuff I had assumed racing between tracks would be an optional feature, not something foisted onto me at every possible moment. I could understand it as a toggle, leaving me to choose when to explore, or to do so within Free Roam, but the way it is means I unavoidably have to putter down roads between each circuit just to enjoy hunting down max stars on each🎶 Grand Prix.

I don't like being a downer, but so far on a track-by-track basis I absolutely prefer just about every single track in Mario Kart 8 – even keeping to just the launch circuits – to those in Mario Kart World. Even if just for the simple fact that you're actually playing the tracks you select there. When I select a Grand Prix in Mario Kart 8 I actually get to play each circuit in full, but do the same in Mario Kart World and it's more of a whistlestop to𝄹ur. It's frustrating as there are moments I almost really like the game, until it just traffic jams itself.

Here, in Mario Kart World, it feels like Nintendo never wants to actually let you 🔜play the circuits it crafted, only begrudgingly allowing it via VS Race. Nintendo haꦰs given Mario Kart 8 Deluxe plenty of updates and new features. So I really hope they're able to make a U-turn with Mario Kart World and allow for more traditional racing formats, if only to allow players to properly enjoy the track. And please, just let me skip the commute.

Want to know how to unlock characters in Mario Kart World, by the way? We've got some answers. Want more plumber action instead? Check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Mario games ranking!

Looking back at the game, Kojima concedes that it was "weird". One of Bridges' first tasks was, remember, to hoist the US President's cadaver on his back, on a cross-country dash to a local incinerator. But beneath the eccentricity there was also something vaguely humorous about its central challenge: 🍬to carry heavy cargo upon your back across North America without tripping. The taller the load, the greater the chance you'd topple. It's the kind of idea you might expect to find in the work of an indie darling such as Bennett Foddy. And yet, with♊ Sony's keen backing, and Kojima's attention-grasping reputation, a game founded on an indie-esque fancy was rendered as an extravagant epic, one featuring celebrities scanned into the game in screamingly high definition, plus a wistful, expensive soundtrack and a story whose looming relevance nobody foresaw.

Set in a fragmented America, Death Stranding portrayed a world in which society had collapsed into isolated pockets, connected only by the delivery people who hauled essentials between them. Porters such as Bridges were the new lifeblood of civilisation – not soldiers, not scientists, but logistics𒆙 workers. At launch, reactions were divided. Some praised the game as visionary, a slow and meditative coun♋terpoint to the combat-heavy overfamiliarity of big-budget games; others derided it as self-indulgent and odd. And then, shortly after its release, everyone entered a world of quarantine, masks and contactless delivery. We were cut off from our friends and family members. Toilet roll became scarce. Death Stranding's vision of human connection maintained through screens and packages suddenly felt less like speculative fiction and more like an act of prophecy.

Kojima had already written the script for a sequel. Then, during the pandemic, he fell severely ill. He won't discuss the specifics, but it was serious enough to trigger in him something of an existential crisis, a renewed eagerness to make the kinds of games "that don't already ex✨ist in the world", ones with resonant messages. When he recovered, he found himself back in his studio's cavernous office, but almost completely alone. "Everyone else was working remotely," he says. "I felt that perhaps I would never meet anyone again."

He watched as the world🌜 shifted to online meetings: "We were having drinking parties and school events, but now ent🌊irely online, an almost entirely digital existence." It felt exactly like the chiral network, Death Stranding's version of the Internet, which protagonist Sam Bridges was tasked with bringing online, city by city. And yet, rather than feeling the satisfaction of a proven prophet, Kojima felt only dismay. "Something had been lost," he says. "Physically, we weren't connected any more. Nobody could travel. Humans can't be fully human if they can't travel any more." Yes, Zoom and all the other tools had ostensibly brought us together. But online connection, Kojima realised, was not the catch-all cure that his game had suggested to the global epidemic of isolation and loneliness.

The pandemic passed, but the fragmentation and yearning for reconnection? Those remained. Kojima tore up the story he had written for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Death Stranding 2. The sequeওl, he decided, would instead be a cautionary tale about the risks of relying upon digital connectedness in lieu of physical presence. 'Should we have connected?' became Death Stranding 2's motivating♐ question.

It's a message Kojima relays to a group of about 30 journalists from around the world on the first morning of a four-day preview event (or "boot camp", as it's referred to on several occasions by staff members) at his studio's luxurious HQ in Tokyo's Shinagawa district. It's here he spent the lockdown period alone, fretting. Today, a🅺n entire wall of the office contains the signatures and messages of notable visitors to the studio. The names include Hollywood heavyweights such as Timothée Chalamet and Nicholas Cage. Some dismiss Kojima as a star collector, but there's something else going on here. Having spent theꦓ COVID lockdown isolated in this place, it's understandable that he'd want everyone who visits to leave a reassuring reminder of their presence.

"Nobody really does these kinds of events any more," Kojima says over a microphone in the studio's pristine white canteen, styled after the set designs of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. And it's true: in-person, group press trips, once a weekly occurrence for magazines such as this one, have fallen from fashion in the digital age. It's not difficult to see why. When preview code can be delivered anywhere in the world in no tim🐈e at all, to get so many people to travel halfway the world to sit in a room in order to play a videogame might seem needlessly costly, across several metrics. But the physicality is the point, Kojima says, smiling. "I wanted to bring you all here, to be in the room together, talking, with the chance to mak👍e friends with a stranger." Nobody could accuse videogames' best-known director of failing to fully commit to the bit.

And yet the shift of focus, and of underlying message, is not immediately clear in wh🐠at we have all come to play. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach begins 11 months after its predecessor concluded. We find Bridges in hiding, a prickly recluse, shut off from the country he had previously united. In another eerily resonant plot point, he has been made redundant by the Automated Porter Assistance System, an AI-based program that initially provided support for porters but soon took over the business of logistics, making their jobs obsolete. He now lives in what looks like a kind of futuristic shipping container, a building that blends with its surroundings via holo🀅graphic technology, spending his time raising Lou, the infant that, at the end of the original game, he freed from its artificial womb and welcomed into the world to raise as his own child.

The wind-worn off-road courier and the bonny 18-month-old make an unlikely couple, but, considering the trials they have endured together, their bond is understandable. It's certainly interesting from a gameplay perspective. In the opening moments of Death Strandi📖ng 2 you explore the sharp, rusty rocks around your home, keeping your balance as you lunge from outcrop to outcrop, protecting the child strapped to your chest all the while. The sense of delicate stew✤ardship will be familiar to any parent who's navigated the outside world with a baby in tow, and the extreme setting here only compounds a sense of fretful parental responsibility.

When, midway through your trek, the area is hit by a minor earthquake, Lou begins to wail. There is a command dedicated to soothing your child, lifting the baby aloft with a cluck and a bounce – an interaction that is familiar in life, but rare in videogames, of the sort that Kojima has always been inspired to include in his work. "Let's go home and get you fed," Bridges says, when the tremors settle. We now see him in h𒆙is newfound embrace of hermetic domesticity, cooking food, tidying toys, stockpiling nappies and putting Lou to bed. But he has not entirely let go of his old life. This is, we see, a man ꦫwho keeps a pistol in his cutlery drawer, just in case.

Death Stranding 2 begins in earnest when Bridges receives an unexpected visit from Fragile, the enigmatic courier played by Léa Seydoux. She now runs a private delivery service, Drawbridge, one of many powerful private contractors that run North America. She gives Bridges a new mission: to connect Mexico, settlement by settlement, to the chiral grid. In a universe filled with arcane terminology and concepts, it's a pleasingly accessible premise: no matter where in the world you live, it's easy to understand the idea of connecting remote settlements to the Internet. Fragile offers to care for Lou as you head out, and Bridges accepts the mission with surprisingly little re𒈔sistance. We're back in the old boots, hiking and lunging between settlements in Mexico, and dialling in for family check-ins with Fragile and the baby, like a businessman away on a work trip.

Rural Mexico is, however, hardly a welcoming environment. The expanse of territory is marked by plunging ravines and thickly forested mountains; bandits roam its landscapes searching for porters like you, who they can attack and loot. The weather is more extreme than before: punishing sandstorms can ro𝕴ar in without notice, reducing visibility and violently pushing you sideways. Earthquakes cause landslides. Headwinds slow your progress to a crawl, while tailwinds risk causing you to stumble over rocks. Rain is a dangerous substance that ages the skin of anyone it touches, and when it falls it immediately begins to damage your cargo and can quickly raise the waterline in the local rivers, reducing the number of places where it's safe to cross. But while the world is brutal and punishing, it is also littered with valuables, all of which tempt you to make brisk diversions to add them to your teetering backpack and increase the potential rewards you'll receive at the next outpost or settlement.

Every sojourn requires careful planning: is there enough life left in your boots to make the next journey? Will there be BTs – those spectral monsters, d🉐rawn to noise, that will claw Bridges down into a tar-like ooze if they catch him – for which you'll need specialist weapons and grenades? If rain isꦓ predicted, should you pack a spray that can restore your cargo? Will you take the necessary materials to build, say, a lookout tower, from which you'll be able to locate and track enemies? Every decision has a physical cost, measured in bulk and weight. Overprepare and you risk becoming encumbered, and it usually pays to leave some spare kilograms for treasure you might find along the way.

Most of this feels familiar. You soon access vehicles, and the capacity to build structures which duly appear in the game world of other players, who can leave social-media-style 'likes' to show their appreciation. But the pacing is far snippier and more refined than in the first game – the result, it feels, of taking on feedback and recalibrating the balance between cutscene and action. Quality-of-liꦐfe improvements abound. It's difficult to shake the feeling that this is the game Kojima and his team intended to make the first time around.

But then, within a few hours, it seems as though it'ꦺs all over. Mexico has been reconnected in record time, and, in a dramatic climax, we see Bridges sustain a loss from which he may never recover. What now? The answer arrives quickly: Australia.

The switch to a new continent means more than a change of terrain. Something fundament♈al shifts. The task of reconnecting settlements is the same, but the texture is clearly different, as you acquire increasingly efficient and varied types of weaponry. You soon leave behind foot-based missions and start to use upgradable vehicles. Then you begin to receive missions in which you're tasked not with delivering cargo but with clearing out enemy encampments. The realisation dawns: combat is far more central to Death Stranding 2's loops and rhythms than in its predecessor, where 𒀰you were almost always outgunned and therefore encouraged to avoid conflict.

"The first game was like the Silk Road," Kojima explains. "It was about extending connections across a country, to allo⭕w useful supplies to travel. But the flipside is that negative things can travel more freely too: cockroaches, violence, drugs." Death Stranding 2, then, is intended to show the risks of interconnectivity. "It's represented by the prevalence of weapons. I'm trying to conjure the era of the East India Company, when resources could move freely around the world but, at the same time, this enabled these private companies to become more powerful than governments."

While it's still possible to use stealth, popping out of the tall grass to take down a dawdling security guard, for example, the game encourages a more direct approach. You may approach an enemy encampment from a rocky outcrop, set down your now-removable backpack, build a lookout tower that enables you to mark and track every foe, then use your sniper rifle to take out each one in series. It's all pleasingly taut and game-like and feels, in fact, like a concession to those players who bounced off Death Stranding's eccentricities as well as Kojima reconciling with his own past. Squint and you could be forgiven for thinking you were playing – whisper it – a contemporary update to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Metal Gear Solid 5.

"I felt that myself when I played the game," Kojima admits when presented with the comparison. Drawbridge, the company you now work for, h💟as the use of a futuristic airship, the DHV Ma𝐆gellan (named after Ferdinand Magellan, the 16th-century Portuguese explorer who became the first to circumnavigate the globe), which doubles as a movable base of operations, housing Bridges' living space. "When you return to your bed on the Magellan, it's the same feeling as returning to the plant in Metal Gear," Kojima says. Nods to and echoes of his former work abound. While staying in Bridges' accommodation in any of the bases – static or movable – you can spend some time playing a series of challenges in VR that are almost indistinguishable from Metal Gear's beloved VR missions. Even the sound effects are similar. There are traditional boss battles, too, complete with glowing weak spots.

Even so, the new focus on combat is s꧋urprising (even if the bullets you fire are described as tranquillisers rather than deadly projectiles). Death Stranding was clearly designed to upset the expectations of Kojima's audience; it was a game about striding out into the world to make connections, rather than sneaking around with a silenced SOCOM. Beneath the strangeness lay a radical design ethos. Death Stranding🐽 wasn't about winning, conquering or killing. It was about carrying, balancing, connecting. It introduced a system called the Strand mechanic: players could leave behind ladders, ropes and structures in their own games that would appear in others', anonymously aiding fellow travellers they would never meet. This asynchronous multiplayer design was an elegant metaphor for interdependence. In helping others, players helped themselves.

"I have a 'stick and the rope' theory," Kojima tells us. "So many games are just about the stick. Even in games where you're connected with each other online, everyone's just battling with the stick." The rope, he says, is something used to wrap around things and bring them toward you. "In Death Stran♏⛎ding I wanted to make a game that was all about the rope. The sequel balances the stick and the rope."

To explain why he made this adjustment, Kojima settles into one of his favourite themes: comparisons to cinema. "When I first wrote the draft for Death Stranding 2," he says, "I referenced to my staff the first two Alien films. The first Ridley Scott film was so frightening. There were face-huggers, and monsters bursting from people's chests, and at first nobody knew what it was all about." But by the end of the film, he says, the audience had seen the alien, and understood the rules of the universe, so it was no longer frightening. "W❀hen James Cameron came to make the sequel, Aliens, he made a very smart decision to make the film not about horror, but about action. It gave the story a new dimension, which was unfamiliar. That is what I wanted to do with this sequel. Everyone understands Death Stranding's world, so now we've introduced battles to give it this new dimension."

The new focus on combat will appease those players put off by the first game's passive approach. But Kojima has not shied from difficult themes to go alongside the fighting. Grief is a central consideration of the game, a keen presence for Bridges, for whoꦯm the burden of loss is something he must carry physically.

One of Kojima's parents died when he was a teenager, so he is intimately familiar with loss. His father came home from work one day, fell down, unconscious, and started shaking. The family called an ambulance. Kojima travelled to the hospital with him. His father's eyes were open all the way, but he was unable to speak. Kojima felt his father wanted to tell him something. He never found out what. In this way, Kojima lost his innocence and, to a degree, his childhood. He spent his teenage years having to care for his family, making decisions for which he felt unprepared and ill-equipped. "The loss of my father was a major theme in the Metal Gear series," he tells us today. "Those games explore the t꧟heme of how you surpass your parents. Death Stranding looks in the other direction: you assume the parent's perspective, looking toward the child."

One of the game's central questions focuses on the story of 🍃Bridges' baby, Lou. Kojima has a son himself. "You think you know everything about your son, but there are some things that you don't," he says. "In the first Death Stranding, Sam travels t🐲ogether with Lou, but he doesn't interrogate who Lou is very much. In the sequel, that has changed. It's like how an adoptive parent might not know everything about their child. They might have questions. That's the emotion I wanted to elicit."

Narrative intrigue abounds, but so do more traditional game-like elements. This is a work stuffed with design ideas, with upgrade trees and satisfying incentives. Completing deliveries contributes toward a five-star rating for every facility and settlement in the game, and each time you achieve a new star rating you're rewarded with tools, weapons and upgrades. Facilities and structures that you or others build into the world can be upgraded using materials; with time, the idea is that the game will become crisscrossed with roads, ziplines and vehicle-charging stations. In this way, jus🅘t about everything in the game can be turned into a mission, since everything is ripe for investment and nurture. Kojima's Rolodex of celebrity friends adds a less traditional incentive to explore and extend your reach, since many of the facilities are run by recognisable faces. As before, these cameos can be a little distracting, but at the very least they always leave an impression.

It's the astonishing degree of depth and variety elsewhere that makes the real impact, though. There are wildfires, natural disasters and all manner of inventive online features which, as in Hidetaka Miyazaki's work,൩ allow players to collaborate in mystical, indirect ways.💦 And while the fundamental tasks could be described as industrialised fetch quests, the cargo ranges from vinyl records to pyjamas and live animals, the ways in which they can be ferried expanding accordingly.

Kojima claims the game provides at least 70 hours' worth of adventure. The scale of the production – and the sheen with which everything is delivered – is particularly notable when you consider the comparatively small size of its development team. "I've never wanted my team to grow larger than 150 people working on one game project," Kojima says. His friend, Mad Max director George Miller, once told him that his instincts were correct, and that nomadic sheep-herding communities limit their flocks to 150 sheep, this number being the limit of what a human be꧒ing can realistically track. "I talked to George last year and he congratulated me on keeping the team small," Kojima says. "I had to admit I went a little over 150, and we laughed about it."

It's easy to assume that Kojima Productions, with its extravagant HQ turning out such a lavishly produced sequel, is a blockbuster studio, but Kojima insists his work has an independent spirit. He sees himself as the head of a family, a role he has had to assume from childhood, and says he regards raising children and raising his young staff as the same. And while the director's handprints are as visible o🥀n Death Stranding 2 as the impressions the BTs make in the soil whenever they approach, it's clear that the game is the result of manifold creativity from a team that has been allowed to express itself in countl𒁏ess ways.

Always eager to reach for a second metaphor, Kojima also compares his staff to apprentices in a kitchen. Yes, he wants them to start by washing dishes, but only so that they can work their way up and one day be able to open restaurants of their own. He resists the idea of an assembly-line studio in which each developer handles only one task; instead, he wants creඣators who understand not just the "bun" but the whole "hamburger" – the lighting, the systems, the emotions. It's a vision of mentorship not as delegation, but as artistic awakening – and in Death Stranding 2 the results of this growth and development are clear. Yes, this is, as advertised, a Hideo Kojima game. But it's run through with an ethos that, in time, could outlive even the man himself.

Thinking of catching up on Kojima's past work before you set out on your delivery route? We've got the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Metal Gear games ranked to get you started. More from Edge? Vampire Survivors kicked off a game development gold rush, but has a legitimately new genre emerged between the cash-ins?

She's also instantly become one of my favorites. Yixuan is a supremely reactive fighter, capable of rapi𒅌dly parrying attacks on field as well as saving resources for expl🅷osively high burst damage in enemy stun windows. The black-on-gold aesthetic of her inky strikes is a feast for the eyes, smothering enemies in damage numbers that tickle my brain like a hit marker motivates a Call of Duty player. And thanks to her additional HP scaling, she also has a bit of a tanky bruiser feel to her that matches my tastes in action RPGs perfectly. She may end up being my new main, especially once her apparent go-to partner Ju Fufu is released in the coming weeks.

But, in my experience and according to virtually the entire Zenless community's preview analysis of Yixuan, the strongest character of them all is still Hoshimi Miyabi. It's been this way for months. Like Miyabi, Yixuan also has a unique element, the Ether-adjacent Auric Ink, and she'💃s even introduced a new charact🌠er class called Rupture, but Miyabi remains in a tier of her own. She's our only playable Void Hunter – Yixuan is distinctly described as a Void Hunter-rivaling "Grandmaster" – and, more importantly, the strongest damage dealer in the whole game by some distance.

This was something I was eager to discuss in a May interview with Zenless Zone Zero producer Zhenyu Li. Personally, I'm glad Zenless isn't pushing the power ceiling higher every other update, at least not anymore. But ꦓhow will new characters handle the Miyabi effect, and how will developer HoYoverse balance its character ambitions with a new effort to buff old characters, starting wit🌳h 1.0 star Ellen Joe, up to a more comfortable power level?

Responses lightly edited for clarity and length.

GamesRadar+: Yixuan has become the star of update 2.0, billed as a Void Hunter-level fighter. Our only current playable Void Hunter, Miyabi, has been known as the strongest character in Zenless Zone Zero since her release. How are you living up to those expectations with Yixuan?

Producer Zhenyu Li, HoYoverse: From a narrative perspective, Yixuan serves as the master to the Phaethon siblings (our protagonists) in Season ﷺ2. She's not just a mentor teaching them techniques but also plays a crucial role in helping the protagonists confront their inne𝓀r selves during the 2.0 plot. As an Agent, Yixuan holds the title of "Grandmaster" and possesses unique Auric Ink attributes and a Rupture specialty, mastering two different Ultimate modes. Her combat prowess is undeniable. As a result, Yixuan plays an absolutely vital role in both driving the Season 2 storyline and enriching the new sandbox combat stage experience.

Do you ever regret making Miyabi as strong as she is? Or are you happy for there to be standout, super powerful characters like Miyabi, and then other characters like Evelyn can be almost as strong while still being fun to play in their own way?

As the only Void Hun🉐ter currently featured in the game, Hoshimi Miyabi's exceptional power level perfectly aligns with both the plot's background and the team's expectations. Whether it's Hoshimi Miyabi or Evelyn, each character's power level is determined by their narrative and character background, ensuring it meets the expectations players form during gameplay.

We've heard that older characters will receive adjustments based on their combat performance and game feel. Can you share some of the Agents you are looking to adjust, and how you determine which characters are most in need of a boost? How frequently do you plan to release changes for old characters?

In version 2.0, we will first implement optimization adjustments for Ellen. As the first S-Rank cha༒racter in Zenless Zone Zero since launch, Ellen represents the bond between us and the players who have accompanied Zenless Zone Zero along the way. That's why we chose her as the first character from the past to receive optimization.

During our internal evaluations, we were quite satisfied with Ellen's combat design and experience. So, for the version 2.0 optimization, we have thoughtfully integrated the Hollow Zero "Icy Blade" into Ellen's skills, while also introducing an "Activate Potential" feature for her. Proxies who own Elle🤪n can unlock this feature by parti🍒cipating in an event. After unleashing her potential, Ellen will gain new Basic Attack skills and more team composition possibilities, with her passive mechanism also updated to enhance her damage output further.

൩While this type of adjustment may not have a fixed frequency, it's something we will continue to explore in the long term.

Many players have hoped to see a way to bring the character-specific gear from Hollow Zero into other modes as some sort of equipable item. One Hollow Zero modifier for Corin was shown in a developer discussion, fueling these hopes. Can you speak to how Hollow Zero gear is influencing your character adjustment plans?

In version 2.0, we will be making optimiza🌳tion adjustments to Ellen, including integrating her gear "Icy Blade" from Hollowཧ Zero into her skills in a more streamlined way. As a long-term live service game, our team places great importance on optimizing the experience for characters that players already own. Moving forward, we will consider both overall game balance and player feedback when making adjustments to existing characters, with gear integration into Agent skills being one of the directions we're exploring to enhance the player experience.

A previous developer discussion mentioned plans to give all three characters in your team more of an on-field presence in the future. Can you share more details on how new and/or existing characters will be more visible in battle?

Our initial intention in introducing the follow-up attack mechanism in version 1.6 was to address the issue of off-field characters having insufficient presence during combat. We wanted Agents to maintain a certain level of visibility on the current battlefield even when they're switched to an off-field position. This ensures that as your three-person squadꦅ executes their combat mechanics, each character maintains a balanced presence, a crucial part of improving the overall combat experience. Of course, to explore richer combat possibilities, we will continue to boldly experiment with new combat mechanics and expand the combat system. Our goal is to enhance the overall presence of all characters through gameplay improvements, rather than simply strengthe✃ning individual characters.

Speaking of new characters: we've already seen an alternate version of Anby with the S-Rank Silver Soldier. Are you planning to release S-Rank versions of other A-Rank characters?

What we can reveal for now is that there will definitely be more S Characters in the future. As for which characters specifiꦉcally—stay tuned and look forward to it!

How do you respond to concerns that, in the Waifei Peninsula, Zenless Zone Zero may lose some of the pop, urban, modern look that drew many players to the game?

The overall design of Waifei Peninsula still centers around modern, trendy urban elements, but unlike the previous Sixth Street and Luminaꦐ Square, we've incorporated more diverse stylistic expressions and fresh attempts to build on these existing urban impressions. Our🐽 goal is to bring players a new and engaging experience. After all, even in the real world, there isn't a single image or definition of what a trendy urban environment looks like.

From the 2.0 teaser trailer, it looks like many new characters feature a greater range of body types, from the extremely small to the extremely large. Will we actually get to play as a very tiny Thiren and a very large robot, or will those characters be unplayable, or normalized for gameplay?

Anything is possibleౠ—looking forward to all the unexpect✃ed surprises these characters will bring to everyone!

We've heard that the Proxies themselves are also becoming more active characters in 2.X by training under Yixuan. Is the long-term vision to release playable, combatant, S-Rank versions of Belle and Wise?

In Season 2, the siblings will learn mystical arts from Yixuan, the High Preceptor of Yunkui Summit, further honing their ability to manipulate Ether. They'll wield Eye Arts—Break, Reveal, and Seek—within the Hollow, giving Phaethon an even bigger role in more open-ended, explorable 3D stages. While they work to resolve the Sacrifice crisis, the secrets behind the siblings' eye implants be✃gin to surface.

With the HDD system upgrade, their Ether compatibili🍸ty has been restored, allowing them to enter the Hollow in their own bodies—and the true power of their eye implants goes far beyond that. In the future, t🎐he Phaethon siblings will undergo transformations and upgrades, evolving in both identity and ability. Though the Hollow remains a dangerous place, stay tuned to discover the siblings' future powers and how their roles within the Hollow will expand.

It was also mentioned that the 2.X patches will add a way to take our relationships with characters to a new level, beyond the story encounters and trust levels we have already. I know some players have been talking about romance. Can you clarify your plans here?

The Agent companionship system will continue to expand in both narrative and gameplay, as we strive to enhance interactions between players and Agents, showcase their charm beyond combat, and create a ಞsense ওof daily companionship.

On the narrative side, we'll highlight the Agents' unique appeal and their bonds with players by weaving in their personalities, backgrounds, and relationship꧒s with the Proxy. In terms of gameplay, we'll unlock more shop functions alongside events and expand interactive features with Agents. For example, the flower arrangement gameplay introduced in version 1.7 event "Say It With Flowers," and in version 2.0, the Gravity Cinema in Lumina Square will open during events, letting players enjoy movie-watching interactions with Agents and spend relaxing moments together in front of the silver screen.

In the future, as more Exploration꧂ Areas are released, additional shop functions will be optimized and expanded, enabling even more interactions between players and Agents, and offering deeper insights into their daily lives and personalities in New Eridu.

Finally, some players were surprised not to see the previously teased Angels of Delusion idol characters in the 2.0 teaser. Can you shed some light on when and how these characters will appear in-game?

What we can share for now is that thꩵe Angels of Delusion faction will debut in version 2.X, but please stay tuned for mo𒁃re details about the launch date and the faction itself.

Zenless Zone Zero tells Wuthering Waves, Genshin Impact, and Honkai Star Rail to hold my beer, giving out free S-rank characters and weapons for its anniversary.

Spoilers ahead for Imperial #1

Imperial #1 opens with two mysterious figures, seemingly the cosmic manipulator known as the Grandmaster and the devilish villain Mephisto, who are starting a cosmic game that apparently invol🎶ves manipulati𝔍ng events and heroes around the galaxy.

From there, we catch up with Gamma-powered heroes Bruce Banner/Hulk, Amadeus Cho/Brawn, and Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk as they travel through space to visit Sakaar En Nevo, the new incarnation of Sakarr, AওKA Planet Hulk.

Though the people oജf Sakaar greet the return of Hulk with celebration, their mission is actually one of traged🌼y, as the ruler of the planet, Hulk's son Hiro-Kala, has been poisoned, leaving the world in disarray.

Hulk leaves She-Hulk on Sakaar as he travels to the newly built Fulcrꦅum City, which is intended to be the new center of intergalactic politics, where the many cosmic empires of the Marvel Universe come together in a kind of extra-teཧrrestrial United Nations.

However, things are far more dire than Hulk understands, as he and Brawn discover that the leaders of several other🐭🦄 empires have been poisoned by an identical toxin to the one that killed Hiro-Kala.

As the Galactic Council convenes to uncover the truth behind the murders, it's revealed that the poison that killed the fallen leaders was made by the Kree Science Council. However, they were not the ones who po🎉ison𝓰ed Hiro-Kala and the others.

Insꦰtead, the Kree divulge that the poison was sold to none other than the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, the spacebound sister empire of Earth's Wakanda. Just then, a Wakandan sniper attacks, killing multiple diplomats, damaging the station, and leaving many others missing, including Hulkling, Wiccan, and the rest of the delegation from the Kree/Skrull Empire.

In the wake of the disaster, Star-Lord and Richard Ryder, the classic Nova, decide to team up to get to the bottom of what's going on, le🐼ading to multiple factions now involved in the quickly devolving political situation in the Galactic Council. Meanwhile, the Council begins to target the Wakandan Empire for war.

The story harkens bacꦯk to some of the best work by writer Jonathan Hickman, whose Fantastic Four, Avengers, Secret Wars, and X-Men stories have proved to be the backbone of a certain era of the Marvel Univers𒈔e.

Hickman's narrative attention to detail and continuity, his unfolding plan to bring the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe into the modern day, and his focus on bringing together popular characters for a sweeping new saga also call to mind the mid-'00s era of Marvel stories, especially the now classic Annihilation and its sequel Annihilation: Conquest, and of course the critically acclaimed Planet Hulk. At the same time, the art team also lives up to the concept of huge, blockbuster comics, nailing the scope andౠ tone of every scene.

It's been too long since Marvel took a big, impressive swing in its c🍃ore reality🅠 that feels like its own massive tale focused on marrying the classic Marvel Universe with new concepts, and even longer since Marvel's cosmic wing has felt fresh and new.

That one-two punch ma𒀰kes Imperial #1 feel like the story could grow into a high watermark for recent Marvel events, and a much-needed creative shot in the arm intended more to tell an affecting story that brings in some new ideas instead of coasting on readers' expec𓆉tations for what might come next.

Check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Marvel Comics events of all time.

Local Wireless vs GameChat GameShare

There are two ways you can set up GameShare on your Nintendo Switch 2, and the first one is via a local wireless connection. So long as your friend and their console are nearby and hooked up to the same Wi-Fi connection, you can share your compatible Switch 2 or OG Switch games to their system.

That means you can both play with only one copy of the game🐻. Only a Nintendo💖 Switch 2 can send games, but the original Nintendo Switch, Switch Lite, and OLED Switch models can receive them.

Rather than initiating GameShare on the Nintendo Switch 2 through the system settings, you actually activate through any supported game. To s☂tart GameShare via local communication, follow the steps below:

1. Turn on Nintendo Switch 2
2. Load up a GameShare-compatible game
3. Select GameShare from the game's start menu
4. Once prompted, select 'A Local User' from the available list

Alternatively, if you want to share your game with friends who live far away, you can GameShare via 🧸the brand-new GameChat feature. To do this, follow these steps instead:

1. Turn on Nintendo Switch 2
2. Load up a GameShare-compatible game
3. Select GameShare from the game's start menu
4. Once prompted, select 'A User in a GameChat Session'

GameChat is only available on the Nintendo Switch 2, so you will only be able to play through co-op or multiplayer games with friends who also own ༺the new handheld. It also requires having an active Nintendo Switch Online mem💧bership.

Until March 31, 2026, Nintendo is providing GameChat for free to Switch 2 owners, so you'll have plenty of time to see if it's worth investing in a Nintendo Switch Online membership, if you haven't already. Afterwards, it will be locked behind that NSO paywall, alongside GameShare.

It's worth mentioning that your friends will only be allowed to play any shared game during that GameChat session. Once it ends, your friend's access to playing that shared game will end with it.

You'll find a full list of GameShare-compatible Nintendo Switch games, and whether or not they're aꦑble to be shared locally or via GameChat below.

For now, there isn't a huge list of compatible games that can be shared via GameChat. If you were hoping to play Mario Kart World, for example, with only one copy between friends, you're out of luck for now. However, Nintendo has stated that select Switch games will become "compatible with GameShare after free software updates" which hopefully means there's plenty of new compati🎃ble titles to come.

How to Set Up GameShare

If you want to get the most out of your Switch 2, grabbing one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch headsets, the best Nintendo Switch 2 microSD Express Cards, or one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch controllers can unlock the full potential of your new handheld.

By rights, the new Switch 2 gamepad should be in direct succession to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch Controller throne. The original is sitting pretty at the top right now, and it could continue to do so if it now goes on to be available for less. However, it's missing a few features that help it pair better with Nintendo's latest 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming handheld contender, and the differences might be enough to 🌄help it win out.

I'm personally planning on maining the original 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch Pro Controller with the Switch 2 for now. It's been going strong for eight years now without any aging drawbacks, which is a huge testament to its build quality. That said, I've been running through the differences to weigh up whether it's worth spending $84.99 on the newbie or grabbing the ಌOG for less while it's still around.

Price

I won𝕴't lie, the Nintendo Switch Pro 2 Controller price tag makes me feel a little queasy. No matter which way you swing it, $84.99 / $74.99 is a lot to pay for a gamepad, especially one that doesn't really tap into premium elements. Sure, you're getting a few extras compared to the original, but extra back buttons and aesthetic differences aside, you're not getting anything revolutionary here for the money.

The short answer is that the original Switch Pro controller wins hands down in terms of price. However, I'm wary that Nintendo will likely discontinue the gඣamepad into the abyss so that its new Switch Pro controller reigns supreme. If that happens, the power (resellers) that be could start listing the accessory for more than MSRP, and in that instance, t✤he new pad could look more appealing.

Winner: Original Switch Pro Controller

Comfort

In the hands, the Switch 2 Pro Controller feels nearly identical to the original. It's not an exact replica, and it i꧙s actually slightly lighter than the OG pad at 235g, but Nintendo has more or less simply built upon its original, beautiful blueprint.

I'll get onto additional features, but I want to highlight that the Pro Controller 2's back buttons will enhance comfo🌟rt ♋levels for some players. Being able to map toggles at the rear means if you find discomfort in clicking the analogue sticks for some functions, or even just prefer to keep your thumbs still in Mario Kart races, you'll be able to tweak things to suit your own preferences.

Nintendo has also made some tweaks to its thumbsticks, as they're noticeably smoother than the original setup. You're not getting hall effect sensor꧟s, but the changes do seem to benefit movement ergonomics, therefore givin♒g the new pad an additional slight edge.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller

Features

The new Swi🗹tch 2 Pro Controller isn't exactly feature-packed compared to the original, but it does add a few extras that tie in with the new handheld. Back buttons are becoming increasingly common in even standard gamepads, and Ninty has added two to the back of its new accessory. They're even remappable, so you'll no longer have to conform to using traditional face buttons if you're accustomed to having toggles around back.

The other new addition is🥀 a dedicated 'C' button at the front that's used to access the 🅠new GameChat feature. If you're planning on using Nintendo's new social hub, it's going to help you instantly respond to group invites without leaving your game and help you dive into the app without heading to the home screen.

The old Pro Controller lacks the button, meaning you'll have to come out of your game and use the GameChat icon instead. This will be ౠmore fiddly and feel less slick, and while the ideওa of paying $85 just to gain that specific button feels wrong, it is the only way to fully embrace the feature.

The 'C' button isn't the only engineer🌠ed inconvenience that'll tempt you to pick up a Switch 2 Pro Controller, as the OG gamepad also can't wake the handheld out of sleep mode. If you're the kind of player who likes to kick back and fire up your setup from the couch, that's going to be an upset, and sticking with the original pad means you'll need the right Joy-Con to hand to turn the sysꦡtem on in docked mode.

On a less irritating note, Nintendo has also added a 3.5mm audio jack to the Switch 2 Pro Controller - a huge win if you use a wired 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming headset with the PS5 or Xbox Seri♏es X. The original is missing the connector entirely, but that makes sense considering the OG handheld doesn't have any sort of voice chat built into its operating system.

Rather begrudingly, I have to give the f♛eatures crown to the Switch 2 Pro Controller. While half its new abilities could have easily been added to t💖he OG gamepad via a system update, the 3.5 headphone jack and back buttons are nice extras.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller

Battery

Both the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller and the OG gamepad feature the same 40-hour runtime via a 1,070mAh battery. Your mileag💜e will vary based on what you're playing, especially if you've got a lot of HD rumble going on. However, when you do eventually run out of juice, the Switch 2 Pro Controller will charge much faster thanks to its modern innards.

Specifically, the Switch 2 Pro Contro✨ller will fully charge in 3.5 hours versus 6 hours with the original Pro Controll♊er. That'll make a massive difference if you're trying to prepare for big Mario Kart World sessions and need some pads juiced up fast, and sticking with the OG controllers will ultimately mean spending longer tethered to a USB cable.

I haven't had the chance to tear down a Switch 2 Pro Controller yet, but if it's harder to get into the back than the original, that could be a major drawback. The 2017 gamepad features an incredibly easy-to-replace battery, and if you're not fussed about charge times, you could upgrade the OG accessory with a much ♋larger capacity.

Still, the enhanced charge speed means the Switch 2 Pro Controller trumps the original in the battery department. Again, it might be a winner, but I'd reflect on that MSRP and askౠ yourself whether the perk is worth paying extra for.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2 Pro controller

Looking for more add-ons? Swing by the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch accessories and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Switch 2 Micro SD Express cards to kit out your handheld.

Yes, the game is hard as nails – but that's not why I left it collecting digital ꦍdust on my PS5's hard drive.

After 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:the announcement of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Elden Ring movie, I decided to dip back into The Lands Between and firmly remembered why I left it all behind. It terrified me. Not always in a conventional sense, mind you, but I've always been a little tentative when it comes to the🌼 unknown in video games. I am, admittedly, a hand-holder at heart.

Stepping back into Elden Ring where I left off – Raya Lucaria Academy and the fringes of the surrounding Lakes – with rusty skills, no found map, no guidance (this is a walkthr💞ough-free zone, thank you very much), and a hostile🍨 world of gruesome creatures and Lovecraftian monstrosities that want to kill me at every turn didn't exactly fill me with joy.

As I inched towards the exterior of the cavernous buildings, I was met by a true jump-scare. A Runebear – a Lesser one, to my embarrassment – thrust its claws into me and left me shorn of Runes and my sha🐻me. I'm not sure I'll ever return to the underside of that bridge.

But then it dawned on me: Elden Ring is meant to scare me. I'd even go one further and say it's at its best when it's a full-blown nightmare. My earlier hours, too, were packed with spine-chilling 𒉰moments that dwarfed my return's ursine-shaped terror. The Ulcerated Tree Spirit slashing at me in an optional first dungeon when I was hopelessly out of my depth; the sneaky, iconic chest switcharoo that dumped my Tarnished in unfamiliar territory close to Caelid ♑in the opening minutes; whatever Godrick the Grafted is supposed to be. It all painted a picture of a world that didn't want me there or wanted me dead. Neither did much good for my nerves.

The secret to Elden Ring's success, then, isn't that it's a heroic adventu꧙re or a power fantasy. Instead, it's a war of attrition; FromSoftware's open-world masterpiece is a brutal struggle, one where you're constantly on th🦩e back foot and never want to see what's around the corner.

Reign over me

Which brings me to A24's Elden Ring movie adaptation. There has been plenty of discussion already about what the big-screen take should look like, with a particularly vocal sub-section of fans 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:pining for a story based on Vyke, the Tarnish🤪ed who came closest to taking on the mantle of Elden Lord before the player's character rocked up to The First Step with naught but a wing, a prayer, and a Site of Grace's light to follow.

Of course, director Alex Garland is no slouch when it comes to horror himself, and might even be the perfect pick to helm the Elden Ring movie. Why? Discounting his dozens of hours amassed in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:reaching New Game𝕴 Plus six times over in Elden Ring, his work on 2022's Men showcased his keen eye for repulsive body horror (the G🌠reen Man isn't a sight you'll forget quickly), as well as the sort of oppressive, haunting tone that mirrors my own experience nudging around a greyed-out map in E༺lden Ring and being frozen by the thought of an otherworldly nasty lunging at me from the shadows.

Garland, too, has shown he is frequently malleable, flexible, and experimental with his choice of genre. Men may lean more into the folksy, peculiarly British sort of horror found in something like The Wicker Man, but the director's ever-changing work elsewhere – the unabashed, noisy grittiness of Warfare, the mind-bending Ex Machina ♔– proves he has a firm grasp on any genre he sets his mind to.

Rise of the Beast

Garland's less celebrated work as co-writer on the criminally underrated Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and 2013's di🌱visive Devil May Cry quasi-reboot already suggests he can appeal to a range of players, while understanding how the environment – as is the case in Enslaved's grassy world reclaimed by nature – can very much act as a secondary character in the same way Caelid's scorched skies or the brutal, enclosed architecture of Stormveil Castle's grounds will live long in my memory.

In truth, I would be disappointed if Elden Ring is a 1:1 adaptation or a similar analogue to the Tarnish🍒ed's journey towards the Elden Beast. I also don't think gamers are necessarily content with straightforward adaptations anymore. They've been there, pl🐬ayed that. The likes of Sonic, Minecraft, and Mario have proven to be triumphs by using their source materials as a launchpad for adaptations that realize the leap from consoles to cinemas requires transformation, not merely treading the same ground.

Similarly🐓, a heavier horror twist on Elden Ring offers something different – a journey through game director Hidetaka Miyazaki's suffocating saga that taps into something I've been too scared to admit until now: Elden Ring is not-so-secretly a horror game, and it deserves a movie to match.

For more, check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming video game movies and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new PS5 games that are just over the horizon.

Pragmata release date speculation

Pragmata is currently slated to release sometime in 2026, but no exact date has been specified just yet.

This new launch window came atౠ the tailend of the latest gameplay trailer, with a little post-it note-like message penned by Diana that nods to the past delays with the word "sorry" written underneath, before the text changes to "2026, it's real", with a 🐭small smiley face sketched out below.

When Pragmata was first revealed in 2020, it was originally aiming for a 2022 release, before 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:it was later delayed into 2023. Then, it was later 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:delayed indefinitely, and the studio went radio s💝il🍰ent on the project time before we got this new launch window.

Pragmata platforms

Pragmata is set to release on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5.

When it was first announced in June 2020, it was one of the early games to be revealed for the then next-gen consoles, which hadn't yet been released. Fast forward five years later, an𝄹d Pragmaꦛta is still set to come to the same platforms, with the confirming a PC Steam and console launch.

With the newly launched Switch 2 now out in the wild, there hasn't been any word on whether or not it will one day join the lineup of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Switch 2 games for Nintendo's new-gen console♓, but we'll be keeping🍌 an eye out for any updates.

Pragmata trailers

The very first Pragmata trailer (just above) came our way back in 2020, with an introduction to a mysterious astronaut-like figure walking down a city street that we now know is the protagonist, Hugh. He's then joined by a young girl, who is later revealed to be an android companion. While the initial reveal offers up a mysterious first look🅷, it introduces us to the two main characters and the curious sci-fi universe we'll be pulled into.

The second Pragmata trailer (which you can watch below) came during a Capcom showcase in 2023, which gave us our first real glimpses of gameplay. In the trailer, we see Hugh and Diana exploring a "dystopian near-future lunar worldꦰ" as they go up against some ro꧙botic foes.

The latest gameplay traileಞr (seen below), which dropped during the State of Play June 2025 showcase, gave us the most extensive look at Pragmata yet. "What comes after dreaming?", the title card reads, before we hear a mysterious voice introduce an organization known as✨ the Delphi Corporation, which could have a major presence within the story of Pragmata and relate to some of its themes: "The future. It isn't just a dream, it's a promise," the voice says, as though it's an advertisement trying to sell us on the organization.

"One we're turning🐓 into reality. With our third generation of Lunafilament and advanced generative AI, 💦we're reshaping the line between dreams and reality. We create life for our future. Delphi Corporation".

Pragmata story and setting

There's still a lot of mystery surrounding Pragmata's story, but in the latest gameplay trailer, we appear to be shown the first meeting between protagonist🥂 Hugh and his new android companion.

First introduced as D-I-03367, Hugh gives his companiܫon the name Diana, but we don't yet know the exact circumstances that bring the pair together. But the trailer itself is also called "First Contact", which g🦋oes in line with their initial connection, and we also know that the pair will have to work together to make it through a lunar research station and defeat its AI in order to return to Earth.

Taking place in a "near-future" setting with a dඣistinct sci-fi edge, it'll be interesting to discover how this Delphi organization factors into the story, and how Hugh and Diana ended up in this situation.

In an official that followed the State 𓆉of Play showcase, director ♏Cho Yonghee said that the team at Capcom can't wait to talk about Hugh and Diana and their adventure, so here's hoping we learn more about the story soon!

Pragmata gameplay

We've gotten to see some Pragmata gameplay thanks tꦓo the latest trailer, which shows off some of the ways Hugh and Diana work together as they navigate the research station. With Diana hopping on Hugh's back as he goes up against foes, and also using some kind of hacking ability. In the PlayStation blogpost, Yonghee explains that both protagonists have their own abilities and we'll be "controlling them both - at the same time - to overcome the many obstacles you'll face" throughout the game.

"This two-in-one approach, where Hacking is key to your success, is our own unique take on combat that you'll only find here - in Pragmata", Yonghee says, b༒efore adding that we can expect more details soon as Capcom delves "deeper into the combat experience in the near future". From the sounds of it, we won't have to wait too🐷 long to discover more about Pragmata's gameplay and its "unique hacking twist".

Pragmata development

Pragmata was initially reveale𓃲d during the , which streamed back in 2020 to officially revꩲeal the PS5 for the first time, some four months before the console launched.

Originally slated to launch in 2022, Capcom posted news confirming its decision to push back the release into 2023, citing thaꦏt the team needed more time to "ensure this will be an unforgettable adventure". The delay was accompanied by new artworkꦿ of .

Then, the project was indefinitely delayed in 2023 , which marked the publisher's 40th anniversary. While assurances were given that the team were still hard at work, it wasn't until 2025 that we finally got to see the game once more, with Capcom even calling back to its initial delay artwork with a similar message confirming it's still♏ very muc🌱h real and on the way, with its new 2026 launch window.

Looking ahead to future releases with our roundups of all of the most exciting 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming PC games, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Xbox Series X games, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming PS5 games.

Maybe it's the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia, but I never noticed how quiet The Witcher 3 can be. Soft footsteps and the odd NPC bark aside, it seems these thriving townships suffer from a serious lack of actual thriving. Sure, it was (and still is) one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs for a reason, butဣ with The Witcher 3 having tu🔯rned 10 this year, it's clear that CD Projekt Red has learned a lot of lessons since then. Specifically, around how to craft an environment – and the tech demo has me hyped for Ciri to get a taste of Night City's buzz

Night and day cities

As much as I love the "city of dreams,", it took the develop🍌er almost four years-post launch to achieve Cyberpunk 2077's potent🤡ial.

Today, Night City is as immersive of a video game metropolis as you can get. Hundreds of NPCs crowd the streets from Heywood to Japantown and beyond, the roads teem with cars of all shapes, sizes, and engine, and sound is pretty much everywhere.

You can almost smell cigarette smoke through the screen, hazy and thick in the early morning air as a nightclub's rhythmic bass keeps the party going, or taste the oily scopdog being wolfed down by a nearby Tyger Claw seconds before getting shoulde📖r-chucked by a dude in leoparꦡd-print hotpants. This thoroughly lived-in vibe is what makes Cyberpunk such an exciting place to escape to in a video game, and sadly, it's something we just did not get in The Witcher 3.

In the videos linked above, I was surprised to see how much I'd disregarded the lack of urban business in CD Projekt Red's most iconic RPG. One of them sees an NPC drinking silently and repetitively from a flask of wine, rooted to the spot, while a passing woman bemoans her husband's adulterous liaisons, all while Geralt simply walks past them like a ghost. Suddenly, aജ child comes running up beside him, causing a collision issue with the striding witcher as her character model seeꦬms to reverberate off Geralt's for a moment before coming unstuck and continuing on her travels.

In hindsight, the lack of bustle makes these cities feel a bit, well, dea🌃d. Thankfully, The Witcher 4 looks to change that.

Leaps and boundaries

This time around, bringing Night City's lively urban environments to The Witcher 4 seems par𒉰amount to CD Projekt Red. It's part of the studio's mission to deliver "the most ambitious, immersive Witcher game ever," harnessing the power of Unreal Engine 5.6 to do so.

In the short clip seen in the tech demo where Ciri walks around a marketplace in Kovir, that power is already evident – as are flavors of Night City's vitality. A tavern keeper is seen throwing an unruly patron out into the streets in what looks like a scripted environmental encounter, triggered by the player's proximity to a certain location. This reminds me of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cyberpunk 2077 quest Don't Lose Your Mind, which kicks in only when observing a car crash while driving around Co𒁏rpo Plaza's roundabout.

Not only that, the environmental noise is far more realistic. It's only an in-engine demo to showcase the technology, with an on-screen warning indicating 🍸that it's "not actual gameplay," but hearing fully-scripted NPC conversations happening while Ciri waltzes past is a far cry from t🐠he near deathly silence of towns in The Witcher.

It's too early to say for sure, but this small slice of progress tells me that CD Projekt Red is taking innovation seriously. With plenty of lessons learned through Cyberpunk 2077 and DLC Phantom Liberty, its design philosophy is a testament to the studio's immense growth, reminding us why The Witcher 4 is one of the most exciting 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games on the horizon. Let's hope we get eyes on some actual game footage soon to see if it holds up.

There's plenty more 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming PS5 games on the way besides The Witcher 4... though I'll admit, it's still my most wanted

Additionally, anyone who finds the Joy-Con uncomfortable will get a lot of use out of a wireless controller. Grabbing a high-quality USB-C camera will also go a long way in improving the quality of hangouts over the new 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Switch 2 GameChat feature. But at the same time, cutting down on the amount of extras you grab for your new console can save a lot of cash.

No one really needs to grab any accessories from the get-go, as the Switch 2 comes with everything you need to get it set up on day one. However, if you want to get more value out of the new 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming handheld and keep it protected straight from the get🌌-go, I've narrowed down the most important a🉐ccessories and how they can improve your time with the Switch 2.

Nintendo Switch 2 cases

I always like to grab a protective case (and a screen protector for that matter) for my gaming handhelds as soon as possible. I'm pretty clumsy, and I'd like to tell you I haven't dropped my launch Switch on the floor on several occasions, but I'd be lying. Having one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch cases as soon as possible meant my beloved first Switch was able to avoid any additional harm, which is why I always advocate for having one of your own as soon as humanly possible, especially for your Switch 2.

Not all cases are made equal, and some are going to be made of much sturdier material than others. But no matter which one you pick, any protection is better than leaving your pricey Ninty handheld out in the open. Plus, if you plan to travel a lot with your Switch 2, a case means you can safely store it away in your bag, and even have some extra space for games and a charger.

Nintendo has a few options available from launch day, from the Carrying Case and Screen Protector set to the massive All-In-One Carrying Case, which even has space for your Switch 2 dock and six game cards. Third-party accessory brands have also got plenty of options available. The STEALTH Premium Travel Kit for is what I'd recommend if you don't plan on taking your dock with you, but want ample storage for your games. The all-black case not only has room for your Switch 2, but 12 games, and even an extra pair of Joy-Con 2 controllers. For just under $50, you're not just getting hardened protection for your new handheld either, but the kit also includes a 2 metre USB C-C charging cable and screen protector for good measure.

If you'd rather some protection that wraps around your handheld, the Killswitch Switch 2 case is now available from , and is designed to let you detach your Joy-Cons all without removing the case. It even comes withꦍ an adaptor for your Switch 2 dock, so once🥂 it's on, you never need to take it off, whether you're privy to playing in docked or handheld mode.

Verdict: If you want some extra protection for your Switch 2, grabbing a case will help ensure less wear and tear is caused to your handheld whenever it's not in its dock or in your hands. Plus, it's easier to take your Switch 2 on the go when you have an easy way of storing it.

Anyone who sticks to playing the handheld in docked mode and docked mode only will likely have no need to grab a case on launch day,🎃 or in the future. But even if you rarely dabble in handheld mode, a compact travel case is a must for keeping your Switch 2 safe and sound.

Nintendo Switch 2 storage

The Switch 2 relies on the use of microSD Express Cards, rather than the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch SD Cards that are compatible with its predecessor. These new cards were chosen by Nintendo "for faster data reading and writing speeds", but it also means you'll need a specific type o𒊎f card to upgrade your storage.

Luckily, there are two licensed microSD Express cards available right now. Both Samsung and Sandisk have their own 256GB cards, which are available for and other retailers. At the moment, 256GB is as high as these official cards go, but you'll get a funky Super Mario design if you grab them. (A design you'll rarely see once it's actually in your Switch 2, but alas.)

Not everyone is going to need a brand-new microSD Express Card, as it all depends on how you play your Switch 2. For example, someone who's eager to play every brand-new release might easily fill up the 256GB worth of onboard storage in no time - especially when games like Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Switch 2 Edition and Cyberpunk 2077 require 24.2GB and 59.8GB, respectively. If you stick with small indie releases and regularly archive your new virtual game cards, 250GB will be more than enough for the time being.

Verdict: An extra 256GB doubles the space of the Switch 2, and gi🔥ves more opportunities for installing more games, as well as a wealth of screenshots and game clips. However, if you prefer to stick to indie titles that typically don't have demanding storage requirements, and regularly transfer your screenshots to your PC, more storage right now shouldn't be your biggest priority. In t🔯he latter case, I'd wait at least a few months to see how the starting storage fares with your playing habits before you drop $50 on a brand-new microSD card.

Nintendo Switch 2 headsets

Unless I've got Netflix on in the background, I always prefer to have a gaming headset on my head so I don't miss a beat of whatever Switch game I'm currently playing. Hearing your games clearly can be pretty important if you're having to listen out for audio triggers in turn-based games like the Mario and Luigi series, or where bullets are whizzing past you in Fortnite. But most importantly, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch headsets can really up the immersion factor.

If you want to keep costs low, especially after the hefty amount of cash you laid down on the handheld itself, you don't have to pick up a new headset. In fact, thanks to the console's inclusion of a 3.5mm jack port and its Bluetooth support from the get-go, it's very likely you'll have an existing pair of cups that'll work with the Switch 2 without issue. You'll just want to make sure that whatever you pick has a high-quality enough microphone if you plan to make use of the new GameChat feature and don't want to sound like a garbled mess to your friends.

For those who haven't yet added one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming headsets to their growing Nintendo setup, having one at the ready from day one will mean you can experience every ounce of new games as clear as day. Nintendo hasn't yet officially unveiled a Switch 2 licensed pair of cups (and neither have any third party brands), but there's a ton of high-quality options out there, from the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Barracuda X to the more premium 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro that will work with the handheld. The latter has spatial audio support, so you'll be able to hear the sounds of any compatible games in a more realistic 3D soundscape. The Razer's Barrauda X is a better pick for most, though, with its value-oriented price point and excellent audio.

Verdict: In the end, if you want to keep costs low🍬 and don't have🅺 anyone around you who might find the loud sounds of Mario Kart World, or the new NSO GameCube game library, hard to cope with, you don't need to grab a brand-new Switch 2 gaming headset. The new handheld's various ports and Bluetooth compatibility mean you'll also likely have a compatible pair of cups already lying around that'll work a treat.

On the oওther hand, if you're new to gaming headsets and need a mic to chat to your friends through the Switch 2, a gaming headset will go a long wa🦹y in making the handheld's audio truly sound next-gen.

Nintendo Switch 2 controllers

Additional controllers for your Switch 2 are a lot easier to recommend from day one, especially if you weren't a fan of the feel of the original Joy-Cons. In my own experience, I always resorted to using the included Joy-Con grip or a wireless controller like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:8BitDo Ultimate C for a more comfortable grip.

The Nintendo Switch 2 includes a grip that transforms the two controllers into one, just like the original Switch. That's better than nothing, but it can feel flimsy and can still be uncomfortable after hour-long gaming sessions. That's where the Switch 2 Pro controller comes in, offering up an ergonomic shape and all the NFC-reading tech and buttons you need to play whatever your heart desires.

The new Switch 2 Pro controller also has some improvements over the original, including the new 'C' button to activate GameChat, two new GL and GR remappable back buttons, and the upgraded HD rumble 2. As you can imagine, this does come at a price, and will mean you forking out another at launch. It was unfortunately caught in the recent price hike crossfires in the US, so you will need to keep that in mind if you're after an additional controller but would rather keep costs low. Fortunately, it's always remained at its RRP of , in the UK.

Verdict: If you liked the feel of the original Joy-Con controllers and have a tight budget in mind, I'd leave grabbing a new Switch 2 controller until later. However, the new Switch 2 Pro controller is a great alternative for those who don't vibe with the flat-backs of the Joy-Cons, it just comes at a bigger cost - especially if you're based in the US.

Alternatively, the official Joy-Con grip, or using a compatible wireless third-party controller, is another viable option. As is the official NSO GameCube controller, if you want a more nostalgic way to play the brand-new GameCube gamꦍe library at lau🌠nch. (But you will need an active NSO subscription to order it.)

Nintendo Switch 2 cameras

The Switch 2 camera was one of the newest accessories announced, allowing you to video chat with friends over the GameChat feature. It's also compatible with some games, like Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition ＋ Jamboree TV, so if you're desperate to see yourself on screen, you can pick up the official Switch 2 camera for , or the Hori USB Camera for, and make use of the newly added in-game features.

I'd personally wait a moment before diving into the world of Switch 2 cameras. Super Mario Jamboree, the main game used to advertise the official camera, isn't out until July 24, 2025. If you're a paying NSO member, you will be able to at least use the camera for GameChat, but there's a big chance you'll already have a compatible camera at hand, as the handheld is compatible with some USB-C cameras already on the market.

Verdict: The Switch 2 is compatible with other USB-C cameras, so if you actually want to make use of Game🍸Chat to video chat wit🐽h your friends, or make use of the new features in Mario Party Jamboree, you might already have a compatible webcam at your disposal.

However, not many games make use of the camera at launch, so I recommend waiting if you're strapped for cash before deciding to add🧜 one to your Switch 2 setup from day one.

Which Nintendo Switch 2 accessories do you need on launch day?

No one really needs to purchase any additional accessories for the Switch 2 and have them locked and loaded for launch day. In fact, the only accessory I'd say most players need at launch is a case. The handheld comes with all you need to get it up and running, including a set of Joy-Con 2 controllers, the Switch 2 dock, and an AC adaptor. So long as you have a compatible TV and a spare power socket, you'll be good to go.

However, if you want to get a little more out of your Switch 2 and have the cash to burn, that's where accessories come in. You'll need some Switch 2 accessories to make the most of the handheld's new features. For example, is the 256GB worth of onboard storage isn't enough for the games you intend to play, you'll need to upgrade sharpish. Additionally, having the Switch 2 camera will mean you can use GameChat straight away.

The Switch 2's🌳 compatibility with a range of other add-ons, however, means you can make ✤do with what you have if you have a budget to keep to. The original Pro controller is compatible, as are a range of headsets. There will be some features you won't be able to make the most of (eg, only the Switch 2 Pro controller has HD rumble 2), and using the latest official accessories is usually going to result in a stress-free setup.

Our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 preview provides a better look at the brand new device, but check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 game and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 vs Nintendo Switch guides to see what you can expect to play and how each handheld measures up.

So it was all going horribly, and I was all ready to abandon this edgelord among edgelords. But then somebody walked by asᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ I was trying to parry a pile of slime to disastrous results, and made a casual comment. "Oh – so it's like Sekiro?"

Yes, it is

At that moment, something clicked. On some level I'd always understood that the Executor was an homage to FromSoft's samurai sim, in the same way that the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Elden Ring Nightreign Duchess class feels like a callback to Bloodborne, but perhaps it was more than merely being visual. I started to adjust my thinking accordingly: Stop playing this like it's Nightreign. Stop being aggressive, stop trying to outpace your foes. Try to channel Shadows Die Twice. Counter, dodge, parry. Big emphasis on that last one.

Still learning the ropes, I n🎉onetheless found myself carried by competent teammates to the game's final boss, a lanky killer from a slasher film and a celestial event trying to meet each other halfway. Reality began to shatter against his blades and panic threatened to overtake me, but I hunkered down and simply continued doing what I'd been doing before: parry. After all, that solved basically everything in Sekiro, so let's assume it solves everything now… Right?

But the last of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nightreign bosses has this move where he basically tears the universe in half. That's barely an exaggeration: t🍎he sky is rent in twain as though a black hole had just punched through from the fifth dimension, a spectacle beyond comprehension, and a wave of raw cosmic power sweeping from that yawning abyss that annihilates everything in its path like a nuclear bl- oh, I just parried it.

I almost didn't believe it had happened at first, that I'd effectively deflected a collapsing star with a flick of my wrist while both my allies were punted into the horizon. But it had happened, it worked, and from that point on, I had to seriously reappraise the apparent black sheep of thဣe Nightfarers.

The Executor is by no means perfect, or even the best of the different Nightreign classes, but I urge those among you who didn't care for the character at first to give him another shot. While there's a few too many bosses that clearly weren't designed with his unique systems in mind, there's a whole different g🌠ame found within his Cursed Blade ability, to say nothing of rampaging around as an ugly kaiju when enemy numbers threaten to overwhelm you.

More imꦬportantly, there's something rich in the idea of FromSoftware folding in whole new gameplay styles with their new Nightfarers, not just evoking different builds we remember from Elden Ring. With new characters on the way with DLC, I'd love to see the studio push the boat out and throw in something like a playable mech to stomp around the Lands Between, in true Armored Core style.

No, it d🐽oesn't make sense, but neither did the Duke's Dear F♎reya and Nameless King showing up. Sometimes you have to put fun ahead of logic. Otherwise, how could you ever hope to deflect a supernova?

Find out our deeper thoughts in our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Elden Ring Nightreign review!

The world of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming handhelds has been dominated by two models for the last few years. We've already seen how the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 vs Steam Deck battle plays out, so I'm turning my attention to the best handheld PC on the market; the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Ally.

I first reviewed the ROG Ally back in 2023, and then took on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Ally X just a year later. With their AMD Ryzen Z1꧃E chips, full-sized controls, and chunkier form factor, they both offer a very different experience to Ninty's family-friendly console. Now that I've got the Nintendo Switc♛h 2 firmly in my hands, I'm pitting it against the very system that saw its predecessor collecting dust on my shelf.

Price

There's a considerable jump in price between the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Asus ROG Ally (and then again up to the X model), however there's a little more nuance to these numbers as well. The Asus ROG Ally Z1E is🎀 no stranger to sales, and it's dropped to $449.99 / £399.99 a few times in the last year. That's the same rate as the Switch 2 at launch (a set of numbers I don't expect to be falling any time soon).

If timed correctly, the Asus ROG Ally could be the same price as the Nintendo Switch 2 - though discounts are far less forgiving on the boosted X model. That's a $700 device even on sale and I haven't seen any price cuts in the UK at the time of writing. That price increase does come with sturdierღ specs and a slightly better design, but it's only going to make sense for a select number of players.

There's a꧙lso a cheaper version of the Asus ROG Ally, with a Z1 rather than Z1E chipset. However, it's hardeౠr to find on the shelves these days and seems to be fading into the sunset now. If you do spot it, though, it's usually sitting at around $399.99 when on sale.

At full price, the Nintendo Switch 2 takes this one. It's $200 / £200 cheaper than the Asus ROG Ally Z1E, but it's well worth looking out for disco꧋unts on the latter.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Portability

These are handhelds, so they need to be easily portable. Of the bunch, the Nintendo Swit♉ch 2 is the lightest and thinnest, measuring in at only 0.55-inches thick and weiܫghing 535g. The Asus ROG Ally Z1E is considerably bulkier, and the Ally X slightly more so, at 1.28-inches and 1.45-inches respectively.

That means your case is going to be significantly larger if you opt for the Asus ROG Ally. I've been transporting both, and it's much easier to squeeze Ninty's system into a backpack. Even a slimline fabric ROG Ally case is still bulky and h♏eavy, whereas I can slip skinny Switch clamshell into even a smaller bag and still have space left over.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Comfort

The Nintendo Switch 2 is certainly far more comfortable✅ than its predecessor, but it still sacrifices the extra grips of the Asus ROG Ally in favor of a slimmer form factor. That means it's lighter and easier on the wrists o🐷verall, but with smaller controls and less to hold onto I do still feel a slight cramp after longer play sessions.

This year's Joy-Con are taller, but they're not much wider. Pair th🀅at with the scaled-down face buttons and thumbsticks, compared to the full-sized iterations on the Ally, and larger hands will still struggle to stay relaxed during marathon runs.

The Asus ROG Ally is built more for ergonomic comfort than the Switch 2. It features large protruding grips around the rear that provide additional leverage and promote a more natural hand placement. Thes🅰e grips are coated with a textured surface for a more precise hold, whereas Nintendo's device is completely matte. One isn't necessarily better than the other, this is largely down to personal preference. I much prefer the softer feel of the Switch 2 compared to the original console, but it can feel a little slippery compared to the rougher 𓆉surface of the Ally.

The slanted edges around the front are also more gentle on the palms compared to the completely flat Joy-Con 2. I still find the corners of Nintendo's controllers can dig into my hands after a b🐎it, whereas I've never experienced 🍌the issue on the Ally.

🔯Nintendo wins in weight. If you're holding the device in the air, rather than resting it on your lap or a table, the additional heft of Asus's handheld does make itself known. Overall꧟, however, this one goes to the PC.

Winner: Asus ROG Ally

Display

On paper, the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Asus ROG Ally have very similar displays. They're both 1080p LCDs running at 120H♉z, though there's a 0.9-inch size difference. Overall, Ninty's pulled this one off particularly well.

The Switch 2's panel isn't as bight as the Ally's 500 nits, but it does come with HDR support. Asus's display is crisp, sharp, and has excellent range, b🧸ut side by side there's a little more pop in Nintendo's display🤪 (notably more so in games like Cyberpunk 2077 with HDR switched off) - even if the Asus is a little sharper on occasion.

Despite only hitting the shelves a couple of years ago, Asus's device suffers from fairly large bezels around the display itself. It's a f🍒actor that can make the Ally feel a little outdated and, while the Switch 2 still keeps similar bezels in play, the larger panel makes it a little easier to forgive.

It should also be noted, and I'll get into this more later in the Performance section, that both the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Asus ROG Ally can output at 4K 60Hz when connected to a compatible display. The difference is🌳 the Ally is a PC and the Switch will have games specifically optimized for this level of resoꦦlution. You'll have a much easier time getting your games looking good on a 4K gaming monitor with the Nintendo Switch 2 to hand.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Battery

It's undeniable that the Nintendo Switch 2 has a weaker battery than the Asus ROG Ally (and a much smaller one compared to the X). That's not the 🍬full story, though. Yes, at 5,220mAh (and running at 3.7v), you're not even getting half the WHr size of the Ally in the Switch 2 - and yet the device's actual runtime easily keeps up.

That's because the Ally is working much harder to play its games. The Nintendo Switch 2 is a heavily optimized device, as most consoles are. That means the titles you're playing have been built for your system - even ports are re-jiggled to run well on the handhel𝄹d. PCs like the Asus ROG Ally live in ꦬa wild west where different games have different system requirements and optimal settings.

A more demanding❀ game could run your Ally charge down to zero in as little as an hour, but a lighter title on the right power preset could have you playing for up to six. The story is similar on the Nintendo Switch 2, with a tie between these two handhelds.

That's where the Ally X comes in. This upgr🐬aded model comes with a monster battery at 80WHrs. Suddenly your heaviest games can last from three hours - the longest stretch I've managed to squeeze out of this handheld is 8.5 hours. That's two hours more than the Switch 2, with the handheld doing significant🍷ly more work during that time.

Winner: Asus ROG Ally X

Controls

This is a tight one. The Nintendo Switch 2 has a lot going for it from a control perspective; ♎detachable Joy-Con make multiplayer s🦹essions a breeze, the new mouse sensor offers inbuilt precision, and the improved rumble is far more nuanced than Asus's. However, the Ally benefits from full-sized thumbsticks and face buttons, additional programmable paddles on the back, and a far more sophisticated d-pad.

There's a battle here between functionality and quality. The Nintendo Switch 2 can do more, but the Asus ROG Ally feels much better doing less. I'm far more precise with my aiming and movement when using Asus's taller thumbsticks (and even bette🐲r on the X where they feel much tighter), and directional inputs are more comfortable with the full d-pad.

No, you can't remove one side of it and use it as a pointer but the Asus ROG Ally can easily connect to any 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:wireless gaming mouse 👍you've got for a, potentially, much better experience instead.

At the end of the day, I prefer Asus's controls for single-player adventures and online multiplayer. They're more comfortable and more precise at the same time. However, if you know you're go💎ing to be prioritizing couch co-op gameplay the additional features of the Joy-Con 2 will prevail.

Winner: Asus ROG Ally

Connections

The Nintendo Switc🌼h 2 and Asus ROG Ally X both have two USB-C ports, perfect for those who use wireless accessories vi♔a 2.4GHz receivers and still want to keep their handhelds plugged in. The regular Ally Z1E, however, only has one USB-C connection.

That's the only major difference between the two handhelds' port selections. The Asus ROG Ally does feature a proprietary connection for its own XG Mobile eGPU hub, but that's an incredibly expensive add-on that very few will be🌳 ಞlooking to purchase. If you've got an extra few grand to play with, though, you can add RTX 4090-level performance to your Ally via this port.

The Switch 2's s♐econd USB-C port clinches this one.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Games

Settle in, this is a complicated one.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is far more powerful than its predecessor, which means more demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Borderlands 4 are coming to the system. That opens the Switch library considerably, blockbuster releases have a much higher chance of also landing on the Switch 2 than they did the original model. Not only that, but you will only be able to play first-party (and some third🐼-party) Nintendo Switch games on the system itself - Ninty is hard on its own exclusivity.

That leaves the Asus ROG Ally in an interesting position. This is a full Windows PC, so you can run anything you could on a laptop or desktop on here (in theory). That's a much bigger library, pretty much everything (outside of those aforementioned exclusives, as well as those of the💧 PS5) can be played on this device in🌌 some form.

You're also not beholden to one eShop here. Rather than living by N𝓡intendo's prices, you can shop around between Steam, Epic, and other l🤪aunchers.

Similarly, the ROG Ally has one final trick up its sleeve; Game Pass. Love it or hate it, Microsoft's subscription service is the best-value way to play new and old releases if you're not building a physical c♔ollection. A massive catalog of blockbusters and a healthy roster of day one releases means this is a fantastic tool in the arsenal of any Asus ROG Ally owner.

If you're a Nintendo fan you'll want to prioritize those first-party exclusives, if you're a gaming fan looking for one device to play a much wider range of releases, the Asus ROG Ally is a mu𓂃ch better pick. The Switch 2 i𝓡s promising better Triple-A compatibility, but nothing is concrete until it's out on the digital shelves.

For a better picture of the difference between the platforms, I've collected every game featured in this year's The Game Awards nominations and compared platform availability between the two. Compatibility is only ticked if there is an officially confirmed version of the game heading to Nintendo Switch 2.

Winner: Asus ROG Ally

Performance

The Asus ROG Ally is a PC, but it's not going to give you conventional PC performance. Yes, it's an efficie🅷nt system and it's run nearly every game I've tried on it comfortably (the ROG Ally X is a particularly potent beast), but there are more steps to getting that frame-perfect experience.

The Nintendo Switch 2 picks up its new resolution and sprints with it. This is a seriously impressive achievement consideriꦍng the size of the device and while the final result isn't quite as texturally sound as you'll see in lower resolutions on the Ally it's still a smooth, enjoyable experience.

The Asus ROG Ally can run in 4K, but it generally prefers not to. The X model is far better suited to this kind of high-resolution gaming, with its booste🧸d RAM, but you're still restricted to lighter games. Cyberpunk 2077 could nev♓er.

Nintendo is running a custom Nvidia chip inside its new handheld, whereas the Asus ROG Ally is a full AMD build. The performance of that Z1 Extreme chip puts it 💞at the top of the current handheld PC market, out-gunning cheaper options like the Steam Deck easily.

It's likely that Nintendo is relying on Nvi꧃dia's own DLSS upscaling tech to keep its 4K 120fps promise, whereas the Asus ROG Ally uses AMD's FSR kit. Both a similar in their framerꦇate-boosting capabilities, but both also leave behind their own visual defects from time to time.

In my testing of Cyberpunk 2077 so far, the Asus ROG Ally and Nintendo Switch 2 have played to different strengths. The Switch is much smoother, with no screen tearing and very very few j🦋udders. Textures and lighting are generally similar between the two, with both taking a heavy drop during faster gameplay moments. However, the Ally has a crisper level of detail on its visuals than the Switch 2 - most notable around character faces. That's running the Asus ROG Ally on Steam Deck graphical settings, things are a lot choppier once you start moving into full RT offerings.

The Asus ROG Ally is capable of more than the Nintendo Switch 2 is, but you'll need to jump thr🌠ough more hoops to get there. That could even things up, if it weren't for the Asus ROG Ally X. With a massive 24GB of faster 7500MHz RAM, this is wheꦏre true framerate chasers need to be looking.

Winner: Asus ROG Ally X

Storage

The Nintendo Switc✱h 2 has seen a massive increase in storage this generation, upping the Switch OLED's 64GB to an excellent 256GB starting position. That's still half of the 512GB SSD inside the Asus ROG Ally, though, and a quarter of the 1TB Ally X. Those numbers aren't to be taken at face value, though,🔴 the runway you've actually got from those drives differs.

That🌺's because game sizes are on the up. While original Switch games may have ta🎐ken up a few gigabytes, Cyberpunk 2077 will require around 60GB of space. As Nintendo starts taking on these chunkier games, the Switch 2's built in storage is going to suffer just as much as its predecessor did. These are PC-sized game files, and even the Asus ROG Ally struggles with double the space.

Both devices are upgradeable, with the Switch 2 only accepting MicroSD Express cards and the Ally offering a swaꩲppable internal SSD and extra storage via a MicroSD as well. While it's a big leap in sheer size, Asus still wins this competitio🗹n.

Winner: Asus ROG Ally

Nintendo Swi♋tch 2 vs Asus ROG Ally: which𒀰 should you buy?

Nintendo wins out in price, portability, display, and connections, while Asus takes the lead in comfort, battery, controls, games, storage, and overall ♛performance. That doesn't mean everyone should be flocking to the Ally, though.

The console experience is still very different to that of a PC, even in 2025. Driver patches, graphical settings, and varying system compatibility among games mean handheld PCs are still far from the slick, streamlined experiences of a purpose-built operating system. The Nintendo Switch 2 is much more pleasant to use outside of actual gaming. You know the games you buy will run, you don't have to ඣdig through updates and settings menus to get them goiꦯng perfectly.

If you're buying for younger kids or you simply want fewer barriers between♏ you and your games, the Nintendo Switch 2 is the better buy. If you're looking to play all the latest and greatest games on one portable device, though, Asus is still going to be your best friend.

Buy the Nintendo Switch 2 if:

Buy the Asus ROG Ally if:

You can find out exactly 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:where to buy Nintendo Switch 2 with our launch day live reporting, or check out the best Nintendo Switch 2 MicroSD Express cards available now. I've also been refereeing the Nintendo Switch 2 vs Nintendo Switch OLED battle as well.

Where are the dreamers, I hear you ask? We're right here, arranging our candles into summoning circles and tending to the innermost wishes of our very soul. No, these aren't the likeliest games to surface from our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Summer Game Fest schedule 2025, but they're the ones from🐻 which hope springs eternal. Without that, what would we h🔯ave? Well, we'd have Silksong, but that's beside the point.

Below, the true believers of our team have gathered to pin their wildest hopes and dreams on this week's slate of showcases. If there's something you're desperate for, join us in trying to manifest it – disappointment is temporary, but the bragging ♔rights from a truly left-field prediction coming true last forever.

The Elder Scrolls 6

Valkyria Chronicles remasters

The Wolf Among Us 2

The Witcher 4 gameplay

Banjo Threeie

A new Animal Crossing

More Castlevania

Persona 4 Remake

A Haze remake

Resident Evil 9

Haunted Chocolatier

Resident Evil – Code: Veronica remake

For a more grounded glimpse into the future, our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games 2025 list outlines everything we know is on the way

Free Nintendo Switch upgrades

Nintendo has dropped free updates for a select number of original Nintendo Switch games. So far, 12 games from the existing Switch library have received these free-to-download upgrades, including 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which was notably plagued with performance issues when it originally launched on November 18, 2022. The update smooths out movement and boosts image quality whether you're in handheld or docked mode.

The nitty gritty details of these upgrades will depend on the individual title. For example, as a co-op game, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury has received support for the Switch 2's new GameShare feature. This now means that, during the Bowser's Fury DLC, one person can control Mario and another can control Bowser Jr through sharing the game locally or online. Whereas, Game Builder Garage has had its visuals optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs, as well as support for the new Joy-Con 2 controller mouse controls.

A full list of the Nintendo💎 Switch games🍰 that have received free updates for the Switch 2 so far can be found below:

• 51 Worldwide Games
• ARMS
• Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
• Game Builder Garage
• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
• Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet
• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
• Super Mario Odyssey
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Nintendo has not yet announced any plans to provide free updates for any more titles from its vast original library of games. However, the lists software update dates for the games included so far, whi🌠ch could be a sign that there's far more to come.

These are great for saving some cash, especially if you already ow💞n any game that's got the Switch 2 Edition treatment already, physically or digitally.

Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade Packs

Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade Packs are their own separate entity. By purchasing any one of these packs, you can transform your original Switch games from Super Mario Jamboree to the Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom to the Switch 2 Editions - all without having ဣto fully re-buy the game.

If you happen to be a paying Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack member, you can also get access to the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom upgrade packs for free, as they're included in the service on launch day. See a full list of upgrade pac🅷ks and their release dates below:

• Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV upgrade pack (July 24)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrade pack (June 5)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrade pack (June 5)
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World upgrade pack (August 28)

For example, if you already have a copy of Super Mario Party Jamboree sitting on your shelf, purchasing the $19.99 / £16.99 upgrade pack will transform it into Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV, giving you all those new Switch 2 exclusive features. You can purchase the upgrade packs via Nintendo or other retailers, you will then be provided with a digital code to enter into the Nintendo eShop. Alternatively, they're also available through the Switch 2 eShop.

What new features and performance upgrades you receive after downloading these upgrade packs depends on what new features were adde📖d to the Switch 2 versiꦫons of these games. That's because you are now basically receiving the Switch 2 game at a reduced cost.

Picking up one of the澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: best Nintendo Switch accessories, the best Nintendo Switch 2 microSD Express Cards, to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch controllers can help unlock the most out of your new Nintendo Switch 2.

However, there are some benefits to consider. That OLED display doesn't just improve color contrast, it also contributes to a much larger battery life, plus the age of Ninty's predecessor means it's considerably cheaper than the 2025 release. The improvements in the Switch 2 make it the superior handheld overall, but if you're looking to spend as little as possible while still enjoying Nintendo's original catalog, the OLED does still have its moments. It's been one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming handhelds for the last ♛couple of years for a reason, after all.

I've put the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 against the Nintendo Switch OLED head to head, to see exactly what that extra $100 g♑ets you in the new device.

Price

The Nintendo Switch 2 launches at a $100 / £86 price increase over the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch OLED, but that's ♒not t🦹he full story. With the new model landing on the shelves, the older device is seeing some particularly heavy discounts. The lowest those price cuts have taken us is $299.99 in the US and just £239.99 in the UK. That's a price difference of $150 and £156.

If you're going for the lowest price possible⛄, the Nintendo Switch OLED wins this one - especially considering there are only a handful of Switch 𒁃2-exclusive titles available at launch.

The value of those price tags may well change as Ninty's library fills with Switch 2-only titles, but for now the Switch OLED has the better rate. After all, you're getting a much more powerful console, new mouse features, and a better docked experience. Until then you'll mostly be playing the games you could play on the older device, just souped-up a little💛.

Winner: Nintendo Switch OLED

Comfort

Despite looking and feeling a lot more svelte, the Nintendo Switch 2 is actually the same thickness as the Nintendo Switch OLED. That's b𝔍oth a good and bad thing.

It's still the slimmest handheld on the market, making it easily portable even in smaller bags. However, those with larger hands may still struggle to feel truly comfortable during longer play sessions on either device. The lack of chunkier grips around the back (which you'll find on both the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Steam Deck OLED and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Ally) forces the hands to hold both the Switch 2 and Switch OLED in a flat position. Throw in smaller controls and you'll be stretching ⛎those palms out regularly during marathon runs.

There are two other arenas where these handhelds ba🌟ttle it out, though; weight and surface material.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is heavier than the OLED, but I haven't noticed any additional strain during my testing sessions so far. It feels denser and more substantial, but the extra 115g isn't getting in the way of play either on my lap or held in the air. It could still prove troublesome if you struggle in a handheld position, though. The Nintendo Switch OLED is lighter and shorter than෴ the Switch 2, which means it's easier to hit the +/- buttons and sideways Joy-Con action is less of a stretch as well.

However, the slightly stickier plastic surface makes for a less comfortable experience overall. The matte finish on the Nintendo Switch 2 feels fantastic in the hands. It's more slippery, yes, but there's still enough grip to maintain a sturdy position during gameplay and I've noticed significantly less irritation🍨 on my palms so far.

S🔴o, the Switch 2 is heavier but much better feeling while the Switch OLED is lighter and easier to re✅ach all your controls if you have smaller hands. Overall, the new model wins out in this race.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Display

There's so much more to the Nintendo Switch 2 vs Nintendo Switch OLED display debate than the type of panel used. The new model drops us back to an LED screen, a move that many decried as a downgrade fro🔴m the OLED model. In a way, it is. You won't get the pop of color contrast or the dark, inky blacks of the previous device on the 2025 release, and that is noticeable in everyday use.

However, LED panels have come a long way even in the last few years. I came to the Nintendo Switch 2 expecting a washed out experience compܫared to the OLED I've been using for the last few years, but I was pleasantly surprised by the vividness of this display. No, it's not got the contrast of an OLED - and brighter moments don't quite pop in the same way against dark backgrounds.

However, there's excellent color reproducꦗtion in here, even if HDR is washing out scenes in my early testing.

That's not even mentioning the boost up to 192🀅0 x 1080 resolution. The Nintendo Switch OLED caps out at 720p in handheld mode, only jumping to 1080p when docked. The new Nintendo Switch 2 looks far crisper on the handheld screen itself, and ramps all the way up to 4K when docked. The difference is pretty night and day, from finer details like the clear stitching on Mario's overalls in Mario Kart World to sharper landscape scenes and more defined objects in the distance.

All those sharper, more detailed images run much smoother across the screen as well. The Nintendo Switch 2 features a🤡 120Hz refresh rate in handheld mode, double that of the 60Hz Switch OLED. Both are still comfortable for the human eye, but the new device gives you a🌠 little extra time to react in smaller ways and keeps faster action looking slick as well.

All that takes place on a larger 7.9-inch panel, a ♊considerable upgrade that feels far more immersive in the hands than the original's 7 inches.

Yes, you're 𒈔dropping the contrast and blacks of the OLED panel, but I'll take a larger screen with a higher resolution image and better motion handling any𓃲 day.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Battery

The Nintendo Switch OLED may have a smaller 4,310mAh battery, but its display is far more efficient. That means it can more than doubl✅e the Nintendo Switch 2's min♓imum runtime on more demanding games, reaching all the way up to 9 hours max compared to the Switch 2's 6.5.

The newer handheld is doing a♕ lot more under the hood, with a more power-intensive screen, so that smaller battery is inevitably going to drain quicker. If you're going for longevity, you're better off sticking with the Switch OLED.

Winner: Nintendo Switch OLED

Controls

The new Nintendo Switch 2 comes with a refreshed set of Joy-Con. These gamepads are taller, covered in the same matte finish as the tablet, and pack a whole ho💯st of new features. It's not all upgrades, though. I'm finding that the larger height of the controllers themselves make for a harder time finding buttons towards the top, and when playing horizontally (particularly on the right pad) the thumbstick is even more of a stretch to reach.

Still, that's about the only feather in the S♔witch OLED's cap. These are new and improved in every other way.

The biggest new addition is the mouse sensor hidden away in the magnetic connection on each side. This opens you up to far more precise controls in 🃏certain games, with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond seeing the biggest benefits in my preview testing. The Nintendo Switch OLED keeps you stuck with a set of relatively imprecise thumbsticks, more cumbersome than the snappier sticks of the Pro Controller or even third party alternatives.

That's not all, the Nintendo Switch 2 also comes with enhanced HD Rumble 2 for a 𓆏far more nuanced feel overall. Side by side, the difference is pretty impressive - there's more tuning to the newer device. It's not necessarilꦏy a more powerful set of motors, but they're far more nimble and the result makes for a detailed feeling overall.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Connections

There's only one difference between the ports on the Nintendo Switch 2 vs the Nintendo Switch OLED, and it comes in the form of an extra USB-C at the top. That's enough to seal the deal, thou⭕gh, keeping everything you need to charge your device, connect wirelessly over Bluetooth, and still have access to an additional accessory connection at the same time.

It's a small addition, but excellent for quality of life - especially if you use one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming headsets with your handheld. I've been using the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Kraken V4 to test the Nintendo Switch 2 so far, and have been able to keep it plugged into the top port while keeping the battery charged up underneath as well. Of course, it can also be used to connect extra devices while 𒅌the Nintendo Switch 2 is docked as well.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Games

At the time of writing there are just a handful of Nintendo Switch 2 launch exclusive꧂s that can't be played on the Nintendo Switch OLED. Obviously, however, that roster is going to🀅 grow pretty quickly.

There are a few original Nintendo Switch games that the Switch 2 can't play, and more that you'll need a set of classic Joy-Con for, but overall the new device is going to havꦓe a much larger library than the original. It can play pretty much everything the Switch OLED can plus its own catalog. Not only that, but with update patches and full Switch 2 Edition upgrades, existing titles run better as well.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Performance

The Nintendo Switch OLED brought no performance upgrades over the original Switch system, a device that launched way back in 2017. That means we were well overdue an upgrade when theꦅ Nintendo Switch 2 was announced. Now that we've got both in-hand, it's obvious what we were🐻 missing out on.

We st🥂ill don't know exactly what's powering the Nintendo Switch 2,♛ but it makes some clever plays with AI upscaling, raw power enhancements, and a vastly improved screen to offer a far more capable device overall. It's running Cyberpunk 2077, for crying out loud.

Yes, it's not exactly offering up a PC-like experience in CD ♎Projekt Red's blockbuster, there are a few textures going awry, a couple o🅺f stutters, and some fading at the edges. This is a tiny device, though, outputting at 4K resolution without breaking a sweat. That's some serious engineering.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is faster in its processing and load times, while being capable of rendꦑering much further into the distance at higher resolutions and with better motion smoothing. It's capable of ray tracing and motion syncing with Nvidia G-Sync, with 12GB RAM under the hood. That's a far more powerful device than the Nintendo Switch OLED.

There's a but here. I have noticed in my testing that the Nintendo Switch 2 doesn't use those game updates (the fr🔯ee ones, not the Upgrade Packs) to bump up resolutions to 1080p when running Nintendo Switch 1 games. That means you'꧅re still playing at 720p in handheld mode, even if the title supports 1080p docked play.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Storage

The Nintendo Switch OLED shipped with 64GB of internal storage, unbelievably an upgrade from the original system'🅰s 32GB. Nintendo has upped that🍌 again this time around, quadrupling storage up to 256GB.

Importantly, though, some of that space is taken up by the system's own operating functions, whereas this was completely partitioned on the older device. That's not going to make much of a difference, but it does mean that you'll have slཧightly less than 256GB to play with on day one.

At first sight, it might look like you won't even need to use the expandable storage tray. After all, many were content with a 256GB MicroSD card in the Switch OLED - weﷺ're getting that straight out the box. However, the Nintendo Switch 2 is capable of running much bigger games and there's only so m♔uch optimizing Ninty can do. Game sizes are growing considerably for this system, which means you'll still need to add some extra space.

The Nintendo Switch 2 supports much faster MicroSD Express cards, but isn't compatible with the cheaper versions used by the Switch OLED. The OLED does have some fi🧜ght in this battle, but ultimately it has to go to the new contender.

Winner: Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo Switch 2 vs Nintendo Switch OLED: which should ✱you buy?

The benefits of the Nintendo Switch 2 are obvious. The handheld features a far more powerful internal system, with countless upgrades to performance overall while also improving overall form factor and designﷺ, display resolution and speed, and storage capacity. That's without even considering the new mouse🙈 controls and GameChat features, or the compatibility with both the original Switch library and new releases.

That extra $100 is well worth spending if you're after the best performance on the best display, but if you're just look🌄ing to experience older games for the first time without investing too much cash the Switch OLED still holds ♌up. You can save plenty of cash and still have access to most of the same games folks will be playing on the Switch 2 anyway, all while bumping up your battery life and grabbing better contrast in that OLED panel as well.

Buy the Nintendo Switch 2 if:

Buy the Nintendo Switch OLED if:

I'm also comparing the Nintendo Switch 2 vs Asus ROG Ally and we've been busy with our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 vs Steam Deck debate as well. If you're already set on your new device, check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch accessories on the market.

Ninty frames GameChat as a main reason to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:buy the Nintendo Switch 2, but I'll forgive you for wondering what it'll bring to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming handheld. Just like Discord, Xbox Party Chat, or Parties on PS5, GameChat is designed to be the console's central social hub. Not only will 🐼it save you from using the Nintenౠdo App on your phone for chatting - it's also a way to share real-time gameplay with your friends.

I've been using Nintendo consoles since the glory days of the SNES, and Game💖Chat feels like a bold step in the future for Nintendo. If you've just picked up the handheld, or you're planning on in the future, you'll no doubt be wondering how the feature actually works, what you'll need to access it, and any potential caveats, and I'm here to tell you every vital detail.

What is Switch 2 GameChat?

Making its debut alongside the Switch 2, GameC൩hat is a new console feature that will allow you to voice chat with up to 12 other players while gaming on the handheld. The app will also let you stream your gameplay to four players in real-time, broadcast yourself using a compatible USB-C camera, or both.

The latter element works a bit like using a green screen on Twitch or the faux feature available on apps like TikTok. Effectively, the Switch 2 will take a cutout of your body and la꧋yer it on top of whatever game you're playing at the time. You'll be able to switch to other backdrops or simply stream your footage too, like a traditional webcam, but the core idea is that you'll be able to do a Zoom-esque call using video chat and gameplay.

Streaming gameplay ties into Switch 2 GameShare, an additional feature that'll let your friends virtually join your session using one game copy. At the moment, there are only six games that supꦓport over-the-net multiplayer, but more favorites shou🙈ld gain compatibility over time.

How to use Switch 2 GameChat

The Nintendo Switch 2 comes with a built-in microphone,🍌 so you'll be able to use GameChat out the box. You will naturally also need an internet connection, but Ninty is offering up the service to everyone for free until March 31, 2026, so you won't need a Nintendo Online subscription straight away.

To use the video elements of GameChat, you will need a compatible USB-C webcam. While Nintendo has its own first-party ꦜSwitch 2 Camera, you'll actually be able to use a whole host of different options, including existing desktop PC peripherals and🐻 new third-party options.

To check compatibility, you'll have to connect your chosen webcam using USB-C and press the "Test USB Camera" button within the system settings menu. In theory🍎, most options should work, but there are some that will require more power and bandwidth than the handheld can provide via its ports.

To access GameChat on the Swit🍬ch 2, you can either press the 'C' button on the new right-hand JoyCon or Pro Controller or select the app on the home screen. The latter will help you still create and join group sessions, but the dedicated gamepad toggle will let you instantly jump in while running a game.

Upon entering GameChat, you'll be prompted to invite friends to join your group. The app will show you a list of friends who are available to join your session, but you'll also have the option to add pla🧸yers using 'chat history' by hitting the X button. That will then send an invite to your chosen pals, allowing them to join by hitting that aforementioned 'C' toggle on Switch 2 controllers.

Once the session has started, you'll have access to a nav-bar of 🐻options that'll let you enable your microphone, connected USB camera, and screen sharing. The latter two features are available in groups of four, whereas you'll be able to use voice chat with up to 12 players.

Each player will get their own box along the bottom of the screen that'll display webcam and gameplay footage if active. Your own broadcast will feature in a larger window at the top, but if you do want a closer look at what your pals are up to in-game, or just want to look at their gorgeous faces, you can press on each box using the 'A' button to expand t🎀hings.

Switch 2 GameChat Verification

If you aren't showing up on your friend's Switch 2 GameChat screen, or you can't find your pals✃ listed, you might have to verify your Nintendo account. To do so, you'll have to link a phone number to your profil🌠e and authenticate using SMS using the following steps:

• Sign in to your Nintendo account at
• Select Nintendo Accounts Overview
• Press Account Settings, then Sign-in and security settings
• Navigate to Phone Number, then click edit
• If prompted, verify your email address using a generated code
• When asked, double-check your area code and enter your phone number
• Wait for the code via SMS and use it to verify your number

Your account will n𝓡ot be verified 🌊by SMS, which should, in turn, make your account visible to other Switch 2 GameChat users. Your friends will also have to do this to join your sessions and invite you to groups, so you'll want to carry out the above steps before you get your handheld.

Just got hold of Ninty's handheld? Swing by the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch accessories for a range of compatible add-ons. You'll also want to peek at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 vs Steam Deck if you're trying to find the perfect portable pal.

Du𒅌ring the Pacific Rim collaboration event, a breach has opened and Kaijus from another world are unleashing attacks on the Kingdoms of Athena, which cannot be stopped by the usual swords and mag🤪ic you possess. Thankfully, you can call upon the help of the Jaegers from Pacific Rim, joining forces to unite their ultimate fusion of steel and science with your magic to defeat these invading beasts.

The Pacific Rim collaboration runs from June 1 to July 31, 2025,ꦡ during which a special Pacific Rim-themed loading screen will be displayed, and you can earn a selection of collab-exclusive items including a Castle Skin, Leader Skin, Army Skin, Turf Decoration, Avatar, Emote, Equipment, Artifacts, and Guild Frame.

Head out on the Pacific Rim Adventure to discover secrets hidden in the depths of the ocean, using Spider Drills to♌ locate photo fragments that can be combined to earn completion rewards including Skins and Emotes. You'll also collect Jaeger Parts during the event, which can be exchanged in the Jaeger Shop for more rewards such as Turf Decorations, Equipment, and Artifacts (Pulse Core and Synesthesia Helm). For full event details, please refer to the in-game i🐠nstructions.

Alongside that collaboration, developer IGG is also celebrating their 19th anniversary with a selection of events. From June 2 to June 6, 2025 a daily login bonus is available to provide lots of Artifact Coins, which can then be sp♏ent at the Artifact Fair to power up your collection. During this event you can also challenge Hero Stages using less Stamina and farm more Medals and Trophies from them than usual to get an extra boost, while the Castle Pop-Up Store will let you exchange Castle Coins for the limited-edition Lordly Legacy, Pearl Coast, and Childhood Playground Castle Skins.

If you're ready to check out the Pacific Rim collaboꦜration and IGG 19th anniversary celebrations, via the App Store, Google Play, or get the official standalone PC version. Make sure you also and join the to stay up to date with the latest news.

However, before you start reaching for those gold coins, let's be honest, filling a new console's library isn't cheap. You may also have you're heart set on some 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Switch 2 games set to release later on in the year, like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Pokémon Legends: Z-A or 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Well, to make sure you get the best Ninte🧸ndo bang for you💙r buck, we've rounded up a list of the top 15 Nintendo Switch 2 games currently available for you to check out today.

Below, we've made sure to include something for every 🉐kind of gamer, be that RPG fans, puzzle heads, or Mario enthusiasts. So read on and discover the best Switch 2 games to play in 2025.

The 15 best Switch 2 games to play today

15. Hitman World of Assassination: Signature Edition

Developer: IO Interactive
Released: 2025

Hitman World of Assassination: Signature Editi🦩on is a brand new iteration of Hitman World of Assassination specially for the Switch 2 that adds 100-plus hours of content to the ꦕalready massive base game. And trust us, you'll likely want to play through it all. Taking on the role of Agent 47, Hitman World of Assassination isn't just a fun game that gives you targets to take out and goals to achieve in each level.

It's an experience that promotes glorious ꦐchaos and creativity, all wrapped up in stunning locations and refined stealth gameplay that make it imp💮ossible to put down. Not only does this title include the Hitman 2 Expansion Pack, but it also comes with the Hitman 3 Deluxe Pack and the Seven Deadly Sins Pack as well. This means out of all the entries on our list of the best Switch 2 games, this one has one of the best price-value points, especially if you're looking for bargains after paying for the new console.

14. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

Developer: Marvelous Inc.
Released: 2025

Set in the kingdom of Azuma (an East Asian inspired world), Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is the newest entry in the iconic cozy RPG series and is the perfect pick for a relaxing handheld experience on the Switch 2. While the story isn't as gripping a🍃s Rune Factory 4 or 5, Guardians of Azuma has a ton to do and will have you hooked with its cozy gameplay loop and charming RPG elements.

Like with previous Rune Factory games, you can farm, fight, tame monsters, and even romance one of the characters you'll meet throughout the story. But what really sets Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma apart from other titles in the series is the new city-building-esque mechanics available. Not only will you manage your room and farm, but you can also build shops and assign workers to them as well. It's a cool addition to the typical Rune Factory🔯 formula, and helps capture that cozy game feel.

13. Sonic X Shadow Generations

Developer: Sonic Team
Released: 2024

Mario isn't the only iconic mascot on the Switch 2, folks! Sega's famous speedy hedgehog and his edgy counterpart race onto Nintendo's new console with the acclaimed collection Sonic X Shadow Generations. This bundle will give you the remaster of Sonic Generations (aka one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Sonic games ever released) and the paraquel 2024 title Shadow Generations, which sees S꧙hadow the Hedgehog face off against Black D🎃oom.

When it comes to polished, fast-paced platformers, few titles can hold a candle to Sonic X Shadow Generation♍s. The game curates and improves on some of the best levels in Sonic history, while also giving us fresh Shadow levels that highlight🐷 his unique abilities. Get ready to feel the thrill of unlocking the Chaos Dash and the joy of flying across levels with Shadow's Doom Wings. Shadow's campaign also offers five additional hours of gameplay, which, when paired with the graphical and performance improvements from the Switch 2, make this an absolute steal.

12. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

Developer: Capcom
Released: 2024

Playing as the warrior Soh, it's up to you to protect the divine maiden named Yoshiro, as she purges the evil rot from villages and works to restore Mt. Kafuku to peace. You'll have to defeat hordes of supernatural enemies, cleanse rot around the map, rescue villagers, and juggle a number of other tasks too. The gameplay in Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is fast-paced but also tactical, reward💙ing you with satisfying sharp sword swings and strategic plays. This release even comes with the Otherworldly Ventures update (which will be on all platforms), adding even more wave-based replayability.

The visuals and world-building are also stunning, with strong Japanese and mythological influences leading the charge. Our澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: Kunitsu-Gami: Path of෴ the Goddess review mentions how the game feels like a "throwback to a now-classic era of Capcom", back when titles such as Okami had us all in a chokehold. It's truly one of the best games o🅰f 2024 and is a worthwhile addition to your Switch 2 library.

11. Deltarune Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4

Developer: tobyfox
Released: 2025

Deltarune is a "sort of" Undertale p🐲requel, and has just as much charm and heart as Toby Fox's breakout success. While this new game features some charact𒈔ers and features from Undertale, Deltarune centers around a new human child called Chris, who is transported into a new dark world. Chris must make their way through this new magical setting to find a way back home.

You'll have to explore, solve puzzles, and fight enemies in turn-based combat. Whether you kill your foes or choose to spare them is up to you. Deltarune has been releasing episodic chapters for years now. However, chapters three and four are brand new! New chapters will be released in the future as well, but for now, we can play through what's available with this delightfully comical story and even discover a se🀅cret r💝oom that uses exclusive Switch 2 controls.

10. Fantasy Life I: The Girl Who Steals Time (Switch 2 Edition)

Developer: LEVEL5 Inc.
Released: 2025

Fantasy Life I: The Girl Who Steals Time is one of the best cozy games to release in 2025, and it's the perfect Switch 2 game to crack on with if you're looking for an Animal Crossing meets Zelda kind of experience. The sequel to the 2014 title Fantasy Life (aka one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best 3DS games of all time), Fanta꧑sy Life I: The Girl Who Steals Time revolves around a hero who finds themselves in the fantasy world of Reveria after a run-in with some dragons.

It'll be up to you to choose between fourteen jobs known as "life classes" and level them up as you progress through the story. Fantasy Life I: The Girl Who Steals Time is a laid-back R💙PG that is addictive, rewarding, and offers tons of gameplay. You can focus on combat, decorating, crafting, or all of the above🐼. The Switch 2 version also offers faster loading times and better graphics. It's an all-around winner!

9. Split Fiction

Developer: Hazelight Studios
Released: 2025

If you want to experience one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best co-op games of all time on the Switch 2, then 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Split Fiction is the title for you𓆏. You and your player two will play as either Mio or Zoe (two aspiring authors who specialize in sci-fi and fantasy, respectively). You'll have to team up and make your way through each other's stories as you try to escape a machine that is hell bent on extracting all your ideas. Not only is Split Fiction visually 🥂stunning and emotionally touching, but its level design is heaps of fun.

Each new world you explore has its own creative mechanics, from shooting robots, flying dragons, or playing a rhythm mini-game with a bunch of monkeys. As our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Split Fiction review states, the game "perfectly straddles two genres simultaneously and consistently introduces one good idea 🐻after another." With a free ꦫfriend pass and local co-op available, this is the best two-player experience on the Switch 2 so far.

8. Yakuza 0 Director's Cut

Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Released: 2025

Yakuza 0 is the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Yakuza game ever made (just check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Yakuza 0 review for more on that), so of course, the new Director's Cut edition of this iconic title made our list of the best Swꦅitch 2 games. Set during Japan's '80s economic boom, Yakuza 0 marks the start of the story in terms of the long-running franchise. You'll follow a young Kiryu and Majima, and play through their interconnected stories surrounding their paths in the criminal world, set ag💞ainst a gripping real estate plot.

Yakuza 0 has an amazing story, but is also filled with charming and silly side-quests that keep you smiling in between heavy story reveals. The beat 'em up gameplay is also uber satisfying as you hit combos and plummet enemies into the dirt. Howevꦬer, the big standout here is that the Director's Cut offers new cut scenes and English voice-overs. For Yakuza veterans and series newcomers, this is a Switch 2 must-play.

7. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch 2 Edition)

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2025

澳洲💮幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Legend of Zelda: Tea🐷rs of the Kingdom is a masterpiece. So, its new Switch 2 version is an easy addition to our list. Link is⭕ back, and Princess Zelda needs rescuing again. Much like the first game, there's a sense of wonder and polish during every questline and discovery. However, the story feels grander and the world is mo💦re captivating too. The Switch 2 edition also offers improved graphics and supports the Zelda Notes App, which provides numerous interactive features to enhance your game.

In our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Legend o𝔍f Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom rev✅iew, we write: "Tears of the Kingdom manages to keep focus and provide a rich, robust experience that builds𝐆 on what came before." However, it's still a sequel at the end of the day, and for that reason, we didn't rank it higher on this list. Breath of the Wild (which we'll get more into later) is still the best starting point to revisit Link's journey on the Switch 2.🐽 However, Tears of the Kingdom is a follow-up that you don't want to miss.

6. Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition

Developer: CD Projekt Red
Released: 2025

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs of all time. It's also a pretty taxing game to run with all of its realistic gꦦraphics. However, the Switch 2 runs this futuristic story like a dream. Developed by CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077 is set in the dystopian metropolis Night City, where you take on the role of a mercenary called V. After getting s꧙tuck with a cybernetic "bio-chip", you'll have to work to save your life and separate from a Keanu Reeves-shaped engram.

With FPS elements mixed with action-RPG mechanics, Cyberpunk 2077 offers a detailed open world and some of the best quest lines in modern gaming, period. In our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cyberpunk 💦2077 Switch 2 han💃ds-on preview, ܫwe note that the game feels as if we're running the title on a PC with settings ranging from "Medium" to "High". So, don'tꦓ worry, the Switch 2 does this title justice. It also includes all DLC, so it's a great bargain for new players, especially.

5. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S

Developer: Sega
Released: 2025

In terms of the best Switch 2 game when it comes to puzzle connoisseurs, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is unmatched. While the surprise factor from the first game has come and gone, the gameplay of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is still as captivating as ever, as you play rounds of Tetris combined with Puyo Puyo gameplay and engage in fast-paced matches of ⭕clearing rows and greeting those sweet combos. Just like in past games, a new story adventure mode is on display here. However, there is a brand new mode called "Doubles Mode" for 2v2 matches, making it a great co-op option.

There are also 40 playable characters, including Sonic the Hedgehog, with unique stats and abilities to experience in the Skill Battle mode. So yeah, tons of new things to do and explore here, folks! The world, story, and gameplay of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is bright, charming, and colourful. Honestly, it's one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best feel-good games on our list for sure.

4. Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster

Developer: Cattle Call Inc
Released: 2025

Bravely Default Flying Fairy is widely considered to be one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best JRPGs to ever hit Nintendo sin🐻ce it first released i♛n 2012. So, it makes sense that we'd get a shiny remaster to celebrate the launch of the Switch 2. Luckily for us, despite being over a decade old, Bravely Default Flying Fairy is still as charming and captivating as it was back in the day.

Set🥂 in Luxendarc and following four heroes who must reclaim elemental crystals from the꧟ forces of darkness to save their world, Bravely Default Flying Fairy is a classic turn-based RPG. However, it's Brave and Default system offers a fun twist to the typical combat seen in JRPGs. Gathering Brave points to take multiple actions against a strong enemy never gets old! So, while its story isn't as revolutionary as it once was, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster gives a classic a modern makeover and is still worth your time.

3. Street Fighter 6 (Switch 2 Edition)

Developer: Capcom
Released: 2025

In our five-star 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Street Fighter 6 review, we call it "the best overall fighting game package ever made". So, yeah, it's an easy addition to our list of the best Switch 2 games and should be on every gamer's radar, for sure.☂ Complete with an 18-character roster with new and returning fighters, Capcom's latest entry to its iconic competitive fighting series is polished, massive, and the perfect addition to add to your Switch 2 library.

Not only are there tons of modes (such as one of the best online battle hubs ever made), but the Switch 2 exclusive modes like Gyro Battle and Calorie Contest are pure fire co-op hits, that will have your heart pounding and friendships put to the test in the best way possible. Basically, even if you've played 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Street Fighter 6 before, there is a ton of new content to explore with Nintendo's fresh version of 🦂this 2023 mas♈terpiece.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch 2 Edition)

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2025

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Legen♔d of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the best games ever made, and now you can play it on the Nintendo Switch 2. While its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, is also available (and should be played if possible as well), Breath of the Wild is still one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best open-world games around and should be your starting point if you want to experience Link's journey all over again as he sets out to rescue Princes📖s Zelda and save the ꧋world from Calamity Ganon.

The Switch 2 Edition of the game feels rewarding to play through. Thanks to the new Zelda Notes app via the Nintendo Switch App, your progress feels more involved, as you can experience Voice Memories from characters, have a handy navigation tool at the ready, and even engage in item sharing. It truly feels like we're experiencing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild all over again, and it's still just as mesmerizing as it was back in 2017. Read our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Breath of the Wild review for more details on this must-play!

1. Mario Kart World

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2025

At this point, Mario Kart is an institution, and澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: Mario Kart World is hands down the澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: best racing game that we've had from the beloved series in a long time. Taking a new Forza Horizon-style approach to gameplay, Mario Kart World💙 expands the tried and tested formula to give players more freedom to explore, take pictures, and just drive for the fun of it in between races, thanks to the new Free Roam mode.

But on the competitive side of things, things have also been cranked up a notch. There are 24 drivers that you'll have to beat, secret characters to unlock, and a battle royale style mode called Knockout Tour that will 1000% cause a few screaming matches in your household. In our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mario Kart World preview, our competitive spirits were pushed to the max, and we could🎉n't wait to get our hands on the console for another round. Mario Kart World is a worthy successor to Mario Kart 8, and is hands down the current shining star of the Switch 2.

For more exciting releases, check out our pages on all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games heading our way this year. Or celebrate Nintendo some more with our list of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Switch games of all time.

The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series S are fundamentally different beasts, and while players thirsty for a console war might want to declare a sole winner, doing so isn't entirely useful. After all, Ninty's newcomer is set to be one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming handhelds, whereas theꦿ Series S is a home console that relies on an external screen.

Ultimately, deciding between the two boils down to your game preferences and whether you'd rather play on the go or within the comfort of your home. If you're itching to race around a fungus-themed world as an Italian plumber or a cow, you'll be tempted to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:buy the Switch 2. If you've got a Game Pass subscription and want day one access to a wealth of big outings, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Xbox Series S could be a better call. This side-by-side comparison will help you easily make up yo✱u💟r mind, especially when it comes to specs and performance.

Switch 2 vs Xbox Series S: Price

The Nintendo Switch 2 retails for $449.99 / £395.99. That's $70 more than you'll pay for a 512GB Series S since it currently comes in at $379.99 / £299.99. Keep in ✱mind that Microsoft recently hiked its hardware prices, and it wasn't for the change🔯s, you'd be looking at $299.99 / £249.99.

Both consoles are bundled with a controller, but the Switch 2 goes that extra mile by including a set of Joy-C♐on that'll make two-player sessions possible out of the box. However, you will get three months of Xbo꧑x Game Pass with the Series S, meaning you'll be able to dive straight into a whole load of adventures without having to spend more.

On that note, Nintendo Switch 2 game prices are pretty lofty compared to Xbox. You're looking at $79.99 for the likes of Mario Kart World, while expensive new releases like DOOM: The Dark Ages stick with the common $69.99 price tag on Series X/S. Naturally, digital downloads and physical Nintendo games could cost ꦺmore in the future, but buying new releases will, on averag,e set you back less on Xbox consoles.

Switch 2 vs Xbox Series S: Specs

On paper, the Xbox Series S bꦰeats the Switch 2 in terms of raw specs. Yes, that is confusing since Nintendo's handheld can🐓 hit 4K 60fps in docked mode while Microsoft's digital-only console targets 1440p, but the former portable relies on Nvidia AI upscaling shenanigans to make that happen.

Purely looking at specifications, the ARM Cortex A78C CPU within the Swꦰitch 2 can reach up to 1.7 GHz in docked mode, whereas the Series S boasts clock speeds up to 3.6 GHz. The Nvidia Ampere GPU can hit up to 1,007 MHz, which also falls behind the AMD chip within the Series S, as it can reach around 1.5 GHz.

Keep in mind that those figures apply to docked mode, and if you pull the portable out of the dock, it'll step things back a bit. That makes sense since the Switch 2 targets 1080p 120H🔯z performance to match its screen 𒅌in portable mode, and it can easily do that using slower CPU and GPU clock speeds.

As for memory, you're actually getting 12GB RAM with the Switch 2 versus 10GB in the Series S. The extra headroom will ultimately help Nintendo's handheld p💮ull off those promised higher resolutions in docked mode while preserving high textures, but 10GB is theoretically enough to satiate the latest releases at 1440p. Console optimization plays a huge role here when it comes to actually running games on both consoles, and frame rates can still vary depꦦending on each developer's approach.

It's worth touching on storage too, as the Nintendo Switch 2 only comes with 256GB internal storage. Even the base Series S boasts 512GB, and there's a model that ramps that up to 1 TB. Virtually, that means you'll be able to store a beefier library on Microsoft's console compared to Nintendo's, but since the latter handheld has physical game support and 🧸generally smaller game file🃏 sizes, the perk might not be that big of a deal in practice.

Switch 2 vs Xbox Series S: Features

As far as default features go, the Switch 2 runs rings aroun𝓀d the Xbox Series S. You could say that's pretty obvious since we're talking about a brand new handheld with docking capabilities versus a traditional stay-at-home console, but there are even more perks included with Ninty's system than you'd perhaps think.

Even before we get to docks, resolutions, and new Game Ch🅠at 🥃shenanigans, the Series S actually scales things back even compared to other consoles due to its all-digital nature. Physical media is a no-go with Microsoft's cheapest Xbox, and that restricts inherent features like sharing games with friends or tapping into Blu-ray compatibility like the Series X and PS5.

That latter feature isn't something the Switch 2 can pull off either, since it uses proprietary carts rather than discs. Plus, Nintendo is relying on new "Game Key Cards" for some releases that only serve to grant you access 💙to a download. The company does make up for this by incorporating a new Game Share feature that'll let you loan digital games, something that requires using the same console on Xbox hardware, but Nintendo still isn't fully embracing physical gaming this generation.

On the output side of things, the Switch 2 pulls off 4K 60Hz using HDMI 2.0 in docked mode. Despite using the same port standard, the Series S caps things at 1440p, but still benefits from refresh rates up to 120H𝔉z. Making use of those speeds fully depends on the game, and while Nintendo also plans on making "performance modes" a thing in shooters like Metroid 4, whether it'll venture b🔥eyond 1080p 120Hz remains to be seen.

Nintendo consoles do lag behind a little when it comes to additional app support. Xbox consoles have been offering up access to streaming services and social applications🐲 since the glory days of the 360, so the fact that it pulls ahead of the Switch 2 in that department shouldn't be a shocker.

That isn't to say Ninty hasn't got a few tricks up its sleeve this time around, though, as while you won't be getting access to Discord or any player favorite social apps, there is a new Game Chat feature. Rather than having to use a phone app for chatting to pals (loo💞king at you, OG Switch), you'll be able to use a USB-C camera and join a group of up to 12 people.

The Switch 2 also benefits from simply being a handheld, allowing it to exist as a mobile device w🌳hen removed from its included dock. When you consider the fact that Nintendo's portable can do 4K 60Hz at home an🍷d even 1080p 120Hz on the go, it does make systems like the Series S feel slightly more primitive. However, keep in mind that the Switch 2 has access to Nvidia's DLSS AI upscaling tech, so the resulting UHD performance isn't truly native.

At the moment, the Series S doesn't have access to any FPS boosting tech, which means it has to rely on good old-fashioned native rendering. If you're not into the idea of using AI, this could be a blessing, but also means future frame rate♒s won't be afforded a helping hand in the same manner as Switch 2.

Switch 2 vs Xbox Series S: Controllers

I get pre൲tty excited for new console controllers, and the new Switch 2 Joy-Con brings some dazzling new features to the table. This absolutely he🐠lps give Nintendo's pads an edge over Microsoft's Xbox Wireless Controller, but depending on your gamepad preferences, the latter might still be preferable.

The new Joy-Con controllers are larger, swap out the old Switch rail system for magnets, and boast improved HD rumble.꧅ They also come armed with optical sensors that allow them to be used like a gaming mouse, something that will help developers bring desktop PC games to the system and offer up an alternative way to play shooters and more.

Those are all perks I'm hyped for, but when it comes to straight-up playing games, I do wish Nintendo bundled its console with a more traditional controller. The Series S shines in this department since it comes with a traditional wireless gamepad, and while it🌟's obviously lacking in the feature department, its ergonomics and full-sized sticks will absolutely suit some players more.

Switch 2 vs Series S: Games

Let's be real, the real reason to pick up either the Switch 2 or Series S is the games. You could objectively call one console better than the other, but that's not going to matter if you♛'d rather trek across Hyrule than don Mas🌳ter Chief's iconic helmet. While exclusives are becoming a little complicated on the Xbox side of things, the only way to play Nintendo games is, well, by picking up a Nintendo console, and that should impact your decision-making.

Before I even get to the exclusives themselves, the way you'll be exploring the latest adventures on each console is drastically different. With the Switch 2, you'l💦l be able to choose whether to pick up most outings as a physical cartridge or download via the Nintendo eShop, whereas the Series S is a digital-only system. You'll have to rely on either Microsoft's online store or a Game Pass subscription, and that means having an internet connection is mandatory.

At the moment, there's ꦉarguably more reason to pick up the Switch 2 for exclusives than the Series S. Nintendo's console will get access to first-party outings like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza that won't be making their way to other systems. Ninty still doesn't like sharing its greatest adventure cross-platform,ꦑ whereas Microsoft is actually getting in the habit of releasing its games on all platforms.

If the OG Switch is anything to go by, there's a strong chance the Switch 2 will end up with games developed by Microsoft-owned companies. Some examples of already available outings include Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, and Sea of Thieves, and since the portable packs enough of a punch to h🌳andle demanding romps like Cyberpunk 2077, it's not unreasonable to suggest it could end up with the same big Xbox releases as the PS5 and PC.

What I will say is that since the Switch 2 is low-spec compared to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, future third-party releases might not necessarily come to the handheld. Traditionally, Nintendo consoles have missed out on beefier adventures, so access will fully depend on whether developers are willing to optimize things for the console. That said, devs are technically already doing this to suit portable PCs like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Steam Deck OLED and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Ally, not to ment🐽ion the Series S itself isn't quite a punchy as other 4K systems.

The TLDR on games is this - if you're hellbent on playing Nintendo exclusives, picking up a Switch 2 is a must. If you'd rather have guaranteed access to big releases by Bethesda, Obsidian, Blizzard, and various other Microsoft publishers, sticking with the Series S is wiser. Both should have access to all thဣe latest Indie hits to emerge, and a range of third-party escapades should make their way to both consoles, too.

Switch 2 vs Series S: Portability

Okay, look, I get that comparing Swi𓂃tch 2 portability to the Series S sounds like I'm on the wind up. It'd be extremely weird if Microsoft's console could remotely challenge Ninty in this department, but that's not to say you can bring your Xbox with you in a similar manner to Nintendo's newcomer.

The Series S is pretty compact, measuring in at 27.5 cm (10.83 inches) by 15.1 cm (5.94 inches). It's also pretty light at 4.25 pounds (1.93 kg), meaning it's much lighter than other systems like the PS5 and Series X. It's also designed to be use😼d horizontally, which opens the door to accessories like attachable LCD gaming monitors🗹 not unlike the flip-up panels of old you'd pair with the PS2 and GameCube.

But that setup is ultimately still not "portable" in a mobile gaming sense. You'll still have to rely on AC power and use the console with a controller. The Switch 2, on the other hand, o⛄ffers up a true portable experience thanks it its handheld nature, offering up removable Joy-Con controllers, a lightweight 0.88 lbs (400g) deඣsign, and an integrated 8-inch 1080p display.

What I will say is that if you'd rather play using a gaming TV, the Series S isn't weighed down that much compared to an entire Switch 2 setup. To tap into 💦Nintendo's hybrid capabilities, you'll need a dock, and if you use the default cradle, the ensemble will weigh 917g (0.91kg). It's still a lot lighter than an Xbox, but still going to require space in your backpack.

Switch 2 versus Xbox Series X

The♔ Xbox Series X isn't too dissimilar to the Series S, especially when you pit it against the Switch 2. However, Microsoft's flagship console is a powerhouse compared to Nintendo's portable, meaning it's not remotely a rival in terms of performance.

The Series X is capable of hitting 4K 120Hz in compatible games, meaning it beats the Switch 2 with a higher UHD refresh rate. That's all thanks to its more powerful innards that enable it to trump Nintendo's 3.1 TFLOPS handheld with 12.155 TFLOPS performance via a custom AMD RDNA 2 APU. Just like the Series S, it doesn't currently tap into any upscaling capabilities, but t꧋hat could help it pull off even better results in the future if implemented.

Depending on the model, you'll also gain access to Blu-ray capabilities with the Series X. That means you'll be able to watch HD movies and UHD physical releases, which tend to boast much better fidelity than streamed content. If you're rocking a pricey TV like the LG OLED G4, that's going to matter, and the Switch 2's use of cartridges means it's simply not an♎ option on th♓e handheld.

At the same time, ꧃the Series X is firmly a home console. So, unless you somehow work out a way to strap the 9.8 lbs (4.4 kg) rectangular prism to your back like a Ghostbusters Proton Pack, accompanied by a corded power source, and an external display, it's not going to provide any portable functionality. This is something that, again, makes the Switch 2 feel even more impressive given its size and mobile console nature, even if it does mean less performance overall.

Comparing even the cheapest $549 / £449.99 digital Series X to the $449.99 / £395.99 Switch 2 is more absurd than the Series S, given its higher price and target performance. That said, if you're not specifically looking for a portable experience or access to specific games, running through the differences sho♔uld help you narrow down your new console options.

If your main priority right now is grabbing a handheld, you'll also want to check out our rundown of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 vs Steam Deck for a look at how those two portables compare.

Prepping for the portable? Check out whether 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:you should upgrade your TV for Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch 2 backwards compatibility explained.

My guess as to why we might not be getting a Ubisoft Forward this year? Simply that Ubisoft doesn't have enough showable content to pad out an hour-long program. It's only just given us 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Assassin's Creed Shadows, after all, and with plenty of new content scheduled to come to the RPG as detailed in a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:recent roadmap, it makes sense that Ubisoft doesn't want to divert our attention from Naoe and Yasuke just yet.

But Ubisoft has been moving strangely in these pivotal days leading up to Summer Game Fest, and as an official partner of this weekend's LA festivities, I'm reluctant to believe that it has nothing in store…

Buying time

2025 has been a busy one for Ubisoft. Not only did Assassin's Creed Shadows finally launch after being delayed twice, the publisher recently 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:announced a partnership with Chinese conglomerate Tencent.

The detail𝕴s around the deal are still somewhat hazy, but this partnership essentially creates a dedicated "mini-Ubisoft" that will be handling some of the publisher's biggest IPs in future. As a result, the assumed lack of Ubisoft Forward this year is indicative to me that Ubisoft is trying to lay low until i𓆉t's ready to tell us exactly what that means for named franchises like Far Cry.

However, you can't blame me or any fellow Ubisoft fans for getting a little antsy. The list of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Ubisoft games is looking sparse now that Assassin's Creed Shadows is out in the wild, and when the new Rainbow Six Siege game launches a few days from now on June 10, it'll be shorter still.

But still, that's not to say there's nothing in the tank. I get wanting to keep Shadows in the spotlight (pun intended) a little longer, given it barely launched two months ago, but Ubisoft would be missing a trick if it neglects to show off Anno 117: Pax Romana at Summer Game ꦇFest this weekend.

The upcoming latest in one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best city builder game fran🍸chises is currently slated for a "Winter 2025" release, but Ubiso✨ft has yet to put a firm date on it.

Even a quick showing of the latest gameplay trailer would be useful to show fans that Ubisoft hasn't gone to ground completely, especially since it debuted said new trailer on two weeks ago and I'd somehow never caught wind of it until, well, literally just now. There's also the mystery-enshrouded Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake on the cards, first announced in 2020, as well as 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe and a huge question mark hanging over a prospective 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Far Cry 6 sequel – but now I'm getting greedy.

While I'd call it highly unlikely that Ubisoft's witchy follow-up to Assassin's Creed Shadows will get more than a mention (if anything at all) this weekend, the publisher has nodded to a different upcoming project in the lead-up to Summer Game Fest.

I'm talking about the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:cheeky Splinter Cell Remake tease that had fans thrown into a frenzy days ago, and now, it would almost be cruel to have us come away with nothing. Personally, I think this would be great to see during Sunday's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Xbox Games Showcase – though with a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历🔯史查询🥂:last-minute summer edition of Sony State of Play now scheduled for June 4, it's anyone's🤡 guess wha𝔉t Ubi has up its sleeve.

Sure, Sony might have proven that there's no such thing as being too late to the Summer Game Fest party, but ಞI'm still not expecting to see Ubisoft Forward announced anytime soon. Even without a dedicated showcase to gather all its ducks in a row, however, Ubisoft has the chance to still make a statement this weekend. Whether it chooses to illuminate some announced titles, go into more detail on the Assassin's Creed Shadows roadmap, or playfully tease us with an assortment of the two, I'll be keeping a beady eye out for the publisher's presence – and hopefully next year, Ubisoft Forward will be back on schedule.

Don't miss the Future Games Show Summer Showcase on June 7, hosted by the one and only Matt Mercer

Sounds like an unfortunate yet thrilling situation, doesn't it? As someone who survived the Siege of Kvatch in both the original Obliꦅvion and the Remastered version, early game and late game, I can tell you that this part of your Cyrodiillian a💛dventure can either be the most exciting or dullest, easiest or hardest, thing you'll ever do in this game – and it all depends on character levelling.

Cursed Kvatch

My earliest memory of Kvatch is not a happy one. In fact, it's a rather embarrassing part o🌺f my first time in Cyrodiil. With my early-game character, undeterred by the sight of a town in smithereens, I head🍃ed towards the ominous Oblivion Gate. All that stood between me and the surviving Kvatchians was a measly Scamp or two, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, long story short, the scampy fellows flattened me.

A bit surprised, I tried again and again, but same story; ওmy attacks hardly chipped away at the enemy's HP, whereas they could easily kill me. As dying to misshapen minions is only fun for so long, I looked into Oblivion's levelling system and realised that the issue was, quite literally, skill-based. No, my character level certainly wasn't too low for the Siege of Kvatch, but some of my skill levels certainly were, and ♏it took a long time to fix it.

As I discovered, you could only level your character by levelling your major skills, which you'd chosen during character creation. Once you'd gained enough major skill improvements, sleeping in ꧂a bed would level you up – even without improving any minor skills. On top of that, the Attribute Points (stat points) received upon levelling up were based on the major skills you had leveled. For example, Security, Sneak, and Marksman would belong to the 'Governing Attribute' Agility, which meant ℱyou would have to level those three skills to improve your Agility stat.

While this only scratches the surface of Oblivion's overly complex levelling system, it's enough to realize what went wrong during my first Siege of Kvatch. You see, during the tutorial, I thought I had discovered a brilliant exploit when I continuously improved my Sneak skill by loitering behind an unsuspecting Goblin. I also engaged in way too many al🔴chemical experiments while ignoring all skills governed by Endurance, which happened to be Oblivion's most important Attribute as i꧙t provides an extra HP boost per character level gained.

In many games, such disregard for efficient levelling doesn't pose much of an issue. Just become a bit overlevelled and you'll be fine. But that doesn't work in Oblivion, because enemy difficulty scales with character level. Imagine a player walking into Kvatch with a ridiculously high Sneak skill, neglected minor skills, terribly low HP, and a bunch♐ of useless potions… Suddenly, those deadly Scamps make sense.

A sleepy siege

Imagine my surprise when I – again – didn't pay attention to levelling in my first Oblivion Remastered playthrough, only to find my second Siege of Kvatch rather… uneventful. I was fully prepared to fight those Scamps to the death and give i♏t my all, but it merely required my 15%. One or two well-aimed arrows and down they went.

The Remastered version has made significant changes to Oblivion's levelling system. Although the difficulty scaling remains the same, the Governing Attributes and 🍷Endurance-based HP bonus are removed in favour of free Attribute Point allocation, and all skills, including minor ones, now contribute to character levelling. It is, in other words, much harder to screw up your character build as royally as I did all those years ago.

I should be happy, right? But although I consider this a win for the less statistically inclined Oblivion player, I couldn't help but feel that this Siege of Kvatch left me more unsatisfied than the first one. When I saw others commemorating their magnificent Kvatch battles online, I realized I still wasn't 🐻handling Oblivion's levelling system correctly.

To understand the phenomenon of the vastly-different-Kvatches, there's something you should know about Oblivion's difficulty scaling, which hasn't been changed. Rather than just making enemies 🐼harder to defeat as you level up, the enemy type changes. So, if you try to save Kvatch in early-game, you'd be met by measly Scamps, but if you were to ignore the whole thing until mid- to late-game… Well, I had to see that for myself.

In my second Oblivion Remastered playthrough, I purposely avoided Kvatch until I was level 36, and I can tell you that it was, without exaggeration, glorious. Monstrosities of all shapes and sizes came pouring out of that Oblivion Gate as soon as I approached. Daedroth, Spider Daedra, Storm Atronachs, Xivilai… These were proper demons, bef🌌itting an event of catastrophic p♑roportions.

Of course, I did die quite a few times before the title of 'Hero of Kvatch' was bestowed upon me (as did all the nearby soldiers – oops!), but dying to an o🐼nslaught of Daedric forces feels much better than dying to a Scamp. In the original Oblivion, it certainly wouldn't have been p𝄹ossible to clear Kvatch at such a high level without meticulously planning my levelling progress, which is why I now consider this the best part of the Remastered version - apart from that gorgeous visual upgrade.

As unlocking the best version of the Siege of Kvatch still requires a good deal of patience (you don't need character level 36 though, 20+ will do), when and how to b♏ecome the Hero of Kvatch is up to you. But if you want to get a truly unforgettable experience… You know what to do.

The Elder Scrolls has a role-playing problem: Oblivion and Skyrim's morality can't touch the nuance found in Fallout: New Vegas

It's a buzz to be this close to so much creativity. Digital Dragons might not yet have the size and scale of GDC, nor the community-first appeal of something like Gamescom, but Krakow's annual B2B gamedev conference is a whole other beast in itself – and everything I experienced over♋ my four day excursi🅘on proves it means business.

Hive mind

Looking around the crowded 🍎glass-paneled interior of the Krakow International Conference Center, I remind myself that Digital Dragons wasn't always such a h♛uge event.

The first conference was hosted in 2012, and on a much 𝓰smaller scale – 300 partners total, largely consisting of local Polish developers and publishers. But as of 2025, Digital Dragons has grown in popularity, with its number of attendees having swelled to attract 2,300 participants from 53 countries this year.

There's a focus on building prestige here, a sense of "quality over quantity" as on♛e representative from Krakow Technology Park put it, crafted through𓃲 its framework of lectures intended for B2B audiences rather than the community feel of other gaming conventions. By effect, Digital Dragons harnesses the opportunity for industry professionals across Eastern Europe and beyond to show face, network, possibly recruit, and learn from one another's successes and setbacks.

This becomes especiꦓally important given how the event caters not only to double and triple-A studios and publishers, but indie developers too.

The expansive Indie Zone on the ground floor fast b༒ecame my favorite place to hang out between lectures, a maze of whirring computers and bright poster boards, each boasting indies of every genre imaginable.

Here, small studios set up shop to show off their works-in-progress alongside a handful of acclaimed released titles, like , and promising early access games such as . With survival horror gem 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Deep Sleep: Labyꦅrinth of the Forsaken (winner of the convention's Indie Dragons award) on offer alongside 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Little Nightmares 3-style co-op adventure 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Bumpkin & Sprout, dark fantasy Witcher 3-meets-God of War combo 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Vranygrai, and every shade of indie i🌃n between, it was all too easy to simply while away th♎e hours playing demo builds galore.

But even if I had stayed on the ground floor for the whole convention, I don't think I'd have missed out. Digital Dragon's Indie Zone does not play second fiddle♈ to its plethora of high-profile lectures mere doors away. Rather, it's integral to the whole experience.

From roots to shoots

"It's one ecosystem. So everything grows together," says Jakub Marszalkowski, representing Indie Games Poland Foundation, on the importance of ꦍchampioning indies at prestigious events such as Digital Dragons.

"This industry is growing in, as it was said already, 🌞a little bit of a grassroot process from the bottom up. So all the big companie🍬s we have now, at some point were smaller companies. This – being independent – was an important part of it."

Shining a light on the exceptional talents of the Polish games sector is especially important given the country's historical context. Since the fall of communism in the country as of 1991, Poland has been pushing to "catch up to the We💙st," as Marszalkowskiꦆ put it, and forge a new identity as a tech-savvy nation of creatives and opportunity.

With an estimated 15,200 individuals currently in the Polish gaming workforce – "which makes us, on talent pool size, bigger than Germany and somewhat ꧅parallel with France" – the country is already taking serious strides🌃 forward.

♈"We don't have that many other cultural exports," Marszalkowski says, referencing how Polish industries missed critical waves when it comes to music, film, and other creative booms post World War 2. "But the game industry, we were there from the very beginning.

"You pro🐻bably have not seen many Polish movies, you probably have not listened to much Polish music, but you definitely know some Polish games♚. So this is our most important – or maybe the only – cultural export, and we should rely on that a lot to have our voice being heard globally."

Passing the baton

This extends to amplifying the voices of not only current industry professionals, but emerging talents too.

During my trip to Krakow, we had a day excursion to the neighboring postindustrial city of Katowice, where the country's already booming game development scene is being supported through an impressive array of theoretical and p🦹ractical further education courses.

The effects of these sophisticated programmes is evident at Digital Dragons, where a team of young developers – Rabid Rat, the animation studio-turned game developers who created the aforementioned co-op platformer Bumpkin & Sprout – won the indie Best Pitch awa𝐆rd on the final day of the conference, alongside Atomnius, an even ♛younger cohort of gamedevs, who snatched the community vote.

The joy was magnified given that 11 Bit, winner of Best Polish Game for Frostpunk 2, had donated their swanky PC prize to the piꦗtch award victor as an act of solidarity. Every studio has to start somewhere, and for a conference about prestige, there's no room for ꦑelitism here.

It was a heartfelt moment – and yes, I very nearly shed a little tear because of it – that perfectly encapsulated how important Digital Dragons has become for 𝓀studios large and small. This conference is a rare chance for developers to celebrate their wins, even amid a growing spate of industry layoffs, and find connection through the stress and pressure ⛦of their chosen career.

Digital Dragons is a reminder that🔴, despite how many excellent Polish games I've played and ꦆadored, the best is yet to come – sooner than you think.

June is here, meaning 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Summer Game Fest 2025 is just around the corner! Here's a full list of the events to expect from June 6-8

After all, this is the first "open world" Mario Kart 🍌game ever. Yet when I sit down to chat with Mario Kart World producer Kosuke 🉐Yabuki, he admits that isn't a term the development team uses about their new game.

"We don't feel the term open world is clear in terms of its definition," he says, with the suggestion that 'interconnected world' is a better representation of what 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mario Kart World is offering. "We do have this expansive wo༺rld, and we've placed therein the Mario💜 Kart Circuit or Bowser's Castle or Choco Mountain, and tried to build a new Mario Kart."

What intrigues me about this new Mario Kart is just how much more freedom players w♑ill have to experiment. Like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before it, Mario Kart World is going to thrive on racers' ability to carve their own paths to hopeful victory.🌸 Yes, the development team has placed carefully crafted tracks within this vast world, but the important part is that every road is connected to another, and that's where the creativity can really come in.

Riding racers

Mario Kart World is introducing new traversal tricks like wall and rail riding along with a charge jump. These new abilities will turn every surface in the game into a potential highway – it's just down to each player to figure out how to utilise each one. With such a wide range of terrain in the game – and particularly in a single race – how people utilise those tricks will become the thing for Mario Kart World.

"As you becoꦚme more and more familiar with these various terrains and how to control the racers in Mario Kart World, you'll come to notice these guard rails where you'll think 'hey maybe I can jump on that' or you'll see the walls of theဣ cliff and think 'maybe I could jump on that'. The more and more you play, you'll learn to leverage your imagination and curiosity," says Yabuki-san.

"It was fun for us to make, b൲ut for us, the real question is how playe🦋rs will actually play and drive, and leverage all these moves and tricks. We can't fully imagine all the types of ways that people will play."

It's got an air of the various brilliant creations people made with Tears of the Kingdom's construction tools. It's not quite puzzle-solving in the same way, but I can already see the kinds of incredible combos racers could pull off to༒ sneak into pole position or avoid a dreaded blue shell being shared꧋ as feats across social media.

It's a knockout

Tha⛄t's going to be especially true for the new Knockout Mode. The 24-player checkpoint-based mode seꦑes players knocked out at various markers throughout the race, with only the top four making it through to the final stretch.

"When we created this expansive world, the first thing that we wanted to do was to enable a race going from the Eastern Coast all the way to the Western coast," but Yabuki-san and the team knew that for some p🐭layers being at the back of a race for the entire dura🎀tion may not be all that fun, which is exactly the reason why the checkpoints exist.

"When looking at the hands-on events across the world, we could confirm that those who could race through to the end were happy, as well as those who dropped out midway. They both had fun in different ways. It was a happy surprise for us tha𒁏t those who could complete the race, and those who couldn't, both had a fun time."

Although it's seemingly going to work out okay from initial player feedback, Yabuki-san admits that he was "very careful" about adding a new mode for Mario Kart World. Not only would it fracture the player base as they split out across free roam, Grand Prix and Knockout Tour, but it was always the goal to make sure that, despite the big changes ꩵto the approach, it still retained the classic Mario Kart experience at its core.

Balance and banana peels

A big 💙🐻part of that was making sure everything was balanced with each track, which sounds easier said than done with an interconnected world design. But, it extended to all the power-ups and items, too, with the team even considering ditching some iconic items altogether.

"When we created this world from scratch, 🃏we re-reviewed all the꧃ elements that are included in this game, including the iconic banana skin. We actually did go through the exercise of asking ourselves, 'does it still make sense to include this item in Mario Kart World?'"

"Another example is the green shell as well. Obviously, it's been there for a long time in Mario Kart, but when we looked at it, we asked🐓 ourselves here, 'Is it sufficient when you can just throw it over the course?'. For example, the racers like Mario and such can ride over the guardrails. Should we not enable the shell to also slide over the rails?"

To😼 answer these questions, the team at Nintendo had to consider "the implementation of each and every item", and decide whether each one should "remain the same as before" or "amend and add a different element to it".

As well as rediscovering old favorites (yes, the banana skin and green shell made it in), we've got plenty of new items in Mario Kart World to discover. Even from my preview time with the game, I'm already particularly hyped about the new feather. Not only does it let you jump higher to avoid attacks, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:including the dreaded blue shell, but it also lets you access different parts of the tracks to diꦍscover even more potential shortcuts. The new hammer is also intriguing as it lets you embed hammers into the course to hit rivals but also block off access to certain routes too.

It feels like everything the team has done with Mario Kart World is letting players be more creative and tactical. I'm sure that'll mean I am 1000% times worse going forward, but it's going to be exciting to see how players evolve their skills over time with this Switch 2 exclusive.

We've got plenty more about the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Switch 2 games or all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Switch 2 launch games on GamesRadar+.

Excuse me while I catch my breath, because writing up all of this month's new Lego sets for June has b🍸een exhausting. Dozens upon dozens of kits are coming in to land across numerous ranges, and it's probably the biggest drop we've had all year.

That avalanche includes smaller, more affordable kits alongside contenders for our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Lego sets guide, such as the adorable 101 Dalmatians Puppy that can be made in 101 different configurations. The Bluey series has also been given a Lego mak♌eover to great effect (just watch as these fly off the shelves), while various book nooks are doing ste✃rling work making our bookshelves look more interesting. The Hogwarts Express version is my current favorite, and it stands out in a month already overloaded with cool new Lego sets.

To give you a better overview of what's happening in the world of Leg🐷o this June (and to help you decide what you'd like to put on the wishlist), here are all the new Lego sets hitting shelves this month. Buckle up, because there's a lot to take in...

New Lego sets: Art

Art continues to come out in drips and drabs, with just one new Lego set for June. This one returns to animals, now with 100% more tiger. The beast's gaze is really q🧔uite arresting, and I'm a fan of the flowers brightening up the leaves on either side that make it look like more than a Lego mask.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Botanicals

This month's new Lego sets bring two of my favorite kits fr🍌om the Botanicals range in quite a while: the gorgeous Red Maple and delightful Happy Plants. The former is showing off with beautiful scarlet and orange leaves that offset the artfully twisted trunk and pot nicely, while the latt🌊er is just so darn cheerful. These derpy little guys are the perfect present if you ask me, and I can see them being snapped up for birthdays or Christmas this year.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Bluey

This might be the biggest release of the month, honestly - and you better believe these kits will sell like hotcakes. The Lego Bluey range (which also includes toddler-friendly Duplo) is absolutely adorable, is packed with references to the 🍷show that kids are gonna love, and serves as a strong foundation for what I assume will be a massive line one day.

There's something to suit every budge൩t as well, but my favorite would absolutely be the Heeler family house. Besides being the only set to get you the whole clan, it's crammed with nooks and secrets children will enjoy discovering. I appreciate the appearance of hidden little toys seen in the show as well.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: City

The City range goes ham on new Lego sets once agai🅘n, with a full . Well, if you're in the UK or Australia, that is. The US has to wait for many of these kits aside from The City Tower, and they'll get the lineup in August.

As luck would have it, the standout would have to be The City Tower anyway. This✱ enormous build is an impressive sight, is bustling with activity (there's something new to see wherever you look), and lines up perfectly with other kits such as the Ce♎ntral Train Station. I also appreciate the spaceship parked on the roof, of course.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Disney

It's another bumper month for new Lego sets based on Disney, but one stands out from the pack - the ambitious 101 Dalmatians kit. Yes, it's a very cute puppy. But that's not why it's specꦰial. Rather, this model stands out because it can be built in a mind-boggling 101 ways. In other words, you have a lot of room to personalize your creation.

I saw this in person back in January at the London Toy Fair, and can confirm that it's heckin' adorable. I was also a fan that a much cheaper option i☂s being released alongside it too - the mo꧋re modest Lucky & Penny kit.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Dreamzzz

Dreamzzz continues apace, but only in the UK and Australia. That's because these kits aren't coming to the US until August, so hold ꧋your fire if you're hoping to grab these Stateside.

Funnily enough, my favorite kit this month is the demon s⛦ubmarine. Because c'mon - a giant evil shark that's also a sub? That's straight up gold. It's ridiculoꦺus, and I love it.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Fortnite

OK, listen. Peely & Sparkplug's Camp is very nice. The Durrr Burger Restaurant seems like a mighty fine establishment as well. But nothing in this month's new Lego sets matc🧸hes up to Klombo.

If I'm being honest, I didn't even know what a Klombo was until recently... but now I'd protect t⛦he gigantic baby boi until my dying breath. Just look at that derpy smile and googly eyes.

What I'm s🌄aying is, I think the new Lego Klombo set is cool.

New Lego sets: Friends

Here's another range that's getting a big release in the UK and Australia this month... but not in the US. Sorry, Stateside readersജ; you'll need to wait until August to get your hands on the latest Friends. Well, apart from the Comic Book and Game Store - that's out this month across the board.

I feel contrac🌄tually obligated to say that this is my favorite, but truth be told, I'm torn between the Family Vacatioﷺn Beach Resort (the summer holiday of my dreams) and the Plant Cafe and Flower Shop, because hell yeah would I grab a coffee and chill there. What a vibe.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Harry Potter

Someone cast 'productivity' on the Lego Harry Potter team, bec𒆙ause we're awash with new Lego sets from this Wizarding World this June. Eight new kits (many of which are substantial) hit shelves this month.

While I'd love to say the Monster Book of Monsters is my favorite of the bunch (truly, as it looks like a lot of fun), the Main Tower steals all the limelight. I managed to see both at the Toy Fair 2025, but it was the Tower which dropped my jaw. Besides being an instantly recognizable silhouette, it packs in numerous iconic locations like the moving staircases, Dumbledore's office, and🍌 many of the challenges from the first film. There are numerous minifigures on show here as well.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Icons

Thi🔯s month's new Lego sets from the Icons range are all book nooks bar one very important set (which we'll get to later), recreating iconic scenes to go on your bookshelf. Of the two we're getting in June, my favorite would be the Sherlock Holmes design. Yes, the Balrog battle is cool - but for my money, the Baker Street kit captures the winding, cobbled streets of Victorian London beautifully in a way that feels perfect for book nook form.

However, it can't hold up to my top Icons kit of the month: Krusty Burger from The Simpsons. We've not seen Springfield in Lego form for years, and it's high time the range returned. The restaurant🐽 here is as jam-packed with references as you'd expect, and it's a reminder that there's still so much material to mine from the long-running franchise.

Available June 1, 2025

Available June 4, 2025 (June 1 for Insiders)

New Lego sets: Ideas

It's a lighter month for new Ideas Lego sets, but my inbox has already been blowing up because of one kit - the Minifigure dispenser. This vending machine has really captured fans' imaginations by the look of it, and I can see why. Besides being fully functional if you insert a 'coin' (a mini Lego one, included in the pack),♔ the contraption will spit out one of 16 collectible minifigs in a gumball. Ah, nostalgia.

The✃ other kit is the Pixar lamp, which I'm personally fond of. 🐭It's a cute nod to a Disney icon that never gets its due.

Available June 1, 2025

Available June 4, 2025 (June 1 for Insiders)

New Lego sets: Jurassic World

Jurassic Park/World fans and dino-lovers everywhere are eating well this month. June's new Lego sets include not one but six kits based on the franchise, with everything from cute baby crܫitters to sprawling playsets.

It's the latter which caught my eye. More specifically, the Lego Spinosaurus & Quetzalcoatlus (no, I've got no idea how to say that either) Air Mission would be my pick. Yes, there are cool dinosaurs and an abundance of 'stuff' thanks to ve🅺hicles and terrai🉐n galore. But what I find truly appealing is the temple ruin set up. It's all kinds of Indiana Jones in here.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Marvel

We're getting another Marvel bust this month in the form of ol' Shellhead, but that's not what earns my nღod of approval this month. Oh 🃏no. I prefer the Fantastic Four kit with an amusingly wonky Reed Richards, who looks like he's wearing stilts.

Besides being our first good look at cosmic villain Galactus (he's been shrouded in mystery since his first reveal), it also brings together Marvel's first family with a good look at their powers. I wish they'd made Ben Grimm a larger figure like Hulk, though; it kinda lo🐲oks like someone cosplaying Thing, with those toy Hulk fists.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Minecraft

More playsets are dropping this month for Minecraft, but I've only got time for one kit - the rather magnificent Creeper figure. Lego was already a perfect match for the blocky game, but the Creeper proves it. It may as well have leapt from the screen into real life. It feels like fans agree, because it's currently on back-order in some regions.

Just bear in mind that the Pillager Outpost and Ender♓man Tower are coming to the US later - August 1, to be precise.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Ninjago

The Temple Bounty ship is very impressive, but man, I don't think I've ever seen a more majestic Ninjago set than the Guardian Dragon. Its size and pose give it a truly regal demeanour. While it make𒊎s an ideal playset, it'd also be a good centerpiece for🍰 any Ninjago collectors.

Still, it's worth noting that most of these are only available this month in the UK and Australia; aside from the Guardian Dragon mentioned above and the Fire Knight Mech, which are꧒ alrea😼dy here, they'll be arriving in the US during August.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Speed Champions

It's a 'only one set' kinda month for Speed Cham💝pions this June, but the kit in question is gaudy enough to make up for going solo. A recreation of the Honda S2000 from 2 Fast 2 Furious, it's an electric pink design that you couldn't miss at any distance.

New Lego sets: Star Wars

It's a funny old month for Star Wars; while there are three kits hitting shelves in June, they're smaller kits ♍that will have a lot of hype surrounding them despite the modest size. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've gotten a Plo Koon minifigure, for example, and the Death Trooper/Night Trooper pack is a great army builder if you're hoping to construct Grand Admiral Thrawn's undead army.

I've got a liking for the latter; the shining gold repair-work onꦰ busted Stormtrooper armor is striking, and really helps the minifigs pop.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Technic

Technic is at its best with big, unnecessarily detailed car replicas, so there's no surprise I'm shining a spotlight on the premium 2 Fast 2 Furious🍎 Nissan Skyline set for now. A surprisingly intricate engine, 3 NOS canisters ready to p🔯rovide a burst of speed, and Lego's first ever 'drift' function.

As with a few ranges this month, not all Technic kits are available for US builders in June; you'll need to wai🔴t until August for the Aston Martin and Volvo models.

Available June 1, 2025

New Lego sets: Other

A few assorted kits based on birthdays a🐻nd freebies (such as the , free with Krusty Burger) are up for grabs at the Lego store this month, so make sure you check them out if you're hunting down thoughtful gifts or stocking fillers. My pick 𒈔would be the Birthday Numbers, because they can be put up each year for your kids' birthdays or on a cake. Handy.

Available June 1, 2025

If you want to save as much as possible when building your collection, don't miss our roundup of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Lego deals this month. You can also visit a galaxy far, far away with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Lego Star Wars sets.

With E3 2025 remaining an impossibility – the once great annual event now fallen by the way side in favor of SGF, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Summer Game Fest 2025 schedule is the new tome to follow – the likes of Xbox, Steam, PlayStation and Nintendo are present, bringing info on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games of 2025 and beyond! Over the decades, it's events like these that are lynchpins of the gaming calendar, and really show what the future of gaming w🎀ill bring across specific announcements, yes, but also highlight the trends that will continue to shape the industry. The countdown to Summer Game Fest 2025 starts here!

2K

While we may be treated to updates and announcements surrounding 2K's premier sports titles such as WWE 2K25, NBA 2K, and more – the publisher has some real big adventures on the way. We expect 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Borderlands 4 to steal the show, the upcoming zany sci-fi co-op shooter looking set to bring the looter back to its roots in a big way as soon as September 12. Only a few months ahead of release, it should be a blow out. Additionally, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mafia: The Old Country is releasing even sooner – August 8 – and promises to be a focused single-player story experience. We're salivating to find out more about what that means. We'd also love to finally see something from the long-awaited 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:BioShock 4… could this be the time? Just don't expect much more from GTA 6 though, Rockstar marches to its own drum, and we just got a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:massive new GTA 6 trailer for that as well as a delay to 2026.

505 Games

If our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Blades of Fire review is any indication, 505 Games is in a really solid place right now with their slate of published games. While you can always expect plenty in the pipeline from them (I'd already be eager to get some Blades of Fire DLC, but I may be dreaming), it's Wuchang: Fallen Feathers that's they're next big release. If they're at the show, they're bound to be telling us more about this huge title from Leenze. Inspired by Chinese mythology, it aims to use the setting to offer a new twist on the soul♏slike genre, and it's shaping up to be seriously impressive so far.

Bandai Namco

2025 has already been a big year for Bandai Namco, but the publisher still has some absolute mammoths on the near horizon, and we expect to hear at least some news for the long-awaited 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Little Nightmares 3. Currently, the Supermassive Games title is slated to launch in 2025, so it's more than possible that a release date gets announced during a showcase. The same could be said for Digimon Story: Time Stranger, which similarly only has a 2025 release window at the moment. As massive RPG fans, we're hopeful for something 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Blood of Dawnwalker shaped as well, but considering that game was only announౠced in January this year, it may not make♍ the showcase cut.

Blumhouse Games

Blumhouse Games may be a relatively young publisher (having only been founded in 2023), however, it currently has five games in development, and we're betting that we'll see at least a handful during Summer Game Fest. If you're a cozy gamer,澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: c💎hances are that you've heard o🍌f Grave Seasons (a farming life sim with a serial killer twist). The game was announced in June last year, so we're due an update, and we expect to see it during either the Wholesome Direct or the PC Gaming Show. Fingers crossed, we get more insights into Blumhouse Games' other horror titles as well in the later showcase, lo🅠oking at you, Project C.

Capcom

Resident Evil 9 would be the dream, we know. However, looking closer to reality, it's more likely that Capcom's involvement in the Summer Game Fest will center around its 2026 title that was announced at the end of last year. We're talking about Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the upcoming entry to the samurai Onimusha series. It's also possible that Capcom may be in the lineup due to Nintendo. Street Fighter 6 is a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Switch 2 launch title, and we could be🌌 seeing more of it as it's one of the best offerings for the upcoming console. Personally, we're hoping for some Okami 2 news, since that was also revealed last year. Fingers crossed that Capcom meets all our high expectations.

CD Projekt

In terms of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming CD Projekt Red games, let's be honest, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Witcher 4 is going to be the star of the day. We got our first trailer for the new RPG during the Game Awards 2024 livestream, though we still don't know a release window. where they will be "showcasing some of the innovative technology & features that will power The Witcher 4, and beyond". Cyberpunk 2077: Orion (the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel) also 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:recently got a pre-productio🗹n update, so there's ♉a chance it'll make an appearance in some capacity as well.

Devolver Digital

Devolver Digital actually has a lot going on currently in terms of games in active development, so we expect to see quite a few offerings from the publisher pop up throughout Summer Game Fest. Since Nintendo is going to be involved, we're betting that the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Switch 2 game, Enter the Gungeon 2, gets some kind of news (hopefully a release window). Skate Story is also overdue for an update and still needs a 2025 release date. Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions is also another cross-platform 2026 outing that has a♋ lot of eyes on it, so we wouldn't be shocked to see it appear in some capacity as well. However, Devolver Digital is known for throwing wild curveballs, so potentially we could be looking at some fresh, never-before-seen indie announcements as well. Devolver Digital is always a fun wild card after all.

Dotemu

In terms of SGF partners, Dotemu is definitely one of the smaller ones in terms of games in development. However, although the line-up isn't massive, it does come with one of our most anticipated 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Marvel games and a new outing in the iconic Ninja Gaiden series. Marvel Cosmic Invasion was recently announced to be heading our way sometime in 2025, as was the 2D platformer Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. We'll likely see both of these titles at some point, hopefully with release ꩲdates in hand. However, at least we can rest easy knowing that there will be plenty of pixelated beat em up action, regardless. I mean, what else could you expect from ninjas and superheroes, right?

IO Interactive

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Project 007 has a new title – 007: First Light, and is set to receive its full reveal this week. No doubt, this is tying into Summer Game Fest. The dev studio already mastered assassination espionage with Hitman, so we're shaken, stirred and everything in between to see how they tackle the good guy spy himself. Also, it's easy to take the series for granted following the release of Hitman 3, but the whole Hitman World of Assassination package does continue to update and do quite well. This year is a big moment for it as well, as i🎐t'll be coming to Nintendo Switch 2 allowing players to take their hits on the go. It might even end up being one of our favorite Nintendo Switch 2 games if it comes out well.

Mundfish

The release of Atomic Heart must have gone well, because – that aims to help other developer💜s get their games out there and breakthrough to audiences. Alongside the announcement, the developer also revealed Atomic Heart broke through 10 million players in total – not too bad. Given the SGF partnership, we'll likely hear more a🎶bout the Powerhouse initiative, and what games they have planned for their first wave of publishing.

Neowiz

We really enjoyed this developer's Pinocchio-inspired take on soulslikes in our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lies of P review back in 2023. The studio has continued to bring updates to the adventure since release, and we're now barrelling close to the Summer 2025 launch window for its major Lies💦 of P: Overture DLC which brings a new chapter as well as difficulty options. Summer Game Fe🍰st 2025 will be occurring over, well, the summer – so expect to hear more about the DLC. We'd also love to hear what Neowiz has planned next, but we und𓂃erstand they'll want to focus on tying the bow on Lies of P so far.

Nintendo Switch 2

Considering the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 itself launches on June 5, its early launch days overlap with Summer Game Fest 2025 directly – which makes me anxious just to type out. Regardless, expect plenty of information on the launch lineup from the show, detailing the likes of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mario Kart World for those still on the fence about purchasing. While there's certainly lots of announcements Nintendo could make about the year ahead for the hardware, it's the imminent release of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Donkey Kong Bananza that's sure to be in the spotlight,𝓰 givꦍen its July 17 launch date. As the big new open world platforming adventure, this feels like the biggest showpiece for the system at the moment in general.

Pearl Abyss

The Black Desert Online developers have more than a few new project irons in the fire, so to speak. The colorful monster catching DokeV hasn't had an update in so long it feels like it's due for a bit of a re-reveal, but we're not holding our breath. More imminent is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Crimson Desert, which has been making the rounds at various showcases before SGF 2025. A single-player open world medieval-style fantasy adventure, what we've seen has been breathtaking, and the boss fಞights we've gone hands-on with have showcased twitchy combat. We're still waiting to see how it'l🦂l all come together, and waiting for a firm release date. Here's hopin💙g we find all that out and more come SGF 2025.

PlayStation

There's so much coming up for PlayStation that we're desperate to hear more about, but let's at least try to begin realistically. 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Death Stranding 2: On the Beach from Kojima Productions is sure to have a final big showcase ahead of its June 26 release date. Likewise, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ghost of Yotei, from Sucker Punch Productions – the sequel to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ghost of Tsushima – is creeping ever closer to its October 2 launch, and we're due a deeper dive into the systems in a showcase at some point soon. It also feels like Saros, Housemarque's spiritual successor to Returnal, could put in an appearance. Whether Marathon will be there, 🦹澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:given the recent scandals around its art, remains to be seen.

Further off, but still possible, is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Intergalatic: The Heretic Prophet, Naughty Dog's latest which looks to be a departure from The Last of Us and Uncharted – but it may be too early to see more on this yet. Also, given how much we loved Insomniac Games' latest in our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Spider-Man 2 review, we're desperate for more from them, especially when it comes to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Marvel's Wolverine. Likewise, co-op heister 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Fairgames remains a bit of a mystery, as do several unannounced projects from some of their top studios like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:God of War: Ragnarok developer Sony Santa Monica Studio, or what's next to followup on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Horizon Forbidden West from Guerilla Games.

Sega

Sega have so many games cooking it's hard to know where to begin, while at the same time feeling due to announce some kind of higher profileꦏ spotlight game. Could we get a new Sonic platformer? Yakuza 9? Skies of Arcadia Re-Legended? (Okay, let me have one spot to manifest). One thing is clear, Sega are big supporters of the Switch 2, with launch games Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S and Yakuza 0: Director's Cut releasing imminently, and the likes of sort-of-Persona-spin-off Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army getting a remaster that'll also be on the system.

Beyond Switch 2, Sonic is still doing his thing. The actually-quite-good-looking Sonic Racing CrossWorlds isꩲ dueꦜ in 2025, so expect more details on that. On the smaller screen, Sonic Rumble is meant to be coming to mobile – but was recently delayed – and Persona 5: The Phan𓃲tom X is also set to finally release in English soon. Meanwhile, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance will be the first in Sega's series of legacy revivals, coming 29 Aug. Will we finally see more from Jet Set Radio, Gold🎶en Axe, Crazy Taxi, and Streets oꦆr Rage as well?

Square Enix

For such a huge publisher, there's actually a lot up in the air with Square Enix at the moment, so it'd be great to get a firmer picture for how its biggest series are looking to evolve next. Namely, with 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询⛦:Kingdom Hearts Missin🌞g Link for mobile cancelled and a recent new glimpse at 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Kingdom Hearts 4, are we due a bit of a blowout for the Disney crossover RPG? It'd be great to get some more news on what's next for Final Fantasy, be it 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:the surely-on-the-way Final Fanta﷽s💛y 17 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, which will close out the ꦅredo trilogy. Other than that, 🍸Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake, which we enjoyed going han🦋ds-on with, will lik﷽ely put in an appearan♌ce ahead of its October 30 release.

Steam

澳洲幸运5开奖🌼号码历史查询:Could it be? Is it finally time for Half-Life 3!🐠? Probably not. But, well, we can dare to dream. We're a little unsure quite what Steam themselves may be doing at SGF 2025, but if we had to put money on it we'd bet they don't have much in terms of games software, but perhaps hardware instead. The SteamDeck seems to have been a success – we certainly loved the hardware in our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Steam Deck OLED review – and it'd make sense that Steam as a platform may continue in this 🍬direction. Never a company to silo themselves, it's likely more 'portable PC' devices may partner with Steam to bring its OS to devices.

Supermassive Games

The stalwart horror developer who ran screaming into our hearts with 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Until Dawn continues to release some solidly spooky games, and they've got two upcoming that are sure to be represented at SGF 2025 that we can't wait to see more about. Direc😼tive 2080 is a sci-fi thriller that looks more tha🔯n a little chilling, and is the latest in their Dark Pictures anthology of frights (though the series' titling is now – and perhaps wisely – minimized). They're also working on Little Nightmares 3, a standalone third entry in the uneasy platforming series, picking up the reins from creators Tarsier Studios (澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:who are working on their own new thing: Reanima𓄧l).

Techland

Parkour-centric zombie series Dying Light continues to be a delight, and the developer has a followup to 2022's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dying Light 2 due later this year: 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dying Light: The Beast. Seeing the return of original protagonist Kyle Crane, this started development as DLC before transforming into its own thing. Likewise, Kyl🅠e can now transform, us🉐ing his titular beast powers to dominate the forested environment like we've never been able to in the series before. Beyond this, Techland is also working on some not-quite announced projects like a fantasy game – but we'd expect them to remain focused on telling us more about Dying Light: The Beast for now.

Xbox

The platform holder isn't just at Summer Game Fest 2025, but has a whole 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历𒀰史查询:Xbox Games Showcase airing on June 8. We'll be digging deep into everything Xbox is bringing, but it'll be a fascinating time to get to grips with where Xbox is in the industry at the moment. Rumors abound about all sorts, including the possibility of new hardware – though it soꦫunds like that might not be kicking around this year after all. But, anything can 🌼be an 🐼Xbox now, or so they say.

In terms of games, Xbox have just come off releasing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Doom: The Dark Ages through Bethesda. The big new release this time around will be 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Outer Worlds 2, as Xbox have already announced it'll receive a dedicated Direct following the broader showcase. We're also hoping Xbox Game Studios will tell us more about 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Gears of War: E-Day, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:State of Decay 3, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Clockwork Revolution, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Perfect Dark – which feel like they're due more info soon. Further off, and games we'd really love to hear more about but have been light on info for a while are the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Fable reboot, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Marvel's Blade, Everwild, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Elder Scrolls 6. They've got to tell us more sometime, right?

For more future releases, check out our guides on all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming PS5 games and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Xbox Series X games.

And, after less than a year-and-a-half in the role, Ncuti Gatwa’s tenure feels like it’s ended too soon. Eighteen-and-🥂a-bit episodes were barely enough to scrape the surface of this extremely likeable Time Lord. He never even got to face off against a Dalek, a Cyberman or the Master.

Even so, the 15th Doctor’s regeneration in “The Reality War”, Saturday’s Doctor Who season 2 🎶finale, was the most exciting I can remember. Not only did Gatwa’s departure stay (more or less) under wraps until he started radiating that familiar regeneration glow. We also had no idea what – or more accurately who – was coming next. It’s a scenario I’ve longed for as long as I’ve been watching the show.

The trouble with regeneration, Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor once pointed out, is that “Yo🔴u never quite know what you’re going to get.” Alas, as viewers꧙ we’ve rarely been able to share that state of blissful ignorance.

Joy division

Historically, the identity of the next Doctor has been revealed long before the previoඣus incumbent has handed in the keys to the TARDIS. Peter Capaldi’s arrival was such a big deal that the announcement was granted a live, one-off TV show on BBC One. The 12th Doctor even had a brief cameo in 50th anniversary special “The Day Of The Doctor”, a whole mon𒈔th before Matt Smith made his long-anticipated departure on Christmas Day.

Because we usually know what’s coming, regenerations tend to✱ be a question of “how?” rather than “when?” That said, showr🔴unners have occasionally been able to toy with audience expectations.

David Tennant hadn’t yet announced he was leaving the show when the Tenth Doctor started regenerating at the end of 2008’s “The Stolen Earth”. A week later, in “Journey’s End’, Russell T Davies indulged in some sly narraಞtive sleight-of-(literal) hand by using the Doctor’s previously severed appendage to halt the process.

A few months later – after Tennant had confirmed he was off – Davies instigated another tease by calling the subsequent Christmas special “The Next Doct✨or”. We knew Tennant was sticꩵking around for four more specials, but it didn’t stop various tabloids speculating that the episode’s co-star, David Morrissey, would be taking over in the TARDIS.

The opportunity to🦄 keep “The Reality War”’s bona fide regeneration under wraps required a unique set of circumstances. Most years, the practicalities of TV production ensure that keeping the next Doctor’s identity secret is a virtual impossibility. After all, with the show constantly on the radar of both the UK press and an extremely passionate ✱fanbase, any whiff of cameras rolling is liable to find its way into the public domain.

This year was different, even though there were several hints that something major was about to happen. For starters “The Reality War” didn’t land on streaming platforms BBC iPlayer and Disney+ until it aired on terrestrial channel BBC One. Gatwa, meanwhile, had been extremely coy 𒀰about his future on the show, fuelling rumours that he might be ready to hang up the sonic screwdriver. Most importantly, for the first time since the show’s triumphant 2005 return, there was still no confirmation of a new season. This remains the case, though Davies has been saying for months that a decision on the show’s future was always unlikely until the curreღnt run of episodes aired.

It’s a void the showrunner has filled in spectacular style, playing his cards to perfection. While “The Reality War” wasn’t my favourite episode of the season – I share many of the feelings expressed in GamesRadar+’s 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Doctor Who season 2 finale review – I found its final act utterly exhilarating. In🧸deed, I was on the edge of my seat as soon as it became clear that bringing toddler Poppy back to reality was going to require a blast of regeneration energy. The anticipation of that final moment, when Gatwa’s surprise successor would be revealed, was the icing on a timey-wimey cake.

Yes, rumours about Billie Piper’s return had been circulating online but – crucially – you had to go looking for them. Besides, even if you had an inkling the actor was coming back, we s🅘till have no idea if she’s the Doctor, a manifestation of Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf or something else entirely. I feel genuinely sorry for fans who were saving the episode for catch-up and accidentally re💖ad spoiler-filled headlines announcing Piper’s return.

This regeneration was a reveal so massive that it rivalled the moment Luke Skywalker turned up in The Mandalorꦐian. After watching “The Reality Wa൩r” I can’t help wondering what it would have been like if David Tennant had unexpectedly regenerated into the then-unknown Matt Smith at the end of “The Next Doctor”. Or – in what would have been an even bigger shock – Peter Capaldi had surprised everyone by morphing into Jodie Whittaker halfway through his final season.

The arrival of a new Doctor is always eꦚxciting, but the Time Lord’s latest regeneration multiplied that feeling by a factor of… I dunno, let’s say 15.

Check out our rundown of all the easter eggs, cameos and references in Doctor Who season 🍷2. You can also read our spoiler-filled 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Doctor Who season 2 reviews.

Promis☂ing around eight to ten hours of story, it's about as long as a proper sequel would need to be, but is introduced to me as a standalone expansion. Even so, while Biegun says it builds on some story elements in🅘 the base Rogue City, you don't need to have played it to get into the action here. As mercenaries attack a police department with a mysterious new cryo cannon, and take over a massive residential block called OmniTower, it's up to the officer known as RoboCop to fight his way inside and sort things out with extreme prejudice.

Dead or alive

Playing through the first three levels and then skipping to a later one, the business might be unfinished, but it is still business as usualꦰ. Clomping around relatively slowly like a tank, RoboCop is able to scan and pinpoint enemies𝔍 with a green overlay just like the movies, taking out goons with high-powered weaponry. Being slow just emphasizes the feeling of power, cooldown abilities to slow time or raise shields meaning I feel like I can take a lot of hits.

Enemies can be grabbed and thrown around too, and environmental hazards can be used to thwack enemies 🦩into objects to cause a bloody mess, such as big ol' industrial fans. Bits of cover can be blasted away with weapons to open them up to headshots (the pistols feel great), and RoboCop's vision highlights areas of wall I can use to ricochet my bullets around corners. The huge tower feels like a real space structurally, but one that RoboCop can turn to his advantage.

And yes, just like꧟ in the original Rogue City, you can also shoot enemies in the nuts for no real benefit, but as a tip of the robo-helmet to the movies. "It's still here. It's still available. It's still effective. It's still, I would s🎶ay, good looking," Biegun laughs. "For the fans." Likewise the sounds of guns and the action are meant to closely evoke the films, and even some of the lighting of the OmniTower is meant to resemble '80s movie lighting. "We don't want to use the word realistic, because realism is not a part of RoboCop at all," says Biegun – moreover Teyon wants to portray the heightened reality of the series.

Quickly, though, the action does escalate to be more frequently tense than in its 2023 precursor. RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business features fewer detective elements and a greater focus on action. Biegun calls it "more dynamic" because of it. There are more weapon types – including a minigun and eventually the cryo cannon itself, and more enemy types t𒈔o💛 unload into.

The enemies aren't just new models, either – but are designed to shake up the pace of encounters in Rogue City which, fun though they were, could become a bit samey. Enemies with shields require you to think about how to catch them off guard, and drones and jet-pack wearing foes emphasize the verticality at the heart of the OmniTower. It sure beats just combing balconies🌳 for where squishy enemy heads are about to reveal themselves, and keeps me on my toes even from early on. Later on, they tell me there will be ninja androids.

The single setting, the OmniTower, also allows Teyon💧 to play with literally escalating action and keep the pace tight. There are still moments where things slow down a tad, from RoboCop assisting scared residents to one section that has me go Star Wars as I blast the gears of an encroaching trash compactor's ceiling. But, for the most part, it feels natural that the higher I climb the tougher the threats I'll come up against.

The action even moves beyond RoboCop. The later mission I play sees me take control of the digital circuits of ED-209, the series' iconic heavily armed bipedal enforcement droid. I feel the weight of the machine, but it's a real power trip to stomp through the environments, cycling through a machine gun and rocket launchers to blast the heck out of swarms of enemies. It's a better machine fantasy than the more cumbersome mechs found in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Doom: The Dark Ages, and is a highlight of what I get to play. I won't spoil too much, but one particularly funny moment even nods to ED-209's inability to tackle stairs that genuinely makes me laugh out loud. It's gre🧸at to see Teyon still understanding that there's a real sense of humor to RoboCop's over-the-top nature.

In fact, as with Rogue City, a lot of work has gone into ensuring Unfinished Business feels like a legitimate part of theﷺ RoboCop world, the team discussing everything with the rights holders. "We have creative freedom as a developer," Biegun confirms, but this includes the likes of technology and types of guns available, as they want to avoid it seeming like "they created something out of nowhere" that doesn't fit the series.

Which is all to say that the cryo cannon – which hangs heavily over the game's opening hours – is an official addition. While I've yet to try it 𓃲myself as it's at first in the enemy's hands, it's one of Biegun's favorites to use: "I really lov🌸e this weapon because it has an impact on the environment. When you shoot it, it will leave ice all over the place so you can, if you walk through it, hear the crunches."

RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business is more RoboCop but not just more. It's all൲ dialled up. More action. More weapons. More over-the-top. I can't wait to see how high the OmniTower really stretches. I'll find out soon enough, as RoboCop: Rogue C🍃ity – Unfinished Business is open for, erm, business on July 17, 2025 across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games of 2025 calendar for what else to play next!

True, some of these games have seen more commercial success than others. South of Midnight's modest reception felt lukewarm after the breakout hype over Avowed, undoubtedly Xbox's standout first-party exclusive of the year so far, while Bethesda and MachineGames' already popular 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Indiana Jones and the Great Circle became a cross-platform favorite when it launched on PS5 mere months after its Series X debut – and hey, remember when 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Elder Scrolls 4:🍃 Oblivion Rem﷽astered got shadowdropped five days later?

2025 is shaping up to be one of the best years for Microsoft Gaming in a very long time. That makes it even more important for the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Xbox Games Showcase to make a strong case for the rest of the year, showing off its in-house 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Xbox Series X games while championing the flagship console as the best place to play imminent third-party hits. Especially since, you know, the showcase is coming three days after the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 l✱aunches – and I'd be surprised if💯 that didn't cast some kind of shadow.

Thinking outside the (x)box

With the promise of both🔴 first and third-party Xbox titles on June 8th's lineup, as well as a dedicated The Outer Worlds 2 deep-dive from deve꧅loper Obsidian immediately after, Xbox Games Showcase 2025 has an opportunity to be not only celebratory, but preparatory.

The success of Avowed earlier this year cements Obsidian as the latest Xbox posterchild, with a litany of successful games released since the studio's acquisition by Microsoft in 2018. It makes s꧒ense that Xbox is positioning Obsidian front and center as it sets its intentions for the coming months; even as the publisher bears down on its cross-platform "Xbox Eve༒rywhere" initiative, first-party exclusives will still be of special interest to many tuning in this weekend.

There are plenty of likely showstoppers I can think of in that vein. We haven't seen much of Fable 4 since its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:delay to 2026, while 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Perfect Dark and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Gears of War: E-Day have both been MIA since their respective reveals this time last year. We're also fairly light on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:State of Decay 3 and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Clockwork Revolution news, as despite both currently sitting pretty on our list of expected 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games for 2025, rumors and estimates have them likely ꦑto be delᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚayed.

I'm especially keen to see if we get any new 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Marvel's Blade intel, despite how Arkane Austin𝕴 said it would be "going quiet" for some time in 2023 to 🧸focus on its production stages – but hey, a girl can dream.

Xbox has many third-party partners it could be 🏅showcasing this weekend, drumm𝓀ing up some hype around announced games with release dates already set for the imminent future.

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Borderlands 4 is an especially hot topic, with the release date mere months away at this point, as is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mafia: The Old Country and Supermasive Games' Directive 8020. It would also be a brilliant time to firm up some ballpark-2025 release windows for games like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Vampire♋: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 (which was delayed to October for a in response to early gameplay feedback), 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Crimson Desert, and Chucklefish's cozy new pixel RPG 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Witchbrook.

After all, now that GTA 6 has been delayed to 2026, there's surely no time like the 𒀰present for an avalanche of new release dates to help iron out the rest of our 2025 gaming calendars.

The road ahead

I know, I know – that's a lot of games, and a lot of educated assumptions besides. Perhaps the most interesting potential third-party partner we might see at Xbox Games Showcase, though? Ubisoft.

Despite being listed as a Summer Game Fest partner, the Assassin's Creed publisher has yet to confirm whether a Ubisoft Forward showcase will be going ahead. Bummed as I am at the prospect of waiting even longer for a look at 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe, though, a cryptic tweet has led many fans to believe that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:this could be a teaser for a long🎐-awaited remake Ubisoft announced some 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:four years ago.

If this is t♓rue, it could come at any point over the weekend's festivities – including the inaugural proceedings on June 6 – s🧸o it's definitely one for Xbox sleuths to watch for.

After an impressive start to 2025, Xbox Games Sho🌊wcase is Microsoft's chance to keep the good times rolling. It's an opportunity to impress console and PC gamers alike, not giving up on the strength and utility of its hardware even as console unit sales slow down, and prove that Xbox intends to carry this momentum into Q4 and beyond.

It'll be no small feat to draw attention away from the Switch 2 hype, but if Microsoft brings the goods I know it's well equipped to, the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 should be well worth postponing a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mario Kart World race for.

Tune into the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Future Games Showcase on June 7 to check out a litany of brand new games on the way this year, hosted by Matt Mercer

Scriptwelder's intricate point-and-click adventure where dreams become nightmares is both familiar and novel. Sure, the DNA of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Resident Evil games is baked into its isometric, 2D pixelated world, but instead of gunning my way through a zombie-infested mansion, Deep Sleep had me 𒉰dreaming myself into subconscious terrors – and loving every second.

Dare to dream a little bigger, darling

The first thing I see when I load into a fresh save file is a typewriter. That's not the only thing on the screen – the scen🌄e is that of protagonist Amy's bedroom, filled with curious objects and gadgets just waiting for a closer look. I know from reading the synopsis that Amy is trying to make contact with her presumed dead brother, and it's only through dreaming that she can d𓆉o so.

But even with that intriguing backstory in mind, I can't help what my eyeballs latch onto. The typewriter is a familiar touchstone, linking Deep Sleep: Labyrinth of the Forsaken to some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best survival horror games that came before it,🧸 and I simply mꦚust check it out.

I take a moment to admire the retro art style, noting the 2D framing of the scene as Amy gets up from her bed. I examine the electrode hood she's discarded on the bed – my gateway to nightmare puzzle worlds, no doubt – before finally clicking on the typewriter with feverish glee. What d🎶o you know? I need an ink ribbon to use🐻 it. This little nod to the titans of its genre (namely, the one and only Resident Evil) immediately charms me, clearly signposting Deep Sleep's mission as a survival horror game with a neat twist or two up its sleeve.

Once I've examined just about everything in the cramped space, I click on the electrodꦛes again. It's time toꦿ experience what makes Deep Sleep different from its predecessors: the fact that most of its action takes place in dreamspace.

This next part feels like something out of Inception, or maybe even using the animus in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Assassin's Creed games. Amy is a lucid dreamer, meaning I now get to choose what it is she dreams about now that she's fallen fast asleep. I don't recall the name of the first dungeon I pick, but it looks an awful lot like a hotel. Or, in a way, the telltale windi🎉ng halls and locked doors that make up Resཧident Evils Spencer Mansion.

But I digress. ♌Deep Sleep: Labyrinth of the Forsaken doesn't play like a Resident Evil game, necessarily, despite how it might resemble one. This is no fixed camera angle endeavor, but a slightly isometric point-and-click adventure. I check my inventory quickly, and am disappointed to find a human bone rather than a gun as my main offensive tool. A quick rummage through the room I've loaded into, however, and I come out with a wrench – score one for me. Immediately, I set off to find something to batter with it.

Curiouser and curiouser

Exiting through a pair of double doors, I find myself on the upstairs landing of the hotel foyer. Stairs lead down to the dimly lit lobby, and in the darkness, I see something shambling about.

I flick on my equipped flashlight with a tap of the left tri🅘gger, despite on-screen warnings of some enemies being particularly photosensitive.ꦅ I'm not trying to avoid a battle here, after all – I want to see what Deep Sleep's turn-based combat is all about.

When I approac🦄h the creature, I hope I'm the one who landed the first hit. The UI doesn't make that part all too clear, but as a musical sting chimes men🧸acingly and the edges of the screen start to blur and shift in streaks of garish red, I can only assume I've triggered a combat encounter. Much as in Look Outside, my favorite survival horror indie of the year so far, combat in Deep Sleep requires a more tactical approach.

I'm presented with my inventory, and must select a weapon with which to attack the enemy. I go for the wrench first off, sure that a swift bonk over the hea♚d will do the job – but alas, it does only two HP damage and shatters in my hand. Meanwhile, my human bone fragment does the job beautifully, and three turns later, the creature falls down dead.

Still reeling from the encounter, and with a brand new bone looted from my opponent's corpse in hand (ick, I know), I pick through the rest of the lobby in search🧔 of something stronger. Perhaps, even, something 😼with bullets.

But, again, Deep Sleep is not as combat-focused as many other survival horror games I've played. It's a puzzler, first and foremost, with seemingly infrequent run-ins with enemies not only further spread apart, but a lot more optional. As I push open a door and hold my breath, expecting a room ▨full of enemies, I'm surprised to find the hotel concierge instead.

He berates me for⭕ being late to this, my first day at a new job – a typical dream anxiety for many of us, I think to myself – and orders me to deliver luggage to five separate rooms. But which bags go to which room, I ask, eyeing the stack of suitcases and nearby trollies suspiciously? The concierge waves me off with a huff. Apparently, work꧟ing that part out is up to me.

Sadly, my demo time is cut short by the presence of another eager player, but what little I've seen of Deep Sleep: Labyrinth of the Forsaken has whetted my appetite for plenty more. It might sound simple enough, but it's exciting to see 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games reworking well-worn genres to 🐎bring out fresh, unex🍬pected flavours.

Deep Sleep is shaping up to be a brand new, non-linear type of survival horror game that uses dungeons, dream theory, and "elements of randomized design" to its advantage, and it's already shooting past many other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror games on my list of 2025's most wanted.

Check out all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming PC games on the way in 2025 to help plan your gaming calendar

In discovering Ratopia, a downright adorable rat-themed city builder, I put my rodent avoiding days behind me. With its fairytale assets and nomenclature it promised a gentle foray into the life of a benevolent rat queen and her god-fearing subjects. I imagined long days brimming with rodentesque revelry and midsommar nights of placid quietude, walking the halls of my ornat🔯e mousehole. What I found instead was a rat-infested carnival of pestilence and despair.

Best laid plans

As base builder fans often discover, there's an order to things. You start building with the more common resources dotted a🐓bout the map, and as you tackle the research tree you'll delve deeper in order to gain rarer resources for more complex production lines. It's the basic survival game stepladder.

In starting a new game of Ratopia, you first need to build a City Gate to let in migrants. Then you go about meeting their ever more elaborate needs as they become less and less comfortable with the initial asceticism of a frontier lifestyle. Your Ratizens quickly grow tired of snoozing on the cold ground with zero entertainment so you have to scramble earlꦜy, earning enough research points to work your way through several research trees in quick succession.

While the research pipeline is relatively frꦯeeform, in that you're encouraged to specialize depending on which resource you have greater access to, there's a core hierarchy of needs that have to be met early. Deviate from that and you'll have a hard time clawing back a single mistake, as I soon found out.

The rat race

For my third playthrough in two days – I restart city builders a lot – I decided to go without the tutorial. I didn't see the need to go through it all again. I had the general gist. At least, I thought I did♎.

I spent a lot of this playthrough exploring, which brings in a steady flow of research points each time you return with a new resource. I then built myself a Laboratory to churn out and stack up even more research points before things got too heated. I thought I'd gamed it. I had a steady flow of research points, I'd locked in an easy food source. I'd even quelled their🍃 cries for a circus and went about my day. Little did I know the wave that was about to break over my humble hamlet.

After a few days of careful consideration, working out each aspect of my base in great detail – from the efficiency of its layout, to the color of the wall hangings – it suddenly hit me. In the corner I spotted one ༒of the many notifications I'd been ignoring for the past few hours of slogging away at my settlement, which noted that one of my Ratizens was sick. It was all downhill from there.

Like the Plague

Having been so enthralled with micromanaging my little rat village to within an inch of its life, I'd forgotten 🍒one simple necessity: toilets. Apparently the abundance of open pools dotted around wasn't enough for my bougie rodents – I suppose along with gaining sentience they'd relinquished their will to wash.

Despite a steady flow of research points, I wasn't pumping out nearly enough to see me through the process of rectifying a disease-ridden dominion. In order to heal my Ratizens I would need to build a toilet to head the plague off at the source. Easy enough. But to actually treat the Ratizens I'd need a hospital, which needed fabric and stone blocks – two things I had been willfully neglecting – as well as a pharmacy to make the medicine, and a kiln to fire the charcoal for it. In other words, a full-blown pharmaceutical production line. Not to 𝔍mention the sheer rat power needed to get all this off the ground in time to save my people.

No. I was beaten. And in my attempts to emerge from the plague infested hellscape I had created, I thought fondly of the Rim and of squirrel invasions. As unforgiving as the Rimworld's storytel﷽lers can be, I found myself wishing for my happy place. Because in this delicate dance of 🌄survival, beady eyes begged at me for a cure I could not deliver. And in my hubris, I watched my rat empire fall.

Looking for recommendations to add to your wishlist? See what's on the horizon in our roundup of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming indie games.

Which is great. What is less great, is t🉐hat the RRP on these is a big jump from what we saw with the original Nintendo Switch. First-party games like Mario Kart World can cost as much as AU$119.95, which is much higher than the usual AU$89.95 we've come to expect from Nintendo.

Not all retailers are asking that much: the likes of Amazon and JB Hi-Fi are carving small chunks off that astronomical RRP. Likewise with games like Donkey Kong Bonanza, which wears an RR🦹P of AU$109.95, but which Amazon, for example, is offering for AU$99 at the moment.

Below is a list of the biggest Nintendo Switch 2 launch games in Australia, and the best price on each at the time of writin𓆏g. I'll keep this updated over the coming days and weeks.

Cheapest Nintendo Switch 2 games in Australia

Those are the big physical releases for Ninꦉtendo Switch 2 at launch. I'll be updating this page as more games join the roster post-laun♛ch.

Looking for Nintendo Switch 2 console pre-orders and accessories? We're rounding those up 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:here.

Over years of updates, reworks, and a full-blown pivot in philosophy, Star Wars Battlefront 2 has transformed from cautionary tale into cult favorite. What remains now is a slick, content-rich shooter that feels more like the game fans were promised – and a reminder that, in the right hands, even the most hated game can find its way back to the light side. Better yet, it's blowing up right now, with more players wandering back to the game every single day.

There are two reasons for t⭕he late-blooming success. The first is that Battlefront 2 feels like you're in Star Wars. At this stage you can play as everyone from Rey to Han Solo, pilot a screeching Tie Fighter or charge with your friends into N🅠aboo's capital city.

But the real secret, whisper it, is that Star Wars Battlefront 2 was always a pretty good game, but the progression system relied on loot boxes🐓 for some reason, and no amount of stormtroopers could make players forget how annoying it was to level up and then get nothing useful because of the random loot🀅. It was a design decision so aggressively anti-player that it didn’t just ruffle feathers – it got government bodies talking about gambling in games. The backlash was swift and, in hindsight, probably the best thing that could’ve happened to the game.

A real fixer-upper

Under the sludge of poor monetization was something fans genuinely wanted: the fantasy of being in the middle of a Star Wars warzone. Not just playing as the big names like Darth Vader or Yoda (though, yes, you can), but lining up as a clone💛 trooper with your mates and pushing through tight corridors on Geonosis. Battlefront 2 understood the spectacle, the sounds, the feel of the galaxy far, far away in a way that few other Star Wars games quite managed. DICE, known for the Battlefield series, brought its trademark chaos and visual fidelity to the table – and when it all clicked, it clicked hard.

So what’s caused this resurgence? The second reason for Battlefront 2’s second wind is timing – some of it accidental, some of it not. I'd point to the success of shows like The Mandalorian and Andor, and a TikTok algorithm that seems to really love lightsaber kills.. And once people returned, what they found was a game that had quietly become one of the most complete Star Wars multiplayer experiences out there. No new monetization bait, no aggressive battle pass, just a deep pool of maps, modes, and heroes ready to be jumped into. Sure, you can spend money in Battlefront 2 if you want 🔜to, but it's not necessary and mostly for cosmetic reasons.

Part of the charm lies in just how fun it is now. The maps are dense with detail – from the decadent marble of Naboo to the sun-scorched cliffs of Tat♑ooine – and the game has been balanced over time to reward team play and moment-to-moment chaos, whether you want to squad up with your friends or run chaotic interference as a Sith Lord. You still get those cinematic multiplay♍er moments too. The blasters feel effective and every hero can kick arse, but I'm also wildly enthusiastic about the little assault class shotgun that you can pull out to cap someone at close range.

There’s something else at play here too: the community. Against the odds, Battlefront 2 has developed an engaged fanbase. Hell, when I dropped in to play I found I was getting myself messed up by people who have been plugging away at the game since 2017, the video game equivalent of Japanese holdouts in the Pacific not realizing the war was over. The war, in this case, was over as soon as we met each other and🥃 they shot me to death with preternatural ability honed by years of playing a mostly dead game.

Look closely, and you can still see the cracks from where DICE performed kintsugi to turn Battlefront 2 into the best multiplayer Star Wars game out there. The live-service sheen is still visible in the bones of the UI, and there's only a few different weapons to fool around with. But in a world where AAA multiplayer games are constaꦅntly pushing new monetization gimmicks and early access asterisks, Battlefront 2 feels weirdly refreshing in its final form as a solid, complete game that respects your time.

Which le𒁏ads to an awkward question – how did EA and DICE mess this up so badly in the first place? And what does it say about the games industry that Battlefront 2 had to nearly crash and burn just to end up where it probably should’ve been at launch? These are tough questions, but important ones, because the story of Battlefront 2 is the story of how fan pushback can make a difference – and how corporate course correction, when handled seriously, can actually result in something bet🌳ter.

In the end, Battlefront 2 isn’t just a comeback story. It’s a cautionary tale, a redemption arc, and a quiet triuওmph all rolled into one. It’s a reminder that good game design and fan trust go hand in hand – and that sometimes, when you strip away the marketing bluster and revenue models, what’s left is a fucking good vid⛄eo game.

The servers ar꧑e alive, the force is strong, and Battlefront 2 is finally the game it was always meant to be.

Star Wars Battlefront 3 hopefuls pour one out as EA is reportedly “focusing on a small handful of franchises” after cancelling Black Panther: “EA fumbled one of the biggest IPs in existence”

Suddenly the floodgates were open, and everyone had their own hopes for crossover games. Dream crossovers like Street Fighter Vs Mortal Kombat, Crash and Spyro, or Jak and Daxter teaming up with Ratchet and Clank, were becoming highly requested. Luckily for PS2 owners, ꦉone of the most obvious crossovers ever came to be when Metal Gear Solid crossed over with… Ape Escape.

Son-keys of Liberty

Okay, so, maybe Ape Escape and Metal Gear aren't exactly a destined duo. But for whatever reason, the powers that be decided that for the third entry in each series, Snake and the titular apes would cross paths. Reasons that even Snake's actor himself – David Hayter – was unaware of. "While we were recording MGS3, they just came in and𝔍 handed me a script," he tells us, "and my first꧃ line was 'Snake Vs Monkey' and I could only ask, 'Why am I saying this?'"

The reason a state of emergency is declared: apes have escaped and fled to a Russian jungle, and the on💮ly people able to stop them – Spike and Jimmy – are away on summer vacation. With nowhere left to turn, 𓆏the professor goes to Roy Campbell, who knows just the man for the job: the legendary soldier Solid Snake. Snake – begrudgingly – is ripped away from his own holiday at 2am and enters the jungle in search of Specter's mind-controlled simians.

"They just told me that it was a side-game and that was all," recalls Hayter, adding, "Y'know in Metal Gear, they ask you to say a lot of weird stuff; you just 🍒sort of roll with it." Sadly, aside from a small intro scene to set the stage, Hayter's voice talents weren't ꧃utilised during the minigame.

Snake Vs Monkey sends you through seven stages (each with a title that's a pun on a film's, such as 'Ape Fear' and 'The Apes Of Wrath') in which you must search for and catch those cheeky monkeys. It's a fairly simple minigame, reusing the level design and mechanics of Metal Gear Solid 3 in a faithful recreation of Ape Escape. It even features a level set in the field where Naked Snake and the Boss have𝔉 their final battle in one of MGS' most emot🅘ional moments, now filled with funny little monkeys. Hayter muses, "Y'know it's kind of the soul of Metal Gear; it goes from the sublime to the ridiculous."

While there are some fun touches, like a Shagohod-inspired ape mech in a couple of the stages,🔥 they are merely cosmetic; the game boils down to shooting targets with the EZ Gun and running into them. Still, for a small side-game in one of best games ever made, it's a fun distraction.

Snake Escape

Snake Vs Monkey could have easily been an enjoyable little side-game in MGS3 and that would've been the end of it. However, Japan Studio had other plans. When Ape Escape 3 was released less than a year later, the developer had its own take on the crossover with the Mesal Gear Solid: Snake Escape minigame. That's no typo. 'Mesal' is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for 'metal' and 'monkey' – 'metaru' and 'saru'. Once again Snake would meet the apes; however, this time David Hayter would not be brought in to voice the legend♒ary Metal Gear hero. "I think it's the first I'm hearing about it," Hayter exclaims when we ask.

Instead, the role was given to another Metal Gear Solid alumnus, Vulcan Raven actor Peter Lurie, who tells us that "💮someone who knew me from⭕ some of my other work came to me and said 'We really want you to play this part.'" Lurie was given very little information in advance. "It wasn't until I actually walked in there that I realised it was playing Snake, which I was a little surprised at but thought, why not? Let's see what happens."

Ape Escape's Professor is doing his laundry, when he gets a call from his best pal from school, Colonel Roy Campbell. He informs Professor that he has lost contact with Snake, who was infiltrating a base to destroy the newest version of Mesal Gear, and needs help locating him. It turns out that a specially trained ape guerrilla force has commandeered the latest Mesal Gear and is demanding ten billion bananas within 72 hours or they will fire the mech's 'Lazy Cannon.' Campbell requests the help of the elite ape-catching force of Spike and Jimmy… who are on🌌ce again away for the summer.

When all hope seems lost, Professor has the brilliant ♛idea of uploading Snake's battle data into a monkey helmet, and thus Pipo Snake is born. In addition to the battle data, Pipo Snake also took on Snake's voice actor. Even though Lurie was pulling😼 double duty, he quite enjoyed playing Snake's monkey variant, saying "they [non-verbal characters] can be a lot more freeing because it can be left up to your own interpretation."

While Snake Vs Monkey is a touch underwhelming, all things considered, Mesal Gear Solid is shockingly ambitiꦕous. Set aside all the apes and the game feels like a legitimate Metal Gear Solid adventure. The opening areas emulate iconic scenes from MGS1, such as the elevator and the initial approach into Shadow Moses from the beginning of the game, as well as a fist fight on top of a destroyed mech from the finale. The game doesn't stick to co-opting areas from past Metal Gear games, however, and that old Ape Escape flair is soon added with levels inspired by the likes of Edo Japan and the Wild West. The developers even use small touches like cutscene direction, the way the guards patrol, and posters adorned with bikini-clad monkeys. All of these go to show that this was a true love letter to the greatest stealth series of all time rather than some half-baked crossover mandated by a publisher.

Bananas of the Patriots

So, how do you get into the mindset of a battle-hardened ape? According to Lurie: "If I remember correctly – and this happens a lot with characters who don't speak 'the Queen's English' – you're given a 'We want a response and this is what emotion we want to convey.'" However, even when your dialogue is as simple as making 'oo-ki' noises, the direction is taken as seriously as any 💯other. "There will be times where a dire🔯ctor will tell you in a polite way 'That's really good but let's try it this way, remember, you're trying to convey this.'" Lurie says that's "someone's subtle way of trying to say 'Yeah, that's not it.'"

Of course, the Metal Gear series is known for jumping between utmost seriousness and utter ridiculousness at the drop of a hat. Working on those games, it seems, acclimatises you to the extreme ends of the job. David Hayter agrees with this, saying, "It's kind of cool to create a world like that, where the serious stuff, tragic stuff, and hilarious stuff all comes together." He adds, "I think it's kind of comforting for people when the game developer is confident enough to joke with you. That's the kind of stuff that🍃 fans come up and talk to me about all the time. I alw♑ays feel like when a situation is dire people tend to joke, and, in a way, it sort of mirrors life."

A version of this article originally appeared in PLAY Magazine – 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:which printed its final issue in 2024. More stealth needed? 7 years on, Agent 47’s attempt to contain a deadly virus in Patient Zero brings the classic Hitman stealth action to an unmatched fever pitch

My god, Nightreign is so much better with friends. Granted, in my experience shoveling thousands of pounds of mulch on a humid summer day is also much better with friends. Everything is. The friend buff is real. But the gulf between the solo and team experience in Nightreign is so massive, from coordinating abilities to sharing loot to managing aggro, that it's got me thinking about the merits of explicitly building your game with teams of three in mind, especially when you have limited in-game communication and no crossplay. Betting your game's experience on the player's ability to recruit two friends fཧeels like a mistake.

Looking for one

This has been on my mind since the recent alpha for Marathon, which is also designed for teams of three. I actually had a lot of fun with the alpha when – here it comes – playing with two friends, but where Nightreign is simply grueling solo, Marathon f♒eels completely unplayable alone. You would have to pay me to play that game with two randoms. It's like herding cats. In Nightreign, going alone is hard; in Marathon, it's standing in a field with your ass in the a🌸ir and asking for a team to take your guns.

While both of these games have matchmaking that will put you in a team of three – and I'm frankly impressed with how stable the Nightreign servers have been in my limited experience – they do very little to help those teams coordinate and succeed and, you know, have fun. Adding matchmaking is the bare minimum. It's surviving. But I don't want to survive; I want to thrive, and other multiplayer games do this stuff so much better. You can ping thin♊gs in Marathon, and Nightreign lets you put a marker on the map to suggest where to go, but playing either game with two random players still feels like trying to staple rain to a tree.

Maybe – okay, definitely – some people have more patience for this than I do, but I hate rolling the dice on whether my LFG teammates are going to enhance my evening o🅘r sabotage it. I'll let you guess the impact of the random mage who joined a buddy and I last night, and who seemed incapable of using their skill or ultimate but kindly gave us a lot of practice on how to revive downed teammates. I have an easier time tolerating that gamble when games help me steer the ship, but the matchmaking and communication in these two is a crapshoot.

There's been a lot of noise about Bungie omitting solo and duo queue (and also proximity chat) in Marathon, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:among other deserved no꧟ise around the game. FromSoftware has openly 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:admitted it goofed up and forgot that people might want to play Nightreign with just one friend, though it's considering adding bespoke duos in the future. And any raid leader can tell you that booking one friend is exponentially easier than getting two or, horror of horrors, more online at the same time. Why do you think so many people are specifically begging for🔜 a third in the Nightreign Reddit community? Your average gamer is an adult, the ♑world is by and large hellacious, and life gets in the way. Ga🥀me nights are hard to coordinate!

On top of that, not everyone likes Souls games. This is a different formula for FromSoftware, but it's still Elden Ring. My Destiny and Monster Hunter buddies don't translate well to Nightreign. And that goeဣs double for extraction ꧂shooters like Marathon. How did two of the most intense and demanding genres in gaming both decide that they'd be just fine without multiplayer features that infinitely more approachable games figured out years ago?

Marathon, I realize, is an unfinished and unreleased game, but its intended launch is not far away and its established direction feels like a misread from Bungie, which should know better after 10 years of shepherding Destiny players and probably five years of studying other extraction shooters. Nightreign, to FromSoftware's credit, is already planning a patch that 𒐪should make the solo experie⭕nce more fun. But I'm really hoping for more. Duo balancing, crossplay, in-game chat, smಞarter pings – I don't know how difficult or feasible it would be to add these in future patches, but I reckon they'd go a long way to making this game more fun on average.

For my money, that's what good matchmaking and multiplayer design does. Playing with friends sets the ceiling for fun. Playing with randoms is the floor. Good multiplayer systems narrow the gap between those two scenarios and give players a better average experience, ideally while helping them make and find lasting friends within the game. There are absolutely merits to multiplayer-first design – the co-op-only game 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Split Fiction is one of the best games of the year – but if studios are going to push teams of three this hard, they're going to have to do more to cultivate and support those teams. For the time being, when I can't wrangle some Nightreign buddies, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:I'll be playing Fantaဣsy Life i instead.

Elden Ring Nightreign passes 2 million sales on its first day, despite a "Mixed" Steam rating and some of FromSoftware's lowest critic scores in years.

The latest film from Icelandic writer-director Rúnar Rúnarsson, When the Light Breaks follows art school student Una (Elín Hall) over the course of 24 hour🎃s after she finds out that her boyfriend Diddi (Baldur Einarsson) has been killed in a freak traffic accident. Her grief is further complicated by the fact that their affair was a secret, and Diddi was on his way to break up with his long-term girlfriend Klara (Katla💯 Njálsdóttir) when he died. Una spends the day that follows with a small group of Diddi's childhood friends – and Klara, who rushes to Reykjavík when she hears the news.

Una struggles with the rese☂ntment she feels towards Klara and the sympathy she receives, as well as the guilt of her and Diddi's infidelity and the weight of her secret – one that was previously shared, but now rests firmly on her shoulders alone.

"I just had to get it out of my system"

When the Light Breaks is dedicated to two of Rúnarsson's friends who passed away and, although the film is a work of fiction, it channels his own experiences of grief. "It's a relief. I just had to get it out of my system, one way or another," Rúnarsson said in an interview with . "But when something, like a box, has been standing on a shelf for a long time and then you move it, it le🦋aves an empty space. I managed to get rid of the box, and I am glad it’s gone, but nothing else will b🐎e able to replace it."

Ideas of grief and loss are examined further with a piece of music that recurs throughout the film: it's by the late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who scored movies liℱke Sicario and Arrival and died in 2018. The piece is one of Jóhannsson's first works, but it's never been used in a movie before.

Emotional debris

The thing that struck me the most about When the Light Breaks, though (other than its gorgeous cinematography, shot by Sophia Olsson, who captures both the Icelandic summer sunrises and the highway tunnel explosion with equal painstaking care), was its honesty. It doesn't seek out answers to the moral and emotional complexities at its core, nor does it attempt to moralize one way o𒀰r the other. A more simplistic script would force us to empathize with Klara or demonize Una, but instead it invites us to sit with bo♔th women and their shared and separate grief.

A particularlꦚy moving scene sees the two women brush their teeth side by side in Diddi's bathroom: Una reaches for his toothbrush but, realizing she needs to feign unfamiliarity with the space, squeezes toothpaste onto her finger instead. When Klara joins her, she does the same thing in an attempt at solidarity, while the knowledge that Una has been in this exact spot many times 🧔before hangs heavy and unspoken over the pair.

When the Light Breaks is full of complicated moments like this – small, intimate acts between people trying to make sense of the worst day of their lives that carry as much irony and tragedy as they do hope and joy. Love and death are well-trodden topics for a reason: there isn't one right way to behave when your life blows up in real-time, but When the Li🗹ght Breaks attempts to pick through the emꦰotional debris.

When the Light Breaks is out now. For more on what to watch, check out the rest of our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Big Screen Spotlight series.

Ring Fit Adventure is one of the only games I've found that sits perfectly in the middle – it's fun and entertaining, but still feels like a proper workout. Six years on from its launch, with a range of competitors and🍌 different methods to play games releasing since, Ring Fit Adventure remains the best game for working out at 𓆉home.

Ring Fit Adventure has you partaking in over 100 levels across 20 worlds, embarking on a quest to defeat Dragaux, a hench dragꦜon who puts even professional body builders to shame. Each stage prompts you to battle monsters, collect coins, and even perform a victory pose at the end.

Every element of the game uses some form of exercise, whether it's running on the spot just to move forward, using 'fit skills’ to damage enemies, or pushing on your ring accom🤡paniment to fly over dangerous terrain. However, what sets Ring Fit Adventure apart is the inclusion of a fitness ring, hence the name, as well as a leg strap to attach your controllers to.

Don’t skip leg day

A majority of fit skills use the included ring, which requires a level of strength to push or pull – making them feel like a real💜 workout. Unlike other fitness games on the market, Ring Fit Adventure can measure how much effort you’re putting in and whether or not you have the correct form when performing each of these moves thanks to these included accessories.

There are a range of fit skills to choose from, each of them belonging in one of four categories: Arms, Abs, Legs and Yoga. If today is leg day then you can choose exercises like squats or thigh presses. On the other hand, if it's time to workout your abs, then you can select russian twists or leg raises. Targeted exercise is something you typically cannot find outside of a gym – let alone in a fitness game – creating an element which sets Ring Fit Adventure so far apart from alternative options. This is a𒀰ll while keeping workouts (which are typically mind-numbingly boring in a gym) fun and entertaining.

Ring Fit Adventure further gamifies health by making different enemies are vulnerable to different move sets. If you typically stay away from working out your arms because it's too dif꧂ficult, the game will make short work of you, as some monsters can only be taken out with arm based fit 🐼skills. This encourages you to try out exercises you might otherwise avoid, in a way other games are still yet to manage.

Exercise or arm-ercise?

There are a range of games both on and off of the Nintendo Switch that encourage exercise and movement. There's Fitness Boxing – which focuses heavily on flinging you🧸r arms around rather than whole-body exercise – and Just Dance, which suffers from only tracking players' hands. VR alternatives are becoming more accessible, but they’ll still cost you a pretty penny. Some examples, like Xponential+ and Supernatural, work on a subscription mode to access workouts, while Beat Saber's DLC music packs quickly rack up costs.

Meanwhile, Ring Fit Adventure has remained a one-time purchase. That includes the essential ring and leg strap too, making it a much cheaper long-term investment when compared to virtual reality alternatives. Ring Fit Adventure's form-tracking once again stea𝓡ls the spotlight here as well, as similarly to Just Dance, VR options only track your head and hands.

It’s clear that Ring F꧂it Adventure’s primary purpose is to exercise, with the fun part being secondary rather than the other way around like most other fitness games. This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for those who really do want a workout rather than just flail their arms around, this is the way forward.

Some titles do prompt you to move and have fun, like Just Dance or Beat Saber. But when you’re aimlessly throwing your body – or in this case your arms – around, it feels like the tiꦚtles are prioritizing fun over any actual exercise.

Years on from Ring Fit Adventure's release back in 2019, no other title has quite encompassed the required elements to make a game a𓆉s perfect as this – whether we're talking technology or pricing. Ensuring you’re putting in the effort by tracking your movements means this game holds you accountable to a level no other title is able to offer. It's the perfect balance between fun and exercise – a formula that's proven hard to perfect outside of Nintendo's alchemy – and ultimately, the reason why Ring Fit Adventure remains unrivalled.

Whether you're hanging on to your Switch or preparing to upgrade, stick with us for all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 news you'll need in the run-up to launch and after

If anything, My Hero Academia struggles with its own longevity. Though the early seasons of the anime honed in on a kind of why-don’t-I-fit-in angst re🌌garding its lead character, Izuku Midorꦡiya, and his allies, a lot of that was lost when the scale increased and the stakes evolved. It’s tougher to highlight personal struggles when all of Japan needs to be saved.

The first few episodes of Vigilantes thrive on 🍨their newness, but also the fact that the franchise is pulled, perhaps for the first time, to a more street-level affair. When the previously powerless Midoriya becomes mentored by the “World’s Greatest” All-Might in MHA, it’s treated like a moment of destiny. All-Might appears as if from a dream to guide him. When Koichi, who wears an All-Might hoodie out of sheer fandom, is approached by the brass knuckle-wearing Knuckleduster to be a hero in Vigilantes, it’s a group of misﷺfits banding together. There is no guiding light for Koichi. Just a broad-shouldered man in the shadows asking him to start throwing hands with villains.

All Quirk and no play

Koichi himself is a far cry from Midoriya, even if they both share the same aspirational battle anime willpower. Koichi, who is a little older, is more concerned with the exis🐬tential problem of an adulthood without purpose. Sure, he has a Quirk, which allows him to skate around on all fours through streets and alleys “like a cockroach,” but it doesn’t compare to the powers possessed by famous heroes. It transforms a figure like All-Might, previously aওwe-inspiring to the teenage Midoriya, into a sad symbol of the outside world to Koichi. He represents a life unwasted, one attainable to only those with the strength to hold onto it.

Vigilantes prescribes to Knuckledusters’ definition of heroism – i⛄t matters very little how strong you are or what Quirk you have or how respected you are by your peers. What matters is taking action. MHA is a story about trusting in the authority provided by “the good guys” and the heroes that, if good of heart, c♍ould unwaveringly be around to protect you. Knuckleduster, as he drinks beer in Koichi’s grungy rooftop apartment, offers a rebuttal to the ivory tower notion of superhero education. The professional heroes? The police? They’ll never be fast enough to tackle the rising problems of Vigilantes. It’s YOU who must act.

Vigilantes operates in the periphery of the MHA world, giving us a much better idea of what it’s like to live in a society that’s obsessed with superheroes. In it, All Might is far more likely to appear on a poster or an action figure (or on your hoodie) than in person. The fame that you can eke out is self-made; when we first meet fellow vigilante Pop Step, she’s a wannabe idol, accruing her small fanbase through guerrilla performances on sidewalks. Those who recognize Koichi when he goes by the name “Nice Guy” mostl♎y wish he’d help them take out their trash rather than save the world. His biggest contribution to society before becoming a vigilante is giving back change at his convenience store job.

Of course, Vigilantes is still a firm part of the wider MHA mythology. Though we first meet Knuckleduster when he leaps from a rooftop and falls unceremoniously into a stinky pile of trash bags, there are hints at his wider relevance in the backstory. And the cameos from major MHA characters are constant. Even if a few of them distrus✃t the new Vigilantes and actively work to stop them, it’s still a guest spot to assure that, yes, this is a fairly safe expanded universe. MHA: Vigilantes is most comprehensibly consumed after you’ve spent a bit of time in its paren♏t story, and seeing how it occurs five years before MHA, there are constant references to provoke “Ooooh, it’s that guy from that thing!” reactions.

However, in the span of a few episodes in its first season, My Hero Academia: Vigilanteꦺs manages to feel more unpredictable than MHA ha🌃s in years. There is a constant sense of boundaries being pushed, both against the structure that was laid out in the original show and against the predetermined ethics of the characters. How far is too far? When you watch the blood trickle from Knuckleduster’s grin, it’s clear that no one in Vigilantes has the same answer to that, and it’ll take some figuring out to come up with one. Until then, according to Vigilantes, justice is what you make of it.

Check out everything we know about My Hero Academia's 💜final season for even more on the show. You can also keep up to date with our 澳♚洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:My Hero Academia: Vigilantes release schedule.

But even with 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Doomsday already 💟sporting a massive cast that spans different worlds, there are still important characters from both the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:198ཧ5 and 2015 comic book versions of Sec💧ret Wars, which will♎ both be hugely influential to the Secret Wars movie, who s🙈till haven't made their MCU debut.

Though these ten important characters may or may not make it into the MCU, when it comes to adapting the original Secret Wars comic and its 2015 ဣsequel, they at least ought to be considered for inclusion in Avengers: Doomsday🐟 and Avengers: Secret Wars.

We're not including characters that have had appearances in MCU movies or who have alr💟eady been announced to appear. At the same time, we are including characters who have appeared in non-MCU Marvel movies.

Molecule Man

Molecule Man is better known as Owen Reece, an odd Fantastic Four villain whose power to rearrange matter down to its atoms is actually a product of his cosmic connection to the Multiverse. In both the original 1985 Secret Wars and its 2015 sequel, Molecule Man's powers are essential in Doctor Doom's plans to conquer reality. Molecule Man is not exactly stable, aꦇnd often waffles between retirement and villainy. Partly because of this, he's also instrumental in Doom's defeat in the 2015 Secret Wars, as he betrays Doom after forging an unlikely bond with Miles Morales/Spider-Man. He then goes on to help the Fantastic Four rebuild the Multiverse.

Miles Morales