Gaming News

AU Deals: Big Hits, Bigger Discounts – The PS5, Switch & LEGO Must-Buys of Today

I’ve been at this game game long enough to know when a sale is phoned in versus when it’s the real deal on...er, deals. This week is firmly in the latter category. The line-up spans inventive indies, glossy blockbusters, and a few experimental oddballs that prove risk-taking still has a place in game development. Join me as I single out the very best to buy. Contents Retro Nintendo Xbox PlayStation PC LEGO This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I’m celebrating the 22nd birthday of Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, an OG Xbox classic. For the few of us with Internet decent enough to use Xbox Live 3.0, this terrorist hunting sequel/glorified expansion was boss. The offline offerings were ok, too, thanks to tense split-screen co-op/solo...

View full article »

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 - We FINALLY Played It

It was almost surreal awakening as an ancient monster in Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 and getting my first taste of blood. Phyre the Nomad, a semi-customizable character with a fixed backstory, has been asleep for 100 years when she wakes up in modern Seattle – and I feel like I've been thinking about this game almost as long. From its announcement in 2019 through multiple delays, development woes, a sort-of soft cancellation, and an almost complete reboot under The Chinese Room, finally playing it allowed me to start to answer my big question: was it worth waking up from an eternal slumber for? So far, I'm cautiously optimistic. First things first: The Chinese Room is not the studio I would have drafted to make a sequel to...

View full article »

Monster Hunter Wilds and Final Fantasy 14 Collaborations Reveal New Content Coming This Fall

Capcom and Square Enix took the stage at gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 to show off a new collaboration that will see Final Fantasy 14 and Monster Hunter Wilds collide. Monster Hunter Wilds Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and Final Fantasy 14 Online Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida (a.k.a. Yoshi-P) showed up to talk about how two of gaming’s biggest publishers are working to bring some of their biggest franchises together. Two new trailers (below) revealed only a taste of what to expect, including Monster Hunter-themed content for Final Fantasy 14 and Final Fantasy-themed content for Monster Hunter Wilds. Monster Hunter Wilds players can expect the new content to arrive in late September. Final Fantasy 14 players, meanwhile, can expect...

View full article »

Black Myth: Wukong Developer Game Science Announces Sequel, Black Myth: Zhong Kui

Black Myth: Wukong developer GameScience has revealed a sequel, Black Myth: Zhong Kui, at Opening Night Live 2025. On-stage at gamescom, host Geoff Keighley described Zhong Kui as "the ghost-catching god who wanders between hell and earth." Despite Zhong Kui's announcement, Keighley insisted Black Myth: Wukong won't end here, suggesting DLC is still on the way. "Set against the backdrop of the classic Chinese folktale 'Zhong Kui Banishing Evil,' Black Myth: Zhong Kui is a single-player action role-playing game rooted in ancient Chinese fantasy," GameScience said. "The game will deliver distinctive experiences and gameplay features that push our limits, while also bringing fresh ideas and necessary changes to address past flaws and...

View full article »

World of Warcraft: Midnight Takes Players Back to a Refreshed Quel'Thalas in the Battle Against the Void

At Gamescom Opening Night Live, we just got a look at the opening cinematic for the next World of Warcraft expansion: Midnight. And with it, we got a taste of what to expect at the focal point of the expansion's start: Quel'Thalas, and the Blood Elf city of Silvermoon. If you're a WoW veteran, you probably know Quel'Thalas. It was introduced to World of Warcraft in the first expansion, The Burning Crusade, alongside the introduction of the Blood Elves. Currently in the game, in consists of Silvermoon City and the surrounding Eversong Woods, as well as the northern Isle of Quel'Danas and The Ghostlands to the south. Though it's largely populated by Blood Elves, it's also home to Zul'Aman, the home of the Amani Trolls. As it stands now...

View full article »

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 - Here’s What Comes in Each Edition

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is set to release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC on November 14. It will be available in a handful of editions, and a beta is planned prior to launch. It’s available for preorder now (see it at Amazon). Read on for the details. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 - Standard Edition Amazon - PS5 | PS4 | XSX Best Buy - PS5 | PS4 | XSX Walmart - PS5 | PS4 | XSX Digital Version - PlayStation | Xbox The standard edition retails for $69.99. Preordering it comes with early access to the open beta, starting on October 2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 - Vault Edition Get it for Xbox Get it for PlayStation The digital-only vault edition retails for $99.99, so it’s $30 more. In addition to the game itself...

View full article »

21 Years After the Original, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Finally Has a Release Date

More than two decades after the original Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, tonight's Gamescom Opening Night Live broadcast has finally given us a release date for its much-delayed sequel. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will launch on October 21, 2025 for PC via Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, priced $59.99. Pre-orders are now live, and will unlock a Bloodlines Nostalgia Jukebox decor item for your Haven base upon release, allowing you to listen to themes from the original Bloodlines game. The nostalgia continues with the Santa Monica Memories cosmetic pack, included with the pricier Deluxe Edition version of the game (priced $69.99), with further items inspired by the original...

View full article »

Silent Hill f Gamescom Trailer Reveals Suzie Yeung as Hinako

Silent Hill f made an appearance at Gamescom Opening Night Live this evening with a brand new trailer, and our first listen at the English actor portraying main character Hinako, Suzie Yeung. The new trailer opens with Hinako waking up in a dark room, seemingly confused. As she wanders, it seems she's in some kind of shrine, and ends up following a figure with a blue lamp deeper in. She's then attacked by those freaky dolls we've seen in past trailers, and we see shots of a number of other unsettling rooms in the shrine. The trailer cuts to another scene at an old house on a rainy day, which Hinako seems to recognize as her own. We see her with her clothes torn and bloody, and a creepy woman's voice giving instructions to kill...

View full article »

Monkey Island's Ron Gilbert Is Making a New Roguelike RPG Where the Scrolling Screen Is Trying to Kill You (Again)

Ron Gilbert, the industry luminary behind multiple Monkey Island games and Thimbleweed Park, is working on anothe rproject, and it's a little different from his usual fare. It's called Death by Scrolling, and it's a roguelike RPG where you're pursued through Purgatory by a constantly-scrolling screen, and Death herself. Shown off for the first time today at Gamescom: Opening Night Live, Death by Scrolling features a top-down perspective and a Zelda-like combat system. But unlike Zelda's slower pace, in Death by Scrolling, you're constantly running upward, chased by the bottom of the screen. You can choose between several different playable characters with different perks, and then run up while fighting off enemies and collecting gold...

View full article »

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is Xbox's First Nintendo Switch 2 Game

The brilliant Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be Microsoft's first game designed for Switch 2, and it'll launch for Nintendo's new console next year. A trailer for the game's upcoming DLC, The Order of Giants, aired tonight during Gamescom Opening Night Live and confirmed the game's Switch 2 launch right at the end, with a vague 2026 release window. As is perhaps to be expected, the game does not appear to be launching on Switch 1. As we already knew, The Order of Giants itself will arrive before then on September 4 for existing platforms. The add-on expands the game's Rome location and sees Indy searching for the helmet of the Nameless Crusader while dodging more larger-than-life foes. "One of the most satisfying parts of...

View full article »

Lords of the Fallen 2 Confirmed For 2026

CI Games has detailed what to expect from Lords of the Fallen 2 during Gamescom's Opening Night Live, and said its sequel has been shaped by community feedback after an initially rocky reception at launch for the original. Designed as a fully standalone sequel from 2023's Lords of the Fallen, this Unreal Engine 5-powered follow-up offers two parallel worlds to explore, including an expanded Umbral realm, and shared campaign progression in online co-op. "After selling over 2 million units and welcoming over 5.5 million Lampbearers into Lords of the Fallen, it’s clear our comeback was community-powered," said CI Games boss Marek Tyminski. "With Lords of the Fallen 2, we’re going further. In 2024 we proudly announced our deep commitment...

View full article »

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 Is Finally a Reality — but Its Developer May Surprise You

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 is finally a reality after an announcement at Opening Night Live 2025. We have a debut trailer, snippets of gameplay, a new faction making its series debut, and a surprise developer. The much-loved real-time strategy series began life in 2004 with Relic Entertainment’s Dawn of War, and the expectation was that if a fourth game was ever going to be made, it would be Relic who would do it. Indeed, Relic was behind the recently released Dawn of War Definitive Edition, which breathed new life into the franchise. However, Dawn of War 4 is in development at King Art Games, the studio behind alternate reality 1920s RTS Iron Harvest, and is published by Deep Silver (Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Dead Island 2)...

View full article »

FromSoftware’s Sekiro Gets the Anime Treatment via Crunchyroll in 2026 — Here’s the Debut Trailer and First-Look Images

FromSoftware’s Sekiro is back from the dead — but rather than getting a sequel, it’s getting an anime adaptation via Crunchyroll in 2026. Activision published Sekiro in 2019 to critical and commercial acclaim. It went on to sell an impressive 10 million copies, but so far no sequel has materialised. FromSoftware of course subsequently released Elden Ring, which was even more commercially successful. The announcement of Sekiro: No Defeat came via Kadokawa, Qzil.la, and ARCH, who said the new anime “channels the precision and spirit of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice into every frame.” It’s a fully hand-drawn adaptation to be streamed exclusively on Crunchyroll worldwide excluding Japan, China, Korea, Russia, and Belarus. Here’s the...

View full article »

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Announced, Featuring Open World Gotham

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has been announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live, featuring an open-world version of Gotham you can drive around in the Batmobile. The ambitious-looking project is being developed by TT Games, the studio behind Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and numerous other licensed Lego games, and is set to launch on Nintendo Switch 2, PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Included in the game are characters and levels that pay reference to various familiar Batman movies and comics, while combat looks similar to the Batman Arkham games. Oh, and Matt Berry is playing Bane. "Whether he’s the wrathful Dark Knight, the brilliant detective, or the unlikely father of the...

View full article »

Hollow Knight: Silksong Shows Up at Gamescom: Opening Night Live With Almost 30 Seconds of New Gameplay, as a Treat

Yes, hello, we're back again with another update on the ongoing saga of "Are we getting a Silksong release date this week?" The answer is, still maybe, but it's not happening at Gamescom Opening Night Live today. Instead, we got almost 30 whole seconds of brand new gameplay, and a reassurance that it is, in fact, coming out this year. If I sound a little over it, it's because I, like many of you, put on my clown makeup yesterday at the behest of ONL host Geoff Keighley, when he teased something Silksong related at his show today. There was no guarantee of what it was going to be, if anything. But there's a whole heap of evidence pointing toward the release date being soon, like in the next few months, and given that we still don't...

View full article »

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Devs “Paying Attention” to Community Feedback on Goofy Skins

Beavis and Butthead. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. An eyesore of a glowing rainbow unicorn thing. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has seen its fair share of “goofy” skins during its nine-month lifetime. The reception to those has been mixed to say the least, with the lines between player expression and competitive gameplay often being blurred by the equipping of such colourful designs. So, can we expect to see the extravagance of some of these designs pared back when it comes to the release of Black Ops 7? “Yeah, it's a good question, and we have thought about this, and I think if you look at us, we're always looking at community feedback”, explains Miles Leslie, associate creative director. “We always try to make sure that we are...

View full article »

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Dev Responds to Generative AI Backlash: 'Not Replace, but Streamline'

In February 2025, Activision finally admitted to using generative AI for some Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 assets. Now, ahead of the release of Black Ops 7, Treyarch associate creative director, Miles Leslie, has clarified the Call of Duty developer's position. “We live in a world now, where there are AI tools,” Leslie told IGN ahead of Black Ops 7's reveal at Opening Night Live 2025. “I think our official statement we said last year, around Black Ops 6, is that everything that goes into the game is touched by the team a hundred percent. We have generative AI tools to help us, but none of that goes in-game. "And then you're going to say, ‘Yeah, but it has.' I'll say it has by accident. And that was never the intention. We've come out...

View full article »

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Dev Responds to ‘Lazy’ Accusations and Battlefield 6: 'Let's All Have Fun'

In recent months, there has been more than one suggestion from members of the games industry that Call of Duty games are “lazy," and that the threat of EA's rival shooter, Battlefield 6, will force a change in approach from Activision. In a recent interview with IGN, we put both of those suggestions to Black Ops 7 co-developer Treyarch to get its response. The studio’s words follow a series of claims from industry peers that the annualised shooter series is in need of some healthy competition. At this year’s Summer Game Fest, Splitgate 2 director Ian Proulx stated that he was “tired of playing the same Call of Duty every year." That sentiment is seemingly shared by former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra, who posted last week in relation...

View full article »

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Isn’t Lazy, It's The Series’ Biggest Swing In Years | gamescom 2025

Remember those messed-up missions from the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 campaign where you’d take on a shapeshifting molecular monster or break into someone's memory prison to hunt for the truth? Well, things are only set to get weirder in Black Ops 7. Set 10 years from now, it’s looking as mind-bending as it is mold-breaking, as Treyarch and Raven Software’s latest shooter steps even further out of the series' traditional military boots and back into a near future full of snazzy tech and otherworldly horrors. It’s not just in the campaign that things are changing up either, with both multiplayer and zombies receiving numerous new additions and impactful changes. The jury is still out on how many of these will make the desired impact, with...

View full article »

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Was Developed in Parallel to Black Ops 6

The same development team of Raven Software and Treyarch is making Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 which made Black Ops 6, but fear not, they’ve had longer than a year to turn it around. In fact, production of Call of Duty’s latest began at the exact same moment as last year’s release. “They were started at the same time”, reveals associate creative director, Miles Leslie. “So obviously they have different production ramp-up times, but they were started in parallel and greenlit at the same time. That was a really unique challenge, but also fun to be able to know that you're going to do that. Black Ops 6 is going to be 1991 rogue team, and now how do you flip the script on Black Ops 7 in 2035?” That side-by-side development process has, in...

View full article »

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 New Trailer Reveals Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies Details, Release Date, and Much More — Here’s Everything You Need to

The Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 reveal at Opening Night Live 2025 included a first-look at the new campaign, revealed fresh details on multiplayer and zombies, confirmed its release date, open beta, and platforms, and much more. Developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, Black Ops 7 follows last year’s Black Ops 6, but is set in 2035. That means it picks up after the events of Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6. The campaign lets you play solo or up to four-player co-op, with global progression for the first time in the franchise. Also for the first time in Call of Duty, the campaign has an endgame called, appropriately enough, Endgame. As for multiplayer, Omnimovement, which was introduced in Black Ops 6, returns but is tweaked in a number...

View full article »

Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes Aims to Deliver an FTL-Like Roguelike

Battlestar Galactica has become one of the lost classics in the modern sci-fi canon. We live in an era of constant reinterpolation—new Star Wars serials churn from Disney every quarter, and Star Trek is consistently made flush with new content—but if you weren't watching television in the mid-2000s, there's a good chance you completely missed this heady tale of survival and humanity that once dominated the discourse. And in that sense, Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes is the first breath of new life into the franchise in more than a decade. The game doesn't attempt to be the long-awaited expansion of the continuity, but from what I've played so far, it does make a valiant effort to replicate why people fell in love with this...

View full article »

Denshattack! Might Be a Killer Blend of Tony Hawk and Jet Set Radio

They say there’s nothing new under the sun. Everything’s been done. Every road traveled, every line ended, every track ridden until it ran out of rail. As a fan of the weird, the new, the bonkers, this makes me sad – mostly because it’s true. But every now and then, you find something that defies conventional wisdom. Something novel, something you really, genuinely haven’t seen before. And every now and then, it also just so happens to be something that speaks to the exact kind of stuff you think is cool. Enter Denshattack!, a game that was pitched to me as “what if Tony Hawk drove a train and it looked like Jet Set Radio.” And if you know me, that’s basically my sleeper cell activation phrase. So, eyes flashing red, I sat down for a...

View full article »

Valor Mortis Announced From Developer of Ghostrunner

Today at Gamescom Opening Night Live's pre-show, the developer of Ghostrunner revealed a new game, Valor Mortis. It's a single-player, first-person soulslike taking place in an alt-history Eastern Europe during a fictionalized version of Napoleon's invasion. In Valor Mortis, you play as William, a French soldier who died in battle, and who has mysteriously come back with the power to control a corrupting, plague-like substance called the Nephtoglobin. The Nephtoglobin has corrupted his former comrades-in-arms, but William can use it to fight against Napoleon and his army to reclaim his home. Valor Mortis looks plenty gory and gruesome, with all sorts of body horror going on as enemies turn into increasingly messed up zombie things...

View full article »

gamescom Opening Night Live 2025: Everything Announced (Updating Live)

UPDATING LIVE: gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 marks the start of the gaming convention in Cologne, and is always packed full of announcements, trailers and gameplay reveals. It's a lot to keep track of, so we're rounding up all the announcements from gamescom ONL as they happen. We're expecting to see Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Resident Evil Requiem, and a sneek peak at the second season of the Fallout TV show alongside some surprises, and the whole shebang will be presented by the omnipresent Geoff Keighley. Speaking of Keighley, earlier this week he confirmed seven of the games that will be shown during ONL, including The Outer Worlds 2, Ninja Gaiden 4, and World of Warcraft: Midnight. Sony is showing up with the upcoming...

View full article »

Microsoft Announces Xbox Game Pass August 2025 Wave 2 Lineup

Microsoft has announced Wave 2 of the Xbox Game Pass August 2025 lineup, which includes Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Gears of War: Reloaded, Persona 4 Golden, and more. As revealed in a post on Xbox Wire, Blacksmith Master (Game Preview) is available today, August 19, for PC via Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. This early access game allows you to manage your own medieval smithy, smelt resources into everything from swords to cooking pots, then fund upgrades to your forge. Also available today is roguelite FPS Void/Breaker for PC, via Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. On August 20, Goat Simulator Remaster joins Game Pass Standard, allowing you to do all sorts of things with goats (and also all sorts of other animals), now with...

View full article »

One of My Favorite PC Games of All Time Is Super Cheap During the Humble Bundle Summer Sale

I've played my fair share of video games in my life, but only a handful have ever truly changed the way I think about gaming. Inscryption is one of those experiences. This game beautifully blends genres in such a unique way that it's hard to really describe. I first went into gameplay thinking it was just a cool roguelike deck-building card game, which would have been interesting enough. But no, it's so much more than that. Without spoiling anything important, I'll just say that Inscryption has a lot more depth than you'd expect and a pretty wild ending. If you like the thrill of psychological horror and strategy, I can't recommend this game enough – especially when it's only $7.99. Just try not to read too much about it before you...

View full article »

Helldivers 2 Is Officially Getting Halo: ODST Content, But Its First Legendary Warbond Is Going to Cost You

It’s official: Helldivers 2 is getting a Legendary Warbond featuring weapons and cosmetics from Halo: ODST, and its release date arrives in one week. Arrowhead Game Studios announced the highly anticipated crossover news on social media today, revealing a first-look trailer for the Helldivers 2 Halo content that players will soon get their hands on. It’s a collaboration with Microsoft that arrives ahead of the game’s launch on Xbox Series X/S August 26, 2025, with the new Warbond tier and all of its ODST goodies set to drop that same day. A trailer for the Helldivers 2 Halo content shows what some of the new content looks like in-game, but Microsoft made sure to offer more information in a new Xbox Wire blog post. Players who pick up...

View full article »

Hollow Knight: Silksong Developer Teases 'Special Announcement' Later This Week

Team Cherry, the developer of Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong, is teasing a "special announcement" of some sort 48 hours from now on August 21 at 7:30 AM. What's the special announcement? No idea. But this teaser comes just hours before Gamescom Opening Night Live, a show for which host Geoff Keighley seemed to be teasing Silksong for just yesterday. When we wrote that story up yesterday, it seemed likely we were finally getting a Silksong release date at ONL. The signs are all there. It's been confirmed that Silksong is coming out in 2025, and it's even playable on the show floor of Gamescom this week. It's also been leaked that the ROG Xbox Ally is launching October 16, and confirmed that Silksong would be on the system...

View full article »

Wizards of the Coast Says 'No Truth' To Rumors That Magic: The Gathering's Spider-Man Crossover Will Only Get One Print Run

Last week, rumors started swirling in some Magic: The Gathering circles that the upcoming Spider-Man set would be limited to just one print run across all of its products, including Play Boosters – but today, Wizards of the Coast unequivocally told IGN that is not the case. When asked for comment on these claims, a WOTC representative told IGN “there is no truth to any rumors about SPM Play Boosters being a single print run,” with SPM being the set code for the Spider-Man crossover. While it’s not uncommon for products like the more expensive Collector Boosters (which include special art and foil treatments) to be limited to a single printing, the rumors around Spider-Man set off alarm bells because of the inclusion of Play Boosters...

View full article »