Gaming News

How Raccoin Channelled The Spirit Of Balatro To Create A Fiendishly Compelling Take On A Mundane Pastime

When Balatro was released back in February 2024, it threw down a figurative gauntlet to other developers. Here was a game that took the seemingly pedestrian pastime of poker and augmented it with clever design and roguelike elements, fashioning a resolutely compelling experience that was far greater than the sum of its parts. Now, I do hesitate to use the word “addictive” because of the odious associations it carries. And yet in Balatro’s case, few other adjectives come close to describing the all-consuming grip it can have over your time, freely given or not. Well, another effort has picked up that gauntlet. Raccoin, from indie developer Doraccoon, looks to channel the spirit (if not the exact execution) of Balatro. It takes...

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Xbox Game Pass April 2026 Wave 2 Lineup Announced

Microsoft has announced the games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the rest of April 2026, and the early part of May. As confirmed in a post on Xbox Wire, there are a number of day-one releases coming, including Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard, Kiln, Aphelion, Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era, and Sledding Game. Final Fantasy V rounds out the lineup, arriving on May 5. Cozy, machine building RPG Little Rocket Lab (Cloud, Console, and PC) and emotional narrative adventure game Stolen Potato (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) both join Game Pass Premium on April 21, having already been on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Also on April 21, Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors (Cloud, Xbox Series X|S...

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ID@Xbox Presented by IGN April 2026 Showcase Announced: Here's How to Watch and What to Expect

IGN is proud to partner once again with ID@Xbox for another exciting showcase on April 23, 2026, that will feature tons of indie games headed to Xbox and PC including: Mistfall Hunter There Are No Ghosts at the Grand Aphelion Solo Leveling Arise Overdrive And more! These are only a few of the games that will appear in this showcase that will be filled to the brim with exclusive trailers, new looks, and gameplay from titles headed our way in the future. To ensure you don't miss a thing, this guide will let you know when the show starts and how you can watch it with us! How to Watch the ID@Xbox April 2026 Showcase The next ID@Xbox will kick off on Thursday, April 23 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 5pm GMT, and you can watch it with us on...

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Bungie’s Limited Edition Marathon Controller Just Got a Hefty Price Cut at Amazon and Walmart

Bungie’s limited-edition Marathon DualSense controller has dropped in price far quicker than expected, and it’s not a small cut either. Just weeks after launch, the PS5 gamepad is down 18%, now sitting at $69.68 at both Amazon and Walmart, which is a new low for the design. Get it at Amazon - $69.68 Get it at Walmart - $69.68 The controller ties into Marathon, Bungie's newly released extraction shooter. To mark the launch, Sony rolled out a small range of themed PS5 accessories back in March, with this special edition DualSense front and centre. Design-wise, it’s more restrained than most limited-edition pads. The base is the standard white shell you’d expect from a DualSense controller, but it’s layered with black and neon green...

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Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2026: Everything Announced

As players beat each other senseless — uh, in-game, of course — during last weekend's Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2026, Bandai Namco pulled back the cover on what Dragon Ball fans can expect from the franchise over the next 12 months or so, including confirmation of the final DLC pack for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and the formal unveiling Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3. Missed it? No sweat. Here's everything that was announced during the livestream… Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol If you're looking for the details, I'm sorry to say there aren't any — all we really got was the name! — but we're told Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol will seemingly adapt the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc from the manga, and the Universe Survival...

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Counter-Strike 2 Player Banned

A Counter-Strike 2 tournament has slapped a player with a 10-year ban after he punched his opponent live on-stage at a local German LAN. 30-year-old CS2 player and streamer MAUschine, from Berlin, punched his opponent, Fabian "Spidergum" Salomon, during the awards ceremony at the CAGGTUS Leipzig CS2 tournament, which formed a part of the largest LAN party in the German-speaking world. MAUschine’s team had lost to the Spidergum’s Legends Lobby during the tournament. Based on footage of the event, MAUschine appears to have been upset by Spidergum mimicking his own victory calls. In the video, below, Spidergum yells "papichulo" after winning a round. MAUschine had been yelling "papichulo," his own alias, after kills. The punch occured...

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Former The Last of Us Dev Hints at Potential Future Story

A major plot point that could play into The Last of Us: Part 3 has been revealed by a former Naughty Dog developer. Speaking via the podcast KiwiTalkz, ex-Naughty Dog lighting artist Gabriel Betancourt has discussed a surprising conversation he once had with franchise creator Neil Druckmann — who revealed that main character Ellie was just one of a "congregation" of people with immunity to the zombie-like cordyceps infection. Ellie's seemingly unique immunity plays a huge role in the first The Last of Us game, and particularly in its ending — where Joel is forced to choose between saving her or saving humanity. The impact of his decision then reverberates through The Last of Us Part 2, and is something Druckmann himself has added...

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Escape From Tarkov Update

Battlestate Games has released update 1.0.4.5 for Escape from Tarkov, which makes a number of improvements and balance changes. The influential extraction shooter has increased the FPS limit in menus, and made changes to the animation system and audio engine to improve PC resource usage. Meanwhile, the architecture of post-raid systems is reworked to reduce the time required to exit a raid and return to the menu. Also of note, Battlestate has updated the left-shoulder firing stance logic, so switching to the right shoulder will no longer happen instantly when colliding with obstacles. Instead, the weapon will continue moving for a short period without changing stance. As for balance changes, Battlestate has introduced the second...

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Star Charlie Cox Says Robert Pattinson Should Play Gustave in Movie Adaptation — Though He'd Return to Provide the Voice

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 star Charlie Cox has discussed the hit video game's upcoming movie adaptation — and expressed interest in providing a very specific part. In the game, Cox provides the voice of hero Gustave — but not his performance capture or his facial likeness, which appears very similar to Batman actor Robert Pattinson. It's a situation that has led Cox to frequently downplay his actual involvement in the game's production — despite continually being praised for his contribution. Now, Cox has said he would be happy to return to provide the voice of Gustave in live-action, though humorously suggested it should be Robert Pattinson himself who does the acting. (Whether Pattinson would be interested in the role, or being...

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Pragmata Sales Update

Pragmata has sold 1 million copies in two days, Capcom has announced. In its sales announcement, the Japanese game company highlighted Pragmata’s status as a new intellectual property. “A completely new IP, Pragmata was developed primarily by a team of younger Capcom developers, who created an innovative gameplay experience by fusing action gameplay with puzzle elements set within a distinctive world ruled over by artificial intelligence,” Capcom said. “In the absence of an established fan base or preexisting brand recognition, Capcom implemented a range of marketing initiatives — beginning with the early release of a playable demo — to communicate the unique features of the game to a wider audience. In addition, in line with the...

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Battlefield 6 Fans Believe BF Studios Is Teasing a Las Vegas Map

Battlefield 6 players think they’ve discovered that one of the three maps coming in Season 5 is set in Las Vegas after Battlefield Studios posted an enigmatic teaser last week. The team at EA outlined its plans to keep players coming back throughout 2026 last week after it pulled back the curtain to reveal a host of changes aimed at directly addressing fan feedback. While much larger multiplayer maps and a server browser are just the tip of the iceberg of what was officially revealed, some players have already set their sights on a single image that teased one of the maps launching toward the end of the year. "Today, I can also confirm that, as a holiday surprise, we’ll be dropping a third map into Season 5," Motive Studio executive...

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Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 Announced for PC and Consoles in First Trailer

Bandai Namco has announced Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. The announcement arrived alongside the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2026 event in Los Angeles today and comes with a first official trailer for the anime action-RPG follow-up. It’s news that came as a shock to fans and arrived as official confirmation that a follow-up is finally on the way after Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 launched in 2016, almost 10 years ago. Doubling the surprise is the fact that Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 was technically already revealed by Bandai Namco earlier this year as what was previously called Age 1000. That title now serves as the name of the new world in which the game is set, with the trailer showing off...

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The Best Deals Today: Apple AirTag 4-Pack, 3 for $33 Movie Deal, Sony WH-1000XM5 Headphones, and More

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on Apple AirTags, 4K Movies, AirPods Pro 3, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, the limited edition Marathon DualSense, and more. Check out our top picks for Sunday, April 19, below. 3 4K Movies for $33 By far, my favorite deal this weekend is the Amazon 3 for $33 sale, where you can score 3 4K films for $33. This is one of the best deals on 4K movies in 2026 so far, especially considering each film ends up at $11 a piece. There are some excellent options available, including Jurassic Park, Tenet, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, and more. Refurbished Sony 4K OLED BRAVIA 8 TV for $1049.99 Woot has a great deal on this Sony 4K OLED BRAVIA 8 TV, with refurbished units available...

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Windrose Celebrates 1 Million Copies Sold as Player Counts Climb

Cooperative pirate survival game Windrose has reached 1 million copies sold less than a week after its Early Access launch for PC. Pocketpair Publishing and Kraken Express announced the sales milestone with an update post on Steam today. It’s an announcement that saw it sail past the marker six days after launching for PC via the Valve platform and Epic Games Store April 14. Reaching 1 million copies is a feat worth celebrating for Kraken as it charts a course through Early Access development, especially as its concurrent player count on Steam alone continues to climb. It’s managed to climb to 200,000 active pirates on Steam alone, with SteambDB recording a peak of 211,177 at the time of this piece’s publication. "Your support for...

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Slay the Spire 2 Roadmap Has No Release Dates So Dev Can Avoid 'Sloppy Spire 2'

Slay the Spire 2 developer Mega Crit has published a detailed roadmap for Slay the Spire 2 without promising any release dates because it doesn’t want to make "Sloppy Spire 2." Studio co-founder Casey Yano outlined a host of new Early Access updates the team has planned for the popular deckbuilder roguelike in the latest installment of its The Neowsletter. The message comes with 17 bullet points featuring additions Mega Crit hopes to add on its path to a 1.0 launch, including everything from support for more languages and bug fixes to a new character and alternate versions of Acts 2 and 3. It’s an ambitious list with a candid catch: The studio doesn’t want to share a release date for anything yet. Players who returned to the Spire...

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Resident Evil Requiem Mercenaries Rumors Heat Up After Alleged Leak

Resident Evil Requiem fans believe next month’s mysterious content update will add a new version of the franchise’s The Mercenaries mode after an alleged datamine leak revealed tense new music. The already strong rumors that Capcom would soon reanimate its classic arcade offering started to hold more weight for players after X/Twitter user @MasyaSYRKOV said they uncovered previously unheard tunes while “digging” through the game’s files. The 10 tracks shared don’t seem to be associated with any specific kind of naming convention, but a few key details have players thinking it could be our first taste of a new Mercenaries mode for the ninth mainline entry in the survival horror series. Resident Evil Requiem has its fair share of...

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Crimson Desert's Next Major Patch Adds Difficulty Settings and Inventory Tabs Next Week

Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss has said it’s taking the time to make sure it properly tests and polishes the game’s next major patch, which is due out next week. Pearl Abyss’ remarkable update release cadence had seen major patches release each weekend after Crimson Desert’s launch last month. But the next update is taking a little longer, and will be a heftier download than previous patches. The patch will include several features mentioned in last week’s developer update announcement, including the addition of a keyboard/mouse and controller preset, difficulty settings, and category tabs for your inventory, and more. It will be a bigger download because it also improves the distant scenery quality. Here’s Pearl Abyss’...

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Samson Coming To Consoles This Fall

Samson, the 1990s-set, gritty open-world action-adventure/brawler directed by Just Cause creator Christofer Sundberg that suffered a buggy release on PC earlier this month, is coming to consoles this fall (Editor's Note: IGN asked if "consoles" included Nintendo Switch 2 in addition to the presumed PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, as Unreal Engine 5-based games like Samson have for the most part not shown up on Nintendo's new console so far, but a game representative could not confirm which consoles this does or does not include as of now). In the meantime, developer Liquid Swords has announced a comprehensive patch and content update schedule. We were excited about Samson after playing an hour of it for preview, but...

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Arc Raiders Players are Disappointed in the New Expedition Changes

Developer Embark Studios has once again announced tweaks to the Arc Raiders Expedition window, and players who have spent months saving millions of credits are feeling left behind. The developer behind the ongoing extraction shooter published a long list of adjustments for its prestige feature, which allows players to start over with bonuses depending on their performance, in a blog post on its website today. Instead of requiring the last-season switch of 3 million credits worth of stash value for the maximum amount of bonus skill points, Embark is removing the credit stipulation for the third Expedition and will now reward points based on damage dealt. The studio said it made these changes because "grinding for monetary value isn’t...

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BAFTA Game Awards 2026 Winners

The BAFTA Game Awards 2026 saw big wins for Dispatch, Ghost of Yōtei, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. But there were some surprises in there, too - in true BAFTA style. Ghost of Yōtei winning best music over Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, for example, came as something of a shock. Daredevil star Charlie Cox didn't get the chance to big up the Fench motion capture performer behind Clair Obscur's Gustave (something he almost certainly would have done had he won best performer in a supporting role). That went to Jeffrey Wright, who played Chase in Dispatch. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lost out to Kingdom Come: Deliverance II in the best narrative category, and to Microsoft's South of Midnight in the New Intellectual Property category, too...

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FFXIV and Jollibee Collaboration Brings New In-Game Chicken Emote, Limited-Time Clothing, and Menu Items

In an out-of-left-field collaboration, Square Enix is teaming up with Filipino fast food chain Jollibee to bring Final Fantasy XIV content to the game and, well, to real life, too! During the latest Live Letter from the Producer detailing the upcoming Patch 7.5, FFXIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida revealed the partnership and what exactly you can get from it. While you can get the six-piece chickenjoy or combo meal in the specially made FFXIV-themed box, the brand-new item is the blue raspberry drink with clear boba. There's also a limited-time FFXIV x Jollibee apparel lineup with t-shirts and sweaters. However, the big ticket item is a new, exclusive in-game emote called "Eat Chicken" where your character will whip out a bucket...

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Pickmos Publisher Pulls Steam Page Following Pokémon Rip-Off Accusations

Pokémon fans have spent weeks accusing Pickmos of being a rip-off, and now, publisher Networkgo has stepped in, starting by taking down its Steam page. The company backing developer PocketGame took to the official Pickmos X/Twitter account to clear the air after players noticed that its Steam page was nowhere to be found. Its message was clear: "Networkgo has officially intervened in the development of PocketGame." Networkgo says it will be "supervising" the development of Pickmos “from a player’s perspective.” The goal, as outlined in a follow-up post, is to steer away from the controversy that has plagued most conversations about the game regarding its clear Pokémon influence for the last month. "We are revising the game to ensure...

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Skyrim Mod Goes Viral

There have been hundreds of ways you could fight dragons in Skyrim, but have you ever tried engaging them in the marketplace of ideas? Well, a bizarre mod will finally let you do just that. This is far from the first wild mod to be made for Skyrim, which has basically built its entire legacy on its modding scene. But, still, every now and then a mod comes out that completely boggles the mind. Skyrim modder BlurbsTV just made like six of them, and turned them all on at once. As spotted by GamesRadar+, Blurbs asked his Twitch chat to give him a bunch of unhinged ideas for mods, and just made them. Dragon shouts shooting chickens everywhere, a self-replicating Nazeem, randomly spawning Khajiit that make you ragdoll, and of course, the...

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Slay the Spire 2 Review-Bombing

Recent Slay the Spire 2 Steam reviews have fallen to "Mixed" after a new update triggered a second wave of review bombing. The sequel to developer Mega Crit's popular roguelike deckbuilder, which launched in Early Access to "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews March 5, received its first major update (version 0.103.2) yesterday. It’s a patch that introduced updated art, a range of UI and UX adjustments, tweaked writing for clarity, and more, but not everyone is pleased with the host of balance changes it added. It’s resulted in an influx of negative reviews and, at least temporarily, left Slay the Spire 2 with the mustard-yellow Mixed recent reviews label. Unfortunately, it also appears to be something Mega Crit expected, with its patch...

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Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred’s New Endgame – Everything You Need to Know | IGN First

One of the most challenging parts of playing a new game is knowing whether or not the endgame experience will have the legs to sustain itself when measured in months instead of days. I fell prey to this particular pitfall myself after Diablo 4’s vanilla debut in 2023, when I said some things about the endgame experience that I later regretted. Sometimes an endgame experience seems like it’s great in the moment, then a couple weeks roll by and that content begins to feel thin, repetitive, or not nearly as fleshed out as you originally thought (again, my bad). I’ve generally really enjoyed the endgame activities Diablo IV has had so far, whether it’s the tree of whispers bounties from the base game or the super unique raid-like activity...

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Starfield Drops to Just £37 on PS5 Just Days After Release

Starfield does tend to feel like a marmite game; you either love it or hate it. I, personally, love it, and have sunk hundreds of hours into the game even before the recent Free Lanes content update (which has been like a breath of fresh air for my new playthrough). If you're looking to pick up the game now it's available on PS5, the best deal going right now can be found at Amazon in the UK. It's down to £36.99, which is a considerably big drop from both its original £69.99 RRP on Xbox and £44.99 RRP on PS5, especially since the PlayStation version only launched earlier this month. Starfield’s early performance on PS5 is reportedly off to a fairly muted start. According to analyst Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics, the game had...

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Galaxies Spring Showcase 2026: Everything Announced

The Galaxies Showcase was filled with tons of games, seven world premieres, exclusive reveals, demo drops, and so much more, including Echoes of Aincrad, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, Northgard: Battlegrounds, Kitaria Fables 2, Phasmophobia x Alan Wake 2, and much more. There were so many wonderful-looking games during the show, and this guide has gathered them all into one place to ensure you don't miss any of them. Be sure to let us know which games are your favorites! Echoes of Aincrad Step into the Sword Art Online universe with Echoes of Aincrad, and upcoming action RPG where players risk their lives with every battle. Players will also quest to conquer the floating castle of Aincrad, level up their skills and choose their own...

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Final Fantasy XIV Patch 7.5 Live Letter Summary – Trailer Breakdown, New Dungeon, Next Alliance Raid, Kefka Ultimate, and More

We're in the home stretch leading up the next expansion for the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, and as is tradition, director and producer Naoki Yoshida detailed everything in the next wave of content during a Live Letter from the Producer stream. FFXIV Patch 7.5, called Trail to the Heavens, goes live on April 28 and is the first part of a two-part story update series before the upcoming expansion. And as usual, it includes a new dungeon and trial boss fight for the main scenario quest, and a ton of updates to side content shown in a hard-hitting trailer for Patch 7.5 itself. Here, I'll break down all the important details from the Live Letter to make sure you're ready for FFXIV Patch 7.5, where you're in it for the...

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Charlie Cox Has Played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Daredevil actor Charlie Cox has finally played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, having previously admitted to feeling like a "total fraud" whenever fans brought up his appearance in the game. For Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the Marvel star only provided the voice of Gustave rather than full performance capture for the character, which meant his time actually spent recording for the project was minimal, while motion capture was separately filmed by another actor. In June last year, Cox said he felt like a "total fraud" anytime someone gushed to him about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and admitted he had recorded all of his lines in around four hours. The following month, Cox was asked about Clair Obscur again and admitted he was still to...

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Samson Review

In some ways, Samson reminds me a little of 2025’s MindsEye. That is, like MindsEye, it’s regularly gorgeous, has some neat vehicles, and is intentionally narrower and far less GTA-adjacent in scope than it may look like at first blush. However, also like MindsEye, Samson is pretty bad. With extremely janky combat, predictable car chases, and a small pool of constantly repeating missions, this open-world driving-brawler hybrid became a dull and annoying slog long before I reached the end of my 12-hour stint with it. Worse, even though I’ve cleared the mammoth $100,000 debt that drives Samson’s daily grind of crime, a game-breaking bug has left me soft-locked out of actually finishing the main missions and rolling credits. It’s as if...

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