Gaming News

Xbox's Canceled Perfect Dark Game Had 'Entire Chapters' of Motion Capture Recorded, and a Doomed Rescue Plan to Salvage a 'Slimmed Down' Version

Doomed Xbox blockbuster Perfect Dark had "entire chapters" of performance capture work in the can before its shock cancelation this summer, according to Joanna Dark actress Alix Wilton Regan. In an interview with TheGamer, the voice behind Dragon Age's Inquisitor and Cyberpunk 2077's Alt Cunningham says she recorded scenes for The Initiative's Perfect Dark reboot over the course of several years, beginning in 2023. "Lots" was done in 2024, with work continuing in early 2025. "To my knowledge, we were pretty far along, I'd done entire chapters of this universe," Regan said, adding that she was shocked to learn that Microsoft was pulling the plug, with The Initiative itself also set to be closed down as part of a wave of funding cuts...

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Riot Games Is Reportedly Going to Give League of Legends a Total Overhaul

Riot Games is reportedly working on a total makeover of League of Legends, according to Bloomberg. The upcoming overhaul is allegedly called "League Next" and will be an update to the existing League of Legends rather than a standalone game, though it sounds like it's effectively a remake. Bloomberg suggests that the update will fully revamp the game's visual aesthetic including hcaracters, UI, and arenas. There will also be adjustments behind the scenes to help make future updates smoother. It is unclear at this time if the changes will impact game mechanics. The report suggests that League Next is planned for release in 2027, and will be the biggest update to League of Legends in the game's nearly two-decade-long history...

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Baldur's Gate 3 Developer Will Hold Fan Q&A About Dev Processes Following AI Backlash, And Says It Will 'Make Changes' to Processes That 'Fail to Alig

Following multiple days of criticism from fans and fellow game developers over the studio's use of generative AI, Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity maker Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has announced an AMA (Ask Me Anything, typically on Reddit) in the new year, inviting people to ask members of different Larian departments "any questions you have about Divinity and our dev process directly." In a post to Twitter/X, Vincke said that since the announcement of the studio's next game, Divinity, at The Game Awards last week, "a lot has become lost in translation." He continued, saying that "Larian's DNA is agency" and said it would be irresponsible of the studio not to "evaluate new technologies," presumably referring to the generative AI...

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Story-Driven Survival Game Oppidum Arrives on Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch port of 1–4-player survival game Oppidum is officially out, completing its list of platforms after it came to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox earlier this year. Oppidum was created by Spanish indie developer EP Games with a team so small it only has one programmer, though you wouldn’t know it from the scope of the game. It has more than 40 hours of story content and a ton of features. It takes place on the once beautiful and magical island of Insule, but now corruption has spread across it and its creatures. And you're the hero who comes to break the curse that looms over the island. You’ll establish a camp that’s your safe space, then explore the island’s woods, swamps, and caves to try to locate the source of the...

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“Reap What You Sow”: A First Look at the Savage World of NO LAW

The Game Awards included a reveal trailer for NO LAW, a cyberpunk first-person shooter from developer Neon Giant and publisher Krafton that’s coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The trailer gave us a first look at the sleazy, lawless city of Port Desire and ended on a line that hints at the game’s tone: “Reap what you sow.” You play as Grey Harker, a seasoned military veteran who barely survived his last deployment. So he decided to leave war behind to lead a life of peace and gardening, but of course, that peaceful life wasn’t in the cards. Trouble came knocking on his door (or more like bulldozing through it), and now it’s time for some payback. Trouble isn’t exactly rare in Port Desire. As the trailer says, it’s a...

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High on Life 2: The Final Preview – IGN First

When I sat down to play High on Life 2 for the first time, I was optimistic but also slightly skeptical. I’m hardly alone when I say that I loved the first one – it was a rare example of a genuinely funny game and it happened to be an excellent first-person shooter to boot. But making sequels to comedies is no sure thing – just look at the long list of great comedy films that got bad follow-ups. How would a video game comedy sequel fare? If the hour of High on Life 2 I played is any indication, it’s got a great chance to be as funny as – and possibly even more fun on the gameplay side than – the 2022 original. In that hour alone, I wandered around a beautiful beachside alien town, met a semi-depressed new gun named Travis and got...

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The Best PC Game of 2025

Grab your mouse and get clicking, because it's been a great year for games, and the PC has seen nearly all of them cross its path. The IGN staff has rounded up the best PC gaming had to offer in 2025 and pitted them against each other in a free-for-all Quake match for the crown… okay, actually we just nominated our top five and then voted on a winner, though we'll also be shouting out a few more standouts that are worth highlighting alongside them. As always, the PC list comes with a few funny caveats alongside its console-based competition – or, more specifically, because of the fact that it's not really trying to fight in that age-old war. PCs have long acted as a bit of a catchall for gaming as a hobby, and that's been more true...

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Cult of the Lamb Conjures Up New Comic Spinoff With Last Sacrament Special

The popular Cult of the Lamb franchise has taken on new life on the printed page, already spawning a graphic novel adaptation called Cult of the Lamb: The First Verse and the follow-up one-shot Cult of the Lamb: Schism Special. Now Oni Press is back again with another sequel dubbed Cult of the Lamb: Last Sacrament Special #1. Last Sacrament Special reunites writer Alex Paknadel and artist Troy Little for a new 48-page adventure. This issue is again a collaboration between comic book publisher Oni Press, game publisher Devolver Digital, and development studio Massive Monster. Here's Oni's official description of the special: Following the events of CULT OF THE LAMB: THE FIRST VERSE and October’s CULT OF THE LAMB: SCHISM SPECIAL #1...

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Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Drops to $40 in Best Buy’s 12 Days of Gaming Sale Today

Best Buy's 12 Days of Gaming sale is a great opportunity to stock up on some new games to play over the holidays at a lower price than usual. As for today's selection, one of the best deals available from the retailer is on Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch, which has seen its price drop to $39.99. This is $30 off its PS5 and Xbox Series X price and $20 off its Switch price, but these discounts won't last for long. These offers are only running through the end of today, so in true Sonic fashion, you gotta go fast to grab them on sale while the deals are still available. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds for $40 If you're on the fence about picking up Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, it's worth...

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Yes, It's True — Fallout Is Coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7

Yes, it's true — Microsoft is bringing two of its hottest gaming franchises together for a Fallout Season 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 crossover event. If you're wondering how, exactly, that may work, the official Call of Duty X/Twitter account has shared a brief video teaser which shows silhouettes of Fallout TV series characters The Ghoul, Lucy, and Maximus in the smoke of war, with bullets whizzing by in the background. "Okie dokie — stay focused, stay alive," the text on the post reads. "[Fallout TV show] is coming to Call of Duty in Season 01 Reloaded." The implication here certainly seems to be that Call of Duty fans will see skins of those characters, which may or may not be tied to a premium event pass. Without further...

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Sony and Tencent Quietly Agree 'Confidential Settlement' as Horizon Zero Dawn 'Clone' Game Light of Motiram Disappears From Steam and Epic Games Store

Tencent's upcoming post-apocalyptic open-world adventure Light of Motiram, widely-criticized for being a "clone" of Horizon Zero Dawn, has disappeared from Steam and the Epic Games Store. You may recall that Sony was suing Tencent over the project, which it had officially dubbed a "slavish" Horizon Zero Dawn copy, via a copyright lawsuit filed in a California court at the end of July. Sony's argument outlined numerous similarities and compared various marketing screenshots from both games, as well as their descriptions. Just like Horizon, Light of Motiram takes place in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by giant robot dinosaurs who roam large, natural environments such as tropical forests, deserts, and snowy mountains. Both games even...

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New FIFA Video Game Confirmed by Netflix, Developed By a Studio That's Yet to Ship Anything

FIFA has announced its next soccer game will be published in partnership with Netflix and developed by new studio Delphi Interactive. Following the end of its partnership with EA in 2022, FIFA announced it was working on a portfolio of Web3 games ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, but it has been pretty quiet since then. According to its president Andy Kleinman, however, Delphi has been working for the past 30 months "to continue the legacy of one of my favorite video games of all time, FIFA." Delphi, seemingly established in 2023, hasn't yet shipped a game, but describes itself as "the architects" behind 007 First Light and "uncompromising about quality." While we haven't seen any screenshots yet, let alone gameplay, a press...

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Arcane Trigger Mini-Review: Big Spells, One Button

Some roguelikes let you fight with preset weapons, but a small sub-genre lets you invent your own, turning every run into a playground of spells and chaos. Noita is a great example, letting you play with the world’s physics by freely mixing and matching effects. Magicraft does something similar, but with a more traditional roguelike viewpoint, and becomes pure chaos once a run really gets going. Both demand sharp reactions, but Arcane Trigger approaches things a little differently. Arcane Trigger has you playing as an arcane gunslinger, combining different bullet types and spells to unleash massive chains of firepower against a strange realm encroaching on your own. It begins simply, as most roguelikes do, but escalates very quickly...

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AU Deals: Killer Drops on S-Tier AC Editions and Discounts on Games Too Good To Leave Wishlisted

I have a dangerous relationship with digital storefronts, and this week did nothing to improve it. I went in to check one price, came out with a mental shopping list and a lighter conscience. These are the deals that genuinely stopped me scrolling. Contents Retro Nintendo Xbox PlayStation PC PC Gear LEGO This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I'm using a lit deku stick to light a 27-candle cake baked for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I don't unabashedly gush about too many games, but this one warms my very soul. On launch day I happened to find myself in a place of loss and uncertainty in my life; all I wanted to do was retreat from the world. Fortunately, I found solace and, frankly, absolute wonder in the theretofore...

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Stardew Valley Creator Says 1.7 Update Will Contain 'More Character/Social Stuff' and a New Farm Type

As Stardew Valley fans continue to wait patiently for the previously announced 1.7 update, creator Eric Barone (ConcernedApe) has dropped a couple small, vague, yet exciting hints about what said mysterious update might entail: a new farm type, and "more character/social stuff." This comes from a tweet/X post from ConcernedApe, where he was asked if he could give any hints about the upcoming update. His response was pretty simple: "there will be some more character/social stuff, it's also traditional to add a new farm type. Lots more but I don't want to reveal much yet." That's not a ton of detail, but certainly enough to spark the imagination. The new farm type was indeed to be expected. Stardew Valley started with just one style of...

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Horses Sells Over 18k Copies, Pays Back Loans and Royalties Despite Removal From Steam and Epic

Horses, the indie horror game that was banned from both Steam and the Epic Games Store ahead of its launch two weeks ago, has nonetheless managed to sell over 18,000 copies, says publisher Santa Ragione. However, that's not enough for the publisher to fund a new game. This comes from a press release sent today by Santa Ragione, which says Horses has generated approximately $65,000 in net revenue thanks to sales on GOG and Humble [Disclaimer: Humble and IGN are both owned and run by IGN Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc.]. That was enough to pay royalties owed to creator Andrea Lucco Borlera, as well as pay off the loans the publisher took out to finish development. But that's not enough to begin work on a new game, and it...

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Fallout 5 Will Exist in a World Where 'The Stories and Events of the Show Happened or Are Happening,' Todd Howard Confirms

Fallout 5 will indeed take into account the canon events of the Fallout TV series, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard has confirmed. While Fallout 5 is years away (Bethesda is still working on The Elder Scrolls 6, which doesn’t have a release window), Howard said that what we see in the Fallout series will impact the game. "In short, yes," Howard told BBC Newsbeat. "Fallout 5 will be existing in a world where the stories and events of the show happened or are happening. We are taking that into account." The Fallout TV show, which is set after all the existing Fallout video games, has sparked much debate within the fandom. Questions on how it fits into the overarching Fallout timeline and whether it makes particular video game...

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The Best Action-Adventure Game of 2025

It’s a term used to describe a huge amount of games released every year, but what does “action-adventure” even mean? It’s a good question. Here at IGN, we classify any game that fuses combat with a genuine sense of exploration as action-adventure. They often take place in open worlds, but that’s not a mandatory requirement (see the likes of Uncharted and God of War), and so this flexible format allows for a wide range of different projects to make the cut this year, from the tightly crafted co-op platforming action of Split Fiction and the vast, isolated, do-it-yourself atmosphere of Death Stranding 2, to the adventures of banana-hunting apes and revenge-seeking ronin. So let’s get on with it as swiftly as a Hornet and reveal the...

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The Best PlayStation Game of 2025

Superheroes, ronin, insect warriors, and postal service workers. Whatever your fantasy this year, PlayStation could deliver it. But which PS5 game was the best? We at IGN have voted and picked out what we think are the five most worthy of recognition from across 2025, naming one of them the very best PlayStation game of the year, as well as shouting out a few honourable mentions that were very close to making the cut. In an era where console exclusives are a dying breed, as Sony’s competitor, Microsoft, has shown us more than ever over the past few months, we’ve made the decision this year to branch out and open up the criteria for what can win our platform-specific awards. These aren’t the top five Sony exclusives, but the top five...

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Best Buy Knocks $15 off Ninja Gaiden 4 for PS5 and Xbox Series X for One Day Only

The holiday period is a great time to catch up on some of this year’s games that may have passed you by. If Ninja Gaiden 4 was on your list of games to play, Best Buy is offering a $15 discount on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions right now as part of its Deal of the Day (see it here). This offer brings its price down from $69.99 to $54.99, which is a nice little early holiday treat to jump on. Again, since it’s part of Best Buy's Deal of the Day selection, the timer on its sale page has already started counting down until the end of today. Now is the time to take advantage of this limited-time deal and add it to your library for a little less. Save $15 on Ninja Gaiden 4 (PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X) Ninja Gaiden 4...

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Hit Superhero Comedy Dispatch Will Soon No Longer Be PlayStation Console Exclusive

Superhero workplace comedy game Dispatch has just popped up on the Nintendo eShop for Switch and Switch 2, and is already available to pre-order. There's been no formal word yet by developer AdHoc Studio, but the Nintendo eShop listing is now live in Australia, where Switch owners can pre-order the game. There's even a release date, too: January 29, 2026. For Nintendo Switch 2 owners, a free upgrade pack will be available to download separately, providing a version of the game with enhanced resolution and improved frame rates. As of yet, there's no sign of the game arriving on Xbox — though we'll update this article again when AdHoc makes any formal announcement. Dispatch first launched back in October for PC and PlayStation 5...

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Battlefield 6 Now 'Extremely Likely' to Beat Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as the Best-selling Game of 2025 in the U.S.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched last month to become the best-selling game of November in the U.S. by dollar sales. It's both a huge sales feat and a common Call of Duty W, as the franchise has topped the charts in its launch month every year for 18 straight years. However, it looks like its rival Battlefield 6 will reign at the top of the U.S. sales charts at year's end. This comes from Circana's monthly report, which has Black Ops 7 debuting as the best-selling game of November and the seventh best-selling game of the year-to-date, behind Battlefield 6 at No.1, NBA 2K26 at No.2, Monster Hunter Wilds at No.3, Borderlands 4 at No.4, EA Sports College Football 26 at No.5, and Madden NFL 26 at No.6. All of those games have a few more...

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RPG Icons: Legendary Stories with Life-Saving Impact

Great heroes aren’t born – they’re forged through choice, sacrifice, and consequence. The RPG Icons Bundle brings together some of the most influential role-playing games ever created, uniting timeless classics and modern epic storytelling in one definitive collection. Even better, every purchase supports Direct Relief, helping deliver critical medical aid, emergency supplies, and life-saving care to communities in need around the world. Your journey through legendary realms can help make a real-world impact. A Hall of Fame Collection of Role-Playing Legends Each title in the RPG Icons Bundle represents a milestone in RPG history, offering deep systems, unforgettable characters, and stories shaped entirely by your decisions...

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Video Game Physical Software and Hardware Sales Just Had the Worst November in the U.S. Since 1995

November 2025 was a shockingly terrible month for video game sales in the U.S. While we traditionally think of November as a huge sales month what with Black Friday and all, November 2025 was the worst November in video game hardware unit sales, and the worst in physical software dollar sales the U.S. has seen since 1995. That's according to Circana's monthly report, which paints a pretty dismal picture of last month's commercial performance. The industry in the U.S. saw declines across the board in hardware, accessories, and console spending for an overall drop of 4% year-over-year, at $5.9 billion in total spending. Hardware More specifically, hardware spending was down a whopping 27% year-over-year to $695 million, the lowest...

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Palworld Home Sweet Home Update Adds Better Melee, 'Experimental' PvP, Raid Battlefields, and Improved Building

Palworld has just pushed out a significant new patch, bringing a collab with Ultrakill and a ton of improvements as developer Pocketpair continues work to prepare for the launch of Palworld 1.0, the game's eagerly-anticipated full release. John “Bucky” Buckley, communications director and publishing manager, teased that this update, dubbed Home Sweet Home, "puts a lot of groundwork in as we work towards our MASSIVE 1.0 release in 2026, but we have lots of little surprises in this update so check it out!" As part of the Ultrakill collaboration, you'll find several "iconic weapons and armor," as well as a V1’s infamous coin toss, while the Home Sweet Home update — as the name suggests — makes it a little more intuitive to put down roots...

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Disney Won't Work With Roblox Due to Its Child Safety Concerns, Report States

Concerns over child safety are stopping Disney from collaborating with Roblox, a new report has revealed. With 151 million daily active users, Roblox is one of the biggest games in the world — if not the biggest. And increasingly, access to this audience is seen as a lucrative and highly accessible method of marketing everything from big-name brands to Hollywood blockbusters. Still, worries over how safe Roblox is for its enormous audience of players — many of whom are under the age of 18 — remain offputting to Disney, a new Variety report has highlighted. While some had suspected Disney was avoiding Roblox due to its $1.5 billion investment in rival gaming platform Fortnite, sources told Variety that Disney was instead avoiding...

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Elden Ring: Nightreign Update 1.03.1 Is a Big One, Makes Key Balance Changes and Adds New Content for the Forsaken Hollows DLC

FromSoftware has deployed a new patch across all platforms for Elden Ring: Nightreign that brings more Deep of the Night content for players of the The Forsaken Hollows DLC, as well as new features, balance changes, bug fixes, and more. For those with the DLC (which FromSoftware recently announced has an impressive 2 million players), you'll now see new targets, landmarks, raid events, and Shifting Earth when playing the ultra-hard Deep of Night mode. Patch 1.03.1 also updates some pre-order bonuses, such as the artwork and soundtrack, and addresses the security vulnerability announced by Unity Technologies on October 3 (although the developer insists the main game "is not impacted by the security vulnerability and the update"). The...

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Forza Motorsport Developer Says Servers Will Remain Online, But Don't Expect Any More Cars, Tracks, Features or Regular Bug Fixes Following Layoffs

Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios has confirmed the end of new content development for the game, following layoffs at the company this summer. Released in 2023, the latest and (for now) final entry in the Forza Motorsport series was launched as a reboot of Xbox's veteran sim racing franchise, with years of new content expected. But the game launched to a mixed response, and around half of Turn 10 Studios' staff were made redundant in July. (The studio remains open, with support for the more popular Forza Horizon brand now a key focus.) Word that Forza Motorsport will not receive any further big updates is unsurprising, then, though a fresh statement in a blog post from the studio has now laid it out in black and white. "As...

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Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis Will Have to Adjust the Original Game's Brutal Difficulty for 'Modern Player Tastes,' but Dev Insists You'll Still See

The team behind the reimagining of the original Lara Croft adventure, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, have opened up on how they're approaching the 1996 game's difficulty and instakills, acknowledging it will have to be adjusted for "modern player tastes." Speaking at a press event and captured by GamesRadar+, Crystal Dynamics' game director Will Kerslake said: "part of reimagining a game right is adjusting that game evolving for modern player tastes." He also hinted at what kind of gameplay we can expect to see, insisting "it is core to the Tomb Raider experience that there are puzzles in combat and traversal and death-defying action." However, Kerslake stressed that the things we remember from the original game will remain, adding...

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AU Deals: Quality Games, Aggressive Discounts, Zero Filler

In this week’s deals haul, I fell down the familiar rabbit hole of "just checking prices" and somehow emerged with a shortlist of games I have already sunk irresponsible hours into. Some of these are comfort food, some are long overdue, and a few are perfect excuses to cancel weekend plans. No regrets. Contents Retro Nintendo Xbox PlayStation PC PC Gear LEGO This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I’m using a precision railgun shot to simultaneously light 26 candles on a cake baked for Quake III Arena. I have extremely fond memories of my older, vastly more employed brother building his first PC to play this at launch as I watched on in awe. It was an absolute batcomputer of a rig packing a Pentium II 266 MHz, 64MB RAM, and a beastly...

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