Gaming News

AU Deals: Black Friday Week Is Over, but Some Sick Bargains Forgot to Leave

I woke up this morning in that weird post–Cyber Monday haze where you assume all the good bargains have packed their bags and vanished. Turns out they have not. Stores are still absolutely lousy with deals. If you're anything like me, you might want to dive back in before the shops realise the discounts should have actually ended days ago. Plenty of stuff worth snagging if you are quick! Contents Retro Nintendo Xbox PlayStation PC PC Gear LEGO This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I'm using an HECU Marine's welding torch to light a 26-candle cake baked for Half-Life: Opposing Force, the gritty expansion that dropped 1999-me into the boots of a Marine caught in the same Black Mesa disaster from a whole new angle. I cannot overstate...

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Horses, the Upsetting Horror Game Previously Banned on Steam, Gets Last Minute Ban From Epic Games Store Too

Last week, we reported that disturbing horror game Horses had been banned from Steam, with developer Santa Ragione claiming that Valve refused to provide a clear reason for the ban or discuss it further with the studio. Now, at the last possible minute before the game was set to release widely across other PC store fronts, Epic Games Store has also banned Horses. This news was shared with us by Santa Ragione, who passed on a press release stating that Epic informed them 24 hours before the game's release that it would not be distributing Horses, despite the studio's build being approved for release weeks earlier. Per the developer, no specifics on what content was at issue were provided, "only broad and demonstrably incorrect claims...

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'Sega Was a Sweatshop' — PlayStation Architect Mark Cerny Recalls Working in Tokyo in Late 1980s, and Seeing Sonic the Hedgehog Creator Yuji Naka Get

PlayStation hardware architect Mark Cerny has recalled his time working at Sega in the late 1980s, a period in which he likened conditions at the company behind Sonic the Hedgehog to a "sweatshop." Speaking on the My Perfect Console podcast, Cerny made clear he was talking about Sega's Tokyo office during a specific period of time, when the company was under immense pressure to compete with the hugely dominant Nintendo, and teams sizes across the video games industry were tiny compared to the projects worked upon today. "Atari had been one person making a game, maybe two or three," Cerny recalled. "By this point there were actual teams, it tended to be about three people at Sega making a cartridge. So you'd have a programmer — that...

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Horses Review

Whether it be games, films, paintings, or any other form of creative endeavor, art has long been a vehicle for transgression and subversion, providing curious observers an avenue to ruminate on uncomfortable, often taboo aspects of society. Take David Lynch’s surreal horror epic Lost Highway, or Half Mermaid’s mesmerising puzzle mystery Immortality – their uncompromising and dark ambience leaves you changed, and often with more questions than answers. Horses, the latest game from developer Santa Ragione, uses the medium to tell its own morally challenging story, asking you to complete increasingly distressing tasks as a naive farmhand. Guaranteed to make you uncomfortable, Horses is an affecting first-person horror game that, despite a...

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High on Life 2: Exclusive Early Campaign Gameplay – IGN First

Our IGN First "cover story" game for December is High on Life 2, the upcoming comedy first-person shooter sequel to the 2022 original breakout hit from Squanch Games. We got our coverage warmed up with yesterday's funny in-universe ad for Humanzapro, but today we're kicking things off proper with ten minutes of exclusive new gameplay from early in the campaign set in Pinkline Harbor, one of three in-game hubs you'll explore. High on Life 2 doubles down on what worked in the original, with new and returning talking guns voiced by the likes of JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm), among others. It also adds plenty of new gameplay, such as skateboarding, which you can see in action in this gameplay. Watch it below. Check out the original...

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Cyberpunk 2077's Revamped Police Chase System Was Inspired by Pac-Man

One of the hallmarks of Cyberpunk 2077, particularly after its Phantom Liberty update, is its dynamic police chases. In these, a player committing crimes might find themselves quick surrounded by cops and, a few crimes later, the extra spicy MaxTac. But what you might not have caught onto is that when trying to avoid this massive swarm of cops, you're essentially playing a really, really sophisticated version of a very, very old arcade game: Pac-Man. At the Game Industry Conference in Poznań, Wielkopolska, I attended a talk by CD Projekt senior AI programmer Maciej Celmer entitled "Heat, MaxTac, and Blockades: Police System, in Cyberpunk 2077 and more." In the talk, Celmer went into a lot of interesting detail about how exactly...

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Helldivers 2 Dev Worked With Sony Studio Nixxes to Create a 'Slim' Version for PC That Reduces File Size From 154GB to 23GB

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has created a “slim” version of its explosive co-op third-person shooter that massively reduces its file size on PC. For some time now PC gamers have complained about Helldivers 2’s bloated installation size on PC, and Arrowhead recently outlined plans to bring it closer to the size of the console version. In a post on Steam, Arrowhead said it had worked with Sony-owned PC port specialist Nixxes to reach its goal sooner than expected, reducing the PC installation size from 154GB to 23GB for a total saving of 131GB (85%). Arrowhead has now rolled out this slim version of Helldivers 2 as part of a public technical beta, which PC players are free to opt into. “Our testing shows that for the small...

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'You Shouldn't Ask That!' — Yuji Horii Was Asked About a Chrono Trigger Remake and He Didn't Deny It, Reigniting Hope in Japan

Rumors and hopes regarding a Chrono Trigger remake have been raised again over the past week, driven by recent comments from Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii which do not deny nor confirm the existence of such a project. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Chrono Trigger. As a result, Square Enix has launched various projects to celebrate the classic RPG. This includes a brand new album featuring piano arrangements of character themes, a character popularity poll (Frog took the top spot, as reported by Famitsu), and orchestral concerts to be held in Japan next January. However, this sudden celebration of Chrono Trigger after very little fanfare about the cult classic has prompted speculation that Square Enix is leading up to a...

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Xbox Game Pass December 2025 Lineup Confirmed

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Game Pass December 2025 lineup, which is headlined by NetherRealm’s gory fighting game Mortal Kombat 1. Also coming to Game Pass in the coming weeks as day one launches are first-person sci-fi horror Routine and soulslike deck builder Death Howl. Available today, December 2, is Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) across Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, and PC Game Pass. Tomorrow, December 3, sees Monster Train 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) and Spray Paint Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC) both hit Game Pass Premium. December 4 is a decent day for Game Pass, with 33 Immortals (Game Preview) (Cloud, Console, and PC) and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Cloud, PC...

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Helldivers 2 Patch 5.0.0 Arrives With an Incoming Message From High Command That's Already Got Players Worried

Arrowhead has released Helldivers 2 update 5.0.0, which makes big balance changes that actually raise weapon damage — but there’s also an incoming message from High Command that has the community worried. Update 5.5.0 arrives alongside the jungle-themed Python Commandos Warbond, which adds a number of fan-requested weapons including a minigun. But it’s the incoming message from High Command — an in-universe tease from Arrowhead to the Helldivers 2 community on what’s in store — that has raised eyebrows. “Super Earth has detected strange signals from previously unmonitored worlds on the Galactic map,” the message reads. “The Ministry of Intelligence is investigating the source of the signals. Helldivers, be vigilant and hold the high...

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Fortnite Artist Responds as Fans Claim Game Now Includes Examples of Blatant AI Artwork, Including a Nine-Toed Character in a Hammock

A Fortnite artist has been forced to defend their work after fans suggested numerous images found within the game's new season are AI-generated, including a suspicious-looking poster showing a character in a hammock with an odd number of toes. Last night, freelance artist Sean Dove took to Instagram in response to fan claims that his Studio Ghibli-style depiction of Back to the Future hero Marty McFly was the product of AI generation. Dove, a frequent Fortnite collaborator, showed off his manual process for drawing the image. But while he drew the Ghibli-esque main character himself, Dove admitted he may still have inadvertantly included AI elements in the background. "I guess someone on reddit thinks this was AI," Dove wrote. "I...

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Megabonk May Have Withdrawn Itself For Consideration At The Game Awards 2025, But Another Category Has Put It Back

Megabonk may have withdrawn itself for consideration for best indie game at next week's The Game Awards 2025, but it's now long-listed as one of 30 fan-favorite games in the running for the Players' Voice category. Megabonk was nominated for Best Debut Indie, alongside Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Despelote, and Dispatch. Developer Vedinad, however, withdrew their game from The Game Awards in mid-November, saying it didn't qualify for the category, as Megabonk was not their debut game. "It's an honor and a dream for Megabonk to be nominated for TGA, but unfortunately, I don't think it qualifies for the category 'Debut Indie Game,'" the developer said at the time. "I've made games in the past under different studio names...

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Splinter Cell Remake’s Original Director Returns to the Project After Leaving in 2022

The original director of Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell remake, David Grivel, has returned to recommence his role as director on the game after leaving Ubisoft in 2022. Grivel confirmed the news himself in a post on LinkedIn (via GamesRadar). “Today, I am very, very happy to announce that I’m rejoining Ubisoft Toronto as Game Director on the Splinter Cell Remake!” wrote Grivel, noting the team and project are very special to him. Grivel previously worked at Ubisoft for just over a decade, from 2011 to 2022. Prior to his brief initial tenure as director on the Splinter Cell remake he contributed as a game designer on a variety of projects, including Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Far Cry Primal, Far Cry 4, and Far Cry 5...

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Fast & Furious’ Justin Lin to Direct Helldivers Movie

Justin Lin is set to direct the upcoming film adaptation of Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lin is best known for his work on a number of Fast & Furious movies, and was the director of the series from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in 2006 until Fast & Furious 6 in 2013. It won’t mark the first time Lin has set his sights on outer space, as he also directed Star Trek Beyond in 2016 – and later returned to the Fast & Furious series to direct 2021’s F9 (in which he sent Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson into literal orbit in a 1984 Pontiac Fiero). The Helldivers movie has been written by Gary Dauberman, the writer of several Annabelle films and The Nun – as well as the co-writer of...

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We Asked World of Warcraft's Housing Team About Couples Housing, More Neighborhoods, Hidden Secrets, Decorating Contests, and More

I've been annoyingly busy lately, and haven't had as much time as I would have liked to dive into World of Warcraft's housing feature, which is now live in the World of Warcraft: Midnight beta. So even though I've now had multiple tours of its features and possibilities at this point, I was blown away when I poked my head into the community and saw this: And this: And, holy smokes, this: Come on. There's no way we're going to be able to make that! Well, okay, maybe no way I, a deeply mediocre interior decorator, will be able to make that. Nevertheless, early testing for housing in WoW is proving to be quite the success. In fact, amid a lot of controversy around both add-on removal and transmog, it's nice that there's one new...

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God of War Ragnarök Drops to Just $20 in Cyber Monday Sales at Best Buy and Target

Cyber Monday has officially landed, and with it a stellar price drop on God of War Ragnarök for PS5. Ragnarök, which is a 10/10 masterpiece by IGN's reckoning, is just $19.99 at Best Buy and Target, a whopping $50 discount from its original list price of $69.99 and one of the best Cyber Monday deals we've seen so far. God of War Ragnarök (PS5) for $20 In IGN's review, Simon Cardy called the game "an enthralling spectacle to behold," and "a complete work of art from top to bottom." That's a pretty winning argument for it, so why wait any longer to grab it? This 64% discount may not last beyond today, so now's the time. Have a look through our breakdown of the best PS5 Cyber Monday deals to see more of our top picks for Cyber Monday...

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Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review

Depending on who you talk to, beat ‘em ups are either repetitive, button-mashy coin munchers or a deceptively simple vehicle for absolute combat mastery. Me? I’m in the latter camp. But how do you get people who aren’t sickos like myself interested? How do you lure them into taking the first steps down Sicko Road? This year’s Absolum tried by merging a mechanically excellent beat ‘em up with a middling roguelite. Marvel Cosmic Invasion developer Tribute Games – the cats behind Shredder’s Revenge, the best TMNT game since Turtles in Time– takes a different approach. It looks to the Marvel vs. Capcom fighting games of old and asks one of the boldest questions I’ve seen a beat ‘em up pose in a New York minute: what if it was a tag game...

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'Of Course There's Going to Be' a Hitman 4, Developer IO Interactive Says

IO Interactive is busy working on James Bond video game 007 First Light, but it has said it also has plans to release Hitman 4. In an interview with Variety, CEO Hakan Abrak said “of course there will be more Hitman.” But it may be some time before Hitman 4 comes out. Abrak said that any talk of a Hitman 4 announcement will have to wait until Hitman co-op arrives in World of Assassination, which continues to enjoy support via DLC from the studio. “So of course there will be more Hitman,” Abrak said. “But right now, I think we need to get to the other side of this year and next year you’ll get more news about Hitman co-op, because I think co-op is a really, really good extension to the universe, and will introduce very interesting...

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Jennifer Hale Would 'Love to Play Bayonetta Again,' But Admits 'It Was Not Fun Getting Thrown Under the Bus' After She Replaced Original Voice Actor

Jennifer Hale has opened up on PlatinumGames' controversial decision to hire her and replace original voice actor Hellena Taylor for Bayonetta 3, admitting, "I definitely got thrown under the bus by that whole thing." Just ahead of the third instalment of Hideki Kamiya's stylish action game series, PlatinumGames revealed that Taylor — who voiced Bayonetta in the first two games — wouldn’t return, and would instead be portrayed by Hale. “Various overlapping circumstances made it difficult for Hellena Taylor to reprise her role,” Platinum said at the time. “We held auditions to cast the new voice of Bayonetta and offered the role to Jennifer Hale, whom we felt was a good match for the character." In 2022, Taylor released a thread of...

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CD Projekt Still Plans to Launch All 3 Games in the New Ciri-fronted The Witcher Trilogy Within a 6-Year Period

CD Projekt is sticking to its ambitious plan to release all three video games in the new Ciri-fronted The Witcher trilogy within a six-year period. Speaking during a recent financial call, joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said that future The Witcher video games “should be delivered in a shorter period of time.” That’s because CD Projekt has switched to Unreal Engine 5 for the full production of not only The Witcher 4, but The Witcher 5 and 6. Here’s Nowakowski’s quote in full: "We’ve been using UE5 for The Witcher 4 for almost four years now, and we’re very happy with what we’ve achieved. I think you could have seen some of that with your own eyes with our tech demo reveal at Unreal Fest couple of months ago, and we’re very happy with...

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Where Winds Meet Players Are Using the 'Solid Snake Method' to Trick AI Chatbot NPCs Into Skipping Sidequests

Where Winds Meet players are taking a novel approach to solving riddles by… simply telling the game's AI-powered chatbot NPCs that they have solved the game's riddles. The Wuxia open-world action-adventure RPG set in ancient China only debuted on PC and PlayStation 5 on November 14, but players are already finding creative — and highly amusing — ways to make use of the game's chatbot NPCs. As reported by PCGamesN, Where Winds Meet features chatbot NPCs that dish out side quests. Complete those quests and the NPC will become more friendly, and even send you the odd gift. Indeed, Where Winds Meet's player and NPC relationships feature revolves around this AI chatbot feature. As perfectly demonstrated by u/Kamijoan in the Where Winds...

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New Wuxia Adventure Where Winds Meet Hits 9 Million Players In Just 2 Weeks, and the Mobile Version Isn't Even Out Yet

The free-to-play NetEase-published Wuxia adventure, Where Winds Meet, has topped 9 million players in just two weeks. The open-world action-RPG debuted on PC and PlayStation 5 on November 14, and hit a peak concurrent player count of 251,000 on Steam (Sony does not make player numbers public). Over 89% of the game's 70,000+ Steam reviews are positive, too. A mobile version is due out on December 12. Offering full cross-play and shared progress, you'll be able to dip into the action wherever you are, with "a portable Jianghu in the palm of your hand." If that sounds good to you, you can pre-register for mobile (iOS or Android) right here. IGN's Where Winds Meet review returned a 6/10. We said: "Where Winds Meet has a great...

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Geoff Keighley Reportedly Teasing a Diablo 4 Expansion for The Game Awards 2025

Geoff Keighley has kicked off his annual The Game Awards tease with social media posts that reportedly relate to a Diablo 4 expansion. Host Keighley took to social media to show a picture of a demonic monolith located in the Mojave Desert alongside location details. The caption of the tweet leads to the monolith above, alongside its real-world location in the Mojave Desert. As you’d expect, people tracked it down and uploaded footage to social media. Overnight, the monolith lit up, giving off hellish Diablo vibes. Amid all that, Windows Central reporter Jez Corden took to social media to say the tease related to an expansion for Blizzard’s action role-playing game, Diablo 4. Blizzard had said Diablo 4 was set to get an expansion...

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The Best Cyber Monday Handheld Gaming PC Deals Include Steam Deck and Legion Go S

With the advent of gaming PC handhelds, your entire library of PC games is at your fingertips. Now you can play Steam games like Clair Obscur, Hades, Silksong, or Ball x Pit on a device that's not much bigger than a Switch console. For Cyber Monday, select SteamOS gaming handhelds - including the Steam Deck - are on sale. One is even priced a bit lower than on Black Friday. SteamOS is more intuitive to use on a handheld than Windows and I would recommend it for anyone who wants an easy, hassle-free experience that plays most games with minimal tinkering and little technical know-how. Lenovo Legion Go S Z1 Extreme SteamOS Edition New lower Cyber Monday price at Lenovo! Also available at Best Buy for $649.99 Save up to $270 off the...

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The Witcher Books Box Set Drops to a Great Low Price for Amazon's Cyber Monday Sale

Amazon has been dropping new book deals since Black Friday, and one of the most popular discounts available has been on The Witcher books. Andrzej Spkowski's Witcher series is the basis for the entire phenomenon. The popularity of the series may have been elevated by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the Netflix series, but its the original story that has inspired the dark fantasy world we've come to love. The latest Cyber Monday deal on this box set drops the price down to just $33.79 for the whole paperback set. This is a lower price than what we saw last week when the buy 2, get 1 free sale was still live, so it's worth picking up as an individual set before the deals end tomorrow. The Witcher Boxed Set Deal at Amazon This convenient...

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Fortnite Zero Hour Live Event Draws 10.5 Million Players, As Godzilla, King Kong, Iron Man and KPop Demon Hunters Unite For Avengers: Endgame-Style Fi

Fortnite developer Epic Games has announced that 10.5 million players just tuned in for Zero Hour, the highly-anticipated live event that featured heroes from the world's biggest franchises turning up Avengers: Endgame-style to save the day. Online, at least 3 million more watched the event via streaming platforms. Iron Man, Superman, Godzilla and the KPop Demon Hunters were just some of the characters who made appearances within the event, as Fortnite's finest gathered to defeat the Dark Presence, the game's latest Big Bad. Many of the characters appearing in the event had been teased ahead of time, though exactly what would happen was left uncertain. And indeed, despite going multiple rounds with King Kong and a Star Destroyer, the...

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The Best Deals on PC Games for Black Friday 2025 Aren't Just in the Steam Sale

Steam is running a Black Friday sale for the first time ever this year. Yet despite some of its great deals, key platforms Green Man Gaming and Fanatical are both having Black Friday sales of their own. Below are some of the best you can find this weekend. The Best Black Friday Deals at Green Man Gaming Green Man Gaming has sales running for multiple publishers, including PlayStation, Bethesda, and Konami. Of these, one of the best deals available is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered for $28.47. This Virtuos-developed remaster was made in Unreal Engine 5, allowing Oblivion to be recreated with striking visual fidelity. Another Bethesda game on heavy discount is Doom: The Dark Ages, which released this past May. This prequel...

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Indie Video Games Round-Up – December 2025

We did it, people. We made it to the end of 2025. December is always an interesting one for games. Plenty of folks will be picking up new titles thanks to holiday gifts and those glorious end-of-year sales, but it’s also one of the quieter months for actual releases. Even with the slowdown, we’re still getting some incredible-looking games. A few of these might even catch you off guard. But let’s stop beating around the bush (presents need wrapping, food needs digesting) so let’s dive into the list. Consider this your cheat sheet for what to ask for money to buy when someone has absolutely no clue what to get you. MARVEL Cosmic Invasion – 1st December Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the latest beat ’em up from the powerhouse genre...

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After Silksong DLC, Team Cherry Is Thinking About Making a Brand New Game Rather Than Hollow Knight 3 — Their Only Time Concern Is a Morbid One: 'Deat

Team Cherry has revealed it’s thinking about making a brand new game rather than a Hollow Knight 3 — but admitted that their only time concern is “death.” Co-founders Ari Gibson and William Pellen took seven years to make Silksong, the hotly anticipated follow-up to breakout hit Hollow Knight — although they didn’t plan to. During a sweeping interview with Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, in which the duo confirmed plans for Silksong DLC, talk turned to what’s next. It sounds like Team Cherry has yet to decide whether to make Hollow Knight 3 or a brand new video game, but Gibson and Pellen are thinking about how much time they have left to make video games at all. “... we do have other games that we plan to make,” Gibson said. “The only...

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Elden Ring and Its Shadow of the Erdtree Edition for PS5 Have Received Huge Discounts for Black Friday

Elden Ring has gotten one of the best video game discounts that's popped up during this year's Black Friday sale. At the moment, the base game on PS5 is down to $19.99 at Amazon, while the Xbox Series X version is down to just $15 – its lowest price yet. That's not all, though, as the Shadow of the Erdtree edition for PS5, usually listed with a huge $79.99 price tag, has dropped back to its lowest price yet of $39.99. Tarnished, if you've yet to become Elden Lord, now is the best time to do it. Elden Ring Black Friday Deals Elden Ring won Game of the Year back in 2022 – and earned a glowing 10/10 IGN review, to boot. The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion also earned a 10/10 review score from IGN. Needless to say, they're both...

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