Gaming News

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Is Our Best Hope for a New BioWare-Style RPG

When it was first revealed earlier this year, we said that The Expanse: Osiris Reborn “looks a lot like a new Mass Effect.” Now, after having watched almost an hour of it in action at gamescom 2025, developer Owlcat Games has done nothing to change my mind. That is, of course, a very welcome thing – it’s been eight years since the last Mass Effect (13 since the last good one), and the upcoming, undated sequel is both far away and has a lot to prove following BioWare’s recent chain of underwhelming releases. Owlcat stepping up with its own 3D, space-faring adventure is something of a relief, then – finally, after so many years of waiting, we’re getting a “new” Mass Effect from a studio that’s really proven its RPG talents with the likes...

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Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Review

2025 is turning out to be a stellar year for fans of 2D ninja platformers. The 16-bit blood sprites have barely dried on Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s katana, and now Sega’s iconic Shinobi series has emerged from a 14-year stay in the shadows to fling a fistful of kunai straight into your adrenal glands. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance brings back the series’ slash ‘n’ dash with plenty of modern day flash. It empowers returning hero Joe Musashi with an enjoyably expansive suite of hypercharged ninja skills and presents it all in a gorgeous hand drawn art style, making for an adventure that’s occasionally hard on the reflexes but always easy on the eye. While the Shinobi series may have been in exile for an agonising amount of time, its triumphant...

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Dungeons & Dragons and a Grounded Setting Are Why Dragon Age: Origins' Mage Ended Up Overpowered, Ex-BioWare Developer Says

Fans have always felt that Dragon Age: Origins’ mage class was more complete, perhaps even more dominant, than the game’s other two classes, the rogue and the warrior. But why was that? Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah has said it’s mostly about second edition Dungeons & Dragons. In a recently published video, Darrah explained why the mage in BioWare’s much-loved 2009 role-playing game ended up feeling so much better to play. “It's actually I would say more because the design space that Dragon Age: Origins was being built into was heavily influenced by second edition D&D," Darrah, who worked at BioWare from 1997 to early 2021, said. "So in that case, the reality is mages and rogues were less… they were thinner classes...

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'On Borderlands 3, in Our Worst Hours, It Sometimes Felt Like Parody' — Gearbox Explains Borderlands 4's More Grounded Story

With Borderlands 3 and its divisive story in the rearview mirror, developer Gearbox Software is driving full speed ahead to Borderlands 4 and the totalitarian planet of Kairos. The long road to the launch of a fourth mainline Borderlands game had a bumpy start. While plenty fell in love with Borderlands 3 and its improvements to the looter-shooter series' gunplay, others still struggle with its joke-fueled story and reliance on toilet humor. It will have been almost exactly six years since its launch when Borderlands 4's September 12, 2025 release date arrives. Now, fans are on the edge of their seats, waiting to see how Gearbox spent its time. We caught up with Gearbox narrative director Sam Winkler, lead writer Taylor Clark, and...

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AU Deals: Red Dead, MGS Delta, and Other Hits Crashed to Low Prices – Up to 84% Off Modern Classics

I don’t know about you, fellow Bargain Hunter, but the smell of a fresh sale does funny things to my willpower. My carts are crammed again, and the math isn't making sense against my bank account. Why? Because there’s some real magic tucked in today’s haul. I do apologise for being the voice of temptation. But this is how it's gonna be all week with me. Fairly warned, be thee, says I. Contents Retro Nintendo Xbox PlayStation PC LEGO This Day in Gaming 🎂 In retro news, I’m letting a Shambler’s lightning spark this 29-candle Quake cake I baked. It was, of course, id Software’s grim and gothic first-person shooter that forever changed how we thought about online fragging. Back in 1996, when very few Aussies were dialling directly to...

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Metal Gear Solid 3: The Complicated History of All 5 Versions Explained

Metal Gear Solid: Delta is not the first remake of Metal Gear Solid 3. In the two decades since Metal Gear Solid 3 first HALO-dropped into our hearts, Konami has reissued, remastered, and remade Hideo Kojima’s tactical espionage opus more than a few times– adding to, subtracting from, and significantly changing Snake’s adventure in the nonexistent jungles of the Soviet Union. You can dig up the raw PS2 original that hit 2004 like a tactical nuke, or feast on the more refined and rounded Subsistence. You can enjoy it on the go, or accept some sacrifices to play it on the newest tech. And if none of those get you charged up, perhaps Delta will deliver the Snake Eater of your dreams. There are plenty of ways to enjoy one of the greatest...

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Valor Mortis is a Soulslike That Actually Stands Out from the Crowd

The trench-ridden battlefields of Napoleonic Europe were never going to be a nice place to wake up in. Turns out they’re much worse when mutated mashups of former soldiers and gruesome, blistered horrors also trudge through its mud. Valor Mortis places you right in the thick of it, and trusts that your skill with a blade, pistol, and superpowered palm will ensure you make it through alive. Despite being rooted in the fundamentals of the Soulslike genre, it adopts a non-conventional first-person perspective, which not only fully immerses you in this horrifying world but also adds an additional layer of precision and satisfaction to its parrying, slashing, and sharp-shooting combat. And while I found that its battles can be tough, during...

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High on Life 2 Has 'More Than Five' Fully-Emulated, Playable Games, Including...Bible Adventures

High on Life 2 has more creative sci-fi guns, more wacky characters, and “more than five” playable games to find, including the infamous Bible Adventures. Squanch Games chief creative officer/art director Mikey Spano and chief operating officer/executive producer Matty Studivan told IGN about how they’re raising the stakes for the sequel to the popular comedy shooter during a conversation at gamescom 2025. Although a bigger cast and new story might be the primary draw for fans, the studio says it made sure to tuck in more Easter Eggs to uncover, too. The original High on Life famously included a few full-length movies for players to watch if they knew where to look, and it sounds like High on Life 2 will take things a step further...

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The Best Deals Today: Metal Gear Solid Delta, The First Berserker: Khazan, and More

We've rounded up the best deals for Saturday, August 23, below, so don't miss out on these limited-time offers. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is set to finally release this week after years of anticipation. The remake of Metal Gear Solid 3 is $52.38 at Fanatical right now, so PC players can save almost $18 off ahead of launch. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "Between its old-school stealth-action gameplay and engaging spy-thriller story, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater largely succeeds as a faithful, visually impressive remake of the 2004 classic." Pre-Order Kirby Air Riders A November launch date for Kirby Air Riders was revealed this week, and pre-orders have finally opened up at Amazon...

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Squanch Games Really Wants Danny DeVito to Play a Gun in High on Life 3

Squanch Games has talked before about trying and failing to get Hollywood legend Danny DeVito to play Gene Zaroothian in High on Life. But the studio remains determined, and wants to convince DeVito to star as a gun in High on Life 3 — should it get the chance to make it. With High on Life 2 waiting in the wings, Squanch Games’ Mikey Spano and Matty Studivan told IGN in an interview at gamescom 2025 that they are going to give Danny DeVito another go when they eventually get to making what feels like the inevitable third game in the comedy first-person shooter series. “I really want Danny DeVito,” chief creative officer Spano said. “We tried to get Danny DeVito for the first game, and at that time we didn’t really have the cachet to...

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‘These Things Aren't New and Exclusive to Soulslike Games' — Silent Hill f Producer Wants to Set the Record Straight on Combat

Is Silent Hill f a soulslike? It’s a question the Silent Hill fandom has been debating for some time now. But in a recent interview with IGN, Konami insisted it's not, and expressed a degree of frustration with the ongoing debate. Silent Hill f takes us to 1960s Japan, where we follow Hinako Shimizu, a teenager struggling under the pressure of expectations from her friends, family, and society. As IGN reported in our Silent Hill f hands-on preview, its combat has a similar feel to Silent Hill 2 Remake’s close-range combat. You can dodge enemy attacks with the DualSense’s circle button and activate a light and heavy attack with R1 and R2, respectively. Your limited reach and lengthy attack motions give a realistic, weighty feel to...

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Battlefield 6: Reclaiming the Crown of Realistic Online Military Shooters

It seems to me that when folks shot, stabbed and exploded their way through the 1940s Western Front in Call of Duty’s 2003 debut, the very notion of charging about an online multiplayer map as Nicki Minaj with pink grenades in tow against the likes of Beavis and Butthead would be an entirely alien one, such is the uncoupling of Activision’s franchise from its authentic roots. With a void very much now existing for an ultra-popular and serious online shooter, Battlefield Studios is poised to step into that space with Battlefield 6, a thoroughly straight-laced, utterly serious and equally spectacular affair that looks set to reclaim the mantle of the serious online military shooter with aplomb. Grounded Is The Word Of The Day Marking a...

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Assassin's Creed Mirage Getting Free Saudi Arabia DLC Later This Year

Surprise! Assassin's Creed Mirage, the slimmer, Baghdad-set adventure launched in 2023, is getting fresh content set in AlUla, an ancient oasis city now found in Saudi Arabia. A new story chapter with additional missions, plus general gameplay improvements for the whole game, will launch for free later this year. Ubisoft made the announcement this morning via social media, in a post that's come rather out of the blue on a Saturday at the end of this year's busy Gamescom week. That said, the arrival of more Assassin's Creed Mirage content has been expected. Earlier this year, Ubisoft declined to comment on a report in French financial newspaper Les Echoes that detailed a deal between Ubisoft and Saudi Arabia's controversial Public...

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The Division 2 Brought Back the Series' Original Creative Director for Its New Survivors Extraction Experience

Ubisoft is keeping Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 updates coming with the announcement of a new survival extraction experience called Survivors. The team behind the long-running third-person shooter talked about how it plans to keep the sequel chugging along for at least another year during a gamescom 2025 panel livestream and in a blog post published on its website. It comes with a roadmap for the next few months of content, including a promise to keep players in the loop as development continues. The Division 2: Survivors is the real headline here, though. Ubisoft calls the new content “an updated take on the survival extraction experience” that is currently “in the early stages” of development. Aiding as creative director for...

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Replaced Is a Beautiful, Brilliant 2.5D Cyberpunk Thriller | gamescom 2025

When you’ve played video games long enough, you eventually develop something of a “Spidey Sense” when you see a game that seems like it’s going to be extra special. You never know until the final product is on your hard drive, of course, but more often than not, that sixth sense is correct. Replaced, a 2.5D action-adventure game drenched in an absolutely stunning sci-fi cyberpunk pixel-art aesthetic – complete with incredible camera work and moody music – is making that Spidey Sense tingle. I’d already played a brief three-part demo over a year ago, which only reinforced that feeling I first got after the initial reveal four years ago. This time I got to play the first 30 or so minutes of the campaign, and it did nothing to dampen my...

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With Silksong Imminent, More People Are Playing Hollow Knight on PC Than Ever Before

Hollow Knight: Silksong is coming out in less than two weeks, and you know what that means, right? Yup, that means it's time to play (or replay) the original Hollow Knight! Which is exactly what a lot of folks are doing. Hollow Knight, released on PC in 2017, has reached an all-time high concurrent player count today on Steam (per SteamDB), eight years after release, almost certainly due to the Silksong news. At the time this piece is being written, it's sitting at 23,840 concurrent players, an all-time peak. Prior to this, concurrent player counts have been sitting roughly around 10,000 for months on end, usually a bit below. But after the Silksong news yesterday, they began climbing, reaching 16k yesterday afternoon and dipping...

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LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Is the Arkham Game You've Been Waiting For | gamescom 2025

Traveler’s Tales is once again bringing a boatload of brick-breaking battles with bat-baddies to the streets of Gotham City. For 20 years, the studio has largely followed the beloved and established formula of adapting some of the biggest media franchises in the world and turning them into level-based action-adventures. But this time, TT looks to be finding inspiration outside of its own walls, but elsewhere inside its Warner Bros. family, giving the people what they want: a new Batman Arkham game in all but name. Legacy of the Dark Knight is structured slightly differently from previous LEGO games. Not quite an original story, TT Games has immersed itself in the world of the Bat by taking different strands of the hero’s most famous...

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Best Games Like Lost Soul Aside

Lost Soul Aside looks absolutely stunning, and it’s one of those character action games worth keeping an eye on. Both us and 36 Crazyfists are excited for it—that’s a very niche post-hardcore joke, but here we are. But while big releases are always on the horizon, sometimes you just want to jump into the action right now. So, as we so often do, we’ve pulled together a list of the best character action games you can play any time you’re in the mood for stylish combat. Character action games might not dominate the spotlight the way they once did, but the genre still has plenty of gems to offer—including a few that push well beyond traditional expectations. The result is a diverse mix of experiences in this list, with even a wild card or...

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Double Fine’s Tim Schafer Rules Out More Sequels for Now, So You Can Forget About Brütal Legend 2 and Psychonauts 3

Double Fine is poised to release a brand new game called Keeper in October, but what comes after that? According to development chief Tim Schafer, he’s working on multiple projects at the Microsoft-owned studio, none of which are sequels. Keeper is an atmospheric puzzle adventure in which a long-forgotten lighthouse is awakened and goes on a journey. It’s led by Double Fine’s Lee Petty, which means Tim Schafer is hands-off and free to work on other things. What are those other things? Speaking to IGN at gamescom 2025, Schafer of course wouldn’t divulge Double Fine’s upcoming games, but did say the studio has multiple projects in the works and they’re all original IP. "I'm working on other stuff,” he confirmed. “The studio is doing...

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Stardew Valley Creator ConcernedApe Doesn't Ask for Money for Collabs, Insists He Only Does It With Games He's a Fan Of, or Because He 'Genuinely Thou

Stardew Valley developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has revealed he doesn't ask for any compensation when his fan-favorite farm sim collabs with other franchises, saying he only does them because "[he] was a fan of the other games, or because [he] genuinely thought players would like it." The statement comes as fans prepare for a crossover event between Stardew Valley and Infinity Nikki, which goes live on September 1. Although we still don't really understand what this will involve, exactly, there are already some surprisingly mixed reactions coming from the community, with some players upset about the timing, suggesting it's an all-too-convenient distraction from the recent controversy around leakers. "There have been a few...

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Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Includes Remake of Fan-Favorite Secret Mode From Original PS2 Version — and Bayonetta Developer PlatinumGames Work

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater contains a secret mode developed by PlatinumGames, the studio behind the likes of Bayonetta and Nier: Automata. Warning! Spoilers for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and the original Metal Gear Solid 3 follow: Fans of the original Metal Gear Solid 3, which Konami has remade for this Delta version, may be aware of Snake’s Nightmare. Dubbed Guy Savage by fans, it’s a time-limited third-person hack and slash sequence in which ‘Guy Savage’ cuts his way through a demon-filled hellscape, triggered by saving while Snake is in prison and then reloading. Guy Savage was in the original Metal Gear Solid 3 on PlayStation 2, but was removed for most of the versions that followed. Now, Guy Savage is back as...

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Campaign Does Not Have Difficulty Options, Treyarch Explains Why

For as long as Call of Duty campaigns have existed, so has the option to play them at whichever difficulty suits you best. Whether recruit, normal, hardened, or veteran, long-term COD players know their level. But this year’s entry, Black Ops 7, won’t let you pick. Black Ops 7 has a campaign that can be played solo or in co-op for up to four players. As part of that, the difficulty scales based on how many are playing, and cannot be adjusted in the settings. “For the difficulty, it's baked in," associate creative director Miles Leslie told IGN in a recent interview. “We've built it for solo or four-player squads as well. You cannot pick a difficulty like past games. We've baked it in because you have to approach a co-op campaign...

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Extraction Shooter Escape From Tarkov Finally Has a 1.0 Release Date, 8 Years After Initial Launch

Eight years after its initial launch, first-person extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov has a version 1.0 release date: November 15, 2025. Developer Battlestate Games announced the release date alongside patch notes for update 0.16.9.0, which serves as an “interim milestone” that brings a significant number of improvements and changes. Meanwhile, the development team is focusing on optimizing the final version of the game. The main highlight, Battlestate Games said, is synchronization between EFT: Arena and EFT PvE Zone. Its “key feature” is a one-way sync: progress in EFT: Arena will sync with PvE Zone, but progress in PvE Zone will not sync with EFT: Arena. “This one-way synchronization includes the addition of the trader Ref, the...

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Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Review

Where do you draw the line with a remake? How do you balance creative freedom and remaining true to the original? Everyone's answer is somewhat different, but for Konami, staying faithful was the top priority with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the remake of the 2004 stealth-action game that was led by Hideo Kojima. In not being shy about crediting Kojima and his team throughout, Konami preserved Snake Eater in a way that's nearly one-to-one, other than a massive visual overhaul. So while it has definitely aged in the 21 years since, there's a certain novelty to its old-school stealth-action gameplay and spy thriller story that still hits – especially with the way Snake Eater wraps up, how can you not be romantic about Metal Gear...

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The $26 Iniu 20,000mAh Power Bank Allows You to Simultaneously Charge and Play Any Gaming Handheld

Starting today, Amazon is offering the high-capacity, high-output Iniu 20,000mAh 65W power bank for just $26.46 after you clip the 49% off coupon on the product page. Combined with the instant discount, that's a total of 55% in savings. This power bank is ideal for long flights or trips where you might not have an available outlet for extended periods of time. It's powerful enough to charge just about every phone or gaming handheld PC - including the newer Asus ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go S - even while you're playing games. Iniu 20,000mAh 65W Power Bank for $26.46 Clip the 49% off coupon Iniu claims that this power bank is "ultra small", and it certainly is smaller than most other 20,000mAh power banks in terms of footprint at...

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Pete Parsons Is Leaving Bungie

Bungie CEO Pete Parsons is departing the company after 23 years and nearly 10 as CEO. He is succeeded by Justin Truman, currently chief development officer and fellow Bungie veteran. In a blog post on the official Bungie website, Parsons wrote: Parsons has overseen Bungie during many turbulent years, first taking over as CEO in 2016 from Harold Ryan and overseeing its break from Activision in 2019. He was at the helm throughout many of the events catalogued in our 2021 expose of Bungie's internal work culture. Though those we spoke to reported that Bungie had been toxic and hostile toward women in particular prior to Parsons taking charge, they also told IGN that he was frequently slow or reluctant to take action when issues were...

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Overwatch 2 Trailer Teases Persona 5 Crossover for Season 18

Blizzard Entertainment is bringing Atlus’ Persona 5 to Overwatch 2 Season 18. A teaser for the popular hero shooter’s latest collaboration snuck its way into the end of a new trailer for the next season of Overwatch that premiered as part of gamescom 2025. It’s far more straightforward than the usual crossover tease, revealing a switch to that iconic Persona 5 style before an individual that looks an awful lot like Joker drops in. In typical Blizzard fashion, this is little more than a flashy tease of things to come, so players looking to spend Overwatch Coins will need to wait a few more weeks to see who will benefit from new Phantom Thieves-themed attire. Of course, that isn’t stopping fans from speculating about which Heroes will...

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DC Head James Gunn Teases New Future for WB Games With 'Some Bigger Things' Now 'in Early Stages'

DC Studios co-CEO and Superman Director James Gunn says big things are in store for Warner Bros. Games, but it’s going to take a while to see them come to fruition. The comic book bigwig spoke about his plans to expand the DC universe during an interview with GamesRadar+. As Gunn, co-CEO Peter Safran, and the rest of the DC Studios crew plot a new course for DCU shows and movies, the Superman moviemaker says he has no plans to leave gaming out of the equation. “There's been some slight movement on different things," Gunn teased. "We have a couple of little DC games coming out. But we also have talked about – and in early stages of planning – some bigger things. One thing in particular I'm excited about, but it does take time. There's...

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Hollow Knight: Silksong Looks to be Significantly Bigger Than the Original Hollow Knight

Today, we got our first real, new, meaty trailer for Hollow Knight: Silksong in several years, complete with a September 4 release date. Fans are already unpacking details from the trailer, including pointing out that it looks like the base game of Silksong might be bigger than the base game of Hollow Knight - quite a feat for something that started out as DLC. Evidence for this comes from the trailer above, which has text stating the game contains over 200 enemies and over 40 bosses. Compare that to Hollow Knight's launch trailer, which said over 140 enemies and over 30 bosses: So it sounds like Silksong is launching with more enemies and bosses than Hollow Knight did. And though we don't know the size of the explorable area in...

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Hollow Knight Reaches 15 Million Copies Sold

As Team Cherry finally, truly nails down a release date for Hollow Knight: Silksong, the studio has confirmed the original game has managed to reach 15 million copies sold. A sales update for the bleak and beloved metroidvania title comes from Bloomberg, which spoke with Team Cherry ahead of today’s long-awaited release date reveal. Along with a swarm of details about what took the team so long to finish its sequel, the studio confirmed that 2017’s Hollow Knight has officially sold 15 million units across PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It’s proof Hollow Knight had plenty of staying power in the eight years since launch, as players have not-so-patiently awaited news for a sequel. One million of its sales were...

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