I have played enough of these to be picky, which is exactly why this list exists. Not everything cheap is worth your time, and not everything premium deserves your wallet. This week quietly delivers both value and personality across four platforms, with a few curveballs that reward curiosity. Jump right to the deals with this link.

What's on My Radar Today?

Anyone who reads my stuff on the reg knows I'm an absolute sucker for the gaming axiom that is "friends who slay together, stay together." Horizon Hunters Gathering already looks like my jam as a (PC or PS5) co-op action spin-off set in the Horizon universe. Three like-minded players must team up to cull droves of Dinobots in hunts that lean hard into coordination, roles, and replayability. Think: tactical encounters, rotating mission types like machine incursions and cauldron dives, and a progression system that encourages experimentation rather than rote grinding.

Apparently, there is also a fully canon story campaign and a shared hub where squads prep, customise and plan their next machine (read: monster) hunt. Cross-play and cross-progression are mercifully a thing. If the idea of Terminator taxidermy with mates sounds even remotely appealing, there's an upcoming beta you can sign up for right now. Do it. I'll see you in the mix.

Contents

• Retro
• Nintendo
• Xbox
• PlayStation
• PC
• LEGO

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I’m casting magic missiles to light a 22-candle cake for Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II. I remember this top-down hack 'n slash ARPG to be two-player co-op bliss. Better yet, it eclipsed its predecessor by having deeper customisation, letting us craft our own magical equipment, and the roster expanded from 3 to 7 classes. The cream of that crop if you finished it on Extreme? Legendary drow ranger, Drizzt Do'Urden, and his human assassin nemesis, Artemis Entreri.

Aussie birthdays for notable games.

- Legacy of Kain: Defiance (PS2,XB) 2004. Get

- Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (PS2,XB) 2004. Get

- Sega GT Online (XB) 2004. eBay

Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch

• Disco Elysium: The Final Cut (-70%) A$18 Still the sharpest writing in RPGs, and the Switch version finally runs clean. Slow, talky, and political, but unforgettable if you like decisions that haunt you.
• NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Ed. (-60%) A$21.90 Platinum combat wrapped around philosophical dread. The frame rate wobbles, but the ideas and music still land harder than most modern action RPGs.
• Untitled Goose Game (-50%) A$15 Still a perfect palate cleanser. Short, silly, and deliberately irritating, but the design discipline underneath the honking joke is genuinely impressive.
• Neo: The World Ends With You (-60%) A$33.90 Stylish, loud, and mechanically dense. Combat sings once it clicks, though the story takes patience. Worth it if you miss Square Enix being weird.
• Lego City Undercover (-67%) A$29.90 Open world Lego chaos with a surprisingly solid crime parody. Long load times persist, but the humour carries harder than most licensed efforts.

Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.

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Exciting Bargains for Xbox

• Aliens: Dark Descent (-65%) A$22 Tactical stress in real time. Smart squad control and genuine tension, though mistakes snowball fast. Feels respectful of Aliens rather than cosplay.
• Borderlands 3 (-90%) A$9.90 The writing still grates, but the gunplay is peerless. At this price, the loot loop overwhelms its flaws without mercy.
• Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (-75%) A$6.70 A loving remake that respects its roots. Short, charming, and mechanically honest. Feels like comfort food with a modern coat.

Or just invest in an Xbox Card.

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Pure Scores for PlayStation

• Dragon Quest VII Reimagined (-10%) A$89 Not a massive discount, sure. But enormous, traditional, and unapologetically slow. For series lifers only, but the rework smooths enough edges to justify the revisit.
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (-50%) A$62.40 Slick traversal and confident pacing. The spectacle is real, but the smaller character moments are what stick.
• It Takes Two (-80%) A$11.90 Still the benchmark for co-op design. Requires a partner and patience, but rewards both generously.
• Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii (-70%) A$29.90 Ridiculous premise, sincere heart. Combat is messy fun, tone swings wildly, and it somehow works if you buy into the bit.
• The Messenger (-80%) A$4.90 Tight platforming with a knowing wink. The humour occasionally overreaches, but the mechanics never do.

PS4

• Gran Turismo 7 (-58%) A$46.10 Still unmatched driving feel. Always online quirks remain annoying, but the racing craft is pristine.
• Persona 5 Strikers (-58%) A$41.70 A musou spin that actually understands Persona. Combat repetition creeps in, but the cast chemistry carries hard.
• Trials Of Mana (-49%) A$39.30 Bright, breezy action RPG nostalgia. Shallow systems, but earnest charm if you want something undemanding.

Or purchase a PS Store Card.

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Purchase Cheap for PC

• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (-100%) A$0 Chaotic fantasy Borderlands with uneven jokes. Free removes all risk, leaving only the solid gunplay.
• Hogwarts Legacy Del. Ed. (-85%) A$14.90 A lavish theme park RPG. Story is safe, but the world sells the fantasy better than expected.
• Dying Light Essentials Ed. (-88%) A$4.50 Parkour horror that still nails tension. Night cycles remain terrifying, even if the storytelling never quite lands.
• Marvel's Midnight Suns (-85%) A$13.40 Tactical depth disguised as a card game. Social layers are divisive, but the combat loop is quietly brilliant.
• The Quarry (-85%) A$13.40 Interactive horror with uneven pacing. Strong cast, weaker scares, but worth it if you enjoy choice driven chaos.

Or just get a Steam Wallet Card

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Larian Studios’ multi-award-winning fantasy RPG, Baldur’s Gate 3, is set for its own TV series on HBO, and will be helmed by The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin.

As reported by Deadline, a television adaptation of the acclaimed game set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe is in development at the network, and interestingly, will be a continuation of the story from the Baldur's Gate 3 game. The television show will reportedly take place after the events of Larian's RPG and follow the characters players grew to love over time as they grapple with the aftermath of its world-changing ending.

The series will be helmed by Craig Mazin, no stranger to adapting video games to live action, following his work co-creating HBO's The Last of Us with Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann. A huge fan of Baldur's Gate 3, Mazin told Deadline that "After putting nearly 1000 hours into the incredible world of Baldur’s Gate 3, it is a dream come true to be able to continue the story that Larian and Wizards of The Coast created".

"I am a devoted fan of D&D and the brilliant way that Swen Vincke and his gifted team adapted it", he continued. "I can’t wait to help bring Baldur’s Gate and all of its incredible characters to life with as much respect and love as we can, and I’m deeply grateful to Gabe Marano and his team at Hasbro for entrusting me with this incredibly important property."

By taking on this project that has no ties to any other Baldur's Gate game in the pipeline, Mazin will have free rein over what story he wishes to tell, but we do know that it will include both existing and brand new members of the BG3 cast. Shadowheart? Karlach? Astarion? Who are you most looking forward to seeing on your television screen? Mazin reportedly plans to reach out to the cast of the games to sound out how best to approach their roles in the TV show, and if they'd want to be involved, something The Last of Us did with Merle Dandridge reprising her role as Marlene, for example.

Of course, the ending of Larian's multiple game of the year award-winning RPG can vary massively depending on how you chose to play the game, so it will be highly intriguing to see how Mazin and co. go about choosing which ending is canon for them.

It may well be a while yet before we see Baldur's Gate arrive on the small screen, with Mazin still attached to complete production on The Last of Us, which is gearing up for its third, and maybe final, season.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

Embark Studios has opened up about how it will make the second Expedition in Arc Raiders more enticing after the first left its community wanting more.

The developer behind the popular sci-fi extraction shooter updated fans with a blog post on its website. Included are a February 25 sign-up date and a March 1 departure date for the account reset event, as players are told to look forward to more worthwhile rewards before sending their beloved Raiders into the unknown and starting from scratch.

Stash value requirements were the first thing Embark addressed, telling fans that they’ll now need just 3 million coins to reach the maximum bonus of five skill points. That means you’ll need only 600,000 per point, a significantly more achievable task than the previous Expedition’s ask of 1 million per skill point.

What’s more, Raiders who participated the first time around but didn’t amass enough coins can benefit from a new catch-up feature. Missed points can be claimed for 300,000 each, with coins first going toward Expedition 2 before being used for the makeup points for Expedition 1. In other words, you’ll need the 3 million for the five new skill points and an additional 300,000 per skill point missed. As Raiders jump into Expeditions for the first time, they’ll need to start by unlocking rewards from Expedition 1, leaving the catch-up feature only for returning players.

Other new permanent rewards for the second reset include a new Scrappy outfit, an evolved Patchwork outfit with more toggles and colors, and, thankfully, 12 more stash space slots. Returning expeditioners gain 5% more XP (10% total), a 6% boost to Scrappy materials (12% total), and a 10% increase to repair value (70% total).

All of the upcoming changes to Expeditions arrive after Embark noted a somewhat disappointing reception to its first crack at the account wipe feature. Design director Virgil Watkins told PCGamesN last month that "a little over a million players" successfully cleared their accounts and suggested the studio would keep its ear to the ground going forward.

"We completely acknowledge that it isn't the most engaging thing to just go for money," he said at the time, "[and it has] the potential outcome of disincentivizing using your gear, which is kind of what people look forward to towards the end of a reset cycle. So yeah, we're looking at revisions on that."

Arc Raiders launched for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S October 30, 2025. Its Escalation roadmap laid out Embark’s early 2026 plans late last month, with Expedition windows planned for February and April. Headwinds kicked things off with a solo vs. squads queue option and the Bird City map condition when it arrived January 27.

Following a coordinated Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack last week, the developers are still doing their best to combat ongoing reports of cheaters. For more, you can read about why we think some of the rarest Arc Raiders weapons need more tuning.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Ubisoft has reportedly canceled a multiplayer, cooperative Assassin's Creed title that has been in development at French studio Ubisoft Annecy.

This comes from a report by French publication Origami, which IGN has independently translated. According to the report, the project was codenamed "AC League", was originally conceived as a DLC for Assassin's Creed Shadows, and would have potentially taken place in the same feudal Japan era. The DLC would have involved four assassins joining forces to take on a series of scripted missions with up to four players that would have ultimately concluded the story told in the game's (canceled) Season Pass. You may have already heard of AC League if you pay close attention to Assassin's Creed gossip, as it was previously rumored last year in a report from Insider Gaming.

The project, Origami reports, was apparently fairly ambitious and was intended to serve as a baseline for future multiplayer features throughout the series, such as a return to a hybrid solo/multiplayer playstyle as existed in Assassin's Creed Unity or Black Flag (a remake of which has been rumored for some time now). However, as the AC League project progressed, directors at Ubisoft Annecy reportedly began to question whether it made sense to attach League to Shadows, as they worried it would take too long to make, and came up with a different plan that turned it into a small, standalone title borrowing pieces of the Assassin's Creed: Shadows open world. Development on this progressed with an intended invite-only alpha planned for May of 2026.

Unfortunately, AC League was allegedly just the latest victim of the ongoing upheaval at Ubisoft. For several months now, the company has been undergoing a massive restructure alongside major cost-cutting measures, canceling numerous projects, closing studios, and reorganizing its creative houses. It was to this restructuring that AC League fell victim, with leadership at Ubisoft Annecy being informed just last week that AC League was being canceled.

However, there is still a sliver of hope for the project, Origami reports. Apparently, a handful of Annecy employees have been selected to transfer the technical advancements the team made back into the company's proprietary Anvil engine, with the goal of eventually making it easier to add replayable multiplayer modes to future Assassin's Creed titles that would be less expensive to develop. Unfortunately, that leaves more than a quarter of the 270 individuals working at Annecy without a project at the moment, leaving a lot of lingering anxiety that layoffs may be coming next.

IGN has reached out to Ubisoft for comment.

Ubisoft's quarterly earnings will be reported next week, and all eyes are on the company to see if it can pull itself together amid some drastic financial times. Upon last reporting, the company had thrown out its previous fiscal year guidance for new, significantly reduced financial expectations, reflective of the fact that the company just closed two stories, laid off a lot of employees, and canceled six projects. It's also handed off its three biggest franchises to Vantage Studios, a newly-created business entity owned by Ubisoft but with a 25% stake from Tencent to help keep the lights on.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Article translation courtesy of Blythe Dujardin.

We now have our hands on the Nintendo Switch 2, a new console from one of the biggest names in gaming. Alas, a new console is only as valuable as the library of games you can build on it.

Thankfully, Nintendo hasn't been shy about planned releases over the next year, which include a mix of Switch 2 exclusives, third-party releases, and the benefit of backward compatibility with any games still launching on the original Switch. Without further ado, here are all of the new Switch 2 games we can look forward to in 2026.

All Upcoming Switch 2 Games With Release Dates

PGA Tour 2K25 (February 6, 2026)

If you found Wii Sports golf to be a little too easy, here you go. PGA Tour, 2K's golf series, is coming to a Nintendo console for the first time since 2K21. Take on tournaments as your favorite pro player or build up your own character through the MyCareer mode. IGN's 8/10 review gave the game some solid praise, highlighting that "new swing mechanics, paired with the significantly improved graphics, makes for a much more realistic ambiance." Let's hope that performance holds up on the Switch 2.

Tokyo Scramble (February 11, 2026)

Tokyo has been destroyed in a massive cave-in. In the aftermath, Anne wakes up underground to find a subterranean organization filled with creatures called Zeno. If they catch you, they’ll kill you. To escape, you’ll have to focus on stealth. Announced during the February Nintendo Partner Direct, Tokyo Scramble is launching on Switch 2 pretty darn soon.

Mario Tennis Fever (February 12, 2026)*

Mario Tennis is making its return with the first new release since 2018’s Mario Tennis Aces. The sports game will continue the more recent tradition of a Story Mode alongside Tournament, Trial Towers, and Mix It Up modes, all while featuring a whopping 38 playable characters.

A new island just came to Fortnite that features a digital reimagining of Qatar’s capital city, Doha, as well as Hamad International Airport and a Qatar Airways aircraft. Called QVerse Island, it’s meant to give travelers an immersive way to experience the sights of the city and its airport. There are lots of minigames, a glimpse at some of the city’s unique architecture, and a hidden golden ticket that you can find for a chance to win a free Qatar Airways flight.

You can reach QVerse Island within Fortnite by searching for “QVerse” or using code 6020-0265-6735. When you arrive on the island, you’ll pull up to Hamad International Airport and get a look at the skyline of Doha with re-creations of its real-life skyscrapers. You’ll be greeted by Sama, Qatar Airways’ digital cabin crew member, who will give you five quests to complete.

After you’ve talked to her, you’re free to explore the city and do things in whatever order you choose. Right off the bat, you’ll see floating coins that give you 10 gold each. You can spend that gold at the airport vending machines for things like faster running speed, a jetpack that lets you double jump, or consumable items. You can also look for a hidden door that takes you inside the Business Class cabin of a Qatar Airways aircraft, where you’ll join other Fortnite characters as passengers.

Once you exit the airport and make your way to the street, you’ll see you can summon a car with one button press, making traversal of the city quick and easy. Your HUD will have icons for the island’s biggest attractions, which is also where you can complete the quests Sama gave you. These are some of real-life Qatar’s most recognizable landmarks, like the National Museum of Qatar, West Bay, Katara Towers, and The Pearl Island. And QVerse Island has a persistent day/night cycle, so you can watch the sunset around these locations and see the whole city light up at night.

Each location has a minigame associated with it. At the National Museum of Qatar, you’re given a scavenger hunt to find five lost artifacts that lie scattered around the city. At West Bay, you can use your summoned car to complete a time trial race. At Katara Towers, you’ll need to cross between the towers, high in the air, while a rotating bar tries to knock you off. And at The Pearl Island, you can take on a parkour obstacle course that runs across the rooftops of the city.

While you’re exploring, you’ll notice a timer counting down to the next departure. Once the countdown finishes, you’ll be transported to a multiplayer minigame with other people currently on the island. There are four minigames in all: Wild Wheels Safari, Neon City Drop, Jumpus Maximus, and Home Run Rush. For all four, the last person standing wins.

In Wild Wheels Safari, you drive cars around a desert arena while floor tiles gradually fall away. If you fall into a hole, you’re eliminated. Neon City Drop is a similar concept, but you’re on foot and the floor is made up of brightly colored panels that fall away over time. Jumpus Maximus puts you on a giant spinning wheel in the air while rotating bars of different heights try to knock you off. And Home Run Rush gives everyone a superpowered baseball bat that can launch other players out of the stadium.

In between all the fun and games, you can explore QVerse Island to find the golden ticket. You’ll get an on-screen alert letting you know in what area of the map it just spawned, and then it’s up to you to find it. It only stays in one place for a few minutes, so you need to hurry before it moves again.

Once you find it, take a screenshot of your in-game character with it. Then post that photo to Instagram, Facebook, or X/Twitter with the hashtag #FlyWithQR, follow Qatar Airways on Instagram, and you’ll be entered in a drawing. A winning entry will be randomly selected, and that person will win a Qatar Airways flight ticket. There will be a new drawing each week and the contest will run for 10 weeks. If you don’t win one week, you can try again the next.

QVerse Island is available to explore now, and between February 7–20, gaming content creators around the world will join in on the fun, too. So be sure to check that out. Who knows who you’ll get to face off against in all those minigames? To keep up with the latest news and updates from Qatar Airways, you can follow them on Instagram, Facebook, or X/Twitter.

A new report has shed light on Microsoft’s Xbox plans for 2026, while confirming one unannounced game is still in the works.

As Microsoft announced last month, Playground's Forza Horizon 6 is out in May. The Verge said Halo: Campaign Evolved is tentatively targeting a release in the summer. Gears of War: E-Day, meanwhile, is set for the second half of the year. Playground's Fable, as we know, is due out in the fall. Microsoft reportedly wants both Gears of War: E-Day and Fable to avoid GTA 6’s gargantuan November launch.

According to the report, the Fallout 3 remaster fans are desperate to see announced is still in “active development,” three years after it appeared in FTC documents as part of Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision Blizzard. The Verge said Bethesda is keen to ensure the game is polished enough to enjoy a successful launch similar to last year’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, which Bethesda chief Todd Howard recently told IGN he was "really, really pleased" with.

Amazon's Fallout TV show countdown turned out not to be Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas Remastered, so news that the Fallout 3 release is still happening will be of some comfort to fans. The Verge did not provide an update on the potential Fallout: New Vegas remaster.

Bethesda's space RPG Starfield, meanwhile, is reportedly set for new content soon, and it looks like we’ll hear about the heavily rumored PlayStation 5 version soon, too. Double Fine's recently revealed Kiln is reportedly out in April.

In terms of hardware, The Verge said Microsoft will release a new Xbox controller this year. It will reportedly include Wi-Fi connectivity to reduce Xbox Cloud Gaming latency. There's no suggestion Microsoft will release its next-gen Xbox this year, which tallies with recent comments from the boss of AMD. However, The Verge expressed hope that Microsoft will talk more about its next-gen console plans later this year.

Last month, Microsoft held an Xbox Developer Direct Showcase where it revealed new information and gameplay on everything from Forza Horizon 6 to Fable. Check out everything announced here.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Looking for a high-capacity, high-output power bank with a slim footprint? Amazon has dropped the price of the Baseus Blade 20,000mAh 100W power bank to just $39.99 shipped after you apply coupon code "YBKEIAQE". Unlike previous iterations of this deal, you do NOT have to be an Amazon Prime member. Unlike most high-capacity power banks that are shaped like a chunky bar, the Baseus Blade is slimmer. It's powerful enough to charge any gaming handheld PC at its fastest rate. This is one of the most popular power banks on IGN.

Baseus Blade 20,000mAh 100W Slim Power Bank for $39.99

Bethesda has trumpeted the news that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be squeezed onto a proper Switch 2 Game Card for its physical release — though other titles coming to the console will just be codes in a box.

During today's Partner Direct broadcast focusing on upcoming games coming to Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, Bethesda boss Todd Howard briefly appeared to welcome a swathe of games coming to Nintendo's newest console.

In a press release sent to IGN following the broadcast, Bethesda has now detailed its launch plans further, and announced on social media that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would get a full-fat cartridge launch, rather than on one of Nintendo's widely-disliked Game-Key Cards.

And yes, the game is on Game Card.#IndianaJones https://t.co/jJ0cTDKLLL

— Bethesda (@bethesda) February 5, 2026

Bethesda's social post has received a string of praise, with many fans wondering how the game has been made to fit onto a Switch 2 cartridge. "Wow, totally unexpected," wrote Digital Foundry veteran and game preservation fan John Linneman in response.

Late last year, one Switch 2 developer initially suggested that Nintendo was preparing to make more sizes of Game Cartridge available for manufacturers to ship titles on, rather than relying on Game-Key cards. However, the developer then scrubbed most of this information from the internet, and implied it was unable to announce anything that Nintendo itself had not confirmed officially.

Bethesda's other three titles getting physical launches on Switch 2 this year will not be on Game Cartridges, or even Game-Key cards. Instead, Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition will all have physical editions that are "code-in-a-box," Bethesda has said. Of course, all of these games will be available via digital download too, via the Switch 2's eShop.

As announced (and leaked) earlier today, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will launch digitally and physically on May 12. The game's DLC, The Order of Giants, will also be available download separately on that date.

Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition launches digitally on February 24 and physically on April 28. Skyrim Anniversary Edition is available digitally already, and will come in a box on April 28. Finally, Oblivion Remastered has a vague "2026" launch window for now.

For much more, here's everything else announced in today's Nintendo Partner Direct.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Odds are, if Mouse: P.I. for Hire caught your eye, it's because of its unique, hand-drawn, black-and-white 1930s-era "rubber hose" animation style. But it's aiming to be a lot more than just a pretty face. We played Mouse last year – and we'll be doing so again as part of this month's exclusive IGN First coverage – but today we're taking a deeper dive into its wild cartoon arsenal and its boomer shooter-inspired combat.

The developers at Fumi Games told us, "The core combat gameplay revolves around an 'Always Be Moving' approach, encouraging players to stay constantly on the move to survive." Complicating that will be environmental hazards, like freeze, turpentine, fire, and explosive barrels that can either be used against you or used by you. But ammo and health are scattered about, encouraging further exploration of the environment. And you won't be a tank; just a few hits can put hero Jack Pepper in a serious world of hurt.

Meanwhile, an assortment of core abilities and unlockable ones will help you Always Be Moving, such as a slide, dash, double jump, pipe crawl, kick, wall run, and wall climb – along with your multipurpose tail that, over the course of the campaign, can be used for lockpicking, helicoptering, and as a grappling hook.

Power-ups, too, will spice up the moment-to-moment gameplay, like Spinach (think: Popeye), Coffee (activates Cuphead-like finger guns that shoot rapidly), Chili Peppers (damage bonus + rate of fire bonus + fire damage), and Cheese (health powerup that can be activated anytime you want).

But let's get to the stars of the combat show: the weapons (See a bunch of them in the gif gallery above). There are a whopping eleven of them, starting with your fists if you run out of ammo – but you'll probably never use them if given any other choice. Moving up from there, the Micer pistol is what you'd expect, though it does have a burst-shot alt-fire. Your Boomstick, meanwhile, packs a short-range punch – with a hold charge/pump fire as an alt.

Things get more interesting and unique with the Devarnisher, which melts the skin off your foes, Roger Rabbit-style, courtesy of the balls of turpentine it fires. Its alt-fire is a larger blob that explodes to affect more enemies. The James Gun is a Tommy gun that stops enemies from attacking and has a spray fire for an alt.

The Kiss Kiss is a double-barrelled shotgun that adds fire damage thanks to its exploding shells. The alt fire on this one is a larger, area-of-effect explosion. The Loose Cannon, meanwhile, really leans into Mouse's cartoon framework; it's a literal cannon like you'd find on a pirate ship that has knockback effects as well as doing big damage. In alt-fire mode it launches a charged-up burst shot. The Jar Head, on the other hand, fires waves of psionic power that stun and eventually kill enemies – and it carries an AoE. Its beam-attack alt is particularly potent if you aim at the opponent's head.

The last of the arsenal starts with the Portable Freezer, firing a cold beam that slows and eventually freezes foes in their tracks, allowing you to shatter them. The alt-fire spits speedy snowballs. I'm eager to try the Hellrazor, a chainsaw that pummels enemies with fire damage if they get hit with the wave. Its alt-fire is a traditional chainsaw that you do not want to be caught on the business end of.

And finally, the D-namite can take out certain walls and floors in addition to blasting the bad guys to bits. All told, I'm eager to try out all of these toys. Circle March 19 on your calendar, as that's when Mouse: P.I. for Hire will be released on PC, PlayStation platforms, Xbox platforms, and Nintendo Switch platforms.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Dell wants the Alienware Aurora 16X to be your star mid-range gaming laptop, and it mostly succeeds in that role with its strong RTX 5070 performance and gorgeous 16-inch, 2K display. But after spending enough time with it, its keyboard gets too tiresome to game with, and I clung to my gaming headset even when playing alone. Already, those flaws mixed with a high price tag are tough to swallow. However, the Aurora 16X still gets the job done (and in style), so it might still be worth taking a look.

Design and Features

Just because it’s smaller than the Area-51 doesn't make the Aurora 16X sleek — it’s still a chunky beast, but I’m not mad about it. The indigo colorway spreads like a silk sheet over the Aurora’s anodized aluminum lid. I love this color way more than what the Area-51 is wearing (teal), which is ironic because that’s the more expensive one.

The curved edges around the lid, hinge, and sides give a soft approach, which is a refreshing break from the usual edgy gamer look. With little-to-no flex over its iridescent Alienware logo, this gaming laptop is hella sturdy. It stacks up to 14.05 x 10.45 x 0.76~0.92 inches and 5.7 pounds.

Popping open the hood revealed more of the same sleek colorway, this time on a magnesium alloy frame with a nice satin finish. There’s a curved palm rest for comfort and ease of lifting the lid. Meanwhile, the keyboard is neatly packed in the center, but supports only one-zone RGB lighting, which looks cheap. The touchpad sits just underneath, somewhat smaller than I expected, and the bezels on the display look a bit thick due to the angled lip.

A neat feature about the underside is there’s a thick slab that props the laptop up, with vents all around it to ensure good airflow. More laptops need better cooling designs like this — there’s nothing more annoying than an underside that gets scorching hot because you positioned it on the wrong surface.

Configurations

The Alienware Aurora 16X is a classic mid-range gaming laptop, but it comes in pricey compared with other rigs in its category. But that’s what you get when you’re looking to buy from a premium brand like Alienware. Here’s what’s packed in the unit Dell sent me for review:

This review unit costs $1,999 (seen for $1,649), which is up there for an RTX 5070 gaming laptop. It also comes in an RTX 5060 version for $1,549. But if you’re looking for something cheaper than that, you need to lose the “X” in the Aurora 16X (yes, really).

The Aurora 16 comes in two GPU variants, including the RTX 5060 and RTX 5050, and both opting for an Intel Core 7-240H processor. They cost around or under $1,000. But wait, what does the “X” really lose you? Well, you drop to a 120Hz display with lower brightness, a 720p webcam, and you lose the Thunderbolt 4 port. The latter two are pretty insignificant, but losing the display is tough.

Display

While I will continue to rant about Alienware needing to offer OLED or Mini-LED options for their gaming laptops, the Aurora 16X’s IPS display is quite stunning.

This display is plenty bright, rated at 500 nits, and offers a crisp 2560 x 1600 resolution, so I could admire the sharp strands of hair on Naoe Fujibayashi’s head in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Making my way through Hijacked in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, the brown wood planks contrasted well against the milky white ship, which was dreamy enough to get me killed by some jabroni running out of the cabin.

With Nvidia G-Sync to reduce screen tearing and the 240Hz refresh rate, getting in car chases across Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 felt satisfyingly smooth as I drifted back onto the highway. However, keep in mind that if you want to use the full breadth of the 240Hz refresh rate, you’ll need to turn down the graphics quite a bit. An RTX 5070 can’t get you quite that far on the highest settings – especially at 1600p.

Everything In-Between

There’s a decent number of ports to get your essential peripherals all connected to the Alienware Aurora 16X, even if you don’t have Bluetooth accessories. There’s a Thunderbolt 4 slot for fast connectivity (great for external storage) as well as an additional USB Type-C port. You also get two USB Type-A ports and a headphone jack to connect legacy devices. Then there’s an HDMI 2.1 slot to connect to an external display, and an Ethernet port to speed up your internet speed. But with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, you shouldn’t have to worry much about connectivity.

The keyboard is comfortable thanks to the cushy palm rests, but the key travel is a bit short. It’s okay to type on, but it’s not satisfying to use when gaming. I wish the keyboard was a bit higher on the deck. The angled palm rest makes it feel like my hand is sliding off when in the WASD position. And the touchpad is in a similar boat where it’s unpleasant to use – it’s too resistant, stiff, and small.

Laptop webcams are almost never good, and the Alienware Aurora 16X’s 1080p shooter is no exception. It’ll get you through video chatting with friends, but between the grain imposed over the image and the washed out colors, I wouldn’t try to stream with this thing.

Dolby Atmos isn’t enough to elevate the speakers beyond middling. The dialogue in Cyberpunk 2077 sounded crisp, but combined with the gunfire and techno music, it felt more like a muddled mess. It gave me a headache listening to it for a short while. I highly recommend gaming with headphones.

Performance

The Alienware Aurora 16X delivers all the performance you expect from an RTX 5070, hitting solid numbers even in the highest settings on intensive AAA games. However, you may struggle in certain areas, especially if you’re averse to supersampling technology.

Before I got to the crunchy numbers, the Alienware Aurora 16X suffered from some serious stuttering while gaming. I updated my graphics drivers and Windows 11, and yes, turned it off and on again. I took a peak at the Alienware Command Center (Settings > Performance) and saw that Hybrid Graphics was enabled, which allows the laptop to switch between integrated and discrete graphics to save on battery life. I disabled that with the MUX Switch and games ran fine after that.

I reached out to Dell for some insight, and a representative tried to replicate the issue on a different machine, but didn’t see the stuttering. I have experienced issues with hybrid graphics on other gaming laptops, so it might not be a problem on Aurora 16X, but if you run into it, you now know what to do.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 ran smooth as I started rinsing fools through a Japanese feudal castle and a war-torn Alaskan town. The benchmarks reflected that great performance, too, proving that the Alienware Aurora 16X can handle competitive games at the highest settings. However, as I mentioned earlier, the Aurora isn’t taking full advantage of its 240Hz screen. If you want higher frames, you need to turn the graphics down.

On a more intensive test, the Alienware Aurora 16X cleared 30 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at its native resolution set to Ray Tracing Ultra. However, Ray Tracing Overdrive proved to be too much for it, and that tracks with most mid-range gaming laptops. But if you run it at 1200p, you’ll get playable frames at the highest settings.

With no upscaling technology, the Aurora 16X’s RTX 5070 did decently well on the Metro Exodus benchmark, scoring close to 60 fps at 1200p on the highest settings. But it failed to get past the 30 fps threshold at its native resolution.

In games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you can see the benefit of frame generation technology. At Ultra High settings on its native resolution, the Alienware Aurora 16X jumped from unplayable to an average of over 50 fps.

Battery Life

Gaming laptops typically don’t last very long in the battery life department, although they’ve improved over the years, with laptops like the Razer Blade 14 hitting over 7 hours. But the Alienware Aurora 16X isn’t a 14-inch gaming laptop with reduced power output. Its chunky 16 inches lasted only 3 hours and 20 minutes on Procyon's Office Productivity Battery Life Test. (This is with hybrid graphics enabled.)

The Alienware Aurora 16X isn’t going to get you very far when gaming on battery alone, not to mention the fact that the performance will tank as well. I highly recommend keeping the Aurora 16X plugged in at all times.

Square Enix is planning to "share more updates than ever before" on its Final Fantasy 7 Remake project this year, according to game director Naoki Hamaguchi.

This comes from a tweet posted by Hamaguchi following today's Nintendo Switch Partner Direct, during which Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth received a June release date for Switch 2 and Xbox consoles. The post, which Hamaguchi wrote in both Japanese and English, reads as follows:

"We’ve announced that FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH will launch on June 3.

"With the addition of Switch 2 and Xbox, the game will be released as a full multi‑platform title.

"This year, we plan to share more updates on the FINAL FANTASY VII Remake Project than ever before.

"We look forward to celebrating together with even more players around the world."

We’ve announced that FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH will launch on June 3.
With the addition of Switch 2 and Xbox, the game will be released as a full multi‑platform title.
This year, we plan to share more updates on the FINAL FANTASY VII Remake Project than ever before.
We look… https://t.co/GFImeiPiC7 pic.twitter.com/f0TaiDHlhJ

— 浜口直樹 /FFVII REBIRTH launches on Switch2&Xbox Jun 3 (@nhamaguc) February 5, 2026

This is exciting news for Remake fans, who have been on the edge of their seats for the last few years, waiting for news of the third game in the trilogy, which we have yet to see at all. Though Hamaguchi didn't outright say it, this feels like a tease for a reveal this year. Rebirth left the story on one heck of a cliffhanger, with players left doubting whether the game's most famous twist really took place or not. The third game has a lot of work to do to land the plot plane set up by Remake and Rebirth, and it will be interesting to see how Square Enix does it. Fans have already been speculating as to what Part 3 will be called, following the "Remake" and "Rebirth" titles as well as "Reunion" on the recent Crisis Core remake. Popular suggestions include Reincarnation, Revival, Reawakening, Redemption, and Return.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake first launched in 2020. At the time we gave it an 8/10, saying that it "breathes exciting new life into a classic while standing as a great RPG all its own." The game was originally a PS4 exclusive, but came to PS5 in its fancy DLC-filled form with Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade, later to PC and Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 as well just last month.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was also excellent, with us giving it a 9/10 and saying it "impressively builds off of what Remake set in motion, both as a best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenges and an awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long."

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

As Fallout Season 2 draws to a close, all signs point towards Colorado as the setting for the next adventure. A postcard left in an abandoned cryopod all but confirms that The Ghoul’s wife and daughter are waiting for him there, and a shot of the Enclave’s secret headquarters suggests that the show’s newly-revealed big bad is operating out of the Rocky Mountains.

For fans, this is an interesting new direction. After the first season explored California, the setting for the original two Fallout games, and the second expanded into the Mojave wasteland of Fallout: New Vegas, it seemed logical that the story would continue to visit familiar locations. Washington, D.C. or Boston, the settings of Fallout 3 and 4, respectively, seemed sensible bets. But certainly not Colorado, which despite geographically making sense for the next steps beyond the New Vegas strip, is barely a footnote in the RPG’s extensive lore.

Dive deeper into the Fallout archives, though, and Colorado becomes significantly more important. The state was planned to be the setting for what would have been Interplay and Black Isle Studios’ third Fallout game, codenamed “Van Buren”, which was cancelled back in 2003. Since then, dozens of design documents have fallen into public hands, revealing the intended storyline for what could have been the original Fallout 3. And as the show signals its intent to travel to the Centennial State, it’s impossible not to wonder if Season 3 will be at least a little inspired by the Fallout that never was.

The Second Apocalypse

Akin to Hank MacLean’s attempts to bring “civilization” to the wasteland, Van Buren would have told the story of a man who looked out at what’s left of humanity and yearned for a better world. That man, Doctor Presper, saw hope in the fires of nuclear armageddon (yes, another one) and planned to take command of an orbital missile system in an effort to cleanse the planet’s surface. He and his followers would sit safe in Colorado’s Boulder Dome, a colossal, bomb-proof research facility, and later emerge into a brighter tomorrow. Sounds a little like Vault-Tec’s plans for the original apocalypse, right? Which, as we’ve learned this season, was actually orchestrated by the Enclave.

It seems unlikely that Van Buren’s exact plot could become the story of Fallout Season 3, though. Introducing Presper’s cohort of mad scientists and their mission to preserve their vision of the human “master race” seems redundant when the Enclave, a faction of mad fascist scientists, are already a key part of the show’s story. But the overlap between these two groups, in conjunction with the Colorado setting, points to exactly where the two projects could merge: What if Presper, or a Presper-like figure, is in charge of the Enclave’s activities in the American Southwest? And now, 200 years after the first bombings, the faction intends to do it all over again in an effort to achieve the exact results it hoped for the first time around?

There’s another interesting overlap: In Van Buren, the orbital missile system is locked behind a series of safeguards. The satellite continually assesses the planet’s population and tracks the spread of “New Plague”, a highly contagious disease that had previously required a complete quarantine of the US to control. Should the number of New Plague-infected people increase past a certain threshold, the satellite will release its missile launch codes, allowing its controller to end the epidemic in nuclear fire. Presper’s plan was to spread the plague across the wasteland, which in turn would grant him control of the missiles.

The New Plague is an interesting piece of Fallout lore because, during the 2050s, the race to develop the cure led to the development of the Forced Evolutionary Virus. The FEV is already one of the show’s mystery plot points, somehow linked to the Vault 31, 32, and 33 experiment. And, as we can infer from Steph’s triggering of “Phase 2” in the Season 2 finale, the experiment is likely controlled by the Enclave. The question, then, is why does the Enclave want a bunch of FEV-infected vault dwellers? Well, perhaps in an adaptation of Van Buren’s story, they’re the key to wiping the surface clean and allowing the Enclave complete control of the wasteland.

New Van Buren

The introduction of Colorado, a virus, and a clan of genocidal scientists obsessed with human purity by no means guarantees that Fallout Season 3 will adapt the ideas created for Van Buren. But I present this theory not based on wild speculation, but Fallout’s own history. While the Fallout 3 that was eventually released to the world in 2008 shared nothing in common with Black Isle Studio’s blueprint, Fallout: New Vegas did. Van Buren was set to feature multiple competing factions, difficult choices that shape the wasteland, and deep character-building systems – the very structure that New Vegas was built atop. But it goes deeper: Caesar's Legion, the violent army of Roman cosplayers, was originally created for Van Buren, as was a battle for control of the Hoover Dam, the climax of New Vegas’ campaign.

The resurrection of those cancelled ideas was in no small part thanks to the fact that several of Van Buren’s designers became the architects of Fallout: New Vegas at Obsidian Entertainment. The show, however, has no such connection to the series’ lost past. And yet, despite being executive-produced by Bethesda’s Todd Howard, the show is keen to continually explore beyond the boundaries of his studio’s tenure as Fallout’s owner. Shady Sands, the NCR town so key to Maximus’ and Lucy’s stories, was only ever in the original Interplay games. Vault 33’s failing water chip storyline is a direct nod to the plot of the first Fallout. And the depiction of the Brotherhood of Steel veers closer to that shown in the early games than it does Bethesda’s interpretation. All that considered, it wouldn’t be that surprising if showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet decide to dive into the Van Buren files and adapt its ideas, turning Fallout Season 3 into a homage to the Fallout game we never got.

Dead Tactics

When talking about Colorado, though, we can’t ignore Fallout Tactics. While not exactly “dead” in the way Van Buren is, Fallout Tactics is something of a dead end; a spin-off created in 2001 that failed to start a sub-franchise for the series. It tells the story of a Brotherhood of Steel squadron on a mission to find Vault 0, a pre-war command bunker buried deep below the Rocky Mountains in El Paso County, Colorado. Their journey towards the vault sees them battle an army of robots, which are revealed to be controlled by The Calculator; a fusion of human brain and digital computer that resides at the heart of Vault 0.

Considering Season 2’s post-credits scene sees the Brotherhood’s Elder Quintus proclaim himself “The Destroyer” while unfolding the blueprints for a giant nuclear robot, it’s easy to see how Season 3 could draw inspiration from Fallout Tactics. Quintus could dispatch his knights to Colorado in search of a vault that contains the parts required to build Liberty Prime. The Calculator would be long gone – Fallout Tactics takes place in 2197, a century before the show – but the valuable relics that Quintus requires could well lie in wait for him.

While Fallout Tactics’ position in the lore is a little murky, we do know that Vault 0 was designed as the “nucleus” of Vault-Tec’s bunker system. Well, that was its final form: during the development of the original Fallout RPGs, series creators Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky had the idea that it could have been controlled by the Enclave, collecting data from every other vault to aid their grand plan. And who, according to the show, is the shadowy puppet master behind Vault-Tec? The Enclave. Season 3 has the opportunity to weld these ideas together. And if the Fallout games are anything to go by, the Brotherhood of Steel and Enclave are destined to butt heads eventually. Will Vault 0 be where Quintus proves his destroyer credentials by eradicating the Enclave?

This is, of course, all just theorycrafting. An exploration of the lesser-known corners of the Fallout universe on the off chance that their stories become relevant, rather than a genuine prediction of the show’s future. But writers – especially those handling pre-existing universes – don't dive in blind. They’ll know about Fallout Tactics. They’ll know about Van Buren. And so, even if Fallout Season 3’s trip to Colorado is entirely composed of original material, I’m willing to bet that there will be references to Fallout’s dead past littered among the Rockies.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.

Sony has finally announced Guerrilla’s Horizon live service multiplayer game, Horizon Hunters Gathering. It’s due out for PlayStation 5 and PC.

A “small-scale” closed playtest is due at the end of February, which you can sign up for via the PlayStation Beta Program. Expect crossplay and cross-progression. There's no release date yet, nor is there word on whether it's free-to-play or a premium game. The debut trailer, which includes gameplay, is below.

As you can see from the trailer and screenshots, Horizon Hunters Gathering has a cartooney art style, which is in contrast to the photrealistic visuals of the mainline Horizon series. Clearly, Sony and Guerrilla are trying to create a more lighthearted experience with Hunters Gathering, with the Zero Dawn and Forbidden West more serious offerings. There are strong Monster Hunter vibes, too.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, game director Arjan Bak said that in Horizon Hunters Gathering, you fight deadly machines in tactical three-player co-op action and adapt your Hunter for intense missions.

"Combat is tactical, reactive, and deeply skill-based, building on the tactical precision of the Horizon games while embracing the dynamics of team play," Bak said. "The foundation of Horizon Hunters Gathering centers around challenging and replayable hunts."

Bak confirmed two game modes: Machine Incursion, which is described as "a high-intensity mission" where waves of machines pour out from underground gateways, led by a "formidable boss"; and Cauldron Descent, a longer, multi-stage trial in which "ever-changing rooms push Hunters to their limits, from brutal machine encounters to hidden doors that promise power and reward for teams prepared to open them." Both modes wil be available in the upcoming closed playtest.

There's a roster of Hunters to play as, each with distinct melee or ranged playstyles and weapons. Bak said there's also a rogue-lite perk system to craft the build you want. Story wise, there's a narrative campaign "which will introduce new mysteries, characters, and threats, but we’re keeping it under wraps for now," Bak said. "What we can say is that Hunters Gathering is fully canon and its story doesn’t stop at launch!"

The social hub is the name of the game: Hunters Gathering. It's "a vibrant social hub where players can connect, prepare, and celebrate victories together. Here, you can customize your Hunters, visit vendors, upgrade gear, and team up for your next adventure."

Horizon Hunters Gathering isn't the only multiplayer game set in the Horizon universe. Bizarrely, NCSoft and Sony are working on Horizon Steel Frontiers, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game designed for mobile devices, but also playable on PC. NCSoft is said to be working closely with Guerrilla to craft the world, but this is very much an NCSoft-developed game. Horizon 3, meanwhile, was in late 2024 described as being "a ways off." Sony is said to be aiming to start filming its live-action Horizon Zero Dawn movie this year, with a release at some point in 2027.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Listen, I’m always going to have a Leon-sized hole that needs filling and from playing his portions in the latest Resident Evil 9 Requiem demo, I’m pretty sure I’ll be taken care of (for the year, at least). The roundhouse kicks, the corny one liners, and the brutal blood-splattering finishers – things I loved from the recent Resident Evil 4 remake round out what’s otherwise a terrifying survival horror experience. And the crux of that survival horror is stealth and having the proper mechanics in place to make that tension tangible. So, not only does Grace’s side of Requiem evoke a petrifying sense of dread atop the classic puzzle-solving of the series, it’s also a fantastic expression of the kind of stealth-action gameplay I’ve been wanting for a while.

Our previous Resident Evil 9 Requiem preview by my colleague Dale Driver touched on plenty of sentiments I share; most notable for me being the refreshing balance between the drastically different playstyles of Grace and Leon as dual protagonists. Grace being timid and having to rely on moving slowly and carefully, contrasting with Leon being the action hero who blasts through every zombie. But it’s the Grace sections where Capcom is doing something really special with stealth gameplay that feels natural and forward-thinking.

Capcom has made a big deal out of zombie behavior where their presumed personalities as humans feed into how they move and react in the game world as zombies. One example being the zombie fixated on light switches in a dark hallway you have to pass through as Grace – instead of taking him head-on with your limited resources, you can slip by and hit a light switch down the hall to distract him to clear the path to the other end. While this isn’t a complicated situation on its own, it’s a microcosm of how Requiem is challenging you as Grace, where observation and environment are just as important as staying out of sight. The game doesn’t outright tell you this, so thinking outside the box can lead to more elegant solutions.

This notion of watching out for zombie behavior is flipped around at times, too. Like when walking through the dining room where zombies are just feasting on the dead bodies on the table, not giving a damn about your presence and leaving you alone. I wasn’t sure if they’d react to me poking around picking up items, yet I still treaded carefully and let them do their thing. Naturally figuring out how these enemies respond to you and their surroundings is a fascinating way to give variety to navigating the labyrinthine halls, and a touch of detail that isn’t often seen.

What’s more frightening is the butcher who roams the kitchen. Early in the preview, you have to slip through by pushing a cart to clear the path across the kitchen, and you have to do this undetected, which requires you to pay attention to his patrol pattern. It’s simple enough, and making a mistake means he’ll chase you down and show you how terrifying he is; one hit and you’re dead. But later in the playthrough where you have to revisit that general area, he begins patrolling the hallways around the kitchen, and here, his presence is truly felt. Hearing his footsteps set off alarms in my brain that he began lurking, and the tension that created changed how I navigated an area I already mapped out.

I would duck and peek out from adjacent rooms to see if he was coming, and make a mad dash to where I needed to go hoping for the best and not looking back. One time, I was peeking from the parlor room thinking I was out of sight, but the butcher caught me peeking just a little too confidently and pulled up on me – I now had this cat-and-mouse chase, luring him in one direction before juking him to get out of the room.

Probably the biggest comedy of errors during my playtime came from dashing to the cold storage room where my next objective was. I had a straight shot from, like, three hallways down and I risked it all by booking it and letting fate take the wheel. Just as I got to the last stretch, there was the butcher turning the corner and ending up right in front of me along his new patrol pattern. I backpedaled in a panic, pumped my one remaining shot from the superpowered Requiem pistol and the rest of my 9mm rounds, but it wasn’t enough; so I just took the L and reloaded my save.

The first time I got hit with a jump scare was when Chunk burst out into a hallway after I picked up a quest item. It began chasing me and it was easy enough to run to a room for safety since it couldn’t get through normal-sized door frames. But the rest of the surrounding hallways were fair game. And like many Resident Evils with puzzles, backtracking to this area later on filled me with dread. Thankfully, Chunk wasn’t as overbearing, but it’d more frequently completely block certain paths, forcing me to either take the long way around or wait things out until the coast was clear. But on my first attempt, I wasn’t exactly sure what its behavior pattern would be. And that’s a key part of making stealth gameplay interesting and horror work well – it’s that unpredictable nature of hostility.

These stalker-type enemies aren’t meant to be killed (as Grace, at least), and they’re also not quite like the persistent threats of Mr. X from Resident Evil 2 or Nemesis in Resident Evil 3. Each one seems to play different roles and present a different kind of dread throughout Requiem, which I suspect will lead to more variation. Even thinking back to the very first Requiem preview I played last year with the monstrous patient roaming the halls of the patient wing in Grace’s opening section, that was closer to a specifically scripted sequence. But it was a much more close-quarters stealth challenge where the windows of opportunity to escape were tighter. So, already, that’s three unique enemies playing into a horror experience in their own ways.

Requiem being primarily a survival horror game means it’s going to be a bit outside of what I traditionally expect from stealth-action games; or rather the stealth mechanics you see in so many action games. Hiding in tall grass, waiting for enemies to turn their backs, and getting a one-hit kill undetected is a tired trope at this point. Grace does get craftable single-use items for stealth kills, and I hope we’re challenged by limiting quantities so we have to really consider when to use them. But even then, Requiem doesn’t just deal in patrol patterns or throwing an object to cause a distraction, it also deals in vulnerability and the fear of unpredictability for Grace’s chapters. It’s not just the fear of getting detected, but the consequences that come with it.

Grace's portion of Requiem was about an hour-and-a-half to two hours of playtime. And after that, I was pretty exhausted from the tension. Don’t get me wrong, I was exhausted in a good way. However, that’s what makes the interstitial Leon sections so important. They’re a reprieve and an outlet to get all that stress out, a palette cleanser to balance things out and look at some of the same environments from a different perspective. This also offers a sort of best-of-both-worlds for the series, the slow and deliberate pacing of Resident Evil 7 alongside the top-tier action from Resident Evil 4, as examples.

After getting hands-on with a total of about four hours of Resident Evil 9 Requiem at this point, and sharing that experience with colleagues, I’m more excited for the series than I have been in recent memory. It’s the old mixed with the new, but all in a modern package with two protagonists I already like a lot. No shade to RE7 and RE Village, but Ethan Winters doesn’t compare to Grace, and definitely not my guy Leon. And with a thoughtful mix of action and stealth gameplay, February 27 can’t come soon enough when Resident Evil 9 Requiem hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

Wait, Leon Kennedy is in Resident Evil: Requiem? Yeah, okay, we've known that for a bit now, perhaps longer than Capcom wanted us too. But what is news today is that the long-rumored Leon S. Kennedy amiibo is real, and coming alongside the previously announced Grace Ashcroft amiibo this summer.

This was announced during today's Nintendo Partner Direct, which showed a trailer for Reqiuem mostly containing footage and news we've seen already. We knew about the February 27 release date, the Gold Editions of Resident Evils 7 and 8 releasing alongside it, and the special Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller. We'd also already heard about the Grace Ashcroft amiibo before.

But we didn't actually know about Leon. He was, uh, strongly suspected, even before we officially knew he was going to be in the game, something Capcom tried to keep hidden way longer than was necessary. Since his official reveal at The Game Awards, we've seen a sudden surge of love for the classic protagonist, with fans referring to him as a "Hot Uncle" and comparing him to Keanu Reaves. He's set to be getting a roughly equal amount of screentime to fellow protagonist Grace, so it only makes sense they'd both get amiibos.

We've seen a lot of Reqiuem on multiple platforms in the lead-up to its February release. Most recently, we previewed it on the Nintendo Switch 2 at a Nintendo event, and our previewer said that "I was so terrified by being relentlessly stalked by this monster that any concerns I had about the version I was playing instantly melted away." We also recently learned that speculation the game would be open world was "dead wrong" according to the game's direct.

You can catch up on everything announced at today's Nintendo Partner Direct right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

During today's Nintendo Switch 2 Direct presentation, Square Enix made an exciting appearance to show off Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, which will be joining its predecessor Remake and catching Switch players up on the story at last on June 3, 2026. We also learned via the Xbox Store that the game will hit Xbox consoles simultaneously.

We have known the entire FF7R saga would be on Nintendo platforms at some point. It was just a matter of time. Rebirth's appearance will effectively catch players on Nintendo platforms up with the story so far, just in time for what we hope will be the announcement and release of the third and final part of this saga.

Pre-orders for Rebirth on the eshop begin today, and there are various digital bonuses available for those who take advantage of that.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake first launched in 2020 to insanely high expectations...and yet delivered anyway. We gave it an 8/10, saying that it "breathes exciting new life into a classic while standing as a great RPG all its own." The game was originally a PS4 exclusive, but came to PS5 with Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade, and later to PC and Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 as well just recently.

We similarly loved Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, giving it a 9/10 and saying it "impressively builds off of what Remake set in motion, both as a best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenges and an awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long."

You can catch up on everything announced at today's Nintendo Switch 2 Direct right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales has reappeared at today's Nintendo Partner Direct with a proper release date of June 18, 2026.

Today's trailer highlighted four different "ages" that the main character, Elliot, will visit over the course of the game: The Age of Safekeeping, Reconstruction, Magic, and Budding. As he visits these ages, Elliot will see the scenery and people living in his hometown change, and he'll collect items and magic unique to each time period.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales was first announced last July at a Nintendo Partner Direct. And though we've had a free demo available already, this is Elliot's first real emergence since the initial announcement.

The Adventures of Elliot is Square Enix's first attempt to translate its HD-2D style into a more action-focused game than a turn-based RPG. Rather than a part of heroes, Elliot can use different weapon types that will play differently and can be advantageous or disadvantageous against different foes. His fairy companion, Faie, can also either attack enemies herself or be controlled by a second player in a co-op mode.

You can catch up on everything announced at today's Nintendo Partner Direct right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

I may have only played the opening couple of hours of Planet of Lana 2, but I lost count of the number of ways it reminded me of Star Wars. From just a single glance at one of its many gorgeous landscapes, you can see in the geography and architecture what look like Studio Ghibli interpretations of Ralph McQuarrie’s original sketches for Lucasfilm’s immortal sci-fi series. Peek within that frame and you’ll see rickety sci-fi vehicles and clunking robots that wouldn’t be out of place on the streets of Mos Eisley. Lend your ear to that scene, and the whirring sounds of those same droids and digitised radio chatter of enemy guards could easily be coming from R2-D2 and Stormtroopers, respectively. All of these aspects add up to something that is far more than referential, though, instead shaping a confident, expansive puzzle platformer sequel of its own original design.

One of the first things that hits you when booting up Planet of Lana 2 is the music. Again, the soaring of its strings and the twinkle of its brass conjure up strong images of a galaxy far, far away. But, this time, it shouldn’t come as a surprise — the sequel's score is once again composed by Star Wars: The Clone Wars orchestrator, Takeshi Furukawa. Incidentally, he’s also behind the music of The Last Guardian, a game that greatly inspired Wishfully, the small Swedish developer behind Planet of Lana 2. It carries on that same “child on a dangerous, yet wondrous adventure with a fantasy animal companion” legacy, this time with a darker tone as shades of Limbo and Inside come to the fore.

The 2.5D stealth-puzzle-platforming takes place on a bigger canvas compared to its 2023 predecessor. Two years after the events of that game, protagonist Lana has settled back into family life on the planet of Novo, though clearly mystery and intrigue still remain, both on its surface and bubbling below it. After a short tutorial section investigating the corpse of the hulking spaceship that brought her people to this new land, Lana’s sister is taken ill, and you’re promptly sent on a mission to hunt down rare ingredients for a remedy. This journey takes Lana to new regions of the world, which gives Wishfully’s art team new scope to stretch their creative muscles, but also presents welcome new ideas when it comes to puzzle design.

A now older, more confident Lana is more agile than before, able to slide under low-hanging metal for quick escapes and even dive into the ocean to solve whatever conundrums its depths are hiding. Lighter on her feet this time around, she’s practically a backflip and a handstand away from moving more like a Lara than a Lana. Whether clambering through caverns or broaching darkened mine shafts, platforming is more about patience and precision than speed and reflexes. The sequel’s expanded vision also extends to the framing of its puzzles, with larger areas demanding further exploration of the scene – you must look for helpful items in areas high above and further off-screen than you might expect.

That said, many of the challenges I faced through this two-hour demonstration were largely the sort of combat-avoidant stealth sequences that reward patience – as in, you must remain motionless while waiting for obstacles to morph into the required shape, or for enemies to turn the other way, creating a safe passage through. I would never say this becomes tedious, but for those who prefer a bit more zip and thrust to their action, here's a heads up that I wouldn’t necessarily expect that here. To those who didn’t play the original Planet of Lana, it’s much closer to a Little Nightmares than it is to a Metroid in its level design and enemy encounters. But similar to Samus’ space adventures, there’s a great sense of tactility to every heavy lever pull, as heavy machinery and hulking robots lurch and creak inside a mountain facility, dwarfing Lana and her even smaller, spherical companion, Mui.

This little ball of charm provides a furry edge to many of Planet of Lana 2's puzzles, with their newly increased ability set adding welcome extra variety to the mix alongside their existing skillset. I particularly enjoyed further explorations of Mui’s somewhat telepathic ability to control creatures around the world of Novo. For example, fish can be sent to zip around and deploy clouds of ink that masks the vision of larger-finned foes, and sticky balls of blob can create trails of sludge that transform into paths of fire to remove flammable obstructions. These fuse-like puzzles, which task you with examining the level geography as you trace its edges to reach your goal, were some of my favourites in this preview demo.

Although I’ve only seen around a third of the game, even at this early stage, I am wary that some mechanics are already on the edge of being used one too many times, threatening to turn some brainteasers into busywork. But, largely on the whole, the puzzles have proven fun and fair, compelling me to pause and think, but never to the detriment of the momentum of the story. It fits the urgency of the tale being told, with many mysteries lurking in the background. It's this intrigue that drove me through these early hours on the path to discovery, as well as the distinct sense of adventure as you hop around this thoroughly alien planet, painted with beautiful art and soundtracked by a sensational score.

Much like Star Wars does with its flashy lightsaber duels and thrilling space battles, Planet of Lana never forgets to put character front and centre, even in its puzzles. Reassuring nods and moments of murmur in an alien tongue help solidify the bond between Lana and her furry friend, all while keeping the story of their adventure foremost in mind. And, just like The Empire Strikes Back, Planet of Lana 2 teases in these early hours that it’s certainly not afraid to enter darker territory on a grander scale, whilst leaving plenty of time for those smaller moments. It’s all very promising, and a reassuring sign that the heart of its short and sweet predecessor is being carried over into this expanded, more ambitious sequel on March 5th.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

Pearl Abyss has dropped another exciting features overview video for Crimson Desert, offering a better look at how combat will work as you "learn what it means to fight like a Greymane," unlocking skills, upgrading equipment, facing the threats of Pywel, and "grow into a formidable fighter."

The 10-minute trailer is packed with new details and insights, and focuses specifically on combat and progression, including how you can parry and counter attacks and upgrade your weapons.

Confirmation that dual-wielding is still coming is particularly exciting; as some of the overwhelmingly positive comments on the Crimson Desert subreddit explain, we've seen very little of the ability up until now.

Oh, and there's also a peek at how you can travel around Pywel, including by bear. No, that's not a typo — you ride a massive bear.

"My last bits of apprehension for this game have disappeared because of this," commented one happy fan. Another simply said: "March 19th cannot come soon enough."

"This game just gets better and better with every video. It is so impressive," added another impressed fan, while someone on YouTube wrote: "I honestly can’t remember the last time I was this excited for a game. Everything shown so far looks incredible, and I truly hope it delivers a deep, immersive adventure. I’m really looking forward to getting lost in this world and experiencing something special."

"It's not crazy to say that I'm more interested for this game's release than GTA 6," joked another impressed fan.

There's one more final features overview video still to come, but Pearl Abyss didn't reveal when just yet.

Crimson Desert is an open-world action-adventure set in the beautiful yet brutal continent of Pywel. Discover adventure, uncover wonders, and experience thrilling action as you witness the saga surrounding Kliff, leader of the Greymanes, whose mission takes him on an incredible journey. It's set to release on March 19 2026, for PC and Mac, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. For more, check out our thoughts about whether Crimson Desert is promising too much.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.